Crunch Time Approaching In Club Hurling C’ships
It’s approaching make-or-break time in the main Offaly Club Hurling Championships.
Round 4 games in the Molloy Environmental Systems Senior HC took place on Saturday and Sunday, 9th and 10th October, producing the following results: Shinrone 2-19, Birr 0-18; Ballinamere 4-23, Seir Kieran 3-16; Coolderry 6-27, Drumcullen 0-09; St Rynagh’s 2-24, Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-21; Belmont 0-17, Kinnitty 0-15.
Two players each scored a hat-trick of goals on Sunday – long-serving stalwart Brian Carroll for Coolderry and Offaly forward John Murphy for Ballinamere. Meanwhile, reigning champions St Rynagh’s came back from a terrible start to overcome last year’s beaten finalists Kilcormac-Killoughey.
The ten teams in the championship are in two groups of five, but it’s the top four teams from the entire ten that will progress to the semi-finals after five group games. This is the table at present:
The final group games on the weekend of 23rd/ 24th October are: St Rynagh’s v Birr; Shinrone v Kinnitty; Ballinamere v Belmont; Cooldery v Seir Kieran; Kilcormac-Killoughey v Drumcullen.
In the six team Senior B Hurling Championship, the results were: Lusmagh 3-22, Kilcormac-Killoughey 2-8; Clara 1-13, Clodiagh Gaels 1-12; Tullamore 5-19, Shinrone 1-10.
The final round of games in this Championship sees Clara v Shinrone; Tullamore v Lusmagh; Clodiagh Gaels v Kilcormac-Killoughey, with the top four games advancing to the semi-finals.
In the Intermediate Hurling Championship, Carrig & Riverstown and Shamrocks are already in the semi-finals. This weekend, Birr defeated Belmont by 4-22 to 2-13 in one quarter-final, while the quarter-final featuring St Rynagh’s v Seir Kieran was postponed due to a bereavement.
