Jury out on new Dowling Cup format but lively start likely
By Kevin Egan
Whether the new format for the Offaly Senior Football Championship is the right thing for football in the county remains to be seen. The bulk of the evidence from intercounty and club campaigns that deploy this strong/weak group format indicates that it tends to make the strong even stronger, and increase the gap between the powerful and the chasing pack.
In the short term, however, there are four SFC group ties down for decision this weekend, and each of the four are fascinating contests in their own right, starting with the meeting of Rhode and Shamrocks at Fr Dowling Park tomorrow night (Friday).
It’s the first time in years that it can be said with confidence that Rhode have a cohort of younger footballers ready to move into adult football, and that these are players with the potential to backbone competitive senior teams for years to come.
The issue of replacing a swathe of generational talents is as prevalent as ever and it’s still not ideal for ten of the 15 players that started last year’s semi-final defeat to Tullamore to be over 30, but this is the perfect round one, home game for them.
That said, Shamrocks will pose a threat, particularly if the hints we saw over the last month of Jack Bryant getting back to his best turn into something more solid. The recent Division Four league win didn’t involve many players that will feature tonight, but it was evidence of a deeper panel than they’ve had for some time. Exerting their superiority in terms of energy and power around the middle will be crucial as Shamrocks try to ensure that they’re still alive and competitive for when Paddy Dunican comes back into the fold.
Satuday’s game between Edenderry and Tullamore features a lot more star power, but probably is of a lot less long-term relevance.
There is no scenario where Tullamore don’t make the knockout stages of this championship and while Edenderry can’t be over-confident when it comes to picking up the couple of positive results they’ll need, they started last year with what looked like a real statement win over Rhode, only for their championship to culminate in a toothless fashion. Cian Farrell’s 60-day sanction in New York is up so assuming he’s in action, the Reds might just edge this one.
On Sunday afternoon, Clara return to the Dowling Cup race and will want to hit the ground running on their trip to Bracknagh. In the past few seasons, the team that has come up from the Senior B championship has generally competed quite well when moving into the higher grade and Clara’s age profile is such that they should expect to do the same, particularly given the quality of the management team that is there to oversee that development.
There will be nothing easy for them when they travel to the Kildare border for this game, but their upside is higher so they get a hesitant vote.
The senior action concludes on Sunday evening when Ballycommon play host to Clonbullogue. All other things being equal, Clonbullogue might have a slight edge here but the absence of Shane O’Brien and Jamie Guing on 60-day sanctions to the USA possibly tilts the scale ever so marginally over towards Ballycommon.
The same could be said of any of the ten games that are to be played in this group but this looks like a very consequential fixture, and notwithstanding the glaring uncertainty about Durrow’s approach to senior football in 2026, the losers of this tie will have their work cut out to avoid the drop.
Keith O’Neill is always capable of lighting up a championship game and giving Clonbullogue too much of a head start for their opponents to overcome, but this game will have been earmarked by Shane Kelly and the Ballycommon management team from a long way out, and sometimes having that laser-like focus on one tie can prove significant.
Clonbullogue are still more likely to find their way into the top two and the quarter-finals, but that might come their way after a disappointing start.