SHC Group Stage Complete

[doobane man]

The results in the SHC this weekend complete the group stage of the championship
Kilcormac/K 2-19 Shinrone 1-12
Shamrocks 5-8 Kinnitty 0-7
St. Rynaghs 5-18 Ballyskenagh 0-6
Belmont 1-14 Lusmagh 1-3
Coolderry 1-17 Tullamore 1-6
Birr 1-15 Seir Kieran 0-13


So the knockout stages are a little clearer. St Rynaghs, Kilcormac/Killoughy (only by virtue of scoring more in group stage than Shamrocks – the game between them ending level and both with equal points and score difference), Birr and Coolderry are all through to the quarter finals where they cannot meet each other. Rather each will be drawn against one of the winners of the following First Round Proper games in an Open Draw:

1. Shamrocks Vs Seir Kieran
2. Belmont Vs Kinnitty
3. Shinrone Vs Lusmagh
4. Tullamore Vs Ballyskenach

The championship is over for the losers of games 1 and 2 but the losers of games 3 and 4 will meet in the relegation play-off with the loser of that game facing Intermediate hurling in 2010.

[Plain of the Herbs]

It gets serious from this weekend on with the knockout stage getting underway. Lusmagh hurl Shinrone in Carrig on Saturday evening with Tullamore v Ballyskenagh in Birr on Sunday. Note the change of time of the Tullamore v Ballyskenagh one to 2pm.

I haven’t seen Tullamore hurl in recent weeks so I’ll reserve judgement on them. Anyway, it’s fair to assume they’ll beat Ballyskenagh with something to spare. I’ll leave it to the rest of ye do an analysis- it seems I’ve been promoting laziness among the hurling oriented contributors in recent weeks! See here- viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2917

Lusmagh v Shinrone.
Last meeting: Lusmagh 1-12 Shinrone 0-13 (2002, round 3)
Last five meetings: Lusmagh 4 Shinrone 1.

Lusmagh have gone from middling to bad to even worse in recent weeks culminating in the shambles against Belmont last week. While the backs did relatively well against Belmont helped by Belmont’s failure to expose an edge in pace, the attack malfunctioned completely, not helped by a poorly judged puckout and an inability to win it, and that culminated in 1-3 scored, and only 2 scoreable frees awarded, one which led to a lucky goal, the other a late goal attempt blocked by the defence. Granted there are huge personnel losses but that’s no excuse for the general lack of effort, and relegation is not now the minor concern it was before, but an increasing one.

Shinrone had been improving steadily, getting to within 2 points of ’Rynagh’s while a hape of wides against Kinnitty meant they drew a match they should have won. As an aside, what’s gone wrong with Kinnitty? They’re producing awful rubbish lately, but more about them next week. Shinrone then went under to K/K by 10 points last week. Whether that’s down to K/K hunger manifesting itself or Shinrone not being so hot won’t be known until this match gets underway. My guess is the former.

Shinrone are a decent outfit with a good mixture of style and grunt. Their forwards should have the edge in pace, where Eddie Bevans is enjoying a new lease of life as a roving full forward. The makeup of the Lusmagh defence will require thought here. Kevin Reid can also take a score, and minor Sean Cleary could do damage if he could hurl facing the goal more than he gets to. The main supply line is through Derek Morkan, who leads well from the middle of the field. The defence is solid, led by Willie Comerford, and Mark Morkan is a good centre back.

Lusmagh probably needed another week between the last match and this to regroup. They’ve a good record over Shinrone, losing only once but on all recent form you’d have to go for Shinroneto pull through in this one.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Should be easy enough for both Shinrone and Tullamore, the latter especially. Ballyskenagh really aren't at the races at all and will be team to face relegation. Does anybody knows what happens should one of the senior clubs win the intermediate, will there be relegation from senior?

As for Kinnity, things really do appear to have gone south. The game against Belmont, it being their first knock out game of the championship, will reveal a lot but thus far they have been distinctly unimpressive. Are they missing many players because by my reckoning only Colm Coughlan is absent?

[joe bloggs]

Lusmagh v Shinrone.


Shinrone are a decent outfit with a good mixture of style and grunt.

The funniest (but may be true) description of a team i have ever seen. I wonder if you asked the players to asses themselves, how many would go for "grunt"?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Me nerves, oh me nerves! It looked like Lusmagh were on their way out of the championship there, a point down and getting a free to level it. But Gary Kelly’s free from 50 yards was blocked by the fella facing it, and the ball was cleared.

