Senior A Football Champioship

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
summerindublin
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Senior A Football Champioship

Post by summerindublin »

Well first round matvches are over, one major surprise with Cappincur beating Tullamore by a point, this leaves Tullamore with 2 tricky assignments left, Rhode and Clara., in the other game Rhode ran out easy winners in the end via Niall and Anton, only a point in it at the break. The other group saw champions Ferbane eventually overcoming Edenderry ( a few players have retired Daltom, Pender ) with Oisin Kelly being redcarded at half time and then we had Shamrocks and Brachnagh, must have been a great match to be at with Shamrocks 7 nil down after 20 minutes and wining in the end by 1.

SearingDrive
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by SearingDrive »

The first round games provided plenty of interest, with Cappincur's win over Tullamore the highlight. Bracknagh's great effort against Shamrocks just came up short, had they converted a few more chances, they might have pulled off an upset. I suppose both Cappincur and Bracknagh would have targeted Tullamore and Shamrocks for wins. Their remaining games may be more difficult to win.
Favourites Rhode and Ferbane won their first round games as expected. The remaining matches will see Clara and Tullamore, along with Edenderry and Shamrocks looking to get their campaigns back on track. Should be an interesting championship. It's a pity more fans can't attend the games while the current restrictions are in place.

NewEra
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by NewEra »

Very interesting first round of matches. A lot more spice compared to the last few years and the larger group structures. Great work by Offaly GAA to showcase live matches, highlights.

I fancy Ferbane and Shamrocks in the Group 1 and I predict Clara, Tullamore and Cappincur to all finish on 2 points and a scrap between score difference who goes through along with Rhode.

Tmacmahon
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Tmacmahon »

Ferbane V Edenderry:
Ferbane beat Edenderry by four points, McGuire scored the goal for the champions. Cian was quiet( still got three from paly which shows how dangerous he is even when having an off day) but Joe shone like a beacon all evening, in a fantastic display, 6 pts from centre forward three from play. Ferbane showed grit and confidence that only winning a championship can provide, when Oisin got sent off they still believed and went at edenderry. Joe pulled the strings from here on. I like that edenderry are building again, they are young and athletic and even though id argue they are in somewhat of a transition period they will still feel and rightlfuly so that they can beat any of the other 7 teams on their day.the loss of pender , Dalton, hanlon,moriarty and mcdonnell would knock most clubs for six, but edenderry has a big playing population , and in general have a fantastic set up from underage up, they are progressive and ambitious . Ferbane will get better and will qualify from a group where they need to beat either shamrocks or bracknagh , the last two senior b winners to assure a spot in the last four.

Cappincur v Tullamore:
A late Eoin Carroll point secured a famous win for Cappincur. John Kavanagh netted an early goal for the town team. Tullamore will rue this one. Cappincur will rightfully celebrate their biggest win as a club. Tullamore can not afford any more slip ups, they need to find their feet. Cappincur are now in a situation where if they beat Clara they are in the last 4 , this is fairytale stuff for this proud club. They have no little quality in their side , with the carrolls, gethings , daly’s. Tullamore need their best players firing on all cylinders, Hogan going off didn’t help their cause, and mcconway and shane Dooley ( he might not be playing at all) absence could have given the blues that little bit extra. It was agame I never felt tullamore would loose until they lost if that makes sense. I wrongfully underestimated cappincur, where with every other game we will rave about indivual class performances it’s the team that takes ll the plaudits here. Again well done.

Rhode V Clara :
Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan were in sublime form as Rhode defeated Clara by nine pts with niall bagging 1-7 and anton 6 pts. I often feel niall needs such watching that anton will run riot on maybe a teams second best defender. what a thing to be able to have a player of antons ability not being the main man that needs to be watched. Rhode are a phenomenal football team they keep producing consistently brilliant dispalays year in and year out. Their record in the group stage over the last 20 years is staggering . they have in niall mcnamee the best player this county has seen since matt connor , at 35 niall still continues to ooze class , his vision and intelligence means he is still a certain starter for the county footballers regardless of his age. Its no coincidence rhode period of dominance in our county has coincided with niall’s career. He is a joy to watch and a fantasctic role model for aspiring footballers. Clara are a bit like edenderry in that are rebuilding, this is a rebuild that is badly needed , yes they have Thomas deehan and the two brady’s to come back into the fold but in truth how much more can these guys be the mainstays, they need new leaders and a new nucleus . they are a club that has always produced great footballers and as a club they always play a nice attacking brand. I know Clara will be better in the coming years, they might suffer a few bad defeats in the short term but the bigger picture is they are developing a new team.

Shamrocks V Bracknagh:
A game of two halves and a particularly good game to watch on the excellent service offaly gaa have provided. The cunnigham brothers , all three were brilliant for bracknagh , while as a unit they showed they are more than capable of playing at this level, even if there are better teams than shamrocks to play going forward. Jack Bryant was the undoubted man of the match in what was a glorouis dipplay of skills by the young man, 5 pts from play and a constant thorn in the bracknagh side, he is a star not in the making but a star that has most defintly already arrived, Bryant is undoubtedly helped by the fact that every team will put their best defender on Nigel dunne , dunne was marked by a really good emerging talent in young Donnelly( on the offaly senior panel this year) but he was still outstanding from play and from frees (hitting frees with both feet) 10 pts in total 3 from play,the balance of the man is top drawer , I laughed when listening to the commentary and offaly manager john maughan was ignoring his very obvious exellent contribution. I don’t blame maughan what could he say really. Patrick dunican looks very lean and is a better player than I thought, he scored the all-important goal in the second half.
Mikey cunnigham looks a real talent as well.
Bracknagh will learn from this, at 7-0 up they actually should have seen the game over but missed a few great goal chances.



