Rhode replace Tullamore as top dogs in football rankings
Kevin Egan Column
Unfortunately, it was a disappointing winter all across the board for Offaly's respective club champions, with one win each for Tullamore and Ballycommon the only positive results across the four codes. For that reason, we can get an early start on that staple of the Christmas season, the end of year club rankings!
First up, it’s time to talk football, where Rhode sneak the top spot, albeit by a hair’s breadth, given the way the county final played out.
(1) Rhode (up 1): It wasn’t a formality to place Rhode in the top spot, even though the Dowling Cup will spend the winter in the village. On a year when every leading contender for the big prize suffered injury woes, they did lose key players but even allowing for the return of Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby and a few more, it’s unlikely that they’ll start the 2023 race as favourites. They will be contenders, however, and while the day is coming when age robs them of some legendary figures that are effectively unreplaceable, it’s hard to visualize a day when they won't be right in the mix.
(2) Tullamore (down 1): After they took the big prize in 2021, a broader look across the club’s underage record hinted at the possibility of a long spell of dominance for the Blues. They let one slip this year, there’s no point saying otherwise – but it speaks volumes that they will look back at so many moments from the county final, including their slow start, John Moloney’s failure to hold the ball for Ruairí McNamee’s goal and Ciarán Egan’s late miss, and know that they still could have prevailed. They’re not going anywhere.
(3) Ferbane (no change): Ferbane couldn’t have come any closer as they lost to the eventual county champions by way of a penalty shootout. The problem, however, is that it’s possible that 2022 was the “low-hanging fruit”. The bar is likely to be raised from now on, and they might find it tough to squeeze the extra few points of improvement out of themselves. A lot hinges on Cian Johnson’s ongoing journey back to full match fitness.
(4) Edenderry (no change): In terms of raw talent, the Reds have it all. Most of their starting 15 on any given day have played for Offaly at some level, and the age profile is such that further improvement is very much on the cards. We didn’t see Cian Farrell at anything like his best in his short amount of time on the field either, and there’s no getting away from the fact that he’s the X-factor that could push them on to the next level.
(5) Shamrocks (no change): How would their season have gone if Kieran Dolan hadn’t succumbed to that dreadful injury in the middle of their group game against Ferbane? All was going well for the club up until the lengthy stoppage robbed them of a star defender and crucial momentum. We’ll give them a slight edge on Clara on the basis that they looked at times as if getting to the last four was very plausible.
(6) Clara (up 1): Played their part in what was undoubtedly the SFC game of year, their one-point quarter-final defeat to Ferbane, so they’ve well and truly put their brief sojourn in senior B behind them. If they’re to move up this list any further however, they need some of their key men to kick on and become genuinely elite standard footballers, while they could also use a bit more depth.
(7) Durrow (down 1): A little bit of a topsy-turvy year for the club in the sense that they were unlucky against Clara, decent against Rhode, but then collapsed badly in what was effectively a knockout tie against Edenderry. It was a similar story in 2021 – their ceiling is high, but their floor is a lot lower than clubs which on paper, are similar in terms of talent levels. Their second team getting relegated to Junior B is a concern; it’s hard to foster the next level of club talent at that grade.
(8) Cappincur (no change): We’re giving them a little credit for the fact that while nearly every Senior A team in Offaly this year seemed to have to operate without some of their best players, Eoin Carroll’s value to this group is immeasurable. Despite this, they put themselves within moments of knocking over Ferbane, and showed immense character in a remarkable relegation final against Durrow too. Senior B is theirs for the taking in 2023.
(9) Bracknagh (no change): It took them a while to get their best team on the field this year, but they eventually got there, producing a very impressive showing in the county final. In that sense, 2022 was a success for David Connolly and his selectors – even though it could be argued that they left a very winnable Leinster championship behind them. There’s real quality all over the field, and unusually for a small rural club, there are a few tidy subs who can make an impact too, so if they can stay healthy, they’ll hold their own at senior.
(10) Clonbullogue (up four): Would we back them to beat Tubber in a knockout game again in 2023? Not with any great degree of confidence it has to be said, but nonetheless it’s hard to look past the job Joe Kilmurray has done with this young group, helping them to shoot for the stars and take on sides that would previously have been seen as out of their reach. They’re a joy to watch, with some excellent young forwards that play the game without fear.
(11) Tubber (down one): Ciarán McManus’ heroics became a national story as he defied his age to put in some outstanding displays – in midfield, we should point out – but there was a lot more to Tubber than that this year, with Seán Farrell, Patrick Farrell and Pauric Robbins all showing up well to offer scoring support to Bernard Allen. Would Ian Daly have been able to come up with the extra score or two to see them past Clonbullogue? Quite possibly.
(12) Walsh Island (up one): In this column last year we suggested that they are on the cusp of becoming the third best club in their own parish and it actually looks like that has happened – even though they gave Bracknagh an almighty scare in the county semi-final. They built their time around a powerful, experienced midfield pair in Thomas O’Connor and Colm Gavin, with Willie Mulhall leading the scoring charge – so time is not on their side, but their performance against Ballycumber in the quarter-final was a real highlight.
(13) Ballycumber (down two): Gracefield supporters will no doubt feel hard done by that Ballycumber pip them in the rankings – but on the year as a whole, and particularly when the games got meaningful, Ballycumber looked that bit sharper and more capable. While they lost to the Blackthorns in a group game, there wasn’t much at stake on that occasion.
