Weekend fixtures results?

[MF35]

Anyone any results from the championship games at the weekend?

[Muck Savage]

http://www.sportsmanager.ie/t3.php?repo ... lastweek=1

[Blue and White]

Attended a number of the Senior Football Games over the weekend and might share some of my thoughts for those interested.

Erin Rovers were very unlucky to go down to Gracefield in Geashill Saturday evening, 1-10 to 1-8.
It was a scrappy game for the most part, an awful lot of stoppages due to injury and poor football in general. Erin Rovers fought very hard in the second half and it looked as if they were that bit hungrier. Gracefields passing was woeful at times and they kicked a large number of wides. Declan Kelly and Paul Carroll I thought in midfield won a lot of ball with Kelly contributing 4 points including what looked to be the winning point on near fulltime.
Rovers concentration dropped though, a foul around the middle (and some stupid taunting) resulted in a quick free into the corner where Gracefield stole in for a goal followed almost immediately by the final whistle.
Couple of unsavoury incidents with a supporter running on to the pitch and a few of the Pullagh subs running on to take part in a bit of a scrap. Nothing major though and fair play to a couple of the Gracefield lads who stopped their subs running on and I saw veteran Sonny Lynam trying to do same for his side.
Going forward I think Gracefield would really have to up it to progress having said that they were without Karl Slattery and a couple of their better lads have more in them.


Shamrocks gave Croghan a good hiding on Sunday morning in Walsh Island. The first half was competitive enough with Ken Casey keeping Croghan in touch but Shamrocks were far superior and ran out easy winners 0-16 to 0-5. Brigids are undergoing a bit of a transition at the moment and were missing David Egan, probably their most influential player. They struggled badly around midfield with Shane Cunningham and Neville Coughlan breaking 90 percent of the ball to their half backs and half forwards. Croghan's biggest problem was they just couldn't get the ball! They should improve for the last game though and will need to, fighting last place against an okay Ballycumber side.
I've thought for a while that if Shamrocks could get their act together they would be the most serious competition for Rhode and when you go through the team they have some quality players.
Barry Malone, Thomas Coughlan, Neville, Shane Cunningham, Brian Monaghon, Leonard Mooney, Nigel Dunne, PJ Ward.
To be fair only Alan Kennedy who marked Dunne very well and Casey played anywhere near their potential for Croghan and Shamrocks will face better teams but they used they looked sharp (in the second half) and Ward came more into the game with some nice scores left and right.
Mentally they have been lacking in the past so if they are going to lose it, that's where it will be.

In Tullamore Sunday evening Rhode struggled to get out of 2nd gear against a spirited enough Shannonbridge team who were very competitive for long periods. They probably won the midfield exchanges and the majority of breaking ball but they continued to kick ball into a two man full forward line to some of their less mobile players and to that end the ball just kept coming back out. When they did get the ball the support was to slow in coming.
Rhode sauntered through the game with Garret Hickey the pick of the players and their only first half threat scoring 3 fine points from play. He added to his tally in the second half but McNamee also came more into it and with Shannonbridge failing to convert Rhode pulled away to win by 0-11 to 0-5.
Rhode look more vunerable than in the past and half a couple of players around the fringes that may have not made past teams. Pascal had one of his poorer games. Probably the best passer in the county he didn't seem to have the range Sunday and Alan McNamee was largely anonymous. I suppose with Rhode though they perform when it matters and get better as the championship progresses.

