Offaly Club Hurling Championship 2025

[chimbonda]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Shinrone must be asking themselves this morning what might have been it ciaran cleary was full forward in the first half. The kk full back line dominated the first half but they were all over the place when cleary was introduced and Shinrone switched to aerial deliveries. Im sure this will have been noticed by o loughlin gaels and ballyhale as well.

[Doon Exile]

Declared himself fit to play for 15mins with a wrist injury, how does that work , fair enough if a muscle injury but with a wrist injury your either good to go or not in my opnion.

Couldnt see tubber withdrawing because of one persons ego

They didn't bring him on in his usual midfield position from what I gather, which would speak to the wrist injury.

I think you're verging in to disparaging remarks about a young player now, and it's a bit inappropriate. The Gaels won the title, that should be the focus on the back of the game.

And im sure thats all the players in brosna gaels were focused on no matter who they had at their disposal

Of course Brosna Gaels were focused on their own job, but it’s still very disappointing that their county player won’t play with them.

Especially for the coaches who brought him through the underage years.

[Up The Faithful]

On the back of what has been an exciting Offaly club hurling championship 2025, we have listed 15 players who the senior management might give more game time to in 2026. Some were away last year, injuries/travel or just didn't get the minutes. Could they do a job? Who else would you like to see in?

Jordan Quinn
Cillian Kiely
Daniel Hand
Ter Guinan
Eamonn Cleary
Darragh Landy
Adam Landy
DJ McLoughlin
Adrian Cleary
Ciaran Cleary
David Nally
Ben Miller
Ailbe Watkins
Paul Kinsella
Eimhin Kelly
Eoin Burke

[Gobbler]

I’m sure it’ll be dressed up a multitude of ways but 4,000 people is some drop off from the 6,937 that turned up to St Brendan’s Park in 2023.

A 42% (if my maths are correct!) decrease is pretty substantial.

1. Match broadcast on TG4. People able to watch from the comfort of their homes for free.
2. Shite weather early in the day.
3. Objectively less intrigue for the casual, KK going for 3 in a row this year.

Not that surprising, with all that told.

Id pretty much agree with this. The pairing was prob a big factor. Not much interest for the neutral. The kk shinrone pairing again prob a pretty boring one for anybody outside those clubs.
On the game itself, pitch held up very well. KK were very good in first half and shinrone were diabolical. second half shinrone seemed to throw off the shackles and go for it but KK were also quiet poor. Finished strongly but i think that was as much that shinrone had emptied the tank to get back into the game.
On the evidence of the season, you would fear that KK will struggle badly in leinster. Hopefully not and they can get their act together for it.

[Lone Shark]

One wonders if in taking TG4’s thirty pieces of silver, they’ve actually wound up losing more than they gained.

If you chose not to televise the game, you could’ve held it at 3 or 3:30, held a game before it and the weather wouldn’t have been as bad which would’ve boosted the attendance by a thousand or two.

It felt like a damp squib with the 1pm start and no curtain raiser. Being in the car on the way home by 2:30 doesn’t feel like a county final day at all.

I'm not going to get into the thing about comparing the Birr and Tullamore attendances, if you can't see why it was two completely different scenarios, then you are either being disingenuous or just plain blind. Attendances skyrocketed when the county final left SBP to go to Tullamore in the latter part of the 2000s as well, but that was also in no small part due to the novelty of the pairings that emerged in the aftermath of a long period of Birr dominance.

On the bit in bold above, this is a bone of contention at the moment - technically, TG4 have the rights to all club games and they're entitled to broadcast whatever ones they like. They make an ex gratia payment to counties to try and smooth things over and keep everyone happy, and while you could debate whether or not that's a win or lose arrangement for Offaly, technically they don't have to do that.

Now it is a thing that some counties have reportedly shut them out, including if rumours are to be believed, two recent All-Ireland winners who didn't want their finals broadcast. TG4 have voiced their disapproval to Croke Park, and that's whay Jarlath Burns said what he did at the recent special congress about streaming of club games.

