Offaly Club Hurling 2026

[faithfulfanatic]

In reality that Ballinamere team isnt really a Ballinamere team - its a Durrow team playing as Ballinamere.

Brosna Gaels represented on both teams too

Tom Spain has been a great transfer for k/k. Very solid and kept brian duignan to a piont from play yesterday. Who do ye think will get senior hurler of the year. Was only at 4 senior A matches this year so haven't seen enough of the championship to pick a player

My dark horse pick: Conor Slevin
My more likely pick: Conor Mahon

[kingscounty]

Junior A re- fixture : Clodiagh Gaels 0-13 Tullamore 0-11.

[Drumcullen man]

Brosna Gaels represented on both teams too

Tom Spain has been a great transfer for k/k. Very solid and kept brian duignan to a piont from play yesterday. Who do ye think will get senior hurler of the year. Was only at 4 senior A matches this year so haven't seen enough of the championship to pick a player

My dark horse pick: Conor Slevin
My more likely pick: Conor Mahon

The 4 matches i was at were k/k last 2 group games, their semi-final and the final. Would have to say conor mahon as well. Thought he really came to the fore when needed in those games

[jonsey]

Naas have beaten every team in Kildare by 30+ and will beat Maynooth by 20+.

They have been playing challenge matches all over the country. They are 8/1 for Leinster. They will be a tough nut for KK in Newbridge, KK will want to be at their best to beat them

[faithfulfanatic]

Naas have beaten every team in Kildare by 30+ and will beat Maynooth by 20+.

They have been playing challenge matches all over the country. They are 8/1 for Leinster. They will be a tough nut for KK in Newbridge, KK will want to be at their best to beat them

Darragh Kirwan has hurled with them this year for the first time in a long while and is a very accomplished hurler.
Their footballers suffered a shock defeat to Maynooth at the weekend and they will be all in on the hurling now.

[Lone Shark]

Who do ye think will get senior hurler of the year. Was only at 4 senior A matches this year so haven't seen enough of the championship to pick a player

My dark horse pick: Conor Slevin
My more likely pick: Conor Mahon

Senior hurler of the year incorporates intercounty as well as club hurling. On a year when Offaly go badly at county level, then a guy who only plays club hurling will be right in the mix, but on a year like this where Offaly have a good Leinster championship and when no single club hurler is noticeably ahead of the pack, then the lads who hurled well for Offaly have a massive head start.

Unless K-K do something very dramatic in Leinster, I'd be surprised if it's anyone other than Ben Conneely. The fact that Rynagh's had a resurgence and came agonisingly close to knocking off K-K in the semi-final further boosts his prospects, in my opinion.

If it was club hurling only, I'd say Colin Spain would have to be the front runner. I wasn't in Tullamore yesterday and I've yet to get time to watch the game back, but he was either MOTM or pretty close to it in nearly every game this year, and unless he was miles off the pace (which I doubt) then I can't imagine that anyone else would have overtaken him.

[Runner_bean]

In reality that Ballinamere team isnt really a Ballinamere team - its a Durrow team playing as Ballinamere.

Brosna Gaels represented on both teams too

Shamrocks well represented too today

[The Magpie]

I'm with LS on hurler of the year. It has to be Ben Conneely.

[Doon Exile]

Ben Conneelly all day long.

If on club only, then yes Conor Mahon. I actually would have given Mahon motm yesterday.

[uibhfhaili72]

Have to agree that the standard was surely off the pace and in fairness to both well below their average and what they are capable of. K/K flexing again after losing arguably 2 of their top 3 hurlers from the last 3 years this year is ridiculous strength and depth. I could be proven wrong but cant imagine too many new faces will be in with the Inter-county setup after yesterday although open to suggestions ? . Naas will cause problems no doubt. Conneelly for POTY no question for me

[Gobbler]

One of the worst finals I've seen in many's a year.

Offaly club hurling seems to have the same issue the football has, one dominant team who only have to go through the motions to win the county title yet aren't good enough at the provincial level.

Pretty much agree with this and what seems to be the general consensus on here.

Probably one of the worst finals ive ever been at in my life time watching Offaly club hurling. Ive seen some dogged low scoring affairs that were much higher quality and where physicality was far greater than anything in Offaly at moment.

Ballinamere were just so limited. So disappointingly poor quality. KK still look sluggish and were able to do enough without looking in any real danger. Their fitness levels looked poor towards the end.

Very similar to football, we have a team dominating and still nowhere near provincial contender.

Naas who it will be bar a major upset are a very good side. All of their starters would be there thereabouts close to the county team. They have built a good bit of momentum over last 10 years. Are they going for their 8th senior hurling title in a row? They won an all ireland intermediate club in 2021 or 2022. We saw the hammering they gave Shinrone before. They are fitter and more physical than KK. On the current evidence and form ud say KK are going to be right up against it. Massive improvement needed.

[Faithful Future]

A very disappointing afternoon for the neutral.

Ballinamere will be bitterly disappointed and its difficult to see how they improve next year with little coming through that i am aware of. I think Duignan's missed free prior to half time was a sucker punch as it would have left 3 between the teams. Instead, within 20 seconds of the restart, there were 5 in it and suddenly it looked ominous for the men in white.

I have to say, I thought Kinnarney can be proud of his efforts at corner back for a young man in his first final. He did as much as could be expected of anyone tasked with marking Screeney.
Not sure of his age but i am sure he will be given a crack at county-level before not too long. That said, we already have plenty of options at cornerback.

Worryingly for Ballinamere (and Offaly) despite having a plethora of big strong men with inter county experience, ball winning in the air is a massive issue (as was also apparent against Cork) and there doesn't seem to be any improvement there either.

For K/K, they will no doubt have aims of going deep into Leinster but their lack of physicality won't help as the ground softens up into November and onwards. They won't be worrying about that for the time being and all credit to them, especially Conor Mahon and Kilmartin, both incredible servants to their club.

With 14 weeks until the 2027 hurling league kicks off and 14 county panellists featuring yesterday - have we improved in the areas required, and if not, will that be rectified in 14 weeks? Big job on Johnny Kellys hands.

[jonsey]

Darragh Kirwan has hurled with them this year for the first time in a long while and is a very accomplished hurler.
Their footballers suffered a shock defeat to Maynooth at the weekend and they will be all in on the hurling now.

Kirwan out for 9 weeks due to leg injury, missed football semi final loss to Maynooth

[frankthetank]

Unquestionably K/K’s inability to consistently raise green flags is going to be majorly problematic in Leinster.

[Jim Troy]

If we go back a number of years. Wasn’t Martin Fogarty’s obsession with green flags a source of conflict with KK?

Would you say Laffan is doing a good job with KK? They are doing nothing they weren’t doing 2/3 years ago.

I think they will be very very hard pressed to beat Naas