all ireland club hurling championship

[llkj]

Don't agree with your rational at all but not interested in getting into a debate about it here any further, as I like your posts and value your contributions to the forum, so I don't want to seem like I was having a go at you personally.
Keep up the good work!

[kinnittyman]

Don't agree with your rational at all but not interested in getting into a debate about it here any further, as I like your posts and value your contributions to the forum, so I don't want to seem like I was having a go at you personally.
Keep up the good work!

It's a pity Townman/bluesky couldn't take a leaf out of your book vis a vis disagreeing with someone!!

What time is throw in? I might go and see how our "nearest and dearest" get on.

[Jack The Lad]

Best of luck to Coolderry today ye have the ability to do the job. All the best.

[Bord na Mona man]

So far so good! Coolderry ahead by 5.

[Kevin]

They did it!

Onward to the final!!!!

[Superted]

Great result! Well done Coolderry.

[kingscounty]

offaly hurling is alive and well, what a win. great to see coolderry in the final on paddys day cant wait to head to croker. gort were totally out hurled today , the skill and scores coolderry displayed today were class. ryans goal in the first half was vital and it was a great run he went on and he had a little step that got him away from the defender. i thought murray was excellent one again, parlon and carroll to and barry teehan at centre forward had a great game.the backs were tight and did well to keep the goals out, midfield worked hard and got stuck in , once again big joe brady was outstanding at centre back, strenght, awareness and has skill for such a big man . the whole team are a credit to themselves, their families and to the club and supporters . offaly hurling has being in a bad place over the last 10 years or so and the county should get a great lift from coolderrys performances this year. its hard to imagine that last year coolderry were beaten by the westmeath champions in the first round and now the final awaits , amazing what can happen in a year. i would urge all the county to get behind coolderry and travel if you can to croker on paddys day and hopefully see coolderry crowned all ireland champs.

[Bord na Mona man]

Well done to Coolderry and its great to have an Offaly team in the club finals.
I noticed that right through the campaign that pundits and average hurling follower tended be somewhat dismissive of Coolderry's chances of being a genuine All Ireland contenders.
Perhaps its a sign of how Offaly hurling tends to be overlooked these days.

Coolderry have played some very good hurling too, their forward play in particular has been intelligent. You'd also have to think someone like Damien Murray would have something to offer the county team if perhaps he got a more measured supply of ball.

The final is really something to look forward to. Ever since the 1989 All Ireland semi, Antrim teams have always fancied their chances against Offaly sides. The manner is which Loughgiel buried Na Piarsaigh in extra time might give them a far greater fill up than a 1 point win in normal time.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Sorry to divert the thread (again!). I'm well aware you weren't 'havig a go' at me, llkj, and I hope the feeling was mutual. I was just thinking, last night, isn't it great to have a mature debate on a site without it descending into a personal slanging match.

Back to the topic in question. Really, really impressed with Coolderry today. Barry Teehan and Murt were key.

So many brilliant little cameos. Two Parlon points in the first half, one off each side. Murray's point over the shoulder. Kevin Connolly catching a puckout. Kevin Teehan racing upfield to score. Joe with two mighty catches. Trevor's catch late in the game (was the 6'4" sub marking him at the time?). Barry Teehan's brilliant first-half block. Carroll's mighty point from distance about three-quarter ways through when Gort had reduced the lead - possibly the most valuable he'll ever score. The Gort management arguing near the end.

And the poor record of the 'Greatest Hurling Province' against Northern opposition in the club Championship continues. Just one win (in normal time) in the last five semi-finals, and that was a single-point win for Newtownshandrum over Portaferry. And all the attention will be on Watson in the build-up to the Final. Which suits Coolderry just fine.

Don't agree with your rational at all but not interested in getting into a debate about it here any further, as I like your posts and value your contributions to the forum, so I don't want to seem like I was having a go at you personally.
Keep up the good work!

[durra1]

Just back from LK via a stop-off at the Mill House. With the rugby off I couldn’t wait till Monday to compliment a fantastic Coolderry performance and a comprehensive win.

Looking at the odds offered on the competitions outright prices ahead of today you got the feeling the sterling efforts of Coolderry in Leinster were either overlooked or inadequately researched by the bean-counting sages in the bookmaker’s back offices.

Kings County has summarised well. This was the sum of the parts, which Ken Hogan and his management team may take real credit for. Joe Brady was bullet-proof , the full back line held the nippy Gort corner men at bay all afternoon, Brian Carroll and Kevin Tehan chipped in with some timely scores and the full forward line did something the county full forward line hasn’t done in 10 years for the full hour – played their men from the front.

Cathal Parlons second point over his head showed to all he’s an accomplished stickman as well as a sturdy athlete.