(14) Gracefield (up two): Something of a steadying of the ship for the county’s south-eastern outpost, who won two group games before getting blown away by Tubber in a quarter-final that was even more one-sided than the 1-16 to 1-7 scoreline suggests. They’ve a long way to go before winning a Senior B championship is realistic, but it’s a positive step that they’re looking up, rather than nervously downwards.
(15) Raheen (up two): A big shout here, as Raheen are elevated above three teams that will compete at a higher grade of football than them in 2023, including their county final conquerors, Ballycommon. This year’s intermediate decider was something of a turn up for the books, and while it was absolutely the right result on the day as Ballycommon were exceptional, Raheen were very impressive all year, coming through what looked like the tougher group.
(16) Ballycommon (up five): Forty years on from the club’s sole intermediate success in 1982, Ballycommon gradually put together a superb championship campaign this year, gaining momentum all the way before they moved up two gears in a stunning county final performance. They had heroes all over the field that day, and while finding a way to play at that level consistently will be a big challenge, their 2022 campaign was a masterclass in preparing and executing a season-long plan.
(17) St Rynagh’s (down two): Delivered a big performance when it was needed in the relegation final, but that was an isolated highlight for the club in what was otherwise a very tough year at adult level. We spoke last year about how they have to hold their own for another few years before they can start to introduce some of their golden generation, that are currently around 16 years of age. They’ll hope they don’t have to sail as close to the wind in 2023.
(18) Erin Rovers (down six): By any measure, 2022 was a dreadful year for the Pullough men, the worst showing from the club in some time. A good win over Clonbullogue in round two was a rare positive for a club that struggled to get off the ground early in the year and never really recovered from there. If they get it together over the winter, they’ll be very competitive at intermediate level.
(19) Daingean (no change): A quarter-final defeat to Tullamore’s second team was a very underwhelming end to the season for a group that drew with the eventual championship winners. There was no sense after that July Saturday evening that one club would take things to another level, while Daingean would simply stagnate. To score two goals in four championship games with their level of attacking talent is not good enough.
(20) St Brigid’s (down one): They won the games that were there to be won, but three of their five games against decent opposition saw them finish with tallies of 1-7, 0-10 and 0-7. Seven points against Raheen in dreadful conditions in the semi-final in Daingean was forgivable, but in general, they just haven’t found the players to take the weight off veterans like David Egan and Bobby Troy.
(21) Ballinagar (up three): 2022 will be remembered fondly in Ballinagar for years to come as the club enjoyed incredible success in league and championship, with both their first team and second sides. It would be easy to lay it all on the shoulders of the handful of immensely promising 20 and 21-year-olds in the club, but it’s a good news story for Offaly all round, given the significant population expansion in the area.
(22) Shannonbridge (down three): They found their groove in the relegation final, when it was most needed, so that alone is worthy of merit. Their season got off on completely the wrong foot, however, as they conceded a hotly-disputed walkover in round one against Ferbane, and never really got back to the level they needed to find. As is always the case in the Roscommon border club, depth is the big problem.
(23) Kilcormac-Killoughey (down one): Last year's summary read as follows: “Everyone in Offaly knows that if Kilcormac-Killoughey took a humour in 2022 to take football seriously, they would probably cruise to the junior championship title”. They did take it seriously, but they just happened to run into Ballinagar on a huge upward trajectory. Regardless, it was great to see a meaningful campaign being put together by the club. They will always prioritise hurling, but there’s more than enough resources in the club to fight competitively on both fronts.
(24) Clodiagh Gaels (down four): A two-point defeat to Raheen came in between three heavy defeats by a combined margin of over 30 points. When Killeigh and Killurin came together first to form this club, it was hard to tell where their focus would lie in terms of big ball versus small ball. That question has been answered emphatically.
(25) Kilclonfert (no change): They won the game they could win against Doon, but there was no evidence from any of their other games that this club is likely to emerge out of obscurity any time soon. It’s no surprise that conversations about amalgamation are starting to be had in the area, perhaps with good reason.
(26) Doon (down three): Their 2021 county semi-final defeat to Edenderry felt like a disappointment – that was until they were taken apart by the same opposition in the first round of this year’s campaign. They just about pulled it together in time to overcome Durrow in a relegation final, but there’s a desperate lack of consistency about their first team, even in terms of the personnel they get on the field.
(27) Birr (re-entry): First and foremost, the club put a team on the field for the championship again, and that decision was more than vindicated by a steady run through the junior B campaign, culminating in a one-point final defeat. Not unlike K-K, albeit on a smaller scale, there is room for the two sports to co-exist.
(28) Ballyfore (down one): Junior B has become their level for the moment, and while they’ll have taken some encouragement from this year’s campaign, most notable a good play-off win over Gracefield, there’s a lot of improvement to find before moving up the grades again is on the cards.
(29) Clonmore Harps (down one): Their failure to fulfil a first round fixture against Birr was hugely disappointing for a very proud club, and that left them with just two championship games for the year – both competitive, but ultimately culminating in defeats.
(30) Crinkill (new entry): Since this rankings system was introduced well over a decade ago, Crinkill have yet to feature on the football side. Fielded in two Junior C games and were well-beaten in both, but all new ventures have to start somewhere, and the club’s sense of adventure and willingness to cater for their club members is hugely commendable.