Offaly Senior Hurling Championship 2013

[Plain of the Herbs]

I don't doubt for a minute that the job of Fixtures Secretary is a particularly difficult role. And while I am aware that referees are in short supply I must admit it never crossed my mind that reluctance of referees to travel too far was an issue. But never mind.

Hosting Senior championship games is a not-inconsiderable part of what the GAA is about though. God knows you only have to go to a match in Carrig to see the number of stewards, young and old, all business in their yellow bibs mad to help parking cars. By Sunday evening only 12 SHC group matches remain and those clubs I listed are running out of matches.

That's not an anti-Birr thing on my part. They are entitled to their share of matches too. And several more club grounds are likely to bear scorch-marks currently.

And I forgot Crinkill when listing those clubs when I posted last night, a small club who also have developed fine facilities in recent years.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I was at only one match last time around so bear in mind the following is based mostly on guesswork.

Shinrone v Kinnitty. I’m thinking Kinnitty might win here. Though they weren’t good against Belmont and didn’t deserve to win, what they have might be sufficient to beat Shinrone. Particularly if James Dempsey can find the range a bit more frequently. Shinrone had a number of square pegs in round holes when they played (and were well beaten by) Coolderry, Daniel Hoctor at corner-back being a case in point. Michael Cordial is not a corner-forward, whatever else he is. And tradition is very much against Shinrone when it comes to beating Kinnitty.

Brosna Gaels v Drumcullen. A first ever championship meeting between the two, coming from opposite ends of the tradition spectrum. The Leamonaghan Parish side have been badly hit by emigration and are not playing well. Apparently Drumcullen were relatively decent against Kilcormac. Stung by the fact that the Gaels were Senior at a time when they themselves weren’t, I think Drumcullen will win this, perhaps by 7 or 8.

Lusmagh v Belmont. A depleted Lusmagh did far better than expected against the boys from town a fortnight ago. Belmont hurled at a far higher level against Kinnitty, yet for all their dominance led by a mere point at half-time and simply wouldn’t have won but for Colin Egan’s intervention. And going on round 2 form Belmont may well beat Rynagh’s again. That’s for another day though. Belmont have beaten Lusmagh twice in recent years so there is a score to settle. The longer Lusmagh stay in it, the greater the likelihood of a badly needed win.

Birr v Tullamore. Hard to know. Birr were just awful against Kilcormac. And Barry Harding is a big loss. I don’t know what Tullamore are at. Like Lusmagh (above), the longer Tullamore stay in it, the greater likelihood of a win for them. Take your pick – Birr to lead throughout with Tullamore not having the belief, or Tullamore to grind out a win.

Coolderry v St Rynagh’s. Last year’s quarter-final demolition job is the major form-guide here. Expect Coolderry to be hungry here, to the proportions shown by Monaghan last week. Dermot Shortt’s absence (abroad) leaves a big hole in the defence. Nine points is Coolderry’s biggest win over ’Rynagh’s. That may well be exceeded here.

Kilcormac-Killoughey v Clareen. Wherever K-K slip up (and bear in mind how many of their leaders have been hurling non-stop for 18 months now) and inevitably they will, it will not be here. Clareen are missing too many leaders to trouble Kilcormac at this time. K-K by 8-ish.

Intermediate. How Killurin fare against Clara will tell us mush of the relative positions of Killurin, Clara and Shamrocks. Killurin and Clara drew with each other when they last met at this grade in 2010. Shinrone v Kilcormac-Killoughey will be a crucial one too. With quite a young Senior team, Shinrone will likely have quite a number of former Seniors playing Intermediate. Though not going well, Shamrocks should still beat Birr Intermediates.
In the only match in the five-team group, the match between Carrig & Riverstown and Coolderry will see the loser eliminated and the winner go through. Andrew Hall seems to have gone Senior and so Coolderry are without a leader. C&R drew with Rynagh’s, though the Rynagh’s team is much changed to last year. At this stage, Ballyskenagh-Killavilla have won all of their league and championship matches this year and seem to be playing with a renewed spirit, a mood which should galvanise as they progress through the knockout stages.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Every so often a request goes out for more referees. Every so often, men answer the call, take the whistle, do the job for so often before, between one thing or another, giving it all up in favour of a life that doesn’t involve constant verbal abuse.

