Leinster SHC: Offaly 2-21 Wexford 2-15The slow renaissance of Offaly hurling continues. In a game pivotal to both teams staying in the hunt for a top-three finish in Leinster, Offaly summoned reels of old familiar spirit and faith to record one of their finest home victories of recent times – and a first championship win over Wexford in 14 years.In a thrilling game where Wexford looked comfortably the better team for the first half, Offaly stuck resolutely to their task after the restart, maximising two game-changing breaks in the process. When it finished in bright evening sunshine their delighted supporters among the 8,103 attendance promptly stormed O’Connor Park, as well they might.Eoghan Cahill was among the many Offaly players to rise and rally to the occasion, finishing with 1-12, including four from play, and converting the 50th-minute penalty which ultimately brought them back into the game – and reduced Wexford to 14 men. Offaly hardly looked back from there, Adam Screeney putting them in front for their first time nine minutes later with his goal, set up by a rare lapse in concentration in the Wexford defence, which Cahill had pounced on too. Two key moments from the Birr player, one of his finest championship displays too.It leaves Offaly’s fate from here partly out of their own hands. They will need Dublin to beat Kilkenny in next Sunday’s final round to move into third place, assuming Offaly can themselves also beat Kildare – the only team still without a point from their four games.The result also resigns Wexford manager Keith Rossiter and his team to another year without progressing into the top three. They did play some of the best hurling of the season in the first half, building a five-point advantage with the wind in their backs, before things disintegrated from there.Now wind-aided, Offaly started breaking down the Wexford defence with increasing confidence, before the turning point came in the 49th minute when Conor Foley was black-carded for a foul on Brian Duignan. Although Duignan was outside the penalty area, he was sniffing out a goal chance, referee Seán Stack thus awarding the penalty – which Cahill cooly converted.Foley was also red-carded for that incident too, given he’d already been booked in the first half, not long after replacing the injured Damien Reck. It meant Wexford were down to 14 men for the last 20 minutes, playing into the wind too. That penalty had also come slightly against the run of play, but exactly what Offaly needed to further ignite their fightback.Offaly's Adam Screeney scores a goal during the game against Wexford. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho Still, they remained locked in a scoreless battle for the next nine minutes, before Offaly got another break when David Clarke fumbled the sliotar close to his own goal, allowing Cahill to deftly pounce, and pass straight off to Screeney, who promptly rifled to the net. When Screeney added a terrific point from play moments later, then Cahill too, Offaly were up 2-15 to 1-14 on the hour mark and playing with a bit a swagger. Wexford weren’t done yet, however, and when Kevin Foley latched on to a loose ball close to the Offaly goalmouth, he picked his spot brilliantly to shoot them back in contention, down by only one. But they wouldn’t get many more chances, with Ben Connelly and Killian Sampson lording the centre of the Offaly defence, Sampson making a couple of key interceptions. Offaly scored the next three points without reply, the lively Daniel Bourke among them. Wexford drifted further off the momentum of the game from there, Offaly hitting the last three points of the game, all from play. Bourke and Duignam added another one each, before Cahill suitably stepped up for the last score, his fourth from play.For the first half, Wexford did take full advantage of the stiff breeze and their old bubbling enthusiasm to build a five-point advantage at the break, 1-12 to 0-10. In truth it should have been more. With seven different scorers, including an excellent 1-2 from corner back Simon Donohoe, Wexford were causing Offaly plenty of problems. Donohoe’s finish on 16 minutes, after he was left wide open on the right, was terrific, his rifling shot rocketing in off the far post.Wexford kept scoring with greater ease, and more variety too, Ross Banville, Darragh Carley and Diarmuid O’Leary also getting in on the act by half-time. Lee Chin scored 0-4 in the first half, but Jack O’Connor wasn’t getting the sort of possession he likes.With Dublin’s last-minute goal and point earning then a four-point win over Galway in Salthill, Offaly now have everything to play for next Sunday against Kildare. Their slow renaissance continues.OFFALY: L Hoare (0-2, 1f); C Burke, B Connelly, P Taaffe; R Ravenhill, K Sampson (capt), T Guinan; C King, D Ravenhill (0-1); S Rigney, C Doyle, D Burke (0-3); E Cahill (1-12, 1-0 pen, 8f), B Duignan (0-2), A Screeney (1-1).Subs: O Kelly for Ravenhill (23 mins, inj).WEXFORD: M Fanning; D Carley, L Ryan, S Donohoe (1-2); D Reck, R Lawler, N Murphy; D O’Leary (0-1), C Hearne (0-1); R Banville (0-1), L Chin (0-6, 5f), J O’Connor (capt) (0-1); K Foley (1-0), S Roche (0-2), C Byrne.Subs: C Foley for Reck (19 mins, inj); C Molloy (0-1) for Carley (47); D Clarke for Ryan (52, inj); C Byrne for O’Connor (64); J Byrne for C Byrne (65).Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).