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frankthetank wrote:James Young from Clonaslee?

LooseCannon wrote:I see that Clareen obliterated Caarrig and Riverstown by 22 points. I’m aware that Freeman isn’t around. How do they go from CRC being competitive in A competitions to being a struggling senior B team at adult level?
Surely Crinkill don’t have that many on the CRC teams. In saying that SK should be too strong for all the teams in senior B, but by 22 points, it seems a bit much.
Anyone care to explain the situation? I’m very much so in the dark on this.

Plain of the Herbs wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:44 pm Saturday will be one of the greatest days in Seir Kieran’s hurling story: contesting two adult finals. Think about that for a moment. A parish with fewer than 500 souls. It’s difficult enough for small clubs to have the numbers for a second team, the Clareen mens’ second team are in the Intermediate final. And they had a third team too!

Their Senior team have been around a long time. There are no real novices or newcomers, with the arguable exception of Pedair Murray. 11 of the 19 who featured in the semi-final win over Lusmagh were there for their last major title win – 2008’s U21 championship. And of the others, Eoin Coughlan is their established goalkeeper for almost a decade, Kevin Dunne is an Offaly Senior, Stephen Hynes a former Offaly Minor and U21, Pedair Murray has been taking the frees for their Intermediates for several years.

Twist it another way. Of the four of the 2008 U21s not involved, two are on the Intermediate side and the other two are away (as far as I can tell). Of course, the concern is that only four have broken onto the team in the last decade, and the 2014 Minors (Minor A finalists along with Drumcullen) haven’t been as productive.

So nobody too old, and nobody too young on the current team. Two of their men have scored more from play than Joseph Bergin over the course of their campaign. Not that they’re not reliant on the Offaly forward, he remains a ball winner and distributor, and a ‘9 out of 10 from frees’ man. The defence is solid – the full-back line of Dónal Coughlan, Christopher Connors and Brian Mulrooney still intact since 2008’s U21 win. Kevin Murray, Éanna Murphy and Seán Coughlan an inspiring half-back line. Further up there’s Dermot Mooney (a former Offaly Senior), two Hynes, James Mulrooney. Tom Carroll has been used in reserve in recent games.

Clodiagh Gaels are a much younger outfit. They have underage success behind them too, with none of the 2015 Minor winning team featuring in the semi-final win over Carrig. That was a game where they really only found their form with the second half well underway. No shortage of lively attackers who create space, run all day and turn up in the most unlikely of positions unmarked, Liam and Conor Langton have pace and movement to trouble Seir Kieran, while Joey Keenaghan was an Offaly U20 this year with Seán Beatty, Cathal Brady and Aaron Flanagan also on that Offaly panel

In reality, Seir Kieran really belong in Senior A anyway, and could well have been in the Senior A semi-final to weeks ago. They are arguably better than half of the Senior A teams too. The Clareen men have scored on average 7 points more per game than Clodiagh Gaels have, while conceding on average one point less. And time of year will suit Seir Kieran’s ‘stand and move it on’ style as opposed to the Killeigh-Killurin side’s lively all-action way. The Stripy men enjoyed a big win when they met in the group stage, also at Saturday’s venue. They won’t win by that amount again, but will have enough in the tank score a decisive win.