O'Reilly and Martin back in charge of Tullamore seniors next season

Former Offaly star and county minor manager Phil O'Reilly will be back in charge of the Tullamore senior team next season. O'Reilly guided Tullamore to the Offaly senior football title in 2007, and he won two Dowling Cup medals with the club as a player (2000 and 2002). The Tullamore man was the manager of The Downs this year as the Westmeath club reached the quarter-finals in their senior championship campaign. However, he has left the Westmeath outfit after one season in order to return to the Tullamore hot-seat. Tullamore endured a disappointing 2011 season and they were in danger of facing a relegation play-off until they beat Tubber in their final group match. O'Reilly will be aiming to oversee an upturn in their fortunes next season, although regaining the Dowling Cup looks a tall order - with perennial contenders Rhode and Clara, in addition to newly crowned county champions Edenderry, standing in their way. O'Reilly won a Leinster SFC medal with Offaly in 1997, and a National League medal in 1998. He will have former club and county team-mates Cathal Daly and John Kenny as his selectors with Tullamore next year. Meanwhile, Kevin Martin has been reappointed as Tullamore's senior hurling manager after returning to the post following Vinny Wyer's resignation during this year's championship. He managed Tullamore to a long overdue Offaly SHC success in 2008 before leading Westmeath to the Christy Ring Cup in 2009. Elsewhere, Offaly champions Coolderry and Oulart-the-Ballagh of Wexford will both be striving to win the Leinster club hurling title for the first time this Sunday (Nowlan Park, 2pm). Seven of the last eight Leinster titles have gone to Kilkenny clubs, a sequence broken only by Birr in 2007. Now, the big question is whether this year's crown will go to Offaly or can Oulart-the-Ballagh become the first Wexford winners since Rathnure were successful in 1998. Coolderry are appearing in their first final since 1980, after claiming a six-point win over Ballyboden-St Enda's (Dublin) in the semi-finals. Coached by former Tipperary star goalkeeper and manager, Ken Hogan, Coolderry out-scored their highly rated rivals by 1-18 to 0-15. Damien Murray continued his run as top scorer with 0-8. Cathal Parlon scored 0-6 and Eoin Ryan 0-4 while the goal came from Barry Teehan. Oulart, managed by new Wexford manager, Liam Dunne, have two wins behind them, ousting James Stephens (Kilkenny) and Clough-Ballacolla (Laois). Oulart beat James Stephens by 2-12 to 0-15 and Clough-Ballacolla by 3-12 to 2-11, and will now be hoping for better luck than last year when they lost the final to O'Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny). Oulart also lost finals in 1994 and 1995. Keith Rossiter and Darren Stamp have been key figures in defence, while the attack has been quite prolific. Eoin Moore has scored a total of 2-9, Shane Murphy 2-1 and Rory Jacob 1-2 in the two games so far. Leinster Club SHC Roll of Honour 7 - Birr (Offaly), Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny). 6 - Rathnure (Wexford). 4 - James Stephens (Kilkenny), St Rynagh's (Offaly). 3 - Buffers Alley (Wexford) 2 - Camross (Laois) 2 - Glenmore (Kilkenny) 2 - O'Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny) 1 - Crumlin (Dublin), Fenians (Kilkenny), Graigue-Ballycallan (Kilkenny), St. Martin's (Kilkenny) County breakdown: Kilkenny 18; Offaly 11; Wexford 9; Laois 2; Dublin 1.