Hurling Championship

[Plain of the Herbs]

They've also got a SHL Final against Clareen to fit into the diary. They must be strong favourites for 'Club of the Year' too.

k/k will be busy over the next few weeks , junior football final against clara tomorrow night and first round of the leinster junior football championship on sunday against the meath champions. just goes to show that k/k have put in a great effort this year in hurling and football its not easy to keep the two going at the best of times but to get to a football and hurling final in the same year and win the minor hurling is a credit to the club . best of luck to the footballers on friday and to both teams in leinster.

[lusmagh]

Haven't seen it on Offaly website yet but just to let anyone thinking of attending know, the SHC Relegation Final between Shamrocks and Drumcullen has been moved back 30 minutes to avoid a direct clash with the Camogie final and will now throw in at 4:30 pm in Lusmagh.

[Greenwhiteandgold]

Drumcullen beat shamrocks by 2 or 3 points in the end. Poor game of hurling, Derek Molloy went off injured in the first half and was a huge loss.

[Plain of the Herbs]

An odd game. Didn’t have the hard pulling or intensity of last week’s Drumcullen v Tullamore match. They were level four times in the first 15 minutes. Drumcullen led 0-6 to 0-5 when Derek Molloy sustained a serious injury which caused him to withdraw and Brian Kearney to go to centre half-back and Drumcullen led 0-9 to 0-5 at half-time.

Drumcullen extended that lead to 11 – 5 early in the second half and though they did the more hurling and generally got to the ball first, they didn’t score and by the three-quarter mark Shamrocks had real hope of survival having reduced the gap to 11 – 9. Harry Ryan then pointed a mighty one and Conor Gath pointed a free (his 9th from a placed ball) to make it 13 – 9 when the big talking point occurred.

A Drumcullen player gained possession close to the sideline, was puched from behind and stumbled – no free. He took an illegal frontal hit with the hurl – no free. Another frontal hit with the hurl – still no free. Then a load of players arrived on the scene and a row erupted. About two minutes later referee Martin Walsh happened to appear on the scene by which time the row had split into two separate rows. When things quietened down Shamrocks’ Barry Kelly was sent off on a straight red and a man from each side was yellow-carded.

Shamrocks forced a reasonable degree of pressure after that, Shane Molloy made it 13 – 10 with a pointed free. Nobody knew how much stoppage time would be added, but in the second minute of stoppage time Shamrocks left just two in it with a point from a free but a minute later Pádraig (??) scored a mighty one for Drumcullen, the last score of the game and the puckout was the last puck of the 2012 championship and Shamrock’s last puck in Senior hurling after a dozen years in the tip flight. Their main cause of concern tonight will be for Derek Molloy though.


Finally, the Lusmagh pitch again was in excellent condition. Previously described in print media as being too tight (it isn’t), too short (it’s the longest in the county), too soft (where do people get off?) and the grass being too long (for feck sake!), today it staged its tenth match in this year’s Senior hurling championship. Most of those were not initially fixed for Lusmagh but the quality of the pitch proved invaluable in the wet summer on days when other pitches proved unplayable. Only for the Lusmagh pitch there might well be a fixtures backlog.

[kingscounty]

just wondering was there a relegation game played in the intermediate hurling , who will be playing junior A next year?

[townman]

thats Shamrocks gone from the senior hurling now plus gone from senior football to, its a big blow to the club
who has done very well to be senior in both codes for so long, they were one of the top teams in the county in football
in the early 2000's and were so unlucky never to win the title.

[Plain of the Herbs]

There wasn't. There were only 11 IHC teams last year (like the SFC) so on that basis my guess is there won't be relegation. Shinrone would be promoted to Inter if they win the JHC Final next week. Ballinamere are already Intermediate so if they win it they would have to regrade upwards all the personnel who play in the Final, as per rule.

just wondering was there a relegation game played in the intermediate hurling , who will be playing junior A next year?

