Shamrocks" clash with Gracefield the pick of the round as senior championship finally resumes

After a long and controversial absence, the Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship resumes this weekend with all clubs still having plenty to play for. Championship action will take place in Tullamore, Ferbane, Doon and Clara and good sized crowds are expected to turn out in for each game as fans look to commit a horrendous summer of inter-county senior championship football to the darkest recesses of the memory. Four intermediate championship matches are also down for decision as the race to obtain a place in the 2009 SFC gathers pace. SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP Ballycumber v Erin Rovers (Friday, 7.30pm in Ferbane. Hackett"s Odds: 4/7 Ballycumber, 7/1 Draw, 7/4 Erin Rovers) Logic suggests that Ballycumber should take this match with a little bit to spare, but the men from Pullough paid no heed to logic in the first round against Clara and there"s no reason to believe that they will tonight in Ferbane either. No scores from play in the first 58 minutes of the hour against Clara says it all about where Rovers" biggest difficulty is to be found - finding scoring support for Alan Lynam up front. The light blues will defend physically and tenaciously all day long and anybody who has ever played against them knows that they simply will not stop playing until the final whistle irrespective of the score on the board, but the suspicion is that tenacity and honesty alone won"t be enough to get a result here. Ballycumber remain a quite under-rated team in Offaly football and they will be harbouring plenty of resentment from their somewhat controversial elimination from the championship race in 2007. They can run up plenty of scores in a very short space of time and the suspicion here is that while Rovers will probably contain Ballycumber for at least fifty minutes out of the hour, the remaining ten will see players like Rory Guinan, Ciarán Grennan, Seán Hackett and Colm Quinn demonstrate the full of their ability and a four or five point victory for Ballycumber is the likely outcome. Verdict: Ballycumber Clara v St Rynagh"s (Saturday, 7pm in Doon. Hackett"s Odds: 1/3 Clara, 8/1 Draw, 11/4 St Rynagh"s) Two heavy defeats in two years against this weekend"s opponents leaves St Rynagh"s a lot of room for improvement that will need to be found in Doon. Ken Kelleghan has been working very hard with the men from Cloghan and they won"t lack for physicality or competitive spirit, but beyond that, it"s difficult to see a happy ending for the hoops. James Rafferty will give the Brady brothers plenty to think about at midfield, but after that it"s hard to see any reason why Rynagh"s can get within six or seven points of a Clara team who will know that their first round result has left them with little or no margin for error in this fixture. Verdict: Clara Rhode v Shannonbridge (Sunday 12 noon in O"Connor Park. Hackett"s Odds: 1/4 Rhode, 8/1 Draw, 7/2 Shannonbridge). One of two things could happen here. Either Shannonbridge will travel to Tullamore rejuvenated and motivated by their first round success against Ferbane, or else they will sit back having 'played their All-Ireland' in that match and let Rhode walk all over them. No senior club in Offaly is close to being as inconsistent as the Shannonsiders and if ever a match had 'no bet' written all over it, this is that game. Rhode still don"t look like the team that marched through Offaly and on to a Leinster final less than two years ago, and if Shannonbridge bring their best game to O"Connor Park, this could be a very nervous day for the favourites. On the grounds that Shannonbridge"s best form rarely comes out twice in the one season, never mind twice in a row, we"re going to say Rhode by double figures instead. Verdict: Rhode. Shamrocks v Gracefield (Sunday, 1.30pm in O"Connor Park. Hackett"s Odds: 1/2 Shamrocks, 7/1 Draw, 2/1 Gracefield) Unquestionably the tie of the round, this is the only clash between two of the championship front runners on offer this weekend and opinions are understandably divided as to how this match will pan out. Shamrocks" quality is not in doubt and they possess arguably the most balanced team in Offaly. Strong in midfield, fit and powerful in defence and with several forwards capable of scoring, the physical ingredients to win a first ever county championship are certainly in place. The mental fragility that saw the club let last year"s county final slip is another matter entirely, however, and only in the white heat of battle will we see if they have addressed that failing. Gracefield