SHC round 2, 17/05/09

[backofthenet]

On the coolderry birr game,

Brian Kelly will be out, I would expect Paul Hudson to fill in, he spent all last year in that position so we arent losing a lot there. Brendan OMeara will definately be out aswell, likely for another few weeks

Barry Teehan will play, has been training for the last week and took part in the match on wednesday night so no problems there. Also Martin Corcoran is playing great stuff at the moment, possibly wont be at midfield anyway.

You havent listed that Brian Carroll and Joe Brady have been playing quite well, there is more competition for forward line places in coolderry than there has been in years. It will be up to Damien Murray and Brian Carrol to step up to the mark rather than Cathal Parlon as they are the more senior players and playing well at the moment.

Also i think you will be pleasantly suprised at how well Kevin Connoly and Michael Ryan will do. Especially Kevin Connoly if he is on Michael Verney..the niggily stuff wont affect him at all...he hurled junior last year so has been to the academy of slaps!!!

We also have Ray Murray in goal (finally) it sounds like his forward playing days are over...he is a serious advantage between the sticks and is an improvement on shane oconnor who has been dipping in form over the last couple of years.

Its certainly going to be close...i would expect Coolderry to win as they have added a few players this year, a manager with a good head on the sideline that knows hurling, and the birr team is ageing year on year..they have lads that have done a lot of hurling so it will be interesting to see if they have the hunger to go again.

Coolderry by three

Theres a world of difference between hurling against Lusmagh and against Birr!!!

Birr had little trouble tonight in a rain sodden Kinnitty in seeing off the challenge of Coolderry on a scoreline of 0-15 to 1-8. Birr were far superior in the second half with Paul Cleary and Dylan Hayden absolutley outstanding.

Kevin Connolly got the Coolderry goal but other than that was practically annoymous as was Micheal Ryan. Birrs use of the handpass to get out of trouble was top class and as a neutral I could only admire their link up play. They limited to Coolderry to one score from play in the second half and that was the goal in the first minute so Coolderry couldn't manage a score from play in 29 minutes and never raised a white flag from play in the entire second half. That 6-24 is a distant memory now.

Barry Whelehan and Joe Brady were both sent off in the first half and Whelehan in particular can have no complaints as he pulled a hay maker across Bradys head as they were poking the noses of their hurls into each others chest.

If these two do meet again in the championship the only question I would have is not who will win, but by how much are Birr going to win by?

Ah we all know that kinnityman..theres no one in coolderry that took any notice to the score line against lusmagh.

On the game yesterday, The pitch was shocking it really ruined the game as a spectacle and there was a lot of disinterested people in the stand as the hurling was extremely poor from both sides.The loss of Joe Brady was immense as our forward line was way too light, i dont think our half forward line won a puck out in the whole game. Dylan Hayden had a great game...but to be honest i knew he was going to clean up when we named brian carrol at centre forward. Brian Carrol is not a ball winner, simple as that, he never even tried to compete with Hayden at any stage in the first half or with Paul Cleary when he was moved out in the second.

Cathal Parlon was taken off...rightly so he didnt touch the ball all game and for a county hurler was brutal. Also Damien Murray done very little apart from scoring the points.Really our midfield wasnt completely non existant...i thought Martin Corcoran had a good game, caught some nice ball and worked hard all game in fairness. The backs were ok...Paul Hudson done very well deputising for the injured Brendan O'Meara and Brian Kelly. Really the game was lost on the sideline, In the second half Birr used the pitch brilliantly, leaving plenty of space for their forward line and packing their half back line with Rory Hannify and Dylan Hayden and then breaking quickly with the ball. The Coolderry selectors didnt even seem to notice this had happened and done very little to try and rectify the situation.

Birr deserved to win no doubts...but i certainly couldnt write off Coolderry on last nights performance. The pitch was unplayable and our players just didnt deal with the conditions as well as Birr imo. Its a pity the match wasnt either moved to another pitch yesterday afternoon or else called off until next weekend so that there could be a game worth a tenner to go and see.

On the Ballyskenagh / Shinrone game...i left after about 50 mins...but this game was over after 5. Skenagh are without doutbt the worst senior team i have ever seen playing in the offaly championship...they will be intermediate next year and possibly junior the next if yesterday was anything to go by.

[Lone Shark]

Any chance we could get your opinion on the weekends hurling LS?
This Kinnitty bashing is making me feel a bit uneasy.

No bother - as I said, it's not meant at the whole club - it's just one incident that happened to cause me a lot of repercussions is all.


