Moving time in Offaly club football scene

By Kevin Egan

Round three is known as ‘Moving Day’ at golf tournaments, and there’s an element of that to the big fixtures in the Offaly Senior Football Championship this weekend.

Neither Shamrocks nor Tullamore need to win, but Shamrocks could do with the psychological boost of pushing that game (Ferbane, 7.30) to the wire and making the champions sweat a little bit. Even if it ends up in another win for the Blues, Nigel Dunne will have no trouble selling the message that his men are continuing to make solid progress.

There is no correlation whatsoever between Edenderry’s talent and Edenderry’s performances, so it’s pointless speculating how they will fare against Ferbane (Glenisk O'Connor Park, Saturday, 5.45pm) without some insight into the camp, but the Group Two contests are once again fascinating.

Ballinamere putting two wins on the board in their first two games gives Durrow a chance to try and get their season off the ground against a Ballycommon side that will feel that they have left a lot of points behind them already this year.

Ballycommon are still the safer bet for Sunday's game in Croghan (,12.00) and the extra two-point threat that they showed last time out could make all the difference, but much like the Clara vs Clonbullogue tie, it’s impossible to call any result with confidence.

One or two possible returnees to the starting side might give Clonbullogue a narrow edge over Clara, but the fast, open surface of O’Connor Park (Saturday, 4pm) will be welcomed with open arms by John Rouse and his players, so here too, it would be a surprise if it was anything other than a one-score game.

At senior B level, the pressure is on both Tubber and Ballycumber but in terms of quality, it’s hard to look past tonight’s game in Croghan (7.30pm), where Daingean and Ballinagar will look to lay down a meaningful marker ahead of what already looks like the most likely county final at this grade.