Aidan Bracken Building Design Under 21 Hurling Championship

[Lone Shark]

Birr must now be hot favourities to win on Sunday as they have the advantage of a Home Venue and following their defeat of Seir Kieran who had a number of County Senior Panellists on board. While all county finals should be played at neutral venues it is great to have a County-Final back in Offaly's Capital-St Brendans Park, Athmosphere & Crowd Guaranteed.

I take it then, as I am a betting man by trade, you'd be happy to lay me even money Rynaghs to a decent sized bet? I'll even let you have the draw.

I'm genuinely serious, and will be happy to meet you at the game in front of a neutral witness to hold the cash - though I know you probably aren't and that you didn't believe a word of what you just wrote.

I would love to have a bet with you, but I am currently out of the country. I believe that the game in Birr's backyard must be worth 6/7 points to Birr and I do not believe that their first round performance against Shinrone was in any way a true performance.

I know people in Betfair who'll get the event set up, no bother. I'll even cover the commission. You'll agree to lay a decent bet then, yes?

[llkj]

Would it be possible to get odds on an underage local game like this in a bookies?

Personally, I don't think that it is right and I feel that gambling in general is an area that the GAA should try to tackle. It is up there with cigarettes and alcohol as a problem area and I feel that none of these should not be synonymous with sport, especially underage games where the only people betting on the games would be the players (this happens a lot), their family/friends, club members and local community.

[Lone Shark]

Would it be possible to get odds on an underage local game like this in a bookies?

Generally speaking, no. Some local firms across Ireland will offer their own championships and so you might get the Cork U21 championship final from Cashmans, or Mulhollands might lay the Galway one, but there's nobody in Offaly who would do this to my knowledge. I didn't expect to get an answer from Sharp Eye, I was just responding to his frankly ridiculous assertion that Birr would be favourites.

Personally, I don't think that it is right and I feel that gambling in general is an area that the GAA should try to tackle. It is up there with cigarettes and alcohol as a problem area and I feel that none of these should not be synonymous with sport, especially underage games where the only people betting on the games would be the players (this happens a lot), their family/friends, club members and local community.

I don't like being cast as the spokesperson for the industry here, but I do understand it fairly well. So my question would be - what specifically are you suggesting is an issue, bearing in mind that there isn't betting on games like this, and what do you propose the GAA can do about it? After all, they've nothing to do with a third party transaction between a bookmaker and a customer.

If you're talking about the ill that is gambling generally, well then I'd agree that it is in the same bracket as alcohol and cigarettes - no harm in small doses, but very dangerous when taken to excess. However smoking is allowed at all grounds, alcohol is allowed at some and there's certainly no GAA rule barring the sale of it, and yet bookmaking is banned from all GAA premises. I would argue that the GAA is doing all that they can.

If your issue is the integrity of the games and the risk of players betting against themselves, as somebody who does bet on GAA, I can assure you that the bookies are well aware of what games are a risk and what aren't, and they bet accordingly. There is no risk of a panel of players throwing a provincial final or an All Ireland series match, so you'll find that you can bet all you want on those games. However if it's a first round qualifier when half the team might be more interested in getting to Oxegen than winning the match, you'll find that even betting to win €500 will be tricky, unless you're a regular customer. Certainly winning enough to make it worth losing the game will be all but impossible.

[Toxicity234]

Team Line up.
Birr:
Paddy Mullins
Daryl Nolan Eoin Haynes John Mcintyre
Kevin Donovan Brendan Murphy Conor Fitzgerald
Craig Pardy Kevin Brumell
Michael Haugh Tommy Bolger Emmet Nolan
Colm Mulronney William Gleeson Sean T. O'Connor.

St . Rynagh's Og:
Conor Clancy
Mathew Maloney Kieran McManus Daniel Maloney
Aidan Treacy James Sullivan Simon Og Lyons
Damien Mc loughlin Sean Kenny
Joseph O'Connor Damien Egan Paul Looby
Stephen Quirke Stephen Flannery Niall Wynne



U21 hurling final St Rynagh’s Óg 2-16 St Brendans 1-12

St Rynaghs were crowned Under 21 Hurling champions on Sunday evening with victory over St Brendans in Birr in what was an exceiting and entertaining final. St Rynaghs Óg got off to the perfect start and were 1-5 to 0-0 up after 10 minutes which left St Brendans with too big of a gap to draw back. Stephen Quike with 1-3 and Joseph O Connor and Damien Egan gave the visitors that perfect start. To St Brendans credit they did not give up and battled back to trail by 3 points in first half injury time with a goal from William Gleeson and points from Tomas Bolger, Kevin Donovan and Sean T O Connor, but St Rynaghs Óg found the net again on the stroke of half time through centre forward Damien Egan. It was a tough battle in the secondhalf with the home side refusing to give up but St Rynaghs Óg take the PJ Teehan Cup back to Banagher for the first time since 2005. Captain Daniel Maloney accepted the cup from County Board Chairman Pat Teehan. Offaly GAA congratulate St Rynaghs Óg on picking up the first trophy of the year in club championships.

http://offaly.gaa.ie/offaly-news/aidanb ... nshipfinal


Its was a good match on Sunday Evening. both defence were on top of large part of the game but Stephen Quirke was outstanding at no. 13 for Rynagh.
i have to say i was at both semi finals and final and there a great batch of player in this level. but Rynagh forwards were a bit better than other forward line.
And its great to see St. Brendan Park almost full and the crowd getting behind both teams. it really felt like a senior final.
great stuff.

