Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship teams profiled

The Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship starts on Tuesday evening when Cappincur host Ballycumber. The following is profiles of the competing clubs:

SEE NEXT: Tullamore the big conundrum in Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship

BALLINAGAR

Manager – Benny O'Brien;

Selectors - Dermot Cuskelly and Brian Darby;

Captain - Jack Gorry, Vice captain Robbie Gallagher

Any new players - Kevin O'Beirne has transferred back from Sligo and Oisin Troy is up from minor;

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons - Geordie O'Meara is out with an achilles injury while goalkeeper Ryan Kinahan and tall midfielder Alex Cuddy will miss action with medium term injuries; Eoin McGuinness is not playing this year as he is travelling having completed his Masters and then taking up a job abroad. Defensive lynchpin Diarmaid Finneran has been abroad and there is uncertainty about his return.

Last year – beaten by Clara in the final;

Star player – Robbie Gallagher;

Prospects – Ballinagar have a great chance of going senior in the next couple of years but need to be aware that the window for doing so may be a brief one and that ship could sail by very quickly. They have made terrific progress in recent years and winning this grade is the next natural step for them. It may happen and they have the players to win it but it is never that simple. The loss of Geordi O'Meara is a cruel blow for them and it means they need their other marquee players, Robbie Gallagher and Morgan Tynan firing on all cylinders, and Adam Strong, Adam Joyce and others at the top of their game. With no team down from senior, this is the year to win it and Ballinagar are right at the top of short list of favourites but Tullamore's presence complicates things. Ballinagar should make the semi-finals and it will take a damn good team to beat them.

BALLYCUMBER

Manager - Joey Deehan;

Selectors - Thomas Deehan, Alan Kelly;

Captain - Clive Keena;

Any new players - Conor Daly and Colm Egan are in their first year up out of minor and will be great additions to Ballycumber;

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons – Nigel Grennan and Alan Flanagan have retired while long serving stalwart Cormac Quinn has got injured recently. Cathal Guinan is in San Francisco on a J1 but will be back later;

Last year – beat Gracefield in the relegation play off;

Star player – Colm Egan;

Prospects – Ballycumber definitely improved in the Division 2 Football League this year, playing well in the group phase and letting a chance slip against Cappincur in the semi-final. They will take great confidence out of that and are clearly working hard, moving in the right direction. They are one of the west Offaly clubs affected by population issues and they are outsiders. They are well capable of beating fancied teams and sneaking in but you couldn't mark them down as chammpions at this stage.

CAPPINCUR

Manager – Ger Lynam;

Selectors – Darren Screeney and Hugh Treacy;

Captain – Eoin Carroll;

Any new players – Igor Daly while long serving forward Brian Norris has returned from Australia ;

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons – PJ Daly has just got back from a cruciate injury while John Colgan has not yet played after sustaining a similar injury last year; Bill Carroll is finding it hard to get going as he manages a hamstring injury;

Last year – beaten by Clara in the semi-final;

Star player – Eoin Carroll;

Prospects – Cappincur are a great example of a club maximising their resources and nearly always playing to potential. They are contenders but are just slightly behind Tullamore, Ballinagar and Daingean in the pecking order at the moment. If they can get Bill Carroll fit and able to play full games, their victory prospects immediately rise but that is up in the air – he only came on as a sub in their Division 2 final loss to Ballinagar last week and limped off a few minutes later. That doesn't augur well for him and without him firing on all cylinders, it is hard to see Cappincur returning to senior. They will be very difficult to beat and they could beat any team in this grade but they have a couple of players with a lot of mileage up, a couple more short of full fitness and all of this could go against them over a long campaign.

DAINGEAN

Manager – Barry Weldon;

Selectors – Seamus McEvoy, Alan Delaney;

Captain – Adam Bolger;

Any new players – Cormac Whittle, Charlie Burns;

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons – Ciaran McEvoy has retired, Cian O'Reilly has transferred to the USA and Jack Connolly is injured; Scott Milne has just recovered from injury.

Last year – beaten by Ballinagar after extra time in an extraordinary semi-final;

Star player – Shane Tierney;

Prospects – Daingean will still be wondering how they didn't reach the final last year as they were the better team against Ballinagar almost the whole way in normal time but were caught at the death and forced into extra time – where they died on their feet and were blown away, 1-22 to 1-12. That was a traumatic experience for them but shows how competitive they will be in this grade. In Shane Tierney, they have a forward playing very well for Offaly and probably the best forward at this level – the problem for Daingean is what happens if he is marked out of it or has an off day, and he will be targeted in every game. Cathal Ryan should benefit greatly from being on the Offaly senior football panel this year and Daingean have definite prospects but are just behind Tullamore and Ballinagar on the favourite's list at the moment.

TUBBER

Manager - Padraig Farrell

Selectors – Alan Mullen (Coach) and Kevin Sheridan.

Captain – James Langan

Any new players - Adam Fox;

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons – Donal Shirley - Long term injury; David Colgan – Emigration; Conor Fox – J1 in USA; Eddie Kavanagh and Joe Higgins – Retired;

Last year – bowed out in the group stages;

Star player – Bernard Allen;

Prospects – Tubber are also affected by numbers and are entering a transitional phase. They command respect and could beat any team on any given day but the loss of county hurler Donal Shirley to a cruciate injury is a huge blow. Another fine footballer, Ian Daly is still abroad and it all means, that a lot of weight falls on the shoulders of former county player Bernard Allen. They could sneak into a semi-final but it will be a surprise if they are promoted.

TULLAMORE

Manager - Brian O’Reilly

Selectors - Pat Nolan, Stephen Lonergan, Ken Furlong, Ross Mannion

Captain - Shane Enright

Any new players - Patrick Kenna, Shane Horkan

Any retirements, long terms absentees through injury, emigration or other reasons – No

Last year – Intermediate champions;

Star player – Jack Maher;

Prospects – There is a strong case to be made for making Tullamore favourites but much depends on what players they use at senior. It's a toss of the coin whether labelling Jack Maher or Patrick Kenna as their star player and Jay Sheeran also comes into that equation. Those players and others will have to be in the thinking of senior football management but as a club, they will also be going after this grade. Tullamore reached the Division 1 Football League final with a large number of senior B players and that all suggests they are the team to beat here. There have been times in the past when their second team have flattered to receive but as things stand, they certainly have the players to win this grade.