Ferbane and Tullamore to face off in Offaly SFC final for second consecutive year

It means that for the seventh year in succession, the county final will be contested by some combination of the two clubs, and Rhode.

Sun, 29 Sep, 2024 - 18:34

Kevin Egan

Comprehensive wins for Tullamore and Ferbane in Sunday’s Offaly SFC semi-finals means that the 2024 county final Sunday week will be a repeat of the 2023 decider, which Tullamore edged by 1-5 to 0-6.

It also means that for the seventh year in succession, the county final will be contested by some combination of those two clubs, and Rhode.

Last year, Edenderry came agonizingly close to knocking over Tullamore at the semi-final hurdle but they were a beaten docket by the midway point in the first half of their clash with the county champions today. Playing into a strong breeze, the Blues opened the scoring with a Cormac Egan goal, and when corner back Daire McDaid added a perfectly-placed penalty to his early point, they were six points to the good at a time when Edenderry needed something to defend.

There was a considerable element of “what we have, we hold” to Tullamore’s play from then on, as they dropped very deep, suffocated the Edenderry attack, and after leading by 2-2 to 0-2 at half-time, added just two points to their tally in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

Alan Harte pushed a goal chance wide for Edenderry early in the second half while John Furlong made a vital block to deny Seán Doyle another potential green flag for the underdogs, and with space opening up for Tullamore in the final quarter, Egan and Harry Plunkett fired a couple of points each to see out a 2-8 to 0-5 win for the home side at Glenisk O’Connor Park.

While Tullamore sit second on the Faithful County’s roll of honour with 29 senior titles, it’s been almost a century since they last retained the title in 1926. They will be warm order favourites to do so against Ferbane, who bounced back well from a strong start against Shamrocks but saw county senior hurler David Nally helped off the field with a shoulder injury.

Shamrocks picked up a shock one-point win over the West Offaly club in the group stages of this year’s championship, and when they exploded out of the blocks to lead by 1-3 to 0-1 after 12 minutes, another big day for the ‘Rocks looked to be on the cards.

Jack Bryant got an excellent early point and then showed good positional awareness to get a flick on Scott Delaney’s long delivery and with his back to goal, guide the ball past David Dunican in the Ferbane goal.

However with a strong wind at their backs, they needed to build on that, and instead added just one more point in the next half hour of football.

Oisín Kelly, Cathal Flynn and Leon Fox all went well for Ferbane in the middle third as they took control of possession, helping the inside forward line of Cian Johnson, Joe Maher and Darragh Flynn to rack up the scores. Seán ‘Chip’ O’Toole prevented the favourites from doing even more damage, as the former county underage goalkeeper made two excellent saves to repel goalbound efforts from Darragh Flynn and Jack Clancy.

At 1-4 to 0-7 at half-time, Ferbane were in the driving seat at that stage, and this was even more the case when Darragh Flynn scrambled the ball over the line to make it 1-11 to 1-4 midway through the second half.

Shamrocks replied well and Jack Bryant palmed the ball to the Ferbane net to undo that goal, and he brought his tally to 2-2 with a point soon after.

However Ferbane always looked potent on the break and they clinched their win when at the end of a fast break, O’Toole did brilliantly to block another Flynn goal attempt, but the corner-forward still made it a personal haul of 2-5 on the day when he found the net with a cheeky back-heel on the rebound.