Finbar Cullen, who flies out to Australia with the Irish compromise rules team next Saturday, emerged as the outstanding player in the Offaly SFC final replay in Tullamore, in which Edenderry regained the title by defeating holders Rhode. Edenderry, contesting their fourth final in five years, were deserving winners. They grabbed the initiative from the throw-in, opened the scoring to a Peter Brady free after only 20 seconds, and remained in front right to the final whistle.
The outcome hinged upon two penalties. The first saw Cillian Farrell score Edenderry's opening goal in the ninth minute, but even more decisive was the second. This time the award was to Rhode, trailing by two points with three minutes remaining, but to the dismay of their supporters, Declan Gorman's spot kick was saved.
EDENDERRY: D Seery; W Mooney, A Murphy, J Hurst; S Bagnall (0-1), F Cullen, B Malone (0-1); S Connell, J Mullen; M Keogh (1-0), C Farrell (1- 2), J Mason (0-2); P Brady (0-2), S Og Farrell (0- 1), T Kenny. Subs: P Fitzsimons for Keogh, C O'Connell for Mullen.
RHODE: A Daly; P Dunne, K Kelleghan, A Kelleghan; J Kilmurray, B Malone, P Kenny; F Dunne (0-1), D Bannon (0-1); A McNamee (0-1), P Daly (0-4), J Kilmurray (0-1); P Kelleghan (0- 4), R Malone, E Byrne. Subs: D Gorman (0-1) for Byrne, A Murphy for P Daly.
Referee: N Cooney (Offaly).
