SHC round 2, 17/05/09

[Plain of the Herbs]

Contrary to many people’s expectation, me included, last week’s first round carried a fair bit of championship cut-and-thrust, particularly the ’Rynagh’s v Kilcormac and Clareen / Tullamore matches, where a stranger who walked wouold have never have guessed these were meaningless matches where no elimination was at stake.

Now that we’ve a bit of form to go on, here’s a stab at Sunday’s bill-of-fare.

Birr v Coolderry, 7.30pm, Kinnitty
Last 5 meetings – Birr 3 wins, Coolderry 1 win, 1 draw
Last meeting – Birr 2-9 Coolderry 0-12, 2007 semi final.

Undoubtedly the tie of the round if not the tie of the entire group stages. Having lost two finals and a semi-final to Birr, Coolderry really need to win this to lay down a marker that they are serious title contenders.

They may well do, but if they are to win their leaders need to hurl to their optimum. However, breaking down the individual tussles, Martin Corcoran will hardly break even at midfield with Rory Hanniffy. Michael Ryan and Kevin Connolly won’t enjoy the space and freedom from Michael Verney and John Paul O’Meara that they did against Lusmagh. That being the case they will need Cathal Parlon to step up to the mark in attack.

Coolderry’s defence will be tested much more severely than it was against Lusmagh and they may well have to line out without defenders Barry Teehan and Brian Kelly. If Brendan O’Meara is still unavailable and with Kevin Brady tied up marling Gary Hanniffy that still leaves Dylan Hayden to be considered. It’s the kind of game Hayden could strike form in and on that basis Birr should prevail.


Lusmagh v Tullamore, 12 noon, Moystown
Last 5 meetings – Tullamore 3 , Lusmagh 2.
Last meeting – Tullamore 1-12 lusmagh 1-7, group round 3 2008

Tullamore were a mixed bag against Clareen. Their defence, with its foundations in Cappincur, did well for fifty minutes but was caught out for two late goals. In attack, Francis Kerrigan caused bother for young Christopher Connors though he’ll find John Kelly a different proposition. Shane Dooley was quiet on the right side of the attack and playing with five forwards for much of the second half only resulted in freeing up an extra defender to mark him.

Severely depleted Lusmagh were left demoralised when clinically taken apart by hungry Coolderry last week and look set to finish the group on nul points.
Tullamore should win but expect a much more spirited performance from the Reds.


Belmont v Clareen, 6pm, Kinnitty
Last 5 meetings – Clareen 4 Belmont 1
Last meeting – Belmont 1-19 Clareen 1-13, group round 2, 2008

Clareen have the makings of another golden generation and Tom Carroll will be a useful addition to the black and amber attack. As is Kevin Murray’s impression of Joe Canning – pointing sideline cuts – soon every club will have one. There’s enough pace to their defence too to neutralise the Egans’ speed.

Everything hinges on David Kenny’s availability, though even if he plays Clareen should prevail.


Kinnitty v St. Rynagh’s, 12 noon, Clareen
Last 5 meetings – ’Rynagh’s 3, Kinnitty 1, 1 draw
Last meeting – Kinnitty 0-13 ’Rynagh’s 0-9, quarter final 2005

St. Rynagh’s laid down a definite marker when the blitzed Kilcormac last weekend. They can put themselves in pole position for an automatic quarter final spot with a win here.

Kinnity had no difficulty opening their campaign beating Ballyskenagh, though they conceded 2-8 in doing so and having developed nicely over the last two years now face into the hurling equivalent of the ‘difficult third album’.

Watch out for some interesting duels – Stephen Wynne, who is hurling well at the moment, will no doubt pick up Odhran Kealey. Ciaran Flannery caused most bother for Kevin Grogan and the Kilcormac defence though he’ll face a different proposition in James Rigney. With a match behind him, Diarmuid Horan should play a greater part in proceedings and would be an option to move further outfield if needs be.

’Rynagh’s will gather momentum from last week’s win and that may well be enough to see them through here too.


