Edenderry GAA Club turn clock back in bid to resurrect senior football fortunes

EDENDERRY GAA Club have turned the clock back in a bid to turn the tide at senior football level, appointing one of their most distinguished personalties as joint manager for 2026.

Peter Brady, one of the greats of Offaly football, will be joint manager alongside another local man, highly rated coach Greg Farrelly.

Brady was the manager when Edenderry won their last two Senior Football Championship titles in 2011 and 2015 while Farrelly has guided the Offaly ladies football team with considerable success.

Edenderry have decided to stay local with their management team, resisting any temptation to go with high profile outsiders.

The head coach is another local man Adrian Farrell. Farrell managed Daingean in recent years, leading them into the Senior “B” Football Championship and he is the Offaly minor football manager this year.

Michael Bryan, father of player Kaelem Bryan, and Colm Cummins, Offaly GAA secretary for four years until stepping down for 2025, are the selectors while Ciaran Breen will be overseeing- strength and conditioning and fitness work.

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The new managers replace former Edenderry and Offaly footballer, Richie Dalton. Dalton's decision to step down after one season in 2025 came as a bolt from the blue as Edenderry had made progress. The unavailability of some of his management team was a factor in that decision while the scale of Edenderry's defeat in a Senior Football Championship semi-final horror show against Ferbane formed part of the background.

Edenderry played well in the group last year, emerging as title contenders. They destroyed an out of sorts Rhode in the first round and while they eased out of their group, that proved to be the high point of the year. They entered the semi-final against Ferbane in a very confident frame of mind but didn't perform on the day and that loss has sent them back to the drawing board.

Edenderry's aim for 2026 will be a straightforward one: to win the Dowling Cup for the first time since 2015. They should be contenders, though Tullamore remain favourites and Ferbane have been better in recent years. In Lee Pearson, Rory Egan and Jordan Hayes, they have three established Offaly senior footballers. Harry Goulding has joined the panel this year, they have a potentially deadly forward in Cian Farrell and some other exciting talent emerging onto the scene.

They also have a big corner to turn and the jury remains out on them but they have obvious potential.

Peter Brady's lead role is the standout feature of the new management team. It had been known for some time that Edenderry were lining up a local set-up and that Adrian Farrell was likely to have a role to play.

A prominent business man in Edenderry, with a very busy local shop, Brady has had the midas touch in the past. He was a marquee forward during a long playing career, bursting onto the Offaly scene shortly after the 1982 All-Ireland senior football win. He was Offaly's star player during a bleak spell in the late 1980s, 1990s but played a key role when they returned with a Leinster Senior Football Championship and National Football League win in 1997 and 1998.

Then in the veteran stages of his career, he was a deadly forward, scoring three excellent points in the shock 1997 Leinster final win over an understrength Meath.

He was an outstanding performer for Edenderry. He won his first Senior Football Championship medal with them in 1985 and him and Finbarr Cullen were the star players as Edenderry won further titles in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001.

They entered into decline after that, suffering relegation just a short few years later. They returned to senior when winning the Intermediate Football Championship in 2007 and Brady was instrumental in their revival in the top flight.

Within a short few years, they were champions again and Brady's role was significant. He threw down the gauntlet on commitment, insisting that players give their full commitment to football and not lose time with other codes. This was a factor in a remarkable 17 players being allowed to transfer to neighbours Ballyfore at the start of the 2011 season, yet they were champions at the end of it.

Brady certainly worked the oracle that year and he was back at the helm when they regained the Dowling Cup in 2015.

They have endured a tough time since that. They have been among the short list of possible champions each year but have suffered a spate of devastating semi-final defeats – ranging from bad luck to controversial to just poor. Now they have the players to turn the tide and you can be sure that the management team will be leaving no stone unturned to bring them back to the forefront.