Offaly Club Hurling Championship 2025

[Lone Shark]

And again, there's a difference between a Thomastown team that has gone completely bananas after winning the first and only senior club title in their history and a Ballyhale side that is top of the national roll of honour for club All-Ireland titles, with four All-Star winners in the team and another three or four lads that have played senior for Kilkenny.

Come on folks, this isn't complicated.

[Drumcullen man]

And again, there's a difference between a Thomastown team that has gone completely bananas after winning the first and only senior club title in their history and a Ballyhale side that is top of the national roll of honour for club All-Ireland titles, with four All-Star winners in the team and another three or four lads that have played senior for Kilkenny.

Come on folks, this isn't complicated.

Very true. And if i remember thomastown were down to 14 for some of that game. K/k AGM on this Friday night. Should know after that what the locals thought of this year's progress or lack of it

[seany12]

Ballyhale 25 to 1-18. 15 to 8 in the 2nd half.
Ballyhale upped it and kk couldn't match it.
Very good game. Winter hurling is a different game and you need physically strong players to get enough scores. Kk supporter should be banned.
Na fianna to win leinster, ballygunner to win all ireland.

Loughrea to win All Ireland, best team left in it!

[biffinbanner]

favourites anyway and ulster opposition in semi final.

[Wingbackassassin]

And again, there's a difference between a Thomastown team that has gone completely bananas after winning the first and only senior club title in their history and a Ballyhale side that is top of the national roll of honour for club All-Ireland titles, with four All-Star winners in the team and another three or four lads that have played senior for Kilkenny.

Come on folks, this isn't complicated.

Always making excuses for Offaly opposition losing to Kilkenny opposition at every available opportunity. Like Ballyhale have some God given right to beat every Offaly team they face just by turning up. The OP was correct in that the final stage of this KK teams development was to try and win a Leinster. St Martins went and beat All Ireland champions Na Fianna when they had no right to going by many people's logic. Youre giving Ballyhale Shamrocks way too much respect. Having a bit of ambition would help this county a lot.
Last Sunday was KKs best chance to really go far in and possibly win Leinster. I think they knew that aswell. Gorman, Kilmartin, Mahon, Grogan and several more integral players on the KK senior team best hurling is behind them and they will not be competing at this level for much longer. The younger brigade of Screeney, Mitchell, Colin Spain are still very young and unable to carry a senior team to compete in leinster on their own. Realistically 2025 was the last shot KK had where there were a lot of players over a large age range playing at their peak and capable of competing with any other club team and unfortunately they've been knocked out. It could be 10 years before an Offaly club reach another leinster club final.

[oneshot]

Ballyhales Adrian Mullen is to miss the rest of championship due to injury sustained at the end of the match. Probably the late enough slap down on his hand just on FT

Looked like that what started the flare up. We Were sitting right in front of where it happened. He'll be a big loss to ballyhale

if you look back at it Mullen put his Elbow straight into Charlie Mitchells face full force after the whistle went . karma

[Faithfully]

Ballyhales Adrian Mullen is to miss the rest of championship due to injury sustained at the end of the match. Probably the late enough slap down on his hand just on FT

Looked like that what started the flare up. We Were sitting right in front of where it happened. He'll be a big loss to ballyhale

if you look back at it Mullen put his Elbow straight into Charlie Mitchells face full force after the whistle went . karma

He went after Mitchell because Mitchell slapped down on him with the hurl, wasn't a nice slap. A slap that now appears to have ended his season. So how exactly is that karma? He had every right to be annoyed. Take off the Offaly glasses for a minute.

[Lone Shark]

Always making excuses for Offaly opposition losing to Kilkenny opposition at every available opportunity. Like Ballyhale have some God given right to beat every Offaly team they face just by turning up. The OP was correct in that the final stage of this KK teams development was to try and win a Leinster. St Martins went and beat All Ireland champions Na Fianna when they had no right to going by many people's logic. Youre giving Ballyhale Shamrocks way too much respect. Having a bit of ambition would help this county a lot.
Last Sunday was KKs best chance to really go far in and possibly win Leinster. I think they knew that aswell. Gorman, Kilmartin, Mahon, Grogan and several more integral players on the KK senior team best hurling is behind them and they will not be competing at this level for much longer. The younger brigade of Screeney, Mitchell, Colin Spain are still very young and unable to carry a senior team to compete in leinster on their own. Realistically 2025 was the last shot KK had where there were a lot of players over a large age range playing at their peak and capable of competing with any other club team and unfortunately they've been knocked out. It could be 10 years before an Offaly club reach another leinster club final.

Good Lord. It's not excuses to acknowledge the quality of who you're playing. Against Na Fianna in 2024 and Ballyhale this year, Kilcormac-Killoughey took on a team that was a real All-Ireland contender, they came with a plan, they hurled well for long stretches and they showed that they are capable of causing problems for teams of that calibre. They just fell a little bit short to a better team on the day, a team that was led by a an All-Star forward (Eoin Cody) who has already played 50 times for Kilkenny and a man (TJ Reid) who has been the top scorer in the GAA's history, who went 11 for 11 on frees. Too much respect would be sacrificing your own game plan, pulling 12 players back into your own half and trying to contain Ballyhale. K-K went out and hurled them man for man, trusting in their players, and it just didn't quite get them there.

