Rhode (Offaly) 2-16 St Patrick’s (Wicklow) 1-9
Former Offaly county player Niall NcNamee was the chief architect of Rhode’s ten point win in the Leinster Club SFC on Sunday at Joule Park Aughrim.
The Offaly three-in-a-row champions possessed a fairly lethal full-forward line but McNamee stood out head-and shoulders above everybody as he rattled over a massive 11 points, four of them from frees.
Opponents St Patrick’s from Wicklow had an energy sapping joust with Rathnew in the county final 24 hours earlier and it was clear that had taken its toll.
However, the Wicklow men started promisingly with the wind, taking a 0-3 to 0-1 lead in the first eight minutes but then the McNamee factor kicked in for Rhode.
As the Wicklow men ran out of steam, McNamee punished them at every turn, aided and abetted by his partners in the full-forward line Ciaran Heavey and Anton Sullivan
Play was somewhat fragmented as Newbridge referee Brendan Cawley made full use of his whistle. The Offaly men went on to lead 0-10 to 0-5 at the break.
Stephen Duffy scored his fifth point for St Patrick’s immediately after the break but any hope that it might spark a revival was dashed inside two minutes as Ciaran Heavey finished to the net from a move by Niall Darby and James McPadden.
Worse was to befall St Pat’s on 52 minutes as chief scorer and play-maker Stephen Duffy was sent off on the back of a black card.
Anton Sullivan scored the second goal for Rhode on 45 minutes. Tommy Kelly’s goal for Patrick’s on 52 minutes just served to put a better complexion on the final scoreboard.
Rhode: K Garry, S Sullivan, E Rigney, J Kavanagh, B Darby, N Darby (0-1, free), J McPadden, C McNamee, A McNamee, P McPadden, R McNamee, P Sullivan, C Heavey (1-2), A Sullivan (1-2), N McNamee (0-11, four frees). Subs: G McNamee for C Heavey, D Kavanagh for C McNamee, S Lowry for P Sullivan, M Rigney for B Darby, D Garvey for P McPadden
St Patrick's: C Byrne, C Doyle, S Murley, W Doyle, A Dunne, C Ffrench, J Crowe, D Healy (0-1), P O'Kane (0-1), J Pettigrew, P McWalter, P Earls, S Duffy (0-5, frees), J Dunne, T Kelly (1-2, one free).Subs: P Dunne for J Dunne, H Humby for W Doyle, R Murray for A Dunne, B Doyle for P Earls, J Delahunt for J Pettigrew, C McGettigan for S Duffy (BC)
Referee: B Cawley, Newbridge.
