Winning margins a concern on football front as derby clashes loom

By Kevin Egan

Tullamore, Ferbane, Shamrocks and Rhode put big wins on the board in the Offaly SFC over the past seven days, but even allowing for a strange scoreline in Daingean last Tuesday (Rhode 6-7 Ballycommon 1-12), an average winning margin of over 15 points per game makes for worrying reading for the general health of the sport in the county.

This isn’t a new issue for Offaly football. The same small handful of clubs have lorded proceedings in the county for quite some time, with just seven clubs appearing in county senior finals since Shannonbridge lifted the Dowling Cup in 1996, and you have to go back another decade to add a ninth name to the list (Kilcormac).

Out of that seven, Clara and Gracefield continue to be at a relatively low ebb and no other force has emerged to take their place. The presence of so many small clubs in fragmented parishes in North Offaly is certainly a factor, as is rural depopulation in the west, and there are no easy fixes to either of these situations. Indeed it could be argued that smaller clubs that manage to retain their own identity and keep members engaged is better for Offaly overall than bigger clubs who wouldn’t put the same number of players on the field, but there’s no denying that it makes it much harder to get excited about the senior championship before the knockout stages get going.

Hopefully the heavyweight contests next weekend, with Ferbane taking on Edenderry and Shamrocks getting the chance to test their credentials against Tullamore, will at least take the focus away from how small the top table seems to be right now.

Redemption chance for Clonbullogue and Bracknagh

After sitting out the month of July, neither Clonbullogue nor Bracknagh will have been happy with how they opened the month of August, kicking off with heavy defeats to Shamrocks and Tullamore. Clonbullogue can point to a lengthy list of absentees but those players will still be looking on rather than togging out this Sunday when they host Bracknagh on their home pitch.

At the start of the year, a Clonbullogue side with momentum and who showed plenty of promise in a Leinster club championship clash with a strong Garrycastle team looked like a club that might hold their own at senior. As things stand, however, neither they nor Bracknagh look to be in robust health and a nervy and tense battle is likely to unfold this week, with Bracknagh’s senior experience perhaps the only point of difference.

Later in the afternoon, the meeting of Cappincur and Daingean is another parish derby that could make for interesting viewing. Cappincur have made a strong start to this championship and they’ll take the favourites’ tag with them into this game, but Daingean have a win on the board, a bit more need of a victory and are unlikely to carry any fear factor up against their neighbours. In terms of making a statement that they can compete at this level, the stage is set for the maroons here.