Now by tying in sponsorship deals, I think Burns went off track, to be honest. The issue is exactly as said there - that TG4 are not welcome in certain counties, and instead he made it about the streaming companies, and sponsorship. Let's call a spade a spade, Aviva sponsor Clubber, Allianz are an official GAA sponsor, that's a problem in his opinion. I think that's selective myself. After all, nobody said boo to Dublin when Allianz sponsored the leagues and AIG sponsored Dublin GAA. If you want to get into an NFL style world where sponsorship deals are collective, you'll get your pushback from the Dublins, Corks and Kerrys of this world very fast.

In terms of the time of day, the way the weather came was just unlucky, imho. Yes, absolutely, the wet morning would have put people off but at the time when the game was being switched, it could just as easily have been dry all morning with rain rolling in at 3pm.

Finally, don't forget that Clubber have a subsidiary deal with Offaly GAA - so it wasn't a case that if the game wasn't on TG4, Offaly GAA could have got extra from Clubber. If the game wasn't on TG4, Clubber would have streamed it and Offaly wouldn't have got an extra cent. Absolutely, it wouldn't have had the same reach as TG4, but by the time you add up the amount of Clubber season ticket holders and then all the dodgy box owners who would have had access to the game as well, so it still would have made a dent in the attendance, and Offaly GAA would have got nothing.


As an aside, if you are a dodgy box owner and you use it to watch elite international sport, taking money out of the pocket of Sky/Rupert Murdoch, TNT Sport, or Jeff Bezos/Amazon, then I applaud you, and please continue to do so. If you have a dodgy box but you use it for Clubber, I would urge you to make a subscription to support a small, indigenous business that is a huge asset to the GAA landscape. Those two things are not the same.

[Anonymous1]

One wonders if in taking TG4’s thirty pieces of silver, they’ve actually wound up losing more than they gained.

If you chose not to televise the game, you could’ve held it at 3 or 3:30, held a game before it and the weather wouldn’t have been as bad which would’ve boosted the attendance by a thousand or two.

It felt like a damp squib with the 1pm start and no curtain raiser. Being in the car on the way home by 2:30 doesn’t feel like a county final day at all.

I'm not going to get into the thing about comparing the Birr and Tullamore attendances, if you can't see why it was two completely different scenarios, then you are either being disingenuous or just plain blind. Attendances skyrocketed when the county final left SBP to go to Tullamore in the latter part of the 2000s as well, but that was also in no small part due to the novelty of the pairings that emerged in the aftermath of a long period of Birr dominance.

On the bit in bold above, this is a bone of contention at the moment - technically, TG4 have the rights to all club games and they're entitled to broadcast whatever ones they like. They make an ex gratia payment to counties to try and smooth things over and keep everyone happy, and while you could debate whether or not that's a win or lose arrangement for Offaly, technically they don't have to do that.

Now it is a thing that some counties have reportedly shut them out, including if rumours are to be believed, two recent All-Ireland winners who didn't want their finals broadcast. TG4 have voiced their disapproval to Croke Park, and that's whay Jarlath Burns said what he did at the recent special congress about streaming of club games.

Now by tying in sponsorship deals, I think Burns went off track, to be honest. The issue is exactly as said there - that TG4 are not welcome in certain counties, and instead he made it about the streaming companies, and sponsorship. Let's call a spade a spade, Aviva sponsor Clubber, Allianz are an official GAA sponsor, that's a problem in his opinion. I think that's selective myself. After all, nobody said boo to Dublin when Allianz sponsored the leagues and AIG sponsored Dublin GAA. If you want to get into an NFL style world where sponsorship deals are collective, you'll get your pushback from the Dublins, Corks and Kerrys of this world very fast.

In terms of the time of day, the way the weather came was just unlucky, imho. Yes, absolutely, the wet morning would have put people off but at the time when the game was being switched, it could just as easily have been dry all morning with rain rolling in at 3pm.

Finally, don't forget that Clubber have a subsidiary deal with Offaly GAA - so it wasn't a case that if the game wasn't on TG4, Offaly GAA could have got extra from Clubber. If the game wasn't on TG4, Clubber would have streamed it and Offaly wouldn't have got an extra cent. Absolutely, it wouldn't have had the same reach as TG4, but by the time you add up the amount of Clubber season ticket holders and then all the dodgy box owners who would have had access to the game as well, so it still would have made a dent in the attendance, and Offaly GAA would have got nothing.


