ballinamere

[ballinamereman1]

well lads.. new to this set up.. I was reading ur comments there.. and I feel hurling in the north has surpassed the standard in the south.. i.e brosna wining the intermediate, ballinamere constantly there or there abouts.. then in the senior the town winning and then shamrocks have became a strong club there aswell.. and they have young molloy in with offaly.. cant understand why my club arnt represented...

[Lone Shark]

Welcome aboard lad, and it hasn't gone un-noticed how North Offaly has improved a lot in terms of hurling performance in recent years, however I'm not sure who from Ballinamere you think would be worthy of a county slot? Good individuals don't always make for good teams and vice versa - plus Brosna Gaels only provided one player to the squad, and I'm not even sure if Fergal Daly is still on the county panel - so I don't know that it would be automatic for Ballinamere to have someone on there.

There's actually very few intermediate or junior club hurlers on the county scene - I guess it's debatable whether or not that's a fair reflection.

[Bord na Mona man]

durra1 is from Ballinamere too.
He'd be hurling county if it wasn't for his hard living lifestyle.

[Georgio1]

Ballinamere have always been there or thereabouts, thats their problem, too good for junior and not good enough for Senior. Who is hard done by in not making the county panel?

[leinsterman]

What lads are forgetting is there is a big difference between senior and intermediate and junior hurling. i have seen my club birr play teams that have came up from intermediate and
teams that come up have found it hard to stay senior.

teams over the year's like clara, killavilla, drumcullen,ballyskenagh even doe they got to the
county final have struggle to compete at that level. as for ballinamere they have had some fine hurling team's down the year's, they didn't just have the luck on the day.

was it two year's ago we beat them in the intermediate final and its one they could have won
i don't think it matter's where your from if your good enought you will get on the offaly panel. if you look back at the 90s team we had sean og farrell and killian on the offaly team
from edenderry and i think they were junior then. anyway best of luck to ballinamere this year.

and before i go you can forget about the sean robins cup going north this year, we only loan
it out last year. its coming home to the home of hurling this year BIRR .

[durra1]

A topic close to my heart..

There has been representation from the North of the county on successful minor sides of the past - Finbarr Cullen and Clocker Grennan and Shane Buggy in the Minor sides of the late 80s come to mind with the likes of Niall Bryant, John Rouse, Mark Gallagher, Andy Hoctor and Paul McNally featuring here and there after that.

The long and the short of the matter is that the large ball priority has meant lackluster commitment by club apparatchiks to the Hurling B competitions whereby a good football club stalwart would be put over the u-14 and u-16 sides rather than much thought being put into sourcing a good hurling man that may be available in the parish.

A good crop of Ballinamere/Durrow minors under the tutelage of the late (and great) Martin Buggy ran a Brian Carroll inspired Coolderry close in a Minor A final in the early noughties and there has been some good Shamrocks underage stars who ‘could have made it’. Killian Farrell and Martin Flanagan are great examples of the adversity facing a marooned quality hurler in the North.

What was pleasing for me about the Town victory last year was the reward for those involved in the hurling side of the club who had persevered for decades (and even last summer) against the overbearing dominance of large ball advocates. One would hope it would herald a new dawn for North Offaly Hurling. A good few members of the Offaly sides of the 80s and 90s are now living in the Durrow/Ballinamere/Tullamore area and it would be good to see them involved at underage level when their own sons start getting involved. Joe Dooley, Johnny Dooley, Kevin Martin and Michael Duignan have all tried their hand at County level and it would be nice to see them involved at a local level with the juvenile sides. I know some of these and others are already involved.

The current Brosna Gaels vintage stem from a lot of effort put in 10 years ago by a teacher out in Doon from one of the hurling counties who had them featuring in u-12 and u14 tournaments where they never featured before.

There’s a common theme – getting the right personnel involved at club level committed to hurling.

Folk are always quick to talk about academies and the deficit of hurling policy co-ordination at county board level. While that undoubtedly plays its part, the right structures need to be in place at club level, especially in North Offaly where the large ball prevails.

On the point of Intermediate v Senior standard, we need to be realistic here …. there’s a considerable gulf in standard, intensity and stickmanship.

The performance of Ballyskenagh in the Senior championship last year having won Intermediate 08 should highlight this.

