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. . . and so does the County Championship. Fixtures for next weekend are up on the board’s site. Senior double headers for Saturday and Sunday evening. Senior and Intermediate matches are as follows –


Friday 18th July (all at 8pm)
SHC – Birr v Ballinamere at KIlcormac
SHC – Kinnitty v Tullamore at Killurin
IHC – St Rynagh’s v Coolderry at Shinrone
IHC – Carrig & Riverstown at Birr

Saturday 19th July
SHC – Coolderry v Brosna Gaels at Kinnitty at 5pm
SHC – Kilcormac-Killoughey v Drumcullen at Kinnitty at 6.30pm
IHC – Lusmagh v Shinrone at Carrig at 6.30pm

Sunday 20th July
SHC – Seir Kieran v Belmont at Rath at 5.30pm
SHC – St Rynagh’s v Shinrone at Rath at 7pm
IHC – Shamrocks v Crinkill at Lusmagh at 12 noon
IHC – Birr v Killurin at Kilcormac at 6pm

*I’m not sure how practical it is at this stage to play hurling matches at 8pm – perhaps they will need to revise these times.

A couple of changes to the fixtures noted above.

Kinnitty v Tullamore is now in Killeigh and not in Killurin, but at the same time of 8pm

St Rynagh's v Shinrone is now at the earlier time of 12 noon, and is in Birr.

Thundery downpours are promised for Friday evening so it will probably be a dark evening. I don't think matches can be started at 8pm.

Plain of the Herbs wrote:. . . and so does the County Championship. Fixtures for next weekend are up on the board’s site. Senior double headers for Saturday and Sunday evening. Senior and Intermediate matches are as follows –


Friday 18th July (all at 8pm)
SHC – Birr v Ballinamere at KIlcormac
SHC – Kinnitty v Tullamore at Killurin
IHC – St Rynagh’s v Coolderry at Shinrone
IHC – Carrig & Riverstown at Birr

The Carrig & Riverstown game on Friday night should be interesting

It should be. Expect Kilcormac-Killoughey to come along too, making two to tango.

Top marks for being observant though.

allstar2010 wrote:The Carrig & Riverstown game on Friday night should be interesting

Incidentally, Birr v Ballinamere is now listed for 7.30pm on Friday evening.

A number of changes to times and venues since the fixtures were first announced. Here's a stab at an amended list with the changes I can gather from Twitter and the Board's Site. There may be others, and with torrential rain and local flooding promised for tomorrow there may well be more changes (and/or cancellations too) before throw-in. Best keep an eye on social media and stuff.

Friday 18th July (8pm unless stated)
SHC – Birr v Ballinamere at KIlcormac at 7.30 pm (change of time)
SHC – Kinnitty v Tullamore at Killeigh (change of venue)
IHC – St Rynagh’s v Coolderry at Shinrone
IHC – Carrig & Riverstown v Kilcormac-Killoughey at Birr

Saturday 19th July
SHC – Coolderry v Brosna Gaels at Kinnitty at 5pm
SHC – Kilcormac-Killoughey v Drumcullen at Kinnitty at 6.30pm
IHC – Lusmagh v Shinrone at Carrig at 6.30pm

Sunday 20th July
SHC – St Rynagh’s v Shinrone at Birr at 12 noon (change of time and venue)
SHC – Seir Kieran v Belmont at Rath at 5.30pm
IHC – Shamrocks v Crinkill at Lusmagh at 6pm (change of time)
IHC – Birr v Killurin at Kilcormac at 6pm

Predictions for the weekend!!!

Friday 18th July
SHC – Birr v Ballinamere - Birr Win
SHC – Kinnitty v Tullamore tullamore Win
IHC – St Rynagh’s v Coolderry Coolderry Win
IHC – Carrig & Riverstown v Kilcormac-Killoughey K/K win

Saturday 19th July
SHC – Coolderry v Brosna Gaels Coolderry win
SHC – Kilcormac-Killoughey v Drumcullen k/k win
IHC – Lusmagh v Shinrone lusnagh win

Sunday 20th July
SHC – St Rynagh’s v Shinrone shinrone win
SHC – Seir Kieran v Belmont belmount win
IHC – Shamrocks v Crinkill shamrocks win

Good win for Birr. 1-21 to 0-12.
Paul Cleary was excellent for Birr,
Ballinamere full back picked up a bad injury at the start of the 2nd half and was still behind the goals waiting from an ambulance at the end of the match.

good win, pity Cleary was not in with the county seniors, his one of the best fullbacks in the county, we should do everything to get him back on board next year. good win also for kinnitty over tullamore thats two defeats for the blues now.

