Offaly SFC "B" quarter-finals in doubt as Gracefield seek DRA hearing into group placings

A MAJOR doubt has emerged over the Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship quarter-finals going ahead on Saturday with Gracefield GAA Club asking the Disputes Resolution Authority to postpone them.

In a move that will anger the clubs remaining in the championship, Gracefield have argued that they should be top of group 2 and should not have to play a quarter-final.

Gracefield lost an appeal to Leinster Council over the group placings in the championship earlier in the week but have now gone further, going to the Disputes Resolution Authority.

They have sought a hearing from the DRA over the positions and an interim hearing will take place by zoom on Friday evening which will decide if the quarter-finals will proceed on Saturday. Gracefield are fixed to play Ballycumber while Ballycommon meet Walsh Island in a semi-final double bill in O'Connor Park.

The initial DRA hearing will only adjudicate on whether the quarter-finals must be postponed, pending a full hearing.

The County Board will be fighting their case, they want the quarter-finals to proceed and have named the other quarter-finalists and Cappincur and Clonbullogue, who are in the semi-finals as interested parties.

Gracefield had thought they had topped group 2 and were into the semi-finals on scoring difference but they then found themselves in third place when it emerged that the rules for determining placings had changed this year.

They have argued that an Offaly GAA regulation should have been changed as a result of the rule change but Leinster Council turned down their appeal.

Gracefield's decision to pursue the matter further has come as a surprise but clubs are entitled to appeal cases – former County Board chairman, Tommy Byrne, ousted by Michael Duignan in a very public 2019 coup, is the Gracefield chairman this year.

Gracefield were shellshocked to discover last week that they had ended up in third place instead of first place in group 2, even though they had lost their last game to Ballycommon, 2-16 to 1-12.

With Clonbullogue beating struggling Tubber the same night by 1-12 to 2-6, it left Gracefield, Clonbullogue and Ballycommon all tied on four points and through out of the group. Scoring difference was used to determine group placings with the top team into the semi-finals and the next two into two quarter-finals.

Gracefield left their match believing that they were top on scoring difference, as did Clonbullogue and Ballycommon and the Offaly GAA County Board actually posted that on their Twitter account. However, within minutes, that post was taken down as it emerged that the rules for applying scoring difference had changed this year at Congress.

In previous years, scoring difference applied if more than two teams finished level on the same points for a qualification spot – the head to head result between the teams applies when just two finish level on the same points.

In other years, Gracefield would have been top as they had a superior scoring difference from their three group games. 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 meant that scoring difference only applied 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.

The change had huge implications for Gracefield. Not only did it deny them a semi-final place but it also put them down into third place and facing a more difficult looking quarter-final against Ballycumber. Ballycommon face Walsh Island in the other quarter-final – they are fixed in an O'Connor Park double bill this Saturday in Tullamore.

Gracefield had turned a big corner this year after struggling last year to emerge as real championship contenders and a big concern for them is the availability of former county player, Ruari Allen. A powerful, physical, athletic player, Allen has spent most of the time in Australia in recent years. He played in Gracefield's opening group wins over Tubber and Clonbullogue and was instrumental in them while it was significant that their worse performance was in his absence against Ballycommon.

It is understood that the plan was to have Allen home for the semi-final, and final, if they reach there, but Gracefield hadn't banked on a quarter-final; - he would just have to stay home for two weeks for a semi-final to a final but it will take a month from the quarter-final through to final and that would be a long time.