Rhode 0-12 Clara 0-9
Rhode moved to the top of the Offaly SFC roll of honour this afternoon with their 28th county title, secured at the expense of Clara in a lacklustre encounter at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park.
Paschal Kelleghan’s side never looked like rediscovering the form that brought them all the way to the 2016 Leinster club championship final but they never had to really dig deep to beat a Clara side that looked bereft of ideas going forward.
In the end Rhode looked that bit less prone to making errors in the closing stages and with Niall McNamee accurate from frees, they were able to close out the win and hold off their enthusiastic but otherwise bereft opponents.
It was hard to discern any real county final atmosphere in the early stages of the contest, as both sides struggled to get out of second gear for any meaningful length of time.
Rhode took two points from their first two attacks, a self-won free from Niall McNamee and a 30-metre point from play from his cousin Rúairí McNamee, while a sweetly struck ’45 from Niall suggested that the reigning champions might be set to kick on and put the game beyond doubt in the early stages.
That turned out to be a false dawn however as the supply of ball into their high-powered forward line dried up, with both teams mounting slow and ponderous attacks and taking huge amounts of time to work the ball up the field, or even to turn over possession.
Rhode were still well poised at 0-5 to 0-1 in front after 18 minutes, but their deep-lying stance invited Clara to come on and attack, and the underdogs did just that, firing over three points just before half time to cut the gap to two.
Another six minute scoring drought kicked off the start of the second half but when two fine Pa Smith points in succession drew Clara level, the prospect of an upset loomed large.
A goalmouth scramble saw corner forward Luke Dignam coming within the length of his toe of prodding in a goal that would really have put Rhode under pressure, but that was one of several missed chances to finally set this game alight.
A defensive error allowed Rúairí McNamee to put Rhode back in front when he blasted the ball over the bar with just the keeper to beat, and while Clara continued to battle hard in the middle third in a game where eight players were shown yellow cards, late points from Niall McNamee and Stephen Hannon wrapped up a forgettable win for the Offaly club.
They now look forward to a battle with Portlaoise in Tullamore in the first round of the Leinster club championship in two weeks’ time.
Rhode: K Garry; J McPadden, B Darby, J Kavanagh; S Hannon (0-01), N Darby, D Kavanagh; A McNamee, D Garry; P Sullivan, R McNamee (0-02), C McNamee; P McPadden (0-01), A Sullivan, N McNamee (0-08, 0-05 frees, 0-01 ’45).
Subs: C Heavey for D Kavanagh (45), S Sullivan for Garry (45), G McNamee for P McPadden, M Rigney for R McNamee (60+2)
Clara: J Deehan; C Doyle, R Slammon, L Monaghan; M Mitchell, C Stewart, J Ledwith; T Deehan (0-03, 0-02 frees), R Brady; R Mitchell (0-01), J O’Hara (0-02), P Smith (0-02); S Brady, G Guilfoyle (0-01), L Dignam.
Subs: J Fleming for O’Hara (36 – B/C), D Fleming for Smith (53), D Falsey for M Mitchell (56), P Deehan for Dignam (59), A Gavin for Ledwith (60+2)
Referee: Ger Keyes
