Ruari McNamee all set for ninth successive final

YOU can argue that Walsh Island's six in a row winners from 1978 to 1983 was Offaly's greatest ever club football side. You can make some sort of case for the great Ferbane side that won five in a row from 1986 to 1990 – Walsh Island's run is distinguished by the fact that it came during an era when Offaly football was winning Leinster and All-Ireland titles and while Ferbane's started just three years later, the great decline was gathering pace.

There were great Tullamore and Rhode sides in the past but no club can match what Rhode have achieved in the past twenty five years. After winning the Dowling Cup for the first time in twenty three years in 1998, Rhode have embarked on a breathtaking run of success. They had a traumatic few years during which they just couldn't get the better of their then great rivals, Edenderry.

They lost to them in replayed finals in 1999 and 2001, suffered devastating defeats in other big games, including a replayed semi-final against Tullamore in 2002 when they threw away a big lead in the drawn game. When they lost the 2003 final to Clara, it looked like Rhode's 1998 win was a flash in the pan but it was actually the forerunner to Offaly's greatest, most sustained run of dominance.

They won three in a row from 2004 to 2006 and 2016 to 2018 along with championships in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2020. They went from 2001 until a defeat by Edenderry a couple of years ago without losing a group game, they were beaten in finals in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019 and they have been in every final since 2011 – when Edenderry pipped Clara by a point.

No other club in Offaly has had such a prolonged period of success and the enormity of their achievement was showcased with a simple revelation from joint captain, Ruari McNamee last week – now 25 years of age, he first played senior football for Rhode in 2013 and has competed in every single final since then.

He will be aiming for his sixth medal in Sunday's final against Tullamore and when it was suggested that this is a really incredible record, he replied:

“It is really. At the beginning of the year, you just set out your stall. The first thing is to try and get back to a final. It seems a long way away at the beginning of every year but there is a lot of work that goes on fronm the first training of the year and getting to a stage like this. We would like to think this is not by accident.

“It is good. In any sports team, you like to try and keep going for as long as you can. It is no secret that we are getting a bit older and turning into an ageing team but, look, we just have to manage ourselves a little bit better and keep the production line going.”

While the generation before him won a bagful of underage medals, Ruari McNamee was one of a different breed of Rhode footballer that enjoyed very little success in his early years. Yet Rhode have remained top of the tree.

“We are trying to produce footballers here every year. We are a small little village and if we can produce a handful of footballers off every underage team that comes through, I think we will be doing something right.”

The Rhode team on Sunday will include Ruari's brother Conor and first cousins, Alan and Niall McNamee. The family involvement does make it all that bit more special for him.

“It does, it is great to have Niall and Alan there. They have been great role models for myself and Conor, especially growing up. We always wondered would we get to play football with Alan when we were growing up. Now I have had eight or nine years, Conor maybe ten so it is great to have them.”

There is a very different, more normal feel to this year's final than last year when Covid-19 uncertainty stalked the land.

“It is nicer. Last year, we had a bit of uncertainty around it and championship games were called off. There was a bit of uncertainty even going training, what way things were shaping up. This year, we have had a clear run at it. We were training earlier in the year.”

Rhode ended up holding on to beat Tullamore in last year's decider but were way the better team on the day. McNamee revealed that they didn't analyse their win too much.

“Yeah but that was last year and there was no Leinster campaign after the final so we parked that there and then. We just said from January and February this year, we had a new goal and that was to get back into the county final. Thankfully we have.”

This year Rhode suffered a shock first round defeat to Durrow with an understrength team before recovering.

“Obviously it wasn't in our plans, we don't go out to lose any game. We probably had to ask ourselves a couple of questions after the first round, re-evaluate where we were at and internally say, where to we go from here. From there, there has been a gradual increase in performances but we know there is a big massive task next weekend. We were understrength against Durrow but from an outsider looking in who didn't really know the Rhode team, it was just a below par performance. We are after building a squad over the last number of years that is strong enough to win most games, we would like to think, but we were just under par that day.”

The quarter-final against Shamrocks was probably Rhode's best performance of the year.

“We did well against a tough Shamrocks team. A couple of things went our way that day. Every game is different, no two games are the same so we are just focussing on the final.”

McNamee agreed that Tullamore are playing much better this year than last year.

“I saw a couple of their games. They are probably on the other side of things. We are quite an old, ageing team, they are starting to produce some brilliant young footballers. I am sure for the next number of years, Tullamore are going to be there or there abouts every year but we just have to deal with them.”

He agreed that Rhode have been playing well without fully firing.

“Yes, after every game, you have a quick recap and you think, what did we do good and what did we do bad. We feel after every game that there is room for improvement the whole time. We will hopefully get that right on Sunday.”