Improving Blues bid to unseat Rhode from their throne

KEVIN EGAN previews this weekend’s Offaly Senior, Senior B and Intermediate football finals, also looking ahead to the camogie decider between St Rynagh’s and Birr.

For the best part of a decade now, people have looked at Rhode’s age profile, their relative lack of underage success, and predicted a gradual decline in their fortunes at senior level.

Defeats to Edenderry in 2015 and to Ferbane in 2019 were supposed to herald a new era of dominance for those clubs, but instead the Village men went back about their business, took back the Dowling Cup the following year, and did so in a fashion that left no doubt as to their place on top of the pecking order.

Now the story goes that it’s Tullamore who are poised to take control of the local football scene. A whirlwind performance by their U-20 side of last year has demonstrated the talent that’s coming down the pipeline, and when we consider that Niall Stack had a very decent group to begin with, based on their senior championship run in 2020, they don’t have a huge amount of improvement to find.

Still, it’s one thing to get yourself in a position to beat Rhode, it’s quite another to complete the job – particularly when the setting is a county final. There may have been only two points between the sides last year, but realistically Rhode should have been better at closing out that game, and the concession of a late goal made the contest look a lot tighter than it was.

That the gap has narrowed this year is not in doubt, or that it will narrow in the future. In truth, when the time comes for all those Rhode players that are currently in their mid-thirties to step away, men that have dominated Offaly club football for the best part of two decades, the club’s decline is likely to be sharp, rather than gradual.

The problem for Tullamore is that we’re not yet at the stage where that decline is imminent, and so they need to overcome a side that is still scoring freely, and moving the ball with all the simplicity and pace that is the hallmark of the club for generations.

Defensively, Rhode aren’t anything like as strong as they’d like to be, in no small part because of Eoin Rigney’s absence, so if conditions allow, Tullamore should be able to keep the scoreboard moving. Keeping it moving fast enough is another matter, however, and this is where their ability to retain possession of the ball will be crucial. Against Ferbane, Tullamore prevailed as they had a sharper goal threat up front, with injuries again a key factor. This time around, keeping the ball out of Rhode’s hands will be vital.

Aaron Leavy and Michael Brazil is a very strong midfield pairing and if they can control their battle with Alan McNamee and Pauric Sullivan, preventing McNamee from settling into his usual playmaking role, Tullamore will be on the front foot here.

They’ll still have a lot of work to do to prevent Rhode from simply building with short restarts out to either of Brian and Niall Darby on the wings, but getting a foothold under the long restart will be a key first step.

Control the ball, and you can control the flow of the game to a certain extent. It won’t be enough in itself, but it might be enough to give them a fighting chance, and maybe even sneak ahead by a point or two by the end.

Senior B: Clara v Tubber

It’s a long time since there has been a county final that on paper, has had such potential to be one-sided. Clara’s relegation at the end of last year was a seismic event in Offaly club football, and the clubs has been incredibly efficient and purposeful in the manner in which they’ve set about their business of bouncing right back to the top tier.

The history of club GAA all across Ireland is littered with strong senior teams that were relegated against the odds, and in many cases, people immediately started talking about the potential of winning All-Ireland or provincial club titles at the lower grade. In some cases, like Athlone six years ago, they come close. In others, such as the relegation of clubs like Gracefield, that never materialised and the promotion never happened.

Clara have kept their focus well, they’re playing some very good football and not allowing themselves to be drawn into tight dogfights, and that will be the mantra for Sunday afternoon again.

Tubber have put together a very impressive season and the manner of their win over Ballycumber means they have to be taken seriously, but they are stepping up in class considerably here. They’ll keep believing in the fairy tale and rightly so, but if logic holds, Clara will be back in the hunt for the big prize again in 2022.

Intermediate: Raheen v Clonbullogue

Raheen and Clonbullogue have both hit form at the right time and the Intermediate final is undoubtedly the toughest contest to call of all the big games taking place at the weekend.

The little bit of extra softness in the ground, the creeping winter conditions, these factors might favour Raheen ever so slightly in their bid to curtail a really impressive inside forward line for Clonbullogue. Play this game on top of the ground conditions in 22 degrees in August, and we’d have a slight favour for the club from St Broughan’s parish. The little bit of extra strength and power that Raheen might possess at midfield means they might be the better bet for tomorrow’s game

Birr look to change camogie order

Shinrone had conceded second place to St Rynagh’s in the overall pecking order in Offaly club camogie a few years ago, but they remained the “number one contender” to disrupt the champions ever since. Last weekend that all changed when Birr burst out of the blocks in their semi-final clash with Shinrone and built up an early eight-point lead that was never fully retrieved.

Taking the next step and overcoming St Rynagh’s at St Brendan’s Park tomorrow (Saturday) will be another matter entirely. Rynagh’s looked as strong as ever against St Cillian’s and there may even be a bit of backlash coming from their Naomh Ciarán contingent, who will hope to salvage something from their season.

It will represent a huge ask for Birr to even keep this competitive till the closing stages, but in a county where camogie has struggled to hold ground over the past five or six years, a new face on the county final scene is certainly to be welcomed.