Record maker Alan McNamee more focused on success for the club

ALAN McNamee may have won a recording equalling 13th Offaly Senior medal in Rhode's victory over Tullamore on Sunday last but personal accolades meant little to him afterwards, it was all about the club.

“Rhode have 31, that's all I'm worried about,” he said when asked about his achievement, which equals Damien Martin's haul of 13 senior hurling medals with St Rynagh's.

He was extremely happy with the victory and described it as “probably one of the sweetest ones of all time. I suppose we were written off after last year. I remember reading in the paper that people were saying it was like the changing of the guard in Offaly football. There is no doubt that was a huge driving force for us this year. We probably hadn't a great year all year. Even today the two teams were sussing each other out for a long time but just thankful that we found that gear that we needed coming towards the end of the game. Just delighted to get it over the line, it's as sweet a victory as we ever had here in O'Connor Park.”

Being written off like that seemed to fuel the team this year?

“It was mentioned a couple of times during the year. There were lots of reasons we wanted to win this year. We lost a great team mate last year, we had a lot of injuries last year. A few club legends are after passing away and we had another tragedy this year, so we are thinking of all those people today. Everyone has their own reasons just to drive on. As Niall said, there is a special bond between the players, it's special every time we cross that white line here in Tullamore. Just a sweet feeling to be able to finish it off here in Tullamore today. Just delighted, we are going to enjoy this now,” he added.

The Rhode veteran said the wind was a big factor. “We were hoping to play with it in the first half to be honest, so we had to readjust the plans before the start. The wind is always a factor. The two teams were sussing each other out there for long spells. Tullamore, there's no doubt they have a lot of talent there, huge talent, good footballers, seem to have a good attitude, but people were saying last year there was a changing of the guard. We had three of four fairly bad injuries last year, key players as well. Would Tullamore have beaten us if those boys were fit? It's hard to know. We lost Niall Darby again this year. Let's hope the two teams will have everyone fit next year and we'll go at it again,” Alan said.

Alan won his first medal in 1998 and all these years later at the age of 40, he is still making a significant contribution to Rhode's cause and he was asked how he kept going?

“It's just about minding the body, getting the porridge in in the morning and the two litres of water every day,” he laughed.