Club football 2025

[Superhans75]

Gracefields decline is not overnight you have too look at the population and disapra around portalington area I was in there last week.
It's eye opening gaa clubs wether Offaly or Loais side of the town are going to struggle long term .I know portalington had a win a few years ago but they are on the way down as well
Modern life

[faithfulfanatic]

Gracefields decline is not overnight you have too look at the population and disapra around portalington area I was in there last week.
It's eye opening gaa clubs wether Offaly or Loais side of the town are going to struggle long term .I know portalington had a win a few years ago but they are on the way down as well
Modern life

‘Portarlington had a win a few years ago but they are on the way down as well’, according to SuperHans.

A quick check of the Laois roll of honour tells us that Portarlington are the reigning county champions, and have won 4 of the last 5 county titles in Laois.

[del]

Gracefield are in big big bother they’ve pulled out of the Minor football championship this year and I think the same last year. The work isn’t been put in the retain players.
Ferbane looked decent last night but I’d question how good are ballycommon. They looked very very poor and with no relagation this year how big is their motivation this year .
Still tho Cian Johnson looked fit and hungry for the ball I don’t think they will be as strong as the last couple of yrs but still won’t be far off it .

[Offaly Hero]

Impressive win this evening for Edenderry against Rhode. They really seem to be on the ‘up’ with Rhode inexorably heading the opposite direction.

[Anonymous1]

I've been wary in the past of writing Rhode off and they've done remarkably well to string this team out as long as they have but tonight felt like the end of the road for them (no pun intended).

Edenderry are moving well and are probably Tullamore's biggest threat from this vantage point. Their clash with Ferbane who also performed well last night will be significant as the loser will have to face Tullamore in a semi-final. It's a three horse race between those teams for the Dowling Cup.

Can anybody shed any light on what Edenderry have done to improve? Is it the management? New players? County players stepping up to the plate?

[biffinbanner]

ferbane will struggle without 2 of the mainstays over the last few years when it comes to the business end ,leon fox and joe maher. hard see past tullamore specially with the new rules suiting their flair players up front.

[Offaly Hero]

ferbane will struggle without 2 of the mainstays over the last few years when it comes to the business end ,leon fox and joe maher. hard see past tullamore specially with the new rules suiting their flair players up front.

The one thing Tullamore don’t have is flair players up front and the new rules may be their undoing in this regard. Can they now score enough to put teams away? Do they have anybody in their front six capable of regularly scoring a two pointer from play? Under the old rules, they left inferior teams with a chance in games because they simply did not have enough fire power up front.

Tullamore’s strength in previous years was from midfield back and in their methodical control of a game built on this foundation.
Tullamore didn’t have any forward on the Offaly panel 26 this year.

[frankthetank]

I've been wary in the past of writing Rhode off and they've done remarkably well to string this team out as long as they have but tonight felt like the end of the road for them (no pun intended).

Edenderry are moving well and are probably Tullamore's biggest threat from this vantage point. Their clash with Ferbane who also performed well last night will be significant as the loser will have to face Tullamore in a semi-final. It's a three horse race between those teams for the Dowling Cup.

Can anybody shed any light on what Edenderry have done to improve? Is it the management? New players? County players stepping up to the plate?

The semi-final draw is as follows:
Pot 1: Group winners
Pot 2: Quarter Final winners.

Therefore the runner up in a group can play the team who topped their group in semi-finals.

It has happened on a number of occasions in the SHC over the past few years.

Resultantly Ferbane & Edenderry could meet in a county semi-final.

Here’s the supporting document
https://offaly.gaa.ie/wp-content/upload ... 2025-1.pdf

[frankthetank]

Statement win for Edenderry tonight. I think it’s their first championship win over Rhode since the 2015 county final.

With Tullamore’s lack of serious firepower coupled with the new rules seemingly suiting the likes of Cian Farrell, Edenderry look at this early juncture to be Tullamore’s biggest obstacle to winning 3 in a row.

Early days of course.

