The Man Behind The Wire: Offaly Senior Football Championship team of the year

USE THE ARROWS ABOVE OR NEXT BUTTON BELOW TO SEE THE NEXT POSITION AND PLAYER

Goalkeeper - Corey White (Tullamore)

Corey White had a steady year for Tullamore. He made very few mistakes and was a solid last line of defence, conceding just three goals in five games.

Tullamore returned to the summit in the Offaly Senior Football Championship in 2023. After suffering a devastating defeat to Rhode in the 2022 final, they bounced back very well in 2023 and were the best team in the championship.

After qualifying comfortably out of their group, they survived a major scare against Edenderry in the semi-final but controlled the final against Ferbane, even if they left the door open in a 1-5 to 0-6 win. That was a very low scoring final, drawing a lot of adverse comment, though the dreadful weather conditions were a definite factor in that.

Rhode failed to reach the final for the first time in several years, losing out to Ferbane in a thrilling extra time shootout in the semi-final. They were very close to making it through but didn't fully ignite this year and they had to lose out on a final at some stage.

Apart from that, the championship more or less went as expected, though Clara's relegation for the second time in three years was a bit of a surprise.

Edenderry struggled for a good bit. They weren't convincing in the group and Durrow let them off the hook in the semi-final but they almost took out Tullamore out in the semi-final. Durrow performed well in their group but didn't put Edenderry away when they had the chance in the quarter-final.

Bracknagh did well to get out of the group but staying up was the summit of their ambitions and this was reflected in the quarter-final where Ferbane blew them out of the water.

The other big talking point of the year has been Tullamore's dominance in football.They have won Senior, U-20, 15 and 13 Football Championships and are just one game away from a clean sweep – they play Cloghan or Rhode in the minor final on November 12. It is a fantastic year for Tullamore but it does raise big challenges for all the other football clubs in the county.