High flying Ballinagar under no illusions about Tullamore threat

AN absolutely fascinating Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship final is in store for punters when Ballinagar and Tullamore clash in O'Connor Park on Satuday next.

High flying Ballinagar, a club on the rise, are marginal favourites but are under no illusions whatsoever about the threat Tullamore pose and their potential to end their dreams of going senior for the first time since the 1890s.

Ballinagar have provided one of the great stories in Offaly GAA in recent years. After spending decades in the doldrums, they won the Offaly Junior Football Championship in 2022 and the Intermediate Football Championship in 2024, when they also captured Leinster junior football honours – they were within a hair's breath of becoming the first Offaly club to make an All-Ireland football final when they were pipped at the death by eventual champions, Galway's An Ceathru Rua in the All-Ireland semi-final in Roscommon.

They made the Senior “B” Football Championship final last year but that was always likely to be a bridge too far for them. It was possibly a year too soon for Ballinagar but irrespective of that, Clara were just too strong in this grade – Ballinagar had beaten them in their final group game when a defeat would have put them out but Clara were much further down the development road and their win in the final was entirely predictable.

It is a fantastic time for Ballinagar, a golden era. Players from Ballinagar dominated the Na Fianna line-up that enjoyed great underage success in the 2010s and they have continued their progress into adult ranks. Ballinagar have provided a number of players to Offaly underage squads and a few have got their chance at senior level. It has been argued that they may have had too many on the Offaly senior football squad at one stage – there was merit in that view at that time but Ballinagar still provided a few players who would have at least interested any Offaly senior manager and that shows the talent in the club.

There is a huge desire in Ballinagar to go senior but it is not written in stone. Most of their squad are under 25 with only a couple heading towards the 30 mark. Time may be on their side but the window of opportunity could be shut at any time. Some key players have had injury problems. Geordi O'Meara has missed this whole season with an achilles injury and Ryan and Adam Strong have had consistent injury problems, reducing their game time this year. Conor Bracken, an exciting lively forward, has also missed action this year and one or two really serious injuries could derail them.

The spectre of emigration looms over every club in Offaly. Tenacious defender Diarmuid Finneran only returned a couple of weeks ago from Australia, coming on as a sub in the semi-final win over Tubber. It would be hard on any player to lose his place at this stage but the call on whether to start Finneran or not is one of a few big dilemmas facing the Ballinagar management ahead of this final – Under normal criteria, Finneran would have to bide his time but Ballinagar have one shot at this and need to start their best available team. Finneran is in this and he looks to be their best prospect of negating the influence of veteran Tullamore sharp shooter Shane Dooley – Dooley showed his class when he destroyed Daingean in ten spell-binding second half minutes in Tullamore's dramatic semi-final win.

Adam Joyce has plans to travel next year and he would be a huge loss if he misses a season. Joyce has improved significantly in the last two years and is now one of Ballinagar's most important players. You never know who else will go and Ballinagar can't afford to presume that they will keep getting opportunities to go senior.

It took Clonbullogue two losing finals before they eventually went up and there is no guarantee Ballinagar will get that opportunity. The time is now for them but Tullamore are a treacherous banana skin.

After years of trying, flattering to deceive, Tullamore finally won intermediate last year to get up to the second tier. They needed to be up there and will be delighted to have made the final, even if it was on the seat of their pants.

Tullamore were many people's tip for this championship at the start of the year but they haven't played that well. They lost three of their five games, with Ballinagar, Daingean and Tubber defeating them. They required Ballinagar to beat Cappincur in the final round of group games to make the semi-final and they then needed a spectacular two point winner from Peter Fox from way out on the sideline, deep in injury time, to get over Daingean there.

Fox's point was the score of the year to date in Offaly football – it was a hail mary effort, a shot to nothing with just seconds remaining before Eamon O'Connor blew the final whistle but it went over the bar and neither Tullamore or Daingean could believe what had happened.

It is not exacty title winning form but Tullamore are lethally dangerous now and there is a strong case to be made for actually making them favourites.

