Edenderry crash out as SFC takes definite shape

THE Tullamore Court Hotel Offaly Senior Football Championship began to take definite shape when the third round of games took place last week.

The four qualifiers from the strong group 1 have been already decided with Edenderry becoming the first big casualties in an entertaining championship while the race for the two quarter-finalists from the weak group 2 is hotting up and they remain up for grabs.

With star forward Cian Farrell in America and long term stalwarts such as Sean Pender, Colm Byrne and Sean Doyle opting out of senior football this year, Edenderry were always going to find the going tough but the extent of their struggles has surprised and three consecutive heavy defeats mean that they can't qualify with a game to come against old rivals Rhode.

Edenderry received dreadful beatings by Tullamore and Shamrocks and while they improved in Saturday's game against Ferbane, they still fell away to a 4-15 to 1-12 defeat and that means that their championship aspirations are over – even if Edenderry surprise Rhode and Ferbane lose to Tullamore and Shamrocks in their remaining two games, Ferbane will stay ahead of Edenderry on the head to head rule.

It all means that spectator interest in the remaining two rounds in group 1 will be minimal as Tullamore, Shamrocks, Rhode and Ferbane all have their knockout places booked. The only issue to be decided is the top two teams and who goes direct into the semi-finalists; the third and fourth teams in this group place the winners and runners-up in group 2 in two quarter-finals.

At the moment, Tullamore have four points from their two games, Shamrocks and Rhode are on 3 points with Shamrocks having the better scoring difference (they drew in the first round), Ferbane are on 2 points and Edenderry are pointless. Shamrocks and Edenderry have three of their four games played while Rhode and Ferbane have two.

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Shamrocks have their bye in round 4 where Tullamore and Ferbane renew acquaintenances and Edenderry play their final game against Rhode. The final round will see Shamrocks play Ferbane and Tullamore meet Rhode.

Tullamore are favourites to claim one of the semi-final spots, though that is not written in stone and the other one is very much up for grabs.

The championship format with a strong and a weak group has worked very well. The strong group may have developed into a damp squib but no one could have predicted that Edenderry would be so far off the mark – if the championship format is retained next year, Edenderry will be in a weak group with the top team in group 2 in the strong group.

Group 2 has provided great close fare. There has been a noticeable difference in standard between the two groups but that is what you would expect and there have been some very tight, close games

There has been three draws (Bracknagh v Clara, Ballycommon v Clonbullogue and Ballycommon v Clara) and another couple of games that could very easily have been a draw.

With three rounds played, Clara and Ballycommon are joint top with four points, Bracknagh have three, Clonbullogue one and Durrow none. Clara and Ballycommon have three games played while Bracknagh, Clonbullogue and Durrow all have two.

Last weekend, Clara took a big step forward with a 0-20 to 1-9 win over an injury hit Clonbullogue while Ballycommon got a crucial 0-21 to 1-12 win over Durrow.

Durrow play Clonbullogue and Bracknagh meet Ballycommon in round 4 while the final round fixtures are: Clonbullogue v Bracknagh and Clara v Durrow.

Durrow are on their way out and look certain to play in the relegation play off, though they will have a great chance against Clonbullogue in the next game. Clonbullogue did very well to draw with Ballycommon in their first round but were off the pace against Clara, who are favourites to take one of the two quarter-final spots on offer. Clara have Durrow in their last game and a win there will put them on six points and into the quarter-finals.

Six points is the target and it is shaping up as a three horse race between Clara, Ballycommon and Bracknagh for qualification though Clonbullogue are still in the mix.

The meeting of Bracknagh and Ballycommon in round 4 is a knockout one. It is Ballycommon's final game and a win will put them onto six points and into the quarter-finals. Both Bracknagh and Ballycommon have done very well this year, more or less performing to potential and their clash could be the game of the championship to date – certainly in terms of the stakes, it is one to look forward to and it is a real 50-50 match-up with Bracknagh the slightest of favourites.

A win will not fully guarantee Bracknagh qualification but they will be in a very strong position. It will put them onto five points but Clonbullogue can join them there with wins over Durrow and Bracknagh – and if they tied on five points for qualification, Clonbullogue would go through on the head to head rule so Mark Daly's charges still have plenty to play for. Clonbullogue do need Bracknagh to at least draw with Ballycommon and if Ballycommon win, they will be probably be gone as they would then require Durrow to surprise Clara.

Durrow are not fully gone yet. They can get to four points and you could have teams tying on that tally for qualification but they need results to fall their way and they are hanging on by a very thin thread. The likelihood is that Durrow are out and their next game against Clonbullogue is a knockout one for both.

Meanwhile, the Senior “B” Football Championship took an unexpected twist when Tubber surprised Cappincur in round 3 last Sunday. Daingean are the new favourites in the wake of a demolition of Ballinagar on Friday evening, 7-12 to 3-10 while Tullamore had to work hard to beat Ballycumber.

With four teams qualifying for two semi-finals, Daingean are through with six points from their three games. Ballinagar and Tullamore have four points, Tubber and Cappincur two and Ballycumber none.

With two rounds still to be played, there is still a lot of action ahead. In round 4, Ballinagar meet Tullamore, Cappincur play parish rivals Daingean and Ballycumber have neighbours Tubber. The round 5 fixtures are Ballinagar v Cappincur, Daingean v Ballycumber and Tubber v Tullamore.

Ballinagar and Tullamore remain strongly poised to qualify but Cappincur find themselves on very tricky ground.

They have huge local derbies ahead against Daingean and Ballinagar and will have to win at least one of those to survive. Tubber's win on Sunday has turned their season around but they won't need anyone to tell them that Ballycumber could spoil their good work in the next round. Tubber's win, however, has removed the air of inevitability about the four semi-finalists and made the final two rounds much more interesting.

The Intermediate Football Championship is moving into the business end of affairs. In group 1, Ferbane have six points from three games, Gracefield (two games), Edenderry (two games) and St Rynagh's (three) are all tied on two points while Kilcormac-Killoughey have no points from two games – they gave a walkover to St Rynagh's in the first round and Ferbane did a job on them on Sunday.

In the four team group 2, St Brigid's are assured of knockout football with four points from two games. Walsh Island and Raheen have two points while Rhode have none.

The top team in each group qualifies for the semi-finals with second and third meeting in two quarter-finals.

In group 1, Gracefield play Kilcormac-Killoughey and Edenderry meet St Rynagh's in round 3.

The final round in both groups will take place on August 27:

Group 1: Ferbane v Gracefield, Kilcormac-Killoughey v Edenderry;

Group 2: St Brigid's v Raheen; Rhode v Walsh Island.

Ferbane and St Brigid's will qualify and both are likely to make the semi-finalists while every other team can still qualify for the quarter-finals.