Edenderry bridge 10 year gap with victory over Clara

Edenderry pulled off a sensational upset when they edged out warm favourites Clara to win their tenth Offaly senior football title amid windy conditions at O'Connor Park on Sunday last. It was a heart-breaking defeat for Clara who were also beaten by a point in last year's final and who impressively defeated championship favourites and 2010 winners Rhode in this year's semi-finals. The one-point victory saw Edenderry lift the Dowling Cup for the first time in a decade and it preserved their record of having never lost a SFC final to Clara. The fact that Edenderry were threatened by relegation last year - and were playing at intermediate level four years ago - made this victory all the more remarkable for Peter Brady's young charges. Aided by the strong wind in the first half, the underdogs twice fell behind in the early stages as John Reynolds and Thomas Deehan found the range for Clara. Edenderry's Mark Young had a goal effort brilliantly tipped over for a point by Clara goalkeeper Kevin Meehan. The eventual winners were guilty of some wasteful shooting, as they registered nine wides in the opening half. Still, Edenderry built up a 0-5 to 0-2 lead thanks to points from Ciaran Hurley, Stephen Guing and team captain Richie Dalton. But the more experienced Clara men, who were appearing in their third consecutive county final, hit back with a hat-trick of points from Deehan to go into the break on level terms. When Deehan edged Clara ahead within 45 seconds of the restart, things looked to be finally going according to script, but the 2009 champions failed to score again until the 59th minute as their unheralded east Offaly opponents took control. Dalton tied up the scoring for a fourth time in the 35th minute before Edenderry went three points clear courtesy of points from Dalton and Mark Young (from a penalty, which had been awarded for a foul on a Ciaran Hurley). Trailing by 0-9 to 0-6 with under 10 minutes remaining, the men in white and black threw everything at Edenderry in the closing stages, but all that they could muster was late points from Deehan (free) and team captain Matthew Mitchell ('45) as the Reds held on for a famous victory. Coffey withdraws Meanwhile, Tom Coffey has withdrawn from the running to become the next Offaly senior football manager. The former county star, who guided Rhode to the Offaly senior title and a Leinster club final appearance last year, had been viewed as one of the favourites to succeed Tom Cribbin. However, he has deciding to pull out of the race because of the length of time it is taking the county board to make an appointment. Coffey, who had lined up former team-mates Phil O'Reilly and Colm Quinn as his selectors, told the Irish Daily Mirror: "Tom Cribbin is gone three months and all the other teams have got together, are training and have management teams in place and we find ourselves without one. We made a decision that we're better off out of it. "We are now two weeks away from the close season. The county board have been very unprofessional in how they have dealt with the appointments process." Former Rhode manager Stephen Darby - whose Carbury team lost the Kildare SFC final to Athy last Sunday - and ex Dublin star Jack Sheedy have also been interviewed for the position. However, speculation has emerged that Peter Brady could now enter the frame after leading Edenderry to a shock county final win over Clara last Sunday.