Champions to conquer Coolderry; Rynagh's versus Ballinamere a close call

By Kevin Egan

After last Sunday’s two senior football semi-finals progressed broadly along expected lines, the question in advance of Sunday’s double header at the same venue will be if the same story will unfold at Glenisk O’Connor Park for the two group winners, or if either Coolderry or St Rynagh’s can pull off an upset.

The idea that St Rynagh’s beating Ballinamere would be regarded as an upset would have caused a few eyebrows to raise at the start of the year. When we consider that the only common opponent of the two sides is Birr, who got a draw with Ballinamere but fell short against the Banagher club, then it’s not immediately apparent that there is any form-based reason for suggesting that Niall Rigney’s side are a couple of points ahead at the moment. But when it comes to the eye test, there hasn’t really been any game this year where Rynagh’s have looked like potential county champions.

On paper, they still have all of the ingredients to be very competitive on Sunday (throw-in 2.15pm). The bulk of the three-in-a-row team is still in situ, and even if a couple of the older players have perhaps lost a step or two of pace.

At the other end of the scale, the introduction of Shane Rigney and Aaron Molloy to the attack has given them a spark, not to mention the electric form of Luke O’Connor last time out.

Also, there’s no nice way to say this, but until Ballinamere win a big do-or-die game, we don’t know that they can. Any statistician will tell you that a sample size of two (last year’s semi-final against Shinrone and the 2022 quarter-final versus Birr) is not enough from which to draw any meaningful conclusions.

But in the cold, hard, black-and-white world of competitive sport, where nothing matters except who is ahead at the final whistle, the psychology of it is very different – all the more so when you’re trying to scale new heights for a club that doesn’t have a history of senior success behind them.

Do Ballinamere have the better hurlers, with a more optimal age profile and much more scope for improvement? Are Ballinamere more likely to raise their game to a level to test Kilcormac-Killoughey in the final, if the county champions make it back to that stage?

To these questions, the answer appears to be a soft yes, but it’ll take a win on Sunday to harden it. Right now, let’s just say Ballinamere hold a straight flush draw, but Rynagh’s hold top pair, and we know they’ll have something solid in their hand.

Coolderry strive to add another chapter to their story

You don’t win 31 senior county titles without enjoying a few memorable days along the way, and there are good historical reasons why a few shrewd judges texted this reporter with comments along the line of “you don’t ever write off Coolderry” after I suggested that Shinrone were ready to kick on in the quarter-finals. A few after-timers texted it after the result too, but that’s another matter.

So let’s call it as it is, this time. Coolderry have a solid group of experienced hurlers, a few of their key players at the prime of their career are in the form of their life, and the chance of them putting in a below par performance, or ever hurling with anything less than complete honesty and commitment, is pretty much zero.

The problem for them, and indeed for every club in the county, is that even in second or third gear, Kilcormac-Killoughey look to be on another level entirely.

Coolderry will look at the group game between the two sides and they will feel that they can eke out bits of improvement here and there in a few areas to try and narrow the six-point margin, but on the flip side, Kilcormac-Killoughey have scope for pushing on too.

There is only one team here that we can say will almost certainly score 20 times, and there is only one team that has the capability to score 26 or 27 times in an hour, if that’s needed. So, perhaps, another six or seven point margin in favour of K-K on Sunday (throw-in 3.45).