Senior A Hurling 2019

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.

Senior A County Champions 2019

St. Rynaghs
9
29%
Coolderry
4
13%
KK
4
13%
Kinnitty
0
No votes
Belmont
4
13%
Ballinamere/Durrow
1
3%
Shinrone
0
No votes
Birr
9
29%
 
Total votes: 31

kaiserchief
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by kaiserchief »

Liam2020 wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2019 11:49 pm Two enjoyable game in ocp today, birr got a great start but I think St rynagh bench was the difference, horan and Quirke make a huge impact, Ben connelly was massive when the battle was at its peak as was Sean Dolan,I thought birr could have got a free late on but St rynagh experience got the job done for me.
Ken hogan has them playing more direct, he has titles with a number of different clubs in different counties. Can anyone tell how many clubs he won titles with as manager?
Kk are minor champions again. I think that's 5 in 9 years, 2 in a row, birr were favourites and can be proud but kk finished like champions. From what I see at underage kk seem way ahead of everyone else.
Looking forward to 2020 already with clareen back in the a, shinrone and Belmont will fancy their chance also,birr have made great strides this year and can St rynagh do 2 in a row?
Great crowd and two enjoyable games , best of luck to St rynagh in the leinster club.
and hopefully a good year with Fennelley in charge. The strat of good things to come.

private joker
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by private joker »

Ken Hogan has been win counties with, Birr, coolderry, Rynaghs, borris kikcotton.

shannonbanks14
County player
Posts: 120
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 10:15 am

Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by shannonbanks14 »

Hard on da heart stuff, more wrecked than excited as Rynas were poor for long periods especially first half. Seemed nervous, fear of cocking up again probably at heart of it. Fair play Birr and Barry Whelehan did a great job with them. Ryan, Mullins, Cleary, Hayden great servants. Rynas down Horan now for Leinster campaign to add to all others gone or injured makes it tough ask, never saw them havin to bring back on same lads before. Anyway we'll take yest and proud to win our county title, Prob not as strong a team potentially as few yrs ago but no championship easy won so fair play.

Fairplayalways
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Fairplayalways »

unfortunately, I couldnt make the final after being at most games all year, just one of these things, listened to it on Radio 3, good commentary considering they had the Laois and Westmeath finals to cover too, Brian Whelehan lost the plot on the panel and the language of him, while acknowleging his obvious association with Birr and his brother Barry being manager, was little short of scandalous, I hear of show producers, but he should have been pulled off at one stage in particular, the station apologizing for comments made off mic is not good enough, he was ffing and blinding all over the place, very unprofessional of the station to allow it continue. Some people of social media thought it was "funny".....back to the match, from what I heard of it, Birr were a bit like Belmont v Rynaghs in semi final, they were the best team for long parts, but when Rynaghs put them to the test, they couldnt figure out how to take the final step over the line and win, be it pulling back a up front player to help out in defence or going all ou to win it, but given Birr were 7 points up they shouldnt have to think of such a scenario, I recall the same happening Rynaghs agains Kilcormac some years back, they led 0-11 to 0-06 or so, and instead of stayin hurling the tried to close out the match defensively and Kilcormac ploughed away, point after point and won by a point I think after, referee may have made a poor call or 2 but look, I am sure the Midland Tribune will tell us over all the ref had a good game and both sides will over the hour feel they should have got frees here and there, but its the ones near the end everyone remembers, especially if you loose. it was a great win for Rynaghs, make no mistake about that, Birr, will learn from that loss, make no mistake about it. Rynaghs may be short in really top class players but you have to give them the heart the fought with yesterday, I am thinking Ben Conneely and Sean Dolan when the game was there to be won...Hard to see Rynaghs impacting on Leinster, the teams on TG4 most Sundays seem to have 2/3 very good scoring forwards, Rynaghs normally dont have them, they may start Quirke in forwards from what I see..

Toxicity234
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Toxicity234 »

Well Done To St. Rynaghs
They we're great to watch on Sunday.
No mad overdoing of short passing. Played the game as they saw it.
And Birr were excellent as well.
I really enjoyed the game.

