LEINSTER SFC CLUB FINAL:NINE WEEKS is a long time to wait for a Leinster club football final, but in terms of winning it, Rhode's wait feels more like an eternity. Sunday's showdown against Kilmacud Crokes – twice postponed last month due to the weather – marks their third Leinster final appearance in five years, and despite being renowned as the heavyweights of Offaly club football, they've yet to taste outright victory.

They’ve been challengers throughout the history of the competition, from the early 1970s when they boasted such players as Paddy McCormack, the two-time All-Ireland winner with Offaly, better known as the Ironman from Rhode.

But while Offaly club Gracefield in fact won the first Leinster club title in 1970, and Walsh Island and Ferbane have won it since, Rhode are still searching, believing their day will come.

They probably thought their day had come two years ago, when also playing Kilmacud in the final. They had the Dublin champions under big pressure for long periods, but still lost out in the end. Kilmacud went on to win the All-Ireland.

Two years before that Rhode also lost the Leinster final to Moorefield.

That’s what is at stake on Sunday – the chance to make amends for recent defeats and finally capture the coveted prize. It’s no secret that Kilmacud are without several first-choice players, but Rhode aren’t being distracted by that.

Long-serving manager Tom Coffey is concentrating purely on his own game plan, which will be boosted by the return to the starting line-up of Roy Malone.

Nine weeks ago, in their Leinster semi-final against Skryne, Malone came on with 10 minutes to play, and promptly finished the decisive goal – giving Rhode the 2-11 to 1-10 victory. Malone’s goal was significant in other ways too: in 1997, he scored the goal that secured Offaly an unexpected win over Meath in the Leinster minor final. Coffey was also on that team.

“This is the third Leinster final for a lot of our players,” says Coffey, “and you’d hope they’d have learned something each time. It’s not new ground. But at the end of the day Kilmacud are one of the top clubs in the country. They won the All-Ireland two years ago with the same management, and we’ve no doubt they’ll be a big challenge.

“We just hope we’ll get into it okay, and maybe get a break on the day.

“Right now we have everyone ready and well for Sunday. Roy had been out injured before the Skryne game. He’s 100 per cent fit now. It’s been a long time coming round, but I think it means the lads are just looking forward to it even more now. And to do themselves justice.”

Like Kilmacud, Rhode have been trying to stay focused on a game they were originally meant to play on December 5th.

With Christmas and New Year in between the snow and ice that can’t have been easy: “Obviously with the conditions there was nothing we could do there for a while,” says Coffey. “And there were no teams available to play either. And they had to mind themselves over Christmas, food wise, and alcohol wise. But we’d like to think we came through all that okay.

“But in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a couple of practice games, against the Offaly seniors, and the under-21s, so we’ve been trying our best in the circumstances. But I think they’ve kept the focus alright. They’re a great bunch, 30 very committed lads.”

The key to Rhode’s chances on Sunday will be consistency over the hour, a lack of which has been their downfall in the past.

They dominated Skryne for the first half of the semi-final, with Niall McNamee leading the way up front, before suddenly letting their Meath opponents right back into the game.

Sunday represents the chance to put that right, and with that claim the one title that they’ve so far let slip.