[durra1]

durra1 is from Ballinamere too.
He'd be hurling county if it wasn't for his hard living lifestyle.




Yes either that daydream and my other recurring daydream of taking a pass from Le Dric last Saturday and heading into town with Kelly Brooke after!

I'm torn between throwing in my lot with Naas or Sallins Kildare Junior Hurlers for the summer - life his full of opportunity!

[ballinamereman1]

well i personally think martin og could be worth a try in there his very accurate on the placed balls... ah yes i would agree with the above.. however I must point to shamrocks sucees in the senior ranks over the years.. beating Kinnity last year.. drawing wit K/K.. this aswell with Tullamores sucess is showing us that the power is swinging to the North..!!!!

[leinsterman]

Tullamore won the county title last year and it was well deserved they were the best team
in the final. but if lads think that north offaly hurling club's are going to take over hurling
in offaly or that the power is swinging towards north offaly are in for a supprise this year.

as for county player's from junior or intermediate team's on offaly panel, ger oakley would
be the only one, alot of people said to me after tullamore won last years title that it was
good for offaly hurling, i said no it show's how poor offaly hurling is and that's not running
down tullamore.

when you had st.rynaghs,kinnitty,birr,seir kierans,coolderry,lusmagh, with strong teams
in the 80s and 90s offaly were at the top in hurling. tullamore are champion's and there's
only shane dooley good enough to get on the offaly team, so someone tell me who's hurling
intermediate or junior that should be on the offaly panel.

[ballinamereman1]

ok at this moment in time the north hold the power.. with the two main hurling titles in the bag.. the intermeidate and the senior. St. Malachys could win the u.21 this year and that would make it a clean sweep.. offaly dont have the strenght in depth in the intermeidate and junior grades although I feel martin og should be in with the seniors.

[allsorts]

[quote="durra1"]A topic close to my heart..

The current Brosna Gaels vintage stem from a lot of effort put in 10 years ago by a teacher out in Doon from one of the hurling counties who had them featuring in u-12 and u14 tournaments where they never featured before.
[quote]

Durra1, your info is slightly wrong there, Brosna Gaels was set up in 1996, by a Doon man with a keen interest in hurling, & the conviction that he wanted every child in the parish to have a hurl, he wasnt a teacher brought into the area, they started at u11 ground hurling and u12 tournaments. but its true todays Brosna Gaels senior team is the success of building from the ground up, last year Brosna Gaels bought more hurls through the county board than any other club.

It only a matter of time before the balance of players on Offaly teams changes, with a better infrastructure now in place in north offaly.

[Bord na Mona man]

last year Brosna Gaels bought more hurls through the county board than any other club...

...and used them to hunt cattle, cut thistles and replace missing table legs.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Silly season is still going on, it seems.

Heard it all before.

Back in 1981 there was a bigger than usual knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of Offaly’s NHL final defeat to Cork, despite Offaly having beaten Galway, Limerick, Tipperary & Wexford all away from home on the way to the final, and Cork being, well, Cork.

Anyway, some fella from North Offaly, his leg in orbit from the knee-jerk, wrote a letter to the paper claiming there were fifteen better hurlers in North Offaly and urging the County Board to arrange a challenge match between the NHL final team and a North Offaly selection, and being confident of a North Offaly win, promised that he would buy medals for the winners.

I doubt the match ever took place, and anyway twelve of the side who lost that League final won the All-Ireland four months later.

As for a club team having a good freetaker – there’s a novelty! That could actually catch on!! Tell Joe Dooley - quick!!!

[joe bloggs]

well lads.. new to this set up.. I was reading ur comments there.. and I feel hurling in the north has surpassed the standard in the south.. i.e brosna wining the intermediate, ballinamere constantly there or there abouts.. then in the senior the town winning and then shamrocks have became a strong club there aswell.. and they have young molloy in with offaly.. cant understand why my club arnt represented...

You are doing quite well as a WUM on your debut

[ballinamereman1]

ah well now you say brosna used them to hurd cattle.. all i have to say is atleast they did use them unlike the birr team of last year. who appeared to do nothing.. could be sign things to come.. the offaly team now two best players in my opinion are two north offaly boys in derek molloy and shane dooley..