I think Rynaghs can have a good run if they get over the next day.
“Common sense is not so common.”

private joker
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Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:09 pm

Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by private joker »

If rynaghs beat "edit" rathdowney then that be end of it. cuala will beat them up and down the road if they get to meet.
Last edited by private joker on Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ah Ref
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Ah Ref »

Rynaghs play Rathdowney :roll: They will struggle with that but hopefully they give it a good shot, it's in portlaoise sunday week at 1.30pm . Hopefully a good Offaly crowd support them

Fairplayalways
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Fairplayalways »

private joker wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:22 pm If rynaghs beat "edit" rathdowney then that be end of it. cuala will beat them up and down the road if they get to meet.
would Birr/Belmont/Coolderry/Kilcormac/Shinrone meet a similar fate in your view??..Rynaghs may not have a platter of forwards to get scores but they have the best defence in the county and know how to win at least inside the county...I personally dont think they will go too far either but they are county champions...if they get beat up and down roads thereafter is another matter...

kaiserchief
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Club: town

Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by kaiserchief »

you would wonder if they are focused on going far in leinster or happy to just get over the line winning the county championship.

I'd say there is an attitude of giver it a rattle versus the fact of lets go win this.

Fairplayalways
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Fairplayalways »

kaiserchief wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:35 am you would wonder if they are focused on going far in leinster or happy to just get over the line winning the county championship.

I'd say there is an attitude of giver it a rattle versus the fact of lets go win this.
Rynaghs will know they are not a top class outfit, if any other club in Offaly think that they would do better, the starting position is to win your county final, there are other club teams on our tg4 every Sunday and they are almost as good as county sides (be it playing teams within their own county I might add) how these teams fair against teams from other counties is the benchmark then, Thurles Sarsfields a few years ago were such a team, very very impressive upto All Ireland semi final, and wasnt it Kilcormac beat them after, and Kilcormac, with out Dan Currams looked very very average in the All Ireland defeat to St. THomas after, Ballyhea last year looked invincible upto a point a came a cropper also..Rynaghs know they may not have the artillery to launch such an assault, all they can do is go out and play whats before them, its worth remembering Laois and Westmeath and Kerry beat Offaly in championship in 2019 so thats the level hurling in this county is operating from at the moment, while it would be brilliant to see its hard to see any side come out of offaly and beat the likes of Ballyhale or Cuala at the moment, so "going out to go as far as they can" is what they will do, but it will not be for the want of trying, if that is not good enough, so be it...

kaiserchief
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Posts: 442
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by kaiserchief »

might start a discussion thats not needed but I don't think this rynaghs team is better than that kk team of 2012.That team did 3 a row (2012 to 14) very convincingly. Won leinster in 2012, beaten in semi final by 4 points in 2013 and lost final to ballyhale in 2014 by 4 points also. and have since won a county title in 2017 with majority of the same team and reached a leinster club final.

in 2016 oulart beat rynaghs by 10 points. they where still celebrating the county final and i'm thinking is this going to be the same. Rathdowney will be no push overs and just wondering if Rynaghs are really going for it.

Michael Fennelley would also before to see his players early in the winter. Assume he will ask numeros lads from Rynaghs in.
Conor Clancy, Dermot Shortt; Matthew Maloney, Ben Conneely, Aidan Treacy; Ronan Hughes, Sean Dolan, Aaron Kenny will surely be on his xmas list.
Hopefully he could convinve stephen quirke back in also.

shannonbanks14
County player
Posts: 120
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 10:15 am

Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by shannonbanks14 »

Rynaghs will know they are not a top class outfit, if any other club in Offaly think that they would do better, the starting position is to win your county final, there are other club teams on our tg4 every Sunday and they are almost as good as county sides (be it playing teams within their own county I might add) how these teams fair against teams from other counties is the benchmark then, Thurles Sarsfields a few years ago were such a team, very very impressive upto All Ireland semi final, and wasnt it Kilcormac beat them after, and Kilcormac, with out Dan Currams looked very very average in the All Ireland defeat to St. THomas after, Ballyhea last year looked invincible upto a point a came a cropper also..Rynaghs know they may not have the artillery to launch such an assault, all they can do is go out and play whats before them, its worth remembering Laois and Westmeath and Kerry beat Offaly in championship in 2019 so thats the level hurling in this county is operating from at the moment, while it would be brilliant to see its hard to see any side come out of offaly and beat the likes of Ballyhale or Cuala at the moment, so "going out to go as far as they can" is what they will do, but it will not be for the want of trying, if that is not good enough, so be it...
[/quote]

I would agree with you. Bottom line is Rynaghs are county champions and thats the end of the story, and you could say they won it not playing well. They probably aren't good enough to beat a Cuala or Ballyhale, but they have the earned the right to represent Offaly. Theres two clubs in the Tipp Co Final and any of the top 4 in Offaly would give them a right game. Rynaghs achilles heel going into Leinster is being down some good experienced players like Maloney, Wynne, Camon and now Horan which could be their downfall but hopefully they'll give it their best regardless.