The most evenly matched of the games was the Tullamore Ballycumber game which had reasonable entertainment for the most part but got comical near the end. A draw probably would have been a fair result with the referee giving Ballycumber a lot early and riding them at the end! Tullamore scored a very early goal and this really set them up for the game. Sean Martin jinked lovely in the small rectangle to slot the ball home. He had a fine game contributing some fine points and linking well with those around him. They held the lead for the most part. Ballycumber were well in the game though and Colm and Steven Quinn kicked some fine ball into the forwards. Rory Guinan paired some good points with some bad wides and Adrian Kelly looked lively at times. Martin was probably the man of the match supported well by Conway (til he went off) and Keane.
Martin should have perhaps had a penalty and for long parts I thought that the ref was siding with Tullamore. However approaching the final whistle and with Ballycumber a point down I was sure he would do what most refs do and look to give a handy free to level it up. Well boy did he have an opportunity. As I saw it Colm Quinn tore through the center and about 20 yards out was sandwiched by two Tullamore backs. EVERYONE waited for the whistle…it never came as the ref made a diving motion. The ball was cleared.
Anyway the game continued and it looked as if they had blown their chance. Into injury time now and Furlong in the Tullamore goals found himself in possession. He went to solo around the Ballycumber forward but did one of the funny solos where you solo it into the hands of the lad tackling you. So here we are Furlong stranded about 15 meters out, the Ballycumber man in possession. Net. Empty. Maybe a few defenders closing in. Sensing a victorious score he composes himself , drops the ball onto his toe and …..the ref blows the whistle. Absolutely priceless…….for a neutral. I couldn’t get over it.
Maybe I saw it wrong so be interested in anyone's view.
In winning I don't think Tullamore a very strong and a ways behind Rhode (when they improve) and Shamrocks. They have lightish forwards might struggle in midfield against some of the more powerful duos.

Wasn’t at the Tubber Clara game but by all accounts Tubber unlucky to go down by a point at the end. Surprised really and wonder what kind of form Clara are in.
Ferbane are going quite well and saw them in the league a few weeks back. Some nice players and they over came Rynagh’s 2-11 to 1-08.

To surmise

Group 1 – Rhode and Gracefield through with Erin Rovers and Shannonbridge loser to battle in the relegation playoffs.

Group 2 – All to play for I believe with Ferbane and Clara on 3 points and Rynagh’s and Tubber on 1 each.

Group 3 – Shamrocks and Tullamore through with Ballycumber and Brigids loser to play in the relegation playoff.

[The Border Fox]

I have to say well done to Gracefield Saturday night night in a game that was made for Erin Rovers. Geashill is a tight pitch,it was heavy and cut up and as the game went on it got worse. We started the game without Karl Slattery and Adrian Dunne which meant a few changes were made to compensate. Then after about 12 minutes when we were totally in control, having kicked 4 points from play in a row, there was a clash between the goalkeeper and full back resulting in 1/ both players being brought to hospital with concussion and 2/ Erin Rovers getting a penalty. This meant a half forward moved to center back and corner forwards moved to half forward etc. This had an obvious effect on the team and did well to be a point ahead at half time.
Things got really bad in the second half and as conditions worsened so did the football. It looked as if Gracefield were trying to lose as pass after pass either went out over the line or straight to the opposition which is mentally and physically draining for players involved. Erin Rovers threw everything but the kitchen sink at us and managed to go a point ahead in the closing minutes. In fairness to Gracefield they never died and kept trying and trying despite most things just not working and managed to get the equaliser after some bad shooting. In the last minute Gracefield were launching an attack from the half back line when another pass went straight to Declan Kelly who kicked a geat point under pressure and it seemed to be the winner. Last play of the game, ball reaches the middle of the field on the village side, 2 Gracefield men and an Erin Rovers man go for the ball,some say he went for Niall Smith only. Anyway,the ball breaks and is picked up by Bobby Fitzpatrick who passes it to Mick Lawlor and as calm as you like sticks it in the back of the net. The will to keep going pays off and Gracefield win despite playing poorly against a fired up Pullough outfit. Lesson learned- NEVER GIVE UP!

[Muck Savage]

I was at three of the games on Sunday and man the football was poor. It was hard to pick out many new county lads but there are a few that may be worth a look at anyway.
Ferbane vs Cloghan - Ferbane won by about 5 points in the end but in my opinion they were lucky enough. Cloghan were without the two Rafferty's and Ferbane had their own injuries but the first half I felt was Cloghans. They should have gone in 4-5 points up but at the break they were level, mainly due to some poor finishing and Nugent in goals for Ferbane who brought off a couple of good saves. Possession wise Cloghan had about 65-70% of it. In the second half Ferbane did a lot better and began to win possession around the middle, Jimmy Grennan caught a couple of great balls. Having said that they got it very hard to get scores down to a dogged backline. It wasn't until the last 5 mins that they got a point of two ahead and then a goal that killed off Cloghan. Nugent brought off 3 good saves in the second half again so They can thank him for the win, only one that looked good up front was Mollen. What surprised me was that Cloghan waited until he scored the goal (2 mins from the end) to change the marker, I think this was the difference. Only one I'd have picked out was Horan at midfield for Cloghan as a potential member of a future county panel. Mollen did OK for Ferbane but I think the marking was poor and he'll not get space like that again.

