Offaly Senior Hurling Club Championship 2011

[townman]

Semil-Finals....

Birr v ST.Rynagh's

Looking forward to sundays Double header in tullamore Birr and Banagher get things under way at 2.30 its a while since we clashed in a big game
i'am sure sundays will be a close game with not much in it at the end.

Birr have been going along alright so far in the championship and have got the monkey that was tullamore off their back in the last round with a few points to spare
but they also had alot of bad wides again tullamore and will have to sharp up on their shooting for the semil-final.

Birr are just 60 minutes away from getting back to another county final which is great to see after the last two years losing to tullamore they looked like a club who
was on the way down, i know they are a long way off the sides of the 90's and early 2000's and a lot of players have moved on.

none the least we still have the spine of a good side with Mullins in goals Cleary, Hanniffys, Dylan Hayden all still hurling well with young players like Bolger, Brendan Murphy
Barry Harding fitting in well into senior hurling.

St. Rynaghs will come out and will go for broke from the throw in on sunday and will get into Birrs faces and try not to let birr get into a pattern or start well
midfield will play a big part in this tie with Gazza Kelly and O'Sullivan or who else starts midfield again Rory Hanniffy who is one of the best hurlers in offaly
and paul molloy i think with Hanniffy in good form and molly hurling well birr should win this battle.

if Birr can weather Rynaghs early storm that they will come with and with Birrs backs of Cleary JP O'Meara, Watkins, Verney and Barry Harding i think they can come out
on top in most of the duels with their Rynaghs forwards.

its in attack where Birr have had problems the last two years with tullamore keeping a tight hold on them to win to low scoring games as Birrs forwards fail to click
and for a long time in this years game they got it hard to put tullamore away with the chances they had and will have to take their chances on sunday.

Sean Ryan has been doing a great job so far this year but doesn't get enough scores for the amount of ball he wins, Dylan Haydens switch from midfield will add scoring power
as his 4 points the last day showed and if he gets the same on sunday Birr should pull through.

Gary Hanniffy will be the target for most of the puck outs so weather Wynne or pat Camon is on him or Horan they will have their work cut out as Gary is in good shape this
year and hurling as well as ever and can get 3 or 4 points most games.

i haven't seen much of Rynaghs this year but they have had great underage players coming of age over the last few years the likes of Gary Connelly, Ger Scales, Hernon,
Pat Camon, James o'suillvan, Gazza, Connor Clancy minor keeper and has a great future in the game, a long with old heads Declan Tanner, Cathal Horan,

with the weather fine it should be a good game but with Birr having a good backline plus Rory Hanniffy in the middle, add in Dylan Hayden, Gary Hanniffy, Sean Ryan, and young
Brendan Murphy and Thomas Bolger in attack should pull it off with a 5 point win.

also the subs bench might come into it with birr having the like of Barry & Simon Whelehan, Miley Nolan, WAG Egan, Mark Quinlan, should have enough to see Birr to the final.




Coolderry v Kilcormac/killoughey....

another close game will be in store for the second of the semil finals with holders Coolderry again Pa Joes KK , as i have said before Coolderry have the best forward line in offaly
when they are on song Brian Carroll, Parlon, Eoin Ryan, and Damien Murray don't need second chances to get scores and a fine day on sunday will suite their style of play.

as for Kilcormac/ Killoughey they are a long time knocking on the door and i think myself they have missed the boat on winning a county title with their lose to tullamore in the final
of 2009 and last years flop in the semil.

saying that they are back again and thats the sign of a good side and with the likes of the Heailions Dan Currams who has to bring a good game to the table this sunday for a county
hurler he seems to not leave his best on the field and he has the talent its just to get it out of him is the problem he has to do it sunday.

Connor Mahon is there power house in midfield and is a tough cookie along with Brian Leonard and kevin coyne and the Grogans brothers in the back line look solid
Coolderry have the Bradys joe and kevin plus Brendan O'Mera who is one of the best club hurlers in the county.

add in the Corcorans brothers Alan who was outstanding for Coolderry last year as Brendan o' meara was out hurt it is a hard game to call with nothing between them in the end
but i will go with Coolderrys scoring power and they have a tight back line and know how to win big games Coolderry by 4 point's.

[kingscounty]

really looking forward to these two games at the weekend,they should be two tight games and hopefully we will see some good hurling in both.the bulk of the county team will be made up from these four teams so they will have alot to prove. predictions / BIRR 1-16 ST.RYNAGHS 1-13./ COOLDERRY 2-12 K/K 1-16.

