Offaly Senior Hurling Club Championship 2011

[Lone Shark]

I was surprised when I saw this result, as I honestly thought that Lusmagh would have too much for Shamrocks after the year they have had trying to fight relegation on two fronts.

I heard Molloy was back for the match. How did he play in the match?

Also, it seems that St. Rynaghs are the best bet to keep Lusmagh up this year...interesting position for them to find themselves in. I don't think anyone would begrudge seeing Lusmagh getting a bit of a dig out from their neighbours, but also I don't think anyone would begrudge seeing Brosna Gaels or Balinamere in the senior ranks either. I suppose all will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Lusmagh and Shamrocks are two clubs that have gone a long time without winning a championship of any kind - if you could be sure that either club would respond positively to playing in the intermediate championship and would see it as a medal there to be won, then you'd say it would be no bad thing. Drumcullen went down and came back up and are probably better off for it, but on the other hand you look at Killavilla falling to junior despite having a lot of very committed hurling people and you start to realise that nothing is guaranteed.

[puzzled]

St.Rynaghs 1-15 Shinrone 0-13
Good game of hurling,in patches,Gary Kelly was outstanding for Rynaghs 1-9 from midfield 1-3 from play James Sullivan scored 2 points also from midfield thats 1-11 which just leaves 4 points from the forwards that is going to be a major problem when they play Birr in the semi-final! Shinrone will be disappointed this was a great chance for them to get to a semi-final but when they went to their bench to try and change things the subs they brought on wernt good enough to do what was needed on the other side when Rynaghs brought in the likes of Ger Scales he was more than able to get the better of his opponents! Ciaran Flannery was lucky to stay on the field after an off the ball incident but then the same could be said in the first half when Thomas Hannon(I think)got involved off the ball as well!
For me Rynaghs deserved to win this game but Birr wont fear playing them in the semi-final how will Gary Kelly go when he has to mark the likes of Rory Hanniffy or Dylan Hayden? I'm not writing off Rynaghs at all they will just love playing Birr and there is nothing like old rivalry to even things up!
I for one cant wait for the semis and will be praying that they are played in Birr!

[puzzled]

Coolderry 1-17 Seir Kieran 2-10
Coolderry just about deserved to win this one they got off to a flying start(again)and that was the difference between the two teams for the rest of the game. Cathal Parlon scored 1-5 all from play he was simply on fire especially in the first half,Seir Kieran were very slow to make positional changes,Kevin Brady was controlling the game from midfield he seemed to have acres of space every time he got on the ball.
The Seir Kieran game plan was very simple and perhaps too predictable pumping high ball in on top of Bergin or Murphy and while it worked some of the time they didnt seem to have any plan B.
With this game balanced on a knife edge a high ball dropped in around the Coolderry goalmouth and it seemed like Joe Bergin was fouled but no free was given i'd say most people in the ground couldnt believe a free wasnt given,with only a few minutes left if Seir Kieran had got a point or a goal from the free then this game could have went either way,but in fairness to Coolderry they were able to push on and get the last few scores to finish out the game the stronger team!
Over the full game the referee did a decent job but he also refereed the relegation game in Kilcormac earlier on and its hard to understand why any referee should have to do two such high profile games in one day,we have Tony Carroll and Brian Gavin who are getting the biggest games in the country yet neither of them got a quarter final in Offaly?

[GreatDayForTheParish]

First time in a semi-final for Rynaghs in what, 9 years? Far too long for a club of their size/population and tradition. Offaly hurling badly needs them back and contributing players to the county senior team.

It'll be interesting though to have the Birr/Banagher rivalry re-ignited after a long absence. How long has it been since they played each other in a meaningful knock out game? 2002, 2001? I can remember some horrendous strokes between these two in the late 1990's, we'll see what 2011 brings.

[Plain of the Herbs]

5 years, GreatDay. Coolderry beat 'em by 4 points on a Sunday evening in Birr. Coolderry should have beaten Birr in the final but Gary Hanniffy rescued Birr with a late point and Birr subsequently won the replay by a point.