A minute later, after Shinrone’s last attack, Lusmagh got another free, 70 yards out and Eoin Kelly slotted it. Phew.

It was a tense match, Adrian Lynch got the Lusmagh goal on 16 minutes for a 1-3 to 0-4 lead, Sean Cleary replied with a Shinrone goal five minutes later when he soloed in and stuck away.

Shinrone led 1-6 to 1-4 at halftime and extended the lead to 1-10 to 1-6 with 40 gone. The introduction of Kevin Bermingham to midfield and the subsequent switch of Fintan Kelly to centre back brought lusmagh roaring back into it, and 3 quick points brought them back to within a point. Aidan Hanrahan played the full match and gradually the team is taking shape.

Lusmagh never got level until the last puck though, and we all need a stiff drink to calm down! Oh, and Lusmagh have never lost in Carrig!

Scorers: Lusmagh: Adrian Lynch 1-1, Gary Kelly 0-3f, David Kelly & Aidan Hanrahan 0-2 each, Paul Hogan, Fintan Kelly, Pat Temple 0-1 each, Eoin Kelly 0-1f.
Shinrone: Michael Cordial 0-6, 4f, Sean Cleary 1-0, Sean Ormond, Liam Feighery & Eddie Bevans 0-2 each.

[Lone Shark]

Ye miserable feckers. I went for Shinrone in the tipsters, thinking they were marginal favourites myself. Then I saw 4/1 about Lusmagh in the bookies and thought that it was a huge price (I would have made Shinrone 4/7 and Lusmagh 7/4 myself) so I had a cheeky nifty on.

Draw. Ye lousy hoors.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Shinrone then went under to K/K by 10 points last week. Whether that’s down to K/K hunger manifesting itself or Shinrone not being so hot won’t be known until this match gets underway. My guess is the former.

After the weekend's result, my guess is the latter.

The expected victory for Tullamore, the only thing of importance to come out of that came was their inability to beat the tipsters handicap. Damn them.

Looking forward now to the two games this weekend. Both games have the potential to be close contests and the eventual winners should have more a bearing on the outcome of the championship than the winners from this weekend's games.

[thecornerback]

Aidan Bracken Building Design Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals:
St Rynagh’s v Tullamore;
Birr v Kinnitty or Belmont;
Kilcormac/ Killoughey v Shamrocks or Seir Kieran;
Coolderry v Shinrone or Lusmagh.

[Plain of the Herbs]

St Rynagh’s or Tullamore v Birr or Kinnitty or Belmont;
Kilcormac/Killoughey or Shamrocks or Seir Kieran v Coolderry or Shinrone or Lusmagh.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

St Rynagh’s or Tullamore v Birr or Kinnitty or Belmont;
Kilcormac/Killoughey or Shamrocks or Seir Kieran v Coolderry or Shinrone or Lusmagh.

Cheers POTH.
Where did you get word of this, I can't see any mention of it on the Offaly GAA website.

[Plain of the Herbs]

'Tis on the Express site. The draw was made at the board meeting last night. That was to assist with planning the semi final schedule, according to Giggly Rebecca on Radio3!

Cheers POTH.
Where did you get word of this, I can't see any mention of it on the Offaly GAA website.

[TheManFromFerbane]

according to Giggly Rebecca on Radio3!

[Plain of the Herbs]

according to Giggly Rebecca on Radio3!

Young, female voice which reads the sportsnews on Radio3 during the week. She’s on the air at 3.30pm each weekday.

Hails from Birr, I believe, so it’s refreshing to know that the station isn’t dominated by oul codgers from Leix who hold “utter contempt” for Offaly.

[TheManFromFerbane]

It was more the Giggly bit I was referring to but then I realised you were saying Giggly as in laughing as opposed to Jiggly which would have been completely different!

[Plain of the Herbs]

KINNITTY v BELMONT
Last meeting Kinnitty 1-20 Belmont 1-18 (round 3 last year)

This had the potential to be the tie on the round, but then the draw for the quarter finals pitted the winner against Birr and almost certain defeat. This may well take some of the sting out of this, or maybe not.
On the basis of potential, Kinnitty should win this, after all they were in the final last year but they have seriously misfired since the resumption after the summer break.
To win Kinnitty need James Rigney on his game, dropping back, reading deliveries and setting Kinnitty on the attack. I’d say he’ll spend much of the match around the edge of the ‘D’ cutting off the supply to the Egans. I’d say he’ll let John Ryan do his own thing and leave a covering midfielder to mark him. After all Belmont’s supply to the inside forwards was poorly directed against Lusmagh.

