Tullamore look likely as Ferbane bid to upset Rhode

Kevin Egan Column

Clara looked at home in top flight company again in 2022, Shamrocks have a dangerous attack and might have gone further if it wasn’t for Kieran Dolan’s injury, while Durrow looked impressive at times but never quite recovered from their early defeat to the Magpies. For all that, however, the Offaly SFC has nonetheless distilled itself down to the four clubs that most neutrals would have marked out as the obvious candidates for Dowling Cup success in 2022.

Champions Tullamore remain the warmest of favourites, regardless of their injury woes, and if anything they look like they have moved further ahead of the pack this year, based on both league and championship form. Cormac Egan’s return was a welcome boost and while he’s unlikely to start on Sunday against Edenderry (O'Connor Park, 4pm) he’ll offer a serious change of pace off the bench, so their hand continues to be strengthened.

Undoubtedly, Edenderry look better equipped than most to handle Tullamore’s sharpest weapon, namely their movement, energy and support play through the middle third. Whatever question marks exist over their attacking firepower in Cian Farrell’s absence, Jordan Hayes has been arguably the most improved player in the county this year, to the point that he is now an automatic selection for the county in a pivotal position. All around him there are athletic footballers who will put in the hard yards up and down the field as needed.

At the time of writing, the weather forecast suggests that there will be some heavy showers arriving in Tullamore from around 3pm. That might open the door for Edenderry in the sense that they’re unlikely to be able to match Tullamore in a shootout, but difficult handling conditions, and potentially a cut up pitch if the rain falls during the preceding Senior ‘B’ semi-final, will turn this into a dogfight.

We’d still expect Tullamore to win in that situation, but if it’s a low-scoring contest that could turn on a single mistake or a single moment of brilliance, then there’s a lot more scope for an upset. If on the other hand it takes 2-14 or similar to win this game, only the Blues will score that.

It’s a little surprising to see that Rhode are also very clear favourites for their clash with Ferbane tomorrow (Saturday, O'Connor Park, 5pm), given the recent history between the two clubs.

Favourites by a point or two would stand to reason, but the odds on offer seem to suggest that Ferbane’s survival instinct is not expected to be enough to see them through this one, and that Rhode should win with a bit to spare. There may be something in that, and much like Sunday’s game, this looks like a tie where there’s only one club that would win if it hinges on class up front.

However the mood in Ferbane will be good after pulling results out of the fire consistently this summer, and Belmont’s week off last week will do them no harm either.

Rhode have nothing at all to prove, and we’re not going to go so far as to predict their demise here – they remain the most likely winners - but this looks a lot more like a toss of a coin than the 75/25 contest that the odds makers have assessed.

Tubber v Clonbullogue the pick of Senior B semis

There’s a bit too much happening this week to go into as much detail on these games as we’d like, and in the interests of saving space, we’ll go out on a limb and predict straight away that Bracknagh should be able to overcome Walsh Island with plenty to spare, and leave it at that. Perhaps this will look foolish on Sunday, but it’s hard not to feel like Walsh Island’s quarter-final win was more about Ballycumber’s failings than any serious step up in quality from the winners.

The other Senior B contest is a little bit more intriguing. Clonbullogue have a nice balance to the team, Keith O’Neill gives them real star quality up front, and they should have an edge over Tubber when it comes to the pace and tempo at which they play football.

And yet, for all Tubber’s inconsistency this year, there’s a lot to like about the way they came together last time out against Gracefield, and a sense that they have come together at the right time. If they can bring their physicality to bear and get the crowd into this game, they’ll ask different questions of Clonbullogue and might cause an upset; albeit that’s easier said than done.

Then at intermediate level, it’s hard to look past a Ballycommon and Raheen double, as these two clubs comfortably topped their groups, while neither Tullamore nor St Brigid’s showed a huge upturn in form in the quarter-finals. Of course there’s nothing like winning games and the Croghan men have now picked up three wins in succession, but there was 13 points between them and Raheen in round one, and if they were going to bridge that gap, they needed to show a bit more attacking sharpness last time out. In three of their last four games, they’ve scored ten times or less – that won’t be near enough.

For Tullamore to hold their own at this level is an achievement in its own right, particularly given that a few players who might have been expected to play intermediate ball were forced to step up to senior to replaced injured men in Niall Stack’s panel. All the same, this should be a bridge too far against a Ballycommon side that have a lot of the pieces in place to win a championship like this.