Cappincur and Clonbullogue in Offaly SFC “B” semi-finals as Tubber miss escape chute

CAPPINCUR and Clonbullogue have reached the Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship semi-finals.

They have topped their groups after the final round of games were played on Tuesday evening and will meet the winners of the two quarter-finals, which are: Ballycumber v Gracefield and Ballycommon v Walsh Island.

Gracefield have paid a dear price for losing their final match to Ballycommon, 2-16 to 1-12. That defeat has knocked them out of top spot even though they actually have the better scoring difference.

Clonbullogue had a 1-12 to 2-6 win over a shell shocked Tubber on Tuesday evening and that earned Clonbullogue a semi-final place.

Clonbullogue, Gracefield and Tubber all tied on four points but a significant change to the qualification rule took place at Congress this year. In previous years, scoring difference applied if more than two teams finished level on the same points for a qualification spot. This year, however, the scoring difference only applies in the results of the three teams tied and their scoreline against the eliminated team or teams, Tubber in this case, don't count.

It means that scoring difference only applies to the results of the games between Clonbullogue, Gracefield and Ballycommon. These results put Clonbullogue on +4 points, Ballycommon 0 points and Gracefield -4 points.

In group 1, Cappincur won their third game with an expected win over Walsh Island, 2-14 to 0-11 while St Rynagh's conceded a walkover. Between injuries, retirements, some dual players not being available and Lusmagh fielding their own junior B football team – players from Lusmagh have played with St Rynagh's in previous years -, St Rynagh's have been badly hit and numbers have been a big issue for them this year.

These games had been deferred from last Saturday because of a bereavement affecting Ballycommon and the Tuesday evening fixture may have impacted on St Rynagh's ability to field a team. A club conceding a walkover in the second tier football championship still looks very bad and it is a shame to see it happening but it is not a decision St Rynagh's will have taken lightly.

In other years, their decision could have had a big impact – if Walsh Island had beaten Cappincur, it would have them them two and Ballycumber on four points and scoring difference could not have counted because of a walkover being conceded, resulting in play offs This time, however, it wouldn't have had that impact as St Rynagh's games would not have counted with the tied teams – they may have been aware of this and factored it into their decision to give a walkover and they would have been under pressure to field if there was the possibility of play offs.

St Rynagh's now face Tubber in the relegation play off. Tubber's demise has been a surprise as they had impressed on their way to winning the Division 2 Football League earlier in the year. The championship, however, has been a disaster for them as they have lost their three games. Ballycommon's win over Gracefield had opened an escape chute for Tubber. If they had beaten Clonbullogue, them and Clonbullogue would have tied on two points for third place and Tubber would have went through on the head to head rule. Tubber, however, couldn't fulfill their end of the deal. They were level, 2-2 to 0-8 at half time but were outscored by 1-4 to 0-4 in the second half and they now face a difficult task to raise themselves for the relegation play off – even though they will be favourites to survive.

Gracefield will have been very disappointed to let a semi-final place slip. Ruari Allen had been instrumental in their opening wins over Clonbullogue and Tubber but went back to Australia recently. The former Offaly player is a real powerhouse of a footballer and Gracefield would have been hoping to get him back for a semi-final and final: it remains to be seen if they can get him home for the quarter-final – with two weeks between each game, it will take six weeks to conclude the knockout stages.

They are unlucky that the old rule doesn't apply as they had destroyed Tubber, 4-13 to 0-6, and that would have put them on top on scoring difference. Not only that but their seven point defeat by Ballycommon put them into third place and means that they have a more difficult quarter-final against Ballycumber.

The quarter-finals and relegation play off take place on the weekend of August 26-27.