Saw the Tullamore Kinnity game this evening.......Poor enough fare at times but little or nothing between them..... Colm Coughlan and Odran Kealy were good for Kinnity while Shane Kelly, Dooley from frees Steven Egan and Niall Houlihan were good for Tullamore..... Tullamore will feel really hard done by here as the ref had an absolute nightmare in the second half making shocking calls v Tullamore that resulted in 2 points from frees.....He spent the rest of the game trying to make up for the mistakes.....as bad as ive ever seen.....

Half time. Coolderry. 2-13.
B. Gaels 0-02

Coolderry 2-21
B g 2-7

Coolderry were the better team from start to finish. Joe Brady was excellent at centre back. it was tough to play good hurling with the weather.
a bit disappointed to see a coolderry player waiving an imagery card like a soccer player after a frontal charge from a BG player.
Kelleher was B. Gaels best player but their forwards were not good.


Drumcullen 0-05.
Kilcormac killoughey 2-9
Ht
Drumcullen 0-13/
Kilcormac killoughey 4-21

Kilcormac killoughey were better team again. Kilmartin in midfield ran the game. picking passes and covering behind the defence.
Kilcormac killoughey never got into 1st gear.
The two young lads on the Kilcormac Killoughey team did well Murray and Kiely did well on they 1st start. murray pass for the the 4 goal was great.
Drumcullen played some nice hurling and tried to use the ball well.
Kevin Gorgan hurl contended with Joe Troy in the middle of the 1st half. its was an accident but he should have got a yellow and drumcullen should have got a free.

Great game Rynaghs v Shinrone. Rynaghs showed character to get the draw having been a man down. Questions about Shinrones bottle when they couldn't put Rynaghs away. Rynaghs without few players in america will have serious say before the year is out.

3-14 each in Birr. A good contest. Shinrone will be disappointed that they didn't get over the line. Rynagh's will be happy with the result more because they were 3 point down going into the final few mins.
Sean Dolan goal was a beauty.
Rynagh defence were well on top for most of the game. With Shortt and Connally winning most of the ball and Connally using it excellent.
Shinrone attack was in a heap, if it spread out at any stage they could have won this game.

Belmont 0-10
S. Kerian 1-6.
Ht
Belmont 2-20
S. K 4-14

A good game as well. Belmont use the ball better than Kerian's but Kerian's always had an eye for goal.
the last free for Belmont was never a free but in fairness the ref miss a push in the back on the Belmont full forward in the attack before that attack.
The least Belmont should have got is a draw.

I got to just one Senior match in Offaly this weekend, the St Rynagh’s v Shinrone one, as well as Lusmagh’s IHC win over Shinrone on Saturday evening.

What a match in Birr earlier today. It actually had everything.

In the immediate aftermath I too thought Shinrone had flumped a test of character. Several hours and a long car drive later I have changed my mind.

If Shinrone had bottled it they wouldn’t have come from four points behind to lead by three during the second half. If they bottled it they would have caved in after losing such calamitous goals. And if Shinrone bottled it someone would have ploughed in with a stupid foul during that frantic period following St Rynaghs’ final goal. That they did none of the above is to their credit.

First the dust-up. This should be taken in the context of Darragh O Sé’s wonderful column in The Irish Times last week when the former Kerry midfield general breaks down the goings-on in such melees. I didn’t see anyone actually strike anyone (anyone who did please feel free to contradict), and while Sampson and Maloney started it, the next pair in were the ones who should have been censured (who I believe were Cordial and Shortt).

The first ten minutes were seemingly played without a linesman on the terrace side. I was critical of a referee here last year for doing that, so I should be consistent. Poor refereeing – he should have made sure someone was in place, and St Rynaghs’ opening goal followed an incident where a ball was quite possibly over the sideline at the town end before being swept upfield. The home club provide the linesmen and the Birr folk were busy selling tickets to build a stadium. Priorities, eh?

I thought the first half was fought on St Rynagh’s terms. They played the better hurling too, using some wonderful combination play to open up Shinrone. Rynagh’s played as a unit, while Shinrone relied on Seán Cleary to win his own ball, take his own score and do his own foraging. That Shinrone moved Cleary into the full-forward line in a switch with Cordial made no sense to me.

Then there was Ger Rafferty, who Shinrone couldn’t handle at all. Shinrone did best in the last quarter when they cut off the supply to Rafferty. Rafferty will cause problems for most teams with the exception of K-K and Clareen methinks. The difference too was that St Rynagh’s played their two full-forward lines in the square while Shinrone sometimes had theirs 30 yards from goal.

