Offaly Minor Football and Hurling 2023

[private joker]

What are kilcormac in?

[Fear Uibh]

Kilcormac beat Ardscoil Ris on tuesday in 1/4 funal1-18 , 3-11 so they have yet to play their Semi against Naas

[Fear Uibh]

Kilcormac school are in the semi of same competition as Birr, they beat Ardscoil Ris on Tuesday 1-18 3-11, is it Naas their playing next?

[private joker]

Kilcormac bet naas

[fearbanfhaile]

If kk claim to be north offaly so be it wouldn't think so myself.

Birr are the only school within the county who competed at the highest level.

Let's be honest it's shocking that they are in the B a school with their tradition should be in the A it highlights the problems in South offaly not the progress in North offaly.

Many people forget that the Cistercians in Roscrea are in offaly and play in Leinster. They had a stint in the leinster "A" championship during the 2000s, and according to wikipeida, are the most successful offaly team in the leinster a colleges championship, albeit they won those titles years and years ago.

[Plain of the Herbs]

When was that? Naas beat Mountrah in their semi-final on last Thursday, the 19th. Kilcormac were due to play their quarter-final against Árd Scoil Rís on the following day but was frozen off. It eventually went ahead on Tuesday 24th, Kilcormac edging it 1-18 to 3-11.

Kilcormac bet naas

[Plain of the Herbs]

Good to see Birr doing well. Their third time in the Senior B final in as many years, which is decent going in a competition that has seen 14 different winners out of the last 15 times it has been played. Birr won it in 2020, though the All-Ireland was never played, there was no competition in 2021, while last year they were narrowly beaten by Johnstown in the Leinster final.
Semi-final match report here:
https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/ ... comer.html

Great win for St.Brendans today big win over Castlecomer of KK.

They now go to the leinster final.

[private joker]

When was that? Naas beat Mountrah in their semi-final on last Thursday, the 19th. Kilcormac were due to play their quarter-final against Árd Scoil Rís on the following day but was frozen off. It eventually went ahead on Tuesday 24th, Kilcormac edging it 1-18 to 3-11.

Kilcormac bet naas

My mistake, meant kilcormac will beat Naas

[joe bloggs]

10 point win in the end for the combined schols hurling team over Goiod Counsel. They will face St. Kierans in the final.
I think its farcical really allowing a county team compete against schools. The players who trained all year for their school being denied a chance to compete for their school in the Leinster Colleges final. The lads in Good Counsel are being denied a chance to win Leinster, yet bizarrely they could still go on and win an All Ireland
There is a clue in the name of the competition...Colleges Hurling.
All counties have development squads nowadays. There is no justification for Leinster letting this continue any longer. Its basically a back door for training our u20s throughout the winter, but its ruining the integrity of schools hurling as a fair competition.

[greenairfield]

I agree with you to a point.

But last year we were beaten well. We have a very good team this year but other years we most certainly would struggle but at least our players are been exposed to a very high standard of hurling.

[joe bloggs]

I agree with you to a point.

But last year we were beaten well. We have a very good team this year but other years we most certainly would struggle but at least our players are been exposed to a very high standard of hurling.

You're missing the point. Nothing to do with Offaly being strong this year. Next year it could be Dublin South dishing out the beatings to individual schools.
If St Brendan's went back up to play A would you think its fair that they may have to face what are essentially county teams?

[private joker]

Almost certain there will be a rule change brought in onplayer eligibility due to this year's results. They usually do and have done in the past. Easy rule change would be only players eligible to play minor can play combined schools.

[seany12]

Have been on here already saying how it's farcical that we are in this competition with a full county to pick from, subs who played Senior County championship with their clubs this year. As a man said to me earlier if they started their strongest team today they would have won by 30pts FACT! I want Offaly hurling to do as well as the next man, but am embarrassed by our involvement in this competition. Hard not to feel sorry for St. Peters, Good Counsel etc. trying to plough their own furrows with a few clubs contributing, coming up against a team who can pick from the whole county.

[jimbob17]

This is an issue for this year and next year (if still allowed compete) and we do as we have done this year. Our group are particularly strong if all in county are eligible. Previously, our teams have not been able to beat the Dublin combined teams but often Birr have been in A by themselves, with none of their players eligible to be on a combined team.

Made this point before. We really should have entered 2 teams if exposure to this level is the aim. Granted it may have been only one or two games for one team but it would have been fairer on other teams. Both Birr and Col Choilm and probably Kilcormac recently on a good day would be able to compete with most of teams in A grade on their own i'd say, let alone joining with 5 or 6 other schools to compete.

No team has got within 10 pts of this combined schools team. That is a reflection on the strength of it (basically a county U20 team almost) and it isnt fair on individual schools. As such, i'd expect them to protest and exclude combined teams from competition.

If Offaly really want to get something out of it, (and it isnt scrapped by individual schools protest) we should consider doing what Dublin are doing and enter 2 combined teams without Birr (who should go into A by themselves). The combined teams should be for example (West Offaly Schools - Banagher, Ferbane and Kilcormac combined) and then a team from North Offaly Schools which might include likes of Clara, Edenderry, Killina, and Tullamore Schools combined. This way, you would get maybe 50 lads getting good standard of hurling. Dublin had Col Eoin in A semi final today and also had North Dublin and South Dublin in combined competition.

In the football, we have a couple of teams in A colleges in St Marys Edenderry & Col Choilm, while we also have plenty of young Offaly footballers in Moate and some more in Rochfortbridge - and then a combined schools team made up of 4 or 5 smaller schools and some hurling schools to enter combined schools competition. As such, Offaly probably had the guts of 60 players that played A colleges football this year with both Moate and Col Choilm still involved in semi finals. In stark contrast, we only have one team that played A colleges hurling this year and this is large part of why the team is so strong.

If combined schools win the final, I dont think it is something that should be celebrated given context outlined above and the level of unfairness applied to individual schools.

[frankthetank]

Have been on here already saying how it's farcical that we are in this competition with a full county to pick from, subs who played Senior County championship with their clubs this year. As a man said to me earlier if they started their strongest team today they would have won by 30pts FACT! I want Offaly hurling to do as well as the next man, but am embarrassed by our involvement in this competition. Hard not to feel sorry for St. Peters, Good Counsel etc. trying to plough their own furrows with a few clubs contributing, coming up against a team who can pick from the whole county.

I remember in the late 90’s a St Brendan’s CS team played Dublin Colleges in a Leinster Colleges A semi final. (It possibly went to a replay). The Birr school starting 15 had 5 players from Birr, 5 players from Coolderry and 5 players from Kinnitty. Those 3 clubs attempted to beat every school in Dublin. So excuse me if I don’t feel too much sympathy for any of the schools we are currently beating. We had to hurl against this for many’s a year.