S'bridge and Rhode was a surprise to me as I thought Rhode would run away with this. They got it very hard to get going at all and fair play to S'bridge backline they played great as a unit. The forwards let them down and too often they the half backs and midfield had no-one in the full forward line to hit when the looked up. The bridge brought out Jason Kelly from corner forward to play 3rd midfield but the other forwards were just too slow for this sort of game. Rhode left the corner back in the full backline so every ball went out as fast as it went in. One interesting thing that went against S'bridge with about 10 mins left and 2-3 points down they got a free inside the 45. Fergal Mac had been hitting them but as he lined the ball up the ref sent him to the line for a cut on his head. Jason Kelly kicked the ball wide, then the next attack they got a free in almost a similar position and again Kelly kicked it wide and Fergal was being attended to. This was probably 2 points that they could have had and put more pressure on Rhode. Not sure how fair the rule is in this case, could the ref have let him be attended to before he took the free?? Afterwards the Bridge players were very high with the ref but in fairness I don't think he was that bad (they should have waited for the 2nd game!). I reckon any county manager has to bring Niall Price and Jason Kelly into the fold for the winter, great players and great heart something that's needed. For Rhode, they'll improve and will have to if they want to win another title.

Ballycumber and Tullamore. Well this game all came down to the end and some amazing refereeing. Tullamore got off to the prefect start witht he goal and overall looked the better footballers and more dangerous. But Ballycumber kept fighting back and showed great heart. A couple of things to note was that Paul Rouse got booked in the first half for punching Colm Quinn right in front of the ref. Now I don't understand why he was booked, if he saw him hit Quinn then he should have got the line if not then he shouldn't have been booked, simple. Quinn put up with a lot of pulling and dragging all day long. Another thing was that Cathal Daly and Grennan were clipping each other all day (Daly being more the villan). Anyway with 2-3 mins left the Ref gave Tullamore a free for a hard challenge on Daly, now some ref's might have let it go as you could say it was a fair shoulder. Fair play to Tullamore they scored to go a point up. Now was when the fun started. I counted three attacks that Ballycumber made and most refs would have given a free for one thing or another as the Ballycumebr players went through. Thery were being pulled, a clear pick up by a Tullamore back so he had plenty of chances to make it a draw which should have happened. Now everyone around me was amazed that he didn't give a free in (all the people around me were from other clubs outside Tullamore and Ballycumebr). Then Colm Quinn took a ball through the middle with three Tullamore lads in chase. As far as I could see with 30m out, right in front of the goal two of them pulled him down. As he came down he landed on the ball and the ref gave a free out for touching the ball on the ground (this is different to Blue and Whites version where it was cleared, it was kicked out by a Tullamore lad but the free was also given). Everyone was just laughing at what was going on and then the final moment like what B&W has above. Furlong got a hop and then the gammy solo so if the ref wanted to blow it up he should have blew the whistle when he caught the ball, not when the Ballycumber forward was looking at an open goal. Mad.

I felt fierce sorry for the Ballycumber players as they've trained all year long for a crap decision to knock them out of the C'ship.

[del]

i think reily the ref was only balancing the books in the second half not awarding ballycumber a couple of free cause tullamore got rode in the first half tullamore defo should have been awarded at least one penalty and to say colm quinn got punched is a joke it was right in front of me and he did not get a punch just pushed in the chest he made a meal of it rolling around as if a snipper had just taken him out from stands a bit sad really. overall the standard of referring was very poor, tullamore have alot of improving to do if they have any hope of beating shamrocks but they have the players to do that

[Hocker]

