Senior A Hurling 2019

[oneshot]

hi new on here two semi finals his weekend hope the weather doesnt ruin them . think myself it will be a kk Rynaghs final both 50/50 games. Birr have a good back
ine but lack the foward power to beat kk . its now or never i think for belmont in the other semil final.

[greenairfield]

Belmont V St.Rynaghs

For me Belmont will win this one. Rynaghs move the ball well and work well as a team but I think they lack fire power up front.
Belmont have alot of momentum and I think will win just about shade it.

Belmont 2-15 St.Rynaghs 1-16

Birr v K/K

I think K/K should be favourites and rightly so but Birr got a good draw against them not that long ago.
If Birr can get a hold of Conor Mahon like they did Conor Doughan it's hard to see where K/K will do damage.
Birr have concerns up front themselves but I do think they have a better back 6 thank K/K. I will go with Birr by 1.

Birr - 1-15 K/K 0-17

[chimbonda]

Belmont v St Rynaghs
Rynaghs to win by 4 points
St Rynaghs 1-17 Belmont 1-13

KK v Birr
KK to win by 7 points
KK 1-19 Birr 0-15

[Wingforward]

Belmont v St Rynaghs
Belmont by 5
St Rynaghs 1-16 Belmont 2-18

KK v Birrr
Birr by 1
Birr 1-17 KK 1-16

[Fairplayalways]

just back from the first semi final, in Birr, In what was by times terrible conditions,Rynaghs certainly figured out Belmont, Belmont only got 3 points in second half (Rynaghs only got 6 one could say back I suppose) but Ben Conneely nullified Oisin Kelly, without being spectacular in doing so, he was just everywhere Kelly went, Kelly came out the field in second half, but again Conneely had his ticket today, Kelly actually never scored, and it was the same as being without hime fully, Belmont struggled to push home an advantage they had. There were some heavy hits in it from both sides, and Belmont cannot really complain about Gary Conneely and Rynaghs about Fox, Fox was having a pop at young Aaron Kenny after he got two points to kickstart Rynaghs in secondhalf...Flannery intervened for young Kenny but lets say it was left unresolved so Gary Conneely took ball and all with one handed swing over near sideline, yellow cards all round and Rynaghs cleverly took Conneely off but there was no more after that to note..Conneelys block and dispossessing Kelly after Clancy saved and fell on the ground was epic, how Conneely managed to do all that well, only he could...Belmont missed the penalty, or more fairly, Conor Clancy saved it which was a good save in conditions...Belmont will feel again they left this semifinal behind them, and they possibly did, they will probably question some ofthe frees Rynaghs got, but to win you have to score more than your opponents over the hour and Belmont didnt do that and seemed to be falling away in last few minutes when game was stil there to be won, but Rynaghs use ofthe ball in the second half was excellent, I dont think Kilcormac or Birr would have been scared by either team today, but having said that many had Belmont tipped to win this and Rynaghs came and won it so hats off to them, it may not have been pretty but a win is a win...tomorrows game should be another one to savour...hopefully...

[Puckitout]

Ah stop, connelly had to go, running 20 yards with hurl above his head with one hand and connects to the knee pulling the wrong way, stone wall red. Hence why hogan removed him rapidly. Clancy was fantastic all round, rynaghs bench was impressive, tough day for hurling but a fantastic entertaining battle and a atmosphere to match, well done rynaghs and they'll take beating now.

[Keyser Soze]

If successful, would this be the 3 out of the 8 teams in the SHC that Ken Hogan has managed to win county finals?
Has he been involved unsuccessfully with any of the others?

[frankthetank]

That was a really really enjoyable game in Birr yesterday despite the heavy conditions. Really given the rain that had fallen it would have made sense to have moved the Clara v St Rynaghs Intermediate game to a different venue near Birr and bring the time forward half an hour to facilitate the people who wanted to go to both games.

Also charging people €30 to attend both county semi-finals is an absolute DISGRACE and smacks of a complete money grabbing exercise and I made my feelings known on that to members of the county board who were there. Why Tommy Byrne was floating around the ticket van and entrance gates is beyond me.

As for the game itself I felt St Rynaghs were marginally the better team and I think that Ben Conneely comfortably winning his duel with Oisin Kelly was the winning of the game. If you can keep Kelly scoreless and in particular from a goal scoring perspective you go a long way to beating Belmont. One of Belmont's huge strengths is their physicality but when they come up against a team who can match this, and Rynaghs certainly can, they seem to be just lacking in something to get them over the line. Having said that they are a really good team and only for Conor Clancy they could be in the county final. He pulled off some a couple of brilliant saves including the penalty.

I think I saw someone on Twitter (or was it here?) saying that benches would be vital and so it proved as Stephen Quirke (0-02) and Diarmuid Horan made huge contributions for Rynaghs. Quirke will surely have to start the final instead of Ciaran Flannery who I felt had a poor game and is his want, got too distracted by off the ball issues. He actually mightn't be too bad if he focussed on the hurling but I don't think Rynahgs can afford to leave Quirke on the line in the final.

I suggested in an earlier post on this thread that Belmont may suffer from year 3 staleness with Trevor Fletcher in charge. I was proved wrong on this but I believe that Fletcher has brought them as far as he can and it will take a fresh voice to get them into a county final. Fletcher has been a resounding success with them though.

