Bumper weekend of football action as quarter-finals beckon

By Kevin Egan

There’s a plethora of knockout games on the slate across an incredibly busy Offaly football weekend, with the majority of clubs in the county facing do-or-die action at some level.

The action starts on Friday night with a Junior A relegation final and a Junior C quarter-final, but momentum really gathers on Saturday, starting with the clash of Ballycumber and Gracefield in the first of the two Senior B quarter-finals.

Gracefield’s presence in this fixture shortly and the controversy attached to that is dealt with in a separate article - see here. However now that they’re here, this looks like a very tough assignment for the Blackthorns, particularly if Rúairí Allen is unavailable. Ballycumber are incredibly consistent at this level and while they usually top out at the semi-final stage, they’ve done enough this year to suggest that they might be the closest contenders to a very strong Cappincur side.

That’s followed by the meeting of Walsh Island and Ballycommon, which will be a fascinating measure of how far Pádraig Egan’s Ballycommon side have travelled in a short period of time. In 2022, they came through a very competitive intermediate championship, but there wasn’t a lot of evidence to suggest that they were ready to make such a comfortable step up to the next level. They have, however, and they will get a huge bounce from their win over Gracefield last time out.

Walsh Island have tremendous battling qualities but they won’t have any huge edge in terms of physical power here, and without that, it’s looks like Ballycommon’s game to win.

Also on Saturday, there are three huge relegation games on the slate. Starting at intermediate level, Shannonbridge wouldn’t have expected to slip into this fixture, and they certainly wouldn’t have expected Raheen to be waiting for them on the other side. Raheen need to steady their ship or they could fall into trouble here, but if they can get anywhere close to 80% of their peak, then then should have enough to secure their intermediate status.

We won’t dwell on the difficult year that St Rynagh’s have had, except to say that it would be a huge shock if they bounced back and were able to upset Tubber in Durrow, but nothing would be a huge shock in Cappincur when Clara take on Shamrocks.

After securing promotion just two years ago, it would be a huge blow to Clara to slip right back down to Senior B level, and yet there’s a strong argument for saying that Shamrocks could be the slight favourites for this one. Leave aside a middling first half against Ferbane, and Clara have been way off the pace this year, while Shamrocks will improve considerably now that Jack Bryant has had a couple more weeks to settle into the team.

Both clubs will look back on 2023 with some tinge of regret at what might have been, given the players that were unavailable to them, but right now it looks like Shamrocks are slightly better poised to dodge the trapdoor.

In the last action of the day, the second teams of Tullamore and Ferbane meet in Doon in an intermediate quarter-final. Tullamore’s excellent win last time out over Raheen should give them a narrow edge, but it’s unlikely that there will be too much to call between the sides all the same.

Senior showdowns on Sunday

While there are two junior quarter-finals and an interesting intermediate contest between Erin Rovers and an up-and-coming Ballinagar side on the slate for Sunday, all eyes will be on Glenisk O’Connor Park, starting with the meeting of Ferbane and Bracknagh.

Ferbane are still a long way off where they need to be and no doubt will need James Nally back and at full fitness if they are to trouble the top sides, but they may not need him here. Bracknagh have more than held their own at senior level this year, most notably securing a creditable draw against Edenderry, but lack of depth is always going to be an issue for them when the air gets thinner, and in what should be a quite low scoring contest, Ferbane look that bit stronger.

The bookmakers have installed Edenderry as the clear favourites for the second leg of the double header against Durrow, but this reporter certainly wouldn’t share that level of confidence in the Reds. It’s easy to see why an observer from outside the county might look at the names on the two teamsheets and and come to the conclusion that a side with up to half a dozen recognizable football names should overcome one where the majority of the big names are hurlers primarily, but teams aren’t just collections of individuals, and Durrow are better than the sum of their parts right now.

Time is running out for Edenderry to properly gel, and while this could be the week, particularly if Rory Egan is back on board, Durrow still look like the bet of the week as things stand.