Offaly Senior Football Club Championship 2011

[offalyman08]

It's only after the first round when you see the full list of who's around and who's missing from the action that we'll begin to get a reasonable idea of how most clubs are fixed. If we take the past couple of seasons as a base, then Rhode and Clara are a good way out in front of the rest and that's going to be difficult to bridge when we see that the two main contenders for the past couple of years - Tullamore and Shamrocks - appear to be losing some of their best players.

I presume the fact that I saw Kevin Williamson captaining Athlone Town last Friday means that he won't be lining out for the Blues either? Tullamore have a good second string and I don't think we'll see them lining out with any junior standard players in the SFC, but you can't lose three excellent club players (and possibly capable of county football) in Moloney, Brazil and Williamson and not feel the effects. Particularly when they needed more scoring support for Shane Dooley, not less.

While I don't think Shamrocks will be title contenders, I remain to be convinced that there isn't a fair degree of playing the poor mouth going on as well. I appreciate that they have problems, but even if you do lose key players, the fact that their juniors reached the county final last year suggests to me that there are more than a few players in the club that are capable of stepping up a level.

There is a middle tier there of Ballycumber, Tubber, Ferbane, Edenderry and Walsh Island, any of whom would be 50/50 to beat any of the others in that group on a given day. Every club in that group has problems, and every club in there has real advantages. For Ballycumber they are a settled group that rarely lose heavily to anyone, even the best of clubs, but you'd have to be concerned about how few footballers from the club have featured on county underage teams in recent years. Tubber are still very low on depth but you'd have to respect how Bernard Allen has become an elite player in Offaly in the last while and he'll be very hard stopped by anyone, while in general they are a young group with a fine leader in McManus. For obvious reasons I hope they get off to a bad start and they probably don't have the capability of beating both Clara and Rhode in the one year, but to me they are one club who could conceivably spring a one off surprise, and certainly would fancy themselves against anyone outside the big two. Put it another way, I reckon there's a 90% chance that it's either Rhode or Clara who'll win again, but if that doesn't happen, Tubber would be my dark horse against the field.

Ferbane rarely look like hitting fifteen scores in a game and they will certainly find it hard to balance the amount of dual players they have this year (Shane Nally and Liam Browne both went off injured against Lusmagh last night) but a lot of the current minor team look very talented and while they have a long way to go, it means that there is plenty of pace and a few options for impact subs in every game.

When Edenderry figure out how to close out games that they always seem to find a way to lose, they'll be some team. Losing all the lads that were just as committed to soccer won't hurt them and the one asset they have is that Seán Pender is in my opinion the best pure man marker in the county. Most clubs in Offaly have at least one very good forward - very few have a top class defender. That in itself gives them a chance.

Walsh Island every year have four or five excellent club players, a good hard core but they always seem to me to have to field one or two lads that aren't up to it to make up the numbers. Rory Galvin is a decent prospect and he'll probably play a significant part, but Willie Mulhall hasn't progressed in line with his natural talent and Gary Comerford has to be finding it tough to keep up by now. It's hard to see where they'll find enough improvement to really give Rhode or Clara a game, and in general I suspect I may be tipping against them this year as the fixtures progress.

As for the rest, well any of the lazy analysts who say that they expect Erin Rovers to go down simply doesn't understand Pullough football. Too many people east of Clara simply don't appreciate how there are quite a few talented players in this club and every one of them to a man will live and die for the blue jersey. They'll ship a heavy beating against Rhode and possibly Tullamore too, but they will target the other three games and they'll win at least one. I certainly don't expect them to go down.

Rynaghs are also better than some people give them credit for, and have plenty of good young footballers to flesh out a capable group of older players. If they get a reasonable level of commitment from the dual players they'll more than hold their own and I would expect them to sneak a quarter final spot.

Gracefield really do look to be in bother. It's not that the loss of Ciarán Kiely is a huge deal in and of itself, but as part of the bigger picture, there's something not right over there. Ruairí Allen was very poor in the under-21 championship and for a guy that I expected to turn into a real talent, he has regressed a lot. After a half decent start to the league they have been putrid in their last three matches and sadly there is a long history there of the club disintegrating when the pressure comes on. I believe that John O'Neill and one of the two Fitzpatricks will be back later in the year and they'll help, but the situation might be beyond retrieval at that point.



