Offaly Hurling Championships 2014

[sam88885a]

looking forward to sundays county final .
i expect a good contest from two hard working , honest teams that are very drilled by managment teams that really believe in there players .
neither teams have huge star but have lots of good hurlers and both have a great team spirit.
both are unbeaten in this years championship and deserve to be in the final .
hope the weather settles again for sunday .
i felt the semi finals were affected by a tricky cross field wind.
st rynagh are very confident , more confident that i have seen them in years.
f foard has done some job with them and he is highly rated by the kk players as a coach .


wonder if b whelahan would look to bring f foard on board as a coach and maybe bring j dunne in as fitness coach,seen as both have done so well with there clubs and hopefully players would follow them.

[Toxicity234]

This is going to be a great final between the two best teams in the county and from what i seen so far around lenister the two best teams in lenister.

Two years ago these were in the county final and i remember someone say to me that Rynagh would win with no problems and i was saying back that if Kilcormac Killoughey could stop the ball going into the Rynagh full forward line they win cause the rynagh's midfield and Half forward wouldn't score enough to win.

Roll on 2014 and both team are back. And to me Both team are better than two years ago.

Rynagh's have improved as a team ( and if they still had Horan in the ranks they be outstanding). They half back line is excellent. Shortt and Hernon are hugely underrated hurlers.
The Midfield is a brilliant combination of great hurlers and great work rate.
But it their half forward line that really improved. Paul Quirke, Stephen Wynne and Gary Kelly in the semi final and quarter final were outstanding. They work their sock off and that the most important thing. (a forward line that is wonderful hurlers and stand with there hand on their hip when they man is clear the ball is as useful as a chocolate teapot)
But apart from being hard working they good forward and can pick off score from out the field and that important for the team.
Two Question hangover Rynaghs.
The 1st one is simple do you change a win team? Do you change the team to bring in Conneely or a full fit Niall Wynne back? If they don't change how will Dolan vs Curmins go??
and the second one is do they have the discipline?? I've seen Rynagh's get 3 straight red this year and all 3 have been from stupid things.

Kilcormac Killoughey have been doing what good team do. that's winning without playing at 100%.
Nothing beats having a settle team and with the two Healion Kilmartin, Leonard, Mahon and Curmins picking themselves down the centre of the team.
The big question hanging over Kilcormac Killoughey is Fitness. Ger Healion, B Leonard and K. Gorgan all miss game over the last month.
I think Kilcormac Killoughey will have a bit too much this year for Rynagh's but this is a super Rynagh's team and there is more than Offaly and Lenister title in its future.

[Offalys Future]

St.Ryanaghs wont get a return large enough from their forwards to win the match.
kk by 6+

[sam88885a]

lads backto the county final .
it a clash of styles but two honest hard working teams .
i know if st rynagh win lads will say kk were burntout and if kk win they same lads will blame the ref or the weather ..
go enjoy the day , look at the positives .
some bunch of lads dreams will come true .
a county final is special to all these lads and their families and there clubs ., they have worked to get here since last feburary .
there were 4 kk lads c mahon d currams t geraghty p geraghty and 2 rynagh lads n wynne and s quirke on the county panell last year i think sunday will tell how many more should be there

[onthefence]

looking forward to the the matches on sunday.
The Junior A final will be interesting with the two best teams reaching the final, i fancy Ballinamere in this one as I think they have the the better forwards and are very hard bet in Tullamore over the last couple of years. Both clubs will be looking to have a senior and intermediate team next year but it would really benefit Ballinamere as there seniors would that have that comfort of not been relegated if they have a Intermediate team.

In the senior final I fancy K/K by 6 + points on the basis of more match winners. If Stephen Quirke is held in corner forward is the rest of the forwards good enough to put up a score of 2 12 or more which will be needed to beat K/K I don't think so, where as seen in the Coolderry match Mahon, Slevin, Gereraty didn't play partially well but they had others that stepped up to the plate. The way i see it KK full back line vs St Rynaghs full forward line Advantage St R, KK half back line vs St R half forward line advantage KK, Midfield Draw ( I have been really been impressed with Tracy this year surely has to be in with the county panel next yr) KK half forward line vs St R half Back line slight advantage for KK and KK full forward line vs ST R full back line advantage KK

[townman]

This is going to be a great final between the two best teams in the county and from what i seen so far around lenister the two best teams in lenister.

Two years ago these were in the county final and i remember someone say to me that Rynagh would win with no problems and i was saying back that if Kilcormac Killoughey could stop the ball going into the Rynagh full forward line they win cause the rynagh's midfield and Half forward wouldn't score enough to win.

Roll on 2014 and both team are back. And to me Both team are better than two years ago.