As an aside, if you are a dodgy box owner and you use it to watch elite international sport, taking money out of the pocket of Sky/Rupert Murdoch, TNT Sport, or Jeff Bezos/Amazon, then I applaud you, and please continue to do so. If you have a dodgy box but you use it for Clubber, I would urge you to make a subscription to support a small, indigenous business that is a huge asset to the GAA landscape. Those two things are not the same.

What you’re really saying is don’t give your money to organisations who’s owners’ politics I disagree with but please give it to an organisation I personally make money from.

[Bogman123]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Shinrone must be asking themselves this morning what might have been it ciaran cleary was full forward in the first half. The kk full back line dominated the first half but they were all over the place when cleary was introduced and Shinrone switched to aerial deliveries. Im sure this will have been noticed by o loughlin gaels and ballyhale as well.

KK were beyond doubt the better team yesterday on the balance of play for 64 mins, do not get me wrong. However, I'm sure whenever those Shinrone players look back at the game (if they ever do), they will still feel a little aggrieved. Jason Sampson had a great chance to level the game inside the last 7 mins which may have shifted more momentum in Shinrone's favour, but when DJ McLoughlin was racing up the middle on the next attack and Adam Kinahin blew him for steps, this really turned the tide. If Shinrone were to score from this central position (which seemed quite likely), it was a draw game with 5 minutes to go and Shinrone would have outscored KK by 2-7 to 3pts in the second half to this point. It would have been a different finish in my opinion, given the impact of the Cleary brothers at full forward and Shinrone were coming out with everything at this point.

I watched it back this morning and counted 4 steps only. Adam Kinahin made a gesture that McLoughlin was using his arms to burst through and that meant overcarrying. Slevin came out and expertly converted to be fair, but this stemmed the tide for KK.

I know Shinrone got it back to a point after this through Adam Landy, but it has to be acknowledged that momentum had been lost and legs were clearly getting heavier. As I said, KK were worthy winners and the best hurling team in Offaly this year, period. I just can't help thinking that if that DJ Mcloughlin phase of play results in a Shinrone score instead of a KK score, there was a serious chance of the champs being overturned.

PS - I really enjoyed Kinahin's refereeing yesterday, thought he let a lot go and made it a good spectacle. We all make mistakes and it's just purely bad luck to be on the receiving end of a bad call with 5 mins left in a county final.

[Lone Shark]

What you’re really saying is don’t give your money to organisations who’s owners’ politics I disagree with but please give it to an organisation I personally make money from.

You're right in that I vehemently disagree with the politics of the vast majority of billionaires, or indeed the organisation of society in such a way as to allow billionaires to exist in the first place. I especially disagree with the idea of those people using that influence to mislead and misinform the world on a grand scale. In a nutshell, those people are very happy to rob from ordinary humans every day they do business with their arcane tax avoidance schemes, their backdoor lobbying of our politicians, and their manipulation of our legal systems. So my only issue is that ordinary people aren't robbing enough back in return.

And yes, I do get work from Clubber. However I would say this regardless - the whole world is set up for the uber-rich to hoover up money while leaving ordinary people owning nothing, but supporting small and local business is central to the GAA ethos, and is central to the way of life in rural Ireland generally.

Far too many people are happy to call into the local shop to ask for sponsorship or to see if they can get some part-time work for their teenage son or daughter, but they would never dream of going in there to buy any groceries, they get all that delivered from Tesco. They'll order from Sports Direct instead of going into their local sports shop, and 1000 more small examples of the same mindset.

If you don't think Clubber - and Streamsport, and TG4 Youtube, and all the direct county board channels - haven't made the world of being a GAA supporter so much better, then that's fine. Don't tune in, don't pay for it. But I'd be confident in saying you're in the minority view at that. And if you do use it, then I'd urge you to pay for it, and steal from someone else who isn't making life a little bit more bearable as we continue this death-march towards Armageddon.

[Anonymous1]

What you’re really saying is don’t give your money to organisations who’s owners’ politics I disagree with but please give it to an organisation I personally make money from.

You're right in that I vehemently disagree with the politics of the vast majority of billionaires, or indeed the organisation of society in such a way as to allow billionaires to exist in the first place. I especially disagree with the idea of those people using that influence to mislead and misinform the world on a grand scale. In a nutshell, those people are very happy to rob from ordinary humans every day they do business with their arcane tax avoidance schemes, their backdoor lobbying of our politicians, and their manipulation of our legal systems. So my only issue is that ordinary people aren't robbing enough back in return.