As for the big two, well there's nothing I can say that everybody doesn't already know. There's little or nothing between them in each of the last three years, both sides have a good chunk of the county team in their ranks and both sides have had their fair share of good underage teams. It does look to be drying up a bit now, but that won't tell a tale for some time. If I was a bookie and these two sides were playing in a county final tomorrow Rhode would probably be 8/11 or 4/6, and I can't see that changing too much until they do, in all likelihood, meet in O'Connor Park in October.

Williamson is a huge loss to Tullamore if he isnt playing. I would have thought they were the only team to challenge Clara & Rhode but seen how many genuine players they've lost i reckon it will be a two horse race. I dont think Rhode are as strong as they were and the loss of Jack Killmurray, Glenn O'Connell and probably Roy Malone will hit them hard as I feel there subs arent up to standard (which has cost them 3 Leinsters). If Clara arent too hampered by lads going to America then i can see them regaining the Dowling

[Long John]

Lone shark they have pulled out of the junior championship. Unable to field a team. I can assure you its more than playing the poor mouth. Half the team will be made up by players from last years Junior team just to fulfill senior championship fixtures.

[faithfullad]

Tubber 0-17 Ferbane 1-11

[Lone Shark]

Very disappointed obviously, but you'd have to say Tubber deserved it on the night. Their tactic of pulling Joe Higgins back as a spare defender in the second half worked very well, though we played into his hands a fair bit, while their movement of the ball up along the field was very good. They used possession very well by supporting the man in possession and always offering high percentage, low risk lay offs.

Bernard Allen was in fine form kicking six points from play and he remains in very good form. As I mentioned before, there is a top two and I genuinely think Tubber are now third. If they can keep this form up and finish in the top two, they should avoid Clara and at that stage, with a bit of momentum behind them, who knows?

Tough road back for us now - with Rhode in round three, the game against Tullamore now becomes a do or die fixture really.

[concrete]

tullamore will have maloney, brazil and williamson for the rhode and ferbane games before they pack it in for the summer, all 3 will then be available for the knock out stages should tullamore qualify which i expect they will, with these 3 available for the business end of the year tullamore could still be in the shake up

[Long John]

Anybody got the team sheets and scorers from last nights game? Have to say im a bit suprised by the result. Thought Ferbane would give it a good shot this year and Tubber would be a game they would get a win in. Tubber have had the better of Ferbane in a few championships now.

Ferbane have some good footballers, why are they struggling?

[Lone Shark]

Anybody got the team sheets and scorers from last nights game? Have to say im a bit suprised by the result. Thought Ferbane would give it a good shot this year and Tubber would be a game they would get a win in. Tubber have had the better of Ferbane in a few championships now.

Ferbane have some good footballers, why are they struggling?

TUBBER: Alan Kinahan; Brendan Heavin, Michael Grennan, Lee Colgan; Kenneth Keegan, Lorcan Allen, Ciarán Farrell; Ciarán McManus (0-2, 0-1 free), Eddie Kavanagh; Keith Rafferty, Joe Higgins, Jonathan Rooney (0-6, 0-4 frees); Brian Kelly (0-1), Bernard Allen (0-6), Aaron Farrell (0-2, frees).
Subs.: None

FERBANE: Declan Nugent; Gary Rigney, Paddy Moore, Joe Butler; Gerry Grehan, Colm Gavin (0-1), John Mollen (0-1); James Grennan, Kieran McManus; Declan Cooney, Aidan Keenaghan (0-2), Aaron McDonagh (1-0); Ronan Daly (0-3, 0-2 frees), Declan Killian, Paddy Connolly (0-4, 0-2 frees).
Subs.: Colin Egan for Gary Rigney

Tubber were very good here, this was never anything other than a 50/50 game as far as I was concerned (anyone who read my posts earlier this week would have seen what I think of Tubber right now) and I remain of the view that if anyone other than Rhode or Clara wins this championship, Tubber are the best of the rest.

There was something of a lack of imagination from Ferbane last night and there weren't too many of our lads who would come away from that game thinking they did well, but I don't want that to read as downplaying the quality of Tubber's win. They were very good, we were a good bit short of them and a larger margin probably wouldn't have been unfair really.

[faithfullad]

I agree, Tubber were definately the better team, Lone Shark you probably know this Ferbane team quuite well, don't you think their gameplan was shocking limited?

