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Some things are up for debate and are a matter of opinion, but I'd say with complete confidence that if any of those three clubs were drawn to play Birr in a knockout championship tie right now, Birr would be underdogs. This is what I do for a living and I can guarantee it would be the case. I'm not saying Birr couldn't win, but they've a lot of improvement to find.

It's all very well to look back on 2014 and say that Birr were badly set up, or that the wrong personnel were employed in certain roles, but Johnny Pilkington was training them for two years, he knew the players inside out and saw all their matches in championship, league and challenge ties, and he had a far better clue what he was dealing with it than most. It's usually quite simplistic to presume that if players had been selected differently, then they'd have been a completely different team.

Equally, it's easy to say that if Birr had their best XV on the field then everything would be different, but by the time September rolls around and we're at the tail end of a championship year, how many teams get to line out without one or two key absentees? Everyone is missing players at various stages and while I'll accept that K/K seem to be the exception to that rule, whether that's good preparation or sheer luck I don't know, you have to line out with the players you have.

Yes Birr got to a county final in 2013, but they were outclassed when they got there, and I would also argue that their win over Shinrone wasn't about Birr playing well, it was about Shinrone completely blowing up on the day when the prospect of winning a big knockout game was in front of them. That is of course a matter of opinion, but in terms of the betting odds, Birr are fifth in the county right now by any logical measure, while the team behind them (Shinrone) has a much younger age profile and so logically should be capable of stepping up a little bit too.

i take ur point lone shark .
in the clareen game last year i thought birr were no longer a force in offaly after going 10 points down but with a few switches they came right back into the game and if p cleary pen had gone in i think birr would have went on to win .
i me rynagh clareen cooldery and birr can beat each other on any given day .
i expect all 4 to be in the knockouts next year along with kk

Best of luck to Paddy Kirwan with Birr. He is an excellent Manager. Straight and to the point. Something Birr need.
Birr have some excellent hurlers but the style of hurling they played over the last few year hasn't been getting the best out of them.
I got slated last early last year for saying that Birr were the 6 best team in Offaly( i was wrong they around the 5 best) i expect them to improve under an experienced Manager.
The good thing for Paddy Kirwan is that he has a Good young Full back and a good Centre back ready made in Haynes and Cleary.
They have a Good midfield ready made with Hanniffy and Murphy or Ryan.
They need to find a hard working centre and full forward to bridge the gap from them to Kilcormac Killoughey.

Johnny Pilkington had two years with Birr and showed some promise. He still young in management terms.
He made some mistake but so has every manager.
I hope he get a new coaching job soon working under a experience manager or in experience management team. Its could bring his skills again.

It's great to see so much great work been done in Birr.
I look forward to seeing their strategic plan and the implementation process.

In my own personal opinion I just can't see it happen. It's hilarious the amount of people from Limerick/Dublin and Clare going around putting themselves out as the people who setup the great structures in all these counties. It's absolute nonsense.

It's sad to see the demise of a great club.

Offalys Future wrote:It's great to see so much great work been done in Birr.
I look forward to seeing their strategic plan and the implementation process.

In my own personal opinion I just can't see it happen. It's hilarious the amount of people from Limerick/Dublin and Clare going around putting themselves out as the people who setup the great structures in all these counties. It's absolute nonsense.

It's sad to see the demise of a great club.

as much as been done in Clareen, or Banagher,Coolderry, Kinnitty, its hard to stay at the top and win what we did and the players that we gave the club and county, the only one talking nonsense is you as you have a chip on your shoulder over Birr it seems, i am sure we will see more bullshit when offaly lose a game or two this year. if you were in Mullingar last sunday their was a young hurler by the name of Emmett Nolan who hurl vey well we also have a young player in Eoghan Cahill who please god will be a fine county and club hurler to. but we won't hear anything like that from you just the bitter towards the Birr club you can talk shit here about them but you can't take away what they have won and done for offaly over the years as other clubs have to let me add.

townman wrote:

Offalys Future wrote:It's great to see so much great work been done in Birr.
I look forward to seeing their strategic plan and the implementation process.

