Offaly Senior Hurling Club Championship 2011

[faithfulman]

So lads,its that time of the year again 1st round of the championship on at the weekend, so whats the verdict?
Any predictions? Im going for
Kinnitty v Coolderry - Coolderry
Drumcullen v Shamrocks - Shamrocks
Birr v Shinrone - Birr

K/K v Tullamore - K/K
Belmont v Lusmagh - Draw
Clareen v Rynaghs - Clareen

[Slieve Bloom Man]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - Kinnitty. Coolderry deserve to be favourites but I'm not going against my own club. Also Kinnitty usually raise their game for Coolderry (I know last year's county semi-final was a nightmare for us) A good start for Kinnitty is vital as confidence will be brittle. James Rigney is huge loss to Kinnitty and hopefully he should be back for next round. Shane Kinsella is suspended from under 21 match and his firepower will be missed in forward line. Joe Brady is a loss to Coolderry too, as he has being 1 of best and most consistent club players over past 10 years. No one gives Kinnitty a chance and will hopefully Kinnitty will raise to underdog tag and put in super performance.

Drumcullen v Shamrocks - Draw- Hard to know what is going on in Shamrocks but they will be difficult to beat. Druncullen should start off year confidently after last year. But still too dependent on Conor Gath for scores. Need young forwards breaking through.

Birr v Shinrone - Shinrone. Actually think there could be a big shock on the cards here. Really feel Shinrone won't be far off Birr on Sunday. If it is close with 10 mins to go momentum could carry Shinrone over the line. Still think Birr are genuine threat again this year but have a feeling they could be little vunerable on Sunday. Anyway expect interesting game.

K/K v Tullamore - K/K. Psychologically tough year for KK as they aim to recover from past 2 years. Pad Joe as manager will be interesting. KK should be able to win this.

Belmont v Lusmagh - Belmont. This could be a very intersting battle with very little in it. Know David Kenny hasn't gone as well with county lately but I expect him and Colin Egan to just get Belmont over the line.

Clareen v Rynaghs - Clareen. Very hard to call. Will be interesting to see if Rynaghs improve under new management. They've had plenty of underage success but have yet failed to make real progress at senior level over last few years. Clareen so inconsistent over last 2 years brilliant 1 day, mediorce the next. The young players should be coming of age this year. Could be a big year for Clareen if young lads can deliver on their promise.

[allstar2010]

So lads,its that time of the year again 1st round of the championship on at the weekend, so whats the verdict?
Any predictions? Im going for
Kinnitty v Coolderry - Coolderry
Drumcullen v Shamrocks - Shamrocks
Birr v Shinrone - Birr

K/K v Tullamore - K/K
Belmont v Lusmagh - Draw
Clareen v Rynaghs - Clareen

Kinnitty v Coolderry - Coolderry to win handy enough
Drumcullen v Shamrocks - both teams likely to be in relegation dog fight, I'll go for shamrocks
Birr v Shinrone- birr to win

KK v Tullamore- should be a close one with no love lost, ocp to suit tullamore. Tullamore win
Belmont v Lusmagh - not a lot between them, Belmont to shade it.
Clareen v Rynaghs - should be a good one, rynaghs by 2pts

[townman]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - coolderry to have to much fire power with rigney out and Eoin Ryan hurling well coolderry bye 6 or 7 pts

Drumcullen v Shamrocks- hard one to call Drumcullen just about

Birr v Shinrone- its a tricky one to start with Shinrone have some fine young hurlers, Birr need a big year this year Birr bye 4 pts

Clareen v St Rynaghs- game of the weekend both have a lot of young players but i have a feeling Rynaghs won't be down for much longer Rynaghs bye 5 pts

k/k v Tullamore- do or die this year for KK a good man over them in pa joe no pressure on them this weekend keep dooley quiet enough and they will take this bye 7 pts

Belmont-Lusmagh- another close one to call their could be a draw somewhere this weekend i think this one will be a Draw .

[weary traveller]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - A miss match in last years semi final and unfortunately it could be the same at the weekend. Kinnity are a competitive team on most days and will be looking to put pride back in the jersey after the nightmare of last year but with both James Rigney and young Shane Kinsella missing through injury and suspension, respectively, they will struggle to keep with a Coolderry team that are flying it in the league, 4 wins from 4, and also in the under21 championship, in particular Eoin Ryan shining. Ken Hogan seems to have them focused again on this years championship and they deserve to be favourites for the Sean Robbins again this year. Even without Joe Brady, who had been immense for Coolderry in the last few years and also must have been disappointed in not being named Hurler of the Year last year, no offence to Dooley who had a superb year also, Coolderry should be too strong for this Kinnity side... Coolderry by 7+

