Club football championship 2023

[jimbob17]

There was always players going but now members of that team can command payment to play as they are in demand. I have heard of some Galway seniors and others getting huge money to go out there.

Re predictions, find some surprising.

My predictions as follows
Senior A Champions: Tullamore
Relegated: Shamrocks

Senior B Champions: Cappincur / Tubber / Ballycommon split decision in that order.
Relegated: Gracefield

Inter Champions: Daingean
Relegated: Shannonbridge.
I'd fancy a Tullamore team to be close to win Inter but by final stage if they got there, they'd have lost too many of better players to senior.


Re tonight, Clara will be very disappointed to put it mildly to lose so convincingly with extra man. They have Rhode and Edenderry to come which might not be pretty given tonight's performance.

Ferbane and Edenderry need to win next games to ensure they get through.

Tullamore and Rhode still look like the two teams to beat.

Shamrocks and Bracknagh score difference now becomes extremely important.

[Buttons]

Clara had a 2 man advantage going into first half injury time and that sending off turned the game, it wasn’t until durrow went 4 ahead after scoring the goal in 55-56th min that Clara got their second red card. It was amazing that 4 reds were shown and I don’t recall a yellow being shown during the game.

Regarding the sendings off the umpires, linesman assisted with 3 of the 4 so if they saw the incident well done on telling the ref.

Like a previous poster mentioned their is an inevitability based on the results tonight, tullamore and rhode have one foot in the semi final and Clara are close to a relegation final.

[frankthetank]

Rhode comfortably kept Edenderry at arms length tonight in Gracefield. Indeed the result was to all extents done and dusted when Rhode led 1-03 to 0-01 by the 15th minute. Their 2nd and 3rd points were gifted to them by disastrous short kick execution by Edenderry. Indeed Edenderry's woes at kickout time were to be apparent right throughout the contest and they had a dreadful 20 minute spell in the second half in this regard aswell.

Edenderry clung in there during the first half and only went in 2 down at the break. But Rhode's greater class up front told in the 2nd half (although they will be disappointed by their amount of missed chances) and in particular Ruairi McNamee who looked the classiest player on the pitch.

Rhode's old stagers Alan McNamee and Pauric Sullivan made cameos during the 2nd half but they will be worried about the condition of goalkeeper Kenny Garry who was withdrawn early in the first half with what appeared to be a muscular injury.

Regarding Edenderry Jordan Hayes was probably their stand out performer and he was certainly a loss to Offaly this year while he was travelling.

Rhode should now easily make the semi-finals while Edenderry will probably head to Q-Final where they will hope the return of Rory Egan and Alan Harte from the United States can add some sparkle to them.

[frankthetank]

With Bracknagh and Shamrocks drawing tonight we are now more than likely going to have a team in the Q-Finals with the following record:

P3 W0 D1 L2.

Far from ideal that a team can draw one game in the group stage and make the knockouts.

Basically whichever of them can avoid the biggest hidings in their remaining games vs Rhode and Edenderry will qualify for a Q-Final.

This could lead to a tweak to the format for 2024 where only the top 2 qualify and we only have semi-finals.

[Anonymous1]

There was always players going but now members of that team can command payment to play as they are in demand. I have heard of some Galway seniors and others getting huge money to go out there.

Re predictions, find some surprising.

My predictions as follows
Senior A Champions: Tullamore
Relegated: Shamrocks

Senior B Champions: Cappincur / Tubber / Ballycommon split decision in that order.
Relegated: Gracefield

Inter Champions: Daingean
Relegated: Shannonbridge.
I'd fancy a Tullamore team to be close to win Inter but by final stage if they got there, they'd have lost too many of better players to senior.


Re tonight, Clara will be very disappointed to put it mildly to lose so convincingly with extra man. They have Rhode and Edenderry to come which might not be pretty given tonight's performance.

Ferbane and Edenderry need to win next games to ensure they get through.

Tullamore and Rhode still look like the two teams to beat.

Shamrocks and Bracknagh score difference now becomes extremely important.

Clara have Tullamore and Ferbane to come but same difference, they're almost certainly in a relegation playoff now vs either Shamrocks or Bracknagh. The draw between them two tonight keeps both alive for the final two rounds and will depend on scoring difference on the last day.

Clara must be desperately disappointed to lose by such a margin after coming so close to beating Ferbane in last year's quarter final but it's a great result for Durrow, they seem to be a club on the rise in both codes.

Business as usual for Tullamore and Rhode and will face each other in a 4th straight county final unless Ferbane or Edenderry can reverse tonight's result in semis which is possible but unlikely.

I don't think they'll tweak the format where third gets a quarter final as the two teams who finish third would then only have three championship games plus it would lessen the incentive to finish top as 2nd place wouldn't have to play a quarter final. We had a criss cross format in 2019 where Tullamore won 2 games but wound up in the relegation playoff yet Cappincur lost all 4 group games yet made the quarter final...

As for Senior B and intermediate predictions, I'll go:

Senior B champions: Cappincur
Relegated: St Rynaghs

Intermediate champions: Raheen
Relegated: Shannonbridge

[frankthetank]

Yes, and that Cappincur/Tullamore situation was clearly wrong too. So what relevance does that have if you are actually arguing against my point?

[Anonymous1]

Yes, and that Cappincur/Tullamore situation was clearly wrong too. So what relevance does that have if you are actually arguing against my point?

