Offaly Senior B Hurling Championship 2024

[faithfulfanatic]

Have kk brought up any of their senior Bs up to play senior A?

Alex Kavanagh came on today for KK for last few mins after scoring 3 points for Senior B's yesterday.

Not sure what rationale would be behind this ? Obviously meaning he can't play in the Senior B now. The A's were through already and today's game was more or less over when he came on so not sure why he would come on?

Rumour all week was that he would play, as KK were down to 16 of the 18 senior A players due to injuries.

He had also come on early in the game as a blood sub for Adam Screeney.

[faithfulfanatic]

Headed over to FF tonight for Birr and Clara in the relegation final.
Birr down a good few through injuries and Clara without Ciaran and Colm Doyle who have returned to Dubai following their teaching summer holidays at home.

Clara got an early lead and went up 8-3.
Birr bit back with a belter of a penalty from their goalie.
Level at HT and birr with a wind to come.
In the end, Clara’s fitness shone through, Birr seemed unable to win any breaking ball in the half forward line.
Cormac Delaney gave an excellent display of free taking for Clara.
Conor Doyle was anonymous.
Barry Egan took his goal well but was otherwise quiet enough at corner forward.
Marcas Dalton was very poor in midfield and is a very poor striker of the ball, very hard to see how he came on for the Offaly u20s this year. From what I’ve seen he’s a lot better footballer.
Great to see Ed Cullen back from a bad injury and his physicality told true at wing back in the second half, keeping Tom Bolger very quiet.

Cormac Kenny and Eoin Pilkington were the best for Birr.
Jack Regan who retired from professional rugby last week was named at 14 for Birr but didn’t see any action.
It beggars belief how they didn’t at least try him at full forward when needing a goal late on, especially given that Marius Stones spilt 2 or 3 balls in the Clara goalmouth.

The faithful fields is a fabulous facility and a testament to the county.

[private joker]

Agree with the previous poster other than thought Barry was good, scoring 1-3 I think?. Cathal o meara at wing back was pretty good on the ball, great burst of speed. Conor Doyle needs to either find a position where he can get on the ball or needs a break from hurling. Fitzgerald was excellent for birr and ricky fitz got good scores. A poor championship for clara yet again who had to battle with a Birr team that were a lot weaker than when they met in the championship group stage.

[Faithful Future]

The Double Ks finished strong to reach another final. They have some nice hurlers throughout, however it must be said that Lusmagh gave a good account of themselves.

A strange game that had no flow to it, largely in part to a whistle-happy referee. Hopefully our referees will be encouraged to let games flow a bit more.

Plenty of that KK team may have something to add to their Senior A teams progression later this year.
I was impressed with the Geraghtys, JK Kilmartin & Kavanagh up front in the second period as well as Charlie Bracken and Karl Guinan who look to be good strong defenders.

[SearingDrive]

The Double Ks finished strong to reach another final. They have some nice hurlers throughout, however it must be said that Lusmagh gave a good account of themselves.

A strange game that had no flow to it, largely in part to a whistle-happy referee. Hopefully our referees will be encouraged to let games flow a bit more.

Plenty of that KK team may have something to add to their Senior A teams progression later this year.
I was impressed with the Geraghtys, JK Kilmartin & Kavanagh up front in the second period as well as Charlie Bracken and Karl Guinan who look to be good strong defenders.

The double Ks looked in bother from the online scores, but they came good in the end. They must be favourites for another Senior B title.
Clodiagh Gaels beat C&R by 6 points yesterday. I thought the men from the Birr parish, North Tipp end, would have performed better on the day.

[faithfulfanatic]

Caught most of the first game and was seriously impressed with Lusmagh, their heart and desire for such a small place is admirable.
Themselves, Kinnitty and Clareen epitomise Offaly hurling and what we need. KK and Ballinamere may make up the majority of our county panels now but that bit of fight and determination can’t be bought or sold.
I thought the ref was very harsh on them throughout.
Matthew Farrell is a young ref down from Roscommon and has shown no indication so far that he is able for this level.
Kevin Corrigan’s article suggested that Lusmagh got most of the marginal calls, which is quite laughable to any neutral in attendance.
Lusmagh never really stood a chance in extra time with KK able to introduce the likes of James Geraghty, Mark Mulrooney, Dan Currams and Thomas Geraghty.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Very interesting to get a neutral perspective of the referee. I don't normally spend a match berating a referee- honest! - but yesterday was an exceptionally. To me, he seemed to believe it was his duty to bail Killoughey out!

