Rhode’s Conor McNamee gets the ball away despite the presence of Tullamore trio Kevin O’Brien, Luke Egan and Michael Brazil. Photo: Ger Rogers

Rhode find a way to win yet again

By Kevin Egan

It would be easy to say that last Sunday’s county senior football final resulted in a most un-Rhode-like victory for the Village club. But perhaps the biggest compliment that could be paid to Offaly’s most successful football club is that there is no Rhode-like way to win, other than they will find a way, based on thorough analysis of their own strengths and weaknesses, and those of their opponents.

Against Tullamore, Rhode realised that contesting possession at midfield didn’t suit them, and neither did spending large chunks of time chasing the ball.

Tullamore brought a younger, more athletic team into battle, and Rhode needed the Blues to expend their energy chasing the ball, rather than running down the throat of the Rhode defence.

So they used the short kickout brilliantly, particularly 20 to 30 metre chips to a retreating midfielder just inside their own 45m line, and that both served to retain possession, and to drain Tullamore’s energy reserves.

Executing this game plan required immense physical strength to take hits, and immaculate use of the ball in their passing game to keep possession in the hands of a man in green and gold. Enter Alan McNamee, who produced arguably one of the best county final displays of his rather ludicrous collection of appearances on that big day, 24 in all, including replays.

McNamee was key to Rhode moving the ball around, he was the instigator behind the vital score that was Ruairí McNamee’s goal, and he found space to pick up several of Ken Garry’s kickouts into the bargain.

Up front, Rhode had to be patient, and they had to be efficient – the traditional Rhode style of direct foot passing and moving the ball quickly from one end of the field to the other was never going to apply here. Anton Sullivan’s point 25 seconds into the second half proved that they had the mental strength to deliver on this front. Rhode scored just three points in the first half, all from Niall McNamee frees, and Sullivan was still able to make the most of his opportunity and split the uprights once he got the chance to do so.

Naturally, there were still several key moments that could have changed the game. If Ciarán Egan had taken his chance at the start of stoppage time to put Tullamore one up, would Niall McNamee have been in so much space when Anton Sullivan punted the ball into his chest for the decisive mark? Probably not.

Would Rhode have won if Johnny Moloney was able to hang onto Alan McNamee’s high ball, or if he just chose to break it away, towards any one of the three Tullamore defenders that were closest to the action? Probably not either.

But that’s football. Rhode were able to identify a game plan that put them in a position to win; they were able to execute that plan, and they had the nerve to prevail in a tight finish. Yet again.