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The only opinion someone who was in OCP yesterday could come away with is that neither Ballinamere nor Belmont will be taking home the Sean Robbins this year. It was a very poor display from both teams and although the loss is more consequential for Belmont, it's hard to escape the feeling Ballinamere were the team most disappointed with their display.

Belmont having hurled for 20 minutes with 14 men were only trailing by a point in injury time, this also despite the fact their two best players and two of Offaly's best David Nally and Oisin Kelly are out injured. Both sides were incredibly sloppy in defence and wasteful in attack, it wouldn't inspire much confidence in Offaly's future prospects that these are considered 2 of the county's top 6 clubs at present.

Belmont now face a shootout with Coolderry to save their season, it's a 50-50 in my opinion and if Nally isn't good to go then I'd tip Coolderry to get over the line against the odds. Belmont have been the nearly men for the better part of a decade but all the evidence this year point to a team that's now over the hill and watching the curtain fall on its golden generation. Dual commitments have played a significant part and they've shot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion but at the same time it's inconceivable that they're yet to reach a county final let alone win one.

The opposite is true of Ballinamere, they're a team on the crest of a wave at the moment and have a very bright future. While I think they're not the finished article just yet and this maybe a year too soon, their rise is now undeniable and if as we all expect, KK are going to be competing in finals for the next decade plus, I think it's safe to assume Ballinamere will be competing against them in a fair few of those. The prospect of a KK-Ballinamere rivalry dominating Offaly hurling for the foreseeable future looks on the cards.

The sneers are always a team that flatter to deceive.
I'll believe it when I see it.

They also kinda of believe their own hype.

A lot of their team never really deliver but live off their reputations. Sometimes I watch the more established players who play for the county and they are also very poor for their club.

They have a few young lads coming through who came from the offaly under 20 set up so maybe they will make a difference but they would not want to be relying on the their established offaly senior forwards.

I think the standard of offaly club hurling has dropped dramatically and continues to drop every year.

Some of these senior A teams wouldn't keep it pucked out to the Rynaghs ,Birr , clareen or coolderry County championship teams of years gone by.

I suppose you have a very valid point in that Birr demolished them last year and not too many lads see Birr winning a county final so I am unsure where that leaves Ballinamere.

Hasselhoff wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 11:37 am I think the standard of offaly club hurling has dropped dramatically and continues to drop every year.

Some of these senior A teams wouldn't keep it pucked out to the Rynaghs ,Birr , clareen or coolderry County championship teams of years gone by.

Obviously in the mid 1990s, Offaly had as much talent as any county in the country, and it was spread across comparatively few clubs, relative to counties like Kilkenny, Tipperary etc. It's not remotely fair to compare now with then.

Even if you go back to over a decade ago, then sure, we had Birr, K-K and Coolderry teams get to All-Ireland finals, but the Offaly championship still wasn't great as there were always three or four clubs that were comfortably ahead of the rest.

Right now, we're a Joe McDonagh county, and while logic would suggest that K-K will move ahead of the pack in the next few years, right now there's just one round of games to go in the SHC and seven teams are still alive, with every one of them plausible winners of the Seán Robbins Cup. Naturally, if you take the level of talent that exists and spread it quite evenly, you won't have a championship that is comparable to what you'll get in Galway, Limerick or Kilkenny.

KK are going to win the championship without ever having to leave third gear.

Of great concern is the dominance of the Senior B championship by ‘second’ teams. Makes a mockery of the championship.

There is a strong argument for a one group, 8 team (down from 10 currently) senior championship with the second division called the intermediate championship (like it used to be).
We had this format before, just a few years ago. Can’t understand why it was jettisoned just because a few teams didn’t like that they were now intermediate/senior b.

Don't agree with you on K/K they are not champions yet.

In relation to the format 100% we should have 8 team senior championship it has made a big of shambles of our second and third tier.

Kk look like a team that will win this year's championship but i doubt they would do much good in leinster. They need to play a better brand of hurling to get the most out of their talent.

greenairfield wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 3:42 pm Don't agree with you on K/K they are not champions yet.

In relation to the format 100% we should have 8 team senior championship it has made a big of shambles of our second and third tier.

What way would that format work or how would you set it up ?

remember a few years ago I think it was a group of six in senior hurling and everyone played each other.
The group games were very competitive .

Agreed it needs to be more competitive but whose noses are going to be out of place .
6 senior teams is enough and until the county can start to wag it's tail again .
Good intermediate hurling is better than crap senior ..
But turkey's don't vote for Xmas
Any times or dates on the final round of games.?

Superhans75 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 9:10 pm Agreed it needs to be more competitive but whose noses are going to be out of place .
6 senior teams is enough and until the county can start to wag it's tail again .
Good intermediate hurling is better than crap senior ..
But turkey's don't vote for Xmas
Any times or dates on the final round of games.?

6 senior teams is enough? Absolutely laughable

You might think it's funny but look at the big picture
Look at the senior county team
Look at the performance of our club teams in Leinster
You can't just keep doing the same thing and expect a different result .
Only people who want that are the glorious volunteers
On expenses lol

Superhans75 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 6:30 am You might think it's funny but look at the big picture
Look at the senior county team
Look at the performance of our club teams in Leinster
You can't just keep doing the same thing and expect a different result .
Only people who want that are the glorious volunteers
On expenses lol

And what problem does moving to 6 teams solve? Having less players exposed to top tier games?

was it eight teams the last time in was one straight group.

Hasselhoff wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 9:04 am was it eight teams the last time in was one straight group.

Yes it was 8 teams in the one group with each team playing each other. It was jettisoned as the county board felt the games weren’t competitive enough. Which was a fair point. After the round robin stage 6 teams qualified for knockouts. Which essentially meant there was 28 group games to eliminate 2 teams. It’s a system I for one was glad to see the back of.

8 teams in the Senior Championship. Everybody plays each other.
Top four to seeded semi finals.
Bottom two to relegation final.
Fifth and sixth: See you next year.

That provides an extremely competitive group series with every game of vital importance. It also provides more guaranteed championship games (7 minimum versus a paltry 4 minimum currently) for players to play and supporters to support.

With less senior teams, the second division intermediate championship (or whatever clubs want to call it so their feelings aren’t hurt) will be more competitive and hopefully populated by less ‘second’ teams from bigger clubs.