Exciting Start To Football Championships In Offaly
Adult football championship action returned to Offaly this weekend and although attendances were restricted, there was no shortage of drama and excitement at venues across the county.
Offaly GAA was proud to ‘live stream’ three games in the Senior Football Championship over the weekend, and the main talking point at this grade was Cappincur’s victory over Tullamore on Friday evening.
A late Eoin Carroll point secured a famous win for Cappincur by 0-12 to 1-8, after goalkeeper Peter Daly had floated over two long-range frees in the closing ten minutes. John Kavanagh netted an early goal for Tullamore, who led for most of the match.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Ferbane defeated Edenderry by four points, with Ronan McGuire netting an early goal for the west Offaly men. And Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan were in blistering form as Rhode defeated Clara by nine points, 1-19 to 1-10.
Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the most exciting SFC ‘A’ game of the weekend took place in Bord na Mona O’Connor Park. Bracknagh started off in blistering fashion and led by 0-7 to no score after 20 minutes. They were six ahead at the break, but Shamrocks surged back and thanks to a Paddy Dunican goal and well taken points, managed to win by 2-11 to 1-15. This was despite a great goal by Anthony Cunningham late on.
Another interesting statistic from the weekend was that four clubs from the same parish all won their opening round fixtures – Cappincur (Senior), Ballycommon (Intermediate), Daingean (Junior ‘A’) and Kilclonfert (Junior ‘A’).
The two draws from the weekend were Gracefield v Tubber in Senior ‘B’ and Ballyfore v Ferbane in Junior ‘B’
Senior Football Championship
Cappincur 0-12, Tullamore 1-8; Ferbane 1-12, Edenderry 1-8; Rhode 1-19, Clara 1-10; Shamrocks 1-15, Bracknagh 2-11.
Senior ‘B’ Football Championship
Erin Rovers 0-11, Shannonbridge 0-10; Gracefield 1-11, Tubber 2-8; Ferbane 3-12, Walsh Island 1-11; Durrow 4-11, Ballycumber 0-6.
Intermediate Football Championship
Ballycommon 1-11, Clodiagh Gaels 0-12; St Rynagh’s 1-11, Raheen 1-9; Clonbullogue 0-11, Kilcormac/Killoughey 0-10; St Brigid’s 1-10, Doon 1-7.
Junior ‘A’ Football Championship
Daingean 2-17, Ballinagar 1-9; Kilclonfert 2-9, Kinnitty 1-7; Tullamore 2-16, Rhode 1-9; Clara 5-10, Edenderry 2-10.
Junior ‘B’ Football Championship
Raheen 3-15, Erin Rovers 1-7; Tulamore 2-13, Bracknagh 0-5; Gracefield 2-11, Clonmore Harps 0-7; Ballyfore 0-10, Ferbane 1-7; (Shamrocks v Durrow on Monday evening).
Junior ‘C’ Football Championship
Cappincur 2-10, St Brigid’s 1-12; Clonbullogue 1-17, Shannonbridge 3-6; Clodiagh Gaels 3-9, Rhode 1-5.
