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As the dust settles on the County Semi-Finals, it's clear that over the two games one team under-performed while another found that elusive thing called "form", which for the best part of a year seemed to have deserted them. In 12 months, Gracefield have transformed themselves from a relegation-threatened outfit into a team that was good enough to top their group and to enter a County Semi-Final unbeaten. Still, despite this great progress, they'll be very disappointed with their return yesterday. Only 3 points over the hour is not a fair representation of their share of the ball or even the amount of ball they managed to get into their forward-line. Edenderry were tough and they ground them out slowly, until the end result was inevitable. In a game where scores were very hard to come by, Edenderry's 0-10 - 0-3 winning margin was impressive. Like Gracefield, Edenderry's improvement this year is off-the-scale. They're young, fearless and play very much as a team. They also have a strong management team who seem to be making all the right tactical calls. Their form and confidence continues in an upward trend across the graph.

The second semi-final saw Clara perform like they haven't done all year. With the full panel available and fit for really only the first time this year, they did look strong. While Rhode managed to pretty much pull together their panel from last year for the majority of this campaign, injuries, J1s and other factors had an attritional effect on the Clara panel. At times, during the group stages, they were very much in the trenches, digging-out a draw against Walsh Island and allowing St. Rynaghs to grab a late draw also. With a stronger bench for the Pollagh game, there were hints that things were improving for Clara, but facing Rhode is a very different prospect, and I myself wondered whether Clara could get back to that level so quickly.

As others have already written, Clara outplayed Rhode in every part of the field. The tactics were spot-on too. Every one of the Clara forwards scored, the middle of the field was decisively won and defensively, the Clara backs were vigilant, playing as traditional backs, minding their positions and seldom roving up the field. This was the tactic that ultimately closed the space in front of Niall McNamee. When that outlet was closed, Rhode did lack ideas. I questioned two things after last years County Final:

a) What Rhode would do if Niall had a bad day at the office
b) Who the replacements would be for some of the great Rhode players that have been around for a long time (i.e. Roy, Paschal)

a) Niall McNamee has become something of a double-edged sword for Rhode (as he probably would for any club). He's so good that you can't help but look for him. The flip-side to this is if he does have a bad day (rare) or if he's tactically negated (something that is always possible), nobody really knows what to do. At times yesterday, as if on auto-pilot, Rhode played the ball into Niall's corner when he wasn't even there. In a simple exercise to quell my intrigue, I considered the last two Clara-Rhode games and what the score could've looked like without his influence. In both last years County Final and yesterdays match, I have Rhode down for 4-5 scores without his influence.

b) I'm not suggesting any of the Rhode players are finished - they're not. But some are not as influential as they once were - that's natural with age. Finding guys to replace them is never going to be easy, because they're not average footballers. Anyway, my point is this, Rhode had no real replacements yesterday and I'm not sure if they've had them for some time now. The McPaddens may turn out to be good Senior footballers, but they're young and light and probably won't become go-to footballers for some time.

Clara winning this match as they did, challenges the theorists who've marked them down as an inferior team to Rhode. Although we were treated to two closely fought county finals (with an aggregate level score), there was some contention that Rhode were a vastly superior outfit. I've always felt that these are two very evenly matched teams. Over four championship encounters across 6 years, Clara shade matters by a mere 3 points, with both teams winning twice.

Despite yesterdays emphatic win, my opinion on the two teams remains the same - they're very evenly matched. I do believe Clara have a stronger panel and also believe they shade it man-for-man, but I'll accept I have a biased view. On any given day, I think either could win, based on tactics, luck and a multitude of conditions.

Anyway, to conclude, two important points:

i) This is not a day for dancing on Rhode's grave. They're going nowhere and will be back next year, motivated in no small measure, by yesterday.
ii) Yesterday's result will be a hollow victory for Clara if they don't win the Dowling Cup

A very enlightening day's football yesterday in OCP, only getting around to commenting on it now.

