Tullamore 1-05 Ferbane 0-06
Tullamore made amends for their narrow defeat to Rhode a year ago by recording their 29th Offaly senior football championship title at the expense of Ferbane in a tense and physical battle at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore this afternoon.
With both sides incredibly fit and athletic, but equally with no forward lighting up the occasion, it spoke volumes that going into stoppage time, no player had managed to score more than once. It was a day for defenders, with Declan Hogan, Leon Fox, Daire McDaid, Conor Butler and man of the match John Furlong all imperious.
Between the 22nd and 58th minute, the two teams added just a single point each, as despite the best efforts of referee Chris Dwyer, the contest struggled to build up any continuity or flow.
However just when it looked as if Furlong’s point in the 58th minute might settle matters, there were moments of real drama to give the 4,160 supporters in attendance something to remember.
Tullamore goalkeeper Corey White made a stunning save to deny Jack Clancy a goal, Cian Johnson almost tested him again but was smothered out and had to settle for fisting a point, setting up one last kickout.
The town side were able to win that last restart and create a free, from which Michael Brazil confirmed their win with the last action of the game.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a period of settling in as these two clubs that have known plenty of tense, heartbreaking defeats in recent years, found their feet. However even after a tense and scoreless opening five minutes, there was still no sense that this game was on course to be the lowest scoring Offaly final since Tullamore beat Cloghan by 0-08 to 0-01 in 1956.
Harry Plunkett took advantage of a mistake by the Ferbane goalkeeper to tap over an early free to break the deadlock, county hurler Jack Clancy replied with a point for the West Offaly side, and while scores weren’t flowing freely, much of this was due to poor finishing, rather than any excessive level of defensiveness or fear in the tactical approach of the two sides.
A run from Cormac Egan set up Luke Plunkett for a goal midway through the first half in a score that threatened to ignite the game, and when Oisín Keenan-Martin and Joe Maher traded points, it seemed like these two championship front-runners might settle into a spell of trading scores.
Instead, Paddy Clancy’s score with 22 minutes gone was to be followed by 36 minutes in which the two teams scored just a single point each, with the commendable levels of physicality of the game forcing a sky-high error count, including poor wides, misplaced passes and spills in the tackle.
John Furlong made a huge diving block to deny Ciarán Cahill, Patrick Taaffe and Jack Clancy also missed good chances, and while there was one last kick in the men from West Offaly, they couldn’t quite find a way to get themselves back on level terms.
Tullamore: Corey White; Declan Hogan, Daire McDaid, Paul McConway; Oisín Keenan Martin (0-01), John Furlong (0-01), Nigel Bracken (0-01); Aaron Leavy, Aaron Hensey; Harry Plunkett (0-01, free), Diarmuid Egan, Michael Brazil (0-01, free); Dan Fox, Luke Plunkett (1-00), Cormac Egan.
Subs: Luke Egan for H Plunkett (half-time), Niall Furlong for Fox (48), Jay Sheerin for Keenan-Martin (48), Mike Fox for D Egan (57).
Ferbane: David Dunican; Patrick Taaffe, Ciarán Cahill, Conor Butler; Kevin Nugent, Leon Fox, Shane Nally; David Kelly, Paddy Clancy (0-01); Cathal Flynn, Jack Clancy (0-01), David Nally; Joe Maher (0-01), Ronan McGuire, Darragh Flynn.
Subs: Cian Johnson (0-03, 0-01 free) for McGuire (half-time), Conor Grennan for D Nally (40), James Nally for Kelly (44), Jack Egan for D Flynn (47), Stephen Wren for Cahill (60+2).
Referee: Chris Dwyer.