Kilcormac Killoughey v Shamrocks, 3.30pm, Tullamore
Last 3 meetings – K/K 3 Shamrocks none
Last meeting - Kilcormac Killoughey 2-12 Shamrocks 0-8, group round 2, 2008

These two met last year and served up probably the most atrocious match of the year.

Kilcormac, as expected, are struggling with the transition from the possession game they played for the last few years, to a ground hurling game. It will take them a few matches yet to get used to it, and they will welcome the safety net the group stages provides. They need to get more from Conor Mahon, James Gorman and Daniel Currrams than they got against ’Rynagh’s.

Shamrocks traditionally struggle in the forward line and Derek Molloy could do with more help up front.

K/K’s greater potential in attack should be enough to see them get back on track with a win here.


Shinrone v Ballyskenagh, 3pm, Coolderry
Last 5 meetings – Shinrone 3 Ballyskenagh 1, 1 drawn
Last meeting – Shinrone 2-12 Ballyskenagh 2-8, group round 4, 2006

Neighbours who usually bring out the best in each other though ’Skenagh were severely depleted against Shinrone.
Shinrone were very poor against Shamrocks but they have enough good hurlers to see them through here.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Great stuff as usual POTH.

[backofthenet]

On the coolderry birr game,

Brian Kelly will be out, I would expect Paul Hudson to fill in, he spent all last year in that position so we arent losing a lot there. Brendan OMeara will definately be out aswell, likely for another few weeks

Barry Teehan will play, has been training for the last week and took part in the match on wednesday night so no problems there. Also Martin Corcoran is playing great stuff at the moment, possibly wont be at midfield anyway.

You havent listed that Brian Carroll and Joe Brady have been playing quite well, there is more competition for forward line places in coolderry than there has been in years. It will be up to Damien Murray and Brian Carrol to step up to the mark rather than Cathal Parlon as they are the more senior players and playing well at the moment.

Also i think you will be pleasantly suprised at how well Kevin Connoly and Michael Ryan will do. Especially Kevin Connoly if he is on Michael Verney..the niggily stuff wont affect him at all...he hurled junior last year so has been to the academy of slaps!!!

We also have Ray Murray in goal (finally) it sounds like his forward playing days are over...he is a serious advantage between the sticks and is an improvement on shane oconnor who has been dipping in form over the last couple of years.

Its certainly going to be close...i would expect Coolderry to win as they have added a few players this year, a manager with a good head on the sideline that knows hurling, and the birr team is ageing year on year..they have lads that have done a lot of hurling so it will be interesting to see if they have the hunger to go again.

Coolderry by three

[kinnittyman]

Kinnitty beat Rynaghs 2-11 to 0-11 in Clareen today. Didnt look likely at half time with Ryanghs leading 0-08 to 1-04 after playing against the breeze and up the hill. However an early second half goal from Ferghal Kealey following a superb Colm Coughlan pass spurred Kinnitty on and with James Rigney in majestic form this was a good result. Tough, hard game with some strange refereeing decisions on both sides.


On an aside I was on the bank with the Rynaghs crowd and some of the things they were roaring at their players, our players and the referee were unbelievable. I know every club has a few but these clowns seemed to be in the majority. The abuse two lads aimed at Colm Coughlan after an accidental late challenge on Stepehen Wynne was disgraceful and I had no choice but to make my feelings known. These Rynaghs supporters on the bank were the worst I've encountered in a long time.

[kinnittyman]

On the coolderry birr game,

Brian Kelly will be out, I would expect Paul Hudson to fill in, he spent all last year in that position so we arent losing a lot there. Brendan OMeara will definately be out aswell, likely for another few weeks

Barry Teehan will play, has been training for the last week and took part in the match on wednesday night so no problems there. Also Martin Corcoran is playing great stuff at the moment, possibly wont be at midfield anyway.

You havent listed that Brian Carroll and Joe Brady have been playing quite well, there is more competition for forward line places in coolderry than there has been in years. It will be up to Damien Murray and Brian Carrol to step up to the mark rather than Cathal Parlon as they are the more senior players and playing well at the moment.