And yes, I do get work from Clubber. However I would say this regardless - the whole world is set up for the uber-rich to hoover up money while leaving ordinary people owning nothing, but supporting small and local business is central to the GAA ethos, and is central to the way of life in rural Ireland generally.

Far too many people are happy to call into the local shop to ask for sponsorship or to see if they can get some part-time work for their teenage son or daughter, but they would never dream of going in there to buy any groceries, they get all that delivered from Tesco. They'll order from Sports Direct instead of going into their local sports shop, and 1000 more small examples of the same mindset.

If you don't think Clubber - and Streamsport, and TG4 Youtube, and all the direct county board channels - haven't made the world of being a GAA supporter so much better, then that's fine. Don't tune in, don't pay for it. But I'd be confident in saying you're in the minority view at that. And if you do use it, then I'd urge you to pay for it, and steal from someone else who isn't making life a little bit more bearable as we continue this death-march towards Armageddon.

I’m certainly not going to defend the Murdoch’s and Bezos’ of the world and I don’t agree with their worldviews either.

But it strikes me as an inherent contradiction that you think it’s perfectly acceptable to illegally stream events from Sky or Amazon given both those companies employ plenty of people in this country both directly and indirectly.

However, illegally streaming from a company that you receive employment from is wrong as presumably you believe it could lead to the loss of said employment.

If it’s okay to screw some people out of a day’s pay then why is it not okay to screw others.

It’s either morally justified to illegally stream or it isn’t. The idea you should have a dodgy box but only use it to screw certain people out of work and pay for the other events to keep others in work is the perfect definition of hypocrisy.

[Lone Shark]

I’m certainly not going to defend the Murdoch’s and Bezos’ of the world and I don’t agree with their worldviews either.

But it strikes me as an inherent contradiction that you think it’s perfectly acceptable to illegally stream events from Sky or Amazon given both those companies employ plenty of people in this country both directly and indirectly.

However, illegally streaming from a company that you receive employment from is wrong as presumably you believe it could lead to the loss of said employment.

If it’s okay to screw some people out of a day’s pay then why is it not okay to screw others.

It’s either morally justified to illegally stream or it isn’t. The idea you should have a dodgy box but only use it to screw certain people out of work and pay for the other events to keep others in work is the perfect definition of hypocrisy.

Maybe it's a personal opinion, but I would be hugely skeptical that a 10% increase or decrease in the number of dodgy box users would have any bearing on the level of employment provided by Sky and/or Amazon, to the point that I would be stunned if one job was lost or gained as a result. Due to the scattering of sporting rights across a variety of providers and the need for a fan of a certain Premiership team to subscribe to around four or five subscription services if they want to see everything, I would speculate that the vast majority (as in, 95% or more) of dodgy box users are those who either could not afford or would not be willing to find the four figure sum they would need every year to pay for everything.

Whereas I can say with certainty that the survival or otherwise of the Clubber project is likely to hinge on at the very least, some level of restriction of the accessibility of their content in such boxes. If things continue as they are, I would be very worried for their continued existence.

When it comes to pubs, I'm exponentially more sure that the above applies. Clubber doesn't charge a pub any more than it charges an individual subscriber, what Sky charges a rural pub is simply prohibitive, in a lot of cases Sky gets more out of the pub than the publican. I make no apologies for saying that is wrong, by any objective measure.

And just to be clear, Clubber are a very small percentage of my work in any given year. I enjoy it and it ties in well with the rest of what I do, but the nature of my work is such that on any given year, 10-20% of what I do ceases to exist for one reason or another the year after, and something else comes along to replace it. If Clubber ceased to exist in 2026, it would knock me back a bit, but something else would come along. So it's not me, it's the permanent employees that I would fear for.

Anyway, we'll just leave it at that and agree to disagree. I see where you're coming from, and it's not an unfair observation, but I generally don't believe in "it is or it isn't" binary choices. Life rarely works out like that.

And more importantly, it's the day after the county final and the talk should be about KK and Shinrone, not this.

[Anonymous1]

I’m certainly not going to defend the Murdoch’s and Bezos’ of the world and I don’t agree with their worldviews either.