Prior to that, Birr beat 'Rynagh's 1-15 to 1-10 in a semi-final in 2004. It's a match I can't place (was it in Rath?) and Coolderry beat K/K in an awful semi-final in Birr the next day. I'd say the one you're thinking about GreatDay is the draw and replay in 2002. Was it Stephen Brown was sent off for hitting Adrian Clancy off the ball or the other way around in one of those?

Checking the book Birr and 'Rynagh's have met in the semi-finals 11 times. 'Rymagh's won 7, Birr won 4 including that 2002 replay.

First time in a semi-final for Rynaghs in what, 9 years? Far too long for a club of their size/population and tradition. Offaly hurling badly needs them back and contributing players to the county senior team.

It'll be interesting though to have the Birr/Banagher rivalry re-ignited after a long absence. How long has it been since they played each other in a meaningful knock out game? 2002, 2001? I can remember some horrendous strokes between these two in the late 1990's, we'll see what 2011 brings.

[townman]

5 years, GreatDay. Coolderry beat 'em by 4 points on a Sunday evening in Birr. Coolderry should have beaten Birr in the final but Gary Hanniffy rescued Birr with a late point and Birr subsequently won the replay by a point.

Prior to that, Birr beat 'Rynagh's 1-15 to 1-10 in a semi-final in 2004. It's a match I can't place (was it in Rath?) and Coolderry beat K/K in an awful semi-final in Birr the next day. I'd say the one you're thinking about GreatDay is the draw and replay in 2002. Was it Stephen Brown was sent off for hitting Adrian Clancy off the ball or the other way around in one of those?

Checking the book Birr and 'Rynagh's have met in the semi-finals 11 times. 'Rymagh's won 7, Birr won 4 including that 2002 replay.

First time in a semi-final for Rynaghs in what, 9 years? Far too long for a club of their size/population and tradition. Offaly hurling badly needs them back and contributing players to the county senior team.

It'll be interesting though to have the Birr/Banagher rivalry re-ignited after a long absence. How long has it been since they played each other in a meaningful knock out game? 2002, 2001? I can remember some horrendous strokes between these two in the late 1990's, we'll see what 2011 brings.

i think the match Greatday is talking about was the county final 2001 2000 the foot and mouth year Niall Claffey scored a last minute point to win it for Birr
yes it was 2000 as we beat Seir Kierans well in 2001 .

[GreatDayForTheParish]

5 years, GreatDay. Coolderry beat 'em by 4 points on a Sunday evening in Birr. Coolderry should have beaten Birr in the final but Gary Hanniffy rescued Birr with a late point and Birr subsequently won the replay by a point.

Prior to that, Birr beat 'Rynagh's 1-15 to 1-10 in a semi-final in 2004. It's a match I can't place (was it in Rath?) and Coolderry beat K/K in an awful semi-final in Birr the next day. I'd say the one you're thinking about GreatDay is the draw and replay in 2002. Was it Stephen Brown was sent off for hitting Adrian Clancy off the ball or the other way around in one of those?

Checking the book Birr and 'Rynagh's have met in the semi-finals 11 times. 'Rymagh's won 7, Birr won 4 including that 2002 replay.

First time in a semi-final for Rynaghs in what, 9 years? Far too long for a club of their size/population and tradition. Offaly hurling badly needs them back and contributing players to the county senior team.

It'll be interesting though to have the Birr/Banagher rivalry re-ignited after a long absence. How long has it been since they played each other in a meaningful knock out game? 2002, 2001? I can remember some horrendous strokes between these two in the late 1990's, we'll see what 2011 brings.

Really? Damn, I've completely forgotten those games, apologies to any Banagher people I upset.

Yup, Stephen Brown got the line in 2002 for an altercation with Adrian Clancy after 5 minutes. Desperate weather the first day, 14 man Birr happily got out with their lives to win the second day.

