New tournament for junior football clubs in Offaly

A NEW tournament exclusively for junior football clubs will be played in Offaly this year, with the first round of matches on June 4.

The establishment of the junior cup was rubberstamped at a meeting of Offaly County GAA Board this evening (Tuesday, February 11) where it was confirmed that the participants will be Ballyfore, Clonmore Harps, Doon, Erin Rovers, Kilclonfert and Shannonbridge.

Presenting the format of the competition to delegates, Pat Teehan said the idea of it is to “give recognition” and help those clubs which are solely junior and which are “sometimes struggling to survive in some cases”.

There will be two groups with teams allocated on a geographical basis. Therefore Group One will comprise Doon, Erin Rovers and Shannonbridge and Group Two will feature Ballyfore, Clonmore Harps and Kilclonfert.

Mindful that the format will see neighbour pitted against neighbour, Mr Teehan remarked: “I think that would generate a bit of rivalry there.”

He explained that the fixtures will be arranged so that the losers of the first of the three games will play in the second game and if the first game is a draw the teams that play in the second game will be decided on the toss of a coin.

The top team in each group will qualify for the final and all games are to be played on consecutive Wednesdays, commencing on June 4 and concluding on June 25.

Each club will have one home and one away game and the final will be played in Glenisk O'Connor Park.

The County Board meeting also saw the adoption of the structures for all adult championships for 2025.

As had been previously signalled, the senior football championship will have nine teams, split into two groups of five and four and based on gradings.

“Bracknagh were due to be regraded. They looked to stay at senior level and it's the recommendation from the CCC (Competitions Control Committee) that they be allowed stay at senior level for 2025,” said Mr Teehan.

The groups of five and four will be decided by the finishing positions in the 2024 championship. Therefore there will be a county finalist in each group, beaten semi-finalists in each group and the remaining teams will be drawn to determine which group they are in.

The knockout stages will be played in the traditional manner where the top team in each group will qualify for the semi-finals; the second and third team in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, with the second team in Group One versus third team in Group Two, and the third team in Group One versus second team in Group Two.

There will be no relegation to senior B in 2025.

In the senior B football championship there will be one group of seven and teams will be ranked one to seven in accordance with regulations.

Each team will have two home games and two away games with the remaining games at a neutral venue. The knockout stage will be the top four teams in the semi-finals, first versus fourth and second versus third. There will be relegation from senior B to intermediate.

Intermediate football will be structured as it was last year but there will be no relegation from intermediate in 2025 and 2026 “with a view to having 10 teams in the intermediate championship in 2027.”

In junior A football there will also be no relegation in 2025 or 2026 to ensure that eight teams remain in the championship.

Applications for junior B and C in both hurling and football will be taken after the leagues as was done last year when, according to Mr Teehan, “it worked very well and reduced the numbers of walkovers”.

“We left the applications for participation in that until April when teams got to see what they had in the league, whether they had enough teams to take part.”

The under 20 hurling championship will begin at the end of June or early July after the Leaving Certificate and the Under 20 football will commence in October.

The only dissenting voice heard during the meeting was from delegate Micheal Casey who questioned a decision to have relegation semi-finals in football leagues even though teams could have played seven games.

The CCC decided that this year's Division One football league will have one group of nine teams with the top four teams playing in the semi-finals and the bottom four teams in relegation semi-finals.

Division Two will be one group of seven with the top four again in semi-finals and the bottom two in a relegation final.

Division Three will have eight teams with the top four in semi-finals and the bottom four in relegation semi-finals.

In Division Four there will be two groups of five and on a criss-cross basis the top two teams in each group will play in semi-finals and the bottom two in each group will be in relegation semi-finals.

Division Five will have one group of seven and another of six. The top two teams in each group will play in semi-finals.

Mr Casey questioned the rationale of having four teams in relegation play-offs: “We reckon it should be that the bottom team, whoever finishes bottom after the seven matches, should be relegated.”

Mr Teehan laid out two reasons for the recommended format. First, the extra knockout teams would be useful for teams as they prepare for the championships.

Second, there was a situation where teams, especially in Division One, have to play without county players for the league and would only get those players back in the club when the time came to play relegation semi-finals and finals.

Mr Casey said he believed the extra games were still “pointless” but the format was backed by Michael Duignan, Central Council delegate, who said that his own club Ballinamere had 12 players with county teams – eight on the senior hurling panel, two on the senior football panel and two on the under 20 hurling panel.

“So we'd be playing all our league matches minus 12 players,” said the former Offaly GAA chair. “We could come in here tonight and argue that there should be no relegation but we know that clubs are looking for a bit of jeopardy, that there's relegation and promotion.”

He added: “We have to be fair to the clubs that have a heap of lads in with the county as well who won't be available for the league matches.”

Mr Casey proposed an amendment but in the absence of a seconder, the new format was ratified.

Division One of the hurling league will have two groups of five based on the championship gradings and on a criss-cross basis the top two teams in each group will be in the semi-finals and the bottom two in relegation semi-finals.

Hurling League Division Two will comprise one group of seven where the top four reach the semi-finals and the bottom two will face off in a relegation final.

Division Three will have two groups of five, teams will criss-cross for the four semi-finalists and the bottom two will play relegation semi-finals.

Division Four will be run as Division Three and Division Five will have one group of five teams with the top two contesting the final.

County chair Tom Parlon backed the structures as proposed by the committee. “To get maximum games for our own [clubs] is important as well as allowing the best teams to come through,” he remarked.

The draws for the championships will take place in O'Connor Park on Thursday night at 8pm and will be streamed live on Facebook.