Even if it was planned by a script writer, the situation in the county hurling final as it was at 3.15pm on Sunday could not have been more primed for a memorable occasion to unfold. From nearly half an hour before throw in the stand was nearly full on a cool still and pleasant Autumn afternoon in anticipation of a great game of hurling. Both sides had reached the final with flawless records of six wins out of six, registering average winning margins of 13.5 and 14.3 respectively on the way. Birr were keen to avenge last years result, Coolderry out to prove that it wasn’t the fluke so many had seen it as. And with 13 minutes of the game expired, Coolderry were defending well, and having conceding the first two scores, they had converted a couple of frees to leave themselves back on level terms and well set to challenge Birr in a way no team had done this year so far.
After that the script writer must have gone for a cup of tea and never come back, because what followed was a comprehensive dismantling of Coolderry that left the more squeamish in the crowd putting their hands over their eyes and peeking through their fingers. At no stage from then on was it anything resembling a fair contest, and the huge crowd ended up going home disappointed having witnessed a fantastic exhibition of the skills of hurling, but not the thrilling encounter that was hoped for in the build up to the final of the 108th Offaly senior hurling championship.
With the game poised at 0-2 apiece, Birr had already registered a couple of wides, and the hope was that if Coolderry could stay in touch, their tougher semi final encounter might stand to them in a close finish. However from early on they were struggling to obtain any kind of primary possession, and with Claffey, Errity and Brian and Barry Whelahan catching and clearing countless balls from Coolderry puckouts, it was inevitable that the scores would start to mount up. The six minutes from then on saw a sequence of points from Rory Hanniffy, Michael Dwane, and one each from Simon and Barry Whelahan, Simon’s point in particular epitomising what this Birr team was all about. Paul Molloy had tracked a Martin Corcoran run on the stand side for over twenty yards, and eventually secured possession and transferred the ball to Barry Whelahan in midfield. He took the ball on and played an inch perfect pass to Simon, who found the target from 50 metres out with ease. It was the kind of honest, skilled and direct play that will serve Birr very well in their quest to regain their Leinster crown in the coming months.
On twenty minutes a close range score from James Masterson stemmed the tide temporarily, but a long range effort from Paul Molloy that just crept over the cross bar from midfield cancelled that out within 30 seconds, and at a time when Coolderry needed to be getting back into the game, they just could not get any ball into Paddy Teehan and Damien Murray in the full forward line. Andrew Hall was making some headway but was unable to get his passes away, Brian Carroll and Martin Corcoran ended up dropping very deep too often and were rarely up in support when they were needed, and Cathal Parlon, in marked contrast to last year’s Man of the Match winning display in this game, was struggling to get into the game and could only contribute a couple of wides.
Though Brian O’Meara and Trevor Corcoran in particular were defending as if their very lives depended on it, they could only do so much, and just before the break a second spell of scores pulled Birr further away. Gary Hanniffy, Brian Whelahan and Michael Dwane all raised white flags before a Danny Masterson score left matters at 0-10 to 0-4 at half time.
For all that, a six point deficit was retrievable, and shooting into the town end, or the “scoring end”, with their backs playing a fantastic damage limitation game, a more focussed and motivated Coolderry side playing with controlled fire and passion might have really engaged Birr in a contest. Instead they lost their discipline, and were mentally beaten from the throw in. The first ten minutes saw Birr pull out of sight with five consecutive points from Simon Whelahan, Molloy, Stephen Brown, Simon again and Dylan Hayden, while all Coolderry garnered during this time was a well deserved yellow card for county captain Barry Teehan. Manager Joe Tynan did all he could, removing four of his non-functioning forward line within the first quarter of an hour, but it was to no avail. As if to mock this effort, the next score came from the only Birr sub on the pitch, Declan Pilkington, who picked up a loose ball about 40 metres out, and then defied his age by sprinting clear of his marker, finishing by splitting the posts from close range on the right hand side.
For the last ten minutes, Birr were just hurling in second gear, clearly conscious of avoiding injury or suspension with greater challenges lying ahead. A couple of Rory Hanniffy frees kept the scoreboard ticking over either side of Coolderry’s only score in the second period, a run and finish from Dermot Dooley. He and his brother Gary rounded off the scoring in the last five minutes to give it a nice even look at 0-20 to 0-5, and the humiliation of the 2004 Champions was complete. By this point a lot of the large crowd had left, with the Coolderry supporters in particular not wishing to stay around for the liberal doses of salt that were being rubbed into the wounds with every pass and score. They have every reason to be gutted after such a lack lustre display from their team, and as one supporter was heard to remark, it means most Coolderry residents will probably be doing their shopping in Roscrea rather than Birr over the coming months.
That the game was so disappointing is in no way a poor reflection on Birr, who played a sublime game from start to finish, with every one of the twenty players involved making positive contributions, and from start to finish playing the kind of seamless team game that can only come from years of competing together. Their linking up together and measured accurate delivery of the ball among themselves was of such a high order that any team in Ireland would have struggled to live with it, and will certainly push them to the forefront of most people’s thoughts in terms of likely contenders for All Ireland glory next march. No doubt that will be the focus on Birr minds in the coming weeks with their opening match scheduled for November 6th, but in the meantime, they can bask in having re-established themselves as the premier hurling club in the county, in the most emphatic terms possible.
Teams:
Birr: Brian Mullins; Neil Rogers, Paul Cleary, John Paul O’Meara; Brian Whelahan (0-1, ’65), Joe Errity, Niall Claffey; Barry Whelahan (0-1), Paul Molloy (0-2); Rory Hanniffy (0-4, 0-2 frees), Gary Hanniffy (0-1), Stephen Brown (0-2); Dylan Hayden (0-1), Simon Whelahan (0-4, 0-2 frees), Michael Dwane (0-2).
Subs: Declan Pilkington (0-1) for Simon Whelahan (Blood Sub), Michael Verney for Brian Whelahan, Declan Pilkington for Dylan Hayden, Sean Ryan for Michael Dwane, Liam Power for Simon Whelahan.
Coolderry: Shane O’Connor; Trevor Corcoran, Brendan O’Meara, Alan Corcoran; Kevin Brady, Joe Brady, Barry Teehan; Andrew Hall, Martin Corcoran; Cathal Parlon, Brian Carroll, James Masterson (0-1); Danny Masterson (0-1), Paddy Teehan, Damien Murray (0-2, frees).
Subs: Dermot Dooley (0-1) for Danny Masterson, Paul Hudson for James Masterson, Kevin Teehan for Paddy Teehan, David Dooley for Cathal Parlon
Referee: Tony Carroll
Yellow Cards: Barry Teehan, Trevor Corcoran, Stephen Brown
Wides: 1st Half - Birr 6 Coolderry 2
2nd Half - Birr 3 Coolderry 4
Total - Birr 9 Coolderry 6
Birr 0-20 Coolderry 0-5
-
Lone Shark
- All Star
- Posts: 5378
- Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:21 pm
- Club: Ferbane
- Location: Roscommon
- Contact:
