Hurling and football 50-50 for Ferbane's in-form dual player Nally

HE may be a key member of Johnny Kelly's Offaly senior hurling panel and he won't be holding his breath waiting for a phone call from Declan Kelly but football and hurling are very much 50-50 for Ferbane senior footballer David Nally.

It is not that Nally wouldn't interest the new Offaly senior football manager but Declan Kelly won't be seeking to facilitate any dual players and it is hurling that he has reached the higher level at.

The youngest of three brothers on the Ferbane side facing Tullamore in Sunday's Senior Football Championship final, David Nally is a very good, tidy, consistent and versatile footballer. He has been in fine form as Ferbane have returned to the county final and showed his value to the team with a super display as they eliminated county champions Rhode in a thrilling semi-final extra time shootout.

Born and bred in football territory in Ferbane, his establishment on the Offaly senior hurling panel went against the grain in the area but was a result of the local arrangement where their hurlers play with Belmont.

Apart from his geographical location, football seeped through his DNA. His father Eddie is from Ballymahon in Longford, an area not exactly renowned for its hurling prowess and his mother, Mary is from one of Ferbane's most cherished footballing families, the Flynn's – her brothers, Kieran, Brendan and Kevin were excellent performers during a golden era for Ferbane from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s.

David Nally's hurling progressed from a young age and he has hurled with Offaly at all levels. Thus, his answer comes as a small bit of a surprise then when he asked about the role football plays in his life.

“It's 50/50 really. I'm from Ferbane, live in Ferbane and football is the sport that I grew up with. I just got to play underage hurling with Offaly all the way up and it just transpired from there. A lot of people ask me this. You couldn't pick one really.”

How did you get going with hurling so well?

“I don't know. I was playing underage and always kept going. We had a good group of young lads. Then when we got to U-20 we beat Dublin in a Leinster quarter final and a lot of that group has built the backbone of the Offaly senior team at the minute. You get to know the lads, keep playing with them and it's enjoyable.”

Family ties help to keep football very close to his heart. Older brothers Shane and James are in the Ferbane defence while first cousin Darragh Flynn has been in excellent form in the attack – Flynn can anticipate a call from Declan Kelly.Another first cousin Ronan Flynn in in his first year on the panel and Nally smiled:

“I didn't have to look too far for inspiration. There are a lot of set of brothers on our club. It could be eight or nine. That is probably the best part of the club, playing with your family and friends.”

He won a Senior Football Chamopionship medal with Ferbane in his first year on the team in 2019 but since then has endured a sequence of horrific semi-final defeats, both for Ferbane and Belmont. Ferbane lost three semi-finals in a row, two of them on penalties while Belmont suffered a few devastating defeats as they sought to break through to the final – the 2022 semi-final defeat by Shinrone was particularly brutal for them. They were hard pills to swallow but he took it on the chin:

“That's part of sport. You just have to get on with it. Last year was probably the toughest one – the Shinrone game – and then a week before penalties to Rhode. It took a while to get over last year.”

The dual dynamic between Ferbane and Belmont provides its headaches but it has worked.

“Look it's easier when you're winning. A lot of it is down to Ger and Niall, the two managers. They call the shots. We're not being pulled left, right and centre. It's tough but a lot of us are in the same boat. There are probably ten/12 of us playing dual. It has its ups and downs too and that.”

He talked about their semi-final defeats on penalties, to Tullamore in 2020 and Rhode in 2022.

“Since it's been brought in you have to go along with it. There's nothing we can do about it. Unfortunately we're on the wrong side of it twice now. Thank God it did not come down to that the other day. We were fearing the worst. It could have gone that way again.”

Ferbane powered home in extra time against Rhode two weeks ago when a stronger bench made all the difference.

“Especially this year now, we have really built a strong panel. There's seven or eight subs there that are up to senior level. You can pick anyone of them to come on and change the game. We have built a strong panel and that probably worked well on Sunday.”

It will be their third meeting with Tullamore this year and Ferbane have lost in the league final and first round of the championship. They were understrength for the first round.

“In the first half we were slow to get going and Tullamore punished us with three goals in 15 minutes and it was nearly game over at that stage. We found our feet in the second half and played fierce well. The same against Durrow, we stuttered over the line. We powered home in the second half against Clara. It has been patchy enough but lads came together on Saturday.”

He agreed that their knockout form has been good.

“ Rhode probably had a few challenges matches themselves in the four week break. We were lucky with our first two knock out games, the Clara game and the Bracknagh game, to get up to speed.”

When Ferbane ended a 25 year famine in 2019, they looked good enough to win more but it hasn't happened since.

“You probably take it for granted when you get to your first final. You probably think it's going to happen every year, especially with all the underage success we had. That's when you get caught, when you take it for granted. We found out fairly quickly the following year that's not the case. We have lost to Tullamore and Rhode in semi-finals since we won it last.”

Nally is one of a golden generation that won the full set of underage medals from U-14 to 21 and then capped it off with senior. Forward protege Cian Johnson has been on all those teams with him since they started at U-6 level. Sean Flynn has also been there but he agreed that they need to win a second.

“We have lost some good people since our last one. Even two former chairmen are quite sick, Ollie (Daly) and Noel Clarke. It would be nice for them to see one more. It means a lot to people in Ferbane.

“There is a lot of history here. Players who played with Offaly and the county titles they have won. It is a huge football stronghold in Offaly.”

“We should have a lot of confidence the way we are playing. Since the league final and the first round a lot of football has been played. In the group stages there is probably a lot of shadow boxing. Anything can happen in the county final. At the end it's down to the day.”