Offaly Senior Football Championship 2013

[kingscounty]

Here we go again championship time is here. Should be a few good games this weekend , St.Brigids v St.Rynaghs - Il go for brigids win here , if Casey is on form he will be hard to stop . Clara v Edenderry - A big first round clash , nothing between these two teams over the past few years, Edenderry have 5 or 6 players in with Offaly so they should be in good shape , Clara got over the reds last year in the semi final and it should be tight game ,il go with a draw here. Rhode v Tullamore - It will be interesting to see how the new Rhode management get on in their first championship game , Rhode to win by 6 points .

[puzzled]

Paddy Power odds for the weekend games are
Rhode 2/7 Tullamore 3/1
St Brigids 8/15 St Rynaghs 7/4
Clara 8/15 Edenderry 7/4
Tubber 4/5 Walsh Island 6/5
Ferbane 4/6 Gracefield 11/8
Erin Rovers 4/5 Ballycumber 5/4

As always the first round could throw up a couple of surprises but its hard to dis-agree with the above
Perhaps a Ballycumber Walsh Island double might be worth a few quid?

[Bord na Mona man]

Are there any prices for draws?

[beirut]

Good time to start the 2013 Tipster??

[summerindublin]

Rhode 2/7 Tullamore 3/1 Rhode
St Brigids 8/15 St Rynaghs 7/4 Croghan
Clara 8/15 Edenderry 7/4 Clara
Tubber 4/5 Walsh Island 6/5 Tubber
Ferbane 4/6 Gracefield 11/8 Draw
Erin Rovers 4/5 Ballycumber 5/4 Ballycumber

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Rhode 2/7 Tullamore 3/1 Rhode
St Brigids 8/15 St Rynaghs 7/4 Croghan
Clara 8/15 Edenderry 7/4 Clara
Tubber 4/5 Walsh Island 6/5 Walsh Island
Ferbane 4/6 Gracefield 11/8 Ferbane
Erin Rovers 4/5 Ballycumber 5/4 Ballycumber

[puzzled]

[quote="Bord na Mona man"]Are there any prices for draws?[/quo

Odds for draws

Rhode v Tullamore 8/1
St Brigids v St Rynaghs 7/1
Clara v Edenderry 7/1
Tubber v Walsh Island 13/2
Ferbane v Gracefield 7/1
Erin Rovers v Ballycumber 6/1

[kingscounty]

Clara 3-12 Edenderry 2-14 . This was a very open game with alot of twists and turns. Edenderry got off to a flying start with 3 well taken points and then Clara opened their scoring with a goal that never should have stood as the ref who in my mind was very poor let the Clara forward pull back Hanlon and Clara got the goal that seemed to lift them as they went on to score 3 goals before they got any points. Edenderrys back line were all over the shop in the first half and Guilfoyle was winning all the ball on McGuinness and he ran and created alot for Clara. Mark Young was the reds best forward and the goal he got was a top class chip over the keeper . The county men didnt stand out much , Kelly wasnt at the races and Dalton was totally out played by Scott Brady . Both sides looked like they will be hard bet and should come out of the group handy enough. Crazy thing happened with the ball in the 2nd half , its was kicked in by the reds high and it looked like it was going over , but then it hit the crossbar, once, twice and did a dance on the bar before Clara got it and cleared it , crazy.

[Lone Shark]

Clear evidence over the weekend of the gap between the top three and the rest. Rhode were excellent against Tullamore and while I didn't catch the Edenderry vs Clara match, both the final result and indeed the reports I've heard would suggest that it was a very high class encounter, with lots of good scores and two excellent all round sides. On that basis, I'd have to say that while many people decry the standard of football in the county generally, there are plenty of counties that don't have three good clubs - what would Laois give to have someone compete meaningfully with Portlaoise?

As for the rest, there weren't too many positive signs. Obviously I'm delighted that Ferbane got their season off with a win, but Gracefield's poor shooting was the key factor here and this was a game where we just about hung on rather than necessarily won the match. I'm delighted for the lads who are working hard and ultimately two points against a decent opponent is very important in a group where there won't be too many handy victories for anyone, at least not for anyone who isn't Rhode. It's very early to say definitively, but it's reasonable to assume that when it comes down to the quarter finals, it'll be all important to finish in the top two in Group one, since we can say with a reasonable chance of accuracy that it will be Clara and Edenderry who finish one and two in the other group and avoiding those two clubs would make a big difference.