S'bridge and Rhode was a surprise to me as I thought Rhode would run away with this. They got it very hard to get going at all and fair play to S'bridge backline they played great as a unit. The forwards let them down and too often they the half backs and midfield had no-one in the full forward line to hit when the looked up. The bridge brought out Jason Kelly from corner forward to play 3rd midfield but the other forwards were just too slow for this sort of game. Rhode left the corner back in the full backline so every ball went out as fast as it went in. One interesting thing that went against S'bridge with about 10 mins left and 2-3 points down they got a free inside the 45. Fergal Mac had been hitting them but as he lined the ball up the ref sent him to the line for a cut on his head. Jason Kelly kicked the ball wide, then the next attack they got a free in almost a similar position and again Kelly kicked it wide and Fergal was being attended to. This was probably 2 points that they could have had and put more pressure on Rhode. Not sure how fair the rule is in this case, could the ref have let him be attended to before he took the free?? Afterwards the Bridge players were very high with the ref but in fairness I don't think he was that bad (they should have waited for the 2nd game!). I reckon any county manager has to bring Niall Price and Jason Kelly into the fold for the winter, great players and great heart something that's needed. For Rhode, they'll improve and will have to if they want to win another title.

I completely agree.. Anyone looking at the match would concur that the bridge played well as a unit and got right at Rhode from the off.. Unfortunately we missed easy scoreable frees at crucial times, and despite being a point down(0-05-0-04) at half time, we could easily have been a couple up at the interval. the bridge particularly put it up to rhode in midfield, John Ryan caught the majority of ball that came in his direction and Alan McNamee as largely annonymous throughout the 60 minutes.
Just one point to note on the Fergal mcEvoy blood sub incident. He was struck from behind blatantly by Alan McNamee as Rhode cleared up in defence following an unsuccessful Shannonbridge attack. Both umpires seemed to see the incident but it went unreported to the referee. Disgraceful behaviour from the Offaly captain. He would want to start concentrating more on his football than this kind of carry on. On sundays display, he wouldn't be fit to lace Jason Kelly's boots & John Ryan showed him a thing or two also! How J Kelly hasn't been called into the panel for the last couple of years is beyond comprehension.
Rhode probably just about deserved to win, they took their chances when they came, Shannonbridge were very wasteful in attack unfortunately, we really lack a couple of good scoring forwards! the backs played very well, particularly Niall Price at full back, Willy keena did a good Job on Niall Mcnamee who looked rather lazy & disinterested at times, Rory O'connor also played well at wing back, whilst Paul Maloney looked very solid at centre back given that it was only his second senior championship game to play.
So back to the drawing board for Shannonbridge, victory over Erin Rovers is now required to stave off relegation for another year, I can only hope that we've another bit left in the tank when that game comes around probably in a couple of weeks.

[Muck Savage]

The Quinn incident was fairly much in front of me as well and there was hand movement towards the face for sure. My point or question is why was Rouse booked? The only thing I saw him do was throw a hand/fist, where it landed we can agree to differ. Now if he was booked it was for this which should have been a straight red, only other thing is that the ref didn't see it, so in this case he shouldn't have been booked. These are the areas where the rules need to be enforced.
I had no involvement with either team so I wasn't looking at the game through Blue or Yellow glasses but the incident at the very end was an utter shame when a lad is clean through on goals, no-one in front of him and he blew it up..... that's their years work gone because of a crap call.

[doobane man]

Referee in the Ballycumber V Tullamore game was dreadful, and certainly appeared malicious. Could it be that the Edenderry Referee has now repaid Ballycumber for their objection to Finbar last year? Naw - that'd never be the case!?!

[doobane man]