As for the games, well the three matches I got to were the two in Kinnitty and Tullamore against Lusmagh. I expected Tullamore to handle Lusmagh quite easily, but in fairness to the Reds they dug in and hurled with a lot of bottle, a lot of commitment and thoroughly deserved the result. It still could easily have gone the other way since a couple of Eoin Kelly saves bailed them out at crucial times while I thought they had thrown away their chance of a draw when Paul Bermingham swung in like Happy Gilmore there at the end, but I'm glad they got it. Shane Kelly hurled well for Tullamore at midfield and Dooley took some nice scores, but he's very one sided and I thought he was physically dominated here. Francis Kerrigan was of no benefit, which was a pity because he took one glorious score to prove his worth and then spent the rest of the game looking for frees, wandering around aimlessly and running up blind alleys. He's better than this and needs to hurl like it. I'd still take Tullamore to win if the two sides met again but this Tullamore team looks way behind where they were this time last year, even allowing for the absence of lads like Gearóid O'Grady.

Birr against Coolderry was exactly as described above - an absolute hammering on the field, even if the scoreline didn't show it. Paul Cleary, Dylan Hayden, the two Hanniffy's and Paul O'Meara were all excellent and plenty of others put in good shifts as well. They looked so much more purposeful, each player was well able to win his own ball and ride the tackles and they simply looked like men against boys. Joe Brady's dismissal probably didn't help Coolderry in this regard but even allowing for that, they just seemed so much smaller and weaker on the ball all over. I haven't seen Kinnitty yet, but they or Rynaghs might have to be the team to stop Birr's run since coolderry just don't seem to have it.

A couple of notes on this game as well - I don't care if he's a county player, if Joe Brady (and Barry Whelahan) get any less than three months, it's a farce. The two lads absolutely flailed into each other, both swinging hurls and punches - I was right in front of it. Any less and the other clubs in Offaly are getting punished for Joe being a county player.

As for the county, on that level this game was extremely worrying. I'm delighted to hear about Colm Coughlan hurling well because he might be needed. Joe Brady will now be unavailable, Cathal Parlon was quiet and as indicated above, rightly got taken off and Brian Carroll was simply way off his game. He didn't win any ball but I'll grant that's not his role - however his use of the sliothar when he did get it was poor too, he shot some awful wides. It's hard to see any of them making an impact based on this.

For the final note, Sean Ryan's score at the end was a goal, clear as day. It never went above the crossbar at any stage. I'm glad it didn't matter but the umpires have a lot to answer for here.


And to Belmont, and I'm really proud of how the lads did here. At the start it looked like Clareen were going to score too freely, but Belmont hung in, took the chances where they came along and fought like dogs for every loose ball and every break. Jamie Flynn has been a real addition to the half back line while the conditions were perfect for John Ryan at centre forward as well - he caused no end of problems. Every Belmont defender got stuck in really well while the tactic of pulling Colin Egan back made it very hard for Clareen to win any ball.

However while Colin did his job really well, it's not that difficult to look good as the free man. It's not that he did anything wrong, quite the opposite, but I think the real credit has to go to the forward unit who won a lot of ball and defended brilliantly from the front despite being a man short. Basically the extra man was easy to see at one end, but at the other it was a lot less obvious - and that's down to very hard work from all the Belmont forwards. Alan Egan is still not quite himself in that a few years ago he would have gone for goal that time in the second half, but Mark is still banging over scores from all over the field and took some beauties out there.

Clareen weren't beaten by much - wides and tactics were probably the guts of it - but they need to stop relying so much on Bergin. He can be hot and cold, and as Belmont proved, you'd be amazed what some of the smaller clubs can do without their star man if the need arises.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

For the final note, Sean Ryan's score at the end was a goal, clear as day. It never went above the crossbar at any stage. I'm glad it didn't matter but the umpires have a lot to answer for here.

Don't mean to be out to get you tonight Shark with regards corrections but was that 'goal' at the end of the game not from Brian Whelahan?


Asides from that, I too caught a few games over the weekend paying particular attention to our starting county forwards. Given that some of them appear to be 'untouchable' with regards Offaly team selection, one would therefore logically expect them to really shine and appear an obvious standard above the rest. Unfortunately this was not the case and trying to pick them out from any of the other club forwards was a sometimes dificult task.
Since they are clearly not far and away the best six forwards in the county, perhaps some other guys should be given a chance. If they don't work then at least we know.

[kinnittyman]

Yes Colm Coughlan did hurl well in the second half against Banagher. But we all know for one reason or another he wont get a look in against Wexford. Currams will be in the corner and I 've made my views pretty clear on this already.

As it stands its looking like a forlorn hope for the chasing pack against Birr but who knows what might happen later in year regarding injuries, suspensions etc.

Would I be right in giving this as my following rankings after 2 rounds based soley on performances to date and strength of opposition and the like.

