Rhode and Tullamore advance to Offaly football final
It was an unbelievable weekend in Tullamore as both Offaly senior football semi finals needed extra time - and even penalties in one case - as Rhode and Tullamore progressed to contest the Offaly senior football final in a fortnight.
Yesterday saw the first ever penalty shootout in Offaly championship football as Ferbane and Tullamore couldn’t be separated after 80 minutes of football with the sides deadlocked at 1-14 o 0-17.
Reigning champions Ferbane had to level the game both in normal time to force extra time, and in extra time to force penalties but their luck ran out as Tullamore won the shootout after sudden death.
After Johnny Moloney missed his sudden death kick for Tullamore, Shane Nally had a chance to win it for Ferbane but his effort failed to find the net also.
Ciaran Egan dispatched and Sean Flynn missed for Ferbane and Tullamore were through after a mammoth battle winning 9-8 on penalties.
The other semi final saw extra time needed to separate local rivals Rhode and Edenderry. Rhode had the better of the early stages but Edenderry found their feet and looked set to cause an upset only for an injury time point from Ruairi McNamee forced extra time.
The Rhode men kicked on in extra time with a goal from the exceptional Niall McNamee proving the vital score as they won out 1-14 to 0-13 and moved on to the decider between the two most successful senior clubs in Offaly GAA history.
