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Draw for the 2023 club championships:

SFC: Group 1 - Tullamore, Ferbane, Clara, Durrow

Group 2 - Rhode, Edenderry, Shamrocks, Bracknagh

SFC B: Group 1 - Cappincur, Walsh Island, Ballycumber, St Rynaghs

Group 2 - Clonbullogue, Tubber, Gracefield, Ballycommon

IFC: Group 1 - Erin Rovers, St Brigids, Ferbane, Shannonbridge

Group 2 - Raheen, Tullamore, Daingean, Ballinagar

JFC: Group 1 - Kilcormac Killoughey, Edenderry, Tullamore, Doon

Group 2 - Clodiagh Gaels, Rhode, Kilclonfert, Ferbane.

On this note Tullamore played daingean on Saturday and it was a very strong Tullamore team with nemerous senior players and they got it very hard to beat daingean who were short 3/4 first choice players. Although they did panic and bring on Shane tierney to try win it for them. Wonder what Offaly mgt will think of this maybe it was planned. I was impressed by daingean and they seem to be doing the right thing. Dark horses in my mind

12 teams in Junior C, 15 teams in Junior B, 8 teams in Junior A, 8 teams in Inter.F, 8 teams Senior B, and 8 teams in Senior,
59 teams registered for adult football in Championships, that must be some kind of record for adult playing teams ?

i see Johnny Molony has transferred to Moycullen in Galway, he'll be a big loss to Tullamore

With the league finals now confirmed for all divisions is there any dark horses after popping up or is this the favourites for the respective championships?

I do believe ferbane will go very close again, I actually think they will do it.
Tullamore should obviously contend along with the resilient rhode . Edenderry often flatter to deceive. Not a hope of a winner outside this 4, an obvious enough statement. I will say ferbane to win their first since 2019.
The relegation battle will be interesting and it's hard to see shamrocks staying up , and I think they will go down and quiet easily judging by watching them v ferbane in the league afew weeks ago.

It’s the same as it as has been for the last five years really.

Two of Rhode, Tullamore or Ferbane will meet in the final with an outside chance of an Edenderry upset in a semi final.

Clara and Shamrocks to go out in the quarter finals.

And I’d expect it to be Durrow vs Bracknagh in the relegation playoff.

Predictions:

Champions: Tullamore
Runners up: Rhode
Beaten semi finalists: Ferbane and Edenderry
Beaten quarter finalists: Clara and Bracknagh
Relegated: Shamrocks

Swap Bracknagh with Shamrocks Anon IMO as Bracknagh missing a few travelling that will have an impact. Probably the most predicable championship out of the whole lot over the last few years.

Others a lot harder to call

ah lethimoutwithit wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 2:31 pm Swap Bracknagh with Shamrocks Anon IMO as Bracknagh missing a few travelling that will have an impact. Probably the most predicable championship out of the whole lot over the last few years.

Others a lot harder to call

Shamrocks are missing 8 starting players, they may get one or two back by the time of the relegation playoff but they have to start as favourites to be relegated. They play Bracknagh tonight so we’ll find out soon.

I agree it’s very predictable but it’s been like this for the last 5 years.

The only interesting part will be the semi finals to see if Edenderry or Ferbane can make the final instead of Rhode and Tullamore, if they draw each other in the semis then you’d be guaranteed one new finalist.

More than likely Rhode and Tullamore will top their groups which means they can't play each other in their respective semi-finals.

frankthetank wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 2:56 pm More than likely Rhode and Tullamore will top their groups which means they can't play each other in their respective semi-finals.

Agreed, we’ll find that out tonight too as Rhode play Edenderry and Tullamore play Ferbane.

Recent meetings of this weekend’s pairings. First, Senior A football:

Ferbane v Tullamore
They drew in 2020’s semi final, 0-17 (T) to 1-14 (F) before Tullamore on 9-8 on penalties.
In 2021, Tullamore beat Ferbane 4-10 to 0-14 in the semi-final
Last year, Tullamore beat Ferbane 1-9 to 1-7

Clara v Durrow
In 2018, Clara beat Durrow 0-14 to 2-6. This looks like their first meeting since Clara were promoted to Senior in 1957.

Shamrocks v Bracknagh
Would have met in 2018’S Senior B for which I don’t have a result.
In 2020, Shamrocks beat Bracknagh 1-15 to 1-11
In 2021, Shamrocks beat Bracknagh 1-11 to 1-8

Edenderry v Rhode
In 2019’s opening round, Edenderry beat Rhode 0-13 to 0-11
In 2020, Rhode beat Edenderry in the semi-final 1-14 to 0-13 AET
Last year, Rhode won the opening round clash by a single point, 2-13 to 2-12

Senior B
This weekend sees a number of rare championship meetings.

With Gracefield graded Senior since around 1960 and Clonbullogue going to Senior (albeit this is Senior B) for the first time since a brief period in the mid 1960s when they didn’t meet, this is probably their first championship meeting since the 1950s when Gracefield were Intermediate.

Hard to see when Tubber and Ballycommon met last, possibly in their Junior days.

Again, hard to see when Ballycumber and Cappincur might have last met in adult championship football, which surprised me.

St Rynagh’s v Walsh Island
Walsh Island won a 2018 Senior B relegation final,1-11 to 0-9.
In 2021 it was Walsh Island 1-8 St Rynagh’s 1-6 in the Senior B quarter-final.

Big games tonight in senior as far as I'm concerned are Clara v Durrow and Bracknagh v Shamrocks. All the other four teams will likely be in at least a quarter final. Likelihood is the losers of the games above are really under the cosh to stay up as they would likely need two results (win or draw) from last two games to stay out of relegation final.

On all form to date this year, I'd fancy Durrow to beat Clara and Bracknagh to beat Shamrocks.

Don't think it really matters what results are for the other games other than helping decide who tops the groups and goes straight to semi finals

Judging by comments here and Kevin Corrigan’s previews, there are a few teams down significant numbers ahead of this years championships, namely Shamrocks, Rynaghs, Clonbullogue and Ballycumber.

Causes I can imagine are youngsters still catching up on travel Post-Covid and long-term injuries.

I note there are a fair few of the county’s best youngsters in America on J1s for the first few rounds. Is this a consequence of Offaly’s u20 win a few years ago or has there always been this level of our best youngsters being paid to play in the States? More power to them and hope to see them back in latter stages of the competitions.

Senior A winners: Tullamore
Relegated: Durrow

Senior B Winners: Gracefield
Relegated: St Rynaghs

Intermediate Winners: Shannonbridge
Relegated: St Brigids