AIB Leinster Club SFC final: Rhode (Offaly) v St Vincent’s (Dublin) (tomorrow, Portlaoise, 2pm, live on TG4)
RHODE know more than most about the difficulty of breaking Dublin dominance. Of four provincial finals they’ve lost over the past decade, three defeats have been by capital clubs.
St Vincent’s gave them the biggest beating, by 10 points, just two years ago, with two other losses coming against Kilmacud Croke’s in 2008 and 2010.
Moorefield of Kildare were Rhode’s conquerors in 2006.
As with the inter-county scene, every other team in Leinster knows they probably must beat the Dublin side in order to achieve ultimate success.
Dublin clubs have won the last four Leinster Club SFC titles, seven of the last nine, nine of the last 13.
What’s more, the scale of the task facing Rhode is that Vincent’s have become THE team to beat in Dublin and, therefore, Leinster.
Vincent’s are aiming for their third provincial crown in four seasons – they would probably be aiming for four-in-a-row only for their shock defeat by Ballyboden in last year’s Dublin decider. St Enda’s went on to crush Castlebar Mitchel’s of Mayo in this year’s All-Ireland final.
In contrast to Dublin’s dominance, and despite Rhode’s best efforts, Offaly’s last Leinster winners came fully 30 years ago, when Ferbane beat Portlaoise.
Rhode, clearly, are very good on the Leinster scene – just not good enough. They’ve reached the provincial final an all but one occasion after their last six Offaly triumphs, missing out only in 2010.
The ace in their pack is Niall McNamee, the tremendously talented inside-forward. His importance to Rhode is illustrated by the fact he scored eight and was involved in three more of their scores in the 0-12 to 1-5 semi-final success over Louth champions Sean O’Mahony’s.
Previously Rhode had ripped apart Gusserane of Wexford but were then well tested by Meath’s Simonstown, who lost 1-9 to 1-12 after having star Shane O’Rourke sent off.
Unsurprisingly, Vincent’s have more better-known players, notably Dublin star Diarmuid Connolly, his former county colleagues Ger Brennan and Tomas Quinn. Their attack also boasts rising Dublin star Shane Carthy and ex-Mayo forward Enda Varley.
The inflicted a double scores defeat on Carlow champs Palatine – 0-16 to 0-8 – and beat surprise Longford representatives St Columba’s, Mullinalaghta 2-12 to 0-11.
Lines of form are hard to draw from those previous results but recent history suggests that Rhode may suffer again, and Vincent’s celebrate once more.
