Ballycumber and Gracefield can defy the odds and set up novel final pairing

Arguably the most open senior football championship Offaly has seen in years resumes at the weekend, with each of the four semi-finalists having arrived at this stage in a very different way and each of the four having their own reasons for believing that 2008 can be their year. For romantic dreamers, O"Connor Park on Sunday evening will be the place to be as Ballycumber continue their bid to win only their second ever championship, forty years after their solitary success so far. The west Offaly village have been a breath of fresh air in this year"s championship, scoring freely and using the foot pass in both an effective and entertaining fashion. Previously, shutting down Ballycumber involved closing down the twin threat of Colm Quinn and Rory Guinan. This year the improved form of players like Conrad Casey and Sean Hackett has completely changed the balance of the Ballycumber attack, meaning that scores now come from all across the front line and tallies like the 1-21 against Tubber have come about as a result. Facing Ballycumber, the dream team, will be Tullamore, the team of nightmares who have proved impossible to slay this year. Despite losing their first two games and being seriously outclassed by Clara for long spells in the quarter-final, the reigning county champions have still kept their season alive and now enter a stage where their proven know-how and big game experience will be a serious factor in their favour. The case for Ballycumber to bring garlic, a wooden stake and some holy water to O"Connor Park is quite convinced. As Offaly"s equivalent of the Dubs and the closest thing within the county borders to a 'metropolitan' team, there won"t be too much neutral support for the Blues this weekend. Their success last year was widely welcomed, both for the open attacking play that they employed and for the feel-good factor that resulted from former county stalwarts like John Kenny and Cathal Daly earning well deserved championship medals. However, it hardly suits Offaly football to have the county champions largely driven to the finish line by two players who are unavailable to the county team and in 2008 the twin attack of Gearóid O"Grady and Shane Dooley have, if anything, become even more important to the Tullamore club. Despite all that, goodwill alone won"t push Ballycumber over the finish line this weekend. Arguably their quarter-final performance against Tubber was better than anything Tullamore managed this year or last, but replicating it in O"Connor Park against a wily Tullamore backline will be a very difficult task. Ballycumber are unlikely to receive the same atrocious refereeing treatment as they did in the group game between the two clubs last year, but equally they"ll have to do a little to help themselves, such as resisting the urge to run at Tullamore and in doing so compacting the forward line. If they can do this, they have the wherewithal to record a historic success on Sunday evening. Barring a draw on Saturday, both sides will know which club will lie in wait for the winner in the county final and this columnist is going to go on record and say that Gracefield can upset the odds against Rhode and be that team. Two years ago, Rhode were well on their way to a Leinster club final at this stage of the season. However, since then Rhode have endured a very difficult time, with several of their more talented individuals suffering from a severe dip in form. Niall McNamee continues to be a shining light for the club and his heroics were largely responsible for Rhode emerging unscathed from their last championship match against Ferbane, but it"s not realistic to expect one corner-forward to continually compensate for misfiring players littered throughout the rest of the team. Niall was also largely the reason why Rhode edged out Tullamore in the first game of the year, while his one off day almost resulted in Shannonbridge pulling off a momentous shock last month. Gracefield have several defenders who would give McNamee plenty to think about on Saturday evening, while if things got really difficult, they always have the nuclear option of sending Karol Slattery, probably Offaly"s best defender, back into the full-back line to police the Rhode star. Even if Niall McNamee is in top form however, it may be of little use to Rhode as there is ample basis for the belief that Gracefield can enjoy the lion"s share of possession of the football on Saturday evening. Niall Smith was the sole silver lining on a very black cloud of a year for the county team and on the club scene he is head and shoulders ahead of any potential rival. John Ryan and James Grennan, two fine midfielders in their day but equally two players well into the autumn of their careers, both lorded proceedings against Rhode in the group games and if those two men can do that, the stage is set for Smith to have a field day. With that platform established, Gracefield have plenty of forwards who can take the scores they will need to win. Last year Shamrocks saw how difficult it can be to win a county title after overcoming the significant hurdle of Rhode in the semi final, but that"s a problem for another day. Gut feeling for now is that Gracefield will have that pleasant problem to deal with in the weeks ahead. IFC QUARTER-FINALS The battle to join the senior ranks also continues this weekend, with both of the above games preceded by an intermediate championship quarter-final. Rhode and Gracefield will take the field after Raheen look to reverse their 2007 defeat at the hands of Doon, while Birr and Tullamore do battle on Sunday afternoon. Doon"s much vaunted forward line have had a good year so far, averaging seventeen points per game in their three outings so far and doing so with county player James Coughlan playing at midfield and Donie Ryan anchoring the team at centre-back. Niall Kelly and Trevor Phelan have been carrying the bulk of the scoring workload very well and though there are still some serious question marks hovering regarding certain aspects of the team"s play, they would have to seriously underperform to run into difficulty against Raheen. Raheen made a big push to win this championship in 2007 and looked like strong contenders until Doon ended their campaign at the semi-final stage, but this season their results have been poor. A big win over a very poor Bracknagh team saw them reach the quarter-finals based on scoring difference, but nothing they have done this summer in either league or championship suggests that they have anything but an underdog"s chance here. The Birr versus Tullamore fixture is much more intriguing, with a real case to be made for either team. On the face of it, neither of these clubs appear to have the wherewithal to beat anyone except each other in this competition, but a win can do a lot for a team and both sides will be looking to use this reasonable draw to create some momentum before a semi-final. Tullamore have a good mix of senior experience and young players from their run of three minor titles on the bounce earlier this decade, but their all round balance may fall short against Birr"s greater star quality. The propagation of football in a staunch hurling area is a thankless task at the best of times and several potentially strong players remain out of bounds to John Ryan and his selectors, but last year"s good run by Wheery in the under-21 championship was as much down to the young talent of Birr as it was that of Ferbane, and with older hands like Liam Power and Simon Whelahan continuing to guide these young talents, there is enough in the Birr tank to cross this hurdle and continue their odyssey further into the autumn.