Laois Senior Hurling Championship 2016

[blueandwhite1]

Well now we know the final 2.

Ballinakill will be sick today. They were probably 10 points the better team but couldn't score. Converted about 20% of their chances . Felt for Jimmy Walsh, if he hadn't have thrown his hurl it would have went to extra time. They probably need another 3 or 4 scoring forwards to have a realistic shot at winning honours. Have to admire their relentless bravery though. Borris Kilcotton looked extremely flat and will have to be a different team in the final to have a chance. Huge talent but as is always said about them, they don't get the most out of it. Will suit them going into final as underdogs and won't be afraid of Rathdowney Errill who they beat last year in the championship.

The second game was a pit of intensity from start to end. Camross deserved their half time lead and Rathdowney Errill lived dangerously at times. When it mattered though, R/E went through the gears and made some important switches to shade the last 5-10 minutes of the game. Felt more like a county final than a semi. R/E had a lot of key players that didn't perform and will feel that they have to step up again in the final.

Decent crowd and 3 games for a tenner was good value. Pitch held up well despite all the games over the weekend and the rain.

[Unlaoised]

Decent games as right ...Thought the ref could have given Ballyfin a chance to get an equalizer or just blew it up when they equalized as time was up.

They gave castletown a better game than everyone expected.

Ballinakill threw the second game away with the wides they had but maybe its the monkey of borris's back to get that win in O'Moore park as they struggle to put their talent in to use in the county ground.

Rathdowney Errill will be hot favourites after their win again Camross in what was a higher intensity game than the first one.

The final will be interesting I think all the neutrals would love to see Borris win it.

[Tintin84]

Anyone see the intermediate games??

[burdizzo]

Ballacolla were good and skilful on the poor underfoot conditions, and their forwards didn't miss much, even if a couple of their goals were from defensive errors. One beauty of a point: the wing forward controlled a high ball on his hurl on the far sideline and, without taking it in his hand, just swung it over the bar. Their defence was a bit vulnerable when Clonad ran at them in the first half, but tightened up after half-time. It was a very impressive display from last year's junior champions, and Rosenalis wouldn't want to take them lightly. Still and all, they should beat them in the final. They had Camross beaten early on, and though Camross got a goal just before half-time, they were hardly able to score at all in the second half. They tried to drag Rosenalis down to their level, but it didn't really work.

On the senior semis - Ballinakill should have beaten Borris, and I was sorry they didn't. However, it was a poor game, and the Camross/ RE one wasn't a whole pile better, either. I hope Rathdowney-Errill win the final, because I think they'd make a better fist of it in Leinster.

[finbar o tool]

I dont get this "Ballinakill will be kicking themselves" or "Ballinakill threw it away" lark. They were both as bad as eachother, both missed a lot of chances, BK should have been out of sight at half time with the chances missed in the first half. Ballinakill have 1 player really and its just not good enough. Everything they do, open play, puck outs etc goes through Cha, and as good as he is he cant carry the team. They need more. BK have better hurlers all around but they just dont play as a team and waste a lot of ball. Few players on each team played well but over all the match was very poor.

The other semi wasnt great either but their was a slightly better quality to it as expected. That Camross team not as strong as the last few years and their dogged style can only get them so far without a few other quality players. The 2 best teams (in the semis) came through in fairness. Just.

Cant see RE being stopped from continuing their tradition of winning every 2nd year! They are strong defensively and i think that will win them the game, and have some very lively forwards that will do damage the other end. If they can keep King close to the goal he will win it for them. Unless as someone mentioned, the Ballinakill monkey is off BKs back and they can somehow kick on and get it together. Anything can happen on the day i suppose!

[Butcherboy1]

Glad to see to hurling teams in the final if bk turn up should be a good final hope they pick the right ref as we know there are very poor refs in the county John lalor being one of the best at least I think he will let the game flow he dose not seem to think he is the most important man on the field as some of the think they are

[Keyser Söze]

I happened to see all 5 games in OMP over the weekend.

Clough Ballacolla were impressive enough in beating Clonad, especially as the promoted team. But it is quite a weak championship.
Rosenallis are quite slick and in fairness they are pretty much a pure hurling team, in the mould of Declan Conroy, who seems to have put alot of time into the club in the past number of years.
I reckon they'd pull a senior team out of them in next few years if they sidelined football.
They are a very impressive club on and off the field. I don't think Ballacolla will be able for them.

Senior B- Castletown got their- just. Had a slice of fortune to get the win,but they were probably the better side. And, despite what I said last week, they are able to compete at Senior level going on the results of the last few years, and this years league.

