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Superhans75 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2026 4:55 pm Great game of hurling
Tulllamore deserved the win
Shinrone birr game will be tasty in 2 weeks time .

Shinrone and birr are in different groups

It was on the offaly gaa fixtures as a senior game then. Changed to intermediate
There has been a few mistakes on. It
These things happen .

Birr are as far away as they have ever have been from winning a championship.

They seem to have rectified their underage structure but that will take time.

That performance vs K/K last year seems to have been the exception rather than the norm. A lot of people hung their hat on it.

I’d actually be surprised if they qualify from their group. Other than Kinnitty where will the wins come from?

Very poor first half from birr. No rhyme or rhythm to how they play. Rallied very well in 2nd half but really the game was lost and maybe birr could have got a draw at best. Rynaghs look better than last year. Seem fitter or more enthusiastic about hurling. Play a short game with lots of support play.
Birr went long a lot and little return until late on.

Sunday of shocks!

Didn't make it to Tullamore but it sounded like they were well deserving of their win and should have won by more. They'll have no reason to fear Ballinamere in a fortnight.

Rynaghs were much the better side in Banagher and should have won by more. Ailbe Watkins impressed for Birr but their other county panelists were anonymous, need a few leaders to start emerging. Ian Kerin got 3 or 4 points off the bench.

Coolderry had a mighty win over KK that puts them in a commanding position. Eoin Burke, Andrew Hogan and Andy Connolly were standouts. KK still very reliant on Conor Mahon. Need to solve their full back position too - I'd like to see Jordan Quinn or Kiely tried there. The only sub used was Lochlann Kavanagh, meaning they should have a very strong Senior B team. One of the Geraghty's got married out foreign over the weekend and they weren't named - perhaps Peter will be used at senior A.

frankthetank wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 12:15 am Birr are as far away as they have ever have been from winning a championship.

They seem to have rectified their underage structure but that will take time.

That performance vs K/K last year seems to have been the exception rather than the norm. A lot of people hung their hat on it.

I’d actually be surprised if they qualify from their group. Other than Kinnitty where will the wins come from?

Agreed, Birr not in contention at all this year or for the next few years. Their representation on Offaly underage teams and panels over the last 10 years has been unbelievably minimal for a town of its size. Their last Minor A title was 2004. Their U-20 teams have been completely non competitive for some time now with some absolute hammerings in that time. They have won one U-20 (as St Brendans with CRC players) since 2007 and that was with an Eoghan Cahill inspired team in 2017. Same as for any club, until these key indicators of success change, nothing will change.

Indeed it could get worse before it gets better with the cohort of Brendan Murphy, Colm Mulrooney, Barry Harding and Sean Ryan all now well into their 30's.

Have to say I was expecting more from Birr than I saw yesterday. After years of struggling to find scoring support for Cahill, they went into this game with Luke Nolan, Morgan Watkins, Ailbe Watkins and Lochlainn Quinn, and that's before you'd factor in the likes of Harding and Mulrooney to pop over a few from distance. There's no deadweight there. Ailbe Watkins had some good moments and I was impressed with Darragh Tierney for a young lad that I hadn't seen very much, he struggled with some balls but held his own as well - but in general, they struggled to make an impression and in particular, Joey O'Connor was very good at centre back, completely outshining Luke Nolan in that battle.

Now, I still think they might have been able to sneak over the line if it wasn't for the issues with the short puckouts and the chaos that there was in their full back line at times. An early yellow card for Campbell Boyd didn't help him and you'd say that ever so marginally, Darragh Scully got the better of Ben Miller, albeit it was a close call, it wasn't a scutching by any means.

But if the metric is trying to get to the level that K-K were at for the last couple of years, then Birr still have a fair bit to find.


Now, moving on to events in Kilcormac, K-K have a bit to find too. The talk before was that Adam Screeney might be only back for a semi-final, but if things don't change, it's not a stonewall certainty that they'll be in a semi-final. They're lucky it's Kinnitty next up as now they'll be without Mitchell, Screeney and Hand, so there's your top three freetaking options, but I'd expect they'll be able for Kinnitty despite that. If it was Birr or Rynagh's next, that might be a different story.

18 wides, many of them down to not getting to grips with a tricky cross breeze, was a huge part of it - but shipping that many goal chances isn't good either. Coolderry hit long balls from the right position to minimise Brecon's influence as a sweeping centre back but I'll be honest, I was disappointed that a player of his level didn't find a way to get himself more involved anyway and to adjust to what was unfolding in front of him. He's too good to be as peripheral as that.

On the Coolderry side, Eoin Burke was excellent, Cian Burke hurled some good ball, the half back line (mainly Molloy and Malone) were dominant and I assume David King will be back on board soon as well. I don't want to second guess all the excellent hurling men they have on the sideline but I cannot for the life of me see why they think Andrew Hogan is a forward, and to my untrained eye, it looked like he grew into the game as he dropped into a deeper role. I think if you put Hogan at 7 and moved Marc Ryan up to midfield, a sector where they are chopping and changing a lot, then they'd have a very solid foundation.

But still, great day for them, and one I didn't see coming, I won't lie.

Great weekend.
Poor enough from Shinrone(I hear) and from what I could see of KK on Clubber.

Great win for Tullamore.
Really building.
Any time I’ve seen them they look free spirited and full of running.

Good win for Coolderry, especially short a few. They can I’ll afford that.
They looked economical, but a bit reliant on long ball.
I agree re Hogan. Looks like he isn’t being used properly.

I think that’s an ideal start for Ballinamere. Under the radar. Tidy. No injuries and lots to work on.

I was at Rynaghs v Birr.
That’s a great and badly needed win.
Really maximising what they have.
Will bring confidence and calmness.
They have two winnable games before facing KK in the last round.
How will football affect them?

To add.
Birr look directionless.
They couldn’t be as bad as that surely?

Jim Troy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2026 4:07 pm Great weekend.
Poor enough from Shinrone(I hear) and from what I could see of KK on Clubber.

Great win for Tullamore.
Really building.
Any time I’ve seen them they look free spirited and full of running.

Good win for Coolderry, especially short a few. They can I’ll afford that.
They looked economical, but a bit reliant on long ball.
I agree re Hogan. Looks like he isn’t being used properly.

I think that’s an ideal start for Ballinamere. Under the radar. Tidy. No injuries and lots to work on.

I was at Rynaghs v Birr.
That’s a great and badly needed win.
Really maximising what they have.
Will bring confidence and calmness.
They have two winnable games before facing KK in the last round.
How will football affect them?

Football affecting Rynaghs - good one!
No hurlers from the town of Banagher play anymore - all either from Cloghan or non-hurlers.
Their only bona-fide dual player and former inter county football player missed a championship football game last year to attend a college American football game in Dublin.
Aaron Molloy played u20 football for Offaly this year, perhaps Scully or Cannon play aswell.