Still no county manager as club championships reach business end

This weekend, sixteen out of the twenty three senior and intermediate football clubs in Offaly will do battle in crucial championship games all across the county, many of them taking part in what will be their most important fixture of the calendar year so far. By the time the smoke clears on Sunday evening, only Rhode, Walsh Island, Clonbullogue, Ballyfore and the six quarter-final winners will still have a reason to go training the following Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Of course it's inevitable that the club championships should move on as the year progresses; however, it's hugely disappointing that nearly two months after Tom Cribbin departed his post as Offaly senior football manager, no replacement has been appointed to oversee the most relevant trials for next year's county team. These matches are far more indicative of the abilities of the county's footballers than trial games played in mud and rain in January, and that they will potentially go unnoticed is a huge disappointment. Next week this situation will be replicated in the hurling championship, and bearing in mind that there are so few domestically based candidates for each role, it puts a lot of pressure on the selection committees to find someone with a good base of knowledge about the Offaly football scene, and relatively soon. Looking first at the senior championship, potential challengers to Rhode still seem few and far between. Clara will welcome back Graham Guilfoyle and probably John O'Hara for their battle with Erin Rovers, though club stalwart Scott Brady is still expected to either miss the game or play a limited part. However while their list of absentees is extensive, they need to get more out of the players on the field at the moment. Since the mid season break, Clara have played two low scoring draws with Walsh Island and St Rynagh's, and looked to be on course for another dour draw with Ballycumber before finding form for twenty minutes. With plenty of talented footballers on the field, that simply isn't good enough. Right now they seem to be suffering from a lack of leadership, and it's something that they'll have to address sooner rather than later. Erin Rovers made a wonderful start to the season but scoring a mere three points in their last outing, all from frees, indicates bigger problems than an injury to Alan Lynam's hamstring. In Declan Kelly, Jason Devery, Tom Spain and Lynam, Rovers have plenty of players who can carry the ball from deep positions and create chances. The tactic of playing Ger Lynam as a sweeper makes sense, but they need to return to attacking the subsequent space rather than passing the ball into it for opposition defenders to mop up. If they do that they can make life tough for opponents. Edenderry under Peter Brady look like potential contenders this year also, though they will be disappointed by the way they failed to capitalise on Mark Young's goal against Rhode in their most recent game. The way in which Rhode pulled away at the end reinforced the idea that the current champions have an extra gear if needed, and Edenderry now have some indication of the standard that they have to reach if they are to progress. Nobody can be too sure what to expect when Ferbane play Gracefield in the second leg of tomorrow evening's double header. Gracefield were considered to be in real danger of relegation at the start of the year, but they eked out a one-point win over St Rynagh's when in truth they were lucky to do so, and from there they've gone from strength to strength. They still look to have one or two weak links on the team, but the key this week will be seeing if their deep lying system could possibly prosper against a traditional, long ball team. If it succeeds in shutting out Ferbane, it could be the key to overachieving from then on. Intermediate FC The intermediate championship seems to mirror the senior contest in that all eyes are on St Brigid's and whether or not they can be stopped. The Croghan men were unlucky to make the drop down last year and still look like a senior team in intermediate company. Of course there is a danger that this synopsis will look extremely foolish if Shannonbridge pulled out an upset in their quarter-final meeting last night (Thursday) while this publication was going to press. However while the battling qualities of Shannonbridge could never be called into question, it's hard to imagine them having the class to overcome St Brigid's. Clonbullogue and Ballyfore wait until next week before doing battle, while Rhode Intermediates will be narrowly fancied to keep their year alive against Doon. Doon have been heavily hit by emigration over the past twelve months and they will struggle to contain a lively Rhode forward line led by Paul McPadden, Garrett Hickey and Ronan Heavey. Doon's recent championship outings against St Brigid's and Raheen didn't suggest that the club is poised to make their return to senior ranks any time in the immediate future and the smart money would seem to be on a win for Rhode this week. The fact that Rhode's Junior footballers will be available for selection after playing their county final tomorrow afternoon will only be a further boost to their cause in this tie. The final intermediate battle is between Durrow and Raheen, with Durrow showing marginally the better form of these two clubs this year. The ongoing injury issues of Niall Geraghty are a huge blow to Durrow, but Stephen Weir and Paul Kinnarney are an attacking duo capable of troubling any defence, while Raheen simply haven't rediscovered their form from the past couple of years. Despite what looks on paper to be a lively, youthful inside forward line, they haven't scored more than ten times in any championship game this year. Whether Durrow have enough in the tank to overcome St Brigid's is doubtful, but they should be able to come through this fixture intact.