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Second round. At the moment, all matches on Saturday at 11am.

Group 1
Kilcormac-Killoughey v Kinnitty/Lusmagh, at Kilcormac
Birr v St Rynagh’s, at Birr
Shamrocks a bye

Group 2
Tullamore v Carrig & Riverstown-Crinkill at O’Brien Park
Shinrone/Ballyskenagh-Killavilla v Drumcullen/Seir Kieran at Shinrone
Ballinamere-Durrow a bye

Group 3
Clara v Na Fianna at Clara
Coolderry v Ferbane-Belmont at Coolderry
Gracefield a bye.

frankthetank wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:01 pm Just wondering has the Minor Football/Hurling Double ever been done in the one year.

K-K are pretty much nailed on in the hurling and I see they’ve beaten Rhode and Edenderry in the football. So could go close in that.

That group of KK players won the under 15 Double a very talented bunch J Mahon, A screened were on the minor football team last year but left

At 11am unless stated

Kinnitty/Lusmagh v Birr at Lusmagh
Shamrocks have conceded a walkover to Kilcormac-Killoughey

To date, Kilcormac have beaten Rynagh’s and K/L, and now have been awarded the win over Shamrocks. K/L have beaten Shamrocks and lost heavily to Kilcormac, while Birr have played just once, losing to Rynagh’s.


Drumcullen/Seir Kieran v Tullamore at Rath
Ballinamere-Durrow v Shinrone/Ballyskenagh-Killavilla at Durrow

To date, SBK have beaten CRC and DSK, DSK have beaten B-D, while Tullamore have beaten CRC.

Ferbane-Belmont v Clara at Moystown (am I right in thinking Clara also include Brosna Gaels?)
Gracefield v Coolderry at Gracefield at 11.30am

Coolderry have beaten Na Fianna and F-B, while Clara have beaten Na Fianna in their only game so far and F-B have beaten Gracefield.

At this stage it has to be recognised that Kilcormac-Killoughey have become an unstoppable force with regards underage hurling in Offaly.

If you take this year’s championship results and include U20 K/K have played 12 championship matches and have won all 12.

Their U13’s have played 4 and won 4. Average winning margin 11.5 points

Their U15’s have played 3 and won 3. Average winning margin 16.6 points.

Their minors have played 3 and won 3. Average winning margin 23 points

Their U20’s have played 2 games and won 2. Average winning margin 14 points.

Occasionally teams give them a decent game e.g U20 vs CRC but that is the exception rather than the norm. They are likely to win all 4 grades with maybe the U13 the one they could slip in. (I notice they entered a 2nd team in the U13 C and have beaten Coolderry’s first team)

Is it population? Is it excellent coaching? Is it fantastic work being done in schools?

And more pertinently, is it good for Offaly hurling?

Sher weight of numbers with average to adequate coaching been done.

frankthetank wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 3:55 pm At this stage it has to be recognised that Kilcormac-Killoughey have become an unstoppable force with regards underage hurling in Offaly.

If you take this year’s championship results and include U20 K/K have played 12 championship matches and have won all 12.

Their U13’s have played 4 and won 4. Average winning margin 11.5 points

Their U15’s have played 3 and won 3. Average winning margin 16.6 points.

Their minors have played 3 and won 3. Average winning margin 23 points

Their U20’s have played 2 games and won 2. Average winning margin 14 points.

Occasionally teams give them a decent game e.g U20 vs CRC but that is the exception rather than the norm. They are likely to win all 4 grades with maybe the U13 the one they could slip in. (I notice they entered a 2nd team in the U13 C and have beaten Coolderry’s first team)

Is it population? Is it excellent coaching? Is it fantastic work being done in schools?

And more pertinently, is it good for Offaly hurling?

Population of course has to have a huge impact, but I think a good few other clubs have similar or greater populations (difficult to confirm from census stats). Footballl is definitely 2nd, so that probably gives edge over some similar size clubs like Belmont and Shamrocks.
Purely my own anecdotal observations so may not be representative, but had experience with son in KK and another Offaly club. The main difference I saw was that there is not a focus on the 'stars' in KK. The underage coaches seem to follow the guidance of giving every child a chance and letting all children feel included, so they stay on board and have a greater chance to progress.