I don't think K-K let themselves down in either game, but neither do I think they would be completely happy with either game. Regardless, I cannot for the life of me see why losing to Na Fianna in Croke Park last year is grand, but losing to Ballyhale in 2025 is seen as some clear and obvious regression. It's not progression, but I didn't see anything on Sunday to suggest to me that they've gone backwards.

Now if things change and Ballyhale lose to Clough-Ballacolla next time out, I will accept that I have overvalued the Kilkenny champions. But I can promise you now that if you also think that I'm giving Ballyhale too much respect, I am not the only one. If you like a bet, you will get the Laois club with at least a ten point start on the handicap for that match.

Neither do I agree with your premise that the ship has sailed for this Kilcormac-Killoughey team. Absolutely, they have a few older players they need to replace, but they also have a few younger players that should develop, and the underage pipeline shows no signs of drying up either. They have challenges, absolutely, and the jury is very much out when it comes to Declan Laffan as to whether he is an upgrade on Shane Hand or not. But this is far from a case of a team that has missed their window.

[faithfulfanatic]

Looked like that what started the flare up. We Were sitting right in front of where it happened. He'll be a big loss to ballyhale

if you look back at it Mullen put his Elbow straight into Charlie Mitchells face full force after the whistle went . karma

He went after Mitchell because Mitchell slapped down on him with the hurl, wasn't a nice slap. A slap that now appears to have ended his season. So how exactly is that karma? He had every right to be annoyed. Take off the Offaly glasses for a minute.

A slap that occurred while going for the ball in play and would have been a yellow at worst.

[Faithfully]

if you look back at it Mullen put his Elbow straight into Charlie Mitchells face full force after the whistle went . karma

He went after Mitchell because Mitchell slapped down on him with the hurl, wasn't a nice slap. A slap that now appears to have ended his season. So how exactly is that karma? He had every right to be annoyed. Take off the Offaly glasses for a minute.

A slap that occurred while going for the ball in play and would have been a yellow at worst.

He drove the hurl down on the man's forearm as he was handpassing the ball. There'd be awful crying about it done on here if the roles were reversed, I can guarantee you that. People would be saying the Kilkenny lads couldn't handle their beating.

I'm not questioning anyone's character or saying Mitchell is a dirty player, because he's not, but Mullen had absolutely every right to feel very pissed off in the heat of the moment by it.

Mullen has to have surgery on it and his season is over. So I'd reject out of hand the idea that it was an innocent incident that happens every 30 seconds on the pitch.

[seany12]

100% agree, it was a 'mane one'! Mullen is not a dirty hurler, he plenty entitled to be peeved.

[faithfulfanatic]

He went after Mitchell because Mitchell slapped down on him with the hurl, wasn't a nice slap. A slap that now appears to have ended his season. So how exactly is that karma? He had every right to be annoyed. Take off the Offaly glasses for a minute.

A slap that occurred while going for the ball in play and would have been a yellow at worst.

He drove the hurl down on the man's forearm as he was handpassing the ball. There'd be awful crying about it done on here if the roles were reversed, I can guarantee you that. People would be saying the Kilkenny lads couldn't handle their beating.

I'm not questioning anyone's character or saying Mitchell is a dirty player, because he's not, but Mullen had absolutely every right to feel very pissed off in the heat of the moment by it.

Mullen has to have surgery on it and his season is over. So I'd reject out of hand the idea that it was an innocent incident that happens every 30 seconds on the pitch.

Drove the hurl onto his forearm and yet broke his thumb?
Mullen has broken the same digit twice before.

Nobody can tell me that would have been a red card.

Mullen brothers well able to give it out themselves

[Faithfully]

A slap that occurred while going for the ball in play and would have been a yellow at worst.

He drove the hurl down on the man's forearm as he was handpassing the ball. There'd be awful crying about it done on here if the roles were reversed, I can guarantee you that. People would be saying the Kilkenny lads couldn't handle their beating.

I'm not questioning anyone's character or saying Mitchell is a dirty player, because he's not, but Mullen had absolutely every right to feel very pissed off in the heat of the moment by it.

Mullen has to have surgery on it and his season is over. So I'd reject out of hand the idea that it was an innocent incident that happens every 30 seconds on the pitch.

Drove the hurl onto his forearm and yet broke his thumb?
Mullen has broken the same digit twice before.

Nobody can tell me that would have been a red card.

Mullen brothers well able to give it out themselves

Justify it all you want. Was a bad belt borne out of frustration, with no chance of getting the ball or dispossessing the opponent. To try and say that it's some kind of karma for Mullen, given that he was the one that got the first hit, is absolutely pathetic.

[KeshaWantsTimber]

A slap that occurred while going for the ball in play and would have been a yellow at worst.

He drove the hurl down on the man's forearm as he was handpassing the ball. There'd be awful crying about it done on here if the roles were reversed, I can guarantee you that. People would be saying the Kilkenny lads couldn't handle their beating.

I'm not questioning anyone's character or saying Mitchell is a dirty player, because he's not, but Mullen had absolutely every right to feel very pissed off in the heat of the moment by it.

Mullen has to have surgery on it and his season is over. So I'd reject out of hand the idea that it was an innocent incident that happens every 30 seconds on the pitch.

Drove the hurl onto his forearm and yet broke his thumb?
Mullen has broken the same digit twice before.

Nobody can tell me that would have been a red card.

Mullen brothers well able to give it out themselves

Stand down Rinty. The war is over.

[Drumcullen man]

The very best of luck to lusmagh tomorrow. Hopefully they can reach a Leinster final