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Lone Shark
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by Lone Shark »

More than a bit harsh to judge Rynaghs by the standards of Cuala or Ballyhale right now. They set out to be the best team in Offaly this year, they had to do it while missing a couple of very important players in the big games, and they did it. There were stages against Belmont and Birr - particularly against Birr - when they hung on in a game where they were second best, they kept patience, they didn't start looking for goals too early, and they found ways to work themselves into the match.

In an odd way, this is where the absence of a "star" forward might have suited them. A lot of clubs, when in trouble, look for their star man to bail them out. If that man is not having a good day, they're goosed. Rynagh's don't do that, they keep using the full field, picking the right options, and trusting that whoever gets on the ball will do the right thing and do it accurately.

My heart goes out to Birr, particularly lads like Cleary, Ryan, Mullins, Harding, fellas that didn't put a foot wrong on Sunday and yet they might not get the chance to play in another senior final after this. They did a lot right, and if they had just pushed forward in the latter stages and tried to keep the pressure on up front, I think they would have got a different outcome. Human nature will lead you to protect what you have, but I think in this regard, I think the decision to swap out Hayden for Verney was an odd one. I know Verney played up front and he'd offer a bit of a physical presence and a bit of cuteness when you're trying to win a ball, but their half backs were still on top, and they just needed a score. Someone like Rory Carty might have been a better option, and maybe bring Verney on in the middle instead. Moreover, it would have sent a positive signal, rather than very obviously sending for reinforcements.

Overall however, I think it's fair to say St. Rynagh's were the best team in Offaly this year, and while it was another heartbreaking year from a Belmont (and thus my!) point of view, the team that has the Sean Robbins cup right now deserves to have it.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

greenairfield
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Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 12:20 pm
Club: birr

Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by greenairfield »

As defeats go thats the sickest I have ever suffered as Birr supporter.
I am not sure what to say ...I dont agree LS that they sat back I think think Banagher went up another level for the last 15 and Birr didnt have enough in reserve to match them, we couldnt win ball around the middle third.

Talk around Birr the last few days are the ref was poor and gave Birr noting.....now I dont want to go down the root of the the blame game but just wondering what your thoughts are on it?

Did Connelley pick the ball off the ground ?
Did Morgan Watkins get pulled back by the helmet in the last few seconds.?

frankthetank
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Re: Senior A Hurling 2019

Post by frankthetank »

Fairplayalways wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:57 am
kaiserchief wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:35 am you would wonder if they are focused on going far in leinster or happy to just get over the line winning the county championship.

I'd say there is an attitude of giver it a rattle versus the fact of lets go win this.
Rynaghs will know they are not a top class outfit, if any other club in Offaly think that they would do better, the starting position is to win your county final, there are other club teams on our tg4 every Sunday and they are almost as good as county sides (be it playing teams within their own county I might add) how these teams fair against teams from other counties is the benchmark then, Thurles Sarsfields a few years ago were such a team, very very impressive upto All Ireland semi final, and wasnt it Kilcormac beat them after, and Kilcormac, with out Dan Currams looked very very average in the All Ireland defeat to St. THomas after, Ballyhea last year looked invincible upto a point a came a cropper also..Rynaghs know they may not have the artillery to launch such an assault, all they can do is go out and play whats before them, its worth remembering Laois and Westmeath and Kerry beat Offaly in championship in 2019 so thats the level hurling in this county is operating from at the moment, while it would be brilliant to see its hard to see any side come out of offaly and beat the likes of Ballyhale or Cuala at the moment, so "going out to go as far as they can" is what they will do, but it will not be for the want of trying, if that is not good enough, so be it...
Fake News Alert:

1. Ballyhea are a senior hurling club in Cork who haven't won a county senior championship in 123 years so I presume you mean the Clare club Ballyea which brings me onto

2. Looked invincible last year?? They lost their first match in the Munster Club Championship to Ballygunner!!

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