Senior A and B Hurling Championships 2020

[jimbob17]

Two even enough groups in the senior hurling this year.

Hard to see much between Birr Coolderry and Clareen. Would expect KK to advance but could be beaten by either of 3 others in group. I expect Clareen to be bit stronger than people expect after great run last year. Will have done wonders for morale and they will be going hard and expect them to win at least 1 game.

In other group, consensus probable that Rynaghs advance with either Belmont or Shinrone with Ballinamere bottom but may not work out that way. Couple of question to answer really. Shinrone have hurlers to top group and possibly win a championship but questions remain like previous years over their temperament. Biggest question is if they have the bottle and work-rate when it matters.

Rynaghs probably outright favourites which is dangerous tag. Have they moved on or added to group. Only scraped the championship last year and were beaten by Shinrone in early stages. Getting older, same team in effect for last 5 years. Questions still remain over them. Have not fulfilled potential for talent as group that they have had imo.....

Belmont - should have won at least one semi final in last 3 years. They are very close to top and have big physical players with no little skill. Football could hold them back a little - I see it between themselves and Shinrone to qualify with Rynaghs.

Ballinamere - better than people give them credit for. Will become contenders if they keep producing underage talent but this year is a few too soon. Will be competitive and could edge a win but dont see them getting two and may be compromised a touch with their Football team "Durrow" going very well at present......strong young payers in Burke Duignan and Ravenhill - all of whom I would rate highly, but they have experience too in Paddy Murphy, Magner and Gerry Spollen with Chris McDonnell joining from Brosna Gaels to make them quite strong defensively. If they have a flaw, it will be too much reliance on 2 or 3 forwards and lack of depth in that area. With it moving to 10 at senior next year, I think they can stay there next 2 or 3 years and could really become strong and become real title contenders in 3 or 4 years time when these young talented players mature.

All told, here is my prediction.
Group Toppers: KK and Rynaghs
2nd place: Birr and Shinrone / Belmont is 50/50.
Favourites for title: Rynaghs
Dark horses: Belmont.

All set up to be really brilliant championship and I would love to see format remain with 2 groups of 5 next year. Top 1 to semi. 2 and 3 to quarter. 4 stays in limbo with 5th in each group to relegation final.

[frankthetank]

Group 1
Coolderry vs Clareen is an absolutely massive game in the first round. The winners go onto face the 2 group favourites with the wind at their sails while it's likely the loser's year is one and done. Coolderry barely avoided a relegation final last year due to an uninspiring win over a mess of a Kinnitty team in Rath and then were blown out of the water by Belmont in the Quarter-Final showing really how far they were off the top teams. Clareen while playing at a lower lever played 9 championship matches last year and won them by an average of just under 11 points a game. Has to be good for confidence.

Birr seem to be lacking the class forward line to become a serious force but they might have enough to win a county championship. After their early burst in last year's county final they found it difficult to keep the score board ticking over and Rynaghs scored 9 of the final 10 points to nick it.

And I have a funny feeling the Kilcormac / Killoughey run of success is coming to an end. Just not convinced anymore.

For me it's a 3 horse race for the top 2 places and I'm going to go with

1. Birr
2. Clareen

In Group 2 the big question mark is over Shinrone. They got absolutely slated after last year's Q-Final vs Birr (18 wides) but if you strip it back they were on top in so many areas and should have won the game. But this is the same crack every year. You can't lose 12 or 13 Q-Finals in the space of 14 years on hurling ability alone. Undoubtedly there is a mental fragility about them. I keep going back to it but there has to be mental scarring still there from the 2016 Q-Final. The group stages in the last couple of years suited them down to the ground as they was no pressure so they knocked off big teams but with this year's format all games are massive and this probably won't suit them. Talent is not a question, it's all the other factors that are the problem.

Going on form it's a toss up between Banagher and Belmont for top spot. For me it's

1. St Rynaghs
2. Belmont

However I feel both these teams will win their respective semi-finals and meet again in the final.


For the Senior B the winner will come from Kinnitty, Clodaigh Gaels or Lusmagh.