1 underage down, 3 to go for KK.

Group 1:
St Rynagh’s v KInnitty/Lusmagh at Banagher
Birr v Shamrocks at Birr

Group 2:
Tullamore v Ballinamere-Durrow at O’Brien Park
Carrig & Riverstown-Crinkill v Drumcullen/Seir Kieran at Carrig

Group 3:
Clara v Gracefied at Clara
Na Fianna v Ferbane-Belmont at Killeigh


The winner of St Rynagh’s and Kinnity/Lusmagh will finish second in the group, while the loser will likely finish third. Both are on course to qualify for the A championship.

Wins for Tullamore and D/SK will assure themselves of places in the A championship. Ballinamere-Durrow really need to win to get back on track. That said, while they are without a win, they have lost to D/SK by three points and S/B-K by four points. A B-D win over Tullamore makes a three way tie for second, third and fourth involving B-D, D/SK and Tullamore very likely.

A win for Clara over Gracefield will set up a final day tie between themselves and Coolderry, with the winner toping the group and taking the 7th place in the A championship.

According to the Underage Fixtures Pack on the County Board’s website, of the 15 teams, 7 advance to the A championship and 8 go to the B competition. The seven are the top three in groups 1 and 2, and the top team in group 3.

The winner of group 1 (Kilcormac-Killoughey) have a bye to the semi-final.
The first in group 3 (Coolderry or Clara) play first in group 2 (S/B-K) in one quarter-final, with the winners playing Kilcormac-Killoughey in the semi-final.

The second in group 1 (winners of SR and K/L tomorrow) play third in group 2 (Tullamore, D/SK or Ballinamere, which will be clearer with the Tullamore v B-D result tomorrow) in a quarter-final.
And third in group 1 (loser of SR & K/L) play second in group 2 (see above) in the third quarter-final, with the winners of the Group 1/group 2 quarter-finals meeting in the semi-final.

Which seems lobsided to me that the reward for winning group 2 is to be on the same side of the draw as Kilcormac.

Can’t see anything other than a K/K vs St Rynaghs final here. SBK are probably the 2nd best team in it but won’t progress past the semi-final as they will have to meet K/K at that point due to the strange championship structure.

St Rynaghs only losing to K/K by 8 in Round 1 bodes well for them and they should comfortably beat K/L tomorrow. (K/L themselves must be happy with underage progress as they will probably reach the knockout “A” stages of U13, U15 and U17)

Under 13 Championship finals:

D Final - Coolderry 0-13 Clara 1-08

C Final - CRC 5-08 Gracefield 2-06

B Final - Kinnitty/Lusmagh vs Ferbane/Belmont

A Final- Drumcullen/Seir Kieran vs Tullamore

K/K's ambitions for a clean sweep of all the underage A titles was ended at the semi-final stage by DSK.

DSK will be favourites for the final as they won the Jack Wyer Tournament last year (U12) and that would be 2 U13 A championships in 3 years for them.

Birr have given kk a walkover in minor hurling. That's not good.

Fair play to St Rynaghs and Kinnitty/Lusmagh who actually hurled K/K minors.

Shamrocks and Birr, not so much.

Birr afraid of kk?

Couple of things on this.

It is a very poor Birr team and struggled all the way up.

They are missing 6/7 players this weekend through injury and what not players who played the last three group games.

Which would mean they would have to start u15 hurlers to make a team as they have a small panel.

Please bare in mind the 15s are in a county semi final not sure it would do them any good playing a KK minor team who has 7 Offaly minors stars on it.


If they lost by 50 pts everyone would say it doesn't look good I think on this one occasion its the right call.

Everyone is entitled to the odd weak group and unfortunately I don't like hearing about walkovers would a humiliating defeat be any better ?

Like you say its never good to be giving a walkover, especially a big club like birr. Somthing similar is happening in Tipperary with Durlas Og. Beating teams by 40 to 50 points. As of yet, no one has given them a walkover.
From juvenile to senior, clubs giving walkovers seems to be an ok thing to do in offaly rather than a last resort. This is a major problem and shows a lack of resilience and fortitude to get a team on the field no matter what.