Published: Friday, 11th September, 2009 9:00am

Offaly aim for historic camogie crown as club action continues

Kevin Egan Column

KEVIN EGAN looks forward to Sunday's All-Ireland Junior Camogie final between Offaly and Waterford, as well as the main local championship matches scheduled for this weekend.

After what has been a grim year for Offaly's inter-county teams, it falls to the camogie girls to salvage something for the county from 2009, as they make the trip to Croke Park this Sunday to take on Waterford. The two counties meet in the All-Ireland Junior final at 12:45 and both sets of girls will take inspiration and motivation from the two previous meetings between the counties.

2008 was a year of heartbreak for this Offaly team as they came so close to securing this prize, only to lose out to a last minute goal scored by Clare. En route to that final, Joachim Kelly's charges met Waterford in the penultimate round and secured an excellent win in very difficult conditions in Cashel, eventually winning out 1-14 to 1-3. These two counties also met in the first round of the group stage of the championship in Kinnitty this year and on that occasions it was Waterford who enjoyed a comfortable victory, pulling away in the closing stages to win by 3-11 to 0-7.

Offaly have since rebounded well from that result and big away wins over Dublin and Down followed by a solid semi-final win over Meath have secured a return to Croke Park, but this meeting promises to be Offaly's biggest test of the season so far. In particular, the onus will be on the Offaly forwards to find some way of engineering some green flags against a Waterford team who have only conceded one goal in four games, while scoring eleven of their own.

Waterford manager Andy Moloney, himself a former star midfielder with Ballygunner and Waterford, has put considerable emphasis on defence this year and a combination of some new personnel, plenty of tactical know-how and physical strength work, under the tutelage of Shay Fitzpatrick, has seen a huge improvement in the Déise's fortunes, with their Munster Intermediate championship the highlight so far.

Offaly have yet to put any silverware on the mantelpiece this season and will take little satisfaction from disappointing league and Leinster campaigns. However, this title will have been the goal all along and it appears that the team is peaking at the right time. A competitive game in Croke Park is expected and it is hoped that a large following will make their way up to support the Offaly ladies.

The task in front of the team appears daunting, but the inside line of Siobhán Flannery, Arlene Watkins and 2008 All-Star nominee Tina Hannon have been hurling well and if they can take the lion's share of the opportunities that come their way, there is every reason to believe that the New Ireland Cup can be brought home.

SHC Quarter-Finals

Back home in Offaly, the first of this year's Senior Hurling Championship quarter-finals are also down for decision, with two of the four semi-finalists likely to be known by Saturday evening.

Coolderry meet Shinrone in Carrig in a tie which is unlikely to see the men in green put under too much pressure. Shinrone will benefit from having had two games against Lusmagh to iron out the creases and get themselves up to championship pace and they may finish the game closer than if both sides had enjoyed a genuine knockout fixture, but Coolderry still have way too much power in their side and should win this by eight to ten points, perhaps more.

In Tullamore, there can be no such confidence in predicting a result between Kilcormac/Killoughey and Seir Kieran. K/K have overcome a poor start to the championship season and three wins on the bounce against Kinnitty, Ballyskenach and Shinrone were enough to secure an automatic quarter-final spot, but there is a lot more to like about Seir Kieran's achievements since the start of August. A ten-point hammering of Coolderry was followed up by an efficient win over Lusmagh, a very competitive display against Birr and a comprehensive win over Shamrocks last weekend. Joe Bergin appears to be on top of his game while the best of the under-21 players from recent seasons appear to have bedded into the team nicely. K/K start as favourites for this game due to their weightier reputation, but Seir Kieran look like an excellent bet at odds of 7/4 (Sherco Sports in Birr) and look well poised to continue their excellent season.

Ferbane v Erin Rovers

Football followers also have plenty to choose from this weekend with the highlight being the replay of the senior quarter-final between Ferbane and Erin Rovers, down for decision at 5.15pm in Tullamore on Sunday evening.

Even the most biased Ferbane observer would readily admit that Rovers were the better team in the drawn game and that they were by far the more likely winners if the game had gone on for another few minutes. Both sides will have areas that they will look to improve on for the replay, with Vincent Henry no doubt plotting how his men can hinder the influence of James Grennan, who was superb at midfield, while Kevin Gavin and his Ferbane think-tank will be wondering how to counteract the penetrative running of Pullough's speedsters like Jeffrey Cuskelly, Alan Lynam and minor star Tom Spain.

The traditional wisdom is that the favourites, or indeed the team that has been let off the hook, tends to win the replay and that trend should be repeated here, provided that Ferbane can rediscover the hunger and competitiveness that they displayed in their first two outings against Edenderry and Tubber.

IFC Semi-Finals

The two intermediate football championship semi-finals are also down for decision this weekend with Walsh Island and Doon seemingly on course for a final clash at the end of the month.

Walsh Island meet St. Rynagh's tomorrow and the West Offaly club will hold out some hope after giving the Island plenty to think about in their meeting in the group stages. Rynagh's had a difficult outing in their quarter-final meeting with Raheen but eventually pulled through by three after a string of late points. They'll compete well physically while Gary Mahon will always cause problems for any defence, but Walsh Island look to have too much power at midfield and too many different scoring options for Rynagh's to contend with. The main concern among Island supporters will be their club's tendency to find a way to lose in recent championship campaigns, but unless something very unusual happens here, they should progress with six or seven points to spare.

Doon and Rhode meet in the other semi-final and while Rhode have plenty to offer all across the field, the loss of attackers Ronan Heavey and Anton Sullivan to the senior ranks is likely to blunt their threat too much. Doon have blown hot and cold this year and were far from impressive in getting past the challenge of Bracknagh, but they still have plenty of strong attacking players and should accumulate the thirteen or fourteen scores that will be required.