St Brigid's and Daingean through in Offaly IFC

ST Brigid's and Daingean booked their places in the knockout stages of the Intermediate Football Championship last weekend.

With two rounds played, St Brigid's are top of group 1 with four points while Erin Rovers have two points from one game, Shannonbridge have none from one and Ferbane none from two.

With the top team in each group going into the semi-final and the next two into two quarter-finals, St Brigid's can't be denied by Ferbane – the Erin Rovers v Shannonbridge game was postponed as a mark of respect to the late Offaly GAA chairman Brendan Ward and will be played on Tuesday evening.

St Brigid's booked their passage with a 2-11 to 1-7 win over Ferbane and a win against Erin Rovers in their final game will secure a semi-final.

In group 2, Daingean took advantage of the absence of county player, Dylan Hyland to beat Raheen by 0-15 to 0-11 while Ballinagar did well to come back and draw, 1-7 to 0-10 with Tullamore, though they rued a few misses from scoreable frees.

Ballinagar were in trouble when they trailed by 0-8 to 0-2 at half time and 0-10 to 0-5 with fifteen minutes left but rallied late on for a crucial draw. Morgan Tynan got the crucial goal to resuce Ballinagar.

Daingean's win has them on four points and through to a semi-final – they can't be denied that even if Ballinagar surprise them in the last round as they will stay ahead of Raheen on the head to head rule. Raheen have two points while Tullamore and Ballinagar have one point. Tullamore have the advantage at the moment as their scoring difference is beter, -6 points compared to -10 points.

That, however, is a very slender difference and positions could switch very easily in the third round. Two points should be enough for Raheen – they will be definitely in if they draw or beat Tullamore and it would take a defeat there and a Ballinagar win over Daingean to deny them.

Those dual results are unlikely but not impossible and it will have them on their toes for Tullamore. Both Tullamore and Ballinagar will be in a strong position if they can get a result in their final game and if they do lose, the margin of defeat will then determine all.

The final round fixtures are:

Group 1

St Brigid's v Erin Rovers and Shannonbridge v Ferbane.

Group 2

Ballinagar v Daingean and Raheen v Tullamore.