Unfinished business the spur for Rhode

Leinster Club SFC final : Ian O'Riordanon the 22-times Offaly kingpins' latest attempt to finally attain provincial success

Rhode manager Stephen Darby describes Sunday's Leinster club football final as "unfinished business" - and it's easy to see why. Having won a third successive Offaly county title they're now ideally positioned to end the longest wait in the club's long history, and which involves making the ultimate impression at provincial level.

The small, rural club - founded in 1888 - have now won 22 county titles, and yet success in the Leinster championship has been hard to find. Two years ago, when winning the county title after a six-year gap, Rhode came up against Portlaoise and suffered a fairly humiliating defeat, beaten 3-10 to 0-4.

Last year they were determined to make amends, and having secured another county title, they strode past new Laois champions Stradbally, setting up a semi-final date with Kilmacud Crokes - their polar opposites from the dense, affluent suburb of south Dublin. Despite forcing them to a replay, they eventually lost out by two points.

So to this season, and with their third successive county title out of their way, their path to Sunday's final has been loaded with intent, first in beating Carlow champions Palatine, and then Dublin's Goliaths for this year, UCD. All that's left now are Kildare champions Moorefield.

"Yeah, we have made another bit of progress all right," says Darby, manager during those three years. "But I suppose we do feel we have some unfinished business. We've come to the final hurdle now, and if we don't jump over it, and clear it, well it will be very disappointing, and hard to recover from, really.

"We know winning three county titles in succession is a fair achievement, especially in the modern game. But then you only have to look at a club like Crossmaglen, who have won something like 11 in succession now. So I think it's our chance to make a real statement now, that this is our year. That's why we're so focused on this game. As I said, it does represent something of a final hurdle for us."

Rhode made something of a statement in beating UCD a fortnight ago - 2-6 to 1-8 - in what represented further progress for the Offaly side. Still Darby makes it clear that everything has been geared towards Sunday's final - and their chance to win a first Leinster title for the club.

"We have a clean bill of health, thankfully. We won't finalise our team until tomorrow evening, but we don't expect to be making too many changes from the team of the last day. Of course, beating UCD was a major achievement, because everyone knows that UCD are a formidable side. And it was a very important game to come through.

"But we've moved straight on from it. There was no way we could afford to dwell on that victory. Our focus switched straight on to this game on Sunday, because that's going to be another huge challenge for us.

"But whatever happens, we just want to make sure we've given it our best shot. There's a real danger of that not happening if we think for one second that we've got anything won. It's quite the opposite, and we'll have nothing to show for all our effort unless we win on Sunday."

Darby knows all about teams giving their best shot. He was a substitute in Offaly's famous All-Ireland victory of 1982, appearing just before his brother Séamus came on to score the goal that shattered Kerry's five-in-a-row ambitions. Unlike that Offaly team, Rhode will start Sunday's final as favourites, not that Darby is paying any attention to that.

"Of course, we're taking absolutely nothing for granted. There hasn't been too much talk about Moorefield but I know the challenge they represent. First of all, they've come through four games, against teams from three different counties, and so their record in their last few weeks alone is very good.

"But they've also been in the top three club teams in Kildare for the past few years now. They've had a real rivalry going with their neighbours Sarsfields, and have a number of players of real county standard."

As, of course, do Rhode - and with the likes of Niall and Alan McNamee, Roy Malone and Pascal Kellaghan on board there is plenty of reason to believe their time has finally come.