This year the call went out and Paddy Kirwan answered the call, and took up his position in Banagher this evening, wearing his black referees outfit (which clashed with the Belmont livery). Evidently eager to innovate, Paddy decided that linesmen were not necessary. And so the match commenced sans linesmen, as Kirwan got a number of calls clearly wrong, particularly in the early stages. Now I’ve no idea if that ball was over the sideline or not, but Belmont’s goal, coming in the game’s third minute, had its genesis in a ball played wide to the far sideline. Following its retrieval the ball was crossed in and David Cox pounced for a goal, a score that added to Brian Fox’s first minute point.

Around about the tenth minute, during a stoppage, An Sac Mór wandered the length of the field to finally procure a linesman. Damien Martin looked to the stand to seek a second official, before being prevailed upon to do the job himself. Pity it took so long.

It was all Belmont in the opening half. They led 1-2 to 0-1 after 5 minutes, and though Belmont dominated the balance of play it took them 15 minutes to score again, as a series of wides left Lusmagh in the game. Lusmagh themselves could make little headway, scoring just once in that time. Belmont went on to lead 1-7 to 0-4 at half-time.

The first -half gave little indication of what was to follow in the second because for the duration of the second-half Lusmagh gave a display of the traditional spirit that makes them such a joy to watch on a good day. Seán Gardiner led the charge doing very well on Colin Egan, David Moran was mighty at full-back, David Kelly did very well at centre half-back, Alan Kelly and Eoin Quinlan got the combination passing going, while Leonard Ryan and Damien Kelly did very well in the rucks and scrums. Young Niall Duffy gave a competent display in goals too, becoming the 10th player to play goalkeeper in the SHC for Lusmagh.

The scores followed too, Seán Gardiner pointed two early frees won by fellas bravely taking the frontal hits when on the run, then Leonard Ryan scored a fine point, taking a pass from Eoin Quinlan who was by now rediscovering his form of last year. Damien Egan was still doing very well for Belmont at midfield and his point made it 1-9 to 0-7 and it appeared Belmont had halted Lusmagh’s gallop. The next score was an inspirational one though – Austen Lynch pointing from didtance after yet another turnover was won and Eoin Quinlan placed Austen with a pass, and when Seán Gardiner pointed another free the gap was down to a goal (0-9 to 1-9) with plenty of time left.

Austen Lynch was moved to full-forward with Aidan Hanrahan coming outfield. Within a minute, Austen fielded Eoin Quinlan’s long ball, turned and goaled, cleverly hitting the ball low in to the astroturf and giving Barry Egan no chance. Level. Four minutes later, Damien Kelly is upended on the 21 following a passing move. Sean Gardiner came up and struck the ball to the net via the astroturf, and when Gardiner pointed a long free, Lusmagh led 2-10 to 1-9.

Momentum then swung to Belmont. Mark Egan resumed freetaking duties and twice converted placed balls, David Cox pointed to leave a point in it and when Mark Egan pointed another free with two minutes to go they were level again. Anyone’s game, then Aidan Hanrahan gained possession, ran 25 metres and gave Lusmagh the lead again, veteran Anrahan playing his 60th SHC appearance for Lusmagh. Into the last minute, Belmont attacked and Lusmagh were unable to prevent the ball going over the end line. Mark Egan faced the pressure and slotted the ’65. An Sac Mór checked the scoreboard, say the sides were level and called it a day. Not that anyone was complaining.

Only a Kinnitty win over Coolderry or St Rynagh’s can prevent Belmont advancing. Just a pity about the refereeing.

Scorers: Lusmagh: Seán Gardiner 1-7 frees, Austen Lynch 1-1, Eoin Quinlan, Leonard Ryan & Aidan Hanrahan 0-1 each. Belmont: David Cox 1-2, Mark Egan 0-5 (0-4 frees, 0-1 ’65), Damien Egan 0-3, Colin Egan 0-2, Brian Fox & Leon Fox 0-1.