In my own personal opinion I just can't see it happen. It's hilarious the amount of people from Limerick/Dublin and Clare going around putting themselves out as the people who setup the great structures in all these counties. It's absolute nonsense.

It's sad to see the demise of a great club.

as much as been done in Clareen, or Banagher,Coolderry, Kinnitty, its hard to stay at the top and win what we did and the players that we gave the club and county, the only one talking nonsense is you as you have a chip on your shoulder over Birr it seems, i am sure we will see more bullshit when offaly lose a game or two this year. if you were in Mullingar last sunday their was a young hurler by the name of Emmett Nolan who hurl vey well we also have a young player in Eoghan Cahill who please god will be a fine county and club hurler to. but we won't hear anything like that from you just the bitter towards the Birr club you can talk shit here about them but you can't take away what they have won and done for offaly over the years as other clubs have to let me add.

stop living in the past

Quick question lads-

Being wondering this for a while.

Am I correct in stating that the O' Connor Park pitch is the maximum size allowable- 145m X 90m?
What size then is the St Brendan's Park pitch?

Apparently Walsh Cup matches will be played in Birr next year.
I don't see the harm in it as spreading the early season games around is often a nice gesture to smaller grounds.
Let's hope this puts an end to some of the nonsense, rather than encouraging more of it.

Bord na Mona man wrote:Apparently Walsh Cup matches will be played in Birr next year.
I don't see the harm in it as spreading the early season games around is often a nice gesture to smaller grounds.
Let's hope this puts an end to some of the nonsense, rather than encouraging more of it.

And what if we see a big increase in attendances at games in Birr. Should we continue playing league games in OCP with paltry attendances and zero atmosphere.

joe bloggs wrote:

Bord na Mona man wrote:Apparently Walsh Cup matches will be played in Birr next year.
I don't see the harm in it as spreading the early season games around is often a nice gesture to smaller grounds.
Let's hope this puts an end to some of the nonsense, rather than encouraging more of it.

And what if we see a big increase in attendances at games in Birr. Should we continue playing league games in OCP with paltry attendances and zero atmosphere.

League games should for the most part by in Tullamore because that's where Offaly's home championship venue is.
Kilkenny, Dublin, Galway or Wexford won't be coming to Birr anytime soon for a Leinster Championship game. Why spend the league somewhere league somewhere else and neutralise the benefit of home advantage?

Let's not kid ourselves about traditonal attendances for Birr though. With each passing year a couple of myths grow about Offaly in Birr.
1) That it was somehow a fortress that teams feared coming to - it wasn't and Offaly's poor league record bears this out.
2) That the punters packed in there for matches. Not usually, even allowing for the skimming of the gate receipts, Birr attendances weren't massive.

I'd expect the Walsh Cup games there to get a decent attendance for a couple of reasons. Obviously the novelty factor will boost the attendance. Also the self proclaimed superior hurling people from the region will have to put their money where their mouth is and show up.

If the games are well supported then great. And lets not forgot other grounds like Banagher that could host these fixtures.
But let's not mistake interest in one offs as being indicative of something that will scale out to more games. When Birr had all the games, Walsh Cup matches there had sparse attendances, even with more competitive Offaly teams. It would revert back to such attendance levels again if all the league games were played there.

joe bloggs wrote:

Bord na Mona man wrote:Apparently Walsh Cup matches will be played in Birr next year.
I don't see the harm in it as spreading the early season games around is often a nice gesture to smaller grounds.
Let's hope this puts an end to some of the nonsense, rather than encouraging more of it.

And what if we see a big increase in attendances at games in Birr. Should we continue playing league games in OCP with paltry attendances and zero atmosphere.