Senor- Borris Kilcotton fell over the line. They had to beat Ballinakill eventually. I think it's harsh to say that Ballinakill have one hurler. James Walsh, Seamus Dwyer and Eamon Jackman are among the best hurlers in the county, albeit the wrong side of 30.
In Podge Lalor, John Walsh and Seán Downey they have fellas that would make any team in the county.
They are short in numbers, but make great use of what they have. It's also great to see how active they are at juvenile level. Unfortunately those players won't arrive in sufficient numbers quick enough to replace those who go in the next 4/5 years, but they are a fantastic club all the same.
Rathdowney Errill showed fantastic resilience. Not just in coming back from 3 down, but also in stopping Camross from getting 4 ahead on a couple of occasions. They are a brilliant hurling team and I think beating Camross (especially given the circumstances of the drawn match) will be a big lift.
Nevertheless the final s no more than 60/40 in favour of R/E. It will be a game of hurling and I think B/K will prefer to be playing R/E than Camross.

[The Rover]

Very impressed with Rosenallis, Camross tried every trick in the book to try and bring Rosenallis into a dog fight but Rosenallis played hurling right trough the game and did not allow Camross to drag them down. The Camross player that was red carded certainly deserved to be sent off the player in question was completely out hurled by John Lennon. the most sickining thing was the way a certain Camross mentor was clapping him in the back as he left the field. Thought the referee and his assistants were quiet good and especially the manor in which the referee let the play run.

[Goku]

County Final Next Weekend,

Rathdowney will surely be favorites and rightly so having looked far more impressive so far in this years Championship. Although B/K will still fancy there chances of an upset i cant see it happening.But they have got this far without performing well and may be due a big performance. They Will need a full fit PJ Scully firing as they found scores hard to come by the last day against Ballinakill with him clearly struggling. Neil Foyle not performing for them either this year. Ross King and Paddy Purcell have been excellent in this years championship and B/K will need to find a way to handle them if they are to compete. Hoping for an exciting Game.

[Ogie]

So does nobody give Borris Kilcotton a chance then?

[LOVEGAA]

So does nobody give Borris Kilcotton a chance then?

I wouldnt under estimate B/K . They havent played well yet but I would expect a dramatic improvement in them Sunday.

R/E wont have it all their own way but at the same time I think R/E have that little bit extra going for them.
The fact that most seem to think R/E will win will most certainly be in B/K's favour

[finbar o tool]

I think its a hard one to call all things considered.
RE will be favourites and rightly so. They've had a tougher route, they have players coming back in that were out injured, or at least 1 player anyway in Shane Dollard. On paper they are slightly stronger and in general they have been playing better hurling than BK. BK have not performed this year, they had the easier route to the final and still struggled. Missing Pj Scully and Stephen Phelan are 2 big loses. Especially Scully.
Then you can look at it a different way, getting to a county final without playing well can be a good thing, have they one big performance in them? Have RE burned a lot of energy getting past tougher opposition over the last 3 games they had? And, as weve seen before in sport, when a team has everything falling into place nicely for them and everyone expects a win from them, thats when things can go belly up! The 2013 final should be fresh in the mind for a lot of the BK players and they wont want to get caught in the headlights again. 2 teams that will try go out and play good attacking play will hopefully serve up a good match.
It will probably come down to individual performances like Ross King, Joe Fitz, Joe Campion, Neil Foyle and who can gain control around midfield.
Very hard to not go for RE to win though, its kind of theirs to lose.

[blueandwhite1]

So does nobody give Borris Kilcotton a chance then?

It's a final, of course they have a chance.

For R/E -
Tough route to final - C/B and Camross x 2.
Know how to win - 5 titles in 10 years.
Have shown great form in some of their games - played like champions
Some great hurlers

For B/K -
Hunger to win their first
Surprise element - not expected to win
Some great hurlers

[Unlaoised]

I hear that Pj Scully is defo out for Borris that is a massive blow to their chances but surely a few of there other promising hurlers can step up to the mark.

I'd love to see them win it but I just can't see it!

[Ogie]

On a side note the coverage of our local Gaa matches in the papers & radio is very poor, I've said it before about the championship launches & throughout the year, & now again with final build ups,
Looking at the Offaly final this week they've had press nights & analysis on the matches already, papers like the Tipp Star, Limerick Leader have pieces on each club, managers, players at the start of the year, & pull outs on the finals, & much more extensive coverage throughout the year.

Surely the likes of the Leinster & the Nationalist would increase their sales with coverage of all local matches, photographs etc from U12 upwards, Junior, Intermediate, Senior people locally would go and buy the paper, even if it's just a report & photgraph from one of the clubs PRO's.

I just can't understand how they don't put more effort in, it's not like the papers are full of much else.