Senior A and B Hurling Championships 2020

[Fairplayalways]

interesting to see how Ballinamere do this year...I wonder will the crunched format (as such) throw up any surprises when the final tables are completed...

[frankthetank]

I think Ballinamere will give a good account of themselves vs Shinrone but I can't see them winning it.

[chimbonda]

Predications for weekend:

Birr v KK
Rumours are that Birr have being performing well in recent challenge matches. KK will be looking for revenge following last years semi final defeat. I fancy Birr to win by 3 points
Birr 1-17 KK 1-14

Shinrone v Ballinamere
Ballinameres young team will be a year older and last years experience will stand to them. I expect them to perform well and give Shinrone a tough game. This is an important year for Shinrone as the majority of their team are now in the mid to late 20s - can no longer be regarded as a young team and need to make a breakthrough this year. Should have enough to hold off Ballinamere.
Shinrone 3-17 Ballinamere 1-19

Coolderry v Clareen
A local derby so expecting a ferocious battle and would not be surprised to see a few red cards. Coolderry may just tip it as it might take Clareen a bit of time to get back up to speed with Senior A hurling.
Coolderry 2-14 Clareen 2-12

St Rynaghs v Belmont
A massive game. Whoever loses will be under big pressure going into their next 2 games. I am actually expecting a slight upset in this game and expect Belmont to win by 2 points
St Rynaghs 0-17 Belmont 1-16

[Fairplayalways]

great to be back (be it not perfect) discussing the games in a somewhat propper manner...here are may predictions for this weekend:
Birr V KK...I think Birr will hit the ground running, especially after loosing last years co. FInal..have they un earthed another scoring forward, Tom Bolger has opted out...KK have alot of new talent coming through, but will they be on the team this year..Ime going for Birr 1-16 Kilcormac/Killoughey 1-14

Shinrone V Ballinamere...like we said for the last 4 or 5 years, this is a BIG year for Shinrone...a capable scoring team, beat themselves with wides against Birr last year..that happens most teams at some stage, can they kick on now and just pick up where they left off, as they were a very decent team last year upto the Birr game and were dark horses...Ballinamere..survived relegation..a year on..have some excellent talent, might be a tad early for them to be a real force, but they can trouble most teams..However, I am going for Shinrone to win..Shinrone 1-18 Ballinamere 2-12

Coolderry V Seir Kieran...Coolderry one would think are in decline, and thats when they have often sprung from nowhere to win a county final..they have a few younger players but didnt feature too much last year..are they first teamers this year, if not Coolderry will tick over but may not advance too far..Clareen, won B last year and got a good run in Leinster..have some good young and not so young talent, they will be hungry and could get off to a winning start here..really hard to call, but I will go for Clareen....Seir Kieran 1-17...Coolderry 2-12

St. Rynaghs V Belmont...people will say Belmont will win this, and the could and shoud probably...as many know they have a bit of the "Shinrone" about them but probably will claim to be more of a traditional team (no disrespect whatsoever meant to Shinrone)...Belmont are probanly closer to getting over the line though in ways, but being so close, NOT getting over it when your expected to can dent confidence and set doubts in the mind. Belmont without question have some excellent hurlers, have they one or two players though to pull them over the line in a tight knockout game?..not so far...Rynaghs have the same panel more or less for the last number of years and is abit jaded looking on paper at least...they are champions and do know how to get over the line though, with what I think is a limited numer of scoring forwards...Belmont will be looking to lay down a marker for the rest of the championship, and being first round they might..Ime going to go with Rynaghs though as I just think they will figure Belmont out (again)..St. Rynaghs 0-20 Belmont 1-15..

[Tmacmahon]

Birr V KK...Birr by 5

Shinrone V Ballinamere... shinrone by 7

Coolderry V Seir Kieran...Coolderry by 6

St. Rynaghs V Belmont...draw

[Toxicity234]

It's my 1st year work in Offaly in 23 Years and i can't even go to the matches.


Birr V KK... KK by 4

Shinrone V Ballinamere... shinrone by 10

Coolderry V Seir Kieran...Draw

St. Rynaghs V Belmont... Belmont by a nose.



Birr are on an upward curve. they were close last year.
I think KK Will be mental in a lot better place this year. i think the running game enforced on them 2 years ago mental destroyed then last year.
Body and minds should be better this year.

Shinrone. I honestly don't know. they have the hurlers. To me they always look like a team that hurl and run themselves to death on the training field. They want it so bad - that they don't take the time to recover after training. So No training may be good.

Ballinamere - Beating Kinnitty last year shows that they are building to becoming a solid Senior A team.

Coolderry will be think a short Championship might suit them and they have some warriors in the Room.
Kieran - I have a feeling that this year might be different for Clareen. I have a feel that they might be a bit more humble after last year and that could make a big difference. Bergin been away for the county we could finally see the best of him.

Ryanghs - Defending Champion - were excellent most of last year but from a Ryanghs club Point of View. I hope we see then add 3 or 4 new starters or future starters come into the team this year.

Belmont - It's time to stand up and deliver for this team. I like the personal, The style of hurling and attitude. Short Championship but Football game every other week. I don't know. You could argue that it both good and bad.

It's very odd that i may not get to a game this year but Safety First.

To the Official, Player, Back Room team and everyone setting foot on the ground today tomorrow and over the next 2 months best of luck to you all and just cause we can't be there in person doesn't mean we re not there in spirit.

[Toxicity234]

I think there a link to the Games.

https://www.247.tv/gaa/

[joe bloggs]

Well done to the lads bringing us the stream of the game.
It was great to have a game to sit down and watch this evening.

