Athlone I.T. - Offaly players to the fore

[Phoenix]

Athlone IT 0-12
Carlow 0-8

Monday January 18 2010

ATHLONE IT led from start to finish of this scrappy O'Byrne Cup tie at Dr Cullen Park yesterday and were in no way flattered by a four-point victory over Luke Dempsey's poor Carlow side.

An attendance of about 200 saw the college visitors race into an 0-6 to nil lead after 22 minutes with scores from Ray Galligan, Frank Burke, David Egan, David Reilly and John Reynolds.

Carlow took an embarrassing 27 minutes to register a score and trailed 0-6 to 0-3 at the break.

They did fight back to within two points but Athlone sealed the victory with a splendid brace of points in the dying minutes.

Scorers -- IT Athlone: R Galligan 0-5 (2f), D Reilly, P Bannon (1f) 0-2 each, F Burke, D Egan, J Reynolds 0-1 each.

Carlow: J Kavanagh 0-4 (3f), S Rea 0-2 (2f), J J Smith, E O'Toole 0-1 each.

IT Athlone -- G Connaughton (Westmeath); F O'Reilly (Westmeath), D Masterson (Longford), D Reilly (Galway); S Higgins (Roscommon), K Smyth (Longford), J Reynolds (Westmeath); G Dennigan (Longford), B Connors (Offaly); P Bannon (Longford), J Reynolds (Offaly), D Egan; (Offaly), R Galligan Cavan), C Blake (Galway), F Burke (Galway). Subs: N Judge (Sligo) for Burke (28); D Cash (Kildare) for Connors (h/t); D Reynolds (Westmeath) for Egan (45); C Duncan (Westmeath) for O'Reilly (53); A Rowan (Longford) for Galligan (68).

Carlow -- J Clarke; S Daly, L Murphy, P Murphy; A Curran, J Hayden, T Bolger; J Murphy, W Minchin; S Gannon, W Donohue, D Dowling; S Rea, J J Smith, J Kavanagh. Subs: K Doyle for Dowling (24); E O'Toole for Donohue (47); M Carpenter for Kavanagh (53); S Myers for Daly (60); J Doyle for Minchin (65).

Ref -- D. Maher (Westmeath).

[the bare biffo]

What age is G Connaughton ?

[Bord na Mona man]

He was the sub keeper on Brian Kerr's U-18 European Championship squad, so I reckon is about 29 now.

[naasmanxrhode]

What age is John Reynolds, is he another mature student?

[Bord na Mona man]

What age is John Reynolds, is he another mature student?

26/27 ballpark.
The thirst for knowledge is unending down Clara way.

[kinnittyman]

I see UL is becoming a beacon to the Offaly hurlers aswell. Michael Verney, Dylan Hayden, Shane Dooley and Brain Carroll all played a part at the weekend down there in their Waterford Crystal game against Kerry. And you can add James Dempsey and Odhran Kealey to their panel aswell so we could be well represented in the Fitz.

[Lone Shark]

I see UL is becoming a beacon to the Offaly hurlers aswell. Michael Verney, Dylan Hayden, Shane Dooley and Brain Carroll all played a part at the weekend down there in their Waterford Crystal game against Kerry. And you can add James Dempsey and Odhran Kealey to their panel aswell so we could be well represented in the Fitz.

The imbalance in terms of Offaly hurlers going to UL and exclusively UL is getting ridiculous now. Brian Carroll must be nearly a professor at this stage, while Sean Ryan and Alan Egan were involved last year as well. I didn't know that Shane Dooley was down there but I suppose in this economic climate, further education is a great option for these lads and it's great for Offaly that emigration isn't the first port of call.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I read somewhere (AFR, I think) that David Kenny hurled full back for UCD during the week and held Canning to 1-1 from play. Can anyone confirm or refute this please?

[lovelyhurling]

I read somewhere (AFR, I think) that David Kenny hurled full back for UCD during the week and held Canning to 1-1 from play. Can anyone confirm or refute this please?

Yeh i was down at it...Kenny was good, held Canning well, but he scored some goal. They had a man playing just in front of Canning too. LIT are hurling NUIG and UL against WIT in the semis. UL had 2 Offaly hurlers starting last Wednesday, Carroll and Dooley, Carroll had a great 2nd half and Dooley got a goal despite an indifferent game.

