No change at top in club football with Ballinagar the chief bolters

By Kevin Egan

Little or no change at the top of the pecking order in the season club football rankings. Ballinagar are unsurprisingly the biggest bolters in our list, while in general, a handful of traditionally strong clubs are losing ground.

(1) Tullamore (no change): No change in their ranking, and no prospect of a change in the near future either. Cillian Bourke has been a revelation, Daire McDaid made immense strides forward to put himself in the frame for a starting role with Offaly, while if there was a debate about who is the best footballer in the county right now, Declan Hogan, John Furlong and Cormac Egan would be three of the five or six players in the conversation. The mental hang-ups associated with title retention and winning in Leinster have eased off too, and the only possible clouds on the horizon are the transition that will come from replacing Niall Stack as manager, and they don't look like a team that will pose a big threat from two-point range, which this reporter suspects will be a game-changer in 2025.

(2) Ferbane (no change): At a time when Tullamore cast an imposing shadow over the rest of the county at all age levels, Ferbane appear to be the only club without any fear of the Blues, even if they’ve lost a fair few tight finals to them at both underage and senior level in recent years. The problem is that it’s hard to see where they can look at the 2024 county final and improve by four or five points, though a fully fit David Nally would be a boost of course. They’ve proved time and again their ability to bounce back from heartbreak, but the other side of doing the right things for so long is that it becomes a lot harder to find the extra inches you need.

(3) Rhode (no change): Gaelic football is going to look very different in 2025, and Rhode have put one of the county’s finest sideline innovators into the manager’s role by handing the reins to Paschal Kellaghan. That alone makes them a threat but outside of that, it’s the same old story – too many of their most important players, while still strong contributors, are at an age where contributing more than they did the year before will be difficult.

(4) Shamrocks (up two): Given the talented players that they didn’t have available in 2024, winning two group games and then holding their nerve to emerge from a sticky quarter-final against Ballycommon is not a bad return. Jack Bryant showed signs of coming back to form, David O’Rourke was one of the emerging stars of the campaign and there is plenty of pace and goal threat in their forward line. That said, they took an early lead against Ferbane in the semi-final and still were comfortably reeled in, so they’ve a good bit of ground to make up.

(5) Edenderry (down one): Jordan Hayes was one of the players of the championship, Lee Pearson was steady, Rory Egan showed signs of returning to form and Cian Farrell was electric, scoring heavily despite opponents almost completely focusing on shutting him down. The problem for Edenderry is that very few others really stepped up to play at the level required of a side that wants to compete meaningfully for the Dowling Cup. Their deficiencies were brutally exposed by Tullamore in the semi-final, and their demographic advantages should make them much stronger than they are. Winning the junior title is encouraging and there are players with the potential to step up from that group, but no single footballer stood out by a distance either.

(6) Clonbullogue (up 3): Based on their 2024 performances and panel, Clonbullogue have earned the right to climb the ladder a significant amount. Keeping the group together into next year will be another challenge – already the siren call of emigration has made an impact – but they will relish the chance to play at the top tier in 2025, and they’ve earned it. Keith O’Neill and Jack McEvoy are the star names that give them a real touch of class, but there are capable footballers all across the pitch in the panel, and they have the ability to take a big scalp.

(7) Ballycommon (up 1): A championship quarter-final loss on penalties will rankle, as will their failure to take glorious chances to secure a competitive win from either of their games against Rhode and Tullamore. Beating either of those would have been transformative for a talented but somewhat shallow panel of players. But aside from a poor ending to their group game against Bracknagh, this was a very solid debut season in Senior 'A' football for a club that has done incredibly well to get to the top table.

(8) Cappincur (up 1): After beating Clonbullogue in the group stages and then producing that dramatic finale against Clara, perhaps they might have felt like the Senior ‘B’ final was theirs to lose. They could argue that it was their bad start to the second half that cost them – but deep down they’ll know that they just couldn’t quite cope with the array of niggly injuries that hampered their chances. It's a surreal winter in the club now, as they don’t know whether they will be fighting for Senior 'A' survival or fighting for Senior 'B' glory in 2025.

(9) Durrow (down 4): Managing dual commitments is never easy, but there is no obvious sense that the personnel involved in the Ballinamere and Durrow clubs make it any tougher than anywhere else, so we have to look elsewhere to diagnose why Durrow didn’t fire in 2024. It might be the case that the anaemic group structure didn’t suit a club that had other fish to fry. By the time the football action got serious, the hurlers knew they were in with a real shout of glory. They are better than they showed in 2024 and a Junior 'B' championship was a welcome boost.