Elsewhere, I see Shinrone beat Kinnitty 1-16 to 2-8, overturning a 2-4 to 0-6 half-time deficit to do so.
Brosna Gaels made history (again!), this time beating Drumcullen 2-16 to 0-13, having led 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time.
And in Intermediate, Shamrocks got back on track somewhat with a 1-13 to 0-7 win over Birr Intermediates.

[KillougheyGoBragh]

A shock defeat for Coolderry against St Rynaghs in the first game of a double-header in Saint Brendans Park as a late goal in the dying moments of their contest see's a two point lead for 2011 champions turn into a one point loss!
Final score
St Rynaghs 2-14
Coolderry 1-16
----------------------------------
In the second game
KK beat Seir Kieran
3-21 to 0-12 where-in goals by Conor Mahon, Ciaran Slevin and Trevor Fletcher gave KK breathing space after a close first-half encounter.
Many thanks to those that tweet updates throughout these games that helps those of us abroad who follow, Mary Dunne in particular was a 'Saint' this evening!

[Lone Shark]

A busy work schedule this weekend meant that the only game I took in was the Birr 0-18 Tullamore 0-9 clash this morning in Banagher. Some decent hurling but quite tame, the absence of key forwards from both sides was obvious. Shane Dooley was not available for Tullamore and that took away any chance they had, I think they got just three points from play. Francie Kerrigan hit two nice points and Ger Treacy was lively, but that was about the height of it.

Birr were no great shakes up front either - Mick Verney, Colm Mulrooney and Tomás Bolger all absent and only Michael Dwane was even close to on form. Dylan Hayden dominated midfield with 0-4 from play and as is customary, their defence was imperious. Wouldn't have been good enough to beat the bigger teams, but good enough for the day that was in it.

Quietly impressive performance from Declan Cooke too. He's turned into a very decent ref, after going through his share of controversy along the way.

[Plain of the Herbs]

They left it late but they deserved the win nonetheless. Level midway through the first half at 0-3 each, Aidan Treacy came upfield to bury a penalty. Then, without moving up a gear or anything, Coolderry picked off the points and went on to lead 0-7 to 1-3 with Kevin and Barry Teehan making most headway. Andy Connolly finished a fine passing move to the net, a move that involved Kevin Teehan, Martin Corcoran and Barry Teehan and they led 1-7 to 1-3, going on to lead 1-8 to 1-5 at half-time.

St Rynagh’s moved Gary Conneely from full-forward to midfield on the restart. Wow! Has ever a switch made such an impact. Coolderry, who were without Stephen Corcoran (Eoin Parlon deputised and did well) and Joe Brady from the defence as well as Cathal Parlon, Eoin Ryan, Kevin Connolly and Damien Murray from the attack, carried on at the same pace throughout. Niall Wynne did a fine job on Brian Carroll, Ger Rafferty stopped Kevin Brady from dominating. St Rynagh’s were quickly level at 1-10 apiece (Conneely pointing twice). Level again at 1-11 and 1-12 each. Declan Parlon and sub Stephen O’Connor put Coolderry two ahead. Twice Conneely pointed from distance again to leave two in it and it seemed Coolderry had did enough to hold on. Then a 20m free, a bit to the right of the goals. Aidan Treacy came up, his effort was saved and Rafferty finished the rebound to the net.

Heel of the hunt, the difference was that Rynagh’s could score from distance, Conneely scoring six times, five of them in the second half from 60 metres - they needed to, with their inside forwards tied up by the Corcorans; Coolderry had to recycle possession before moving the ball neatly to a range of 40 metres before scoring ‘perfect points’. Rynagh’s will now top the group and will likely face Tullamore in the quarter-final. I expected more of Coolderry, though in fairness the six named above who were missing leave a big gap. Parlon will probably be back by round 5, no? As it stands, Coolderry will not win Robbins.

