Hurling Championship

[King Kev]

Tony Carroll's wife is from Clare and has no clareen connections .

[joe bloggs]

Five point wins this evening for Shinrone and Rynaghs who will now face each other in the semi final while birr face kk

[DAF]

Five point wins this evening for Shinrone and Rynaghs who will now face each other in the semi final while birr face kk

Have Shinrone ever won the championship before?

When will the semi's be played?

[townman]

Five point wins this evening for Shinrone and Rynaghs who will now face each other in the semi final while birr face kk

be god we might have a say in the Sean Robbins cup yet after last nights poor display and the results today

[Plain of the Herbs]

An odd one, this. Shinrone, not known for killing themselves, went through the motions for the first half, and despite this found themselves level, 0-8 each, most definitely against the run of play.

Shinrone had no answer to Joe Bergin in that first half. Shinrone’s half-forward line were pushed off the ball too easily in that half, and Éanna Murphy, Dermot Mooney and Seán Coughlan sent a steady supply Bergin-wards at full-forward. James Scully was lively at corner-forward too, and it was a pair of late points that drew Shinrone level at the break.

Clareen moved Bergin to centre half-forward at the break as they prepared to hurl into the far end, and for no apparent reason Bergin practically disappeared from the game. Clareen opened better and two quickfire points regained their two-point lead. Clareen were first to every breaking ball between the two ‘45s and it seemed a matter of time before they would pull away.

Quietly, Shinrone moved a corner-forward out as a third midfielder. Consequently, Shinrone began to win a greater share of possession. Derek Morkan took over at midfield, Mark Morkan tidied up in the half-back line, Shane mcKelvey and Michael Cleary impressed. Willie Comerford (now freed from marking Joe Bergin by Clareen themselves) made inspirational clearances, as did Denis Coonan, while Colin O’Meara epitomised the Shinrone spirit by putting his body on the line, breaking up attacks, gaining possession and clearing.

Michael Cordial wasn’t the Diggy doing all the flash stuff as he has been too often previously; nor was he Diggy with his head down turning his back to play; today he was Michael Cordial the team player, who created moves, played astute passes, crossed to the opposite wing to give a dig out, to make space and to fill space. Jason Sampson came of age with a couple of inspirational second-half points. Seán Ormond played a part as a team-player and Eddie Bevans threatened when he came on.

Seir Kieran had no answer. They gained plenty of possession but elected to solo up the centre, couldn’t put any width on the game and Bergin couldn’t gain any headway from Mark Morkan.

Shinrone, who in the first half appeared likely to bow out with a whimper went on to die with their boots on. Semi-final day will be all the better for their presence.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Nothing echoes quite like the sound of champions crashing out. St Rynagh’s hurled like men possessed and the verdict was in little doubt at half time when ’Rynagh’s led 0-9 to 0-3.

’Rynagh’s made a better job of picking their team. Pat Camon excelled at full-back, Conor Hernon kept Kevin Connolly quiet and Eoin Ryan was anonymous against Niall Wynne (Ryan was taken off). Conor Clancy manned his square well and made a number of fine fetches under pressure. Dermot Shortt had his finest hour at centre-back, leading by example with a series of fine fetches and clearances. Simon Lyons was brilliant at 7, Stephen Wynne did better at 5.

Coolderry mande no impact at midfield either. Nigel White and Gary Conneely got an early grip there, Diarmuid Horan moved there during the first half and took ownership of the sector. Gary Kelly, Ciarán Flannery and Seán Dolan worked mighty hard throughout – nothing flash, but no less effective, while Stephen Quirke and Ger Scales (both correctly cast at corner-forward) were mighty. Quirke scored three, Scales two from play and a pair of frees.

Coolderry were completely devoid of leadership and direction. Kevin Connolly almost got in for a trademark early goal but was dispossessed as he squeezed the trigger and the chance was lost. Meanwhile, ’Rynagh’s stamped their authority with three points in the first seven minutes. Lazy reporters will point to Coolderry’s 15 wides (9 in the first half) and speculate that the result would be different if they converted a proportion of those. My feeling is that they still wouldn’t have won. There was such a difference in the psychological preparation of these two teams than ’Rynagh’s were not going to be denied today.