1 Birr



2 Kinnitty
3 Coolderry
4 St Rynaghs
5 Shamrocks
6Belmont
7Tullamore
8 Seir Kieran
9 K/K
10 Lusmagh
11 Shinrone
12 Ballyskenagh

[Lone Shark]

For the final note, Sean Ryan's score at the end was a goal, clear as day. It never went above the crossbar at any stage. I'm glad it didn't matter but the umpires have a lot to answer for here.

Don't mean to be out to get you tonight Shark with regards corrections but was that 'goal' at the end of the game not from Brian Whelahan?


Asides from that, I too caught a few games over the weekend paying particular attention to our starting county forwards. Given that some of them appear to be 'untouchable' with regards Offaly team selection, one would therefore logically expect them to really shine and appear an obvious standard above the rest. Unfortunately this was not the case and trying to pick them out from any of the other club forwards was a sometimes dificult task.
Since they are clearly not far and away the best six forwards in the county, perhaps some other guys should be given a chance. If they don't work then at least we know.

The goal was definitely Sean - he just wore a red helmet to confuse matters, but otherwise the running style was all him! Otherwise I'm glad for corrections, God knows I'm in bad need of it by times!

Agree completely about the forwards - right now there is actually not one of them that you could say is on form. Brian Carroll probably has the experience and the past record to justify being picked while in a slump, but I'm not sure that any of the others do.

[Troy boy]

Any report from the intermediate chapionship at the w/e??

[backofthenet]

Any report from the intermediate chapionship at the w/e??

Well last weekend, Brosna Gaels beat Coolderry by 3 points in Killurin. Brosna Gaels were the better team on the day and deserved the win, Coolderry played bad, some shocking decisions on the sideline didnt help. On a side note the referee was terrible...hes a football referee i believe, and i dont want to sound like sour grapes but he gave 2 - 3 ridiculous free's. He also refereed our junior game versus clara and done the same thing. Is there not enough hurling refs in the county

[Plain of the Herbs]

No, there isn't. Ever consider refereeing, yourself?

Is there not enough hurling refs in the county

[backofthenet]

No, there isn't. Ever consider refereeing, yourself?

Is there not enough hurling refs in the county

I did actually, i ref soccer matches during the winter and i considered taking up gaa, but i still play hurling & soccer with a little bit of golf thrown in so I really didnt have the time.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I decided to put a little bit of thought into this. A quick review of the referees for the two rounds of the SHC revealed that eleven different referees did the twelve matches played. Carthage Buckley did two matches while Brian Gavin, Tony Carroll, Noel Flynn, Padraig Freeman, Declan Cooke, Paddy Egan, Aidan Ryan, Martin Kirwan, Martin Walsh and, Kieran Groome each did a senior match. Is Brendan Keeshan still refereeing?

There’s more of them than I thought, and there’s plenty there to have a full round of SHC and IHC matches over a weekend without any referees risking burnout!

Is there not enough hurling refs in the county

[Plain of the Herbs]

Incidentally, how do you find the abuse of referees at junior soccer compared to what you see at club hurling?

I did actually, i ref soccer matches during the winter and i considered taking up gaa, but i still play hurling & soccer with a little bit of golf thrown in so I really didnt have the time.

[backofthenet]

Incidentally, how do you find the abuse of referees at junior soccer compared to what you see at club hurling?

I did actually, i ref soccer matches during the winter and i considered taking up gaa, but i still play hurling & soccer with a little bit of golf thrown in so I really didnt have the time.

Well I dont take any abuse when im reffing. When I done my first game i decided to take a hard line on it and it has worked. No one will ever abuse me as they know they will get a straight red if they do. There are other refs in the junior league that take abuse..but its generally tame stuff "youre having a laugh" "go to specsavers" etc etc.

My only experience of hurling is only playing, i have often had some disagreements with refs in the heat of the moment but I dont see much abuse of refs in hurling either. Perhaps ive a blinkered view on this but from what I have witnessed there is little or no abuse in matches.

[backofthenet]

I decided to put a little bit of thought into this. A quick review of the referees for the two rounds of the SHC revealed that eleven different referees did the twelve matches played. Carthage Buckley did two matches while Brian Gavin, Tony Carroll, Noel Flynn, Padraig Freeman, Declan Cooke, Paddy Egan, Aidan Ryan, Martin Kirwan, Martin Walsh and, Kieran Groome each did a senior match. Is Brendan Keeshan still refereeing?

There’s more of them than I thought, and there’s plenty there to have a full round of SHC and IHC matches over a weekend without any referees risking burnout!

Is there not enough hurling refs in the county

Well im not sure exactly which ref it was im unsure of his name as I havent seen him reffing a match before.

Looking at the refs on the list though, some are quiet poor. I think 11 hurling refs for senior level, considering the matches across the 5 championships circa 200 games or so, also probably about the same number of practice matches being played.then add in all the juvenile games that are going on throughout the year id say that the referee department is seriously understaffed.