Plenty at stake as Offaly senior hurling championship gets serious

KEVIN EGAN COLUMN

A senior hurling championship that has been bubbling up nicely will really take off this weekend, where all four games will have plenty at stake. However in terms or pure, raw, knockout intensity, the best place to be will be in Rath tomorrow evening for the meeting of Tullamore and Coolderry.

Both of these clubs opened their campaign with games against Ballinamere and the contrast in how the two sides fared in those contests was stark. Coolderry outclassed last year’s county finalists on their home field while Tullamore competed well for long stretches in the parish derby at O’Brien Park, only to be undone by the concession of some sloppy goals.

Since then however, Shane Hand’s side have found their feet and Coolderry have underwhelmed. Appalling shooting was one of the main reasons why the South Offaly club scored just seven times from open play against Birr last time, but perhaps more worrying from the perspective of going out to hurl against Tullamore was how much control players like Brendan Murphy, Ailbe Watkins and Joe Ryan exerted in crucial roles around the middle of the field.

17 wides was in part due to Coolderry’s inaccuracy, but so many of those shots came from poor, low percentage positions and that was a consequence of losing the battle in the trenches.

There are certainly question marks over how high the ceiling goes for Tullamore in some aspects, but they have no shortage of combative warriors in that sector and should feel like they have every chance of making this a close contest, at the very least.

Birr have knockout hurling secured on the back of three solid performances so far, but momentum is important too. They would feel a lot better about their prospects going straight into a semi-final on the back of an unbeaten campaign as opposed to rounding out the group with a draw and a defeat, then perhaps having to take on a team like Belmont, where spirits will be very high right now.

For Ballinamere, the arithmetic is simple. A win gets them in and opens up the possibility of topping the group, a draw puts them into the quarter-finals and a loss leaves them needing help from Coolderry to be sure of their season going beyond tomorrow.

This should have been the year for them to push on and build on last year’s strong showing, and there’s still plenty of time for that to happen. So far they’ve looked capable at times, but largely inconsistent.

Aaron Maher is growing into the player that people hoped he might become when he was called into the Offaly senior panel five years ago and the return of Dan Ravenhill last time out is a massive boost, but the lack of any scoring threat from deep makes them a little bit too easy to defend.

In their three games so far, Sam Bourke has scored four points, two each against Tullamore and Seir Kieran. No other Ballinamere scores have come from midfield or half back line players, and while no team should be overly dependent on scores from single-digit jerseys to carry them along, there needs to be some level of threat from that sector to keep opposition sides honest and to prevent them from dropping very deep and making life difficult for Maher, Brian Duignan, Daniel Bourke and the rest.

Ballinamere still have the higher ceiling, but Birr are in a better place right now. It all adds up to a fascinating contest.

Shinrone don’t need to win, but have to perform

After racking up 1-31 and 3-27 in their last two games, the idea that Belmont’s draw with Kilcormac-Killoughey was a sign of vulnerability on the part of the county champions has been swept away.

Now, Shinrone must prepare to take on the Double K machine on Sunday, in real need of a performance in advance of the quarter-finals.

There is more than enough hurling class and quality in the Shinrone panel to cause problems for any team, Kilcormac-Killoughey included, but that’s a double-edged sword. It gives them potential, but it also incentivises K-K to put the hammer down.

The Robbins Cup holders will know that their opponents on Sunday could be a long-term threat, and sending them into a tough quarter-final against a second-placed team on the back of a heavy defeat would suit K-K just fine.

A win or draw for Shinrone would leave them bouncing off the ground for the next couple of weeks but a competitive showing, even if they were five or six points adrift at the end, would lay a lot of the Belmont demons to rest and chances are that if that was offered to Shinrone (in secret, of course!) they’d take it.

The first leg of Sunday’s double header in St. Brendan’s Park will be laced with tension and drama as it will see two of the county’s storied clubs try to avoid a relegation final. Kinnitty put a lot of eggs in the Belmont basket and came agonisingly close to getting a crucial win in that game, while St. Rynagh’s spread their effort across all three games and undeniably they looked a cut above relegation standard, even if they can’t argue with missing out on the quarter-finals.

Aaron Kenny’s suspension blunts an already anaemic St. Rynagh’s attack, but this isn’t a game where it will take more than 20 scores to win it; in fact 16 or 17 could well be enough. Unless the tension of the fixture gets to them, Rynagh’s still should reach that tally and do a little bit more, allowing them to draw a line under a poor season at senior and put their focus on their Intermediate and Junior B campaigns.

Shadow boxing in Senior B

Don’t expect to learn too much in either of the Senior B games between the already-qualified clubs, while in tonight’s relegation final at the Faithful Fields, a Clodiagh Gaels side that was unlucky not to take anything from their matches against Kilcormac-Killoughey and Clara should be far too good for a Coolderry group that has not just lost every match, but by increasingly large margins each time.

Clodiagh Gaels need to hurl at this level while for Coolderry, intermediate is probably the right grade for their second team. If anything, they might find it easier to recruit players to compete for what would be a very winnable championship for them in 2026.

The race to replace the losers of that fixture really begins in earnest this weekend however, and while last night’s IHC quarter-final between Birr and Shinrone will have taken place after this edition of the Offaly Independent went into print, there should be a decent bit of local spice at the Drumcullen and Seir Kieran clash in Crinkill tomorrow.

The 2024 IHC was one that Drumcullen left behind and no matter how often it happens, watching their first team take on the second team of a club they play underage with, will sting the people of the Eglish & Drumcullen parish little bit.

Shamrocks bested them in the group game but David O’Toole Greene’s injury last weekend will be a huge blow to the chances of the championship favourites, and alongside St. Rynagh’s who can sit back this weekend after winning Group One, Drumcullen should see their window opening a little bit.

If they can handle that pressure, the Sash men should come through this test with a bit to spare.