Offaly Senior A Hurling Championship 2024

[Fairplayalways]

Shinrone certainly had a great win today over Birr, they were vastly improved on earlier games, that said Birr from MF up dont really convince me, Cahill from frees excellent surely there's more there from play, their defence is pretty good and solid with Hayes and Harding carrying the battle to opposition all year...I thought Kinnitty might have given Balliamere a closer game..still up for grabs in last round in this group..in other group Seir Kieran had some win, and from what i hear and see Rynaghs may still go through despite losing twice..Coolderry got over Tullamore, hard to see them beat KK in last game though..should be am interesting last round..

[frankthetank]

So after this weekend’s games it’s Ballinamere straight through to semi-finals with most likely Kilcormac/Killoughey to join them.

And almost definitely a Quarter Final line up of:
Shinrone vs Coolderry
St Rynaghs vs winners of Kinnitty vs Birr

Relegation final:
Belmont vs losers of Seir Kieran vs Tullamore

[Fairplayalways]

looking like you set out above - interesting to see where Shinrone are after today - they were a different team today even I couldnt see such an improvement after their first two games, but they did, big players back etc..I still think knockout games later will be different animals and shocks can and do happen...

[private joker]

Kk to hammer coolderry, shinrone to bet coolderry.
Ballinamere to be the only team to put it up to kk

[Superhans75]

Great win for shinrone
Birr looked poor a rudderless team if there ever was one
To be honest if you had the best players
From every team in the county would they beat KK?
I doubt it?

[greenairfield]

A very good description of the Birr team is that.
Will do very very well to get over Kinnitty the way they have been hurling.

[Fairplayalways]

as woeful as Birr were (from MF up today) and I hate breaking it down but they have some fine hard working hurlers upto there, alot skill and what have ya on paper in their forward line but just not delivering, and not delivering a long time now. As woeful as they were I think they will have too much for Kinnitty who just seemed to have reached their quota of big performances this year. You never know, but Birr will get enough scores to get over them I think, one never knows. Its hard not to say KK wont hammer Coolderry, BUT Coolderry will want to lay down a marker and better in a group game than having to find that extra gear in knockout later on, that said its hard see them beating KK, they might get closer than other teams maybe but still hard not to see KK win...the other side of that of course is to keep your "big game" for the knockout and surprise KK etc. but very hard to do that when most teams know each other inside out in Offaly...

[Plain of the Herbs]

A few things emerged from round 4. Principal among them that Ballinamere aren’t as good and Shinrone aren’t as bad as they both appeared hitherto.

Last Sunday was Shinrone’s best performance since 2022’s Senior final. There was a real pace and intensity to their work that Birr couldn’t match, even during the first half when they weren’t building a lead their superiority warranted. A lot of pent up anger and frustration there. Darren Crean was hugely impressive again, placing Michael Cleary at centre-back (and Dara Maher on the wing) gave them a better balance. Again DJ McLoughlin showed real leadership; that’s 1-9 for him in three games so far. The side finally seem to have clicked with their new manager. And to produce that perfomance without Killian Sampson and Declan Cleary. What were they at against Ballinamere?

Of course, Shinrone were helped by Birr’s loss of full-back Eoin Hayes to injury at half-time. But the biggest loss of all was taking Barry Harding out of centre half-back to fill the gap in the full-back line. Shinrone’s half-forward line spent the second half closer to their own ‘65m line than anywhere else, Birr’s half-back line followed them and the gaps opened up. And Birr’s management, all of whom were defenders themselves in their time, looked across the field at the 60 yards of space between their full and half lines and did nothing about it.

Birr’s unique selling point was Eoghan Cahill’s dead ball shooting. I estimate there are 10 metres between Banagher’s 65m lines, so a shot from Birr’s own 45m line was 95m from goal, while he converted another from five metres further back. But the frees dried up in the second half, and with it went Birr’s chances.

It took Ballinamere longer than I expected to put Kinnitty away. That’s even allowing for Kinnitty having an incredible work ethic though they don’t have the scoring threat to match. Kevin McDermott is a huge player for Ballinamere. And while they have several good forwards, Brian Duignan is a colossus for them, given his size, strength and mobility. He has scored 4-9 from play in their four matches to date, following his 1-12 last year. And it’s far from ideal for Ballinamere to now stand aside for five weeks while their semi-final opposition build momentum.

To date, Birr have scored 26 points from placed balls, Kinnitty have 16. Birr’s range is up to 100m, Kinnitty’s is no more than 2/3rds of that, so on that basis, Birr should win. Aside from Eoghan Cahill, the rest of the Birr team have scored 3-19 from three matches. Odhrán Kealey aside, the rest of the Kinnitty lads have contributed 2-21. But Birr would need to restore Barry Harding to centre half-back and to afford better protection to their full-back line.

