How all the clubs stand in Offaly hurling pecking order
By Kevin Egan
The general election might be done and dusted, but here in the Offaly Independent, we know that the poll that really gets the county talking is the end of season club rankings. The top spot will be no surprise, but where does your club sit on the overall pecking order?
(1) Kilcormac-Killoughey (no change): Ballinamere asked meaningful questions of them in the Offaly final, but we’re at the point now where Kilcormac-Killoughey are inside the top ten club teams in Ireland, and it’s about moving up that pecking order from here, while of course respecting the threat of those clubs that are snapping at their heels.
Perhaps not immediately, but there still is an element of transition ahead. Even if some of their older hurlers elect to keep going in pursuit of further silverware, there will still be a transition to a younger generation, and one where there isn’t a lot of physical size. If the goal is to be at their best in November, that will require their evolution to continue.
(2) Ballinamere (up 3): After Offaly's heartbreaking defeat to Tipperary in the 2022 All-Ireland minor final, a lot of comments about how that result might stand to those players in the long run rang a bit hollow. After all, there was absolutely no guarantee at the time that any of them would be in a position to win an All-Ireland ever again. Of course, we all know how that story progressed, and there are a lot of parallels with how Ballinamere might feel right now. Yes, they had a chance to win the Seán Robbins Cup and couldn’t take it, and it’s far from certain that they will get another chance to be ten minutes out from the final whistle of a county final with the game in the balance. On the other hand, every player now knows how good they can be, and how close they are, if they can just find four or five points of improvement.
(3) Shinrone (down 1): 'But Coolderry beat them well in the quarter-final’ will go the cry, and that is true. There was no injustice about that result, whatsoever. In reality, Shinrone were not the third best team in Offaly in 2024, nor were they close – but they did hit high notes in spells that no other team below them could match. In terms of raw ability, Shinrone are a live threat to Kilcormac-Killoughey and everyone else too, but the question is how deep their pool of hunger runs, given that they have the only county title in the club’s history in their books. It’s a good bet they won’t stay still on this list in 12 months’ time – they have the capacity to move up, or drop right down.
(4) Coolderry (up 2): By any measure, this was a very impressive campaign, even if the manner of the semi-final defeat will rankle with members of a club where heavy losses like that are incredibly rare at any time in their illustrious history. An intermediate championship win shows that there is far more depth in the club that many outsiders (this reporter included) might have guessed, and the emergence of Eoin Burke and Stephen Connolly this year, not to mention Billy Burke thriving in his new role at full-back, meant that they went into games with a well-balanced, capable side.
Whether they can climb up this list without the little sprinkling of magic that a handful of county-standard forwards gives you is another matter.
(5) St Rynagh’s (down 1): After going through a few bad wobbles during the group stages, they came together and were a lot closer to their usual standards once it came to the knockouts. Once Brian Duignan put that penalty wide, it looked like they were headed back to the county final – but if they had got there, it would have been a triumph of game management and experience, rather than a sign that they had raised their game to a higher level.
It's not the first time we’ve said this, but there is a lengthy period of transition coming for the club, and it’ll be interesting to see if they follow Coolderry’s example in 2025 and take a leap of faith by moving some of their senior figures back to the second team and handing the reins to a younger crop.
(6) Birr (down 3): We said last year that it looked like things were moving in the right direction for Birr, with a handful of promising younger players starting to emerge, creating a core group that could develop into a side that would contend for championship honours. It’s hard to say that many of those players really kicked on in 2024, with the exceptions of Ben Miller and Pádraic Watkins in defence, who looked very capable. But when you have one player carrying the bulk of your scoring workload, to the point that no Birr player other than Eoghan Cahill raised more than six flags across the five games they played in the championship, there is a very low ceiling to what you can achieve.
In the longer term, Birr are in very good shape, leading the way at U-15 and U-13 level. A smaller club might be happy to just tread water until that generation feeds through, but there should, and will, be greater ambitions in the town than just to bide time until 2030.
(7) Belmont (no change): On the one hand, things could have been very different. The Shinrone game was a dead rubber, they won the relegation play-off they needed to win, and in their other three competitive fixtures against Kinnitty, Ballinamere and Birr, the contest was there to be won with five minutes to play. Except when you don’t win any of them, then that becomes something of a trend. A strong showing from the minors is a huge boost for a club that hasn’t really made any big impression at underage for a few years now, and if they can avoid playing most of the championship without at least one of their big hitters missing most or all of the campaign due to injury, they mightn’t be far away. Winning the Division One league title is not something to be dismissed either, particularly given the comprehensive performance they delivered in the final.
(8) Seir Kieran (up 3): There’s very little to call between Seir Kieran and Kinnitty, as both sides picked up a win that might not have been expected (versus St Rynagh’s and Belmont respectively), and both sides had some contests where they were miles off the pace as well. On an individual level, however, Seir Kieran have a little bit more about them in terms of power and quality, particularly in the middle third, and while there’s probably a ceiling at around the quarter-final stage, they look safe from relegation in the short term at least.
(9) Kinnitty (no change): A superb start to the campaign opened the door to a world of possibility, but the manner of their second half collapse against Ballinamere that evening in Banagher meant that every ounce of momentum was drained out of their campaign, and even though they were competitive against Birr, there was never a stage of that game where they looked like they might pull off the upset win they needed to take the town side’s place in the quarter-finals. Where improvement is needed is not hard to identify. Scoring 2-48 in four games was the worst attacking record in the senior A championship, miles off the standard they’d want to hit.
