Kilkenny and Offaly play out competitive Allianz Hurling League opener

Kilkenny had to dig out a hard fought opening round Allianz League win in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon with Eoin Cody (0-10, 0-6f) to the fore leading his side to a four point victory.

The match was very much in the melting pot with four minutes to play (0-15 to 0-14) and aided by their bench, the Cats dug out the win with late scores from Eoin Cody, Shane Murphy, Paddy Deegan and Mossy Keoghan.

The opening exchanges were nip and tuck with Kilkenny failing to register a score in the opening 11 minutes. The Noresiders ruing some poor wides (0-2 to 0-0 in favour of Offaly).

READ NEXT: 'Negativity is not going to win any All-Irelands' - Ex-Kilkenny captain calls for fan positivity

However, slowly but surely Kilkenny found some rhythm and four points in a row from Eoin Cody edged the hosts in front (0-4 to 0-2) shortly before the midway mark.

On an afternoon where Kilkenny forwards struggled to had a major influence in periods, the impressive Jordan Molloy (0-3) proved to be a real positive influence for Kilkenny from midfield and helped keep their noses in front from this point until the finish (0-9 to 0-6 at half-time).

Both teams started the second half with a noticeable increase in urgency with Adam Screeney's influence growing for the Faithful County.

It was far from the Screeney show from Offaly though with five other scorers ranging from every position finding the target in the second half for Johnny Kelly's outfit.

Offaly narrowed the gap to one on two separate occasions in the second 35 minutes but an accurate Cody alongside a menacing Mossy Keoghan in front of the posts in the second half kept Offaly at arms length.

Fresh legs helped in that regards with the introduction of new and some familiar faces from the bench steering Lyng's charges to an opening day win.

Kilkenny will play Limerick in their next Allianz League fixture in the Gaelic Grounds in two weeks time.

More to follow...

Kilkenny - Eoin Cody (0-10, 0-8f); Jordan Molloy, Mossy Keoghan (0-3 each); Gearoid Dunne, Cathal Beirne, Paddy Deegan, Shane Murphy (0-1 each)

Offaly - Adam Screeney (0-9, 0-6f); Luke Watkins (0-2); Dan Ravenhill, Patrick Taaffe, Daniel Bourke, Oisin Kelly, Ciaran Cleary (0-1 each)

Kilkenny - Aidan Tallis: Mikey Butler, Mikey Carey, Rory Garrett; David Barcoe, Darragh Corcoran, Shane Murphy; Killian Doyle, Jordan Molloy; Luke Connellan, Eoin Cody, Cathal Beirne; Gearoid Dunne, Liam Moore, Mossy Keoghan.

Offaly - Liam Hoare; Patrick Taaffe, Ben Miller, Ben Conneely; Dan Ravenhill, Donal Shirley, Brecon Kavanagh; Luke Watkins, Cathal King; Conor Doyle, Brian Duignan, Ross Ravenhill; Daniel Bourke, Oisin Kelly, Adam Screeney. Subs Used - Colin Spain for Conneely.

Referee - Thomas Gleeson (Dublin).

FOR MORE KILKENNY GAA NEWS, CLICK HERE