[Lone Shark]

I agree, Tubber were definately the better team, Lone Shark you probably know this Ferbane team quuite well, don't you think their gameplan was shocking limited?

Saying that implies that there was a gameplan in the first plan - if there was, I couldn't discern it. It seemed to be a simple case of kick the ball as hard as you can, in the direction of the square, at all times.

Once Tubber dropped Joe Higgins back to lap up all the breaks, we never looked like scoring anything.

I don't want to criticise things too much for obvious reasons, but yes, I'd have liked to have a seen a little bit more imagination in how we approach the game.

[Plain of the Herbs]

All those dual players. I can count . . . umm . . . one! One! That's as many dual Senior players as Lusmagh have!

FERBANE: Declan Nugent; Gary Rigney, Paddy Moore, Joe Butler; Gerry Grehan, Colm Gavin (0-1), John Mollen (0-1); James Grennan, Kieran McManus; Declan Cooney, Aidan Keenaghan (0-2), Aaron McDonagh (1-0); Ronan Daly (0-3, 0-2 frees), Declan Killian, Paddy Connolly (0-4, 0-2 frees).

[Lone Shark]

Shane Nally and Liam Browne were both unable to start having sustained injuries hurling for Belmont, Ciaran Kenny didn't have the time to commit to both so isn't playing football this year, and Colin Egan only came off the bench because he hadn't been able to make a single game with the team so far this year.

The dual player thing is definitely an issue, though I can see how that team would lead you to believe otherwise.

[Abercrombie Fitch]

Clara 1-18 Shamrocks 0-08

Half time was 1-10 to 0-03, and Shamrocks second half points came only after Clara had tapped on a few points and brought off Thomas Deehan, Graham Guilfoyle and others. From a Clara perspective they could only beat what was put in front of them but Clara will learn little from this game. They took their scores well at times and the impressive return of Stephen Deehan, who was suspended last year, will be a welcome boost to a team who were missing this type of player in last years county final. Clara will take positives from this match but the reality is that they cannot possibly face a worse team this year, and if they do later on then expect a similar result to the 2009 semi final with Pullough.
It appeared Clara were going to put up a cricket score 10 mins in to the second half until Clara started mking changes. If they can take Thomas Deehan off so early every week they'll be well on their way to a semi final.

As for Shamrocks, as bad as they say circumstances have hit them, they still would have hoped to compete for the first half hour considering this was the first round. And against near neighbours too. But this game was over to all present after around 10mins. Shane Cunningham, named at no9, started full forward and got one great goal chance which Meehan saved, but was moved back out the field as soon as Clara atarted to get on top.

Both sides emptied benches in the second half and Clara showed serious strength in depth by bringing in Tony Dalton, Alan Cronin, and Kieran O'Meara.

[townman]

shamrocks will be lucky to stay senior this year after a beaten like that in the first round it will be hard for lads to lift
a club after that lose.

[Long John]

Any reports from the games at the weekend. Tullamore and Rhode was probably the pick of them.

Shamrocks and Clara went as expected. Shamrocks were very very poor. Clara should cruise through this group taking it handy enough and start getting serious at the business end. Should suit them down to the ground.

County board have given Shamrocks 2 championship games in 3 days as well to really bury the boot into them. Coolderry on Sunday and Walsh Island on Tuesday. Really ridiculous. Just not possible for any dual club and especially this one pulling the bare 15 together. Why would you bother with GAA when you have that sort of brains running the show.

[TheManFromFerbane]

County board have given Shamrocks 2 championship games in 3 days as well to really bury the boot into them. Coolderry on Sunday and Walsh Island on Tuesday. Really ridiculous. Just not possible for any dual club and especially this one pulling the bare 15 together

This craic of mid-week Championship games is ridiculous, especially when we've had two bank holidays one after the other. There are lads working and studying all around the country who want to stay playing with their parish and their club (something the GAA is supposed to be about) and the county board are expecting these players to take half days to come back for these games. In the times we're in, where lads are worrying about their jobs and managers are expected to make targets with fewer resources, saying to your manager that you have to take a half day because you have a football match is ludicrous, never mind having to do it twice.

Either the county board don't realise this, in which case it shows complete tunnel vision or else they don't care, in which case it shows complete contempt for the people who are sacrificing most to play for their own clubs. Livid.