Are you sure about that 2004 semi, I've no recollection. Hanniffy's point to draw in 2006 was incredible, 45 out from the sideline on the hill side. Launched at an 80 degree angle it seemed to hang for an eternity before eventually and barely dropping over the Coolderry black spot to earn the replay. Coolderry, rightfully, harbour regrets over the 2006 series, seeing it as the one that really got away. Some would say it set them back a number of years, few would have said in the winter of 2004 that it would take another six years for that young gifted Coolderry team to annex another title. Although that said, some Birr people would still maintain that 2004 would never have happened at all for Coolderry if Rory Hanniffy had been fit to play the final. Such is sport!

[townman]

2004 Hanniffy was out but it was also the year the great Johnny Pilkington hung uphis boots from club hurling who was a bigger miss,

[townman]

2004 semil final was in Rath between Birr and Rynaghs wasnt a great game it was a windy evening with a lot of the scores coming from frees

[allstar2010]

Does anyone know where I can get outright betting for the senior championship
it doesn't seem to be on paddypower.com. I'm thinking it would be something like this

Birr 5/4
Coolderry 2/1
KK 6/1
St. Rynaghs 8/1

[underdogs]

Just wonderin is there anyone out there thinking that there could be a big upset at the weekend resultin in a rynaghs kk final now wouldnt tat be a shock its rynaghs first time in a semi in about 10 years after winning so much underage over the past few years could they actually take birr. Birr have not dipped in form all year could this be the weekend they do .KK should give a right good game again coolderry after startin to peak at the right time i wouldn`t be at all surprised if they beat coolderry by 4-5pts after watching there game again clareen i taught they were lucky to get away with the win in the end.So rynaghs K/k final wat would be the odds on that roll on sunday (Let the balls fly hear the hurl as it clash`s lets hope were in for two good matchs)

[Plain of the Herbs]

To get the build-up underway, here’s the list of previous Birr v St Rynagh’s semi-finals. They’ve met in 12 semi-finals, Rynaghs have won 7 and Birr have won 5 (including the 2002 replay).
1964 – St Rynagh’s 5-7 . Birr 3-9
1973 – St Rynagh’s 3-15 Birr 3-9
1978 – St Rynagh’s 1-13 Birr 0-13
1986 – St Rynagh’s 3-11 Birr 3-6
1988 – St Rynagh’s 4-4 . Birr 2-5
1991 – Birr 1-16 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-9
1994 – Birr 2-14 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 3-8
1996 – St Rynagh’s 1-12 Birr 0-10
1998 – St Rynagh’s 4-3 Birr 0-10
2000 – Birr 3-13 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 0-11
2002 – Birr 0-9 . . . . . .St Rynagh’s 1-6 (draw)
Replay – Birr 0-16 . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-5
2004 – Birr 2-14 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-10

And the three Coolderry v Kilcormac-Killoughey ones .
2002 – K/K 0-11 . . . .Coolderry 1-5
2004 – Coolderry 2-8 . K/K 1-7
2009 –K/K 5-16 . . . . . Coolderry 3-16

Anyone any particular memories of any of these they want to share?

[townman]

To get the build-up underway, here’s the list of previous Birr v St Rynagh’s semi-finals. They’ve met in 12 semi-finals, Rynaghs have won 7 and Birr have won 5 (including the 2002 replay).
1964 – St Rynagh’s 5-7 . Birr 3-9
1973 – St Rynagh’s 3-15 Birr 3-9
1978 – St Rynagh’s 1-13 Birr 0-13
1986 – St Rynagh’s 3-11 Birr 3-6
1988 – St Rynagh’s 4-4 . Birr 2-5
1991 – Birr 1-16 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-9
1994 – Birr 2-14 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 3-8
1996 – St Rynagh’s 1-12 Birr 0-10
1998 – St Rynagh’s 4-3 Birr 0-10
2000 – Birr 3-13 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 0-11
2002 – Birr 0-9 . . . . . .St Rynagh’s 1-6 (draw)
Replay – Birr 0-16 . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-5
2004 – Birr 2-14 . . . . . St Rynagh’s 1-10

And the three Coolderry v Kilcormac-Killoughey ones .
2002 – K/K 0-11 . . . .Coolderry 1-5
2004 – Coolderry 2-8 . K/K 1-7
2009 –K/K 5-16 . . . . . Coolderry 3-16

Anyone any particular memories of any of these they want to share?

