Dowling Cup race yet to catch fire as Rhode face Ferbane

By Kevin Egan

With just one of the two senior groups up and running, the Dowling Cup race feels half-dressed, particularly since the county champions have yet to leave the starting blocks. But the game between Rhode and Ferbane tonight (Friday) has suddenly taken on a lot more importance following Edenderry’s sensational home win against their old rivals from the Village.

Regardless of what happens here, Rhode will still expect to pick up wins against Durrow and Ballycommon to secure their place in the quarter-finals, but losing games in that fashion is unfamiliar territory for a club of their stature, and there will have been a lot of soul-searching at training in Fr Dowling Park over the past fortnight.

One bad game can be excused as an aberration – just ask the Kerry footballers about their last trip to Tullamore – and even a narrow defeat akin to last year’s quarter-final would be enough to say that Rhode’s first round defeat was exactly that.

But if Ferbane pick up where they left off against Ballycommon and exploit the same cracks that Edenderry highlighted, particularly when the tempo of the game was kept high and they ran the ball from midfield through the half-back line, then it’s hard to see Rhode picking up the pieces to any meaningful extent.

With Ballinamere off duty next week, Durrow can afford to throw everything at Edenderry tomorrow evening (Saturday). Taking on a side that has a game played already and that will be high on confidence isn’t an easy assignment, but Durrow should be much better equipped to match Edenderry for pace and fitness, while whatever players like Ciaran Burke and Ross Ravenhill might lack in football match practice, whichever of the two is designated to pick up Cian Farrell will surely be a much tougher physical test for the Edenderry talisman.

Expect an Edenderry win either way, but if Durrow are tuned in and ready to get stuck into this one (not a certainty, admittedly) then this could make for interesting viewing.

*Ballycumber in a battle

Beyond saying that Clara look to be in good shape, it’s hard to make any clearcut long term predictions about the Senior ‘B’ championship right now, other than saying that both Gracefield and Ballycumber look like they might come under a lot of pressure to avoid the drop. Ballycumber’s tally of 0-9 against Clara would have looked poor this time last year, never mind from a game on a pleasant July evening under the new rules.

For their part, Gracefield look to be as far away as ever from getting back to their former glory, and with Ruairí Allen set to return to Australia, they’ll be eager to put some points on the board before his departure.

Home advantage and Jack Walsh continuing his good form could see the Blackthorns home, but Ballycumber will go into this game knowing that this could be as good a chance as they’ll get to pick up points this year. Most of their west Offaly neighbours have suffered relegation setbacks in the last few seasons and if they come away from tomorrow evening’s game empty-handed, they’ll have a huge fight on their hands to avoid the same fate.