Also i think you will be pleasantly suprised at how well Kevin Connoly and Michael Ryan will do. Especially Kevin Connoly if he is on Michael Verney..the niggily stuff wont affect him at all...he hurled junior last year so has been to the academy of slaps!!!

We also have Ray Murray in goal (finally) it sounds like his forward playing days are over...he is a serious advantage between the sticks and is an improvement on shane oconnor who has been dipping in form over the last couple of years.

Its certainly going to be close...i would expect Coolderry to win as they have added a few players this year, a manager with a good head on the sideline that knows hurling, and the birr team is ageing year on year..they have lads that have done a lot of hurling so it will be interesting to see if they have the hunger to go again.

Coolderry by three

Theres a world of difference between hurling against Lusmagh and against Birr!!!

Birr had little trouble tonight in a rain sodden Kinnitty in seeing off the challenge of Coolderry on a scoreline of 0-15 to 1-8. Birr were far superior in the second half with Paul Cleary and Dylan Hayden absolutley outstanding.

Kevin Connolly got the Coolderry goal but other than that was practically annoymous as was Micheal Ryan. Birrs use of the handpass to get out of trouble was top class and as a neutral I could only admire their link up play. They limited to Coolderry to one score from play in the second half and that was the goal in the first minute so Coolderry couldn't manage a score from play in 29 minutes and never raised a white flag from play in the entire second half. That 6-24 is a distant memory now.

Barry Whelehan and Joe Brady were both sent off in the first half and Whelehan in particular can have no complaints as he pulled a hay maker across Bradys head as they were poking the noses of their hurls into each others chest.

If these two do meet again in the championship the only question I would have is not who will win, but by how much are Birr going to win by?

[beirut]

Belmont had a well deserved 2 point win over Clareen but the Ref certainly didn't help them one bit, poor performance from Lawless. Still a very young Clareen team, with alot of them still not the finished article, time will tell. John Ryan caught some great balls and probably was the difference on the day.

Birr dealt better with the atrocious conditions, and their superior physicality stood to them. Coolderrys midfield was non existent, while Carroll seemed to look for the handy pass rather than craft his own. Didn't see the sending off incident but heard the "smack". There were alot of frees but couldn't blame Tony Carroll or either teams, as the conditions saw alot of fumbling, lads sliding into tackles etc...

Any word from the K/K Shamrocks match, Johnny P's head must be on the chopping board now?

Ballyskenagh to return to Intermediate by the looks of the scoreline.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Hats off to Lusmagh who recovered from their thirty point defeat against Coolderry to earn a draw with Tullamore today.

Lusmagh were up for it. There was a clear spring in the step as they took to the field, the commitment was total as the stretched every sinew to get every crucial blockdown in. Fintan Kelly hurled well as did Brian Bermingham while Ciaran Bermingham restricted Shane Dooley to 2 points from play. John Kelly was immense at full back, tidying and clearing while Eoin Kelly blocked two Tullamore raspers.

Hurling with the wind in the first half, the hard work outfield wasn’t matched on the scoreboard and they turned over a point behind, 0-6 to 0-5.

Adrian Lynch’s well taken goal, scored when he pulled first time on a loose ball in the square, gave them a vital lift but three points from midfielder Shane Kelly got Tullamore back in front.

The Tullamore attack made little headway though, and the most they led by was one point. Then in stoppage time Paul Bermingham in possession thirty yards out but facing outfield could have passed to the supporting Lynch but elected to lob the ball over his shoulder and after what seemed like an eternity, dropped over the bar.

We’re not quite in “bring on Birr” territory yet, far from it in fact, but at least the ship has been steadied and relegation worries can be deferred for the moment. Phew!!

Scorers: Lusmagh: Gary Kelly 0-5 (5f), Adrian Lynch 1-1, Paul Bermingham 0-3, Eoin Quinlan 0-1. Tullamore: Shane Dooley 0-7 (5f), Shane Kelly 0-3, Francis Kerrigan 0-3.

