Offaly Under 21 Hurling Championship

[Plain of the Herbs]

Indeed they did. Kevin Connolly started the two opening rounds against Lusmagh & Birr, Eoin Ryan started against Clareen and the semi final against K/K whilst coming on against Shinrone. David King and Liam Brady got ten minutes against Clareen while Brady also made a late appearance against K/K as the semi final slipped away.

The point is though that of those, only Michael Ryan was a Coolderry regular last year while Eanna Murphy, Brian and James Mulrooney, Sean Coughlan, Christopher Connors and Tom Carroll would be considered Clareen senior regulars last year. That point stands.

I fancy Coolderry, they are the better team (they have 6 players that played senior hurling last year POTH, Brian Kelly & Liam Brady in defense, David King at midfield, whilst Michael Ryan, Eoin Ryan and Kevin Connoly in attack), their attack is very strong all over really, whilst the defense was pretty solid all game.

Looking at the Clareen lineout, they’ve about 7 who were on their senior team last year even while the juniors were still in the hunt. Coolderry have 2 seniors, Brian Kelly & Michael Ryan. Clareen too have more physical strength in defence to counteract the Coolderry attack. That might swing if for the Clareenmen.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Seven days on from the drawn match Coolderry and Clareen head to Shinrone this time for the replayed final. Both will have learned much about themselves and the opposition last week. The question is who will put that knowledge to best use.

Coolderry will likely go with the same team, the only scope for change really being moving forwards from right to left and vice versa. Still there will have been much soul searching as to why they failed to close the game out in the last ten minutes despite having at least a 50:50 share of territory and possession during the closing stages.

Clareen have some adjustments to make. The forwards rely on James Mulrooney and James Mulrooney for leadership and they can hardly leave either one of those marooned at full forward and essentially out of the game. Connors’ puckout rarely goes beyond midfield so one of the two attack leaders will line out there with the other at centre forward. They could do with Eanna Murphy further outfield too. Christopher Connors has full back experience so there is scope for a change there.

If Coolderry are to win then they will win it by five or six points. I’d fancy Clareen in a tight finish though and I still think Clareen will prevail.

[tacmot]

coolderry by 2pts.

[joe bloggs]

Value for money for those who attended last night, but one would have to say that there was a bitter aftertaste to the match.
Anyone who has played hurling knows it is a man's game, but see a talent such as Kevin Connoly leaving the field in a sling is dissapointing.

Like any drawn game either team could have won, with clareen opening up a wind assisted early lead. Coolderry steadied the ship, by placing Brian Kelly on the previously prolific Hynes and bringing Connoly out as a third midfielder for the second quarter.
After the restart it was Coolderry who began to gain the upperhand. Then about ten minutes in Connoly was taken down on the 21 by Chris Connors, who recieved a straight red, with Connoly going off injured. I would feel that losing Connoly was a bigger blow to Coolderrry than Clareen going down to 14 men.
Clareen managed to stay in front with both sides finding the net,(Maher for Coolderry, and i think it was Gath who got the Clareen goal).
As the game moved into injury time Colderry missed a few good chances to level, but right at the death Steven O'Connor ponted a 65 to level it.

Clareen started brightest in Extra Time going into a 3 point lead playing into the breeze. However a goal from Eoin Ryan in the second period after a run through the heart of the defence reduced Clareens lead. Coolderry got the leveller with s minute or two left on the clock, but neither team could find a winner.

[midfield]

any word on when the replay ( of the replay ) will be on ?? maybe this weekend or would that be too soon??

[backofthenet]

Another great game of hurling, Coolderry again were bad tacticly on the sideline. Clareen Og started their half forward line in midfield, which opened up huge gaps in the Coolderry defence whilst crowding out the Coolderry forwards, they were 1-8 to 2pts ahead after twenty minutes.

Clareen then made a massive mistake, Tom Carroll was doing brilliantly winning primary possesion and scoring 2-3 nice points, he was moved into corner forward, whilst the Clareen Og 13 Hynes i think was moved from full forward where he had gotten 2-3 points also.

This helped the Coolderry backline steady, and the clareen half forward line stayed in position for pretty much the rest of the game making it much easier for the Coolderry defenders whilst opening up more space for their forwards up front.

Coolderry rallied really strongly after half time and were within three when Kevin Connolly was essentially taken out of it whilst going through on goal. Coolderry only got a point from the resulting penalty and really missed kevin connolly as an outlet for the rest of the game, whilst Clareen Og were only down to 14 until the end of normal time (a rule i really cant understand as it promotes dirty play)

Coolderry missed two good chances to level before stephen oconnor held his nerve to put a '65 over the ball, Clareen were looking good again at the end of extra time when the ball fell to Paul Hensey who held his nerve to tap over the bar from 40 yards.

There is now going to be a third bite at the cherry. The good news for Coolderry is Kevin Connolly has no broken bones so should be back playing in the next fortnight.

However this game will most likely not be played for some time now with the senior championship on this week, and the leaving exams less than 6 weeks away it could be 2- 3 months before this game is fixed again.

[tacmot]

It was indeed a great game sat evening at a fine venue in shinrone. Seir kieran started as if the match wud be over at halftime. When tHE got their goal to open up a 1-8 to 2 pts lead no one wud hav bet dat they wud not score again from play for the rest of the game, while the injury to connolly from a very deliberate and late pull did put a bad taste to the rest of the game, it resulted in damian maher upping his game greatly to drag Coolderry back from the brink. No definate word on when the replay is taking place, with senior champ nd offaly minors playing the next 3 wks , then followed soon ftr by the leaving cert id wud be very unfair to ask them to play what shud be an eagerly awaited 3rd game.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The second replay of the Final is tomorrow (Saturday) evening. Not to be missed, if the first two instalments are anything to go by.

Saturday, August 14
Aidan Bracken Building Design U-21 Hurling Championship Final 2nd replay
Kinnitty: Coolderry v Seir Kieran 6.30pm D Cooke (extra time if necessary).

[tacmot]

Indeed anyone who was present at the U21 2nd replay was again treated to a wonderfull game of hurling. Coolderry were again the better team over the 60 mins and deserved to win. They led from start to finish and were 1-8 to 2pts up at one stage before Seir kieran had it back down to 5 at ht. The 2nd half was a real ding dong affair with SK reducing the lead to 2pts on a couple of occasions but courtesy of 2 brillant Kevin connolly pts kept Coolderry a goal infront. Even a full but brief 'flare up' , resultin in Nolan nd james mulrooney been shown red cards, helped to up the tempo of the game mid way trough. A last min goal from Eoin ryan made the game safe for Coolderry , running out deserving winners by 2-13 to 13pts. Just on a final note , its much talked bout the option to do away with U21 GRADE at both national nd club level, any one who saw these two teams play 210 minutes of hurling , would they agree with that same opinion.