Kinnitty’s forwards have flopped to an alarming degree in the absence of colm Coughlan. Granted Clendennen and Robinson are poor strikers of the ball, and the McRedmonds haven’t contributed much to the cause, but the biggest let-down to date has been the form of Stephen Molloy. In previous matched Molloy has started at 12, moving to the centre later in the match. That being the case he will be opposed by Ronan Daly in the early stages and David Kenny later on. On current form I’d expect Daly to do well here and his best role might be if he was to hurl in the centre but drag David Kenny out of position. Neither have Kinnitty been able to win frees in attack which might yield a decent scoring tally.

If Belmont can carry the ball a bit more to keep it away from James Rigney, and get a decent supply to the Egans they might just do it here. While they have a very mobile forward line they will need to optimise that edge. Interesting, too, to see Eamon Maher back on the sideline. Maher presided over Belmont’s most successful spell when the forwards buzzed around to the consternation of opposition backs. Kinnitty’s full back line is decent on a one-to-one basis but could be exploited when brought on the travels.

When all is said and done I’d expect Kinnitty to hurl to the potential that you’d expect from a side with ambitions to go places, and on that basis I’d give them a hesitant vote to advance.



SEIR KIERAN v SHAMROCKS
Last meeting Seir Kieran 0-18 Shamrocks 0-12 (relegation playoff last year)

A recurring theme running through the Clareen history “Music of the ash” was that Clareen had a horrendously poor record in O’Connor Park, and made no bones about that either.

Getting away from traditions, this will be won by the leaders on either side. Shamrocks played much of their hurling up the middle against Kinnitty. That may have been due to the conditions it being a horrendous day, but a repeat would see Derek Molloy line out at centre forward where he would be opposed by Barry Bergin. Not really a defender in the traditional style, this will be a big test of the lad’s defensive capabilities. He did well in the position during the second half against Birr, and while he’s good under the dropping ball if he can neutralise Derek Molloy then Clareen will be well on the way to winning.
In addition, Eanna Murphy has settled well into the full back role. Despite his relative youth he is powerfully built and should be well able for Neville Coughlan.

At the other end, Joseph Bergin is the Clareen attack leader where he is expected to win his own ball and score. He has a significant height advantage on Kevin Cummins, which straightaway is a worry for Shamrocks. Cummins has hurled well at centre back this year but this will be a severe test for him as Bergin will need to be marked and he may sell be dragged out of position too, which would make room for James Mulrooney coming through from midfield.

Clareen have some decent forwards but tend to blow hot and cold and you never know just who will strike form on any one day. Dermot Mooney is most likely to contribute scores though Sean Coughlan has huge potential too. They may well introduce Billy Dooley as they have done in their two previous matches. Dooley will take watching and has a keen eye to distribute.

Clareen have been on an upward spiral since the summer break and have huge potential and I’d expect them to pull through, but it will go the full distance.



LUSMAGH v SHINRONE
Last meeting Lusmagh 1-12 Shinrone 1-12 (first round proper last week)

The two ‘reds’ played a draw last week which was short on quality but high on drama and excitement. Shinrone got off to the flying start but didn’t build on it, nor did they build on a four point lead they held early in the second half and were dogged by their trademark inconsistency.

Lusmagh played tentatively throughout, short on confidence as befits a team on a ten match run without a win. Still Aidan Hanrahan led the forwards well moreso in the second half, on his first full match of the year. Interesting to see will they play Fintan Kelly at centre back tomorrow. That was part of a match-saving move which also involved Kevin Bermingham to midfield.

Shinrone seemed unsure how to deploy Michael Cordial and Eddie Bevans in attack. Cordial was all at sea at full forward. Bevans, too, had an edge on pace but didn’t exploit it.

Hard to know. Replays like this tend to be won by six or eight points. Shinrone had a chance to nail it last week and didn’t take it. Lusmagh are improving and had their best performance of the year in the drawn match. If Paul Bermingham is available and is introduced to the attack for the final quarter I think they’ll do it.