[Lone Shark]

Took in three of the games yesterday, some good stuff on display, certainly allowing for the weather.

I will get back to the hurling when I have more time, however I have to say this - I am livid with Kinnitty hurling club after yesterday. They have a great sized stand and a fine pitch - I don't think too many grounds could have taken yesterday's rain and stood up even half right - however they are simply not equipped to handle crowds at all. For personal reasons i really needed to leave after the first game yesterday - I said this to three seperate stewards that I drove by and supposedly bearing this in mind, I was directed to park up against the barricades of the training pitch. As I left the car I checked again that I was okay to leave it there and that it was crucial that I got out after the Belmont match. Again I was re-assured, and so I went in. I don't need to say how this ends - I came back out after the Belmont game to be boxed in, as were over half the cars in the ground. Now I understand that they are working with limited space, however I did all I could to specify that I needed to be away and clearly nobody bothered listening since three seperate guys directed me to the same area.

It's hard to get away from the belief that if they weren't set up to cater for the unsurprisingly healthy crowd for yesterday's double header, they shouldn't have been given the nod for it. I love the idea of a double header but Kinnitty simply can't take that level of traffic. As it happened it was after 9:30 before i got out of the ground - albeit that was unfortunate since it was somebody involved with the Coolderry team who was parked right up against me. I've great time for the team and several individuals in the club are as decent folk as you'll meet, but that was nothing short of farcical.

[black and red exile]

Well said LS, It takes me just over an hour to drive back to Kilcullen from Kinnity and like an idiot I had it in my head to make it home for the Sunday game for 10pm with the second game ending at around 8.55pm. Now with past experiences with the hassle of getting out of Kinnity and if I had half a brain the wise thing for me to do would be to park in the village and walk down to the pitch with the car parked facing Clonaslee resulting in me having a free run home meeting the after match traffic coming through the village. Like your story LS it was after 9.30 when I got out of the ground which resulted in me getting home at 10.45pm. BY JAYSUS I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON LIKE MANY PEOPLE WHO WERE CAUGHT LAST NIGHT.

[uibhfhailiabu]

Any word from the K/K Shamrocks match, Johnny P's head must be on the chopping board now?

Absolutely awful game of hurling. Its hard to believe this K/K team were in a county final only two years ago. They are heading in the completely wrong direction under Pilkington, he doesnt seem capable of managing a team, K/K could yet regret disposing of John Leahy! In all honesty, Shamrocks probably deserved to win it although both teams were terrible in front of goals. K/K looked very unfit all around the field and I cant see them being around at the business end of the championship. Another very strange decision by Johnny P and his management team was the selection of Kevin Grogan at centre half forward. Can anyone explain why one of the team's best defenders is put into an attacking role?? In fairness to him, he tried hard but after winning possession he didnt seem to want to shoot at goals.

I'd be very very surprised if Johnny P lasts beyond this summer! And judging by the Offaly minors embarrassing result against Westmeath, i think Johnny will be out of a job there aswell!

[midfield]

Took in three of the games yesterday, some good stuff on display, certainly allowing for the weather.

I will get back to the hurling when I have more time, however I have to say this - I am livid with Kinnitty hurling club after yesterday. They have a great sized stand and a fine pitch - I don't think too many grounds could have taken yesterday's rain and stood up even half right - however they are simply not equipped to handle crowds at all. For personal reasons i really needed to leave after the first game yesterday - I said this to three seperate stewards that I drove by and supposedly bearing this in mind, I was directed to park up against the barricades of the training pitch. As I left the car I checked again that I was okay to leave it there and that it was crucial that I got out after the Belmont match. Again I was re-assured, and so I went in. I don't need to say how this ends - I came back out after the Belmont game to be boxed in, as were over half the cars in the ground. Now I understand that they are working with limited space, however I did all I could to specify that I needed to be away and clearly nobody bothered listening since three seperate guys directed me to the same area.

