Unforgettable number two for victorious boys in blue

BREAKING away from family photographs with the gleaming Dowling Cup and a chorus of 'Come on you boys in Blue', Cathal Daly's smile was shining as brightly as the trophy itself.

As a player he won an All-Star in 1997, an honour which ensured that Offaly became the first ever county to have an All-Star in every position in both football and hurling.

Flip the calendar forward 17 years and he has played his part in penning another little piece of Offaly history by helping coach Tullamore to their first senior football championship two in a row since 1926.

But for a player who stood in the very same pitch after losing a county minor final against Clara back in 1992, he didn't at all sugar coat how difficult beating Ferbane was.

“The most uncomfortable hour I've ever had in a long time,” he remarked.

“But that's county finals for you. I know at the end of the day, it can be a bit of a cliché, but games take on a life of their own and you have to be able to find a way within that to come out the right side of it.

“It's to the credit of the lads that they did that. They dug deep, and deeper probably than they knew they could go and found a way, which is brilliant.”

Did he fear the worst when Tullamore went five points behind in the first half? “There is that label of us that we get in front and we eke out wins. So to be fair, maybe it's great that this happened because we were in a big hole and we dug ourselves out, and I think we dug ourselves out playing some really good football.”

He (pictured below with Ken Furlong lifting the Dowling Cup in 2007) noted how important it was that Tullamore could bring in a player like Diarmuid Egan from the bench.

“Diarmuid had a bad injury in the league final and we knew from the last couple of weeks that he was chomping at the bit. We could see from his enthusiasm that he was back in the group, back contributing in training big time, so I'm delighted for him. To miss all bar 30 minutes of championship action and to do what he did when he came in was a credit to him.”

Before the final, Daly was keen to play down the possible influence Tullamore's near century long quest for back to back titles could have.

His assessment after his team clawed their way to that second successive title?

“I don't necessarily think we let it weigh on us but somewhere in the back of your mind when things are going wrong, this sort of stuff can creep its way forward into the way you're thinking and can affect you and again, credit to the lads, they just blocked it out, they didn't say this was never meant to be, we're not meant to do a two in a row,” he said.

“They didn't take it as a sign when they went five points down, they just went – no way, this is a game of football and we go after it and we win, that was the attitude at half-time. And it was led by them.”

This Tullamore team is certainly one which mixes youth and experience. At one end of the age scale stands Paul McConway (pictured below after the 2021 county final victory), 38 years of age and now unable to count how many county medals he has collected.

“I don't know, four or five,” he stated after that one-point defeat of Ferbane.

He paid tribute to his teammates for helping him add to his medal haul: “A fantastic bunch of players. That was incredibly tough today. In fairness to Ferbane they put us right to the pin of our collar and it was nip and tuck right up until near the end.

“I feel certainly blessed with some of the players I have around me. They kept me going. They definitely got me three or four extra [medals] anyway and prolonged my career. Them lads are a special bunch of players and hopefully they go on for a lot longer now as well.”

Eighteen-year-old Cillian Bourke represents the other side of the youth and experience axis. He belied his tender years in a first senior final by playing so well it was a toss-up between himself and another youngster John Furlong for the man of the match award.

“A tough game, they're always tough. You're never going to get a championship easy, it's always going to be tight and I'm just glad to get out on the good end of it,” said Bourke.

Asked if he was concerned at half-time when Tullamore were four points down, he replied: “I wouldn't say concerned. I suppose it's always in the back of your head that you can lose it but I feel that as a group we're so tight and we always look after each other and we're always drive on. We're a second half team and we always do it in the second half.”

Did he feel himself that he was making a critical contribution in the second half?

“I just go with the flow of the game. You can always talk about individual performances but the team performance was always there, we just came together as a group in the second half and we performed to the best of what we can do and we showed our determination and we showed dignity to stick together as a team.

“The big players stepped up towards the end. Diarmuid Egan was only coming back [from injury] and he stepped up. That's what you need in a group, you need those big players to step up and get you an individual score, and every score is needed to win and I feel that's what's important for us.”

Talk of a three in a row has already begun and for Tullamore's emerging golden generation it's a challenge to relish.

But what of the older crew? Will they return? Paul McConway is unsure: “It's too early to say. You have mixed emotions at the moment, it's just after the game, we're after winning, but look, it's not getting any easier, put it that way. But they're an incredible bunch of players and fair play to Ferbane because they pushed us right to the end.”

This is Cathal Daly's second year as coach so surely the club will try to hold onto him and the entire management team?

The former corner-back's response was to smile and say: “We'll see. That's probably for another day.”