Tubber on treacherous ground as strange results shakes up Offaly SFC “B”

USING the word freak might be going a step far but there was certainly some strange, unexpected results when the second round of the Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship took place last weekend.

Whille group 1 has developed as expected, there is certainly nothing predictable about group 2 which has developed into a real turkey shoot.

In group 1, Cappincur are guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages. They are top with four points and a win over Walsh Island in their final game will earn them top spot and a semi-final: the top team in each group qualifies for the semi-finals with the next two in two quarter-finals.

Cappincur followed up their crucial first round win over Ballycumber with a 2-16 to 0-9 win over St Rynagh's on Saturday. Rynagh's put up greater resistance than they did in their first round reverse against Walsh Island but were over powered in the wind up.

Ballycumber got their season going with a vital 1-17 to 0-13 win over Walsh Island. Once again, Walsh Island battled every inch of the way and led by 0-9 to 1-5 at half time but could only manage four points in the second half.

Ballycumber and Walsh Island have two points while St Rynagh's have none. It looks very like Cappincur will make the semi-finals from this group with Ballycumber and Walsh Island also qualifying and St Rynagh's heading into the relegation play off. A point for Ballycumber in their final group game against struggling St Rynagh's will be enough for them. Even if Cappincur beat Walsh Island and St Rynagh's do shock Ballycumber to leave Ballycumber, Walsh Island and St Rynagh's on two points, it almost certainly won't be enough for the Cloghan club. Scoring difference would decide then and St Rynagh's are on -33 points, Walsh Island +13 and Ballycumber +4. We can say with as much certainty as you ever can with football that this scoring difference won't be overhauled enough to save St Rynagh's in the final round – their only hope of salvation is for Walsh Island to beat Cappincur and them to beat Ballycumber, when they would then go through on the head to head to head rule.

Group 2 is by far the strongest one and is also way more interesting. The big news here has been Gracefield's return to health and emergence into serious championship contenders. They are top of the group with four points and assured of at least a quarter-final – a draw in their last game against Ballycommon will be enough for a semi-final.

Clonbullogue and Ballycommon have two points and a fancied Tubber are in serious trouble with no points and their confidence rocked after two very bad beatings.

After struggling last year, Gracefield have turned a corner. Jamie Evans has transferred back from Clare and Ruari Allen is home from Australia at the moment. Evans was on the Offaly panel this year while Allen's current availability is a huge bonus for them. His emigration to Australia, along with the departure of Walsh Island's Brian Connor to New York, were dreadful blows to Offaly football – Allen is the physical, hard hitting type player Offaly were crying out for and he could still have been playing for the county.

Gracefield's win over Tubber on Saturday was not a surprise but the scale of it, a whopping 4-13 to 0-6, certainly was. Allen was instrumental in the win with 2-2 from play while Evans got three points. It remains to be seen if Allen will be around for the whole campaign but keeping him at home is crucial to Gracefield's prospects. Jack Walsh is going very well for them at the moment, scoring 1-1 of his 1-5 haul from play while the veteran Niall Smith is still performing very well at midfield.

Could Gracefield still win a chamionship if Allen returns to Australia? Possibly so but they will be a lot more dependant on Niall Smith, Jamie Evans and Jack Walsh then and their chances could be damaged by a much as 10%.

While Gracefield were justifiably delighted with their win, a big talking point here was the form of Tubber. They won the Division 2 Football League quite impressively and looked capable of winning a chamionship but it has unravelled badly for them so far. Ballycommon blew them out of the water in the first round, 2-12 to 1-6 and this one was even worse. We put the Ballycommon result down to first round blues but a pattern is now emerging and it is very hard to turn that around.

Tubber have been knocking on the door for a few years but just couldn't get across the line and while people should resist eliminating them from the equation at the moment, they have been on empty in their two games to date.

Scorers - Gracefield: Jack Walsh 1-5 (3fs, 1m), Ruairi Allen 2-2, Jamie Hanlon 1-1, Jamie Evans 0-3, Stephen Flanagan 0-2. Tubber: Conor Fox 0-3 (2fs), Ciaran McManus ('45) and Bernard Allen (free) 0-1 each.

Gracefield: Jonathan Knight; Patrick Hurley, Mark Ward, Gavin Smyth; Corey McEvoy, Jamie Evans, Ciaran Conroy; Niall Smith, Paddy Dempsey; Ruairi Allen, Philip Hurley, Jason Slattery; Tom Walsh, Jack Walsh, Stephen Flanagan. Subs: Cian Murphy for Ward (30 min, injured), Jamie Hanlon for T Walsh (35 min), Dan Hanlon for Flanagan (43 min).

Tubber: James Langan; Nigel Farrell, Eddie Kavanagh, Ciaran McGuinness; Pauric Ennis, Lee Colgan, Padraig McLoughlin; Sean Farrell, Ciaran McManus; Ronan Farrell, Brian Kelly, Conor Fox; James Kealy, Bernard Allen, Patrick Farrell. Subs: Eoin Murphy for B Kelly (35 min), Ciaran Kelly for P Farrell (50 min), B Kelly for McLoughlin (60 min).

Referee - Fergal Smyth (Kilclonfert).

The other game in group 2 also threw up a surprise as Clonbullogue did a job on Ballycommon, 1-12 to 0-8.

This result was a surprise, or at least the scoreline was – it was a much more comprehensive win than the score suggests. Ballycommon had looked very good in the first round while Clonbullogue lost out to Gracefield. They had Keith O'Neill back here and he made a big difference. There was a strong wind out on Saturday and Clonbullogue stormed into a remarkable 0-9 to no score half time lead.

They were 1-12 to 0-1 ahead fifteen minutes into the second half and while Ballycommon got the final seven points, they were merely chasing scoring respectability at this stage. Yet those points could be important as scoring difference could determine who gets through and Ballycommon almost certainly will make it now.

If Gracefield beat Ballycommon and Tubber take Clonbullogue in the final round, you would have Clonbullogue, Ballycommon and Tubber tied on two points with scoring difference deciding which two goes into the quarter-finals and who is in the relegation play off. Those results are possible but at the moment, the dice is very much loaded against Tubber as their scoring difference is critical.

Their scoring difference is a very unsatisfactory -28 points, compared to +2 for Ballycommon and +4 for Clonbullogue. That is very unlikely to be overturned and the only realistic way they can survive is to beat Clonbullogue and for Ballycommon to draw with or beat Gracefield. In this scenario, Ballycommon would go to 3 or 4 points and Tubber would edge out Clonbullogue on the head to head rule. It's far from impossible but Tubber are in the unhappy position of needing a favour – and that is making the very big assumption that they can turn things around themselves.

It does look like Ballycommon will be okay and it would take genuine freak results to put them out. They would have to lose big and Tubber win big to put them out – anything else will see them get through and in a round of knockout football, the winning margins certainly should not be that big.

Still, it will make for a compelling final round in group 2 and that is a big part of the charm of senior “B” football. There are a lot of teams of a comparable standard, strange results have been par for the course in recent years and the possibility of twists and turns remains alive.

Round 3 fixtures are:

Group 1

Cappincur v Walsh Island; St Rynagh's v Ballycumber.

Group 2

Tubber v Clonbullogue and Gracefield v Ballycommon.