(10) Bracknagh (down 2): They didn’t have the novelty factor that Ballycommon enjoyed this year, or that Clonbullogue will have in 2025. Is there an issue that playing in a championship where winning the big prize is simply not realistic makes it hard to muster up their best effort on a consistent basis? Their quarter-final performance against Edenderry showed that they can still pose a threat to more established teams and they will fancy themselves as the type of team that can thrive under the new rules.

(11) Daingean (up 4): A big win over Walsh Island in their first championship game at Senior ‘B’ level was the ideal opportunity for this group to settle into a higher level of football and they kicked on well from there, eventually falling just short in the semi-final. How much more improvement there is in the squad remains to be seen, as they don't look as strong as is needed in the middle third.

(12) Clara (down 2): The longer they spend away from the top table, the harder it will be to bridge the gap and get competitive. To be outside the top eight is not good for a club of this stature, and to be outside the top ten is a huge setback. Regardless of what type of Senior ‘B’ championship they play in next year, the age profile of this group is such that they need to grasp the nettle. A Division 2 league title will be some consolation, albeit it was not the trophy that the Magpies would have wanted at the start of the year.

(13) Ballinagar (up 7): Three years ago, Ballinagar were 24th in these rankings. A month ago, even after they collected the Intermediate championship, they probably would have been placed somewhere around 16th or 17th – but it feels like every week they go out to play ball, they find a new level. If they somehow find a way to get past An Ceathrú Rua after Christmas, a further upgrade would be justified, though that seems like a huge ask, given the dismal track record of Leinster clubs in this competition. They’re making a habit of blowing expectations out of the water, however.

(14) Tubber (no change): Tubber continue to bring one or two decent players into their panel every year and that’s enough to keep them competitive in both Division 2 of the League and Senior ‘B’ championship. After dicing with relegation in 2023, that will be perceived as positive, but it’s hard to look in from the outside and see where they can find the six or seven points of improvement that they’d need to push on and actually win championship honours.

(15) Gracefield (down 3): A three-spot drop might seem like things went backwards in the club in 2024, but it’s probably fairer to say that Gracefield were at a similar level to the previous season, but they got overtaken by a couple of surging outsiders. They scored well in the league and kicked plenty of points in their five championship games, but were undone by their tally of just two goals in that five hours. As weaknesses go, theirs are much more fixable than most.

(16) Ballycumber (down 3): Unlike Gracefield, we’re going to say that there was actual regression on the pitch in their case. Defensively, they conceded far too many large tallies and asked too much of their forwards, and while their games are worth watching since they do move the ball well, from the perspective of competing for a Senior ‘B’ title, they have a lot of work to do.

(17) St Brigid’s (down 1): If St Brigid’s were a Senior ‘B’ team, we’d give them every chance of holding their own, since their excellent defensive record invariably puts them in with a chance of winning games. However they lost a championship semi-final when scoring 0-10, and there just isn’t the scoring flair in the group that they need. Will that change when Ben Kennedy comes back from injury, to add an extra dimension to an attack that still relies heavily on Bobby Troy?

(18) Raheen (up 1): A topsy-turvy year for the men in orange and black, but by the time the county final rolled around, most neutrals expected them to find a way to win what would have been their third intermediate title. Instead, their attack was completely shut down, with Dylan Hyland effectively ploughing a lone furrow for long stretches. They’ll be there or thereabouts again in the IFC next year, but we couldn’t say with confidence that they’ll find the extra weaponry up front that they need.

(19) Walsh Island (down 2): Last year we said that “avoiding relegation in 2024 would be a real success” but to be honest, they never looked like dodging that bullet. Oisín Murphy at midfield and Evin Galvin at full-back had good seasons while Willie Mulhall continues to rack up the scores, but one solid showing in their quarter-final against Cappincur can’t redeem an otherwise bleak season.

(20) Erin Rovers (down 2): Erin Rovers’ season is the exact reason why this year's Offaly football format is so unpopular. A lopsided championship draw was definitely a factor, but they secured two wins and a draw in their three group games, and got no luck from then on. Relegation was incredibly harsh, but the opposite side of that coin is that they will start the 2025 JFC as the clear favourites to win it and intermediate feels like the right grade for the Pullough men.

