Rhode (Offaly) 3-9 Éire Óg (Carlow) 0-4:RHODE LEFT full-forward Niall McNamee gave a clinical exhibition of finishing, notching 1-7 - 1-5 from play - as the Offaly champions overpowered Éire Óg of Carlow in this semi-final at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow, yesterday, in horrendous conditions before an attendance of 2,000.
McNamee inserted the first nail in the Éire Óg coffin on 16 minutes after he was awarded a dubious penalty. The home support claimed the foul was committed outside the large square but Wexford referee Syl Doyle awarded the penalty. McNamee's shot was saved by goalkeeper Michael Hennessy but he followed up to crash the rebound to the net.
Éire Óg made no use of the wind advantage, shooting seven first-half wides while only recording three points from Alan Curran, Tommy Dowling and an Eric McCormack free. The home side would not have been flattered to lead going into the second half but spurned too many chances. A first tally of 1-3 from McNamee, plus by a pointed free from Niall Darby, gave the Offaly champions a 1-4 to 0-3 half-time lead.
And what followed early in the early minutes of the second half killed off any hope of an Éire Óg comeback. With less than a minute on the clock, Rhode right-full forward Anton Sullivan struck for a goal with the home side claiming a square ball. But the score stood and when, for an encore, full forward Paschal Kelleghan rammed home his side's third goal, the men in green and gold were on their way to a Leinster Club final date with Kilmacud Crokes, the Dublin champions.
A Niall Darby point for the visitors left Tom Coffey's men 3-5 to 0-3 to the good and out of sight. Although Rhode had centre back Shane Sullivan issued with a straight red card minutes later, it made little difference to the trend of the game which was now almost totally in the visitors' favour.
Éire Óg brought on five substitutes, including veteran Willie Quinlan, the last link to the glory days of the 1990s for the Carlow side. But Rhode remained very much on top, using the swarm defence to great affect.
The home side was denied anything in the way of decent supply of ball to their attack, which badly missed the injured Simon Rea. The Carlow champions had defeated Kiltegan of Wicklow and Longford's Colmcille after a replay, but the step up in class proved too great a leap.
Playing bright, inventive football Rhode were simply in a different class to their opponents and, having now beaten two sides with genuine club championship pedigree in Portlaoise and Éire Óg, will now move forward with no little confidence to face the Dublin champions.
The Rhode full forward line was lethal on the day, accounting for 3-7 of their side's total.
It was a measure of Rhode's superiority that Éire Óg went from the 21st to the 55th minute without scoring - James Ryan's point was their only score of the second half.
RHODE:C Masterson; D Murphy, J Kilmurray, B Darby; C Heavey, S Sullivan, E Byrne; P Sullivan, A McNamee; N Darby (0-2, one free), R Malone, G O'Connell; A Sullivan (1-0), P Kelleghan (1-0), N McNamee (1-7, two frees). Subs: D Hope for Malone (49 mins); P Glennon for O'Connell (58 mins); G Hickey for A Sullivan (58 mins); J Kavanagh for Kilmurray (59.
ÉIRE ÓG:M Hennessy; J Ryan (0-1), S Myers, V Kavanagh; A Byrne, C McCarthy, B Hennessy; C Bolger, S Gannon; B Carbery (0-1), A O'Brien, T Dowling; E McCormack (0-1, free), C Mullins, A Curran (0-1). Subs: P Kingston for McCormack (37 mins); E Phelan for Gannon (38 mins); W Quinlan for Mullins (42 mins); D Farrell for Dowling (43 mins); K Hession for Curran (44 mins).
Referee:S. Doyle (Wexford).