[underdogs]

Wel if you look at it rynaghs only have one county player steven wynne who hadn`t played in any of the championship games this session and he`s just hurled one championship game for rynaghs this year the last one again shinrone so to get as far as they have this year is a hugh step in the right direction will they give birr a good hard battle sunday u bet they will under dinny cahill this year st rynaghs have prob trained harder then ever so are they up for the challenge only time will tell they`ve only lost one game this season as have kk and coolderry will it be birrs turn come sunday to lose there first its hard to say if rynaghs can get up in there faces and cut out the fouling which has kept alot of the teams they played so far right beside them up to the final whistle it`ll be a very close one to call .As for the second game it`ll be a cracker two big strong teams here this i reckon is gonna be won or lost in the coolderry full forward line if joe brady commands center back as he did in the first half again clareen and they get the quality ball into the full forward line i reckon coolderry will win easy but if kk can put a stop to that coolderry will be in trouble even though on paper coolderry have better players if it goes down to the wire i think kk will want it much more
Predictions :- Birr 2-13 St.Rynaghs 1-17
Coolderry 1-16 K/K 3-14

[Plain of the Herbs]

The beauty of team sports, U. The individuals in question versus the sum of the parts.

Wel if you look at it rynaghs only have one county player steven wynne who hadn`t played in any of the championship games this session and he`s just hurled one championship game for rynaghs this year the last one again shinrone so to get as far as they have this year is a hugh step in the right direction will they give birr a good hard battle sunday u bet they will under dinny cahill this year st rynaghs have prob trained harder then ever so are they up for the challenge only time will tell they`ve only lost one game this season as have kk and coolderry will it be birrs turn come sunday to lose there first its hard to say if rynaghs can get up in there faces and cut out the fouling which has kept alot of the teams they played so far right beside them up to the final whistle it`ll be a very close one to call .As for the second game it`ll be a cracker two big strong teams here this i reckon is gonna be won or lost in the coolderry full forward line if joe brady commands center back as he did in the first half again clareen and they get the quality ball into the full forward line i reckon coolderry will win easy but if kk can put a stop to that coolderry will be in trouble even though on paper coolderry have better players if it goes down to the wire i think kk will want it much more
Predictions :- Birr 2-13 St.Rynaghs 1-17
Coolderry 1-16 K/K 3-14

[joe bloggs]

I may be wrong on this one, but I think that neither Clarinbridge or Loughrea had anyone on the galway team when they contested last years galway final, proving that having the greater number of county men on your team is not always the key to success. Once the ball is the thrown in the best team on the day will win to use the old cliché.

Looking ahead to tomorrow i would expect a low scoring affair in the first game. Rynagh's lack fire power up front and so the need to keep the game tight. Free taking may have a big role to play in the game, but I think if Birr get a lead and can keep in front they will know how to close out the game.

The second game has the makings of a cracker. A few years ago(I can't remember exactly which year) in a semi final in OCP there was a deluge of goals in the first half between these two sides and hopefully there will be more of the same tomorrow.. I have a sneaky feeling KK might win out in the end and set up a final with Birr in two weeks time.

[kingkenny]

looking forward to semi finals this weekend in OCP
birr v de rynaghs
this has the making of a real good game with de rynagh never afraid of taking on the birr boys
if gazza + sullivan can get to grips with molloy + hanniffy in the mid-field battle and they can
deliver good ball in to a underrated forward line there could be a upset on the cards
hernnon could have big say on outcome of this as i'd he will be giving the job of picking up sean ryan
if he can keep him quite the boys from the shannon could be back in the big time
rynaghs by 3 pts
coolderry v k/k
another tasty encounter to look forward to with coolderry looking to retain there title
but i think k/k will give them a good run for there place in final padjo seems to be getting his
players in right form just when it counts like he did so many times with birr k/k forwards look to
be in form with ease they got scores in Q-final where as coolderry hit alot of wides early in there Q=final
slevin + gorman will have to be on there game if k/k can get them on ball i think could make in new
paring in county final for many yrs
k/k by 5 pts

[Plain of the Herbs]

For anyone travelling to OCP tomorrow, there’s a Funeral in Mucklagh Church at 1.30pm tomorrow (Sunday) going to Clonminch Cemetery afterwards, so plan ye’re journey if ye’re cutting it fine for the first match.

[townman]

Indian summer my arse the rain that has falling the last 3 days is unreal will make the games a lotto now Birrs game is first hope the pitch stands
up for the whole of the second game pity i thought the weekend was to be fine, alot of slipping and sliding methinks for today bring the right stud's lad's.

