County senior hurling championship

[jimbob17]

ok, co senior teams are out, so who are going to be the big players in the local club senior championships. my money is on coolderry, closely followed by birr, then a group of Tullamore (if they get their players back fit) KK, Banagher and Kinnity, though i feel kk have gone back significantly since two years ago and are being carried by the few county lads. Banagher have hurling but their best players are their younger players who are lacking in strength and experience. Tullamore only have half a team available at present due to injuries and need everyone to compete at last years level.

what do ye think?

[leinsterman]

Birr to win there 23 title this year

[drummy]

cant see birr being bet. they have a nice blend of youth and experience.
coolderry have to be close though, showin great form recently (although it has to be noted brosna gaels do not have the ability to compete with the best at senior level)
kk have plenty of ability, however the question remains do they have the bottle for it, especially after last year??. i would like to see kk win.

to be honest i cant see kinnity, tullamore, rynaghs(although i believe they have a very bright future), clareen and the rest being close.

RELEGATION; lads whos headin down??? lusmagh? shamrocks? are brosna safe?

[Offaly2010]

For me its between Birr and Coolderry. At the moment,I fancy Birr.

[backofthenet]

I think Birr would have to be favourites, they have the pedigree and more than the hunger after losing at the semi final stage last year. They are however carrying a few hurlers which might come against them come september / october.

Coolderry are doing the business this year so far, team still isnt right, but there is some good competition for places with the under 21s going so well, will they be able to get over the line after knocking on the door for so long? If Birr get knocked out id fancy them to do it

Kilcormac are still missing some players, were unconvincing and lucky to get a draw with Kinnitty last sunday, they look weaker than they have been for 3-4 years

I cant see any of the other teams winning the county championship, really its a two horse race being brutally honest about it. As for relegation its hard to look past Shamrocks, they seem to be in total dissaray at the moment, Brosna have probably enough points chalked up to stay up, Lusmagh will more than likely get a good result or two with the games they have left.

[Long John]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRtvIkeaSc0

[leinsterman]

I think Birr would have to be favourites, they have the pedigree and more than the hunger after losing at the semi final stage last year. They are however carrying a few hurlers which might come against them come september / october.

Coolderry are doing the business this year so far, team still isnt right, but there is some good competition for places with the under 21s going so well, will they be able to get over the line after knocking on the door for so long? If Birr get knocked out id fancy them to do it

Kilcormac are still missing some players, were unconvincing and lucky to get a draw with Kinnitty last sunday, they look weaker than they have been for 3-4 years

I cant see any of the other teams winning the county championship, really its a two horse race being brutally honest about it. As for relegation its hard to look past Shamrocks, they seem to be in total dissaray at the moment, Brosna have probably enough points chalked up to stay up, Lusmagh will more than likely get a good result or two with the games they have left.

what hurlers would that be that Birr are carrying i have seen all there games this year so far and they are all doing well
this year

[Long John]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHrc_r6hFYc

The Blues can hurl but the mountain men can sing.

It would be great to see someone other than Birr or Coolderry winning the final.

[kinnittyman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHrc_r6hFYc

The Blues can hurl but the mountain men can sing.

It would be great to see someone other than Birr or Coolderry winning the final.

Oh Lord, that day was some craic!! Nothing like the Monday after the County Final!!

[Plain of the Herbs]

It’s early yet and you couldn’t really read anything into the form of the contenders. Teams will only begin to take shape in the final two rounds as hurlers begin to return from America. K-K, for example, will be a more potent force with Conor Mahon restored

The group headed by Birr is as good as settled at this stage. Barring a major upset, that is. Shinrone have beaten both Belmont and Rahan, and with tied teams being separated by results between those tied teams, Belmont need to gain 2 results in order to overtake them.

So Birr will top that group, K-K and Kinnitty will tie for 2nd/3rd, to be separated on scoring difference while Shinrone will finish fourth and will probably face Coolderry in the quarter-final.

With matches to come against Lusmagh and Clareen, Coolderry should top their group. Rynagh’s have Lusmagh & Brosna Gaels still to come and should finish second. There is one key match in each remaining round which will decide the remaining places. Brosna Gaels play Tullamore next and Clareen take on the Champions in the final round. Damien Fox’s was a fairytale story lasy tear but reports are that Rynagh’s scored 2 match-turning goals from distance last week, and they are vulnerable now.

Birr, obviously, are the team to beat. Coolderry, with Shinrone in the quarter-final, should reach the semi-final but, on previous form at that stage, they’d get it hard to overcome K-K or Kinnitty. K-K will improve with Conor Mahon back home and Peter Healion togged out. Kinnitty would be a potent force with James Rigney at 6, Liam Bergin at 3 and Colm Coughlan around midfield.