Rynagh's have improved as a team ( and if they still had Horan in the ranks they be outstanding). They half back line is excellent. Shortt and Hernon are hugely underrated hurlers.
The Midfield is a brilliant combination of great hurlers and great work rate.
But it their half forward line that really improved. Paul Quirke, Stephen Wynne and Gary Kelly in the semi final and quarter final were outstanding. They work their sock off and that the most important thing. (a forward line that is wonderful hurlers and stand with there hand on their hip when they man is clear the ball is as useful as a chocolate teapot)
But apart from being hard working they good forward and can pick off score from out the field and that important for the team.
Two Question hangover Rynaghs.
The 1st one is simple do you change a win team? Do you change the team to bring in Conneely or a full fit Niall Wynne back? If they don't change how will Dolan vs Curmins go??
and the second one is do they have the discipline?? I've seen Rynagh's get 3 straight red this year and all 3 have been from stupid things.

Kilcormac Killoughey have been doing what good team do. that's winning without playing at 100%.
Nothing beats having a settle team and with the two Healion Kilmartin, Leonard, Mahon and Curmins picking themselves down the centre of the team.
The big question hanging over Kilcormac Killoughey is Fitness. Ger Healion, B Leonard and K. Gorgan all miss game over the last month.
I think Kilcormac Killoughey will have a bit too much this year for Rynagh's but this is a super Rynagh's team and there is more than Offaly and Lenister title in its future.

i agree that k/k are one of the best teams in leinster as they won it 2012, and let it slip in the last 15 minutes last year again oulart and theres no way Mount leinster rangers would have beaten them in the final even doe they ran them close in carlow in 2012. Rynaghs will be happy with a county title but you never know K/K went on to win leinster in 2012 after winning there first.

the only thing i would be worried about is if a certain Ballyhale come out of kilkenny this year, the rest in kilkenny i think k/k would have the measure of.

[townman]

anyway lads back to the county final, i'd like to see the likes of Con Mahon, Kiely,James Gorman, Brian leonard, Simon og lyons, Pat Camon, Treacy, Shortt, get a run with offaly next year its time for a clear out in the offaly squad, if i see Cathal Parlon wing back again next year i will give up.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Whatever happens, I hope we have a memorable Final and hopefully it will be a moment of genius and not an individual error that will decide it. Being a final, tension will abound and the first half may well be punctuated with various fumbles and the like. But the second half should open up to a degree. Both teams will have their own period of dominance and whoever makes that period of dominance count will win, heel of the hunt.

Showers are forecast, so the weather will be hit and miss. Still, showers are just showers, and the sod should be in good order. 7,700 attended the 2012 decider involving the same two contestants, so that will be a benchmark of sorts. Hopefully all enjoy themselves, and most important of all that all get home safely (at some stage of next week!).

I wonder if Killoughey Go Bragh, who used post here, is making the trip home.

[babsandbond]

They won't do that but that's what I would do..I would imagine shortt would be too slow for currams but who knows..I hope hernon goes on kiely he might give him a little dig,I think he's highly overrated in the forwards to be honest and is also capabe of getting send off.

[The Outsider]

They won't do that but that's what I would do..I would imagine shortt would be too slow for currams but who knows..I hope hernon goes on kiely he might give him a little dig,I think he's highly overrated in the forwards to be honest and is also capabe of getting send off.

Good to see sportsmanship is alive and well, when a person is hoping an 18 year old player gets a dig in the hope of retaliation! Jesus wept.

[sam88885a]

i have to agree totally with OUTSIDER . shows how he thinks the game should be played . he probaly also thinks the best way to mark s quirke is take him out before the ball is thrown in .
thank god both manager send there teams out to play hurling not to injury other players or to get lads sent off .

to be fair to young kiely he has matured into a fine hurler
. kk have got very few red cards since d owens took over.
i hope its not that type of a game but if rynagh think there going to bully kk ,there will be only one winner .

[babsandbond]

If kiely can't handle a dig in the back and he turns around and flakes someone it's noones fault but his own..its not bad sportsmanship its senior hurling...you do what you have to do to win at all costs..its a county final after all!!

[Toxicity234]

Kiely has been targeted in every game this year, Coolderry in the group stage and Ballinamere both should have had lads sent off for nasty pulls low on his arms and shoulders and Kiely has taking them and hurler on.
Danny Owens is a smart manager he be in the lineman ear to be watching for an dirty on the Very young man.
Its very unlikely that anyone will be sent off in this final. Because these two team are hard working, honest and have respect from each other and the same can be said about there managers and coaches.

[Sharp Eye]

It would be great if the County Hurling Final could be played in Birr. Reading this weeks Offaly Topic there is Little or No Interest in Tullamore & West Offaly in the Hurling Final.

[Lone Shark]

If kiely can't handle a dig in the back and he turns around and flakes someone it's noones fault but his own..its not bad sportsmanship its senior hurling...you do what you have to do to win at all costs..its a county final after all!!

So let me get this straight - if Player A hits player B in the back when the victim is not ready to defend himself and there has been no provocation, that's "senior hurling", but if Player B, having been struck, turns around and hits Player A in the face afterwards, then he deserves to be sent off and it's no-one's fault but his own?

That's without question the most twisted idea of morality I've ever heard. Disgusting stuff.