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Shinrone 9-20 Shamrocks 1-13

Yes, that scoreline is correct! An easy win for Shinrone tonight in Crinkle and you really have to fear for Shamrocks now after another demoralising defeat. It's going to be very hard for Donal Franks to pick them up now for a relegation playoff and quite frankly you just can't see them beating anyone the way they are hurling at the moment - with or without Derek Molloy (who was missing for this game). On the other hand, cant really tell anything about Shinrone from this match. They have looked good against Kinnity, Drumcullen and now Shamrocks but when the heat has come on against the bigger teams like Birr and Colderry they have been found wanting. No doubt about it they have the ability to put it up to anyone on their day but they just don't seem to have the belief to beat any of the bigger names in the Championship. Will be a match for any of the teams in the other group in the Quarter Finals all the same.

Tullamore 17pts lusmagh 11pts. Good win. And with Clareeen beating belmont Tullamore qualify. Seemingly Clareeen won it with the last puck of the game.

Seir Kieran 1-21 Belmont 4-11

Wonderful, heartbreaking stuff in Birr tonight. Top class attacking hurling, some great scores taken, mostly by Clareen but some by Belmont, and a ridiculous finish. Mark Egan levelled matters with two mins of injury time gone and Martin Walsh went to put the whistle to his lips, and literally in a split second, Eoin Coughlan had a ball pucked out to Joe Bergin and he got his shot away before Dinger could blow - straight between the posts of course.

Belmont got off to a great start with two goals in the first minute from Damien Egan, and a third from Colin Egan not long after, but Clareen were taking their scores too well and both Joe Bergin and Tom Carroll were in flying form. 0-14 to 3-4 at half time, Bergin goal after twelve seconds of the second half and it was soon 1-16 to 3-4.

That became 1-16 to 4-7 with David Cox now hurling great stuff and then it was nip and tuck until the end.

If there had to be a winner then Clareen maybe deserved it, but it's hard not to feel hard done by from a Belmont point of view. Above all, a privilege to be at a game like that. The perfect antidote to that muck in Croke Park.

Good to see some excitement to conclude at least one of the groups in the hurling today. Unlucky on Belmont to lose out like that... there is a very thin line between success and failure. (Was David Kenny fit to play? Hopefully, he gets the recover he needs over the Autumn to get himself back to his prime next season.) I think we could have 4 closely contested 1/4 finals there as all teams left in the championship will believe they have a chance of winning the title.

Based on the results to date, Shamrocks look odds on for the drop. I know there is a chance of Coolderry/St. R/Birr/KK etc. winning the Intermediate this year and giving Shamrocks a reprieve, however, would they be better off making the drop to intermediate and try to build from there next year?

any report on rynaghs n kilkormac.... was tis a bit of a shock as rynaghs were goin so well??

b+7 wrote:any report on rynaghs n kilkormac.... was tis a bit of a shock as rynaghs were goin so well??

Not really. For a club with such a poor county representation allied to a horrendous record in the club championship over the last decade (including a good beating by Kinnitty in last year's quarter final), Banagher had been bafflingly overhyped during the group stages.

There way overhyped. There not in the top 3 in offaly and thats not been harsh thats just reality. They dont have a free scoring forward and when the screw gets tight from here on in they'll be exposed. Shinrone the next day will be a huge test.

Summary of this weekends games
Rynaghs not as good as I thought,Shinrone could very well beat them in the quarter final.
Belmont very unlucky not to get through to the quarters.
Tullamore in the quarters again despite not having Shane Dooley and if he's back the next day who's to say they wont beat Birr again.
K/K coming good at the right time perpaps?
Seir Kieran good enough to beat anyone on a good day but well beatable on a bad day.
Birr the team to beat they havnt been tested at all yet.
Coolderry not as good as last year struggled for long periods against Drumcullen and only scored five points in the second half Seir Kieran could end their reign as county champions.
Quarter Finals
Birr v Tullamore, Birr by 6
Coolderry v Seir Kieran,Seir Kieran by 7
K/K v Kinnitty,K/K by 10
St.Rynaghs v Shinrone,Shinrone by 2

Fixtures for 1/4 finals

Sat 10th

Birr V Tullamore OCP 4.30
Kinnity V KK OCP 6.00

Sun 11th

St.Rynagh's V Shinrone Birr 4.30
Coolderry v Seir kieran Birr 6.00


I can think of one forum user who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore!

