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When does intermediate and senior b begin?

private joker wrote:When does intermediate and senior b begin?

Same as senior a. (Weekend)
Rynaghs, KK, etc will have matches on 2 different days I’d imagine.
I’ll send you the fixtures plan if you want.
PM me.

It will be interesting to see if the fixture personnel stick to the plan. Obviously there will be unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances ( weather, deaths, etc) but the plan should be seen out until at least June.

Looks like county footballers released to clubs for round 1 & 2 of the league and hurlers for 1 and 4 with an if behind.. What is the if for? Is it if they are not in the league semi final because it looks like that is fixed for the same weekend?

I believe Seir Kieran have appointed a Carroll man from Tipperary, not sure of other details

I have a sneaking fancy for Belmont this year. Their graph is definitely on an upward curve.

Last year they were comfortably better than Kinnitty in the Quarter - Final and should have won by more only for some wayward free taking while the belt given to Oisin Kelly undoubtedly affected his performance in the semi-final. He will be another year older this year. An added bonus for them is the size of their team so they are well set to match K/K and St Rynagh's in this facet of the game.

An argument against them would be the format of the two senior championships but with some give and take by both the senior hurling and senior football managements they could cope in this regard. Let's not forget every match is far from a must win game and both teams would progress with 3 wins out of 7 from their groups. This gives ample room for rotation and rest of players.

Nothing more than a hunch but they are definitely live contenders.

I agree Frank.. I think we are contenders but (always a but) 14 championship and 14 league games is a lot for a small enough squad.. Last year 12 lads started both a hurling and football and I think this is too many. We dont have a population or pick great enough to minimise these numbers. Having the extra lads with the county teams will help this year but injuries will be the key. I'm sure the club has discussed this for both hurling and football but if Oisin Kelly got hurt would wouldn't be as strong, now if Oisin and Colin both injured it makes us a lot weaker.. Where KK Rynaghs etc could cope better with this situation.

I would hope for at least a semi final in the hurling. My prediction would be KK Rynaghs Belmot and Shinrone... Coolderry and Kinitty fighting relegation..

The footballers have the best chance.. semi final miniminal along with Rhode Edenderry and Tullamore.. with Rhode the biggest challenge..

is it 4 team to semi's or 2 to semi's and 4 team to quarters?

My understanding is that top 2 go to semi finals with teams 3-6 going to quarter finals.
I predict Rynaghs, KK, Birr and Clareen for semi finals with kinnitty and coolderry battling relegation.

Don't see the love for Birr myself.

In the 2017 championship they didn't beat any other team in the Top 8.

I wouldn't rule out a relegation final between themselves and Coolderry. That would be pretty amazing.

Let's call a spade a spade other than last year when Kinnity beat Birr who had half a team in the first round. The only other teams who have had the upper hand on birr in recent times are Kilkormac and St.Rynaghs and saying that Birr should of beat St.Rynaghs last year.
2 years ago Birr beat Belmont well in the quarter final and Kinnitty in the semi well also.
Clareen Coolderry and Birr are ahead of Shinrone Belmont and Kinnity...The bottom 3 still have a lot to prove over a wider scale of matches there is little or no room for hiding this year.
I think Belmont and possibly Kinnity will face relegation.

2016 SHC: Kinnitty 3-19 Coolderry 3-07
2017 SHC: Kinnitty 1-17 Coolderry 0-16

Doesn’t strike me as Coolderry are ahead of Kinnitty. In fact if you take the last 2 years quarter-final matches (same 8 teams) I think Coolderry have the most negative aggregate losing score. I could possibly be mistaken on this as I’m going off the top of my head but I dont think I am.

On what basis do you put Birr into that mix....?
Results were bad last year but performances were very encouraging bar the Kilkormac one in tullamore under there new manager.

Just to clarify my earlier comment here's the points differential for each team from the last 2 year's quarter-finals.

St Rynagh's +11
Kilcormac / Killoughey +9
Birr +6
Seir Kieran +1
Kinnitty -1
Belmont -4
Shinrone -10
Coolderry -12

That would put birr in a different light...good work

Killeighman wrote:Arien Delaney is a bit of a slippery fish to get, a few teams around the county were in talks with him, from what I hear he left Clareen high and dry

Hardly a great reputation to have?