Long serving Offaly forward announces departure from county football

A LONG SERVING Offaly senior footballer has announced that he will not be part of the panel in 2026.

Rhode attacking ace Ruari McNamee officially informed team mates and management of his decision this week.

While not yet 30 and comebacks can never be ruled out, it means that McNamee's lengthy career in the Offaly jersey is probably at the end.

He has been one of the best Offaly forwards during his career and has given great service to his county. A lovely silky forward with an eye for the posts, he had loads of natural talent and his potential was obvious from a young age.

He had the distinction of playing county minor for Offaly for three years, the last in 2014 when he also played for the U21s. He went onto play U21 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 – it only changed to U20 in 2018 when minor went to U17.

McNamee made his senior debut for Offaly in 2016 and featured prominently in every campaign since then. He played mainly corner forward and centre forward for the county and his best position was probably centre forward. Accurate from play and frees, he possessed a high skill set, the ability to beat players at close quarters and was very effective as a play maker.

While McNamee is young enough to go on, his decision is not a big surprise and had been widely anticipated after Offaly's Tailteann Cup campaign was ended by Kildare in the quarter-finals this year.

He started in the league wins over Sligo and Laois at the start of the season but has been on the subs bench since then, coming on in most games. With Offaly making sparse use of their bench, he was one of the players who was regularly thrown into the fray and he was very effective in some of those games. He almost won the Tailteann Cup group game against Laois, scoring 1-1 off the bench, though he then conceded an unfortunate late penalty as the neighbours snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

He also contributed very well in the preliminary quarter-final win against New York, scoring 1-2 as Offaly pulled out of sight in the second half. His last game was in the quarter-final loss to Kildare.

McNamee has been a star for a fantastic Rhode team for the past decade plus, winning a host of senior football medals and he has been one of the players that has made them tick.

He was outstanding in the first half of their surprisingly heavy defeat by Edenderry in the first round of the Senior Football Championship last Saturday, firing over four quality points. In the past couple of years, he has found it harder to last the full distance in games and the new rules create new challenges for all players but he will continue to be one of Rhode's main men and bows out of county football with his head held high.

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There is also speculation that Ballinagar man Morgan Tynan has opted out of the panel for next year. A member of the 2021 All-Ireland U20 football title, Tynan saw little action this year, though he was on the subs bench in nearly every game.

Another gifted young attacking protege Cian Johnson is in line for a return. A brilliant underage player, Johnson hasn't played for Offaly since 2020 but looked like he was back to his best in Ferbane's easy win over Ballycommon on Friday, scoring 1-6 of his 1-9 from play. It is the best he has looked in a few years and the Offaly management will have noted his sharpness and equally as importantly, his fitness and hunger levels.