The 1994 semil final was one of the best matches i seen in st.Brendans great goals from Adrian (Bongo) Cahill and johnny pilkington score one like the goal he got again
wexford in 1996 from running from the midfield and put a bullet pass David Huges in the Rynaghs goal went on to win our first club all ireland after that.

1998 was a mad game Rynaghs scored 3 points and still won Birr leak bad goals that day Kieran Flannerly had a good game full forward that day with Duignan getting a great
score off the ground that day as the pitch was muck up that day it was a great finish, Johnny Pilkington was hurt and out for that day was a big lose to Birr goes to show
how important he was to Birr .

1996 was the year Birr had a young team the likes of Barry Whelehan, Brian Mullins, Niall Claffey, came on the scene its funny how 1994 and 1996 Rynaghs beat Birr
but lose the two county finals to Seir Kierans who were there Bogey team back then.

[puzzled]

Paddy Power odds for the semis
Birr 3/10
St.Rynaghs 11/4
Coolderry 4/7
K/K 13/8
A Birr K/K double would give odds of 3/1 worth a few quid perhaps?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Firstly, the weather is promised very good for Sunday, with warm sunny spells expected. A day for the terrace then and two cracking matches in prospect.

Midfield will be the barometer in the Birr v St Rynagh’s semi-final. Gary Kelly has led n’Rynagh’s from midfield all year, working, scoring, covering. He has grabbed the role of dictating midfielder and let the opposition worry about him. Darren Crean did a decent job against him in the quarter-final.

What impressed about Kelly (and James Sullivan too) was that, when playing with the wind and chasing the game they didn’t push forward and crowd their forwards. Instead, they dropped back, the Shinrone midfielders followed and the space was created upfield. Also, Kelly and Sullivan scored some mighty points from distance, wind assisted. Kelly also made that great run to finish the goal, the game’s crucial score.

Sunday will be different for the ’Rynagh’s midfielders for, on Sunday they will be the markers and not the marked. Still the classiest in the county, Rory Hanniffy will dictate midfield, win the ball, solo forward and combine with Gary Hanniffy, Dylan Hayden and the rest if he is allowed to do so.

Both sides have chopped and changed defence and attack in a bid to find the winning blend. Birr’s defence has seen two changes with every match but with everyone back for the quarter-final the defence seems to pick itself. That means there is no room for the highly-rated Mark Quinlan, a County panellist last year, and Conor Egan who played much of the group stages. With Paul Cleary guarding the square it leaves Neil Rogers in the centre-back role.

Now Rogers is a fine stickman (and like Quinlan was left on the fringes for a number of years) but I’m not sure if he’s a centre-back of real quality. There’s an option here to move Rogers to midfield (where he would be a good defensive foil for Hanniffy), Cleary to centre-back, Verney to full-back with Quinlan coming into the side. Still Tullamore got hardly any ball into their full-forward line in the second half.

St Rynagh’s have made several changes for the quarter-final too. The summer has gone by and they are still not sure where best to utilise leaders like Cathal Horan, Declan Tanner and others. They don’t know their best 3, 6, 11 or 14. Dermot Shortt and Pat Camon were odd choices for corner-back against Shinrone. Danny Maloney looked to have the makings of a good corner-back yet didn’t start against Shinrone. On the other hand Stephen Wynne’s return lends options.