If that is the case, then there may be a case for having a discussion about it, though the point the BnaM man makes above holds true - home Leinster SHC games will be played in O'Connor Park, so it makes sense that the county team have played there a few times before the summer. And in a league competition where you might only get two home games, there isn't enough in it to do both.

Also, since games have gone to OCP, Walsh Cup returns have gone up, county final returns have gone way up, and even last year when there were two QF double headers with SBP getting what was widely regarded as the more attractive pair of games, there still was a bigger crowd at the games in Tullamore. So can we please stop perpetuating the myth that massive crowds used to flock to Birr for matches?

They've done great work in Birr club, the new committee is clearly very dedicated and hard working, and when they finally get a Slattery report done, it's only right that their work should be rewarded with high profile games. In fairness to those involved now, they seem to accept that you have to get things done and approved the right way, you can't just ignore things like H&S and keep spouting nonsense about tradition and heartland. But let's not get carried away. This weekend there are two more hurling QF double headers, of broadly equal appeal. If it is true that there is a body of hurling support that will go to Birr for good games, then we'll have 500 or so more people in SBP on Sunday than will be in OCP on Saturday. I'm going to push to try and get the numbers and we'll see if that's the case.

Your anti birr and that's a fact,you will Doctor the numbers to suit.all the senior hurling clubs,reps and players around Offaly want the hurling back in birr.i will turn a blind eye to your ignorance of the fact that you have probably never hurled on either pitch.birr is a better hurling field..

Keiap wrote:Your anti birr and that's a fact,you will Doctor the numbers to suit.all the senior hurling clubs,reps and players around Offaly want the hurling back in birr.i will turn a blind eye to your ignorance of the fact that you have probably never hurled on either pitch.birr is a better hurling field..

I have hurled in both, Tullamore is a nicer field to hurl in end of, better facilities, changing areas too. There is a myth built up around Birr at this stage that replicates the Coliseum in Rome. But, I am happy enough for hurling to return to Birr for 3 reasons.

1. It will cut out the enormous of shit talk in this website and in other domains.
2. It will remove another excuse that people make about the failures of Offaly hurling that exist presently and will let people literally focus on the REAL issues that effect Offaly e.g. underage structures
3. I'm expecting massive crowds in Birr to support Offaly since its returning to its "real" home and in fairness a increase in number of supporters at matches can only be a good thing.

BNM and Lone shark, not for one minute do i think attendances were " HUGE " in Birr towards OCP but i do firmly believe that Offaly hurling has fallen downwards since its been moved to Tullamore. Yes I know its not the only reason we are not competing anymore but its one of the main factors. The Birr area is the hurling strong hold and its lost that identity since games were moved to OCP, and I reassure you not for one minute do I have a problem with lads from the far end of the county chipping in and been on county panels and developing there young hurlers but I still think the Birr's,Clareen,Banagher, Kinnity etc etc area still has to be dominating at underage level for us to compete.
That has not been the case because we now have the identity lost down this side of the county which makes it harder for us to develope young hurlers and keep them interested.

On St.Brendans park its a credit to the new committee to turn around the club in 9 months and I think with another couple of years hard work the ground will be up there with the best of them.

Lone Shark checking attendances this weekend is ridiclious because you cant compare. Belmont or Clareen dont have a huge following specially when one of them is at 12 on Sunday. St Rynaghs and Shinrone will bring huge support to there game. So I dont think the attendance really matters this weekend.

Why not wait till the new year and see the crowds flood in for the Walsh cup games.

It's part of a long list of problems with Offaly hurling,tullamore has top notch dressing rooms,stand and intercom system we always hear about.but it's a slower pitch it can be dead and slow where as in birr its quick suits hurling more fact..it's not a myth about crowds either..I didn't see Kevin Egan put up anything about the kinnitty Brosna Gaels when there was 52 including stewards at the match and the paper said 160 were at it are they the numbers he's talkin aboutOn the way