Five in the hunt for four semi-final places in Offaly SFC “B”

THE Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship has come down to a race between five clubs with Clara in the semi-finals, Cappincur more or less there, and Tubber, Daingean and Ballinagar in a desperate race for the other two spots.In round five this weekend, Clara moved to eight points following a 0-13 to 0-7 win over Cappincur in a top of the table clash – it was their fourth successive win and Clara are clear championship favourites.

With six points from five games, Cappincur should still make it and will be favourites to seal it with a win over Gracefield in their final game. Tubber and Daingean are both on five points from four games while Ballinagar are on four from four. Gracefield have two points from four and Ballycumber are heading for the relegation play off with no point from five games.

Tubber did what they had to do on Sunday, getting away in the second half for a 4-12 to 0-15 win over Ballycumber.

The really big result this weekend was Daingean's 2-13 to 3-8 win over Ballinagar, who have the players to win this grade but have dropped too many careless points. Having drawn with Cappincur and Tubber in games that were there for the taking, they threw up a more glaring opportunity whern Daingean scored a late 2-2 to snatch a very fortunate win.

It means that Ballinagar are now on very vulnerable ground and could exit in the group stages. They face Gracefield in their next game and have Clara last – four points from those two will put them in but on current form, they won't beat Clara and Ballinagar have only themselves to blame for being in this position as they should have at least three extra points on board. The only saving grace for them is that Clara will be through and in a lot of cases, the team that has to win, beats the team that doesn't, though this doesn't always come through.

Daingean face Ballycumber next and a win there would be enough to put them into the semi-finals. Tubber have Clara next and Tubber and Daingean meet in what could be a very important closing round on the weekend of October 10/11.

Cappincur have their bye next and face Gracefield in the final round. As things stand, it looks like Clara, Cappincur and Daingean will claim three of the semi-final berths with the fourth one down between Tubber and Ballinagar.

Tubber are also on a tight rope but like Ballinagar, they do have their fate in their own hands. Ballinagar's first requirement is to beat Gracefield and it could all boil down to the final games between Tubber v Daingean and Ballinagar v Clara.

Tubber are in pole position and if they and Ballinagar tied on points, scoring difference will separate them as they drew their earlier clash. It is all very tight and at the moment, Tubber are the favourites for a semi-final spot but the funny thing is that if Ballinagar did survive, they could very well emerge as the biggest threat to Clara's ambitions.