[joe bloggs]

Would agree about st. Brendans park. There was a bit of a buzz about the place with a big hurling final back in its natural home. I walked the pitch after and it was in great condition too.
As already said it was the rynaghs forwards who were that bit sharper which made the difference. I think they all scored from play while the defence was solid throughout. Birr worked hard all through the game, but every time they looked like getting back into the game rynaghs responded with a score.

Hopefully the county u21's can make an impact. They will have some good forwrds to choose from including the likes of Quirke, Bulger, connoly,Ryan,Carroll and Egan who played very well last night. I just hope they are given a chance to prepare together as a panel as it can be hard for management to get their hands on them as the seniors would usually have first call over lads on both panels

[llkj]

Congrats to Rynaghs on their win. A fine team and well deserving of their victory.

Well done to the fixtures committee for their organising of this competition. I feel that it was a success with a backdoor element giving everyone at least 2 games and sticking to the schedule. It should also be good for the county U21 team as management will have had an opportunity to look at everyone available to them for the championship.

LS - glad to hear that in general bookies wouldn't be offering prices on underage games like this. I don't agree with your logic that by banning bookies from setting up shop inside a ground, that the GAA are "doing everything they can" to curb the threat of gambling.
My 'issue' is nothing to do with potential fixing of games, as this hadn't even crossed my mind until you brought it up. I am sure that the majority of people would be of the opinion that betting on a football or hurling match is just a bit of fun and adds a bit of extra spice to affairs. Personally, I don't agree with it and don't like the fact that there is a betting culture deeply embedded in our games - and there is no doubting that it is. how many times do you hear the bookies quoted in aftermatch and prematch speeches by players and management, media commentators referring to it and advising you where to throw your money, local teams putting money on themselves. Each mention and column inch dedicated to it, legitimates the practice that bit more, entwines it in our psyche and actively encourages more and more people to partake.

My personal opinion is that I would like to see a little bit of balance to affairs. If you take alcohol, the GAA have lots of public initiatives to encourage a more healthy lifestyle and show you the flip side of alcohol. I have never seen a campaign to this affect with gambling. As an organisation I think the GAA could take a lead here and at least aim to educate people a little more and let them make their own decisions from there. Currently, I feel, only one side of the gambling coin is publicly presented; the other side should be given it's fair chance as well

[Lone Shark]

LS - glad to hear that in general bookies wouldn't be offering prices on underage games like this. I don't agree with your logic that by banning bookies from setting up shop inside a ground, that the GAA are "doing everything they can" to curb the threat of gambling.
My 'issue' is nothing to do with potential fixing of games, as this hadn't even crossed my mind until you brought it up. I am sure that the majority of people would be of the opinion that betting on a football or hurling match is just a bit of fun and adds a bit of extra spice to affairs. Personally, I don't agree with it and don't like the fact that there is a betting culture deeply embedded in our games - and there is no doubting that it is. how many times do you hear the bookies quoted in aftermatch and prematch speeches by players and management, media commentators referring to it and advising you where to throw your money, local teams putting money on themselves. Each mention and column inch dedicated to it, legitimates the practice that bit more, entwines it in our psyche and actively encourages more and more people to partake.

My personal opinion is that I would like to see a little bit of balance to affairs. If you take alcohol, the GAA have lots of public initiatives to encourage a more healthy lifestyle and show you the flip side of alcohol. I have never seen a campaign to this affect with gambling. As an organisation I think the GAA could take a lead here and at least aim to educate people a little more and let them make their own decisions from there. Currently, I feel, only one side of the gambling coin is publicly presented; the other side should be given it's fair chance as well

Obviously enough the idea of an awareness campaign devoted to the dangers of gambling would be a good thing in principle, I'm not sure if it's as pervasive as all that in order to warrant a campaign, or really if the GAA should be at the head of such a campaign. I agree that you get a lot of talk about the odds before and after a game, however a lot of that is due to the peculiar fetish in the GAA of wanting to be the underdog all the time and the sight of the other guy being made the odds on favourite is grist to that mill. In Offaly in particular we are prone to that particular disease of needing to be seen as the underdog and betting odds play into that, but being honest, GAA betting is less than 1% of all betting in this country and it certainly isn't the type of betting that feeds addiction. By definition, addicts look for regular events, and quite often there is no option to bet on GAA for five days of the week.

Virtual horse racing, online poker, casino games on your mobile phone, all of these things are a much bigger danger altogether.

I think the issue with alcohol is that there is a perception that the GAA and drink go hand in hand, to the point that for promising minor lost to rugby/AFL/soccer or whatever, there's probably five lads who went on to do feck all other than sit on a bar stool.

I appreciate complete that gambling addiction is a real threat and one that probably needs more awareness, but I'd say it's barely a fraction of the issue that excessive alcohol consumption is.

[Sharp Eye]

I am delighted that I was out of the country and unable to avail of Loneshark's betting offer. I heard that St Rynaghs were the stronger team. I heard that their best players were Joseph O Connor, Simon og Lyons, Niall Wynne and Conor Clancy. St Rynaghs must have a lot of young players because I dont think any of these players made their under 21 team last year. St Rynaghs must now be very hot favourites for next Sunday's senior game.