[Liam2020]

With the Covid-19, there will be guys around playing club hurling that would outwise have gone traveling. Look at the impact d horan made for St Rynagh last year. I hear both Dan currams and James Gorman are back home for kk. Not sure whether that true but kk will have Tom Spain who transferred this year and the have some talented minors from the last 2 years, indeed didn't they win minor u 21 and senior titles in 2015,where have those guys gone.
Most of that kk team have played in 6 final, won 4 in the last 10 years so the need new blood but cosidering the have won numberous minors in that time, there must be talent there.
Kk expect to reach the u 13 u 15 minor and senior final every year whereas other clubs dream getting there once.
Birr St Rynagh and cooderry also expect to be in the semi every year also.

[jimbob17]

With the Covid-19, there will be guys around playing club hurling that would outwise have gone traveling. Look at the impact d horan made for St Rynagh last year. I hear both Dan currams and James Gorman are back home for kk. Not sure whether that true but kk will have Tom Spain who transferred this year and the have some talented minors from the last 2 years, indeed didn't they win minor u 21 and senior titles in 2015,where have those guys gone.
Most of that kk team have played in 6 final, won 4 in the last 10 years so the need new blood but cosidering the have won numberous minors in that time, there must be talent there.
Kk expect to reach the u 13 u 15 minor and senior final every year whereas other clubs dream getting there once.
Birr St Rynagh and cooderry also expect to be in the semi every year also.

Sure why wouldnt they. They are a huge area - by a long distance the biggest catchment area in hurling in county.You can drive all the way from Mucklagh to Birr and a couple of miles left and right of road is KK. There is something wrong if they are not. They were once 2 if not 3 clubs and have a good few primary schools contributing to their catchment.

Addition of Spain is huge for them imo. Can play anywhere (forwards or backs) and with likes of Geraghtys, Mahon, Kilmartin and Kiely, experience from last few years and good young lads coming through, there is absolutely no reason they are going away any time soon. Healions may be a loss but there are some class young players coming through to replace them and for me, they should definitely make a semi this year.... and every year for next few years if managed right.

[frankthetank]

7 primary schools in Kilcormac / Killoughey is some advantage in a hurling context - Kilcormac, Ballyboy, Broughal, Gortnamona, Lumcloon, Coolanarney, Mountbolus.

In context them clubs around them have:
Drumcullen 1
Clareen 1
Coolderry 1
Kinnitty 2
Shamrocks 2

[Claffey]

The advantage for bigger clubs is obviously correct, but because number of pupils is probably more important than number of schools, I put this together from Dept of Education stats. I think Lumcloon is in Cloghan parish so included in St Rynaghs.

NUMBER OF PUPILS:
Clareen 58
Drumculllen 119
Kinnitty 130
KK 367
St Rynaghs 384
Shamrocks 478

[frankthetank]

Is Cloghan a separate parish to Banagher?

[Claffey]

I think its the one parish. Should have said 'Cloghan and Banagher parish
'

[Lone Shark]

Lumcloon itself would be in Rynagh's territory, but I'd be stunned if there wasn't a decent proportion of the children in the school who come in from Kilcormac parish. It's not a massive school or anything, but it wouldn't be as simple as just putting all the pupils into the Rynaghs bracket. Likewise, Coolanarney and Gortnamona would probably have a few Shamrocks children, though I wouldn't be quite as au fait with the parish boundary around there.

[Fairplayalways]

Excellent post re hurling, I will go with Rynaghs and Shinrone to come out of their group, Belmont will be 50/50 with Shinrone, one of the latter could beat Rynaghs if they click on any given day, Shinrone would have a greater spread of scorers to do that on the given day, but the thing is can they. Shinrone went out with a whimper after last year, once they fell behind to Birr you just couldnt see them regaining momentum etc. From a neutral point of view I hope they have learned from that. Rynaghs and Shinrone and not necessarily in that order as Belmont or Shinrone could beat Rynaghs and still not come out of group depending on their own head to head. I know I havent said much about Ballinamere, they have some excellent young hurlers and it will be interesting to see how they go again this year, will they have come on abit from last year etc..they will be involved in great games but how many of them can they win will be the obvious critical part..