On a bad weekend for referees, I better say Tony Carroll handled the game well.

Scorers: St Rynagh’s: Gary Conneely 0-6, Aidan Treacy 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-2 frees), Ger Scales 0-5 (4 frees), Ger Rafferty 1-0, Seán Dolan 0-1.
Coolderry: Brian Carroll 0-8 (0-5 frees, 0-1 ’65), Andrew Connolly 1-0, Declan Parlon & Kevin Teehan 0-2 each, Andrew Hall, Martin Corcoran, Barry Teehan & Stephen O’Connor 0-1 each.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The scoreline suggests a cakewalk, and in the end, and in the end of the middle, it was, but for 30 minutes the Clareen men gave this one everything they had. Right from the start this game was a big step up in pace and intensity from that which preceded it. K-K were hungry, strong and quick. Claren matched them in this department and the effect was a good, robust encounter.

Clareen, with Joseph Bergin top-of-the-right, opened a 0-4 to 0-1 lead and got plenty of ball into Bergin, and by the mid-way point of the half Clareen led 0-6 to 0-3. Ciarán Slevin then pointed a free with what I think was his firat touch of the ball. Slevin’s next touch was to place Conor Mahon in a one-on-one with Eoin Coughlan and Mahon finished beautifully off his left side. Something about Mahon’s striking too – it looks more orthodox in recent times.

With Slevin now moving from one corner-forward position to the other, finding space and gaining possession, K-K went on to lead 1-8 to 0-6. Good points by Barry Bergin and Christopher Connors made it 1-8 to 0-8, and a Slevin free made it 1-9 to 0-8 at half-time.

The game swung irretrievably from Clareen early in the second half. Dermot Mooney left in the hurl late on Damien Kilmartin. It’s possible referee Noel Cooney didn’t see it, but he showed Mooney his second yellow, followed by a red, and that was that.

The remainder was a procession. Trevor Fletcher came on and scored 1-2, Kevin Coyne came on and scored a point. K-K were actually quite awesome, and have moved on from last year. Peter Healion was probably the best of them, dominating the skies around centre half-back. Shane Ryan caught the eye for Clareen.

Finally, our dear local paper complained last week that there were too many meaningless group games in hurling and football. This evening in Birr we had two hurling matches where the performance and the outcome clearly meant much to the four teams taking part. There was a massive crowd too, possibly around 2,000 people.

Scorers: Kilcormac-Killoughey: Ciarán Slevin 1-7 0-3 frees), Conor Mahon & Trevor Fletcher 1-2 each, Peter Geraghty 0-3, Daniel Currams & Killian Leonard 0-2 each, James Gorman, Damien Kilmartin & Kevin Coyne 0-1 each.
Seir Kieran: Joseph Bergin 0-7 (0-6 frees), James Mulrooney, Adrian Hynes, Barry Bergin, Christopher Connors & Shane Ryan 0-1 each.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Just on the points re grounds and referees -

The point that there a limited number of grounds is not correct.
On referees - I happened to be talking to a chap I know who did refereeing for a few years about a decade back. I asked him why he stopped, and waited for him to tell me about the verbal abuse that gets flung at referees. He replied "I loved refereeing". He told me he stopped for "one reason only" and that was because he was ambitious but was never rewarded with a Senior match.

And we all hear the groans in the crowd when the same veteran referees appear five minutes before the start of a match. The appropriate promotion of referees, after a satisfactory probation period at underage and Junior levels, needs to be addressed.

I will say this - I've shared a press box with Mary Dunne on a few Sunday evenings and it's only when you actually see the myriad of different things that she has to deal with that you realise that the job is incredibly difficult. There are a limited number of grounds, a limited number of referees, referees who don't like travelling too far, players playing senior, minor, football and hurling, clubs like K-K fielding four adult teams, development squads, minor board fixtures, grounds that don't make returns and clubs telling blatant lies all to get what they want. It's amazing how many stag parties and weddings turn into funerals and such like when communicated to the fixtures team.

