Tullamore 1-8 Rhode 1-8
Niall McNamee saved Rhode from a devastating defeat with a dramatic late equalising goal in a thrilling Offaly senior football championship final in O’Connor Park.
The veteran Offaly attacker struck a wonderful goal with the four minutes of injury time just up after gathering a long ball in from Anton Sullivan. It gave Rhode a draw that they scarcely deserved over the course of the game and it left Tullamore absolutely gutted.
Tullamore had a golden chance of winning their first title since 2013. They played against 14 men from the 23rd minute when Rhode’s longest serving player Alan McNamee was red carded for a big hit on Diarmuid Egan and Tullamore really should have been able to get across the line in the second half.
While it was a low scoring affair, a hard hitting and tough final provided great entertainment. Tullamore made a dream start with an Aaron Leavy goal after three minutes and, playing against the wind in the first half, they were the better side for long periods. Rhode battled hard but three super late points from Harry Plunkett, Luke Plunkett and Michael Brazil gave Tullamore a 1-4 to 0-4 half time lead.
Tullamore led by 1-7 to 0-5 with 17 minutes left but didn’t push on from there. Instead, they became very defensive and a lot of mistakes gave hard won ball to Rhode, who fought with everything. Rhode got the gap back to two before a fine Michael Brazil point put Tullamore three up with five minutes left. They looked to have done enough but McNamee, who had been quiet for long periods, rescued his side once again - he had also got a sensational point from play earlier as Rhode threw the kitchen sink at their opponents.
Tullamore: C White; C Burns, D Hogan, P McConway; K O'Brien, J Furlong (0-1), O Keenan-Martin; M Brazil (0-3), A Leavy (1-0); H Plunkett (0-2), D Egan, C Egan; L Egan, L Plunklett (0-1), J Moloney.
Subs: N Bracken (0-1) for C Egan (HT), S Dooley for L Plunkett (38m).
Rhode: K Garry; J McPadden, C McNamee, K Murphy; B Darby, D Kavanagh, N Darby; A McNamee, A Sullivan (0-1); P Sullivan, R McNamee, C Heavey; D Garry (0-1), A Kellaghan (0-2), N McNamee (1-4, 3f).
Subs: G McNamee for P Sullivan (38m), G O'Connell for Heavey (49m), S Sullivan for Kellaghan (50m).
Referee: M Stones (Clara).
