Rhode and Edenderry fancied to secure county final places

The previous two battles between Rhode and Clara have been wonderful occasions to attend and this Sunday's meeting could turn out to be another classic. However, neither club looks to be in top form yet, so whichever club comes closest to delivering on their full potential should be the one to advance. It seems strange to be suggesting that Rhode are off form when they come into this game with six wins in six championship games, their reserves have comfortably reached the Intermediate final and their third team already has the Junior B championship in the bag. However at senior level, much more than usual, they seem to be depending on the brilliance of Niall McNamee to get them through games intact. If we imagine a situation where McNamee had not played in any of their games so far, it's only really the Ferbane match that you could say with confidence that they would have won regardless. It stands to reason that when a club has one of the most talented forwards in the country he will play a huge part at club level, but no other Rhode forward has been consistently playing well all year, while defensively they showed plenty of vulnerability against Walsh Island. Rhode should improve as the year goes on - it would have taken an incredible dip in form for them to have been knocked out before this stage of the season and for them, Sunday is not just an Offaly senior championship semi-final, it's one step closer to the Leinster title that the club craves so badly. Manager Tom Coffey wouldn't have been doing his job if he wasn't training them with one eye on peaking in October and November, so as the nights draw in, expect the Rhode machine to engage their higher gears. On paper, Clara are not alone a good match for Rhode, they are the biggest test that the village will face between now and a potential Leinster semi-final against Garrycastle, now that Moorefield have been knocked out of the championship in Kildare. They have the experience of beating Rhode, they have inter-county experience all over the field, and up front they have a range of scorers that any club team would envy. They've been spectacularly off form all year, but they've missed several key players throughout the year and Sunday will be the first time that they'll have a full panel of players to pick from. This will be a crucial test of their sideline acumen as well, since management decisions played a huge part in the last two county finals. In 2009, the decision to move Ross Brady to full-forward created the vital goal that tied up the match in the closing stages, while last year the decision was taken to leave Joe Quinn mark Niall McNamee one on one without support, and McNamee duly played a captain's role and put on perhaps one of the greatest single displays ever seen in O'Connor Park. Joe Quinn is an inter-county standard defender who was entitled to his shot at taking on McNamee after playing so well on Shane Dooley in the semi-final, but once McNamee started doing damage, Clara needed to drop an extra man back in front of the corner-forward and that switch never came about. The scores kept coming, and Clara's title was lost. Thomas Deehan, Graham Guilfoyle, John O'Hara and John Reynolds have all played senior inter-county football in recent years - they have the ability to compensate for one forward being withdrawn, provided they hit form this Sunday - admittedly a significant caveat. Rhode represent the more likely winners simply because Clara have so much improvement to find after a deeply underwhelming quarter-final win over local rivals Erin Rovers, but this is still largely the same team that deservedly beat Rhode and could have won a Leinster title only two years ago. Nobody, least of all the Rhode players and management, will be writing them off before Sunday. Both Edenderry and Gracefield will fancy their chances after avoiding the two big guns in the semi-final draw. Gracefield's turnaround this summer has been incredible, as they were marked down as possible relegation candidates after a shocking run of results in the league, but a dogged victory over St Rynagh's and a remarkable upset in Clara turned things around and they never looked back. A fortuitous goal from Padraig Duffy was the difference in their quarter-final battle with Ferbane, and they may need a lot of things to fall right for them this Sunday as well. Ruairí Allen is a powerful, influential player who offers great support to the forwards when he carries the ball at opposition defenders, but he'll have to add the ability to read the game to his repertoire on Sunday afternoon if he's to counter the influence of Basil Malone. Malone will drop deep and pick up plenty of ball around midfield, leaving Allen in a difficult situation - does he leave his position unmanned and follow Malone around, thus exposing his back line to the driving runs of Derek Kelly from midfield? Or does he hold the centre and watch Malone pick out passes over his head? Alternatively, he could drop even deeper and try to pick up the breaks from when Malone tries to find his inside forwards, but in doing so he runs the risk of taking himself out of the game in an attacking sense. It's quite the conundrum, but it's one that Gracefield have to resolve. Equally, the big battle at midfield between Richie Dalton and Niall Smith will be crucial. Smith is the better fielder of the two, but if Dalton can spoil the kick-outs and force Smith to engage in a battle for loose possession on the ground, it'll be to Edenderry's advantage. Secondly, Gracefield can't afford to allow Dalton the freedom to roam around the field and to play a huge part in their running game. That may require Smith to move around a lot more than he usually does. The third crucial battle will be between Peter Smart, who is at the heart of all Gracefield's attacking play, and Seán Pender, who continues to develop as the best all round man marker in the county. Gracefield run out of ideas very quickly if Smart doesn't get on the ball a lot and offer something different other than just long, high, hopeful balls forward. Pender will have to be sure to keep his discipline as he does concede more frees than he should, but if he can curtail Smart, then it's hard to see Gracefield scoring a dozen times or more. These mini-battles all will play a huge part, and in each case, the marginally more likely outcome is that the Edenderry man will hold the edge. On that basis, expect a good day for the Reds this Sunday in O'Connor Park.