very much appear to have the wherewithal to test that mental strength/weakness. In a county so bereft of good fielding midfielders, the presence of Niall Smith in Gracefield"s ranks gives the men in black and red a huge comparative advantage. The Slatterys will fight with every ounce of energy for every ball, while up front John O"Neill, Bobby Fitzpatrick, John Knight and Ruairí Allen offer a potent and varied attacking threat. On the grounds that the recent turmoil in Shamrocks regarding the Rory Kearney affair cannot have helped preparation, even if the club are to be highly commended for their handling of the incident, Gracefield are suggested as the week"s most likely outsiders to pull off a shock. Verdict: Gracefield. Tullamore v Ferbane Sunday, 6pm in Clara (Hackett"s Odds: 2/5 Tullamore, 8/1 Draw, 9/4 Ferbane) The bare form suggests that this match should be a relatively straightforward win for the 2007 county champions, Ferbane having lost out to Shannonbridge by six in the first round while Tullamore were edged out by Rhode. Sadly for fans of the West Offaly club, further investigation appears to only corroborate that first impression. Tullamore have since brought back a fit and sharp Gearóid O"Grady to their attack, while the evergreen Cathal Daly is once again fit and likely to line out at centre-back. Shane Dooley at centre-forward completes a trio of returning stars that should see Tullamore far too strong for a Ferbane team that disappointed greatly on their first outing in this year"s championship. James Grennan and Colin Egan should offer the men in green a decent share of ball around the middle of the field and there is no shortage of good hardy competitors around the field who will fight for every ball, but right now Ferbane look set to join St Rynagh"s and any of the four teams from group two in a relegation showdown. If Tullamore can beat Erin Rovers by ten in a league fixture as they did last week, they can probably come close to a similar result here. Verdict: Tullamore. INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP St Brigid"s v Bracknagh (Friday, 7.30pm in Clonbullogue) Bracknagh have been known to throw a spanner in the works of bigger teams on occasion, but they really look to have too much on their plate here. St Brigid"s were simply awesome in their demolition of Raheen in the first round and while they will meet stiffer challenges down the line, players like Ken Casey and David Egan look set to have another profitable evening"s converting the scores for the Croghan men. Verdict: St Brigid"s Raheen v Clara (Friday, 7.30pm in Killeigh) Raheen have been mainstays of the Intermediate Football championship for some years now and while the heavy defeat to St Brigid"s in the first round will have rattled their confidence, a Clara side just up from the Junior ranks will probably find this match a little bit too much to handle just yet. Raheen can still play a big part in the destination of this title if they get their season back on track here and with Padraig Bracken and Conor Carroll likely to play big roles around the middle third of the field, they should take the first steps on the comeback trail tonight. Verdict: Raheen. Birr v Clonbullogue (Saturday, 7pm in Gracefield) One of the most intriguing ties of the weekend, Clonbullogue supporters felt that the scoreline didn"t reflect the difficulty that they caused for Doon in the opening round, while Birr eked out a very valuable win over Kilcormac/Killoughey on the same weekend. This fixture is genuinely in the balance, with Clonbullogue"s greater power around the middle contrasting sharply with a fast and intelligent Birr team. Predicting a draw would be fence sitting of the most shameless variety, so based on the venue which makes this more or less a home fixture for Clonbullogue, they get the most tentative of nods. Verdict: Clonbullogue. Doon v Kilcormac/Killoughey (Sunday, 12 noon in Cloghan) On the face of it this should be a very straightforward outing for Doon, but Kilcormac/Killoughey bring a lot of strength and size to the table and Doon look ill equipped to handle that challenge. James Coughlan has been pulling the strings very well from midfield but he can ill afford to sit back and play football, while Conor Mahon covers every blade of grass in Cloghan, as he is likely to do. Mahon, Daniel Currams and James Gorman are all players that will keep Doon on their toes and it"s not beyond the bounds of possibility that the double K"s will go into an early lead before Doon work out how to handle them and pull away at the end, when the pace of Trevor Phelan will be most dangerous. Verdict: Doon.