[DAF]

Birr 2-9 St Rynaghs 1-5
Coolderry 3-14 Kilcormac/Killoughey 1-9

It was an extremely dissapointing days hurling as both St Rynaghs and Kilcormac/Killoughey were well off the pace and lacked much of a forward treath.Quality of hurling was mediocre overall.Sean Ryan was impressive for Birr and to be honest he looks a better hurler than footballer and would be a decent addition to the Offaly hurling panel as he has great pace strong as a bull and has an eye for goal, hopefully he will be picked for the hurling pnael and combine the 2 looking at him today he looks perfectly suited to playing in the full forward line in football but he has never been picked there as far as I can remember.Brian Watkins was impressive aswell for Birr and he looks like he could be a good addition to the Offaly panel.Ger Scales from Rynaghs is another player who looks like he could get a look in for Offaly.

Did anyone else think that Coolderry or Kilkormac should have wore a change strip.Both jersey coulours were very similar

[kingscounty]

have to agree i was very disappointed with the semi finals today.after birr won easy in the first i thought at least next game might be better, but i was wrong the 2 games were over at half time.birr and coolderry looked strong so hopefully we will get a good hard fought final.ryan was stand out player for birr and would be great addition to offaly at full forward,he scored a great goal and has speed and is very strong.i thought rynaghs did ok in the back line but they got no help from a poor forward line who really only had ger scales trying,he got a good goal to and might add something to the offaly set up with his pace. k/k were poor and i expected alot more from them.coolderrys damien murray was on fire,joe brady was dominant at centre back and the team played well as a unit.on todays games the two winners were impressive and deserve to be in the final, i also thought coolderry/k/k one of them should have worn different jersey.

[backofthenet]

Two bad games seems to be the concensus here, but in fairness I think everyone will agree Coolderry & Birr are by far the two best teams in the championship over the last ten years or so. There will be a lot of unfinished business on both sides, Birr will feel a bit hard done by after being knocked out by tullamore in the last two championships with Coolderry profiting, whilst Coolderry will feel they want to get the Birr monkey off their back once and for all.

The two games today were extremely one sided, not sure how anyone could see them ending any different, Rynaghs dont have one forward of note, their best scoring threat was situated at midfield which suited birr just fine. Kilcormac really werent allowed to start against Coolderry, A lightning start which is becoming the trademark of Ken Hogans reign put them 4 points up inside a few minutes and the goal just before half time ended this as a contest.

Bad semi finals but a really good final in prospect in 2 weeks, just a pity its going to be in tullamore.

[Long John]

Two terribly disappointing games. Both winners were far superior to their opponents. Rynaghs and KK are still miles off away from being genuine contenders.

Ryan had a good game for Birr. Super ball going in to him though. I thought Dylan Hayden used the ball brilliantly most of the time. Birr are very sharp and if they can tie up a few loose ends they could be a very fine team. For the quality of possession they had they should have won the game by alot more. Thats my biggest concern for them. Molloy and Rory Hanniffy won the midfield battle hands down, both using the ball very well.

In the other game KK were just taken apart. Everything just went wrong for them in the first half which left the game over at half time. It was one of those days. I thought the likes of Currams, Mahon and Healion for supposedly county players went missing and didnt want to know about it. They were terrible. Theres not much else to say about the game. It was terrible to watch and only one team did all the hurling. Coolderry will have to get kevin Brady to use the ball alot better. He wasted alot of good possession he had in MIdfield. On the colour clash, I have to agree with earlier poster, the jerseys were too alike.

The biggest concern from the games was the lack of stand out county performers. The likes of Rory Hanniffy, Dylan Hayden, and Joe Brady showed up very well. But outside that alot of the current panelist were no better than the rest on show.

Potentially I agree Sean Ryan should give the hurling a go over the football. I could see him making a decent impact for the hurlers if used correctly. Scales is very quick and scored a lovely goal and a great point straight after half time. County standard would be a massive step for him though.

[townman]

like most yesterday in tullamore i also thought the two games were disappointing with both games over at half time.
but you can only beat whats in front of you as they say

Birr flew out of the traps and had the game won when Bryan Lonergan scored their 2 goal in the 30 minute there was no way back
for Rynaghs after that and the game just die out the second half more like a challenge match.

Well Birr are back to where they wanted to be county final day still a few problems to be look over before the final the forward line are not
scoring enough with all the ball they are getting. also i thought it was a bad call to take Gary Hanniffy out of the half forward line where
he wasn't having the best of days but he was breaking ball setting up a few scores the half forward line went out of it after he went off.

they will have to address this for the county final as Coolderry won't let them off the hook down the other end with their chances
stand out players were Mick Verney again as in the tullamore game switch over to their danger man and does the job as he kept
ger scales quiet after Scales was causing trouble early on with his pace for JPO'Meara , but fair play to JP he clean up at left corner when they switch.