Drumcullen v Shamrocks- The game that kicks off this years championship looks like it could be a more important rematch come the end of the year as i believe it will be between these two sides to fight it out as to who stays up senior and who goes down intermediate. Drumcullen will be on a high after their win last year and will be out to impress in the senior grade. Their over-dependence on Conor Gath maybe their downfall and the loss of Nicky Lawlor will be huge. Shamrocks have a good team if they can get everyone in the parish to hurl and that is the question, they need full commitment to the cause and as much of a loss that he is to their footballers, Nigel Dunne is also a huge loss to the hurlers. This will be a closely fought contest and maybe not one for the purist but i think Drumcullen will sneak this one and could also gain the upper-hand at the end of the year. Drumcullen by 2

Birr v Shinrone- In my opinion this game depends on what way Birr turn up for the match. They turned up to the first game last year and blue Kilcormac K out of the water in Rath scoring something like 3-24 in the process but in the end they died out of the championship on a whimper to Tullamore in the quarter final. Their success mainly depends on where they can get the most out of Rory Hanniffy, whether to play him centre back, mid field, or centre forward. Myself i'm not too sure but id say centre back. Also they must place Dylan Hayden full forward, where Dooley should have given him a game or two with the county. He has the ability to cause get damage to any defence from this position. On the otherhand if they turn up not at their best, there is a potential upset on the cards as Shinrone have made great strides in the championship over the past 2 years and ran Coolderry the closest in the knock out stages last year. They have a great abilitly to score long range point, especially, Morkan, Cordial and Beavans and the return of Daniel Hoctor to form and fitness at centre back is a great addition to the team. Still i believe Birr will have enough in this one. Birr by 3-5

Clareen v St Rynaghs- Its a toss up between this fixture and the KK vs Tull game for the tie of the round. Both should be very tight. Both these clubs are under new management for the year and it will be interesting to see what changes both men bring to the table. Clareen are being managed by Tynagh man Mike Ryan who was a part of the management team along with Vincent Mullins in leading NUI Galway to Fitzgibbon Cup success last year and Galway U21 to All Ireland success in the past. Its interesting to note that he was also over the NUIG team that got trounced by 25points in the Fitzgibbon quarter final this year. Ryan should bring new ideas to the Clareen camp and it is time for their success underage in recent years to make their mark at senior level. St Rynaghs are in much the same boat as Clareen, new management bring new ideas, but underage success not being carried to senior level has to change for them. It is an important year for them and if they can get all their hurlers playing to their potential, especially the two horans, they will be a threat to the favourites. Still i think this could be a good year for Clareen and they could be dark horses for the championship this year. They should edge this one. Clareen by 1-3

Kilcormac/ K v Tullamore- There seems to be a rivalry after starting between these two clubs following the close games over the last few years. There should be a bit of fire and hard hitting in this one after what happened in O Connor Park last year. Hopefully there will be no return of the man with the "remember the name" t-shirt from the row under the stand last year. Kilcormac are looking for someone who will guide this talented group of players to success and they seem Padjoe Whelehan is the man to bring them there. He could be the ingredient they need to push them over that finishing line. All in all this should be a cracking match with a lot of bite in it, Tony Carroll should make a better job of controlling the affair than Cooke did last year, and if(a big if) K/K can keep tabs on Shane Dooley, who seems to be hitting form at the right time for club and county, then il give them a chance of taking full points in this on... Kilcormac/K by 3-4

Belmont-Lusmagh- Another closely fought battle in this one, between two teams that might not be in the shake up when push comes to shove. Both teams have being in the relegation battles and won in the past two years but i think Belmont have a better spread of hurlers than Lusmagh with Kenny and the Egans pushing them over the line for the win. Belmont by 5

[keenonsport]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - COOLDERRY
Drumcullen v Shamrocks - SHAMROCKS
Birr v Shinrone - BIRR

K/K v Tullamore - K/K
Belmont v Lusmagh - BELMONT
Clareen v Rynaghs - ST. RYNAGHS

[beirut]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - Coolderry by 5
Drumcullen v Shamrocks - Draw/Drumcullen by 1
Birr v Shinrone - Draw

K/K v Tullamore - K/K by 5
Belmont v Lusmagh - Belmont by 3
Clareen v Rynaghs - Rynaghs by 3

[Plain of the Herbs]

Firstly, well done to Weary Traveller on an excellent first post. Keep it up, now!

