K-K deserve to be favourites but Ballinamere have glorious chance

By Kevin Egan

Adam Screeney coming back into the team and shooting the lights out in the semi-final will surely give Kilcormac-Killoughey supporters confidence ahead of this Sunday's Offaly SHC final against Ballinamere (Glenisk O'Connor Park, 2.15pm)

Their talisman is back on the pitch, doing what he does best, but it was Charlie Mitchell who was their on-field leader dragging them over the finish line in last year’s final against Shinrone, and it’s from this time of year onwards that the absence of the Offaly senior captain is most likely to be felt.

Ballinamere are clearly in a different mental space to where they were in 2025, and that manifests itself most clearly in the way that they now have a very rounded starting 15 and one or two bench impact players playing to a high level. Previously, they’ve fielded teams where half the starting lineup is of county standard, but one or two others find the air too thin when it comes to taking on a team with the depth and quality of Kilcormac-Killoughey.

The bench advantage still lies with the champions and there are other reasons why they still carry the favourites’ tag, and why they are still the most likely winners of the hurling decider this Sunday in Tullamore.

There is also a lot of merit in the argument for Ballinamere making history. Every starting Ballinamere forward is a scoring threat. Mark Troy has a fantastic array of good puckout targets to ensure that they will get their fair share of possession, and Sam Bourke is as good a matchup for Colin Spain as there is in the senior championship. This is crucial because on current form, stopping Spain is every bit as important as curtailing Screeney - perhaps more so - when it comes to shutting down this K-K team.

Then there is the loss of Jordan Quinn from the K-K full-back line. Perhaps it’s the man’s unfussed demeanour that masks his commitment to his craft, perhaps it’s the fact that he has always given football a fair shake instead of just treating it like a sideshow, but he has been consistently under-rated throughout his career.

Quinn would be the ideal player to take on Brian Duignan, given his shape, footwork and power, but now Declan Laffan has to choose between a couple of options, including some who would give up five or six inches in height to the Ballinamere attacker, some who might struggle if they were dragged too far from goal, or possibly even dropping back Cillian Kiely, though that in turn creates knock-on issues at centre-back.

At the risk of piling more pressure onto the underdogs, this won’t be their last chance to win the Seán Robbins Cup, but it’s hard to imagine that they will get a better one.

Kilcormac-Killoughey have a couple of players that are coming to the latter end of their careers, but they also have a world of quality waiting to come in and fill those gaps, when they arise. It’s impossible to know what Charlie Mitchell’s future holds and right now he’s still a huge presence in the K-K dressing room, but there are players who score and there are players who score when the team’s need is greatest. At both club and county level, Mitchell is the latter and no matter how much talent there is in your playing group, losing a player like that has to hurt.

Add in one final detail - that being that Ballinamere are now managed by Sean Treacy, a man with a solid track record in facilitating first-time winners of championships - and the stars could not be more aligned for them.

A predictable senior football championship got a predictable finale, perhaps a fascinating senior hurling championship will also get a fitting ending, and maybe even a great story along with it.