Neil Rogers had one of his best games in a Birr shirt at left half back with Barry Harding winning his duel with Flannerly hands down
but my MOTH was and the best hurler on view over the two games on sunday was Brian Watkins outstanding they put 3 lads on him
but he hurler them all he is Birr's tommy Walsh.

so who ever gets the offaly job the first thing is to get Watkins on the panel ASAP plus Barry Harding also, Sean Ryan great game again great goal
and Connor Heron or the Rynaghs fullback line had no Answer to him his power and pace another one who has to come onto the county hurling panel

Rory and molly won midfield hands down also with Gazza and James o'suillvan not at the races with them molly also had one of his best games in a while
as for Rory his great every day his flicks and touch were great on sunday, The Rover Hayden hurl well again and is a good captain went back into midfield
and his own half back line to clear ball late in the second half.

What Birr haven't got is a fee taker with Thomas Bolger missing to many easy frees don't know why they don't let Rory Hanniffy take them as he did underage
and for a few senior games a few years ago they have to get that right for the final, Brendan Murphy and Lonergan getting his goal also did ok but will have
to score more and get more into the game.

Just 60 minutes plus away from getting our hands on the Sean Robbins cup again will talk more as the game near's, well Done Birr and Paul Murphy on getting them
back to county final day.....

[Over The Black Spot]

A very disappointing day all round in Tullamore. Solid rain leading up to yesterday left the sod heavy so it was always going to lead to rucks and ponderous hurling. It was also one of the gloomiest looking days I can recall in a long while, the mist rose off the ground and sat just overhead for the day giving a depressed feeling to the whole occasion.

As for the games, Birr and Coolderry did what they had to and it would be foolish to judge either too comprehensively on yesterdays proceddings, which probably actually suits both I think as it lets them keep a bit up their sleeves for the big day. From a Birr point of view, they'll be happy that they dominated from 5 to 9 and that Paul Cleary got through a decent hours hurling. The forwards remains a slight concern with Dylan Hayden and Sean Ryan ploughing a lone furrow at times. Murphy, Lonergan and Bolger can do much damage but they won't be afforded much room against the Coolderry defence and they struggle to win 50/50s. Coolderry had an even easier time of it but still looked sharp. The back line was solid but I still have this nagging feeling that their keepers tardiness around the square is going to cost them eventually. The forwards, while not spectacular, were effective and Murray and Ryan looked dangerous every time the ball went in. The return of Kevin Connolly will also be a big boost as they're likely to need 8-9 effective forwards over the course of tthe hour to win the final.

As for the losers, I wouldn't go too hard on Rynaghs. While they were impressive in the group, a first semi-final for alot of the players was always likely to be a step too far. It's a big occasion no matter what anyone says and add to that the amount of players 21 and under and they're very much a team for the future. When they sit down in a few weeks and reflect back, they should be happy enough with the progress made. K/K on the other hand were abysmal. For a team with so many 'talked about' players, they continually collapse on the big stage. One would have to feel sorry for the likes of the Grogans who, despite resorting to some less than civil tactics at times, played their hearts out as they always do. It's hard to see what Padjoe is achieving with them and, in my opinion, they'd be best served going back to one of their own.

Looking forward to a good, close final. Very hard to call at this stage. Coolderry have the better forwards and Birr a stronger backline. May just be a case of Rory and Molly swinging it for Birr, but only just.

[puzzled]

Coolderry v K/K
Coolderry seem to be hitting form at the right time if Kevin Brady had got some of his shots on target it would have been much worse for K/K,the battle to win the final could be decided by whoever wins between Kevin Brady and Rory Hanniffy!
Interesting to see will K/K keep Pad Joe or vice versa,cant see him staying to be honest,they were a lot closer to winning the championship when John Leahy was over them!
Great win for Coolderry considering Brian Carroll was totally anonymous for most of the game,he will have to put in a big game if they have any chance of beating Birr!
Birr v St.Rynaghs
Birr won this without getting out of first gear,great progress getting to a semi for Rynaghs,apart from Simon Og Lyons they didnt have any stand out performers!
Rory Hanniffy again proved he is one of the best hurlers in the country along with Brian Watkins and Sean Ryan they were Birrs best players yesterday,great to see Barry Whelehan getting a run yesterday when it comes down to a battle in the final Birr will be glad to have him to call on!
Overall they were poor games and any prospective Offaly manager would not have been impressed with standard,its going to be a hard job for whoever gets it!