(10) Tullamore (down 2): They got better as the group stages progressed, to the point that they went into the relegation final with genuine confidence that they could cause a demoralized Belmont side a few headaches. Instead they were very poor in the first half, and by half-time they were already committed to supporting Kilcormac-Killoughey in the SHC ‘B’ final.
At underage level, Tullamore are holding their own and this year’s minor crop was decent. They will need to step into junior hurling as a stepping stone rather than parachuting straight into senior hurling, and that’s where a lot depends on how their new football management in 2025 chooses to approach the issue of dual players. With all their best players on the pitch, Tullamore have every chance of avoiding the drop. Without them, they are long odds on to be tenth again.
(11) Clodiagh Gaels (no change): There was a solid case to argue that Carrig & Riverstown were the better team in 2024 over the year as a whole, and given the stance we took on the Coolderry/Shinrone debate for third and fourth, maybe there is a hypocrisy in placing Clodiagh Gaels ahead here. But while the long-term prognosis for Carrig & Riverstown is probably that little bit brighter, they haven’t done it yet, the same way Shinrone have. From a position a few years ago where they were the naïve young team, Clodiagh Gaels are a much more experienced, streetwise group now, and that was crucial when they managed the breeze in the first half of that semi-final. Where their improvement is going to come from is another matter, however.
(12) Carrig & Riverstown (up 2): Their first round draw against Clodiagh Gaels and subsequent shootout defeat meant that they missed out on a Division Two league title that would have meant something to the club, but their rebound was ideal, and the next two performances against Lusmagh and Birr suggested that they were right in the mix for Senior ‘B’ glory. In the end they didn’t get there, but most of their starting forwards are natural scorers, they have young leaders who will drive them on, their Junior ‘B’ success will add to the feelgood factor in the club, and they will start next year as second favourites for this title.
(13) Lusmagh (no change): Like Carrig & Riverstown, they weren’t better than Clodiagh Gaels in 2024, but it would be no surprise if they were in 2025. Ruairí Kelly’s injury was a massive blow to a small panel, and still they regrouped after a dreadful start to the championship, culminating in a semi-final defeat to Kilcormac-Killoughey where it’s fair to say they got no luck on the say whatsoever.
They’ve a strong spine and some very talented scorers up front, even if Paul Kinsella continues to carry a bit too much of the scoring load. It wouldn’t take a lot for them to get to a standard that could deliver silverware next year.
(14) Clara (down 2): Started the season with a sensational win over Lusmagh, but completely gave away that head start with a surprise loss to Birr next time out, albeit they avenged that defeat when the need was greatest in the relegation final. Their hurling was steady for the most part, and they have no shortage of energy or even spark up front – but defensively, they seem to concede scores that little bit too easy, and the jury is still out on whether the decision to switch Cathal O’Meara into the backs comes from a real belief that he belongs in that role, or a bit of making do for a side that is quite top heavy in terms of their talent.
(15) Drumcullen (no change): Still stuck in the quicksand that is intermediate hurling, and this year’s county final will be a tough one for the Sash men to get over. Conceding three first half goals was far from ideal and still they were right in the mix after Colm Gath found the net before half-time to reduce the gap with the wind to come – but they never got going, and so they will remain in the third tier. It does feel like their time is coming. Patrick Lyons is a very exciting addition to their forward line, they’re decent in the middle third, and there are more bright young prospects coming along.
(16) Shamrocks (no change): It felt like Shamrocks never really got a fair rub of the green in 2024, as they were short a key man in Pádraig Cantwell for a long chunk of the season, then as soon as he returned, they lost David O’Toole and Conor Condron for their championship quarter-final against St Rynagh’s. There was more to their lacklustre showing than this, however, and one big win over an Edenderry side that was way out of their depth this year doesn’t redeem an otherwise disappointing campaign.
(17) Brosna Gaels (up one): Last year’s summary concluded by saying that “they absolutely have to win this (junior) championship in 2024, they can’t afford to stay at this level for much longer” and while it’s impossible to fault them for a very decent campaign, 15 wides is far too many to shoot in a county final where you only hit nine balls over the bar.
(18) Ballyskenach-Killavilla (up 2): The season started well with a good run to a Division Four league final and while they didn’t get the result there that they would have wished, it still set them up nicely for the championship. For the second year in a row, the feeling is that their championship campaign was decent, but like Brosna Gaels, they need to move up to a higher level for the sake of all involved.
(19) Crinkill (up 1): A home draw against Ballyskenach-Killavilla represented a very positive start to their campaign, and they also finished on a high note, playing their part in an outstanding shootout against Brosna Gaels. They’ll take a lot of heart from this year’s minor campaign too, so overall, the feeling in the club should still be positive over the winter.
(20) Edenderry (down 3): Last year felt like a down year, but that was before they started 2024 with a good league win over a fancied Ballinamere team, only to go from there and ship seven heavy defeats, with just one narrow loss to Shamrocks in the mix. The promise of the 2022 junior final feels a long time past now.
(21) Gracefield (no change): Division Four is a good place from which to start a campaign where the Junior ‘B’ championship is the primary goal, and while Gracefield shipped a lot of defeats in that division, they only game where they were a distant second best was against eventual winners Kinnitty. That showed in the group stages of the championship when they cruised through an admittedly poor Group Two. Kilcormac-Killoughey and eventual winners Carrig & Riverstown were some distance ahead of the pack in this grade and the KKs were comfortable enough in the championship semi-final against Gracefield, but this was still a solid year’s hurling for the Blackthorns overall, and they’ll feel that 2025 has plenty of potential.