[leinsterman]

David kenny had a great game on canning i was talking to the kk man that is in with
the ucd set up tommy buggy from castlecomer, he said he kept canning as quiet as he ever seen, let's hope he doe's the same to richie power on sunday

[old yellar]

stephen wynne is also down in ul but mustnt want to hurl fitzgibbon...

[Plain of the Herbs]

And then James Gorman slipped in under the radar to score a fine equaliser for UCG with time running out, before Conlon from Clare scored the winner.

I think the last time UCG won it, Pat Fleury was on the side. So too was Cyril Farrell. Farrell had a mullet back then.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Someone who lurks here (he knows who he is) asked me what Offaly hurler won Fitzgibbon Cup medals. This is the list up to 1999, as it’s taken from Raymond Smith’s Gaelic Games Handbook from that year.

Eamon O’Boyle (UCD, 1941 & 1944).
Sean Doohan (UCD, 1944 & 1948)
Noel McMahon (UCG, 1954)
Hugh Dolan (UCD, 1975)
Pat Fleury (UCG, 1977)
Johnny Pilkington (UCD, 1993)
Colm Cassidy (Waterford, 1999)

Among those who were beaten finalists are Brendan Barry (UCG, 1970), Christy Kennedy (Maynooth, 1975), Sean Clarke (Moynooth, 1976, 1977 & 1979), Mick Kennedy (Maynooth, 1979), Liam Grogan (UCD, 1981), Vincent Teehan (UCD, 1987& 1989), Shane McGuckin (UCD, 1989 & 1991), Johnny Pilkington (UCD, 1991), Mark Kenny (UL, 1992), Conor Hanniffy (UL, 1996) and Colm Cassidy (WIT, 1998).


While I’m at it, those Offalians who won Sigerson Cups prior to 1999-

P Henry (UCD, 1935)
Jimmy Adams (UCD, 1947)
Paddy Fenlon (UCG, 1948 and UCD, 1952)
Kevin Kilmurray (UCD, 1973 & 1974)
Martin Nugent (Maynooth, 1976)
Ciaran McManus (UCD, 1996)
Didn’t Ciaran McManus win one since with UCD? I think he did.

Can anyone advance on this list during over the period of the last decade?

Edit: Typing McManus and 1976 in the same sentence was a typo on my part. I've edited that now.

[leinsterman]

Someone who lurks here (he knows who he is) asked me what Offaly hurler won Fitzgibbon Cup medals. This is the list up to 1999, as it’s taken from Raymond Smith’s Gaelic Games Handbook from that year.

Eamon O’Boyle (UCD, 1941 & 1944).
Sean Doohan (UCD, 1944 & 1948)
Noel McMahon (UCG, 1954)
Hugh Dolan (UCD, 1975)
Pat Fleury (UCG, 1977)
Johnny Pilkington (UCD, 1993)
Colm Cassidy (Waterford, 1999)

Among those who were beaten finalists are Brendan Barry (UCG, 1970), Christy Kennedy (Maynooth, 1975), Sean Clarke (Moynooth, 1976, 1977 & 1979), Mick Kennedy (Maynooth, 1979), Liam Grogan (UCD, 1981), Vincent Teehan (UCD, 1987& 1989), Shane McGuckin (UCD, 1989 & 1991), Johnny Pilkington (UCD, 1991), Mark Kenny (UL, 1992), Conor Hanniffy (UL, 1996) and Colm Cassidy (WIT, 1998).


While I’m at it, those Offalians who won Sigerson Cups prior to 1999-

P Henry (UCD, 1935)
Jimmy Adams (UCD, 1947)
Paddy Fenlon (UCG, 1948 and UCD, 1952)
Kevin Kilmurray (UCD, 1973 & 1974)
Martin Nugent (Maynooth, 1976)
Ciaran McManus (UCD, 1976)
Didn’t Ciaran McManus win one since with UCD? I think he did.

Can anyone advance on this list during over the period of the last decade?

pat fleury was also the captain of the UCG team that won it.

[Lone Shark]

Ciarán Mac won one with UCD in 1996 - that line about him winning in 1976 would be a misprint.

I'd reckon that Brendan Murphy would have been on the UCD team in 2001, but I'd be open to correction on that. After that, winners have been few and far between, sadly.