Clonbullogue parish teams and Ballycumber set pace in Offaly SFC 'B' Football Championship

THE three teams from Clonbullogue parish along with Ballycumber have set the early pace in the Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship.

The opening round took place last weekend with wins for Walsh Island, Clonbullogue and Bracknagh as well as Ballycumber. It gives all four first round winners a great chance of making the knockout stages, though there is a lot of football to be played yet – the top team in each group goes into semi-finals with the next two in two quarter-finals.

The big result from this weekend was a great Walsh Island win over Erin Rovers in group 1. This was a 50-50 game and if anything, Erin Rovers were favourites but Walsh Island played very well in a convincing 4-17 to 2-9 win. It does raise serious doubts about Erin Rovers and the nature of this defeat against a side who are not expected to win the championship suggests that it will be a season of struggle for them.

Clonbullogue did very well to beat Tubber by 1-14 to 1-13 in the other group 1 game. This game could have swung either way but it was a huge win for last year's intermediate champions against a side who have been knocking on the door of a title win in recent years.

In group 2, Bracknagh were given a real run for their money by Gracefield. Relegated from senior last year, Bracknagh had to pull out all stops to win by 1-13 to 1-11. In the other game, Ballycumber had a very easy 1-17 to 0-5 win over St Rynagh's and it also looks like being a backs to the wall year for the Cloghan club.

Round 2 takes place from July 29-31 and fixtures are:

Group 1: Tubber v Walsh Island; Erin Rovers v Clonbullogue.

Group 2: St Rynagh's v Gracefield; Bracknagh v Ballycumber.