Senior Hurling Championship 2011 Predictions

[esb_lad]

Well lads. Its that time of year again. Time to start making predictions for the 2011 championship.
2010 was an exciting year culminating with Tullamore who emphasised in 2010 that they are here to stay and Coolderry who took the scene by storm meeting in a nail-biting encounter at the end of the year.
it was a decent years hurling i think with plenty of up's and downs in between..

But what does next year hold?

Well he're my spin on things........................

Finalists: Coolderry & The town (self explanatory - the two best teams in the county at the moment when push comes to shove.. Coolderry will have learned from their loss to raharney while tullamore simply have shane dooley. once he remains fit and avoids injury, he is one the only player in the county who appears to be unmarkable

semi finalists : seir keiran - very youthful team on the rise and i feel could reach a semi this year with a bit of luck.. a great spread of young tasty hurlers all over the field
kk - i feel that their experience here will carry them to the semi however the double k's just dont seem to have the ingredients to go one step further and rumous that there is conflict regarding the hiring of new management will not help their cause.. kk may be vulnerable to lesser teams on form!

relegation : belmont,drumcullen,lusmagh & shamrocks have to be the main contenders with Belmont being my choice.
the ferbane men seem to have little to show on paper apart from kenny and a few egans who blow hot and cold...

surprise package of 2011: i think there are 2 contenders for this...
st rynaghs seem to be on the up and if diarmuid horan stays home and plays with them they will be a force to be reckoned with in 2011.. as always the 'saints' will look to push every boundary of the rules to the max combined with tough fair hurling and a few good young hurlers eg young quirke will put it up to any team once in the right frame of mind

surprisingly shamrocks are a team i feel are one to watch.. last year was a disaster for the club as they nearly got relegated but something is telling me it might be the kick up the backside the club needed.. combine this with their aging football team and hurlers on paper (molloy, nevell coughlan, nigel dunne, james conway and brian carney) this team could pull off a shock or 2 in the championship ...



anyone hear of newly appointed managers yet/ teams back training..
tullamore are said to be in the gym over a month. shows how hungry they are for next year

[Greenwhiteandgold]

Shinrone are are youthfull team which could also cause and upset or two, but its hard to see them reaching a county semi final. Its hard to see birr improving much as they havent many new players coming on, but id expect them to breeze through the group stage all the same. I think coolderry are the favourists with a youthful team, and the experience of last year and the raharney match could stand to them. Id expect clareen to be a strong force this year with abit of luck, There a coming team. Tullamore will be there or there abouts with shane dooley to the fore.

[paulwatts]

realistically the senior hurling championship is wide open. unlike football where rhode and clara are streets ahead the hurling is far more balaced. but i would argue the standard is at a very low ebb. my predictions for 2011.
champions: clareen
runners up: kk
semi finals: tullamore and coolderry
qfinal: birr,banagher,kinnity,lusmagh.

now thats just filling the spaces in a way but i feel they will be the last 8.

[esb_lad]

greenwhiteandgold you are right. I forgot about Shinrone altogether , they are a good young team and any club team with the likes of cordial will always have that raw edge. definitely a team to watch out for the next few years

[townman]

i think my own club Birr might give it one last throw of the dice, not that they have anything to prove in offaly or ireland
for that matter we have had some great times well onto next year, i think people shouldn't write Birrs obituary yet we have
players with a lot of mileage but still theres a few with a lot of hurling left in them.

players like Paul Cleary, Mick Verney,Brian Watkins,Rory Hanniffy, Dylan Hayden, Sean Ryan, Mark Quilan, Barry Harding
Bryan Longeran, are still young enough to get Birr back to the top again, don't know whats the story with the 3 whelehans
i think they have gave enough and they will step aside Paul Molloy JP and Breder might stay another year.

as for the rest Coolderry will be the team to beat but are beatable on their day, i think Tullamore will be in the mix again if
they could get 1 or 2 more good forwards they will take beating again.

KK have missed the boat the last few years can see them coming back to win the county title after this years flop
Clareen are a up and coming side if they get a break they could be dark horses.
as for St. Rynaghs they are becoming a bit like Kilcormac/K great underage but not making the breakthrough at senior level.

as for the teams that will struggle i think Drumcullen and Shamrocks kinnitty Belmont will be in the mix to stay up
with maybe shamrock and Drumcullen the likely of the two to go down.
which leaves me with watch Birr as dark horse for Sean Robbins winners 2011

[Bazil Brush]

Agreed townman birr have to many good hurlers at there disposal to be written off, Whats the story with paul murphy is he staying on for another year? If gary hanniffy commits for another year and browne comes back from the states id fancy birr, Id have coolderry a close second they have a good young team with a great attitude, tullamore will take beating again if they could find another scoring forward to relieve the pressure off shane dooley, kevin waters could be the man,then you have kk they have a lot of very talented hurlers probably took there eye off the ball in last years county final thats not taking anything from tullamores great achievement, It will be interesting to see if pj whelahan can take them that step further the talents definatley there. Then you have banagher clareen and kinnitty on a par as longshots. dinny cahill appears to be a good appointment for banagher.

[pedro]

Banagher should be watched for the new year.

[Justjim]

Hmm Cloghan are a side which could spring a suprise alright...

[townman]

Don't think it will be in 2011 maybe in a few years time or not they have won a lot of under 16s minor and under 21's
in the last 10 years but have not kick on to senior they are a long way from the sides in the 80's and 90's and haven't
got the talent of them sides, i think they only had one on the offaly panel last year in stephen wynne.

they have a few good players on the way like Connor Clancy in goals james o'suillvan, Pat Camon, Gary Connelly
stephen wynne, if connor hearon, cathal horan, and Durimuid Horan was back they could give it a lash Dinny Cahill
could be the man alright it would be great and good for offaly hurling if the Rynaghs were back.

[paulwatts]

sorry lads im gunna try and change tack a lil bit....i do here alot of the football alternative teams being published by the punters...id like all here to put down their alternative offaly senior hurlin team...the current panel of 30 is not allowed....

[pedro]

Well I heard Jimmy Conway hurled very well in trial games recently but has not been called back in. I really question the use of these trials. For starters its in terrible conditions at a time of year that players will be rusty enough which is pointless really and more importantly it comes down to management judgement which can be subject to alot of bias by times.

Can anybody tell me who exactly has been called into the panel after these trials as all ive heard is bad reports and would like to see the names that have been selected before casting my own judgement.

[Brosnaman]

Name a team so not picking from the panel at present..?/

[Brosnaman]

Name a team so not picking from the panel at present..?/

[pedro]

Name the present panel in full. Cant name much before we know that.

[townman]

sorry lads im gunna try and change tack a lil bit....i do here alot of the football alternative teams being published by the punters...id like all here to put down their alternative offaly senior hurlin team...the current panel of 30 is not allowed....

well i will have a go i will leave out players from last years panel that i know of, and players that are out there who are not with the county

1.Connor Slevin (kk)
2.Alan Martin (Tullamore)
3.Brian Leornard (kk)
4.Sean Coughlan (seir kierans)
5.Barry Harding (Birr)
6.Peter Healion (kk)
7 Brian Watkins (Birr)
8.Cathal Horan (st.Rynaghs)
9.Ciran Slevin (kk)
10.Thomas Carroll (seir kierans)
11.Stephen Molloy (kinnitty)
12.Damien Murray (Coolderry)
13.Colm Coughlan (kinnitty)
14.Gary Connelly (St.Rynaghs)
15.Kevin Connolly (Coolderry)