I can think of a whole town who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore again.
Tullamre's last 19 SHC matches have been in either Tullamore, Kinnitty (5) or Kilcormac (3).

joe bloggs wrote:I can think of one forum user who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore!

By the way, Camogie semi-finals are fixed for Birr on that Saturday 10th, Shinrone v K/K at 4.30pm and Drumcullen v Birr at 6pm.
http://offalycamogie.ie/

Plain of the Herbs wrote:I can think of a whole town who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore again.
Tullamre's last 19 SHC matches have been in either Tullamore, Kinnitty (5) or Kilcormac (3).

Would be interesting to see all the teams venues for last number of games and see is there much of a trend! 11 out of 19 games, shur thats a home venue!

In the five group matches this year: -

Birr: Kinnitty, Banagher, Kilcormac, Shinrone, Kilcormac again;
Clareen: Rath, Lusmagh, Tullamore, Carrig, Birr;
Coolderry: Birr, Lusmagh, Ballyskenagh, Shinrone, Clareen;
Drumcullen: Kilcormac, Banagher, Clareen, Birr, Clareen again;
Kinnitty: Birr twice, Clareen, Rath, Kilcormac;
Kilcormac: Tullamore, Lusmagh, Birr, Banagher, Tullamore again;
Lusmagh: Clareen, Moystown, Birr, Carrig, Kinnitty;
Rynagh’s: Rath, Moystown, Lusmagh, Tullamore twice;
Rahan: Kilcormac, Lusmagh, Kilcormac again, Rath, Crinkill;
Shinrone: Kinnitty, Birr, Ballyskenagh, Birr, Crinkill;
Tullamore: Tullamore, Kinnitty, Tullamore twice, Kinnitty.

Draw ye're own conclusions . . .

In the long grass wrote:Would be interesting to see all the teams venues for last number of games and see is there much of a trend! 11 out of 19 games, shur thats a home venue!

Plain of the Herbs wrote:I can think of a whole town who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore again.
Tullamre's last 19 SHC matches have been in either Tullamore, Kinnitty (5) or Kilcormac (3).

joe bloggs wrote:I can think of one forum user who won't be too pleased to have to travel to Tullamore!

By the way, Camogie semi-finals are fixed for Birr on that Saturday 10th, Shinrone v K/K at 4.30pm and Drumcullen v Birr at 6pm.
http://offalycamogie.ie/

sure a field is a field matter where it is Birr have beaten tullamore in tullamore before and will do again
the prize is county final day in st Brendans park again we won the last one there in 2006 and the first one in tullamore 2007
and might be the ones to win the first back in st. Brendans in 2011 with a bit of luck

It is disappointing that the double header on the Saturday has been fixed for O'Connor Park as it means that the combination of the smaller crowd in the bigger stadium will lead to a minus atmosphere prevailing. This is such a key time in the championship - 8 clubs remaining in an open championship in the first knock out games of the year - its a pity that both double headers could not have been accommodated in Birr or perhaps one in Banagher to ensure monster crowds and fantastic occasions.

No rowing back on it now anyway. The County Board could, however, do a lot worse than compare the crowds between the two double headers. Just out of interest mind.


P.S: The amount of games Tullamore have played in O'Connor Park is scandalous. Especially the group games which are supposed to be neutral affairs.

Banagher - are you joking me? Unless the have sorted out the big slope and artificial grass goals since I was last there.

From chatting a lot of club players over the last few years, everyone seems to really love playing in OCP. Pitch is in perfect condition and the new dressing rooms are unreal. In fairness, Birr pitch is nice again, which is great to see ; but the rest of the facilities just aren't up to scratch at all