Fascinating Offaly SFC “B” on a knife edge for final round of group games

AN absolutely fascinating race has developed for the four semi-final places in a very competitive Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship.

The only team assured of qualification is Clara, who moved onto 10 points with a 1-16 to 2-11 win over Tubber on Saturday afternoon.

They have been clear favourites from day one and have confirmed that with a very solid run to the semi-finals.

They are assured of top spot with one fixture to come against Ballinagar and they will play the fourth placed team in the semi-finals.

Ballinagar, Cappincur, Tubber and Daingean are engaged in a ferocious, tension filled battle for the remaining three spots while Gracefield and Ballycumber will contest the relegation play off.

Ballycumber completed their programme of games with a 0-16 to 1-11 defeat by Daingean on Sunday and with six defeats, they look destined for the drop but will have a great chance against Gracefield, who have also endured a horrific year. Ballycumber produced their best display of the year on Sunday and were not far away from condemning Daingean to a devastating loss.

Gracefield's prospects of making the semi-finals were ended by Ballinagar on Friday evening in Geashill. It took Ballinagar a while to get going and they only led by 0-8 to 0-5 after a poor first half but played way better in the second half as they won pulling up by 3-15 to 1-6.

It means that Daingean are now on seven points, Ballinagar and Cappincur are on six and Tubber have five. Three of those four will make the semi-finals and it is all incredibly tight.

Cappincur will almost certainly get there as they face Gracefield last. Cappincur are very solid while Gracefield's struggles have been noted by many in the county. A proud club who have made such a powerful contribution to Offaly football, they have really slipped back in recent years and are now just one game away from the third tier.

Gracefield have a significant enough population base on the Offaly side of Portarlington but for whatever reason, it is not happening for them there. They have several good people working very hard at the coalface but they have been in serious bother at underage level. They conceded all their games in the Minor Football Championship this year and concession of games at underage level have become an regular enough occurrence in recent years.

Gracefield obviously have issues with numbers and you would have to be there to know what is really going on but it is a major problem for Offaly football. They provided great players and leaders on all the great Offaly football teams – Donie Hanlon was the captain of the first Offaly team to win the Leinster senior football title in 1960 and he played in ther 1961 All-Ireland final loss to Down with club mate Frank Weir coming on as a sub. John Smith was a teak tough defender as Offaly won the All-Ireland senior football title in 1971 and 1972 and Mick and Pat Fitzgerald and Padraig Dunne were sensational as Offaly won again in 1982.

Few Gracefield players have been making Offaly teams in recent years and with some players unavailable, they had to work hard to field a team for Friday's game against Ballinagar. They had to start a former Offaly midfielder, Niall Smith, who is now near 40, and he went off injured after just a couple of minutes. A strong Gracefield is in the interest of everyone who has an interest in Offaly football but they are unlikely to be able to begin to turn things around against Cappincur and it will be a big surprise if they won that – the relegation play off against Ballycumber will be a 50-50 game.

It is all very neatly poised between Daingean, Ballinagar and Tubber for the other two spots. Ballinagar would have been in bother if Tubber had got a result against Clara. They needed Clara to win that and they just about did that. The sides were level near the end while in-form Clara attacker Adam Kelly was sent off with a straight red card – meaning that he will miss the Ballinagar game – and Tubber were in a great position. Clara, however, found a way to win it and leave things wide open for the final round.

Daingean and Tubber meet in the last round while Ballinagar have Clara. Ballinagar should not be on such precarious ground as they threw away big leads against Tubber and Daingean, drawing with Tubber and losing to Daingean. They really should be home and dry but instead are staring an early exit in the face.

Their fate is still in their own hands and a draw against Clara will suffice to put them through. Ballinagar are one side Clara will be wary of as they have forwards to hurt them but Clara are still favourites to take the points in this. If that happens, it will leave Ballinagar anxiously looking for the result of the Daingean and Tubber match. If Ballinagar lose, they will need either a draw or a Daingean win there to edge Tubber out – if Tubber and Ballinagar tie on points, Ballinagar will advance by virtue of a superior distance.

However, if Ballinagar lose and Tubber win, Ballinagar are gone and both these results are very possible, if not probable – Tubber also have county hurler Donal Shirley back, though he didn't play against Clara. The saving grace for Ballinagar is that Clara will have nothing to play in the final round, though they will be anxious to put one of their main threats out of the championship.

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The other thing is that Daingean can't afford to rely on Clara winning and need a result against Tubber to be sure of qualifying. If Ballinagar beat Clara and Tubber take Daingean, it is Daingean who will be gone. All those clubs have to put their best foot forward and it will all make for a great afternoon's entertainment.