They may have took players off their team to senior. Patrick Kenna and Jack Maher were eligible for this grade but went to senior straight away. Davin Keegan and Oisin Keenan-Martin went during the season and Cillian Martin is out for this game, having picked up a two match ban for unwarranted, self-damaging abuse of Eamon O'Connor after the final whistle of their loss to Tubber.

With all these players playing, Tullamore would almost certainly win this championship but their unavailability brought them back into the pack.

Yet Tullamore could very well win this. Firstly, they still have a very good young team. A lot of their players have played underage county for Offaly and they have very important experience at each end of the field in Kevin O'Brien and Shane Dooley – long time senior players who have won medals and know how to win big games in O'Connor Park. They have players who would walk onto most other senior teams in Offaly. Jake Moore, Jack Daly, Jay Sheerin, Tom Furlong and Peter Fox, and possibly Shane Horkan, would make most of the weak group senior teams and Sheerin, Furlong and maybe others, would make some of the strong group sides.

They ooze talent, they are training with their seniors and being coached by Stephen Rochford et-al. They are all very good footballers and they know how to play football. They are tidy, efficient, good at retaining possession and they can inflict real damage when they do get momentum.

And then there is the Tullamore factor, their self belief and ability to perform in and win finals. All of this means that it is very close to a 50-50 game and Tullamore have every chance.

We can be more sure of Tullamore performing close to potential and Ballinagar certainly have an off day in their locker. It is a much bigger occasion for the Ballinagar club and community than Tullamore and this brings its own pressure and dynamics. Tullamore don't have to deal with any outside excitement or hype, it is all internal, within their group. Ballinagar people are rightly revelling in everything they are seeing at the moment but this can also be a negative and has to be managed properly by their manager Benny O'Brien – a former Tullamore player, whose son Kevin is playing for Tullamore in this.

Ballinagar have been the most impressive side in the championship to date. They won four of their five group games and their defeat came in an extraordinary second half capitulation to Daingean – eight points up near half time, they conceded two goals before the interval, leaked seven in all and lost by 7-12 to 3-10. That was a freak result but it shows what can happen when a team gets momentum in the modern game and the opposition drop their heads.

They had an easy win over Tubber in the semi-final and are playing very well. They are a bit heavily reliant on their star player, Robbie Gallagher and they could be in trouble if he doesn't go well but Morgan Tynan has stepped up to the mark at different times this year. He was excellent in the semi-final win over Tubber and it all depends on which Morgan turns up – if the hungry, fired up Morgan, eager for the ball, taking it on, hunting scores, quality oozing out of his pores, turns up on Saturday, Ballinagar's chances immediately increase.

If Tynan, however, is a peripheral factor, as he can be on occasions, and Gallagher is held, then Ballinagar will find it very hard to win this one – they are not a one or two man team and have a lot of really good players but these two men are absolutely pivotal.

Ballinagar look to be stronger on the bench. Diarmuid Finneran, Adam and Ryan Strong and Conor Bracken all came on against Tubber and they would be automatic starters when fit. Tullamore won the intermediate final against St Brigid's in the first half last year and Ballinagar have to start well, to put their best foot forward. That quartet won't all start but a couple of them at least will have to as Ballinagar aim to get the balance right and retaining sideline options that will make a difference in the second half.

There is one other tantalising extra factor in this final: Cillian Bourke is home from Australia where he is trying to make it as a professional and is eligible to play this grade. It is not clear if he has got the go ahead to play back in Ireland and if he has, he will be playing for their seniors but he could play in this fixture. It might well be going against the spirit of the rules for him to play in a lower grade when he is clearly a senior county football standard but the bottom line he is eligible and if Tullamore decided they wanted to get a bit of game time into him, they are within their rights – it is doubtful if they would do that but if they do, it changes the whole outlook for this.

Assuming that he doesn't play, if both sides play as well as they can, Ballinagar may be able to get the win. There is doubts about them, we can't fully trust them to perform and when they are bad, they are bad but it would be a good thing for them to go senior. Offaly football may be better served by Ballinagar going senior rather than a second team winning the second tier but that will not bother Tullamore one bit and they will go very close to winning this. It will be a very tight game but Ballinagar have performed that bit better this year and that does suggest something.

Verdict – Ballinagar.