2012 county hurling championships

[Bord na Mona man]

4 days to the club finals. The big news for Kilcormac-Killoughey is that Daniel Currams broke his arm in a challenge match against Kilkenny U21s on Sunday. He'll be a loss, but hopefully not a critical one.
They have a couple of options on the bench, one of them being Trevor Fletcher who was a Tipperary minor a few years ago.

Do you fancy them? I really liked their effort against Sarsfields, St Thomas could have been beaten in the first game and played really well in the second game against Loughgiel but just have a hunch for KK this year

Well they've cleared every hurdle so far, which I never expected them to do.
They've played their recent game as underdogs and will need to do the same on Sunday.
Possibly K-K were helped by both Thurles and OTB thinking they were going to dictate the games. It's easier to disrupt and rattle a team who think they are slightly better and haven't done their homework.
For example, there was little evidence that Thurles Sars had bothered to work out which players to avoid with the puckouts beforehand, K-K had were much cuter in this regard. Those sort of things can be a pointer to the mindset.

If St. Thomas' ran out handy winners, the collective wisdom would be that Kilcormac were lucky to get there and people will point out how they narrowly overcame Rathdowney/Errill of Leix and Mount Leinster Ranger of Carlow in the early rounds.

However I would surprised if it wasn't a tight game. K-K don't adhere to the typical Offaly style of whipping away every ball and avoiding physical contact at all costs. They have several 6 foot lads who don't mind fronting up. They've dug in hard to get this far and I'd say they'd relish another dogfight, if that's the way the game ends up.

[Milltown Row2]

Discipline will be a major factor too, thought St Thomas's sailed very close to the wind against Loughgiel in both games and as you say K-K have a lot of big lads on their team not afraid to throw it about. A man down for either team will have a major bearing on who'll lift the cup.

Can't see them giving Cooney a free reign in this game and the tank up front will be well marshalled I'm sure.

[Croí na hÉireann]

4 days to the club finals. The big news for Kilcormac-Killoughey is that Daniel Currams broke his arm in a challenge match against Kilkenny U21s on Sunday. He'll be a loss, but hopefully not a critical one.
They have a couple of options on the bench, one of them being Trevor Fletcher who was a Tipperary minor a few years ago.

What has Currams scored so far do you know? Seem to remember him being one of their better forwards in the semi anyway.

[Bord na Mona man]

4 days to the club finals. The big news for Kilcormac-Killoughey is that Daniel Currams broke his arm in a challenge match against Kilkenny U21s on Sunday. He'll be a loss, but hopefully not a critical one.
They have a couple of options on the bench, one of them being Trevor Fletcher who was a Tipperary minor a few years ago.

What has Currams scored so far do you know? Seem to remember him being one of their better forwards in the semi anyway.

He scored a goal against both Thurles and Oulart that were arguably the game winners. I think his tally was 1-1 and 1-2 respectively.
The loss of the that goal threat is the biggest one.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I'll go for a narrow St Thomas' on the basis that they are young, quick and play a very fluid brand of hurling that is easy on the eye. The big pitch and surface at Croke Park should suit them provided it doesn't lash rain on the day (that said they did beat renowned timber merchants Loughrea in a monsoon in the county final). Should have beaten Loughgiel the first day but were very impressive in dismantling them in the replay.

Haven't really seen enough of KK although I did see most of the game when they beat Thurles Sars and they were equally as impressive that day. Obviously the Currams injury is a big loss to them though but they aren't a one man team so I'd expect them to be very tough opponents.

[Milltown Row2]

I'll go for a narrow St Thomas' on the basis that they are young, quick and play a very fluid brand of hurling that is easy on the eye. The big pitch and surface at Croke Park should suit them provided it doesn't lash rain on the day (that said they did beat renowned timber merchants Loughrea in a monsoon in the county final). Should have beaten Loughgiel the first day but were very impressive in dismantling them in the replay.

Haven't really seen enough of KK although I did see most of the game when they beat Thurles Sars and they were equally as impressive that day. Obviously the Currams injury is a big loss to them though but they aren't a one man team so I'd expect them to be very tough opponents.

Think K-K have come through a tougher route, Loughgiel and St Thomas's have had relative easy passages to the semi finals, albeit the Galway championship would be slightly more competitive (and dirty ) than the Antrim championship, and the form leading up to the semi finals is different because of the break.

