Offaly Fixtures League Football

[Thereorthereabouts]

Any news on when the leagues Div 1-4 are going to be wrapped up this year. Any weekends set aside for the divisional semi finals and finals, now that the weather is a bit better?
I persume all the league action will be wrapped up before any ball is kicked in the championship?

[OffalyDub]

I'd say Div 1 & 2 will be wrapped up before Championship alright, most teams have only 1 or 2 matches left before semis. The oversized Div 3 (14 teams) & Div 4 (13 teams) will go on awhile yet though. Most teams still have 6 or 7 matches still to play. It's unlikely that they'll wrap up before Championships start. Why not have Div 3, 4A & 4B with 9 teams in each for next year, instead of 2 groups so large? Any thoughts?

[Lone Shark]

They had five equal size divisions last year but they changed to this new structure, no doubt designed to give plenty of football to junior lads who don't tend to have as much other stuff going on, so in that regard I can see what they were doing. Having said that, there probably is merit to splitting up the bottom division into north/east and south/west or some such. Indeed that might even convince the likes of Coolderry or Kinnitty to field a league team as well as a championship side (sides which would be quite competitive in division four if they wanted to play).

[OffalyDub]

While it is a good idea for junior lads to have more matches, it kinda defeats the purpose when Div 3 & 4 didn't start for a full month after Div 1 & 2 when there's more matches to play. Just means the league will still be on while championships are running. Have to agree with you about merit in splitting county for lower division. As you say, it might even encourage more clubs to enter a team.