But it strikes me as an inherent contradiction that you think it’s perfectly acceptable to illegally stream events from Sky or Amazon given both those companies employ plenty of people in this country both directly and indirectly.

However, illegally streaming from a company that you receive employment from is wrong as presumably you believe it could lead to the loss of said employment.

If it’s okay to screw some people out of a day’s pay then why is it not okay to screw others.

It’s either morally justified to illegally stream or it isn’t. The idea you should have a dodgy box but only use it to screw certain people out of work and pay for the other events to keep others in work is the perfect definition of hypocrisy.

Maybe it's a personal opinion, but I would be hugely skeptical that a 10% increase or decrease in the number of dodgy box users would have any bearing on the level of employment provided by Sky and/or Amazon, to the point that I would be stunned if one job was lost or gained as a result. Due to the scattering of sporting rights across a variety of providers and the need for a fan of a certain Premiership team to subscribe to around four or five subscription services if they want to see everything, I would speculate that the vast majority (as in, 95% or more) of dodgy box users are those who either could not afford or would not be willing to find the four figure sum they would need every year to pay for everything.

Whereas I can say with certainty that the survival or otherwise of the Clubber project is likely to hinge on at the very least, some level of restriction of the accessibility of their content in such boxes. If things continue as they are, I would be very worried for their continued existence.

When it comes to pubs, I'm exponentially more sure that the above applies. Clubber doesn't charge a pub any more than it charges an individual subscriber, what Sky charges a rural pub is simply prohibitive, in a lot of cases Sky gets more out of the pub than the publican. I make no apologies for saying that is wrong, by any objective measure.

And just to be clear, Clubber are a very small percentage of my work in any given year. I enjoy it and it ties in well with the rest of what I do, but the nature of my work is such that on any given year, 10-20% of what I do ceases to exist for one reason or another the year after, and something else comes along to replace it. If Clubber ceased to exist in 2026, it would knock me back a bit, but something else would come along. So it's not me, it's the permanent employees that I would fear for.

Anyway, we'll just leave it at that and agree to disagree. I see where you're coming from, and it's not an unfair observation, but I generally don't believe in "it is or it isn't" binary choices. Life rarely works out like that.

And more importantly, it's the day after the county final and the talk should be about KK and Shinrone, not this.

The figure of dodgy box users in Ireland was estimated at 400,000 recently. No matter what way you dress it up, that level of business being lost has to affect employment in the likes of Sky.

You’ve hit the nail on the head that a lot of dodgy box users use one to watch the Premier League because they can’t afford all the different subscriptions just like a lot of dodgy boxers users use one to watch GAA games because they can’t afford GAA+, Clubber nor to actually attend the games in person.

Just as you believe it’s morally acceptable to screw over the billionaire owners of media organisations, a lot of people think it’s morally acceptable to screw over the GAA who they believe have priced the average punter out of attending weekly. “Grab all association” etc etc, whether you or I agree with that doesn’t matter, if you think it’s justified to screw certain organisations then others are more than entitled to believe they’re justified in screwing other organisations.

I agree Clubber provides a good service and would be sorry to see its demise, although I’m sure something would take its place as 24/7tv were showing a lot of Offaly club games before Clubber was established. Conversely, I wouldn’t shed any tears if Sky went out of business.

But I’m grounded in reality and what’s good for the good is good for the gander. If you’re happy to see people using dodgy boxes to screw Sky, an unfortunate negative consequence of that is going to be the likes of Clubber also getting screwed so in that regard this is a “black or white issue”. Either the dodgy boxes stay or they go. And as you say yourself, Clubber are much more vulnerable than Sky here.

One final point I will make though is that MediaHuis, a Belgian media conglomerate has purchased a significant stake in Clubber. MediaHuis is a billion euro company which owns titles such as the Irish Independent. Many people of your political persuasion would view that newspaper as having a clear editorial slant against your particular worldview and indeed it has endorsed parties in the past.