More particularly I’d like to rave about the great performance by Barry Teehan who brought craft, poise and a thinking-mans game to the battle all afternoon. Dare I say it – could he do a job yet for the county in the summer? While none can match the stickmanship of John Troy, the yardstick we place on all our 11’s - he has things that you can coach – composure, positional sense and cuteness in his distribution, and seeing him get airborne to block the Gort 6 on the first half showed he can do the dirty stuff too.

Loughiel have history over Offaly opponents – their county men in 1989 and St Rynaghs in the earlier club final. They won’t fear Coolderry and Ken Hogan will know it. As POTH rightly points out, the focus will be on Watson, the papers will talk up an Ulster Club All Ireland and Coolderry will be cool with that.

Again my congratulations to Backoftehnet et all – great that ye will have a day out on the 17th of March – hope ye don’t mind a few bandwagoners jumping aboard for the journey!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Well done to Coolderry! Huge win, and the key thing for me was the amount of dirty ball on the ground that was won by players all over the field. The flicks and the skill levels were very high.
Time to refocus after today, and I am sure there will be a massive amount of lads jumping on the bandwagon!

[Long John]

Well done to Coolderry. A great performance. One of the best ive seen from this group. Some of the scores were as good as Ive seen any day.

To sum up how well Coolderry hurled in key positions you have to just look at the decisions Gort ended up making. Their full back, centre back and centre forward who are all well renowned good hurlers and key men for them were taken off.
I think Gort saw Brian Carroll as the main threat before the game and made a bad decision in putting sylvie linnane junior on him. Linnane has been flying in midfield up to this. What happened then was the game effectively passed the two of them by, neither really getting much ball at all. I thought it was a bad move by Gort. Carroll had a quiet game but as I was telling one the the lads with me, if he gets a ball in his hand your nearly guaranteed a score. Next thing he lands two of the finest points you'll see. Very important scores at that stage as Gort were getting a bit of momentum up.

For me, Martin Corcoran was brilliant. The amount of ball he won and the number of scores he had a part in was very high. In fact I thought during the first half in particular that Kevin Teehan and King were really struggling down the left side, but Corcoran really put in a serious shift.
Barry Teehan also hurled super.

I thought Trevor Corcoran looked a little shakey. Just anytime the ball went in, there was alarm bells. But in fairness the full back line kept plugging away even after a few mistakes.

Coolderry were full value for the win. In my opinion a few of the frees given against them in first half were very harsh. But they kept the focus and the teamwork and unselfishness in attack was super to watch.

What awaits now is a big challenge. I had read a few months ago some sports writer saying that a good bet would be on Lougheil to win the All Ireland. I saw them last year in the semi against O' Loughlin gaels and thought they were a little unlucky that they conceded goals at a time where they had the pressure on. They are a strong physical outfit and so were the gaels so it was quiet a physical dogged match. Obviously Watson is the main man but expect them to be hugely determined. Coolderry will have to match their intensity and then let hurling be the winner.

Well done to all involved. Up the training again now because as good as the performance and result was at the weekend, it will mean nothing if they lose the final. It was also nice to see so many faces from other clubs in the county there on Saturday shouting them on. As I said previously we have all had our battles and rivalries in the county but its nice to see such support.

[My Left Foot]

congrats to Coolderry

Watched it on the telly box - better team won but it was getting very tight at one point.

Will need to refocus for the final because Northern teams show no fear whatsoever against Offaly teams.

I hope our county team picks up the baton from Coolderry now.

Looking forward to Patricks Day and hope all clubs rally behind Coolderry now as we did with Birr in the past

[townman]

well done Coolderry great win rough weekend on the beer saturday in Jerry flanerys pub great crack great win
roll on paddys day to sick to write more the auld head is at me

[Lone Shark]

My first point is this - feck UPC anyway. I was at the Gallen school match on Saturday afternoon so couldn't watch the game on TV, so I set GAA Beo to record. The useless box recorded the opening credits. So I'll be reduced to watching highlights tonight only.

Secondly, and much more importantly, congratulations and well done to a great Coolderry team. The difference between Coolderry this year and last is striking. I can only assume that the difference is that in 2010, a lot of teams rolled over and died against them - they didn't have a tough game in Offaly. When they did meet a stiff challenge, they weren't ready for it. This year there were no such question marks - they stepped up and delivered, most importantly in a crucial county final against Birr, and instead of hurling away while everyone else was making a bags of it, Coolderry stepped up and won the championship instead. The psychological value of that win seems to have been immense and they've been hurling with real panache since then.

Yesterday was a huge challenge against a very good Gort defence and to score 3-16 was an excellent achievement. They've really put a spring in the step of everyone in the county and while they have a huge task ahead of them against a very good Loughgiel team, it's great to be looking forward to travelling to Croke Park and supporting them. Now I may end up trapped amidst a lot of St Brigids supporters when I'm up there if they get through Garrycastle this week, but I'll still be happy with that!