That no format is perfect and when you only play 3 group games with 4 teams in each, there'll be unavoidable scenarios wherein teams with no wins make the quarters?

[Offalyblueboy]

Round 2 of championships this weekend.

Anything out of the ordinary expected ?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Tullamore v Clara
In 2018, Clara won 2-14 to 1-12
In 2019, Clara won 1-12 to 0-11
In 2020, Tullamore won 1-17 to 0-9

Bracknagh v Edenderry
In 2005, Edenderry won 4-13 to 0-9
In 2020, Edenderry won 2-17 to 3-10
In 2021, they drew, Edenderry 1-11 Bracknagh 2-8

Rhode v Shamrocks
Rhode won 2010’s semi-final meeting 1-16 to 0-10
In 2019, Rhode won 4-12 to 2-8
In 2021, Rhode won the quarter-final 1-17 to 2-9

Durrow v Ferbane
In 2021, they drew 1-13 each, which was their first meeting at Senior grade.

Walsh Island v Ballycumber
In 2017, Ballycumber won 3-17 to 2-8
In 2018, Ballycumber won 1-15 to 0-9
In 2020, Ballycumber won 0-18 to 2-8

Gracefield v Tubber
In 2020 they drew, Gracefield 1-11 Tubber 2-8
In 2021, Tubber won 1-16 to 0-6
Last year, Tubber won the quarter-final 1-16 to 1-7

Cappincur v St Rynagh’s
In 2017, Cappincur won the group game 1-10 to 0-10
Later, Cappincur won 2017's relegation final 0-16 to 2-7

Ballycommon v Clonbullogue
Probably met at Intermediate grade somewhere along the line, I don’t have any results for this.

[Anonymous1]

Round 2 of championships this weekend.

Anything out of the ordinary expected ?

I don't think so.

I'd expect comfortable wins for Tullamore against Clara and Rhode against Shamrocks.

The other two games have more potential for a surprise result as Ferbane will be favoured to beat Durrow and Edenderry favoured to beat Bracknagh but neither are guaranteed.

Ferbane were missing a couple of players for the Tullamore game so a 4 point loss was far from a terrible result meanwhile Durrow had a good win against Clara who were themselves pipped by Ferbane in last years QF. Durrow have a very young team and if they treat football as equals with hurling, they could become a contender in the coming years but you'd still have to pick Ferbane in this one as they've been the next best team in Offaly after Rhode and Tullamore over the past few years and are in my view the only team with a chance of preventing a 4th consecutive Rhode-Tullamore final even if their window of opportunity appears to be narrowing.

Edenderry are the biggest mystery in Offaly club football and have been for a number of years, they have a team packed with county players who consistently make the semi final but never go any further nor even come close to going further and on the evidence of their game against Rhode a fortnight ago, that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. Bracknagh will fancy their chances in this one but if Edenderry can limit Cunningham to any extent then it gets difficult to see where they could get the scores required to win and for that reason I'd still pick Edenderry to get the win.

[Offalyblueboy]

Hearing reports around town this morning that edenderry have changed manager again this week. Another bust up and they are not sure who is taking the game v Bracknagh Sunday

[jimbob17]

Edenderry are under performing at senior level i think. Should be more competitive than we have seen from them in last couple of years.

Tullamore annihalated Clara by 20pts this evening and it wont sit well with Clara GAA supporters. It was as poor a performance I've seen from a senior club team in senior championship in a very long time. Tullamore were decent but Clara were absolutely shocking! They have a bit of work to do to be competitive in a relegation final. Sad to see for such a proud club.

[Anonymous1]

Edenderry are under performing at senior level i think. Should be more competitive than we have seen from them in last couple of years.

Tullamore annihalated Clara by 20pts this evening and it wont sit well with Clara GAA supporters. It was as poor a performance I've seen from a senior club team in senior championship in a very long time. Tullamore were decent but Clara were absolutely shocking! They have a bit of work to do to be competitive in a relegation final. Sad to see for such a proud club.

Agreed, it was quite frankly the worst performance I’ve ever seen from an Offaly SFC team. There is no work for them to do, they are definitely getting relegated based on tonight’s showing, I can’t see any way they could beat either of Shamrocks or Bracknagh. What on earth has happened to them in 12 months? They pushed Ferbane all the way in last years QF, some serious soul searching is required in the club.

[private joker]

Clara missing some key players. Ed cullen went off very early with a serious leg injury. Almost certainly will be relegated. Have a good chance with the hurling so not all is lost out in clara

[SearingDrive]

Edenderry are under performing at senior level i think. Should be more competitive than we have seen from them in last couple of years.

Tullamore annihalated Clara by 20pts this evening and it wont sit well with Clara GAA supporters. It was as poor a performance I've seen from a senior club team in senior championship in a very long time. Tullamore were decent but Clara were absolutely shocking! They have a bit of work to do to be competitive in a relegation final. Sad to see for such a proud club.

Agreed, it was quite frankly the worst performance I’ve ever seen from an Offaly SFC team. There is no work for them to do, they are definitely getting relegated based on tonight’s showing, I can’t see any way they could beat either of Shamrocks or Bracknagh. What on earth has happened to them in 12 months? They pushed Ferbane all the way in last years QF, some serious soul searching is required in the club.

Bad night for Clara football tonight. Ferbane up next, nothing easy there.