Raheen and Tullamore through in Offaly IFC as Ferbane make big recovery

THE likely knockout lineup in the Tullamore Court Hotel Intermediate Football Championship began to come into focus when round 2 took place at the weekend.

Tullamore and Raheen have definitely qualified and we have a fair idea of who the other qualifiers will be.

The top team in each group qualify for the semi-finals with the second and third placed teams in two quarter-finals.

Tullamore are odds on favourites to claim a semi-final berth out of group one. They moved to four points with a predictably comfortable win over St Rynagh's on Friday evening, 3-14 to 0-7.

They are the big conundrum in this championship. The county's biggest club should have their second team in the second tier, particularly now that they are so strong in senior. Yet they haven't always focused on this grade and this was the case last year in particular, then they stripped the intermediates at an early stage, giving senior game time to players who didn't feature much in the latter stages of the campaign.

They aren't doing that this year. While Ben Heffernan, Pa Robiliard and Liam Dillane have all been drafted up to the senior team, they all performed very well in Tullamore's easy first round win over Bracknagh on Saturday evening and are all comfortable at this level. Tullamore resisted the opportunity to use any further intermediates – they took the veteran Michael Brazil off and then brought him back on after Luke Bourke sustained a second half knock, rather than use an intermediate.

And Tullamore were right to do that in this case as the game was won and they have a handful of players to come back from injury. Declan Hogan came on as a late sub, Diarmuid Egan should be back in the next two to three weeks and Nigel Bracken should also be back soon. They also have county player Daire McDaid to come back onto their senior team – he is back from a playing trip to Chicago but couldn't play on Saturday as his 60 day sanction has not yet ended. With all these coming back, an intermediate coming on in Bracknagh may not have seen action again and Tullamore looked like they were more likely to ask Bourke to stay on through the pain barrier rather than use anyone else.

All of that suggests that they will be strong in intermediate and they could be very hard to beat. In the other group 1 game, Kilcormac-Killoughey had a season changing 3-10 to 3-9 win over Walsh Island, who beat St Rynagh's in the first round. The sides were tied at 1-5 each at half time and K-K just edged a real close game..

St Rynagh's are in trouble with two defeats but can still qualify as they meet K-K in their last group game. Walsh Island are now on tricky ground as they face Tullamore last and will be underdogs there. Two points could still get them through and if K-K beat Rynagh's they will qualify while there is also the possibility of three teams ending up on two points in this group and scoring difference deciding the qualifiers – that will happen if Tullamore beat Walsh Island and Rynagh's beat K-K.

There were big results in group 2 where Raheen qualified after snatching a dramatic late win against Edenderry, 3-9 to 0-15. A late Lee Mulpeter goal gave them victory but it was a huge result for Raheen as their star player Dylan Hyland didn't play. They were also without another of their main men, former county senior player Conor Carroll. Carroll's strength and leadership is pivotal to Raheen and they were delighted to win without them.

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Hyland is nursing a very problematic groin injury and he came off the bench bench to win the first round game for them against Ferbane. Raheen were heading towards a dispiriting beating when Hyland came on and he was sensational as he turned the game on the head. Carroll was also excellent that day and Raheen found a way to win on Saturday afternoon without them.

It was good that they bit the bullet and left Hyland off. His injury will only get worse unless he gets an extended break from football. With four points on the board, they won't play him in their final round against St Brigid's now and that will be a help – Hyland could really do with not playing for the remainder of the year and getting right for Offaly next year but in fairness to Raheen, they are desperate to win this championship, they can't do so without Hyland and the Geashill man will also want to play for them. Clubs are also crucially important and this mini break should be of some benefit anyway.

Ferbane collapsed when Hyland came on in the first round but they got going with a great 0-18 to 3-7 win over St Brigid's in Ferbane on Saturday afternoon. With former county player Joe Maher in great form, they fired over two pointers for sport in the first half to lead by 0-15 to 3-2 at half time. They could only manage three more points in the second half but it was enough for a 0-18 to 3-7 win – there was a messy row near the end before order was restored.

Both Ferbane and St Brigid's are on two points while Edenderry are pointless. Ferbane and St Brigid's are favourites to qualify.

Ferbane play Edenderry next and should be able to get the win here. Edenderry won the junior last year but all their eggs is in the senior basket this year and that grade is very much their focus – they have drafted up members of last year's junior side and Edenderry, St Rynagh's and Kilcormac-Killoughey are very much the title outsiders.

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Round 3 fixtures are:

Group 1

Walsh Island v Tullamore;

Kilcormac-Killoughey v St Rynagh's.

Group 2

Edenderry v Ferbane;

Raheen v St Brigid's.