Father v son in Offaly SFC 'B' final

Benny O'Briend during his time in charge of St Brigid's

A most unusual subplot to Saturday’s Offaly SFC ‘B’ final between Ballinagar and Tullamore is the involvement of a father-and-son on opposite sides.

The Glenisk O’Connor Park decider pits Ballinagar’s highly-decorated manager Benny O’Brien against his son and Tullamore half back and S&C coach Kevin in what may well be a first in a county final. The pair have already crossed paths in the group phase and in challenge matches, but this time the stakes are considerably higher.

Speaking to the Offaly Topic, former St Brigid’s, Kiltoom and Tullamore boss Benny downplayed the father versus son clash: “It wouldn’t be a big thing in our house.

“When I was over St Brigid’s and Rosemount, we regularly played Tullamore in challenge matches and I would have managed against Kevin in those. So, it won’t be something new. He’ll go out to do his job and I’ll go out to do mine, and we’ll shake hands after win, lose or draw.

“It’s certainly unusual – I think it may have happened before in hurling when Joe Dooley managed Seir Kieran against Shane and Tullamore – but that wouldn’t have been in a county final. I might have to check that with Kevin who wrote a book about the Dooley brothers a few years ago!”

Benny added: “Kevin lives in Dublin where he works as an S&C coach, so I mightn’t see him again until the day of the final. But there wouldn’t be a big fuss made about the father-and-son thing either way.”