Offaly SFC Final: Clara 2-7 Rhode 1-9

[The Magpie]

What to say here? A game of two halves seems cheap and overused. Biblical references can work: Salvation Lies Within.

Rhode started this County Final in fine form. They pulled a few tricks along the way too. Breaking away from the band slightly prematurely, one or two of them barreled through Thomas Deehan before the two teams had even lined out. When they did line out, Anton Sullivan and Roy Malone played a little musical chairs, which I'm sure had a couple of the Clara backs wondering. The Rhode full forward line that started the match saw Niall McNamee, Roy Malone and Paschal Keelaghan joining forces - the Clara backs were in deep water.

From the first minute, Rhode's intentions were clear - get it in towards Niall McNamee in any shape or form, but preferably high, maximising the full potential of the obvious height advantage that he held over Alan Cronin. And in it came. McNamee won it well, picking up some deserved free's along the way, but also a couple of soft one's. Rhode quickly tagged on 3-4 points, while Clara managed just one. There's no doubt that the wind was playing quite a role in the match, as Clara struggled to break the Mason-Dixon line that was the middle of the field.

About 15 minutes into the match, with the Clara full-back line battling gamely, but under fierce pressure, Michael Rosney and Alan Cronin jumped for the same ball. It broke behind them and into the waiting arms of Roy Malone. Malone strode forward, faked a pass and shot for goals. The ball cannoned off the outside of John Buckley's right-hand post and went wide. Not five minutes later Niall McNamee manufactured a great goal chance for himself, only to see the advancing Buckley dive and block his shot for goal. The ball flew out over the sideline on the stand side of the pitch. The resulting sideline kick was put wide. Two goal chances and no return.

Rhode continued to dominate. All the breaks were kind and Clara, when they did get it down the pitch, made poor decisions. At times, it looked like Clara were settling, but those spells were too short. A late point from John Reynolds (the last kick of the half) saw the teams going in at half time with Rhode leading by 7 points to 2.

The next part tells us as much about psychology as anything else. Clara sat calmly in their dressing room, knowing that they hadn't really turned-up yet. They knew that Rhode had dominated possession and won the vast majority of the breaks, but had failed to score a goal. They knew that only 5 points separated them and that the wind hadn't gone away. Most importantly, they believed, as they have for some time, that they could take a game to Rhode.

I can't claim to know what was said or felt in the Rhode dressing room. However, I'd wager heavily that they anticipated a battle in the second-half. Perhaps they thought about it a little bit too much - when it came, it rattled them hard.

Only minutes into the second-half, Clara had pulled it back to 0-7 0-4 and Rhode looked like they were on the ropes. Rope-a-Dope maybe - I'm not convinced. Rhode made it 0-8 to 0-4 and killed the Clara momentum. They also wasted two good chances to stretch their lead to 5 points. Instead, the two teams traded points before Clara scored another point to bring the scores to 0-9 to 0-6. At this point, we were almost 20 minutes into the second-half. Rhode really only needed to maintain the status-quo or tag on another score to start killing the game. A grass-cutter (the second) from the Rhode goalkeeper didn't travel far before being returned with interest. After a couple of intelligent hand passes, Ross Brady struck the ball low and hard into the Rhode net.

Sides level and the momentum had shifted once more. Rhode, to their credit, responded to this one emphatically. Anton Sullivan fired a peach of a pass through the Clara defence from a sideline and Roy Malone raced onto it to round John Buckley and stroke the ball into an empty net. Within a couple of minutes, Rhode had re-established their three point lead - time was running out for Clara.

Clara came back stronger. Scott Brady was marauding around the middle of the field at this point, while Thomas Deehan looked to have the beating of Brian Darby every time. More importantly, the Clara rookie John Ledwith was doing an excellent job of tying up Niall McNamee. McNamee's shooting at this point became a little wayward and a couple of good chances were spurned.

To and Fro it went until John O'Hara won, lost and then re-won a ball. Looking to offload and without an obvious outlet, he turned for goals. Taking the inside line down along the endline, offering the smallest of targets, O'Hara struck a clean shot that deflected pinball-like off the Rhode goalkeeper onto one of the Rhode backs and then directly into the path of Ross Brady, who fisted the ball into an empty net. Chaos.