The weekend as a whole was brilliant and i never imagined we would have football this year , so it was with a big smile on my face i attended these games and watched online. hopefully the hurling is as good this weekend.

its great to be back at it .

SearingDrive
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by SearingDrive »

Do you think we will have championship games this weekend, as Offaly is one of 3 counties where Covid 19 cases have increased?

Tmacmahon
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Tmacmahon »

Ferbane V Bracknagh:
A big winning margin 4-15 to 1-13 for the county champions who are motoring along nicely. The gulf in class was reflected in the scoreline. I dont think Brackngh are as bad as they looked at times. It is worrying for them as they will look to avoid another embarrasing display the next day out against an edenderry team who have found form.Ferbane will be happy with the performance , sean flynn with 1-4 and maher and cian contributing 3-9 between them. they look like they are determined to reach the height of 2019.

Clara v Cappincur:
Clara recorded a much needed victory to keep them alive. Cappincur proved that the historic win against Tullamore in the first round was far from a fluke and they are at the level of the traditional powerhouses in our county.bill carroll looks a real player and a county player in the making. two pa smith penalties and a great goal by the exellent carl stewart seen clara just about prevail in this tense affair.cappincur will on the evidence have as good a chance of beating rhode as anyone but its hard to see them win but very easy to to see a very competitive game. clara and tullamore should be a cracker and is the game of the final round.

Rhode V Tullamore :

Rhode did what Rhode do. they looked in control from the very start . Niall Mc again hitting 1-6 and proving age is just a number. tullamore looked like a team with no belief that thye could cause an upset here. tullamore can still progress to the last four and it would be foolish to bet against a team who in the recent past have proved they can come from no where to make an impact. the team seems to have a new look and like clara and edenderry they will need time. its just now a time to wait an dsee whether the new crop are good enough.


Edenderry V Shamrocks:

edenderry were awsome in the second half as shamrocks could not live with the town team. Sean doyle was brilliant a hit 1 - 5 in what was a capatains performance .Edenderry should overcome bracknagh without too much fuss and that would see a semi final spot secured. shamrocks will avoid a relegation battle but hard to see them compete with ferbane based on mondays game. Dunne hit 4 , 3 from play and dunican hit 4 ,3 from play, apart from that shamrocks looked way off the pace, suprisingly star of the last round bryant didnt score and was well marshelled throughout.
Last edited by Tmacmahon on Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Tmacmahon
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Tmacmahon »

final round perdictions:

Rhode v Cappincur - Rhode by 6 pts

Tullamore v Clara - Tullamore by 2 pts

Ferbane v Shamrocks - Ferbane by 9 pts

Edenderry v Bracknagh - Edenderry by 10 pts

frankthetank
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by frankthetank »

Semi Final line up:

Rhode vs Edenderry (nice local derby there)

Ferbane vs Tullamore

Hard to see past a Rhode vs Ferbane final in all honesty.

SearingDrive
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by SearingDrive »

frankthetank wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:20 pm Semi Final line up:

Rhode vs Edenderry (nice local derby there)

Ferbane vs Tullamore

Hard to see past a Rhode vs Ferbane final in all honesty.
It looks like a repeat of the 2019 final alright. Shamrocks v Ferbane looked a tight game, Ferbane winning 1-12 to 1-9. Bracknagh scored 3-10 to Edenderry's 2-17, another close game.

biffinbanner
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by biffinbanner »

big difference to 2019 if it does come to pass and its ferbane v rhode is a fully fit niall mcnamee.

Tullman
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Tullman »

Edenderry V Rhode

Hard to see anything but a rhode win here they seem to be on a mission this year to get their title back and they will have way too much fire power for a young edenderry team can see rhode winning by 6 at least


Ferbane V Tullamore


This game could be close Ferbane have done what they had to do so far but didn’t look convincing against shamrocks , Tullamore had a slow start but had a big win last time out which makes them dangerous they have the players to win this. If Cian Johnson doesn’t make it back I would say tullamore by 2. If he does I think Ferbane will win

Geansai Gorm
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Geansai Gorm »

Frst of all, for me it's Rhode & Ferbane, simple, the most consistent teams in it. Tullamore had a big 'come back' in last game but I just don't think they have enough to get past Ferbane. Edenderry are a young team who will be around and better in the next couple of years.

Tonight sees the Intermediate Semi's with probably the 2 favourites for the Senior Hurling in action, being Rynaghs & K/K. Interesting to see their approach this deep into the championships. Clonbullogue & Ballycommon the oposition respectively, who are consistant performers at this level.

Senior-B sees Gracefield V Ballycumber, with Gracefield probably favs here and Durow V Tubber, hard to call.

No surprise teams really involved at this stage in all 3 grades.

Fairplayalways
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Fairplayalways »

be it penalties, but not too many seen Tullamore win here...its going to be a very interesting final V Rhode...

Geansai Gorm
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by Geansai Gorm »

Both Senior semis were a shock. Going to be very insteresting final.

I guess the big shock is Clara losing A status? Gracefield look best to bounce back.

The 2 big Hurling clubs K/K and Rynaghs are in Inter Final, big double on the cards for one team?
Very impressed with K/K, best I've seem them in football for a long time.

SearingDrive
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Re: Senior A Football Champioship

Post by SearingDrive »

Fairplayalways wrote: Sun Sep 20, 2020 10:26 pm be it penalties, but not too many seen Tullamore win here...its going to be a very interesting final V Rhode...
Tullamore can win the final. They put the losses to Cappincur and Rhode behind them, and hit form at the right time. Ferbane must be very disappointed. Anyone see the semi finals?

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