Finally I have to say St Brendan's Park was absolutely rocking for this game and there was a brilliant atmosphere in the stand for it. An atmosphere I've yet to experience in O'Connor Park for a hurling game even after many many years of attending club games in there.

[Lone Shark]

Bitterly disappointed to see Belmont lose out yesterday, I really thought they'd win it coming into the game but in the end, some incredible saves from Conor Clancy made the difference. His penalty save in particular was truly incredible, and it would have been hard to see Rynagh's coming back to win if they had conceded a goal at that stage. As was pointed out above, Ben Conneely getting the better of Oisín Kelly in that personal battle was another key factor.

Hats off to the two teams for the standard of hurling that was produced in incredibly difficult conditions as well. Some of the stickwork and fielding was excellent, given the weather. I was working elsewhere today so couldn't be in OCP for the Birr vs KK game, but my gut feeling is that this St. Rynagh's performance was a lot better than it might look at first glance and that they'll be in good shape for the final. Every chance that for the third year in a row, Belmont will be one or two points worse than the county champions, but they won't even have got a county final appearance to show for their efforts.

And on the point of the possible red card for Gary Conneely, I thought it was a wild and careless pull and I've seen reds given for them, but when I park my natural bias towards my own parish, I'd say a yellow was probably fair enough. It didn't look at all malicious, it was the hurling equivalent of not driving with due care and attention. If there was one call I'd have an issue with, it was the random decision to whistle Damien Egan for a throw ball that allowed Aidan Treacy to score a free in the first half, a pass that was no more illegal than around 50 other handpasses that were let go. Every point mattered yesterday, so that was significant - but when you're reviewing a game like that, in weather like that, and that's the only criticism of the referee, then that's pretty impressive. I've always thought a lot of Shane Guinan as a ref and he was very impressive again in my opinion.

Likewise, Leon Fox and Ciarán Flannery probably both did enough to get red cards by the rulebook, but they too got away with yellows. From a Belmont perspective, that was one disappointing aspect - for Flannery to cancel out Fox was probably a win from a Rynagh's point of view, and I was surprised that Belmont didn't switch Leon somewhere else to let him try and get into the game a bit more, particularly once Aaron Kenny started to get a bit of traction against Liam Browne. Browne was in control of that duel in the first half, and at that stage you'd have said to leave things be, but once Kenny started to get on some ball, a switch would have been no harm.

Overall an enjoyable game though, if not the result. Well done to Rynagh's and hopefully we'll get another fascinating battle in the final between themselves and Birr.

[greenairfield]

I am one delighted Birr man tonight.

A great match yesterday in SBP followed by the perfect performance by Birr today. I think most people had written off Birr v K/K but what happened in OCP today was a masterclass of defending and putting it to them when they didnt want to know about it.

The 4 point win flattered K/K, Birr actually could of easily got a couple of goals too, K/K were second best all over the field.

If Fennelly was looking at the game he would be asking what age Brian Watkins is what a game his fielding was superb.

He would also ask why is Eoin Cahill in goals some of his point taking was county standard.


Banagher will be slight favs for the final but I think Birr have every chance after the way they played today.

[LooseCannon]

Arrah, sure they’ll surely play it in Birr. Mightn’t be any need for a crusade at all. (jumps for cover)

[frankthetank]

St Rynaghs and Birr have met in 9 county final games including replays.

St Rynaghs wins: 5 (1974, 1975,1990, 1993, 2016)
Birr wins: 3 (1971, 1999, 2001)
Draws: 1 (1975)

[oneshot]

well done to birr today some display of heart guts and hurling. right from the throw in birr were on their game even doe the game was flat for most of the half . the platform was set by birrs halfback line yet again today Brian Watkins what a display of all that is good about the game scored 2 super points and had peter Geraghty in his pocket all day. sean ryan jimmy irwin and Dylan watkins stood out also in defence. Dylan Hayden rolled back the years and score 3 good points and won a few frees. Eoghan Cahill outstanding for frees and play . morgan Watkins ran the legs off Ger Healion . the double kks looked like a team with alot of miles on the clock and didnt have the same drive and fire as what birr brough to the game. thomas geraghty tryed hard scored a few nice points Cillian Kiely was very disspointing and besides one point from play didnt what to know about it. Dan currams got on a lot of ball when he came on but his striking was way off and look like a player who has been away from the game. birr will be underdogs for the final again and that will suite them .

[oneshot]

St Rynaghs and Birr have met in 9 county final games including replays.

St Rynaghs wins: 5 (1974, 1975,1990, 1993, 2016)
Birr wins: 3 (1971, 1999, 2001)
Draws: 1 (1975)

Birr 22 titles
st.rynaghs 17

[Fairplayalways]

I wonder would Birr and KK have been as open a game (particulary in second half) if they had the atrocious conditions Belmont and Rynaghs had to play through yesterday in Birr...Birr seem to have been very impressive today, it should be a good final, wouldnt it be like old times and a mighty atmosphere if played in Birr..just thinking of stats and without checking but I think Rynaghs and Belmont returned their lowest scores of the campaign yesterday...goes to show what can happen on any given day..