Tullamore always in control as football final fails to sparkle

By Kevin Egan

For the past three seasons, a disappointing Offaly senior football championship was at least crowned by a memorable, exciting final. Not so much last Sunday where Tullamore were always in the driving seat, once they responded to Ferbane’s early 0-3 to 0-1 lead.

By the end they were six points up (2-16 to 1-13) but unlike any of the previous three finals, this wasn’t a game that could have gone either way. Tullamore owned the ball, they were in complete control defensively, and if they needed to add on more scores in the closing ten minutes, they possibly could have.

It’s been a magnificent year for the town club, who have won three championships at adult level and continue to be the dominant force at the underage grades too. This Saturday they are the clear favourites to win the minor final against Edenderry, adding to the U-14 championship that they’ve already secured.

What this says about the wider health of the Offaly club football scene is another matter, though it’s only after the Leinster club championships are played that a reasonable judgement can be made. Ballinagar will be perceived as one of the outsiders at intermediate level, though St Brigid’s look like a side who can be competitive in the junior grade after they produced a wonderful county final display against Edenderry last Sunday.

The primary barometer, however, will be the fate of Tullamore. If Paul McConway and his players can find a way to come through a fiercely difficult first round tie in Leinster, it would certainly go a long way towards easing the discomfort that is being felt all around the county at the prospect of a longstanding Tullamore hegemony, a dominance unlike anything the county has seen before.

When Ferbane and Walsh Island went to four-in-a-row, they were established powers at a Leinster level, with provincial titles to their name. Rhode never got to four, but their three-in-a-row teams also won more games than they lost outside the county. The sides that were struggling to live with those powerhouse teams in Offaly at those times, could at least take solace from believing that the team that was so much ahead of them was probably in the top ten club teams in Ireland, perhaps the top five. Mike Solan might argue differently but Offaly football could really use the boost of Tullamore extended their season into December.

For all the talk of individual players making the difference, it was Tullamore’s dominance of the war for kickout ball that powered their win – yet when Ferbane did have the ball, the absence of Cathal Flynn from their side was keenly felt.

Cian Johnson was accurate in his finishing, Jake Maher didn’t have the impact that he would have liked but he also drew the attention and energy of John Furlong for most of the game, and for an 18-year-old to break even in that contest says it all about where the bar is for him. Leon Fox showed leadership and did well against Harry Plunkett and there were others who achieved passing grades for their performances.

But there was no single Ferbane player who elevated their standards anywhere close to the level that we’ve seen from Flynn in recent finals. Against other clubs, where there were perhaps other weak spots to attack, the absence of that spark of magic wasn’t fatal – against a team like Tullamore, his mercurial touch was needed to try and balance the books against the overall competence, structure, depth and quality of the winners.