Again, Rhode responded. Roy Malone had a second goal chance, that was brilliantly saved by John Buckley. Within a couple of minutes one of the Rhode backs was penalised for over-carrying. Thomas Deehan pointed from 40 yards and Clara led for the first time in the game. After this, at least 6 minutes more was played, but the scores were to remain unchanged. Rhode didn't create another scoring chance.

The previous two County Finals between these sides had been won with twelve points (Clara's 1-9 in 2003 and Rhode's 2-6 in 2006). Clara had hit 13 - this time a lucky omen.

With the wind at their backs, Rhode had looked unstoppable in the first half. They looked every bit the best team in the County. When the full-time whistle blew some 45 minutes later, they were the beaten County Finalists. Clara came into this game believing that they were going to beat Rhode. Scott Brady, when interviewed by the Tribune, told Kevin Corrigan that in no round-about way. There was no fluffing around with political kindness about "how we'd give it our all and see where it brought us".

Scott Brady wasn't bluffing.

[Georgio1]

Well Done Magpie, good poetic right up to get this thread started!
Enjoy the celebrations, well deserved.

[Archangel]

Bad weekend for Rhode as their Junior-Bs were beaten by Ballycommon in the replayed semi-final on Saturday.
Good news for Offaly football in general is Rhode not winning the senior. No disrespect meant, but it keeps the competition keener.

[black and red exile]

Congratulations Magpie and BNM, very well done and well deserved in the end. I think most neutrals will be pleased with yesterday's result, no harm to have a change in the football and hurling this year. An even bigger test now awaits Clara on Sunday week in Newbridge and barring a shock next Sunday it will more than likely be Moorefield in their own back yard so if ye don't go too mental on the beer go and do Offaly proud in Leinster. Well done again.

[Oceans 15]

Congrats to Clara.. I went to the match as a neutral but i found myself shouting for Clara more and more as the match went on as I thought the ref rode them.. How he didn't give a penalty in the 2nd half I don't know and then about a minuite after that Shaper was clearly fouled in the corner...Pascal's tackle on Tommo was a week late and he led with the elbow, he should have been at least booked for it and Tommo didn't even get a free..

[Laoisman]

Very disappointed with Rhode. Their negative attitude from before the whistle which saw their backs roughing up firstly Deehan as he broke form the parade line and then Shaper as well before the ball was even thrown in. This continued for much of the first half and I just can't understand why the umpires didn't bring the attention of it to the ref not that I would have had any confidence in him doing anything as he looked totally out of his dept. Both Deehan and Reynolds could both have also seen red for ther retaliations whch included Deehan kicking Kilmurry in the shins twice in front of two of the doziest umpires I have witnessed in a while not to talk about several digs thrown in between.
Rhode don't need to do this to win games and Im quite sure the players concerned were operating on instructions but it spoiled the first half which had very little football thrown in. I would feel if the players took a more posative approach it would have been just as effective and more like the Rhode team which has been so dominant for last ten years. Eneough said about Keelaghan - just a normal contrary display as everybody expects from at this stage.
That aside both teams are predominantly footballing sides and if this was a derby game such as was played between both Arles sides in Portlaoise previous week there is no way this referee would have controlled it as Eddie Kinsella did by issuing two reds to Arles Killeen players.
Its no harm for Offaly football that a great Rhode team has succumbed to a new champion. I was very impressed with Graham Guilfoyle fom Clara - a new Offaly star in making I have no doubt. Also John Buckley saved the bacon twice and may have been main difference on day.
Hopefully Clara can give it a good go in Leinster but early signs are that Portlaoise will win Laois and look a serious outfit with no team so far coming within 11 points of them. Keep an eye out for a young Cahalane chap just back from Celtic reserves - his movement is electric and he can score goals.

[old yellar]

wasnt at the match, but was there a bit of niggle in the parade before the match?

[True Red]

Any one here have an idea if this match will be shown on TG4 during the week?

[Oceans 15]

wasnt at the match, but was there a bit of niggle in the parade before the match?

