In a thrilling finale to the Offaly Senior Football Championship, Tullamore emerged victorious with a 0-15 to 0-14 win over Ferbane. Having not successfully held onto their title since 1926, Tullamore managed to barely secure the win in an intense final clash. The match was a sharp contrast to last year’s finals where they had secured the victory with a 1-5 to 0-6 scoreline. This time around, the game was much more vibrant and enthralling for the audience.
Ferbane, who have faced numerous bitter losses following their last victory in 2019, came pretty close to a triumph this time. The early part of the game saw them trailing by 0-4 to 0-2 after the initial 11 minutes. However, they bounced back in the second quarter, turning the tables with a stunning seven-point streak between the 15th and 23rd minute, thus ending the first half leading 0-9 to 0-5. During this period, they exhibited exceptional footballing skills with John Furlong also chipping in with a free kick.
Nonetheless, Tullamore managed to regain the balance in the latter half, pulling things back to 0-9 each in about 40 minutes. A free kick by Joe Maher finally got Ferbane back on track, but it wasn’t enough to keep Tullamore at bay. Tullamore were leading 0-11 to 0-10 by the 48th minute, but a spirited Ferbane fight back, including a point from Cian Johnson and frees from Darragh Flynn and Joe Maher put them in the lead, 0-13 to 0-11, with just five minutes remaining. However, it was Tullamore who had the last laugh, retaining their title after a nail-biting finish.
Tullamore put on an impressive come-from-behind display. Notable contributions came from John Furlong who scored from the field, Harry Plunkett who balanced the scales with a clean kick from a foul, and excellent points notched by Daire McDaid and Diarmuid Egan put Tullamore ahead by two points well into stoppage time. Cian Johnson added late points for Ferbane from a foul, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a memorable victory for Tullamore.
The TULLAMORE squad consisted of C White, P McConway, D Hogan, D McDaid who contributed one point, N Bracken with two points, J Furlong who added four points, three of them from fouls, O Keenan-Martin, A Leavy, A Hensey, C Bourke, M Brazil, C Egan with one point, L Egan, D Fox with one point, H Plunkett with five points from fouls. Reserves included D Egan with one point who played for Hensey after 30 minutes, N Furlong who replaced L Egan after 52 minutes, M Fox who substituted D Fox at 62 minutes, S McCabe who came in for D Egan at 65 minutes.
The FERBANE team was made up of D Dunican, P Taaffe, C Cahill, J Egan, K Nugent, L Fox, S Wren, O Kelly, K Higgins, B Carroll, C Flynn with one point from a close-range kick, J Clancy with one point, C Johnson with three points, one of them from a minute, J Maher with six points all from penalties, D Flynn with three points, two of them from fouls. Substitutes were D Nally who replaced Carroll at 34 minutes, S Nally for Clancy at 46 minutes, D Kelly replaced Higgins at 62 minutes.
The match was officiated by E O’Connor from Ballycommon.