On the weekend games that I attended (4 in all) a couple of things struck me.
1. I’d hate to be manager of the Offaly team with so few of the current players distinguishing themselves as that and very few others raising themselves above the general ineptitude on display: perhaps John O’Hara (Clara), Ronan Daly and Colm Gavin (Ferbane), Jason Kelly (The Bridge) and Sean Martin (Tullamore). Rory Guinan definitely worth another look. To me he possesses class – not a commodity that we are over endowed with at the comment so I’d be inclined to forgive his inadequacies. With coaching could Pat McIntyre be the next James Grennan - who he hassled so well at the weekend?
2. Rhode are extremely vulnerable this year to date but only Shamrocks and perhaps Gracefield seem equipped to threaten – though by all accounts the latter wasn’t overly impressive at the weekend.
3. The quality of club football in Offaly is poor, attendances are embarrassingly small, and we are at as low an ebb as we’ve encountered in half a century.
4. The best kick passer of a ball at the weekend was John Ryan (Shannonbridge). The best goalkeeper at the weekend was Declan Nugent (Ferbane). The biggest cheer in O’Connor Park – by some distance - was reserved for Padraig Harrington. The best Tullamore player was a toss-up between Sean Martin and John O’Reilly!!!
5. The groups are pretty much decided already. In Group 1 Rhode will probably beat Gracefield to top the group and Erin Rovers may just shade it over Shannonbridge to avoid relegation playoff (could be the game of the Bank Holiday weekend). Clara and Ferbane should beat Rynaghs and Tubber respectively but there’ll be nothing in either game and on that basis I reckon Ferbane (+6) will maintain their slight lead over Clara (+1) to top this group. Rynaghs will avoid relegation but could be in that ‘shake down’. Shamrocks will defeat Tullamore and Ballycumber will beat Brigids to leave two of Rhode, Shamrocks and Ferbane through to semi final (open draw) with the other joined by Clara, Gracefield and Tullamore in the Quarters.

[TheManFromFerbane]

To leave two of Rhode, Shamrocks and Ferbane through to semi final (open draw) with the other joined by Clara, Gracefield and Tullamore in the Quarters.

I thought it was the winners of Group 1 & 2 into the semis with the runners up playing 1st and 2nd in group 3 (decided by an open draw)?

[Lone Shark]

Interesting - a couple of points there:

(1) I never realised scoring difference was being used to separate teams? I don't remember this being announced, if so it definitely makes a big difference - I presumed that if Clara and Ferbane both won that a playoff would be needed.

(2) Again, maybe I just missed this, but I thought it was the winners of groups 1 and 2 that got straight to the semi finals? This being the case due to last year's county finalists being seeded and all. It was certainly announced as such, though obviously it's easy to see the inequity there so a draw does seem fairer.


As regards the absence of class at the weekend, I would factor in that off the top of my head you had Slattery, Deehan, Keenaghan, Mahon and the two Raffertys not playing. That's a large chunk of county panel right there that was missing. Plus nobody from this board appears to have been at Shamrocks and Brigids, where I would assume at least a few Shamrocks players acquitted themselves well.

[Muck Savage]

I thought that two of the three top teams got pulled from a hat for the semi, the other joined the three 2nd place teams in the quarters.

I really couldn't see any Ferbane player stand out apart from Nugent in goals and maybe Mollen in the corner, his marker was poor however. I thought Gavin got lucky with a couple wayward passes that went his direction, some might say this was good positioning but he could have been caught out. I'd like to see a few more games to make jugment.

Also the pitchs were very heavy at the weekend so it's more difficult to see a lad stand out.

[Blue and White]

The Shamrocks game was hard to judge because Brigids were so poor. Most of their players performed well but most of that team are on or have been tried at county level.
Shane Cunningham broke huge amounts of ball without stretching himself. Thomas Coughlan was very good, very fast, sharp, a great spring with good use of the ball. He is the main prospect I would take from the game.
Lenny Mooney and Brian Monaghan are great club players and rarely have I seen them play bad for Shamrocks but they have been in and out of the panel.
Nigel Dunne underperformed and was marked very well by Brigids best player on the day Alan Kennedy.
Ken Casey had the better of one of the Mooney's but the ball was cut off to him in the second half.
The rest of Croghans better players had poor days and with none of them at present on the county panel you couldn't add any from this display.

[doobane man]

As it appears in Offaly GAA Bible - Leabhran Eolais 2007:

"2007 CHAMPIONSHIP DRAWS
# 1 CHURCH STREET, SENIOR FOOTBALL
Group 1: Rhode, Erin Rovers, Gracefield, Shannonbridge.
Group 2: Clara, Ferbane, St. Rynaghs, Tubber.
Group 3: Shamrocks, Ballycumber, St. Brigids, Tullamore.
Top team from two groups to qualify for S/F. Top team from other
group plus 2nd team in each group to play Q/F. Draw for two teams to
qualify for S/F to take place when group games finished. Bottom team
in each group to play off for one team to be relegated Round Robin basis."

Scores difference, then scores for etc. also count so no unnecessary play-offs this year.