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Seems to have a good record where ever he goes alright, Birr will be in a semi final, the thing is can they put a big performance together at that stage. They have the hurlers they just need to go out and do it on the big day.

The main reason why there isn't a Birr man on the top of scorers sheet,I would imagine is E Cahill the freetaker was missing the clareen game and hurled in goals the second half of the tullamore game due to an injury to mullins I would think he would be up there otherwise.

greenairfield wrote:Birr will be in a semi final, the thing is can they put a big performance together at that stage.

There's one for the Belmont dressing room if they beat Ballinamere at weekend!

I very much doubt Birr are looking beyond the qfinal yet.

greenairfield wrote:Seems to have a good record where ever he goes alright, Birr will be in a semi final, the thing is can they put a big performance together at that stage. They have the hurlers they just need to go out and do it on the big day.

The main reason why there isn't a Birr man on the top of scorers sheet,I would imagine is E Cahill the freetaker was missing the clareen game and hurled in goals the second half of the tullamore game due to an injury to mullins I would think he would be up there otherwise.

That makes sense alright.
Am I correct in saying that Cahill was the U21 goalkeeper? And that the Senior Sub Goalie was the U21 Sub Goalie?
What age is Mullins at this stage? Anybody else his age still hurling Senior with Birr?

Yes you would be right regarding cahill been u 21 goalkeeper and the senior sub keeper was sub with the U - 21s also.

Mullins is still up there with Dempsey as the best goalie in offaly great shot stopper and great hands.

Mullins is 38 I think.
Barry whelahan is midfield who is 39.

Then you have Rory hanniffy who is wing forward who is 33 roughly....After that everyone is young enough.

both Mullins and Barry Whelahan are playing in their 20th year with Birr some going fair play to them with all they won over the years they are still playing and giving everything to the club.

That's a fantastic record of service by Brian and Barry. As far as I can make out, both lads first played Senior championship in 1996. Birr have played over 130 Offaly SHC matches since 1996's first round (to which can be added 35 matches in the Leinster and All-Ireland series). I can't recall either missing too many games either, indeed I'd say Mullins only missed a few around September / October 2006 when Mark Mulrooney deputized in goal.

Very few come close to that time span. I see Cathal Murphy hurled Senior for Ballyskenagh in 1996 and was still lining out for B-K last year (I don't know if he's still hurling this year). And for Lusmagh, Aidan Hanrahan and Brian Troy both made Senior debuts a year later (1997) and are still hurling this year.

I thought it would be interesting to chart who are Offaly Senior hurling clubs’ longest serving hurlers. Here's what I came up with. Happy to entertain any contradictions.

Ballinamere: presumably Daniel Minnock, around 2000?
Belmont: Paul Egan (who I saw hurl in the IHC around 2003)
Birr: Brian Mullins & Barry Whelahan (both debuted in 1996)
Coolderry: Barry Teehan & Joe Brady were Senior in 2000
Kilcormac-Killoughey: Ger Healion (sole survivor of the 2002 final)
Kinnitty: Matthew McRedmond (debut in 2001, I'm told)
Lusmagh: Brian Troy (debut in May 1997), Aidan Hanrahan (August 1997)
Seir Kieran: Barry Bergin (there since 2002)
St Rynagh’s: Conor Hernon, Gary Kelly (there since 2005 anyway)
Shinrone: Michael Cordial there since 2000 or 2001
Shamrocks: Brian Kearney (won an IHC in 2000)
Tullamore: Nigel Mannion (there since 2002)

townman wrote:both Mullins and Barry Whelahan are playing in their 20th year with Birr some going fair play to them with all they won over the years they are still playing and giving everything to the club.

Absolutely. Fair play to both. Outstanding service.

Birr vs Belmont
Seir Kieran vs Kil/ Kil
Kinnity vs Shinrone
Coolderry vs St Rynaghs

Quater final predictions

Birr v Belmont -Birr will have too much for them. I think they will win by 6 or 7 pts.

Banagher v Coolderry - I am gonna say Coolderry by a point, which will be a bit of shock.

Kk v clareen - clareen to sneak it not because they are flying it because they really aren't but only because k/k are all over the place at the minute.

Shirone v kinnity - shinrone by 4 or 5.

An interesting win for Shinrone over Kilcormac yesterday. Shinrone have a decent record over Kilcormac at underage in recent years (most notably beating them in the 2013 Minor final and the U21 semi-final earlier that year).

Now, I wasn’t there and I don’t want to rubbish Shinrone’s achievement (well done to the Reds from the south, by the way) but was there really an incentive for Kilcormac to go and beat Shinrone last night? Win, and they got Coolderry, lose and they got Clareen.

As for Shinrone, I’d be lying if I said I saw that win coming, having seen them in round 4. That said, their team is set up that bit better this year. The Doughans man the centre of the defence where Shane McKelvey, Conor Doughan and Michael Cleary form a decent half-back line, Michael Cordial is in his best position at midfield. Joe Cleary, always a fine hurler, is fully fit and contributing this year, Dónal Morkan is lining out in the correct position on the right side of the attack, and the St Rynagh’s performance aside they are hurling with a consistency this year.

A combination of wet slippery conditions and the likelihood that their quarter-final opponents were on a watching brief probably caused St Rynagh’s to abandon the short game against Lusmagh last night. They were still the superior team last night and the result was beyond doubt at half-time when they led 3-8 to 0-6. Physically stronger and pacier too.

They lined out without Danny Maloney and Dermot Shortt in their full-back line. Ben Conneely did well at full-back and Niall Wynne reverted from attack to defence, which I think suits him better anyway. Mattie Maloney and Ronan Hughes were the pick of the forwards, though I’m not sure how their half-forward line of Quirke, Quirke and Hughes would do in the ball-winning department against superior opposition.

Definitely some interesting quarter finals down for decision. No stand out team so it is really wide open.

What is the relegation structure this year? Is it the bottom two from each group or a straight up relegation final between Tullamore and Lusmagh?

On a side note, looking at the county fixtures, I noticed that there never seems to be games on Tuesday evenings. Has that always been the case and I've just never coped it? If they keep that day free, why?

As far as I am aware, there are relegation semi-finals, though that cannot be presumed. There have been semi-finals each of the last three recent years and in 2010, but not in 2011 or 2012.

llkj wrote:Definitely some interesting quarter finals down for decision. No stand out team so it is really wide open.

What is the relegation structure this year? Is it the bottom two from each group or a straight up relegation final between Tullamore and Lusmagh?

On a side note, looking at the county fixtures, I noticed that there never seems to be games on Tuesday evenings. Has that always been the case and I've just never coped it? If they keep that day free, why?

QUARTER FINAL FIXTURES!!

Saturday 10th September
Kilcormac/Killoughey v Seir Kieran O’Connor Pk 3.30pm Brian Gavin
Birr v Belmont O’Connor Pk 5pm Kieran Dooley

Sunday 11th September
Shinrone v Kinnitty Birr 3.30pm Declan Cooke
Coolderry v St Rynagh’s Birr 5pm Shane Guinan

Four good games in store but good have predicted all of these 8 would qualify from groups at the beginning of the year.

Anyone know the story with relegation?

greenairfield wrote:Quater final predictions

Birr v Belmont -Birr will have too much for them. I think they will win by 6 or 7 pts.

Banagher v Coolderry - I am gonna say Coolderry by a point, which will be a bit of shock.

Kk v clareen - clareen to sneak it not because they are flying it because they really aren't but only because k/k are all over the place at the minute.

Shirone v kinnity - shinrone by 4 or 5.

I'll go with
Birr
St. Rynagh's
Shinrone
KK