[Plain of the Herbs]

From the County Board's site

Friday 9th August at 7.30pm
SHC - Birr v Drumcullen at Kinnitty
IHC - Ballyskenagh-Killavilla v Coolderry at Shinrone

Saturday 10th August
SHC - Tullamore v Clareen at Tullamore at 5.30pm
SHC - St Rynagh's v Belmont at Tullamore at 7pm
IHC - Kilcormac-Killoughey v Birr at Lusmagh at 5.30pm
IHC - Killurin v Shinrone at Rath at 5.30pm
IHC - Shamrocks v Clara at Ballinamere at 5.30pm

Sunday 11th August
SHC - Lusmagh v Shinrone at 12 noon at Carrig
SHC - Kilcormac-Killoughey v Brosna Gaels at 6pm Lusmagh
SHC - Kinnitty v Coolderry at 6pm at Clareen
IHC - St Rynaghs v Ballinamere at Rath at 12 noon

(Plain of the Herbs is pleased to see that Senior matches are destined for Lusmagh, Clareen, Kinnitty and Carrig.)

[Lone Shark]

Just on the points re grounds and referees -

The point that there a limited number of grounds is not correct.
On referees - I happened to be talking to a chap I know who did refereeing for a few years about a decade back. I asked him why he stopped, and waited for him to tell me about the verbal abuse that gets flung at referees. He replied "I loved refereeing". He told me he stopped for "one reason only" and that was because he was ambitious but was never rewarded with a Senior match.

And we all hear the groans in the crowd when the same veteran referees appear five minutes before the start of a match. The appropriate promotion of referees, after a satisfactory probation period at underage and Junior levels, needs to be addressed.

I will say this - I've shared a press box with Mary Dunne on a few Sunday evenings and it's only when you actually see the myriad of different things that she has to deal with that you realise that the job is incredibly difficult. There are a limited number of grounds, a limited number of referees, referees who don't like travelling too far, players playing senior, minor, football and hurling, clubs like K-K fielding four adult teams, development squads, minor board fixtures, grounds that don't make returns and clubs telling blatant lies all to get what they want. It's amazing how many stag parties and weddings turn into funerals and such like when communicated to the fixtures team.

Just to clarify - when I say a limited number of grounds, what I mean there is in the context of arranging a full weekend of fixtures, at a time like now. That's not to say that grounds are working full pelt all the time or anything, but occasionally there can be issues for a junior or an underage match somewhere when certain grounds are not permissable and when there are other clashes, such as the host club being engaged elsewhere in another fixture.

As for referees' promotion, that would be an aspect that has not historically been the case so much - however there are some referees now who would make the same complaint, but their assessors' scores and indeed their general performance would not be up to scratch. I'm not saying it was always this way, but no different than there being several players who would love to play at senior level but who aren't good enough, so it is that there are several referees that aren't good enough to make the step up either. It's only natural that the best referees in the county would get the senior club games.

That doesn't change the fact that there were a few older referees in the county who seemed to be invulnerable to the same criteria and who continued to get big names despite their persistant inability to keep up with play or to indeed display any of the characteristics required, with the possible exception of a thick skin.

[Tipp Man]

Point in relation to referees:
I went into birr to watch the KK match v Clareen and i managed to see the second half of the the Coolderry and Banagher game. Overall i thought the hurling was fairly poor with the exception of kk who look very impressive and will be hard stop this year, I thought the referee in both games was very poor. Tony Carroll an inter county referee made some woeful decisions. I was sitting in the stand only to see a ball go over the bar about 3ft inside the post only to be waved wide by the umpire. The umpire scratched his head and then waved the ball wide. With all the protests Tony Carroll didnt even attempt to consult anyone. The second point which happened in both match was the blocking down across the hands. One of the Gerathys was struck across the hands when striking the ball and the game was waved play on. If you have a free taker like slevin how is it an advantage to a team to play on. Likewise in the coolderry match two if not three coolderrys players were struck when hitting the ball and the referee let the game go and came back to the incident when the ball went out of play???? Cant understand this but maybe somebody can fill me in on the rights and wrongs of this. The last point would be the last free of the game awarded to Banagher. Personally i think it was a free but how it was not a free out before that i will never know. The full back got out in front of his man and was clearly pushed to the ground from behind. I think i heard someone in whelehans said it was seen from the square in birr , but the ref waved play on and the free in was awarded. I have been at few offaly club games this year and i have to say the referees have been dreadfull. Anyone agree disagree?