Been a while since a draw in the hurling finals, Dunloy V Birr? but with the All Ireland going to a draw you never know

[Croí na hÉireann]

4 days to the club finals. The big news for Kilcormac-Killoughey is that Daniel Currams broke his arm in a challenge match against Kilkenny U21s on Sunday. He'll be a loss, but hopefully not a critical one.
They have a couple of options on the bench, one of them being Trevor Fletcher who was a Tipperary minor a few years ago.

What has Currams scored so far do you know? Seem to remember him being one of their better forwards in the semi anyway.

He scored a goal against both Thurles and Oulart that were arguably the game winners. I think his tally was 1-1 and 1-2 respectively.
The loss of the that goal threat is the biggest one.

That's what I figured. Was leaning towards Thomas's before but will be backing them now. Hope it's a tight close one all the same, the club finals are a great day out.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I'll go for a narrow St Thomas' on the basis that they are young, quick and play a very fluid brand of hurling that is easy on the eye. The big pitch and surface at Croke Park should suit them provided it doesn't lash rain on the day (that said they did beat renowned timber merchants Loughrea in a monsoon in the county final). Should have beaten Loughgiel the first day but were very impressive in dismantling them in the replay.

Haven't really seen enough of KK although I did see most of the game when they beat Thurles Sars and they were equally as impressive that day. Obviously the Currams injury is a big loss to them though but they aren't a one man team so I'd expect them to be very tough opponents.

Think K-K have come through a tougher route, Loughgiel and St Thomas's have had relative easy passages to the semi finals, albeit the Galway championship would be slightly more competitive (and dirty ) than the Antrim championship

Just a bit.

[johnneycool]

This one is as even as you can call it, two pretty good teams who've impressed in different manners in their semi-finals.

St Thomas' have a good spread of hurlers to suppliment Conor Cooney and Richie Murray as the others have stepped up to the mark with scores when needed. Burly Bernard will take some stopping once he gets his gander up.

Kilcormac impressed me with their efficiency in turning over the uncrowned kings of club hurling, Thurles Sarsfields, ( © Premier emperor) in the semi-final. They done their homework, kept Paudie Maher out of the game as much as possible and snuffed out Lar. They've some big forwards who can win their own ball in the air, something Loughgeil struggled to do against St Thomas' in the semifinals. It'll be a good battle between Healion and Cooney if it transpires and may determine the outcome of the game.

The loss of Currams and the dry sod in Croke park may swing it St Thomas' way as they looked a quicker outfit, but you'd be a fool to write off the Offaly lads who seem to enjoy the underdogs tag.

[Milltown Row2]

Don't know either. Goals they say win games but St Thomas's can knock over a fair amount of points. Hard call, I'm going one to four points win either team 7/2

[AZOffaly]

Well done saint Thomas'. A lot of people will talk about the first red but to be honest I think KK will rue the fact that their half forward disappeared in the second half. The backs were heroic but better team won. Fair play to them and nice genuine speech by the captain.

[Asal Mor]

Well done St Thomases and hard luck to KK. It was so tight. Great future for this St Thomas team - Shane Cooney and Eanna Burke are still just minors and lots of u-21s too. Conor Cooney standing up and scoring those two points at the end bodes well for Galway hurling. He'll be back in Croke Park in the summer with Galway and we'll be hoping for a few more. Does anyone know what age Darragh Burke is?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Great win for the Tommies. Felt sorry for KK. Two red cards on an All-Ireland final day is tough to take but Thomas' deserved the win on the balance of play having scored 1-9 from play to KK's 1-1. First red in particular was very harsh. Don't think Thomas's played anywhere near as well as they can but it was a dirty day and the pitch was in a very poor state for hurling with both teams struggling at times to raise the ball on the cut up field. I'm sure the matches yesterday didn't do it any good.

Thought the ref was very poor to be honest. Even leaving aside any red cards he also missed a stonewall penalty for Thomas' in the second half.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Burke brothers celebrate.

[orangeman]

Well done to Thomas'. Hard luck to KK. Overall Thomas' were slightly the better side.


But if this is the sort of reffing that we're in for during the summers it'll be a card fest - from early in the game you just knew that the game wasn't going to finish 15 a side.

Ref did a good job of gettin noticed.He's a good ref but the 2 yellas were wrong.