Clara and Cappincur emerge as early front runners in Offaly SFC “B”

CLARA and Cappincur have emerged as the early front runners in the Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship.

Both are top of their respective groups with Clara confirming their rating as title favourites, setting a red hot early pace.

Cappincur, however, have hit the ground running and are top of group 1 on four points. They have been very solid with Bill Carroll in sensational form for them, kicking some spectacular points. After beating a fancied Clonbullogue in the first round, Cappincur continued their good form with a hard earned 1-13 to 1-10 win over Tubber last weekend.

Clonbullogue recovered from that first round defeat with a very convincing 5-13 to 1-14 win over Ballycumber. Ballycumber battled hard, hanging in for a good while but Clonbullogue's attack were on fire and got away for a convincing win – county star Keith O'Neill got a hat trick of goals, as well as two points for them.

Those results leave Clonbullogue and Tubber tied on two points with Ballycumber yet to get off the mark in group 1. It also means that Cappincur are assured of top spot in group 1 with one round to go against Ballycumber. Even if they lose that, they will stay ahead of the winners of Clonbullogue and Tubber on the head to head rule.

Clara have been going very well in group 2, though Daingean are also shaping up nicely and these two are joint top on four points. After recording an easier than expected first round win over Gracefield, Clara ran riot against Walsh Island in round 2, winning by 5-22 to 1-8. Walsh Island have suffered two heavy defeats and are struggling so Clara won't be reading anything into that victory but it was still a good display by them.

Clara have a good mixture of youth and experience. The experience is provided by long time senior stalwarts, former county players, Matthew Mitchell and Graham Guilfoyle while their younger guns are going well. Cormac Delaney scored 1-6 of his 1-10 from play against Walsh Island while Marcas Dalton, Conor Doyle, Adam Kelly etc all went well. Clara also introduced Ed Cullen, an outstanding midfielder as Offaly won the All-Ireland U-20 title in 2021, and another county underage player, Alex Egan as second half subs and they are building well.

Desperate to return to senior football, Clara won't be counting their chickens yet and them and their manager, Tullamore man John Rouse will be very much aware that the real tests and banana skins will come in the knockout stages when one bad performance or sucker punch could leave them on the floor.

Last year's intermediate champions, Daingean have adapted well to the higher grade and they followed up a comfortable win over Walsh Island with a morale boosting 1-12 to 0-14 one over Gracefield last Friday. Daingean had to come from behind to win. They were 0-12 to 0-8 behind half way during the second half but an opportunist goal from sub, Jamie Duffy ignited a victory charge and they held on grimly to get the win.

These results mean that both Gracefield and Walsh Island are pointless with two losses. They clash in round 3 when Gracefield will be favourites while the winners of Clara and Daingean will top the group – a draw will be enough for Clara.

On form so far, Cappincur look to have the best prospects of halting Clara, though they don't have huge depth in strength and can't afford any injuries to first choice players. Clonbullogue, Daingean, Tubber and Gracefield can all dream of glory while Walsh Island are rank outsiders and it will take a serious turnaround by Ballycumber to win the title.

The final round of group fixtures take place on Saturday, August 24, with the four games at different venues at the one time.

We know that Cappincur will play the losers of Walsh Island and Gracefield in one quarter-final. The winners of Clara and Daingean will meet Ballycumber in another one – Ballycumber will definitely be bottom in group one as they have lost to Tubber and Clonbullogue and even if they surprise Cappincur, they will stay behind the losers of Tubber and Clonbullogue on the head to head rule.

The winners of Clonbullogue and Tubber will meet the winners of Walsh Island and Gracefield in a quarter-final while the losers of Clonbullogue and Tubber will take on the losers of Daingean and Clara.

As in senior, the winners of the two quarter-finals involving the two group winners (Cappincur and Clara or Daingean) will play in opposite semi-finals.

The final round of group games takes place at 6.45pm and fixtures are:

Group 1

Tubber v Clonbullogue in Mucklagh;

Cappincur v Ballycumber in Ballycommon.

Group 2

Gracefield v Walsh Island in Bracknagh;

Daingean v Clara in Durrow.

All the results in the Offaly Football Championships and the up to date tables