Kilcormac-Killoughey in Leinster - 2014

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Hard luck to kk, great effort Tj reid the difference. Kk spirit is unreal and they could have snatched the win in normal time

[sam88885a]

so proud of those guys should have won but for missed free .
i think kk held ballyhale to 5 point in normal time .
k grogan destroyed t j reid and sheflin when he was a wing back . his a gaint killer .
b leonard hurler cha off the field .
all the back were brilliant .
ballyhale like kilkenny live on the line there were 3 or 4 very high tackles on young kiely and one very reckless one on kilmartain .
they could have got straight red for any of them .
the also got away with grabbing the face mack a few time one resulted in sheflin scoring a point when mc conville face gaurd was pulled coming out. that a straight red .
i thought b leonard or c kiely should have take the last 65 .
the injury to g healion unsettled the team because k grogan moving out of wing back allowed reid and sheflin into the game .
lady luck just didnt shine on kk today .
kk may have lost the game but they have sent a clear message to offaly at every level .
offaly hurling is not dead and if offaly bring kk fighting spirit we can stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone .
kk style of hurling should be offaly style .
we sick looking at fancy dans that would not beat there way out of a wet paper bag .
how could offaly pick a defence without any kk lad over the last 5 or 6 year is a real scandle.

g healion p helion b leonard and particullaly k grogan have more steel in their little finger than the mammys boy s that have line out there for offaly in the recent pass .
great support of kk again today .
hope b whelahan sits down and talks to these kk lads and see how he can build an offaly team around them because kk will win another 2 or 3 titles in a row in offaly in my opinion .
k grogan or b leonard are better wing backs that anything else in offaly and g healion is our only full back .
offaly need men and kk are the only club that has them at present in offaly .
hard luck to kk we proud of offaly hurling again because of ye

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Bit of a sweeping statement Sam. Tj Reid owned this game, from start to finish. Looking back now, yes Kk had their times when they controlled the game, but they hit a lot of aimless ball when a little composure was needed. Yes Ballyhale were applying pressure, but there was too many balls hit straight to defenders. Your point about Leonard and Grogan, do they want to hurl for Offaly? Probably not. But you have a poi t about the spirit in the team alright. Slevin in goals was excellent also.

[allstar2010]

It's great to see that at least we have one team in the county that doesn't run for cover when they come up against Kilkenny opposition. Would love to see our county players take note and show some pride when they play against Kilkenny.

[sam88885a]

tj reid only hurled when he came to midfield ,he never won one ball off k grogan ,his free taken was top class . ballyhale only scored 5 point in 60 minutes and one of them henry sheflins should have been a free out for mc conville.
kk should have won this d currams shot just went over and kk missed 6 or 7 frees
give credit where it due aletimoutwithit .ballyhale got lucky kk out hurled them

[Toxicity234]

It was a great game.
Stand up and fight come to mind.
Both Ballyhale and kilcormac killoughey fought for everything.
I though it was a mistake on the sideline that cost Kilcormac killoughey the game. Lenoard should have been left in midfield and Enda Gorgan should have come in the half back line.
But it easy to say that after the game.

Everyone in the county should be so proud of This Kilcormac killoughey team.
The only way this Team is going to be beating by a team within Offaly is for some team to match there Workrate, There power and there effective use of the ball.

Offaly Hurling is not dead. But after 14 year of pick hurler for our county team maybe it time to start picking warriors.

[timber]

Hard Luck to KK. Thought they were very unlucky not to win it in normal time. In extra time they struggled but kept trying. The loss of Ger Healion was massive for extra time and like Rhode teams in the past, a little short of quality on the bench was a big factor.

Have to say fair play to Slevin who showed massive character and kept plugging away. After missing frees that would usually be straight forward for him alot of players would have dropped the head and been called ashore. He scored a couple of super points from play and a pressure free to level it.

It was a funny game in that shefflin was completely outhurled and beaten for nearly every 50/50 ball but managed to roam out that field and find himself on his own out on the sideline a couple of times for his points. Reids freetaking was impeccable.

I thought a few advantages that KK were given didnt work out and they ended up conceding a few frees after the play progressed that were scored. A big swing in a tight game.

Sam and Chris can be very proud of their team however. They certainly had Ballyhale rattled and were little bit unlucky.

[kingscounty]

If I was Offaly manager I would be starting Ger Healion full back in the league and see how he goes , I thought he was outstanding yesterday and all year and he is the main reason why KK are a solid unit at the back . Henry couldn't get going at all when he was on him and only picked off a few handy points when he was standing out by himself in extra time. The double save from Slevin in goals was top class , there has to be at least 7-8 KK on the Offaly panel this year without doubt .