It's hard to get away from the belief that if they weren't set up to cater for the unsurprisingly healthy crowd for yesterday's double header, they shouldn't have been given the nod for it. I love the idea of a double header but Kinnitty simply can't take that level of traffic. As it happened it was after 9:30 before i got out of the ground - albeit that was unfortunate since it was somebody involved with the Coolderry team who was parked right up against me. I've great time for the team and several individuals in the club are as decent folk as you'll meet, but that was nothing short of farcical.

LS - I thought that the kinnity club did a good job on the match. I arrived late to the Birr v Coolderry match but hadnt anticipated such a large crowd. I also forgot about the belmont match beforehand. The weather was very poor, but still they had enough stewards (most of whom were standing in the pouring rain) to pack in the cars into the ground as much as possible instead of having people parking down the village and walking up in the rain. The stand they have is a great facility and only surpassed in size in the county by the one in Birr and Tullamore. In all fairness, how can you blame the stewards for your car getting blocked in - with the size of the crowd that was there yesterday , they had enough to be doing and couldnt guarantee that your car wouldnt be blocked in. Such is life and such is the nature of Gaa matches that you can be guaranteed that some body will just pull up and block you in.As you said yourself , if you wanted to make sure you wanted to get out early you would have been better off parking on the road. I dont know what kind of traffic delays occured after the game. I left with 2 mins to go and got out fairly easily, but naturally with the large amount of cars that were at the match , traffic delays were inevitable.

[Lone Shark]

LS - I thought that the kinnity club did a good job on the match. I arrived late to the Birr v Coolderry match but hadnt anticipated such a large crowd. I also forgot about the belmont match beforehand. The weather was very poor, but still they had enough stewards (most of whom were standing in the pouring rain) to pack in the cars into the ground as much as possible instead of having people parking down the village and walking up in the rain. The stand they have is a great facility and only surpassed in size in the county by the one in Birr and Tullamore. In all fairness, how can you blame the stewards for your car getting blocked in - with the size of the crowd that was there yesterday , they had enough to be doing and couldnt guarantee that your car wouldnt be blocked in. Such is life and such is the nature of Gaa matches that you can be guaranteed that some body will just pull up and block you in.As you said yourself , if you wanted to make sure you wanted to get out early you would have been better off parking on the road. I dont know what kind of traffic delays occured after the game. I left with 2 mins to go and got out fairly easily, but naturally with the large amount of cars that were at the match , traffic delays were inevitable.

I tried to park on the road - I wasn't let by the same stewards. Now that's fine, but if they couldn't guarantee that I could get out after the game, then they shouldn't have directed me to park in a particular spot and said that I'd have been fine there. Neither was it the case that it was just one lúdramán who blocked me in - there was a whole row of cars blocking in every car that was up against the barricade. I would have been quite happy to park in the village and walk down if that was what needed to be done to be sure of getting out - I allowed myself enough time to do just that in case it was necessary. All they had to do was say that and I'd have walked down in the rain without a loss on me. I don't expect miracles, just people to be honest with you and not tell you what you want to hear just to get you out of their hair.

As regards the ground or the stand, as I said above, it's all excellent - no complaints on that score whatsoever.

[Plain of the Herbs]

That's fair enough but I think the lad's problem was that he asked THREE seperate stewards if he would be able to exit the car park after the first match and he was assured by those three lads that he would. To make it worse, t'was a Coolderry mentor's car that was boxing him in.

Now if I was stewarding in the car park in Lusmagh and someone asked me the same thing, I would have redirected him to park around the church incase some latecomer parked in the way. Once, when the car park was FULL and I was standing at the closed gate redirecting latecomers, some owl fella wanted to park his car IN FRONT OF the gate promising me he would be back to his car immediately the match ended! Needless to say he was told to park elsewhere.