I didn’t see what happened for the Aidan Treacy sending off.

I thought Darren Crean would have been a better candidate for the ‘covering’ role.

And I don’t expect to see a better goal this year than Dónal Morkan’s goal. Derek Morkan’s kicked pass (yes, kicked!) found the goalscorer who caught the ball on the run without breaking stride and he fired to the net. Even though facing five defenders Shinrone never got Jordan Fogarty into space. Which is to the credit of Niall Wynne who was tremendous.

Kevin Duffy looked competent in goal, standing in for Conor Clancy.

I know every club has them but Shinrone seem to have more moronic supporters than anyone else, and their mouthing contributed to a ‘needle’-type atmosphere. These two may well meet again, in September or October when the championship reaches O’Connor Park. That, if it comes to pass, is not to be missed.

St Rynagh’s celebrated as if this was a famous victory, and in fairness any day you avoid defeat when playing with 13 men is to be savoured. Shinrone were devastated. Still, they didn’t lose, and they didn’t bottle it. How they react to this will be the making of them. They can start by laying down a marker against Birr in the next round.


Lusmagh’s cubs continued on their winning ways in the Intermediate grade. This was impressive not because of the scoreline but because of their touch-hurling in the worst of the weekend’s rain.

With four of the five rounds played in the IHC the projected quarter-final draw seems to be –

Lusmagh v St Rynagh’s
Shamrocks v Kilcormac-Killoughey
Birr v Carrig & Riverstown
Killurin or Crinkill v Ballyskenagh-Killavilla


Finally, here's a link to that Darragh O Sé piece. Essential reading.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic- ... -1.1867350

I made it to a lot of the games at the weekend from the senior championship.
I missed the Kinnitty v Tullamore game but saw Kinnitty in the 1st round of games. So i have only tullamore to see this year.

The Team that most impressed me at the weekend was Birr. For the 1st time in years they have a structure to their forward line. Cleary at Full forward and drifting out to wing forward for the puckout was outstanding. But what was most impressive was the direct and fast ball Ryan and Murphy in partial gave to him. The rest of the Birr forward line apart from Hayden are ok hurlers but with Cleary as the focal point they could have a chance this year.
Johnny Pilkington has become a good manager. Pilkington has learned his trade as a manager after his stint in change of the Offaly minor at club level. He may never be the greatest manager of all time but he become a good manger. Pilkington was given the minor job when he wasn't ready for it.
If he was to be given it now he do a much better job.

St Rynagh’s with 13 men defended like a well oiled machine but it was hard to know how good their attack is. Rafferty across the forward line is a hard working ball winning defence forward and his hard work mean that the ball coming out of the defence is poor.

Belmont and Clareen was a good game but both team have weaknesss in their full back line and their half back like to attack and it leave them exposed. Mark Egan, Damien Egan and Eanna Murphy were the 3 players that were excellent from start to finish. From the match's at the weekend i think that Rynagh's have a better defence than both of these but i think that Belmont and Clareen are a bit better in attack.

Kilcormac Killoughey and Coolderry looked good but it hard to know they both were never in an danger of losing their games.

Shinrone have a bunch of great hurlers but they are all small, light and fast. what Shirone need is a Rafferty, a Paul Cleary or a Chris Connors. Their players are great in space but physical they 3 years away from been able to look after themselves.
They are not strong enough to win the dirty ball need to win important games. This is a great club for the future of hurling in Offaly but in that future they be 6 big men down the spine of that team and They do the Dirty work and Shirone will do the hurling. POTH talk about moronic supporters from Shirone. I watch as a Shirone supporter pull up a player going down the tunnel at half time and gave him institutions on how to play in the second half. Yeah a Shirone Supporter stopped a player and gave him about a full minutes of detail institutions.

Brosna Gaels shot themselves in the foot at the weekend they could have been in the game if they didn't hit so many wides, they lost ever breaking ball (or Coolderry won every breaking ball). They have some hurlers but they just didn't play as a team.

Drumcullen real struggled at the weekend but in fairness i think they improved a bit from last year and that what Drumcullen need to do. each year looking for a small improvement. Drumcullen have started to bring on their young hurler in the right way and it will take time.

Ballinamere were overpowered at the weekend by birr but that nothing to be too worry about from Ballinamere point of view. the win against Tullamore the 1st day out means that they target the Kinnitty and Shirone games as game they could win but they need to improve from the weekend to do that.

The standard of Hurling was ok in most games at the weekend.
Its only round 2 of the league so the next round could be the most important round for a lot of teams.