KK can be very happy with the way they pulled through in the end.

Birr had a strong start, but seem to be over reliant on Eoin Cahill scoring from placed balls.
Once KK cut out the fouling Birr began to struggle to keep the scoreboard ticking over and in the end would have lost by more that 3 points but for some super goalkeeping from Brian Mullins (who now is playing senior hurling for almost 1/4 of a century! Well done Brian)

KK had gone with youth this evening, but the bit of experience they had coming in from the bench was vital, something Birr cant really call on.

KK are now well set up to progress in the championship, for Birr it's most likely knock out hurling all the way from here.

[frankthetank]

Just like last year's county final the scores dried up for Birr as the game progressed tonight. Against Rynagh's last year they conceded 10 of the last 11 and tonight Kilcromac / Killoughey reeled off 12 of the last 15. Ciaran Slevin and Ger Healion off the bench were huge helps by all accounts. Birr are going to have to try and rejig the forward line I'd say.

Ballinamere will be kicking themselves tonight- 4 points up in injury time and they needed a point to sneak a draw in the end!! On a poor night for hurling you would have to wonder about the two sets of back lines with the scorelines that were conceded.

[greenairfield]

It was a killer to see Birr fade like that again.
The forward line have no natural ball winner which is an issue dont think the tight pitch suited them against a physical team but still should of had KK out of site.

Birr were in control of the game up to 15 mins to go and then got into a dog fight which they were never going to win.

Knock our hurling from here on in for Birr improvement needed in the forwards.

[Hasselhoff]

Anyone at coolderry vs Clareen

[Fairplayalways]

Coolderry won by 1-16 to 0-18, know nothing about the game but sounded like a good game..

[Fairplayalways]

Birr V Kilormac/K ...I went for Birr by 2, they lost by 3...that said Brian Mullins made 3 saves that you wont see better in the rest of the championship. People will say 2 were straight at him, but you still have to stop them and his reflexes show they were all 3 excellent saves, the last one was truly exceptional...this was a game Birr had a strangle hold of but faded woefully the nearer the end of the game came..you could only see one winner..Birr just dont have a go to man outside Eoghan Cahill, the return from rest of the forwards just is not enough...credit to KK for hanging in there, bringing on Healion and I think it was Ciaran Slevin seemed to swing the whole thing...I thought Cillian Kiely was quiet by his standards but did contribute in no small way to good win for KK..

Belmont V Rynaghs...I went for Rynaghs in this one by 3 and they won by 2..I predicted 0-20 to 1-15 and it ended up 0-20 to 1-14..Belmont will claim to have lost this game with missed frees and a few frees going against them, but I watched this game live, and Belmont were out of this game for at least 50% of the game in total, and Rynaghs built a steady 5/6 point lead when dominant. Kelly got his goal from a line ball, a goal is a goal, but you wont see a line ball going to the net too often...Nally got around 7 from frees I think..thats only 7 points Belmont returned over the hour from other players..that wont win matches of this calibre...Rynaghs were quick to score immediately after all key scores Belmont got, incuding 2 in a row after Kellys goal from the line ball, and they were key scores.Belmont took off both midfielders and Colin Egan, now theres be brave makings substitutions and there is panic substitutions (I dont want to say stupid substitutions) but Colin Egan was creating a bit of panic in the full back line for Rynaghs and Nally was winning alot of ball in the corner when moved in there, then Belmont go and change it, I think they might hae eeked out another few scores if they left well enough alone, but only they know I suppose what was behind their thinking....Rynaghs got 17/18 from play..fair shooting and forwards looked lively...Sean Dolan and Gary Coneeely had their best games in a while I thought...Pat Camon had a great game on his return..make no mistake about it, this was a big win for Rynaghs and setback defeat for Belmont whom needed just to lay down an early marker against a big gun, as they wont meet any of the other so called big teams unless they come out of the group,Rynaghs will be extremely happy to have won this game...Belmont if possible should have left their team as last year, they done nothing really wrong last year and were not far off the mark, if Shinrone beat Ballimamere tomorrow (Sunday) they will not fear Belmont when that game comes around....

Finally, the online streaming is excellent, decent comentary, cameras are not SKY Sports or anything but credit where its due, for €5 a game its excellent value if you have good broadband and connect laptop to TV via HDMI...

[Liam2020]

All games were competive, cooldery and kk seem to be blooding new players this year, St Rynagh have a settled panel, all 3 got the wins if the win another group game all 3 should be in the semi. Kk seem to have a replacement for G healion at full back in J Quinn and Tom Spain put the shackles on É Cahill , Birr and shinrone are under pressure both probably need to win both their games. It look like coolderry st rynaghs and kk will be in the semi finals, can ballinamre surprise everyone and edge Belmont and shinrone out to get there?

[frankthetank]

The competitive nature of the Senior A championship can be seen by the fact that across the four games played the average winning margin was 1.75 points. However in my opinion, in a championship as tight as that, previous experience of winning big games can edge teams over the line so on that premise alone Kilcormac / Killoughey and St Rynagh's look the teams to beat. (I am not going to add Coolderry to that list because the absence of Joseph Bergin in their game vs Seir Kieran puts a whole different complexion on the result)


Using the same formula in Senior B (excluding Kinnitty v Lusmagh for a moment) the average winning margin across 3 games was 2.33 points which also illustrates that those 6 teams are bunched close enough together. However the outlier in that competition is Kinnitty who beat Lusmagh by a whopping 20 points and should be well on the road to promotion. At the moment it seems in Offaly we have 9 decent Senior teams vying for 8 spots. That all changes in 2021 when we see the introduction of a 10 team Senior A championship.