Top of the table Cavan cruise in Tullamore

NFL Division 3 Round 4

Cavan 0-21

Offaly 0-14

Paul Fitzpatrick at O'Connor Park

Paddy Lynch helped himself to 0-10 as Cavan made it four wins from four with this comfortable win over Offaly in Tullamore.

Mickey Graham’s men deservedly came away with both points after a very solid performance, highlighted by some exceptional scores.

At half-time, Cavan were in a very promising position, leading by 0-11 to 0-7 having played against the wind and soaked up plenty of early pressure from the hosts.

The opening 25 minutes were relatively close and played at a high pace. Cavan were the better side and led four times but Offaly were competitive and were level at 0-7 apiece with 10 minutes remaining in the half.

However, the Blues were winning most of the individual battles – Padraig Faulkner, for example, cut out everything was aimed at key Offaly attacker Sullivan – and moving the ball at pace, variously kicking long to Paddy Lynch and running the ball through the likes of Cian and Tiarnan Madden.

Their superiority began to show on the scoreboard and four unanswered points before the break laid the foundation for what turned out to be a comfortable away victory.

Brandon Boylan opened Cavan’s account after 25 seconds with a terrific strike but Offaly soon hit back through Dylan Hyland. That established a pattern which persisted for much of the first half.

Cavan scored through Ryan O’Neill after a good break from Tiarnan Madden, Offaly replied with Ray Galligan turned a Hyland effort over the bar - and so it went.

Boylan laid off for Cian Madden to score; Joe Maher hit back with a beautiful effort off the left, wind-assisted.

Cavan strung three together for the first time when Johnny McCabe latched on to a break to score, then won a free which Man of the Match Lynch slotted and the Crosserlough man won and converted another to make it 0-6 to 0-3.

But Offaly responded in kind with their own hat-trick of scores from Hyland, Ruairi McNamee (both frees) and an inspiration effort from captain Declan Hogan.

After Cian Madden broke the line, McCabe threaded over an important point for the visitors but an excellent strike from Sullivan (mark) tied the game once again.

Then came that important spell just before half-time. Lynch turned sharply, burned away and fisted over, then converted three frees, winning one himself – the others came after Faulkner and Ciaran Brady were felled.

Cavan had created two good goal chances in that spell, too, David Brady blocked down and Killian Clarke denied by the boot of goalkeeper Ian Duffy.

Cavan got off to a super start on the resumption when O’Neill drove through two defenders and sent over with the left. In the opening four minutes, the away side carved out two more glorious goal chances as they repeatedly caught Offaly on the counter.

A 45-metre Lynch free and another well-taken Boylan score made it double scores, 0-14 to 0-7, as Cavan threatened to over-run Offaly entirely. The Faithful didn’t pack much of a punch from play but they would register five frees in the final 25 minutes but Cavan kept them at arm’s length, picking them off on the break.

McCabe picked up a black card in the 49th minute but it made little difference at that stage as Cavan won pulling up, Lynch’s stylish long-range effort and a 45 from Ray Galligan the highlights of the closing minutes.

Next up for Cavan is a home game against Down, where a win would almost certainly wrap up promotion. On the evidence of the four games so far, the Breffni men are a cut above most of the teams in the division.

There were strong performances all over today, with Lynch prominent throughout, Faulkner at his best and Gerry Smith getting through a mountain of work while newcomer Johnny McCabe continues to impress, despite a sojourn in the sin bin.

Cavan: Raymond Galligan (0-1, 45), Evan Finnegan, Padraig Faulkner, Niall Carolan, Ciaran Brady, Dara McVeety, Tiarnan Madden, David Brady (0-1), Killian Clarke, Gerard Smith (0-1), Cian Madden (0-1), Jonathan McCabe (0-2), Paddy Lynch (0-10, 7f), Ryan O’Neill (0-2), Brandon Boylan (0-2)

Subs: Jason McLoughlin for E Finnegan (54 mins), Stephen Smith for J McCabe (59), Conor Madden (0-1) for B Boylan (61), James Smith for D Brady (61), Conor Rehill for T Madden (65), Killian Brady for D McVeety (temp, 70)

Offaly: Ian Duffy, Ciaran Donnelly, Declan Hogan (0-1), David Dempsey, Rory Egan, Peter Cunningham (0-1f), Lee Pearson, Jack McEvoy (0-1), Conor McNamee, Joe Maher (0-1), Ruairi McNamee (0-1f), Cian Donohoe, Cian Farrell, Anton Sullivan (0-2, 1m, 1f), Dylan Hyland (0-6, 4f)

Subs: Bernard Allen (0-1) for J Maher (ht), Luke Egan for R McNamee (45 mins), Jack O’Brien for D Hogan (51), Jack Bryant for C Farrell (57), Jamie Evans for C Donohoe (66)

Ref: John Gilmartin (Sligo)