Much depends on the draw. One of K-K or Kinnitty would play Rynagh’s in a quarter-final which would be the kind of match Rynagh’s could launch a title challenge from. The other could possibly play Clareen, a year wiser so ditto for them. If Tullamore did prevail against the Gaels, they would likely face Birr, losing their title in the process.

Hard to know. Much hurling, interesting hurling to be played.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Not the most inspiring week for club hurling coming up where there’s really only one match to keep an eye on, and playing matches on working-days give them a league feeling. The winner of Clareen v Tullamore will put themselves in a strong place for a quarter-final slot. Tullamore’s collapse against ’Rynagh’s could be the start of the big reverse in their fortunes, which would be ironic given that the run to the title started with a similar win over ’Rynagh’s last year.

Tullamore are in a difficult position now and Stephen Egan’s absence from the defence leaves a big void. Then there’s a goalkeeping issue. They really need Jody Duffy and Edwin Finnerty to work hard to win the ball between the 2 ‘45’s. They’ll also need Shane Dooley in the thick of the action, probably at centre-forward.

Clareen are consistent in their inconsistency with a few forwards hurling for ten minutes at a time. James Mulrooney will be out through suspension and will be a big loss. Sean Coughlan will probably mark Shane Dooley, a duel to be watched. Eanna Murphy seems to be struggling for form though, which is a worry. This is the one match this week which is most likely to be still to play for with full-time approaching. Clareen need to win this, given that they’ve Coolderry next (Tullamore have Brosna Gaels) and on that basis I think they’ll grind it out.

Elsewhere, Kinnitty should beat Shamrocks though the green and white will adapt a cautious approach after a bizarre encounted between the sides in Rath this time last year. Birr ran up a big score against Kinnitty in a league final last Sunday and will beat Belmont. Interesting to see Paul Molloy lining out at centre-back – hard to see him lining out there when the championship reaches O’Connor Park. They’ve got Michael Verney ready to return from injury, a hurler who would benefit from a spell in the centre of the defence.

Elsewhere, ’Rynagh’s should beat Brosna Gaels and Kilcormac will beat Shinrone. Lusmagh aren’t hurling badly but are in bad need of the boost of a positive result. Hard to see them getting that result against Coolderry though, who are in good spirits with the U21 title on the mantelpiece.

[Offaly2010]

Final score from SHC:
Kinnity 3-14 - 0-11 Shamrocks.

Colm Coughlan had a great game scoring 2-9 in total for Kinnity.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Aah ya can't leave it at that 2010 - tell us more.

Final score from SHC:
Kinnity 3-14 - 0-11 Shamrocks.

Colm Coughlan had a great game scoring 2-9 in total for Kinnity.

[Offaly2010]

Wasn't at it I'm afraid POTH.
The brother just sent me a text about it.

[sean]

Went along to the Shamrocks v Kinnitty game and i must say the standard of hurling was poor enough,both teams lined out minus afew regulars.
Shamrocks were without Derek Molloy,Brian Kearney and Neville Coughlan that i know of anyway,a huge loss to a team like Shamrocks who are now certain to be in the relegation play-off. Kinnitty started with Stephen Molloy and Christopher Leonard on the line,although leonard did make an appearance with about 15 minuntes to go.

Shamrocks started slightly the better and led 0-03 to 0-01 after 10 mins with Nigel Dunne their main threat up front. The next 10 minuntes saw Kinnitty come into the game and the teams were deadlocked on 0-04 each with half-time approaching. Kinnitty finished the half the stronger and added three unanswered points to go in at the break in front with the score reading 0-07 to 0-04. Shamrocks did register 2 or 3 poor wides just before half-time that could have left them alot closer.

Kinnitty had extended their lead to four points about 10 mins into the second half but the goal that they needed to put Shamrocks away just didn`t arrive. Shamrocks kept battling and had the lead down to two points with roughly 10 mins left. Then came the killer blow when Odhran Kealey flicked a ball into Justin Kinsella and he rattled the net from close range. There was to be no way back for Shamrocks as Kinnitty added a further two goals both of which came as a result of poor enough defending,1 was a long ball in from Brian Coughlan which found his brother Colm and he finished to the net,the corner back was in no mans land.
Overall, it was a poor enough game to watch but that wont bother Kinnitty as a win is a win and to be fair conditions were not ideal for hurling as the surface seemed very greasy and players found it hard to stay on their feet and also had difficulty getting the ball into the hand first time. It`s hard to tell how Kinnitty will fare in the knockout stages as they are clearly better than the form they showed tonight. When you think back to last year Shamrocks defeated Kinnitty comfortably enough so they will be happy that they turned it around this year and kept a clean sheet in the process. Hard to know if i would agree with earlier comment that Colm Coughlan was oustanding,he might have scored alot but alot were from frees.
Not many players stood out tonight. Nigel Dunne was best for Shamrocks. They badly need Derek Molloy and afew others back on board for the relegation play-off.