I don’t have much to add. That the top 2 seeds in each group are playing each other first adds spice. Kinnitty v Coolderry being a case in point. James Rigney would be a tremendous loss to Kinnitty, much more so than Joe Brady is to Coolderry. I wonder would Rigney line out though. He did a newspaper interview during the week stating that he was targeting the second round in a fortnight for a comeback. I’ve a feeling there could be mind-games at play here. Sorry to ruin the surprise if that’s the case, Kinnittyman & others!

Very hard to know how Tullamore v Kilcormac will pan out. I know it’s only the league but Tullamore beating Birr in the league suggests they are in good hurling form. Clareen v No Frontiers could go either way. No Frontiers claim publically that they are flying and maybe they are. Beating Clareen (who are their arch-bogey team) would demonstrate that they are.

Paul Cleary and Dylan Hayden will hardly line out for Birr so there’s a chance for Shinrone to take a rare scalp. Traditionally Shinrone don’t kill themselves and they may well, as usual, fall short. A pity, for they are a skilful team with hardly any cackhanders on board. Their loss.

That the two bottom seeds in each group also face each other means the loser can kiss their quarter-final chances goodbye before April is out. There are no relegation semi-finals this year, the bottom team in each group play in a relegation final. Chimes of doom for the loser of Drummies v Rahan & Lusmagh v Ferbane/Belmont.

A pity there are no double-headers, for which we have Mick Sheridan to thank.

[Certainly Gerry]

No Frontiers

Firstly, Brilliant!

A pity there are no double-headers, for which we have Mick Sheridan to thank.

Secondly, I have to agree with you on this. With the price of double headers down, the Tullamore vs Killoughey and Coolderry vs Kinnitty games could have provided a relatively exciting kickstart to the championship as a double header. I guess the County Board wouldn't be looking out for every club in the county and their gate receipts then, though!

[kinnittyman]

Well Drumcullen beat Shamrocks tonight 1-13 to 0-14 after trailing 0-10to 0-05 at half time.

Fairly poor game with some very headless hurling by both teams. Shamrocks seemed to just get the ball and drive it as far and as hard as they could while Drumcullen employed a shoot on sight philosophy in the second half leading to a large amounts of wides.

A poor start to the championship.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I went to Kilcormac this evening for what I thought would be the Good Friday penance. In fairness, I thought it was an enjoyable match played at a good intensity and with a raw passion. There’ll be worse hurling done this year. This is the most backward county in hurling, remember.

Shamrocks led something like 10 to 5 at half time. Their touch was sharp, they did some fine catching. The dominated territory and possession but shuld have led by 10 points only the sharpness deserted them when shooting for goal.

Shamrocks in particular got some might length on their strokes – with not much wind they must have been using a golf ball. It got heated and looked like it could get out of hand before half time as Kieran Groome missed some late challenges – the usual.

The Drummies were level within 2 minutes of the restart! 2 quick points were followed up by a mad goal when the goalkeeper misplaced a short puckout, the full back (who hurled well) could only wave at it and as the goalie fumbled to change hurls a forward finished the ball to the net.

With the game back in the melting pot both sides concentrated on the ball for the remainder. While the balance of play was more even in the second half both shot wide after wide. I thought Drumcullen overdid the ground hurling and that it would cost them but they finished the stronger and 2 good points in the last 5 minutes clinched it.

A crucial win in the relegation 4-pointer for Drumcullen who celebrated at the final whistle!

[rocket57]

Kinnitty v Coolderry - Coolderry
Birr v Shinrone - Birr

K/K v Tullamore - K/K
Belmont v Lusmagh -Belmont
Clareen v Rynaghs - Clareen

[sean1976]

as the story goes, shamrocks didnt perfrom, and drumcullen had lads crowding around derek molloy for the hour, not giving him an inch? well a rahan man told me that! i would have expected shamrocks to surprise people this year, but this is a huge setback for them. i would expect them to remain senior anyway with the likes of molloy, conway and coughlin good enough to make any club team in the county, and most in the country when fit. it would be hard to say the same about any drumcullen(apart from gath who might not even at that) and lusmagh lads(kelly is a keeper, its difficult for any keeper to break onto any team)

[Bazil Brush]

I wouldnt be to sure about that now . Its only the first round of the championship i know but i think shamrocks could be in a spot of bother. Them lads you mention are fine hurlers alright but if you look at there remaining group games its very hard to see them getting anything against shinrone kinnitty birr or coolderry. Which would leave drumcullen safe. And whos to say they will be playing lusmagh either there wont be much in there match against belmont. Lusmagh were very unlucky last year should have beat tullamore in kinnitty ran clareen coolderry and rynaghs very close also. They have a nice blend of youth and experience some really nice young hurlers. There a proud and very determined senior club and to be honest cant see them going down.

[JimBwobb]

Rynaghs 2-17.....Clareen 3-13.....