[timber]

Yes it's not nice to see them relegated in both codes. They have been very competitive in both codes and produced some excellent players. Unfortunately they have lost so many players that filling the gaps has obviously been too big a challenge. There was no doubt they would be relegated. Drumcullen having a
Game recently handed them a massive advantage and the loss of Molloy was massive.
Raises questions again about the fixtures. There has to be an even playing field. A team that hasn't played in weeks or months is obviously not going to have much of a hope against a team that had a league semi and a championship game in the build up. We are still waiting on junior hurling finals to be played in late October. That's just ridiculous. No excuse why junior championships are not finished early September at latest. August would actually be more appropriate. But things will never change in there.

[kingscounty]

There wasn't. There were only 11 IHC teams last year (like the SFC) so on that basis my guess is there won't be relegation. Shinrone would be promoted to Inter if they win the JHC Final next week. Ballinamere are already Intermediate so if they win it they would have to regrade upwards all the personnel who play in the Final, as per rule.

just wondering was there a relegation game played in the intermediate hurling , who will be playing junior A next year?

Thanks POTH. Just on ballinamere regrading players, i know they have to do it for next year if they win but what about the following year can they go back playing junior again? I say this because they won the junior A in 2010 and would have had to regrade players for 2011 and now this year they are back in the final again, im not giving out im just curious. It must be 5 or 6 weeks since the semi finals were played in the junior hurling its crazy leaving it till nearly November to play the final.

[Plain of the Herbs]

My guess (and I emphasise the word 'guess') is that they can regrade seven players in the usual way. That would mean it takes two years fo a winning team to 'regroup'.

There is provision to regrade something like ten players in exceptional circumstances. Quite what 'exceptional circumstances' are is open to argument, I suppose.

Thanks POTH. Just on ballinamere regrading players, i know they have to do it for next year if they win but what about the following year can they go back playing junior again? I say this because they won the junior A in 2010 and would have had to regrade players for 2011 and now this year they are back in the final again, im not giving out im just curious. It must be 5 or 6 weeks since the semi finals were played in the junior hurling its crazy leaving it till nearly November to play the final.

[KillougheyGoBragh]

Its been a busy time in and around the Kilcormac-Killoughey club.
Senior Hurling Final was a fantastic result and its great after all the effort that has been put in over the years at under-age level that the 'Holy Grail' of hurling has found itself destined for a small club like Kilcormac-Killoughey.
I feel great pride to have been part of community where so much joy was expressed last Sunday.
These are a great bunch of lads and role models to our future generations.
Heady days indeed for Kilcormac-Killoughey.

[Kevin]

Its been a busy time in and around the Kilcormac-Killoughey club.
Senior Hurling Final was a fantastic result and its great after all the effort that has been put in over the years at under-age level that the 'Holy Grail' of hurling has found itself destined for a small club like Kilcormac-Killoughey.
I feel great pride to have been part of community where so much joy was expressed last Sunday.
These are a great bunch of lads and role models to our future generations.
Heady days indeed for Kilcormac-Killoughey.

Congratulations Sir.

Its been a long time in coming.

I hope the success is thoroughly enjoyed.

Wishing you and yours success in the upcoming Leinster campaign.

[Greenwhiteandgold]

[quote="KillougheyGoBragh"]Its been a busy time in and around the Kilcormac-Killoughey club.
Senior Hurling Final was a fantastic result and its great after all the effort that has been put in over the years at under-age level that the 'Holy Grail' of hurling has found itself destined for a small club like Kilcormac-Killoughey.
Heady days indeed for Kilcormac-Killoughey.[/quote

A small club like Kilcormac-Killoughey? A club that can field 3 teams every year, and spans from drumcullen to mucklagh and down into ballyboy, mountbolous etc can hardly be called a small club? Certainly not a small club by offalys standards.

[GOOFY]

A small club like Kilcormac-Killoughey? A club that can field 3 teams every year, and spans from drumcullen to mucklagh and down into ballyboy, mountbolous etc can hardly be called a small club? Certainly not a small club by offalys standards.

Lave dat man alone greenwhiteand gold

[Lone Shark]

I sometimes think the status of "big club" in the GAA is a bit like the top rate of tax. Everyone thinks the appropriate level to set it at is a little bit more than where they are, regardless of that level.

It got particularly farcical when I heard Anthony Cunningham trying to claim that Garrycastle were a small club in the run up to last year's All Ireland club final. But then I'd say you could probably count on one hand the amount of clubs that consider themselves "big".