Goal evoked memories of Seamus Darby's goal for Rhode manager

IN the week when Offaly footballers celebrated the 40th anniversary of their All-Ireland victory over Kerry thanks to that never to be forgotten goal from Rhode's Seamus Darby, the winning goal in Sunday's county final evoked memories of that goal for Rhode manager Declan Gorman.

“The first thing that popped into my head was the 40-year anniversary of Seamus Darby, the week that was in it and Ruairi scores a goal from a high, long dropping ball. The right man in the right place and a cool customer, he took it fierce well,” said the manager.

Declan guided Rhode to the title previously in 2018 and he was delighted to be back in the winners enclosure again.

“It feels great and it's probably only just sinking in now bit by bit. It was an unbelievable game and we knew it was going to go to the wire,” he said. “The goal made the difference and whoever got the goal was probably going to push on.

“Conditions made it a game of two halves. We were disappointed with some of the play in the first half but two points down with that breeze at half time we were probably happy enough.”

Rhode got the first score of the second half with Anton Sullivan's point after just 24 seconds and that was an important score.

“It was important, we said to them that we have to put the pressure on them. Even if we could get it back even level or go one ahead, we would be able to push on then and that opened things up a bit at the back. It still boils down to the goal but we probably didn't push on after the goal. They still came back and levelled it. Maybe it was that bit of experience that has been talked about the last couple of weeks but you are not going to win a title without some bit of experience.

“We have been in a lot of tight battles before, in Leinster and Leinster finals, and you learn from your defeats. We have been building up that bank of knowledge over the last 15-20 years and on days like today you just use it,” the manager said.

Rhode kept Tullamore scoreless for the first 18 minutes and that was an important factor.

“Alan McNamee dropped back there and he does that job for us. That probably cut out the long ball in for them. Then we were forcing them to kick from distance. That would have given us a bit more confidence and maybe sucked a bit of life out of them but at the end of the day we still had to hold our focus at half time because if you had to go down by five or six then the pressure would have reversed back on to us.

“I suppose you can talk about it but you literally don't know until probably a minute before the game starts with the toss, it's a quick reset. We were happy enough to be 0-5 to 0-3 down against that breeze, we knew if we could get a few early scores that they'd have to make up their mind, either push on or sit back. A goal was going to be the difference, we got the goal and kind of controlled it even though we probably let them back into it. We probably sat back into our shell a little bit but we knew once the forwards got space that we'd get scores,” Declan added.

Anton Sullivan was a doubt coming in but he turned in a man of the match display.

“Maybe sometimes rest is what they need, sometimes you can work them too hard. His main focus was recovery and being right for today and in fairness, he did everything by the book.

He got man of the match there and he deserved it, he kept working. He's going to be sore for a few days but he won't worry about that.”

Asked where this victory ranked amongst all Rhode's titles in recent times he replied: “I've heard a lot of comments here in the last hour saying it is the sweetest. Maybe it is the sweetest because you are underdogs for the first time ever and when the underdog wins it is a fairytale story.”

He said the underdogs tag wasn't really much of a factor.

“We never really talked about it. We knew from us being favourites before that there is a lot of razzamatazz that goes on with it, people build it up. That brings its own pressure so from lads going around whether it is in College, at work or at home, saying you are favourites, you'll win, to being asked what's your chances, it flipped a bit. But we never talked about it. We just trained for a final.

“We said we'd sit back because it was coming to us for years, any county title is sweet but to win one back against the team that beat you last year that's probably sweeter again. But Tullamore aren't going anywhere, they're going to be thinking this week about taking it back next year and that's the way they operate,” he added.

“The semi-final built a huge resilience. When a game goes to penalties, it's better than a bonding session. It builds a huge resilience and as a management team, you know the boys can go to the well and dig deep.

“I didn't say it to the lads but I said it to the management, Tullamore hadn't been tested. They were winning games comfortably enough, but you need a test for the big day and I think the lads knew that after the semi-final that we could go there,” the manager said.

Rhode now have a break until the first weekend of November when they will take on the Meath champions in the quarter final of the Leinster Club Championship.

“We have six weeks, which I only found out the other day as we weren't looking too far forward, but for planning purposes I looked into it. I couldn't believe it was six weeks because normally you would have two weeks and you would be trying to coax the lads back to the field on the Tuesday or Wednesday. We haven't even made plans yet but at least we will be taking two weeks off to let the bodies get a break and enjoy this one.

“I know the Offaly final is early this year and Meath, I think their championship is only at semi-final stage. The team that we are playing will probably have a couple of more games under their belts. Where do you go looking for a challenge game at this time of year? But we won't worry about that now. We will enjoy the couple of days and I'll have to put a plan together with the management team.”