So I would ask how you can marry working for a company such as that while stating that “ I vehemently disagree with the politics of the vast majority of billionaires, or indeed the organisation of society in such a way as to allow billionaires to exist in the first place. I especially disagree with the idea of those people using that influence to mislead and misinform the world on a grand scale. In a nutshell, those people are very happy to rob from ordinary humans every day they do business with their arcane tax avoidance schemes, their backdoor lobbying of our politicians, and their manipulation of our legal systems. So my only issue is that ordinary people aren't robbing enough back in return. ”

[Wingbackassassin]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Shinrone must be asking themselves this morning what might have been it ciaran cleary was full forward in the first half. The kk full back line dominated the first half but they were all over the place when cleary was introduced and Shinrone switched to aerial deliveries. Im sure this will have been noticed by o loughlin gaels and ballyhale as well.

KK were beyond doubt the better team yesterday on the balance of play for 64 mins, do not get me wrong. However, I'm sure whenever those Shinrone players look back at the game (if they ever do), they will still feel a little aggrieved. Jason Sampson had a great chance to level the game inside the last 7 mins which may have shifted more momentum in Shinrone's favour, but when DJ McLoughlin was racing up the middle on the next attack and Adam Kinahin blew him for steps, this really turned the tide. If Shinrone were to score from this central position (which seemed quite likely), it was a draw game with 5 minutes to go and Shinrone would have outscored KK by 2-7 to 3pts in the second half to this point. It would have been a different finish in my opinion, given the impact of the Cleary brothers at full forward and Shinrone were coming out with everything at this point.

I watched it back this morning and counted 4 steps only. Adam Kinahin made a gesture that McLoughlin was using his arms to burst through and that meant overcarrying. Slevin came out and expertly converted to be fair, but this stemmed the tide for KK.

I know Shinrone got it back to a point after this through Adam Landy, but it has to be acknowledged that momentum had been lost and legs were clearly getting heavier. As I said, KK were worthy winners and the best hurling team in Offaly this year, period. I just can't help thinking that if that DJ Mcloughlin phase of play results in a Shinrone score instead of a KK score, there was a serious chance of the champs being overturned.

PS - I really enjoyed Kinahin's refereeing yesterday, thought he let a lot go and made it a good spectacle. We all make mistakes and it's just purely bad luck to be on the receiving end of a bad call with 5 mins left in a county final.

Agreed. It was a horrendous decision from the referee to blow DJ McLoughlin for overcarrying right before what likely would've been a certain point at a minimum from that phase of play. Instead KK got a free point at probably the most crucial stage of the entire game to make it a three point game I believe. That incident along with Sampson missing that goal chance and you cant help but wonder how it couldve ended so differently. Lots of ifs, buts and maybes but had either of those chances been converted Shinrone would've been within touching distance with a serious amount of momentum for those critical final few minutes Despite not playing particularly well they could easily have won that game or at least been much, much closer at the final whistle.

[KeshaWantsTimber]

Regards Kinahan I generally thought he was ok but he does like to think of himself as a 'tough man referee' allowing players to work it out themselves and not getting too caught up in the technicalities.

With this in mind the decision for steps against McLoughlin seems out of step completely. KK didnt deserve a score from that passage of play at all, never mind a game changing score in a county final. It let them off the hook without really earning their reprieve. Shinrone had won the ball, broke the tackles, got into a scoring position and suddenly KK have a point!

Sometimes I wonder should frees for technical fouls be indirect. The crime doesnt always fit the punishment. Maybe a turnover of possession is sufficient.

[Offaly Hero]

The over and back between Lone Shark and Anonymous1 is what makes this (supposedly) GAA forum so good.
Very interesting points made on both sides and all made respectfuly. Thanks to both.

[Hasselhoff]

On the back of what has been an exciting Offaly club hurling championship 2025, we have listed 15 players who the senior management might give more game time to in 2026. Some were away last year, injuries/travel or just didn't get the minutes. Could they do a job? Who else would you like to see in?

Jordan Quinn
Cillian Kiely
Daniel Hand
Ter Guinan
Eamonn Cleary
Darragh Landy
Adam Landy
DJ McLoughlin
Adrian Cleary
Ciaran Cleary
David Nally
Ben Miller
Ailbe Watkins
Paul Kinsella
Eimhin Kelly
Eoin Burke

Add in
lochlainn quinn
Luke nolan

Daniel hand shows good potential as well.
Eamonn cleary very good in goals against Coolderry.

I thought Tom Spain was very solid as well for kk this year.