Coolderry brought on three subs, all defenders – David King (who later moved to attach), Brian Kelly and Stephen Connolly, which was odd given that it was their attack that was drowning in the Shannon tide. St Rynagh’s led 0-15 to 0-6 (and a fair reflection of the gulf in the balance of play) with a minute to go. Brian Carroll raced in for a goal in the 60th minute and Carroll finished the scoring with the last puck.

St Rynagh’s will take stopping now – they are settled now after all the chopping and changing that went on during the group stages. Today will be a huge boost to their confidence and after a 19 year absence Seán Robbins is nearer to returning to Shannonside than he has been at any time in the last 10 years.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Drawn at half-time in the St Rynagh's v Coolderry quarter-final:

Senior:
Birr v Kilcormac-Killoughey
St Rynagh's v Shinrone

Intermediate:
Lusmagh v Coolderry
St Rynagh's v Kilcormac-Killoughey

Junior 'A'
Killavilla v Shinrone
Edenderry v Ballinamere

Junior 'B'
Shamrocks v Kinnitty
Raheen v Gracefield

[Plain of the Herbs]

No (were beaten in their only final appearance)*; and

in a fortnight

Have Shinrone ever won the championship before?

When will the semi's be played?

[timber]

Joe Bloggs is a very happy man today. Rynaghs coming good at the right time. They must be fancied at this stage. Should be a right good game between themselves and Shinrone. With Rynaghs and Shinrone in Intermediate and Junior semi finals respectively it will be interesting to see who will use the bench and be willing to lose a player or two to senior with the hope of getting them over the line and into a senior county final. Can make a difference in a tight game.

Birr were woeful the other night. Looked like a team with very little interest and a team that expected to win handy without pushing themselves. They had far better hurlers all over the field but you would not think it looking in. Their attitude was terrible. Their intermediates got an awful hiding as well. Things must not be rosy.

KK put in an excellent performance. Their best in years I'd nearly say. They had a useful challenge game with Kilmacud crokes recently and seem to be improving from close calls against Kinnitty and Shamrocks.

[shannonbanks14]

Looks like my IQ ok eh!Great win for rynaghs, coolderry looked flat, but maybe we made them look flat. I cant see lightening striking twice with Shinrone. They had never beaten rynaghs before in championship up to this year, and now that they have, hopefully our lads will be ready for them the next day.Hopefully Sean Robbins will be back in banagher in a few weeks

[joe bloggs]

Well done to Lusmagh for qualifying for the Leinster junior championship over the weekend

[club125]

Well done to Lusmagh for qualifying for the Leinster junior championship over the weekend

Edenderry must also be qualified for the Special Junior Leinster Championship as all other teams remaining in the Junior A Championship have a team playing at a higher grade

[Plain of the Herbs]

Err . . . Killavilla.

Edenderry must also be qualified for the Special Junior Leinster Championship as all other teams remaining in the Junior A Championship have a team playing at a higher grade

[kingscounty]

its between killavilla and edenderry for leinster , whoever gets further in the championship as the two teams are junior. easy mistake to make as killavilla were senior and inter not to long ago. it will be interesting to see how lusmagh get on in leinster as in recent years we seen brosna gaels and drumcullen ship heavy defeats from junior teams in kilkenny. when was the last time lusmagh made a leinster appearance?

[bracknaghboy]

its between killavilla and edenderry for leinster , whoever gets further in the championship as the two teams are junior. easy mistake to make as killavilla were senior and inter not to long ago. it will be interesting to see how lusmagh get on in leinster as in recent years we seen brosna gaels and drumcullen ship heavy defeats from junior teams in kilkenny. when was the last time lusmagh made a leinster appearance?

Great to see Edenderry in the Offaly Junior semi final. They are the last club that end of the county still hurling (something the county board seem disinterested in changing). I haven't got to any Junior games this year but I'll have a guess and say it'll be Killavilla and Edenderry in the final with Killavilla lifting the trophy.