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was at this on saturday in rath and the standard was terrible. straight out, im not blaming the players who gave it their all, its the county board who is to blame. For a championship that starts in march having the final on the 2nd of december is ridiculous. Really shows how little they care for the u21 grade or the players.
The game itself never really got going Darragh molloy scored a fine goal after an aaron whelehan free dropped short. In fact nearly half his frees all dropped short. Interesting he was taking them for a team that includes Neil Rodgers and Paul Cleary The half time score was 1-4 to 0-3 in favour of st brendans. only 1 of the ryanaghs scores came from play, more erratic free taking from diarmuid horan, he missed a 21 yard free but when the ball came back out he pulled on it and it went over the bar. Ryanaghs got a boost in the second half, when Brendans full-back Michael Verney was very harshly sent off for a second yellow, involved in a tussle with Ryanaghs James Rafferty. However Ryanaghs management did not use this to their advantage, leaving your most dangerous forward as a spare man in your half back-line - diarmuid Horan.Ryanaghs Stephan Clancy got his marching orders late on for a second yellow, this one for dissent his earlier booking was for a very late and high shoulder on Dylan Hayden.
All in all we were left wondering how good this game would haave been if played earlier in the year.

Good report. Thanks for that.

I have to say that if the tipping competition was still alive here I'd have been all over Rynagh's for this. If anything I would have picked out Kinnitty Óg as the main danger, and when Rynaghs got through that, I certainly didn't think Brendan's would take them.

I do agree though that it's a lunatic time of year to be playing this. Surely run and complete it in the spring, that way if anyone is hurling particularly well they can be drafted into the county under 21 team for the summer.

Funny how for all Rynagh's good underage crop in recent years, Diarmuid Horan continues to be the one that stands out. You'd hope he won't start to feel burnout in the coming years, it looks like club and county both will be depending on him.

i remember only five years ago the competition was run-off by easter! rynaghs and coolderry won titles playing against one another which were definatley in the Spring.
have to agree with providing good basis for which 21 selectors to pick a panel!
would make sense to revert to this structure, but our main obstacle at the moment is unfortunatley we have too many 21's panelists with the senior team, where management are reluctant to let these players play at that time!

Q: Do we need a 21 grade at all? (national decision, not just in Offaly)

my tuppence... there seems to be an overlap with so many players still playing both senior and 21.. this could lead to potential burn-out for players where they can be playing with up to 6 or 7 teams, counting club, county and college committents!
would it make sense to keep the grade, but county boards must declare which squad the players will feature in! will entice managers to only bring on the players they feel they really need, rather than always just bringing in the fresh minors! also gives these minors a chance to mature with 21's rahter ythan being placed stright in with the seniors!! (how many players have we seen lately being stars at minors, going staright in with seniors only to, shall we say, not develop further!) brown, k kelly, m'o hara come to mind!