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Not sure if this thread has been done before but in case it hasn't I was wondering what everyone thought was the biggest rivalries in Offaly GAA. I have to admit I don't know much about the club hurling but in my opinion here is some of the biggest in football.

Ferbane-Shannonbridge
Rhode-Edenderry
Ballycumber-Doon
Clara-Everyone

I know there is pleanty more so lets hear them

Rhode v. Croghan is 10 time bigger than Rhode v. Edenderry, believe me.

Vicious !

OffalyManAway wrote:Rhode v. Croghan is 10 time bigger than Rhode v. Edenderry, believe me.

Vicious !

Oh yeah! I'd forgotten about that one. You see thats why I started this thread so we could list them all out!

Sure would Shannonbridge v Doon not be bigger than
The 'Bridge v Ferbane????

Hows about 'Bridge v Erin rovers????
Ferbane-Clara is also fairly competitive, as is Clara v Tullamore.

Wonder is there gonna be much rivalry between Ballycumber-Shamrocks in the county semi-final???

Hows about 'Cumber v Erin rovers????

We all kone bout Edenderry v Rhode but according to a lad I know from Croghan, Rhode v Brigids is a feisty affair!!

The bridge V Doon and the bridge V Ferbane would stand out.

The bridge V anyone local I guess

Yeah i suppose The 'Bridge v anyone local is a big rivalry, The only club down this end of the county to bring home the dowling cup in the last ten years, we seem to be the team that everyone loves to beat!!!
But i can tell You there's nothin sweeter than beating those Ferbane boys... Beating Pullough feels real good too, they're the sorest of losers.

Looking forward to the semi-final between Shamrocks and Ballycumber though.. should be a corker.
I reckon the 'Cumber will edge it by two points.

Also well done to Belmont senior hurlers on their fine win against Tullamore on saturday evenin!!

Edenderry v Rhode has to be the top one.for sheer hatred alone.(a strong word but thats essentiallly what it is)Croghan v Rhode wouldnt be as bad because nearly all of the Croghan lads played underage with Rhode and secretly harbour ambitions of donning the green and gold jersey for the village.

I'd say most clubs reckon their own rivalry is the stringest and deepest, whoever that might be with. Croghan lads would say Croghan-Rhode is huge, but I'm sure Rhode mightn't consider it as big a thing - much like for Croghan - Rhode, insert Westmeath - Offaly.

Likewise Ferbane-Shannonbridge - it might mean the world to the bridge to win that game, but you can be sure it wasn't as if Ferbane though 2004 was a reasonable year because we won that game.

Edenderry Rhode is probably as big as there is, but to be honest I wouldn't say any of the football rivalries have a patch on Birr vs Rynagh's in the hurling, or indeed the original and best - Coolderry vs Drumcullen in the fifties and sixties.

Upon reflection Birr V Rynagh's would probably be the bitterest rivalry in Offaly hurling.Stories abound of rigorous training sessions throughout the nineties when there would be 2 fellas going up and down either sideline throwing hurls cos there was serious timber been broken off lads during training matches.the rynaghs lads would be flaking the birr lads out of it and vice versa.

I reckon that there are very few major rivalry's between teams in Offaly now because very few of the championship games in Offaly have any great intensity, like when the championship was knockout, then there would be some serious ding dong matches, but now with the group stages, teams just seem to go through the motions, & the quality of the football has suffered as a direct result!!!
In the past Doon V Shannonbridge and Edenderry & Rhode would be fiercely contested games but now with 3 of those 4 teams in serious decline there's hardly any need for rivalry!!!
Does anyone else think that the Championship in Offaly needs to go back to knockout championship football, maybe have a back door system as well?[/img]

The club players in Offaly suffer enough without training all winter for one Championship game that could be played any time from May to September. There's no way clubs and players would want to revert to that.

I wouldn't say clubs are going through the motions at all either. Several of the games this year in the group stages I thought were very intense and absorbing - Ferbane vs Tullamore, Shannonbridge vs Bracknagh, Gracefield vs Brigids.....

Can you gets a bigger rivallry than Rynaghs and Birr? or maybe Rynaghs and Lusmagh? in football, it has to be Rhode and Edenderry.

the Untouchable wrote:I reckon that there are very few major rivalry's between teams in Offaly now because very few of the championship games in Offaly have any great intensity, like when the championship was knockout, then there would be some serious ding dong matches, but now with the group stages, teams just seem to go through the motions, & the quality of the football has suffered as a direct result!!!
In the past Doon V Shannonbridge and Edenderry & Rhode would be fiercely contested games but now with 3 of those 4 teams in serious decline there's hardly any need for rivalry!!!
Does anyone else think that the Championship in Offaly needs to go back to knockout championship football, maybe have a back door system as well?[/img]

I've been saying this for quite some time, i think the group thing is hurting offaly football leaving a large number of teams in a comfort zone and too many matches with no ultimate consequences. i think this badly affects our county team.

ps good to have the untouchable on board

The group system does need an overhaul - the situation with Clara this year was a joke - get 2 points out of 6 and make the quarterfinals without winning a game. Erin Rovers and Shannonbridge win a game and draw 2 others and both go out.

The unlikelihood of teams being relegated doesn't help either. If you are in a strong group, you can have a stinker of a year and still stay up.

The league is basically ignored as well because nobody cares about it. Why not abandon the league, run the Championship on a league basis with top four teams going into county semi finals and bottom four teams into a relegation battle ?

To play the championship on a purely knockout basis wont work because some teams' season will be over in April.

Hocker wrote:Yeah i suppose The 'Bridge v anyone local is a big rivalry, The only club down this end of the county to bring home the dowling cup in the last ten years, we seem to be the team that everyone loves to beat!!!

Its not the fact that yee won it but the fact that nearly ten years later yee go on about it as if it was the best county title ever won!!