Other Group, Kilcormac I think will still be up there this year, If Cillian Kiely produces the hurling is is so capable of they wont be far off, in fairness to the chap, if he ignores the off the ball stuff and referess deal with the niggly stuff early on and not let things go, he can be a match winner. Birr/Coolderry/Clareen, now where does one start here, Coolderry appear to have regressed and are in transition as such, not to say they have popped up before and compounded the critics. Interesting to see how their younge players do this year, a year on will they be starters now etc. Clareen will battle with anyone, will probably beat one or two teams along the way they wont be expected to beat, and if they do, anything is possible. I dont know why, but Birr for me are a team to be wary of this year, people will say what am I basing that on, and to be honest I dont know realistically, but they seem to dig out a few hurlers every few years to keep the thing going to be able to reach semi-finals and finals etc., might be short an out and out scoring forward might be their dilema when it comes to the winning of big matches...I just have a hunch they might be a bit more advanced this year...

Finally, I know its great to see Ballinamere etc. up in Senior, equally isnt it sad to see Kinnity and other great clubs now in Senior B, just saying the way fortunes swing over the years...

Summary:
2020 - Rynaghs and Shinrone from one group
Birr and Kilcormac from the other
Winners: Birr (just have a hunch they will want it a bit more this year after being so close last year)
Dark horse- Shinrone

[Smallball-1]

I have to agree with the above , shinrone and rynaghs to come out of their group and birr and Kk to come out of the other group. Shinrone have great scoring ability it’s trying to get it on the scoreboard on the big days is their problem , they do have the hurlers to do the scoring killian Sampson conor doughan ,Jason Sampson ,Dan doughan, sean Cleary have all got their name on scoresheets a lot recently , you’d be hoping that then boys being in with county will make some difference this year. you’d be hoping they kick on and make something of it this year. But have they the bottle? I think KK will be a different breed this year and will fight everything. Will be interesting to see where Cillian and Cathal kiely line out too. Hard to know what way championship will go this year but I would love to see different teams in the final , have a change.
I’m going with a birr and banagher final again but any team will have a say really. Well see how this lockdown has affected each team I guess

[frankthetank]

I genuinely can't see where all this faith in Shinrone is coming from. Like, they will have to beat St Rynagh's or Belmont in a de facto knockout game to make semi-finals. You know the same St Rynagh's team that are current county champions and the current Belmont team who have qualified for the last 3 semi finals in row losing two of them by a point and the other by 2 points.

[Fairplayalways]

Is Cloghan a separate parish to Banagher?

it is, St. Rynaghs football is the Cloghan end of the parish, former players Martin Hanamy, Paudie Mulhare, and currently Sean Dolan are all Cloghan, Joe O'Connor is another...hope I have left out no one...

[Fairplayalways]

I genuinely can't see where all this faith in Shinrone is coming from. Like, they will have to beat St Rynagh's or Belmont in a de facto knockout game to make semi-finals. You know the same St Rynagh's team that are current county champions and the current Belmont team who have qualified for the last 3 semi finals in row losing two of them by a point and the other by 2 points.

I suppose we are looking at Shinrone shooting all those wides against Birr, and Birr got to the final after and lost narrowly, one would assume IF Shinrone can tidy up their shooting (look they wont get all 18 wides shot against Birr on a score board - but lets say if they got/get half of them which would be 9 points) they will trouble any of the established top teams be it in group or knock out..one good win and they could click...I hear and can see where your doubts are comming from, but I suppose one could say Belmont have been caught at the bottlekneck of crunch games too, getting over the line can be fine margins and defining for some teams..taking it to a intercounty level one has to look at Waterford over the last 12 years, beating Cork and Tipp in Munster, but then comming up just short when playing the same opposition or Kilkenny in the knockout stages..if you dont make the break through fairly quickly its very easy ot regress...Ciaran Carey told Declan Hannon the night before Limerick beat Galway in 2018 AI final, dont mind this talk of enjoying the day and great to be there and not end of world if you dont win, its the first in so many years etc..treat this final as if its the only one you will ever be in etc...Carey told him when you loose one, the fear and doubts are implanted in the mind, and are never far away in future games where the margins are tight...you have to learn to win and learn it as quick as you can etc..

[chimbonda]

I genuinely can't see where all this faith in Shinrone is coming from. Like, they will have to beat St Rynagh's or Belmont in a de facto knockout game to make semi-finals. You know the same St Rynagh's team that are current county champions and the current Belmont team who have qualified for the last 3 semi finals in row losing two of them by a point and the other by 2 points.

I agree 100% - cannot see Shinrone beating either Rynaghs or Belmont and I believe their match with Ballinamere this weekend will actually be closer than some people suspect.