Yeah Rhode broke away early from the parade and one of the Rhode players (PK I think it was) hit Tommo Deehan a box at the butt of the lug, one of the other rhode players had a go at him as well..If the rhode players had concentrated on playing football like Roy Malone did and less of the hard man stuff I think the Dowling would be in the village...

Did anyone see what happened the time there was a scuffle in front of the Clara Dugout ???

[The Magpie]

Did anyone see what happened the time there was a scuffle in front of the Clara Dugout ???

I think Richie Harnett stood on a land-mine.

[Lone Shark]

Thought it was Eoghan Byrne who had the go at Tommo myself. I wasn't sure what the logic behind that was, it was the kind of thing that could have gone either way. As it happened I don't think it was really of any consequence, Deehan didn't stand out to any huge degree, but he fairly stood up when the couple of long range frees needed to be iced in the second half. A lot to be said for holding the nerve when it matters most.

It's two days after now and while it's a pity for Rhode who I thought were going to make a great stab at Leinster this year, you have to say that the best team won on the day. I heard rumours (unsubstantiated I must stress) of Rhode people complaining after the match about the referee - I can only presume that these were sunshine supporters if so because everyone around where I was, Rhode or Clara, could see that Cusack was giving Clara an awful going over. I will say that he stood up well at the end and didn't fall for any of Rhode's attempts to engineer a free, but for the first 25 minutes of the second half he seemed to be making a string of big errors in Rhode's favour.

From seeing the game and talking to him afterwards, I was hugely impressed with Pat Flanagan. Obviously his record was strong anyway even before this year, but he seemed like a man in complete control, who was prepared for different scenarios and who knew that it would take a little bit more than just going through the motions and hoping for the break of the ball to beat Rhode. Certainly you'd have to be impressed with the way that Clara were pushing on in the closing stages and appeared to have a lot more zest left in the tank than the Rhode lads. The Ross Brady switch was a masterstroke, as much for how much of a nuisance he made of himself in the position as anything else, And his faith in the younger lads like Guilfoyle and Ledwith paid off in spades as the two young lads came up trumps big time.

I'll be honest too, it's with a little jealousy that you have to admire Clara's unique faith in themselves. There is no other club in Offaly who could have gone into a game like that against a good Rhode team and been so confident in their own ability - and it wasn't just words, you knew by them that they genuinely meant it. They weren't going in thinking that they could "nick" the game or anything like that, they simply felt that they could go toe to toe with Rhode and come out on top, and they were right. That kind of quiet but unwavering faith is a useful tool to have in your armoury and it goes a long way - certainly I'd say when Rhode responded to Clara's first goal with a goal of their own, a lot of clubs would have wobbled in that situation. Clara were pure cool about it and their chance came again in turn.

Worthy champions, and I hope they're savouring it.

[naasmanxrhode]

Kilmacud beaten in Dublin semi final replay after extra-time. This leaves Leinster wide open, Moorefield and Portlaoise will be delighted with this with last years final pairing both out.

[True Red]

anyone got the odds for leinster?

[bula bula]

anyone got the odds for leinster?

Taken from Paddy power
Ballyboden 10/3
Portlaoise 10/3
St. Judes 7/2
Rathnew 11/2
Moorefield 6/1
Garrycastle 14/1
Navan O'Mahonys 14/1
Clara 18/1
Wolf Tones 20/1
Clonguish 25/1
Horeswood 40/1
Mattock Rangers 80/1

[Laoisman]

Agree with most of the comments so far.Was very disappointed with Rhode's negative attitude to handling Deehan and Reynolds. Not what I would have expected from such a good team. Meant there was very little football played in first half and all because the ref couldnt stamp his authority on the game from the moment the Rhode players targetted Deehan as he broke from the parade and the nigggle continued for the whole first half.Rhose can have no issues with the ref - they couldn't take their chances. Very impressed with young Graham Guilfoyle - a future county senior talent. Reckon Portlaoise will take beating in Leinster and those odds very good - no team has come within 11 points of them in their journey to the final. Watch out for young Cahalane just back from Celtic reserves.