To take the Edenderry game first, and I think this game is being written off as poor very quickly, when in actual fact the low scoring was as much down to tactics as anything. For Edenderry, Basil Malone and Derek Kelly both pulled deep, while their markers, Niall Slattery and Ruairi Allen, stayed in their positions and tried to close out the long balls in. To a large extent, I thought they did this well - though they were helped in no small measure by Richie Dalton and Stephen Guing trying to play long deliveries into two forwards marking four backs, a silly tactic that I've no doubt will be covered in depth in the Edenderry war room. From an Offaly perspective, I was disappointed to see Richie falling into that trap - he will face plenty of blanket defences next year, you need to be a lot more clever about what you do with the ball in that situation. Nonetheless it meant that both defences had men over, and that showed.

I thought the game was crying out for Derek Kelly to make a lot more driving runs forward, or the half back line to get involved a bit more too. Dan Nolan showed some energy in trying to carry the ball in, but he wouldn't have the physique to ride tackles so he ended up playing the ball backwards more often than not when a tackle was coming.

Sean Pender and David Hanlon were downright outstanding in the centre of the Edenderry defence, and that axis bodes well for the final, while Dalton and Guing did a good job in terms of winning possession, aided well by some clever reading of the breaks. The Smiths just went for catches every time, and were in big bother when they didn't come about.

Of course Edenderry will have to find some improvement, but it's in them. Simple little things like Stuart Cullen not trying to win every ball the old Paschal Kelleghan way by getting in front and then trying to use his behind to unbalance the defender would be a start - he got away with a few, but he also lost out on a lot of excellent deliveries by foregoing the option to just collect the ball into his hands. They can't expect Clara to be as bad as Gracefield in terms of shooting - I have Gracefield down for ten wides and seven shots dropped short or kicked straight at the keeper - 0-3 is an awful return on twenty attempts on goal, and Clara will be a lot more clinical than that, even on a very bad day.


The first game has been well covered so far, and I'd be largely in agreement with a lot of the posts already. Niall McNamee had an offday, as can happen to anyone, and if he is hobbled with a long term injury and needs to deal with it, as is the story I keep hearing, then that should happen now and he should take as long off as is necessary. Rushing him back for league matches would be seriously counter-productive. Nonetheless it demonstrated clearly how bare the Rhode cupboard is in terms of other players who can step up to the standard required, which is shocking when we consider the strength of their intermediate footballers.

They got the gift of a fortunate goal, Clara were rocked by an injury to a key man, and yet you couldn't say that a single Rhode player came out of that game with their reputation enhanced. Eoin Rigney played a fine game in the full back line and was one of their better performers and my only exception to that generalisation, but most of their backs were dominated, their midfield never caught a ball all day and kept letting Scott Brady fist the ball on, while they contributed little or nothing from general play, and up front Niall Darby and Padraig Sullivan seemed to be either running around midfield or running sideways - I can't remember one instance of either man running straight for goal past the 45m line.

For Clara, it's only natural that keeping a lid on expectation will be an issue. To beat Rhode so comprehensively is a massive result regardless of the drop in the Rhode's form, and they wouldn't be human if they didn't feel that they had the hardest part of the job done. In one sense, they do - a repeat of that performance and that intensity will be too much for Edenderry by a long chalk. They got production from every sector of the field, with relatively unheralded players like Stephen Deehan and Enda Dunne vying for man of the match, while their shot selection and execution was outstanding. That performance was worthy of a Dowling cup, but they still have some work to do to get the trophy into Matt Mitchell's hands.


On Rhode, I don't know too many people who would have said that Rhode were superior over the past couple of seasons. Rhode edged the 2010 final but deservedly so, Clara edged the 2009 final and it was just as deserved, and both clubs played well in Leinster. Any logical analysis would have said that the sides were well matched. I would also go along with the view that while Clara earned their win on Sunday and I'd be the first to admit that I wasn't sure if they'd be able to produce the goods without having done so all year, I don't think this will be the demise of Rhode by any measure, for several reasons.