Gracefield are very strong around the middle and with a little bit more potency inside, they could have won this game with a bit to spare. Ruairí Allen was very sharp as a full forward and if he had natural snipers playing alongside him, they'd have the basis for a very good side. I'd wonder here if we might say Shane Lawless play a more prominent part as the year goes on? Excellent outing too for Keith Mullally at wing back, who continues to improve significantly.

On our side you could say that Gerry Grehan's early injury was a blow, Aidan Keenaghan was playing his first game and should improve, while Colin Egan also was a huge addition when he came in and we'd be a better team if he was fully fit too. We still need to get a lot more out of several guys, but my biggest positive was the full back line - each of the three back there were excellent and if you defend well, you always give yourself a chance.

Ballycumber marginally deserved to beat Erin Rovers, again because of better scoring. Rory Guinan missed a couple of chances but took some nice points too, while the game provided the kind of spark you'd expect from this pairing. Rovers should have had two straight reds in the first half - Richie Fox and Declan Kelly both should have walked - so on that basis the result was probably the right one, even if it was a sloppy goal that was the main difference. Rovers have lost all the Lynams - Kevin, Paddy, Alan and Keith - that's far too many good players to lose for a club like them. No sign of Carmine Russo either, who would add something to them.

Frankly some of the football here was very poor - both sides have a lot of work to do if they're to take advantage of a soft group. A key point from this game too was the terrible refereeing of David Walsh. In a game with a lot of bad players, he stood out as a beacon of incompetence. I don't normally like to be harsh, but Declan Kelly threw two clear punches at a Ballycumber guy in the first half and failed to connect cleanly. However Walsh clearly saw it, because he gave Kelly a yellow card, as well as the Ballycumber player who did nothing only take the punch. The fact that he obviously saw this and still came to the conclusion that he did is farcical and I'm happy to stand over my criticism of him.

Shocking stuff in Durrow between Brigids and Rynaghs. 0-1 each at half time says a lot. Brigids folk were very confident coming into this one and frankly I was confident for them, but teams from North Offaly consistently seem to under-rate Rynaghs football and they got caught out again here. I'd still expect Croghan to make the knockouts and Rynaghs to have a tough battle to avoid the drop - though they should be able to avoid it.

By all accounts Tubber were very poor in the second half of their game against Walsh Island, who probably were the only club from the middle of the pack to stand out over the weekend. Again I wasn't at this one, but Willie Mulhall was seemingly on fire, kicking points from all over the field. Great to hear from an Offaly perspective, hopefully he can carry that form up to the next level. I thought myself that Walsh Island would struggle to carry the loss of players like Rory Connor and Gary Comerford, since they don't have a lot of depth in the panel down there, but this was an impressive performance on the face of it, though time may tell us that Tubber are in trouble. Right now that seems to be the case.

[offalyman18]

Was at the edenderry vs clara game, very open game good to watch. Clara lucky with two very easy goals but showed good steal to come back after been down by 6/7 points in second half. Clara missing a few also against a full strenght edenderry team. Thomas Deehan was a different class took the game to edenderry from the get go someone please get him in with offaly we need another danger man to take some pressure of niall!

[westender]

Any results from the Senior and intermediate championship from the weekend

[DAF]

Was at the edenderry vs clara game, very open game good to watch. Clara lucky with two very easy goals but showed good steal to come back after been down by 6/7 points in second half. Clara missing a few also against a full strenght edenderry team. Thomas Deehan was a different class took the game to edenderry from the get go someone please get him in with offaly we need another danger man to take some pressure of niall!

Bringing Thomas Deehan back into the panel would be a severe step backwards for Offaly. He has had his chance, let some younger players have a go.

[SearingDrive]

Any results from the Senior and intermediate championship from the weekend

Edenderry beat Erin's Rovers, Tullamore winners over Ferbane, and Gracefield won v Walsh Island. Rhode beat Tubber.
Results on Aertel page 460, and on today's Irish Indo.

[kingscounty]

Just wondering if the edenderry v croghan game is on tonight? I heard from someone that it was called off till Sunday is this right ?

[Plain of the Herbs]

From the County Boards Twitter page

T.C.H. SFC edenderry v st brigids now on Sunday at 4pm in rhode

https://twitter.com/Offaly_GAA