[sam88885a]

kingscounty u dont understand offaly hurling .
kk are looked down on by some hurling people in offaly .
i heard one ex county player say last week that ballyhale would hammer kk because kk didnt have the hurlers and offaly would be in trouble till birr and rynaghs come back .
kk were brilliant yesterday g healion is a warrior but he picked up a nasty injury , he is 30 so it not easy to be back as u get older .
ballyhale were like kilkenny living on the line but the tackle on d kilmartain and on kiely were over the line in my opinion .
kiely got the handle of the hurl in the face imagine if kk did that to sheflin or reid .
it just not good enough.
kiely was targeted when he took over the frees
i would have g healion at full back and capt too but no kk guy will be captain , b carroll will get that job i think

[Plain of the Herbs]

Some rewriting of hurling history in the 'Kilkenny Peepel's' Leinster club final preview. Seems Young Irelands and not Birr won the 2002/03 Final. How about that, Townman? And Cloghan played no part in St Rynaghs' four wins - Banagher only. And Ballyhale beat Kilmacow in the Leinster semi-final. Not a cow milked in Kilmacud!
http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/sport/gael ... -1-6451725

[llkj]

In an interview with Midlands Sport after the game, Ger Helion said that he tore his calf, which happened him before too. Hopefully, it doesn't keep him out too long, but if Offaly are to use him at full back for the year, we would need him ready to go at the start of the league so that we can get a settled spine of the team. Too many times in recent years, we don't have a clue who is going to be playing in the key positions coming up to Championship, which leaves us with huge questions that we are unable to answer in the heat of battle.

Well done to KK yesterday. From their reaction after the game, it was pretty evident that this team are here to stay for several years to come. There was a sense of 'this will drive us on' rather than, 'we missed the boat'. Up to the other teams in Offaly now to step up and match them.

[Chris]

Absolutely gutted to have lost that match yesterday.....but KK can have no complaints.....it was just one of those days when the frees did not go over for Ciaran Slevin..... but Ciaran, and none of the other guys, owe us anything. Everybody talks about their physicality and often overlook their hurling ability. I thought, particularly Iin the last 20 minutes of normal the, KK were immense and deserved to win the game. However, one thing we have learned over the years is that if you don't put kilkenny teams away then they will come back and bite you.....and so it proved yesterday. However, every member of that group of lads can hold their head high and chest out.....they proved that they can hurl with the best(although we always knew that), they gave their all and came up just short, they have rresented their club, and their county, with distinction.....and are certainly not finished yet!!!!

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Where do I not give kk credit Sam? My first post complimented the effort and spirit of the team. I just said that in my opinion , and that's all, an opinion! Tj Reid owned the game, eg 1 Grogan blocks him down, he blocks down Grogan and whips the ball over the bar under thestand, eg 2 line ball, rrightin front of me, Shefflin has back to the ball, turns, Reid chips to hand gets return and lofts over the point. His frees were class and he worked his bollocks off all over the field. Kk players were incredible too and even a man like me from the football end feels their pain. Kk first touch let them down at times and apart from first 15 mins where Bhale missed 2-03, kk prob shaded the game in trrms of chances.
Can I just say though that certain players that many of you feel should be on the Offaly senior team continue to make basic errors under minimal pressure, this is what needs to change across the board in Offaly and Kk. Was chatting a neutral who said tbe firzt touch goes when speed is introduced with pressure. In football and hurling we need to focus on putting our young players in these game situtions as .uch as possible. Anyway off the point ,and Kk were a credit yesterday

[fifitrixiebelle]

ballyhale were like kilkenny living on the line but the tackle on d kilmartain and on kiely were over the line in my opinion .
kiely got the handle of the hurl in the face imagine if kk did that to sheflin or reid .
it just not good enough.
kiely was targeted when he took over the frees

a little ironic no? no set of refs have done as much for kilkennys playin 'on de edge' like biffo wans have. goes all de way back to brennan doin hickey & lucey in 07, also n hickey sledgin fitzgerald in de same match. yella cards for both. it went on....shoulder charges to de chest ignored etc. funny a topic here titled 'The issue of letting the game flow' when de biggest culprit for dat crap is a biffo ref but hes not mentioned, always praised by his buddy duignan of course. what he did to joe canning last year was a disgrace, pulling & dragging outa him & yer man givin him de 'advantage'.

now when a biffo team suffer from it 'it just not good enough'.....

[manfromdelmonte]

I often feel Kilkenny teams are refereed differently than other teams. They are let away with a lot of stuff, just because they are from Kilkenny.
It permeates refereeing standards when you have the likes of Cody bullying referees at national level and being let away with it.

Very similar to the All Blacks. Masters at the dark arts, but butter wouldn't melt...