As for Lusmagh, this year was difficult. Numbers are tight at the best of times, but they were without five 2023 starters all this year. So in six matches this year they'd used just 19 players, and of those, one made his sole appearance as a sub in extra time yesterday, another came off the bench in the group game against Killoughey, whole another made four appearances off the bench. So just 16 starters.

Ironic then that in seven years at Senior B, this year was the closest they've come to reaching the final.

And we'll always have that brilliant performance in the group win over Clodiagh Gaels in round 3, arguably their best performance of the last five years. Entering the game under pressure, they played outstanding hurling where the touch was pitch perfect. I'd say it gave Clodiagh Gaels their wake up call, for they apparently haven't looked back since.

Caught most of the first game and was seriously impressed with Lusmagh, their heart and desire for such a small place is admirable.
Themselves, Kinnitty and Clareen epitomise Offaly hurling and what we need. KK and Ballinamere may make up the majority of our county panels now but that bit of fight and determination can’t be bought or sold.
I thought the ref was very harsh on them throughout.
Matthew Farrell is a young ref down from Roscommon and has shown no indication so far that he is able for this level.
Kevin Corrigan’s article suggested that Lusmagh got most of the marginal calls, which is quite laughable to any neutral in attendance.
Lusmagh never really stood a chance in extra time with KK able to introduce the likes of James Geraghty, Mark Mulrooney, Dan Currams and Thomas Geraghty.

[frankthetank]

In fairness to Clodiagh Gaels they have mastered the art of timing their run to form to perfection in the Senior B championship. It seems every year they start off poorly and but gradually come into form at the end of the group stage which leaves them primed for the knockouts.

Their Senior B record is pretty impressive to be fair:
2019 Finalists
2020 Semi-finalists, beaten by Kinnitty who went on to win the competition out.
2021 Champions
2022 Hurled in Senior A
2023 Finalists
2024 Finalists

I actually expect them to beat Kilcormac/Killoughey in this year's final as K/K just simply aren't as strong as last year when they had Ter Guinan, James Mahon, Alex Kavanagh, Diggy Hand and Leigh Kavanagh.

Having said all that I do feel there is too much wriggle room and room for error in this championship with 66% of the teams qualifying for the knockouts. I would much prefer to see the top team going directly to the final and 2nd and 3rd meet in the semi-final.

[frankthetank]

The Double Ks finished strong to reach another final. They have some nice hurlers throughout, however it must be said that Lusmagh gave a good account of themselves.

A strange game that had no flow to it, largely in part to a whistle-happy referee. Hopefully our referees will be encouraged to let games flow a bit more.

Plenty of that KK team may have something to add to their Senior A teams progression later this year.
I was impressed with the Geraghtys, JK Kilmartin & Kavanagh up front in the second period as well as Charlie Bracken and Karl Guinan who look to be good strong defenders.

I thought the stand out defender on the day was Harry Sweeney. And an excellent ball player aswell. Possibly U20 next year but not sure on that.

[SearingDrive]

In fairness to Clodiagh Gaels they have mastered the art of timing their run to form to perfection in the Senior B championship. It seems every year they start off poorly and but gradually come into form at the end of the group stage which leaves them primed for the knockouts.

Their Senior B record is pretty impressive to be fair:
2019 Finalists
2020 Semi-finalists, beaten by Kinnitty who went on to win the competition out.
2021 Champions
2022 Hurled in Senior A
2023 Finalists
2024 Finalists

I actually expect them to beat Kilcormac/Killoughey in this year's final as K/K just simply aren't as strong as last year when they had Ter Guinan, James Mahon, Alex Kavanagh, Diggy Hand and Leigh Kavanagh.

Having said all that I do feel there is too much wriggle room and room for error in this championship with 66% of the teams qualifying for the knockouts. I would much prefer to see the top team going directly to the final and 2nd and 3rd meet in the semi-final.

Hope you are Correct Frank. The problem to me, is that the Senior B teams find the step up to Senior A Hurling too big of a gap.

[private joker]

Say clodaigh gaels will win. They got two reds in last years semi finals to two big players plus with kk just not as strong as in 2023.

[SearingDrive]

Say clodaigh gaels will win. They got two reds in last years semi finals to two big players plus with kk just not as strong as in 2023.

A full panel this year. Clodiagh Gaels have a great chance to win the SH. B Final.

[private joker]

Kk with back to back senior b titles.

[faithfulfanatic]

Kk with back to back senior b titles.

7 point win in a storm.
How many would it have been on a fine day?

[private joker]

No relegation again from senior A