(1) Whether injured or not, Niall won't be so bad again for a long time, and he'll be very keen to set this performance to rights in 2011.
(2) Anton's absence was huge blow and it shouldn't be forgotten that Rhode were performing without a top class attacker who could have produced something in Niall's absence.
(3) The two McPadden brothers may have something to contribute in the long run, but they are very light footballers and they weren't ready for the battle and the conditions that we saw yesterday. Their day should come, but I was surprised that they got the nod for a game like that (or the quarter final for that matter) when a footballer like Ronan Heavey was the one left playing intermediate.
(4) This should be the catalyst for Rhode to realise that they need to develop another dimension to their game - they can't keep putting everything on the shoulders of Niall Mac. Of course you want to exploit the fact that you have one of the best forwards in Ireland in your team, but you need a plan B too. Next year I'd expect they'll deliver just that.

The points about Tom Coffey are well made too. I'm not going to dismiss the man on the strength of one performance, but there were clearly problems at half time and I didn't see a single change made that offered a realistic chance of turning things around. That's unforgivable.

Clara were full value for their win. Tactically they got it right and to be honest Rhode got it wrong. I thought Rhode lacked hunger for this game and you could see that in alot of their players. The McPaddens were thrown in and they were totally lost. The positioning of Ciaran Heavey another silly selection. Anton Sullivan missing was a massive factor because it gives them another option and takes alot of attention of Niall.

Again, Clara are lucky to have a man like Scott Brady. For me he is the main component of this team. Without him, Clara cant function. He is that important. Look at the results against sides like Walsh Island and Rynaghs. He made one bad mistake but overall he kept Rhode on the back foot. Beat Rhodes midfield and you beat Rhode. To be fair to Clara they lost their best forward, Deehan, and gave away a terrible goal but they never lost focus. They deserve credit for that. They are beatable, Id go as far as to say there is alot of players there that could be targetted by Edenderry but they still deserve to be hot favourites now.

Edenderry Gracefield was a terrible game. Gracefield are very limited, realistically they are a team that would be just keeping its head above water but the Offaly championship at present is as poor as Ive seen it. Edenderry have done well. Very good and well respected management team which should be noted. Defensive tactics that are working. They need the extra men tracking back as I still see Nolan and Byrne as weak links who can leave gaps open at the back. But Edenderry have done well. They look like a very happy camp and that is due in no small way to the management team in place. They wont fear Clara, and shouldnt fear them. It is a great opportunity for them now to win a final. I dont think they would have beaten Rhode but they will fancy their chances here.

Clara and Edenderry have had alot of ding dong battles at underage level and it shouldnt be a big suprise that they are now meeting in a senior final. It has been a terribly poor championship and few will argue with that. The standard in the county at present is quiet poor. Clara without alot of players still managed to stumble into a semi and then produce a good performance with the full squad back. Edenderry have come from being an intermediate team and then a struggling senior team to genuine potential champions. That really tells where club football is at but both these teams deserve to be in the final and thats all you can say.

I think Clara are superior to Edenderry, they should win by 5 or 6 points but its not impossible for the Reds to sneak it. Will be interesting for Ross Brady after the big saga a couple of years ago. An interesting game in the making. I really hope its a good final with some good open football.

Agree with everything said above. Was amazed how bad Gracefiled were, countless amount of times Gracefield had the ball in Edenderry's half and they just looked like they didn't know what to do, or where the posts were. Can't totally blame Gracefiled, I taught Edenderry deserve alot of credit. Was impressed with them they showed good hunger, maybe the resultant of being the other end of the champioship for a few years?? Think Edenderry are after taking a page out of Rhode & Clara's notebook, as in, they now have fowards who are told, and capable of taking on their men.
As for the Rhode V Clara game, I felt it was played at a higher standard and greater intensity than the first semi. Clara showed far more hunger. From 1 to 15 played well. Having Joe Quinn & Matt Mitchell in the full back line for Clara took Niall Mc out of the game. This was the first tactical battle won by Pat Flanagan. From here all the 50/50 battles were won by Clara. As for the final you couldn't call it after this Chamopionship! This Championship has been all about the underdog.! Clara are without doupt a better outfit than Edenderry, and should win the dowling, but who knows it might be Edenderry's year.
Also what date is final on??

i think the final is fixed for the 9th of oct.