Like the midfielders, Cathal Horan (or whoever hurls at centre-back) will have their hands full with Dylan Hayden. Probably the most improved hurler in Offaly this year, Hayden gave a quality performance against Tullamore. Ergo, the centre-back will need to man-mark the Birr centre-forward and will be too preoccupied to cover in front of his full-back as Horan did against Shinrone.

Still a Minor, Simon Lyons had a mighty game against Shinrone at left half-back, though he put in a mighty debut at midfield against Tullamore. How St Rynagh’s line up their defence will require thought, especially with Gary Hanniffy’s aerial threat. Lyons might do better on the right side of the defence with Stephen Wynne picking up Hanniffy.

How St Rynaghs line up their forwards is anyone’s guess. Ger Scales and both Quirkes started on the bench against Shinrone. All three would offer a bigger scoring threat than the forward line that started the last day. Perhaps two of those three will start. Niall Wynne and Joey O’Connor should start and will bring an energy to the attack.

With Birr more likely to edge midfield Birr seem more likely to win. St Rynagh’s best chance would be to play a quick full-forward line and to leave plenty of space for them. And that may well happen. Neither side will have a monopoly on hunger and with the sides not having met in the Championship since 2005 there are no old scores to settle. And ’Rynagh’s have a good record at underage level. Still, Birr seem marginally the more likely to prevail.



I expect Coolderry to win the second semi-final.

The reason? The champions are playing to a plan that suits them, that they believe in and that they are carrying out to the letter. Kilcormac-Killoughey are not.

Coolderry’s plan is a simple one. In order to create space for Brian Carroll, Eoin Ryan and Cathal Parlon they push the midfielders out to the wing, Barry Teehan roves to make a third midfielder leaving space for the other Coolderry forwards to thrive.

It’s not as if Teehan can be allowed roam, for he gets through quite an amount of work around the midfield and can take the odd score.

Kilcormac are under orders to get on the ball and drive it in long time after time. That’s all very well but neither Trevor Fletcher or Thomas Geraghty are that good in the air. James Gorman can catch a ball alright but lacks the concentration to take up the correct positions and can often be lost. K-K could probably do with a Healion in this sector. And on Sunday the Corcorans and Brian Kelly will be abundantly streetwise. One half of the best defence in the competition.

The other half is a formidable line too. Brendan O’Meara, better known as a full-back, impressed under the dropping ball in the quarter-final. K-K could be in trouble if he got the better of someone as important to them as Daniel Currams.

K-K’s best line of the field is their half-back line. Kevin Coyne has impressed in recent rounds. Brian Leonard is one of the full-forward line’s main sources of long ball. Brian Carroll won’t be going toe-to-toe with Leonard though. Much of Carroll’s attacking play will be done when switching to the opposite wing leaving Leonard with some running to do.

Colm Cassidy’s role will be interesting. Perhaps he will revert to the defence for this. Or to midfield. Cassidy was sited at centre-forward against Kinnitty in a bid to man-mark James Rigney. But manmarking a defender is a difficult job with the ball going in over your head like that. As an aside, Rigney is killing Kinnitty – he sits back too deep and while it protects his full-back line it leaves too much of a gap behind his midfielders.

The midfield matchup will be a crucial factor too. Kevin Brady may well be the man to deny Conor Mahon the possession. Brady is good enough in the air anyway and Mahon will also have the roving Barry Teehan for competition between the 65s. Remember, too, that Kinnitty did alot of hurling between the 10th minute and half-time on Tullamore the last day.

Which leaves the respective centre half-backs. Two very similar hurlers too. Joe Brady will dominate the centre if K-K go down his channel. Yet K-K are more likely to go over his head going route 1. Ger Healion will more likely hold the centre when Teehan roves. Coolderry’s forwards are mobile though so if Healion doesn’t get to the ball first the centre-back could be in trouble. I wonder would K-K place Colm Cassidy around here, perhaps at midfield. Healion could also go to full-forward in a surprise move. Coolderry should still win though.