Birr and St Rynagh's both need to step up a gear

Shinrone fancied to edge out Coolderry

By Kevin Egan

Neither Birr nor St Rynagh’s have really caught fire in this year’s senior hurling championship yet, while Coolderry have been consistently warm and Shinrone look to be sparking at just the right time in advance of their big game on Sunday in St Brendan’s Park.

In terms of quality and entertainment value, it’s easier to be positive about the Shinrone vs Coolderry game than the clash we will see in Tullamore tomorrow (Saturday). Both Birr and St Rynagh’s have done just about enough to get this far, but neither have been remotely convincing and in the context of winning the Seán Robbins Cup, both teams seem to have an awful lot to find.

Birr’s dependence on Eoghan Cahill to carry a disproportionate amount of their scoring load is placing a very low ceiling on how far they can go, while St Rynagh’s are scoring more but have serious questions over their traditional strength, that being their defensive solidity and physical competitiveness. It’s not just Kilcormac-Killoughey that routed the Banagher men in that regard – Seir Kieran got the better of the physical battles too, and could easily have added to the 1-20 that they scored that afternoon in Birr.

Whether Gary Cahill’s troops are the right side to take full advantage remains to be seen. The defensive unit built around Eoin Hayes and Barry Harding is sound and there is plenty of speed and craft close to goal in the Birr side, but they aren’t ‘in your face’ to the same extent, and that might allow a more mature Rynagh’s side to get ball in hand and pick them apart.

In their four games so far, Rynagh’s have conceded 0-6, 0-5, 0-6 and 0-3 to frees, plus a penalty goal in their first game. If that level of discipline is maintained and Birr get just six points from frees, or even a couple along with it, it’s hard not to see the blue and gold men doing enough to get a couple of points in front by the final whistle, so we’ll go with that for our prediction.

When it comes to Sunday’s game, injury news is likely to be crucial. Eoin Burke has been in superb form for Coolderry and his injury midway through the second half of their final group game has the potential to derail their season, if he’s not fit to play on Sunday. Shinrone have their injury concerns too, and Killian Sampson’s return to action could still be a couple of weeks away at least, but right now they look like they have the depth to carry those absentees.

Coolderry will be strong at half-back and midfield in particular, but that little bit of mercurial magic up front isn’t there. Kevin Connolly rarely underperforms and his battle with Michael Cleary will be crucial, but Shinrone have at least five or six players that could easily score 0-3 (or more) from play. They just have too much.

Finally, Belmont will be expected to draw a line under a dismal championship campaign with a win over Tullamore in Clara on Sunday, but a strong start is vital for the west Offaly club. Mentality is always huge in these games and at the risk of providing material for the Tullamore dressing room, it’s unlikely that many of their players will be shocked to be in a relegation final this weekend – expectations in the county town wouldn’t have been high in advance of this campaign.

Perversely, that now suits them, as we can depend on Tullamore to go out and hurl their usual game. Will Belmont be able to match the form that they showed against Birr and Shinrone, which was below their potential, but still would probably be good enough on Sunday? That’s less certain. An extremely hesitant vote goes to Belmont here.

Senior B semi-finals

Lusmagh weren’t that far off Kilcormac-Killoughey in their final round group game, but it would still be a stretch to say that they looked like winning at any stage. It didn’t matter as Carrig & Riverstown beat Clara to do them a favour so they are into the last four, and this time around Alex Kavanagh – who scored three excellent second-half points in that 0-25 to 0-21 win – is now a senior 'A' hurler and won’t be available for Kilcormac-Killoughey.

In just one of their five games did K-K fail to reach that tally of 0-25. Lusmagh will probably need a couple of goals to exceed that, so they’ve work to do, but they’re not without hope.

On paper, the meeting of Carrig & Riverstown and Clodiagh Gaels should be much closer, but in reality, Clodiagh Gaels’ chances of victory are probably not too dissimilar to those of Lusmagh. Carrig & Riverstown have settled in well to this level of hurling, they were under no pressure against Clara last time out, and they’ve noticeably improved since drawing with Clodiagh Gaels in the first round. With their second team in a Junior B final on Sunday, there will be a real feelgood factor in the club and that should carry them through.

In the relegation decider, we’ll take Clara to reverse the results of their last meeting with Birr on the August Bank Holiday weekend. Birr have lost a few players to senior this year and don’t pack anything like the same punch that they did 12 months ago. Clara will have to get over the disappointment of failing to build on their round one win over Lusmagh, but they have more quality and should be able to stay in the second tier of Offaly club hurling.