St Rynagh’s were complacent against Clareen. Which is an easy fix. Bring a better attitude next time. Though taking the long view, maybe that’s a glimpse of what a future without Conor Hernon and Stephen Wynne will look like.

Clareen grew in belief as the game wore on, had a brilliant work ethic you expect from Clareen, or a team wearing black and amber stripes. Luke Carey impressed in attack, John Coughlan likewise in defence. Éanna Murphy’s return was timely. And no better time for a boost than nine days before a de facto relegation semi-final.

Finally, it is a concern that with one round remaining, just three teams have positive scoring differences. And of those, Coolderry’s +6 will be eroded by Killoughey on Sunday.

[Fallguy]

Shinrone v Belmont. Not much to say here. Disappointing championship for Belmont after winning the league. Both teams will be hopping to get through this one injury free. A good match for Shinrone to help prepare for the q final after the intensity they brought to the Birr game last weekend.

[Fairplayalways]

any obs after todays games...Birr VRynaghs in one QF and Colderry V Shinrone in the other...should be two good games over all..

[Anonymous1]

Looks to me for all intents and purposes like a KK vs Ballinamere final with KK to win it relatively comfortably.

[Fairplayalways]

ah one never knows either, KK for sure are favs and deservedly so...Coolderry got closer than many teams, 6 points is still a decent margin of victory, wasn't at that game so dont know if it was as close for long stages as the updted scores on twitter suggested it was..KK and Ballinamere of course have extra break now too..interesting to see if tbe QFS throw up anyone that might upset either of the already qualified semi finalists..

[Glendassaun]

I can’t really comment on the other games this weekend as I haven’t had a chance to look back on them. But I was in attendance at the KK v Coolderry game.

Despite the 6 point way I would say there’s a degree of frustration amongst some of KK’s more household names due to their performance yesterday, which is based off the exceptional levels that they set for themselves.

Conditions deteriorated for the duration of the game with quite challenging crosswinds leading to some wayward shooting, especially for KK, with Coolderry being that bit more economical with their limited scoring opportunities.

For KK Conor Slevin made some brilliant saves, with Leigh Kavanagh and Ter Guinan the standout performers out the field. Both players continue to blossom and their development this season at senior level really bodes well from an Offaly perspective next season. Honorable mention to Daniel Hand as well who looked sharp.

For Coolderry in general they hurled and competed well with the losing margin a reflection of their work rate and the economical nature of their shooting. The full back line will be content with how they handled KK’s scoring threats, while David King had a considerable influence on the game also. Worryingly however was Eoin Burkes departure from what seemed to be a worrying injury, one which we can all hope isn’t as serious as it seemed at the time.

Eoin has been a real standout in the Offaly senior championship so far this year, with his performances thus far really forcing his hand up for contention for a place with the Offaly seniors next season in my opinion at least. He really seems to be developing and I sincerely hope he’s fit for Coolderry for their upcoming Q-Final.

Overall the form book points towards a KK v Ballinamere final, with the two form sides looking capable, though not without the possibility of an upset, of reaching the decider. This will be a brilliant test of the reigning champions form, though one has to imagine that KK, rather frighteningly from everyone else’s perspective, have another gear to find. There won’t be much in it come the final few moments.

[private joker]

Was at the kk/coolderry match. Coolderry battled very well but the result was never in doubt must have had near 20 wides, missed 3/4 goals chances. Start of the game coolderry missed a very good goal chance, excellent save. But kk were very wayward with their shooting and on another day vs same opposition could have won by 15 points. Midway through 1st half hit 4 wides in the space of 2 minutes and Start of 2nd half his 3 wide within 90 seconds. Just to show how dominant they were on the opposition s puckouts. Surprised chairlie Mitchell was subbed, I would have gone with the other forward who had lots of chances but only got one point.

[greenairfield]

Thoughts on this weekend....

Birr v Rynaghs
I don't think either team would be happy at stage of the championship of where their teams are at but still they have managed to get through to the knock out stages.
I believe this could go either way and alot will depend what team turns up for both clubs. Hoping for a Birr win but can't back that up with much evidence and if ya picked Rynaghs it would be the same.

Coolderry V Shinrone
Two teams who have seen some form in recent matches , I think Shinrone probably have more individual players who could cause problems for Coolderry but I think the Brian Carroll factor could play a huge part in this and I am going to take his local knowledge of the shinrone team to get them the win by a close enough margin.