[Anonymous1]

I've been wary in the past of writing Rhode off and they've done remarkably well to string this team out as long as they have but tonight felt like the end of the road for them (no pun intended).

Edenderry are moving well and are probably Tullamore's biggest threat from this vantage point. Their clash with Ferbane who also performed well last night will be significant as the loser will have to face Tullamore in a semi-final. It's a three horse race between those teams for the Dowling Cup.

Can anybody shed any light on what Edenderry have done to improve? Is it the management? New players? County players stepping up to the plate?

The semi-final draw is as follows:
Pot 1: Group winners
Pot 2: Quarter Final winners.

Therefore the runner up in a group can play the team who topped their group in semi-finals.

It has happened on a number of occasions in the SHC over the past few years.

Resultantly Ferbane & Edenderry could meet in a county semi-final.

Here’s the supporting document
https://offaly.gaa.ie/wp-content/upload ... 2025-1.pdf

Thanks for that.

The rules on who can play who in the knockouts seem to change every year.

It's daft that you could have two repeat pairings in the semis eg. Ferbane vs Edenderry and Tullamore vs Shamrocks as it devalues finishing top of the group and can lead to shadow boxing when the teams play the first time.

Surely a "No repeat pairings" clause can be inserted?

[Anonymous1]

ferbane will struggle without 2 of the mainstays over the last few years when it comes to the business end ,leon fox and joe maher. hard see past tullamore specially with the new rules suiting their flair players up front.

Who are these "flair players up front" that you refer to?

As was pointed out, Tullamore have no forwards on the Offaly 26.

[Behindthegoal]

Farrell got one score from play tonight out of 3-20 and no score from play in the league final, how are they suiting him more than anyone else?

[Cma154]

He did score from play in the final and unless you are the the games it is hard to know what players actually contribute to games. He set up at least 1-08 against rhode tonight. What Edenderry need is other players scoring when Cian Farrell is not which adds another dynamic to the oppositions approach to games. Edenderry are really stepping up this year and they have got the monkey off the back with winning the league final. Next objective is at least getting to a county final. Also the average age is at least 23 or 24 so if they keep going the way they are they are going to be a force to be reckoned with......

[Lone Shark]

The one thing Tullamore don’t have is flair players up front and the new rules may be their undoing in this regard. Can they now score enough to put teams away? Do they have anybody in their front six capable of regularly scoring a two pointer from play? Under the old rules, they left inferior teams with a chance in games because they simply did not have enough fire power up front.

Tullamore’s strength in previous years was from midfield back and in their methodical control of a game built on this foundation.
Tullamore didn’t have any forward on the Offaly panel 26 this year.

It's an interesting one.

The new rules ask an incredible amount of the middle eight, and there isn't a club team in Ireland, never mind in Offaly, that would have the beating of Tullamore from 5-12 - presuming of course that Cillian Bourke is available throughout. The new rules also suit fast, tight-marking defenders who can survive in one-one-one battles and assuming he's fit, Declan Hogan is the best of those in Offaly and Daire McDaid's not bad at it either.

Yep, the two-pointer thing should favour others more, Edenderry in particular. I see they kicked five of them tonight, and while anything can happen on a given day, if you told me that Tullamore kicked five two pointers, I'd struggle to imagine who might have done it - Harry Plunkett maybe, but it's just not their thing.

Likewise they've historically been a side that has controlled games very well, and while I'm sure they will adapt and evolve, there are other teams that would (in theory at least) be better suited by the option of solo and go, and keeping things unstructured, than Tullamore.

So it's a mixed bag from their point of view.

[Wingbackassassin]

ferbane will struggle without 2 of the mainstays over the last few years when it comes to the business end ,leon fox and joe maher. hard see past tullamore specially with the new rules suiting their flair players up front.

Who are these "flair players up front" that you refer to?

As was pointed out, Tullamore have no forwards on the Offaly 26.

Cormac Egan plays up front for Tullamore. Edenderry were very disappointing in the league final despite winning. Tullamore were missing 6-7 guaranteed starters and had a lot of intermediates playing and still looked the stronger team.