[shannonbanks14]

While the reporter on the Rynaghs v Coolderrry match was at pains to point out how many players the latter were missing he never mentioned all the Rynaghs lads who are unavailable at the minute through injury and being out of the country for a few more weeks, approx. 6 lads as well. When Rynaghs have a full outfit they will take beating.

[Lone Shark]

Point in relation to referees:
I went into birr to watch the KK match v Clareen and i managed to see the second half of the the Coolderry and Banagher game. Overall i thought the hurling was fairly poor with the exception of kk who look very impressive and will be hard stop this year, I thought the referee in both games was very poor. Tony Carroll an inter county referee made some woeful decisions. I was sitting in the stand only to see a ball go over the bar about 3ft inside the post only to be waved wide by the umpire. The umpire scratched his head and then waved the ball wide. With all the protests Tony Carroll didnt even attempt to consult anyone. The second point which happened in both match was the blocking down across the hands. One of the Gerathys was struck across the hands when striking the ball and the game was waved play on. If you have a free taker like slevin how is it an advantage to a team to play on. Likewise in the coolderry match two if not three coolderrys players were struck when hitting the ball and the referee let the game go and came back to the incident when the ball went out of play???? Cant understand this but maybe somebody can fill me in on the rights and wrongs of this. The last point would be the last free of the game awarded to Banagher. Personally i think it was a free but how it was not a free out before that i will never know. The full back got out in front of his man and was clearly pushed to the ground from behind. I think i heard someone in whelehans said it was seen from the square in birr , but the ref waved play on and the free in was awarded. I have been at few offaly club games this year and i have to say the referees have been dreadfull. Anyone agree disagree?

I won't comment on individual situations like that since I wasn't at the games, but I'd say that in Offaly we'd a reasonable share of well respected referees and possibly more than most. We don't have depth, but generally speaking when you stay away from the few unfit old lads that still blight the scene, we're not too bad. That's probably surprising when you consider how badly we've treated some of our referees in the past when the pressure came on. I'd be amazed that more referees didn't walk in that situation.

[Tipp Man]

Everyone makes mistakes and the referee has no doubt one of the hardest jobs on the pitch as he takes abuse from supporters, players and management and it is often unjustified but i am only going on what i saw yesterday. Brian Carroll struck a ball over the bar and it was closer to the black spot then the post was waved wide. Now i dont know the man but going by watching him at county matches he rarely opens his mouth to a referee and he ran towards the ref and pointed towards the umpires indicating to go in and consult with them and he completely ignored him. A similar situation happened moments later with another coolderry player wearing a red helmet i think struck a ball over the bar. Now to me it was barely inside the post and was a hard call but again it didnt phase the referee no consultation just turned his back and waved play on. Not a sign of a good referee??? Right or wrong? Now i thought there was situations in the game where he done well and let the game run but the biggest talking point for me is how he didnt give a free out instead of a free in at the end of the game? Maybe i saw this wrong and someone might be able to help me out but i thought number 2 or 3 was pushed out over the ball and he waved play on!! The banagher player proceeded with the ball and was bundled up by two or three coolderry players and a free instantly given. All i would say is if that was in Tipperary the referee might want to ring a taxi before the final whistle....... Not that im condoning hitting referees i am completely against it but it looked like coolderry just took there beating and got on with there warm down.

[Sharp Eye]

It appears from the Offaly website that the Offaly SHC game between Belmont and St Rynaghs is fixed for O'Connor Park, Tullamore. Surely St Brendans Park Birr would be able to host the crowd for that one. Is this taking Health & Safety too far????
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