LS - I thought that the kinnity club did a good job on the match. I arrived late to the Birr v Coolderry match but hadnt anticipated such a large crowd. I also forgot about the belmont match beforehand. The weather was very poor, but still they had enough stewards (most of whom were standing in the pouring rain) to pack in the cars into the ground as much as possible instead of having people parking down the village and walking up in the rain. The stand they have is a great facility and only surpassed in size in the county by the one in Birr and Tullamore. In all fairness, how can you blame the stewards for your car getting blocked in - with the size of the crowd that was there yesterday , they had enough to be doing and couldnt guarantee that your car wouldnt be blocked in. Such is life and such is the nature of Gaa matches that you can be guaranteed that some body will just pull up and block you in.As you said yourself , if you wanted to make sure you wanted to get out early you would have been better off parking on the road. I dont know what kind of traffic delays occured after the game. I left with 2 mins to go and got out fairly easily, but naturally with the large amount of cars that were at the match , traffic delays were inevitable.

[kinnittyman]

LS - I thought that the kinnity club did a good job on the match. I arrived late to the Birr v Coolderry match but hadnt anticipated such a large crowd. I also forgot about the belmont match beforehand. The weather was very poor, but still they had enough stewards (most of whom were standing in the pouring rain) to pack in the cars into the ground as much as possible instead of having people parking down the village and walking up in the rain. The stand they have is a great facility and only surpassed in size in the county by the one in Birr and Tullamore. In all fairness, how can you blame the stewards for your car getting blocked in - with the size of the crowd that was there yesterday , they had enough to be doing and couldnt guarantee that your car wouldnt be blocked in. Such is life and such is the nature of Gaa matches that you can be guaranteed that some body will just pull up and block you in.As you said yourself , if you wanted to make sure you wanted to get out early you would have been better off parking on the road. I dont know what kind of traffic delays occured after the game. I left with 2 mins to go and got out fairly easily, but naturally with the large amount of cars that were at the match , traffic delays were inevitable.

I tried to park on the road - I wasn't let by the same stewards. Now that's fine, but if they couldn't guarantee that I could get out after the game, then they shouldn't have directed me to park in a particular spot and said that I'd have been fine there. Neither was it the case that it was just one lúdramán who blocked me in - there was a whole row of cars blocking in every car that was up against the barricade. I would have been quite happy to park in the village and walk down if that was what needed to be done to be sure of getting out - I allowed myself enough time to do just that in case it was necessary. All they had to do was say that and I'd have walked down in the rain without a loss on me. I don't expect miracles, just people to be honest with you and not tell you what you want to hear just to get you out of their hair.

As regards the ground or the stand, as I said above, it's all excellent - no complaints on that score whatsoever.

Any chance we could get your opinion on the weekends hurling LS?
This Kinnitty bashing is making me feel a bit uneasy.

[baz]

Good hard game between kinnitty & banagher .I have to say i love kinnitty style of hurling ,dogged in first half and the few opportunities they got they took them .They gave banagher a lesson in the second half in terms of clever hurling and doing simple things right .Because banagher such a young team they should come on from it .Unlike BERGIN & DOOLEY ,colm coughlan dosent go missing when the game gets tuff and timber is being pulled ,jesus he`s streets ahead of them ,the passing under pressure was class.Kinnitty will be the only team i can see like last year that will give birr socks of it if they meet in knock out stages .
Coolderry were lucky the weather was so bad ,because if it was dry birr would have given them a father & mother of a beating anyways we`ll save that for later on in the year .Gary hanniffy hurling as well as he ever did , Cleary outstanding in second half and in fairness Hayden was super in center back .
Fair dues to belmont too for not throwing the towel in after big defeat the last day and missing their best player ,to come back from it with a good win .Before the weather got as bad as t did their forwards scored some classy points ,but bergin really should be ruling the roost in games like that but he hasn`t got it as we all hoped from a couple of years ago .
K/K needed a pajoe whelehan type figure to take them to the next level .ie a man who has been there and done it and knows how to get teams to win big games .instead they went the opposite way and got a lad who has no experience at that level of training teams and they will pay a heavy price for that .