(21) Kilcormac-Killoughey (no change): They sent for the cavalry in the IFC relegation final and got the result they needed. Overall, they probably weren’t the worst team in this championship either – but there will always be this unpredictable, unreliable element to their football for as long as there continues to be such variance in what players tog out on any given week.

(22) Shannonbridge (up 1): This year’s Junior final was absolutely one that they left behind. They should be far too good for this grade and if they had forced extra-time or a replay, as they looked like doing, then they probably would have found a way to come through. The concern in the club will be that 2024 looks like it was the year to win it. And while Darragh Mannion might play a bigger role next year and is one to watch out for, in general this is still a quite old group.

(23) St Rynagh’s (down 1): After beating K-K in the first round of the league in March, Rynagh’s played 11 games, winning one and losing ten – and the average margin of defeat in those ten games was over ten points per match. They came up with a big performance when they needed it in the relegation semi-final to arrest that run of ten straight losses, but they will start 2025 as favourites to make the drop again.

(24) Clodiagh Gaels (no change): A very encouraging league campaign, albeit one that culminated in a surprise defeat to Clara, set them up nicely for a summer campaign where that momentum was carried through to the group stages of the championship. Goals got them past Edenderry to secure top spot in the group but the Reds avenged that later. They’ll be in the mix again in 2025.

(25) Doon (no change): Another tough year in league and championship with a lot more defeats than wins, but the signs are there that they’re about to turn the corner. For decades they were the minority partner in DER Gaels and St Manchan’s underage sides, but now things are different, with Doon players making meaningful contributions to Gallen and Moate CS teams. Winning the Junior championship in 2025 is a big ask, but they’ll be better.

(26) Clonmore Harps (up 2): Put a tough league behind them to bounce into the championship with a big local derby win over Ballyfore, and they were right there in a nip and tuck semi-final with Ferbane that could have gone either way. Any team that beats the Harps in 2025 will have done a good day’s work.

(27) Ballyfore (no change): Is it a coincidence that it took a local derby with Edenderry for Ballyfore’s season to get going? Winning a Division 5 league match might not seem important, but when it’s a win over the other club in the parish, it can be transformative. In the championship they were a force to be reckoned with and while the rules left little choice but to replay their quarter-final win over Durrow, they’ll find it hard not to wonder at what might have been, given where Durrow went from there.

(28) Kilclonfert (down 2): Like Doon, they’ve been a fixture at the Junior grade for some time now, but there isn’t the same obvious green shoots of revival sprouting up in Kilclonfert. It’s not an enticing prospect for players in a club where numbers are a continuous challenge, but another relegation battle is more than likely on the cards.

(29) Ballyskenach-Killavilla (up 1): To win a championship title in the second year of playing a sport is a tremendous achievement, and they did so in spectacular style, racking up huge totals in some entertaining contests. The collective energy that will have been gleaned from winning five games on the bounce should be invaluable. If they choose to make a decent fist at it, Ballyskenach-Killavilla will be very competitive at the Junior 'B' grade in 2025.

(30) Birr (up 2): For Birr to climb up the rankings will feel like a hollow victory, since it largely stems from getting a walkover in one fixture (against Lusmagh) and the fact that Kinnitty didn’t field this year. Out of the three games that were played, the first two were heavy defeats but a decent showing against a Ferbane side that reached the county final suggests that there’s still lingering traces of the footballing ability that made Birr a competitive footballing force a decade or so ago.

(31) Lusmagh (down 1): We suggested last year that regionalising the Junior 'B' championship would be a positive development, so there’s a little bit of irony in how the only walkover conceded in the championship was Lusmagh’s contest against Birr, where geography certainly wasn’t a factor. After showing some promise in 2023, this summer’s campaign was disappointing for all involved.

(32) Crinkill (up 1): Would Crinkill have been competitive against Birr or Lusmagh? It’s hard to tell for sure but we’d guess so, since their contests against St Rynagh’s and Kilcormac-Killoughey were competitive enough. The Junior 'C' championship was originally designed as a competition that would allow hurling clubs to field football teams, and based on 2024, there’s a decent chance that Birr and Lusmagh might both look to regrade in order to recreate that scenario, which would no doubt be welcomed in Crinkill too.