I was at the Ballinkillen v Mount Leinster Rangers match this evening. Finished in a draw, Ballinkillen 1-17 Rangers 0-20. Ballinkillen probably should have won it.
Rangers drew with St Mullins last week so still have a bit of work to do. Ballinkillen hurled well tonight. By all accounts that I heard, they were poor in losing to Myshall in Round 1 last week.
A pity Ballinkillen didn’t win it to really throw the cat among the pigeons. They looked to be on the brink having lost to Myshall last weekend.
Travis is dropping a ball of cash into the club. Some windfall to get all the same and a nice way to remember the Fitzs.
The Dublin SHC kicks off next week. I’ll start here with a general preview and as the weeks go by i’ll try preview and review each round.
The championship was restructured a two years ago getting rid of a lot of deadwood. It is now a 10 team championship based off two groups of 5 who play a round robin league. The top team in each group gets to the semi final, 2nd and 3rd qualify for quarter finals where they play the corresponding teams in the other group. 4th and 5th place teams are into relegation play offs playing the corresponding teams from the other group with two teams going down. Two teams down is cut throat enough and personally I’d change it to 1.
Group 1:
This is by far the tougher group as it contains 4 teams that made the knockout stages last year as well as 4 of the top 5 teams in the overall betting.
Na Fianna are reigning champions after their maiden win in 2023. They had been beaten finalists in the two years preceding that. Last years win was all the more impressive considering it was done without their talisman Donal Burke who missed it with a long term injury. They were unlucky not to win a Leinster final. Sean Currie after a few years of solid club form has now established himself on the county team. They are down a few bodies from last year due to long term injury, emigration, retirement and football. They will have a very good 15 when all players are fit, but panel depth may be an issue.
Kilmacud Crokes are definitely a club who do not have issues with panel depth. They had 9 players on a Dublin senior panel, they had 4 of the best Dublin under 20s and another scatter of very good club hurlers like Oisin O Rourke and Cian McGabhann who were previously on senior panels. I’d wager they 23/24 of their gameday 26 will have played at least under 20/21 for Dublin. They won the league this year undefeated which underlines their depth. However for all the talent they have produced, they have yet to deliver a top end IC player like a Sutcliffe, Burke or O’ Donnell. David Purcell is someone who might fill that gap in time. An exciting prospect who is just 18 this year. They definitely have the talent and age profile to challenge for an AI club in the next 5 years, whether this is the year to do so, who knows.
Lucan will be looking to build on a good year in 2023. They won their group but then had a 6 week break after winning the group and never got going in their semi final. Charlie Carter is over them again this year and they will also be buoyed by the returned Chris Crummy who was away for travelling for a lot of championship last year. Lucan have been doing well at underage and are competing well with Crokes there so there is plenty young talent to come into the team. Johnny McCaffrey has seemingly retired but may yet return. In Ben Coffey they have a very under rated player who in my opinion should be playing for Dublin.
Cuala are a now a long way removed from their halcyon days of winning AI club titles. They limped out of the quarter finals last year with a poor display. There are now only three players from those AI teams playing. They lost to Ballybodens “B” team in the league which was a worrying result. Sean Brennan in goals, Jake Malone and Colm Cronin. It remains to be seen if Darragh O’ Connell or Sean Moran will return for championship. Neither played league. The great unknown is King Con. He only played in the QF last year after the club footballers were eliminated. He was understandably rusty that day. The Dublin senior footballers early exit may allow him to pursue both codes at club this year. If so he brings a totally different dynamic and his goalscoring ability.
St Brigids stayed up last year in a relegation decider. Former Dublin player Michael Carton is involved with them this year. The loss of Dublin forward Cian O Sullivan with a long term injury blunts their attack. Eoghan Dunne is another talented forward who has stepped away. Paul Winters will be looked on to lead the attack. They will have last years player/manager Alan Nolan in goals while Dublin exile Andy Dunphy will be their main man at the back.
Group 2.
This is by far the easier group. It contains two teams from the knockout stages last year, a relegation survivor and the two teams promoted from senior B in 2023.
Ballyboden St Endas were last years beaten finalists. They were relying on a lot of old hall of famers to get them over the line that day. Word is Shane Durkin and Conal Keaney have retired. Former Naomh Eanna player Eddie Kinsella has taken over this year. He was part of the Boden teams in the mid 00s that won finals. He moved up then with Malachy Travers. They have St Rynaghs player Aiden Tracey coaching them. They have also added David Gleeson from Tipp. He won AI minor and 20 titles with Liam Cahill. They’ve also added a forward from Sarsfields in Cork called Ronan Twomey. Theyshould add a little bustle to their forwards. They"ll still rely on the old guard of Lambert, McMorrow and Ryan. That being said they did have a starter on the Dublin 20s for the first time in 3/4 years so there may be some young blood coming through.
St Vincents were the width of a post from getting to the final last year. Pat Gilroy is back in charge this year again. They have a doughty honest set of hard working backs. The class in the team comes from midfield up with Conor Burke, Tomo Connolly, John Hetherton and Darach McBride. However executing scoring opportunities was their downfall last year where the shoot on sight policy didn’t work. Rian McBride and Mark O Farrell are away and remains to be seen if they will return for championship. They should have enough to progress from the group.
Whitehall survived at senior A last year courtesy of a relegation playoff. They got rid of Shane “Stapo” Stapleton as manager before that game and overcame the odds to stay up. Eoghan O’ Donnell is their main man. He played a lot of last year in the full forward line and was the top scorer from play in the championship. They would be further strengthened if Cormac Costello and Lee Gannon committed to play. Neither did last year. Playing in Divison 2 and finishing mid table there does nothing to raise fear in their supporting cast. Daire Grey is their other mainstay. Eddie Moran, son of Dublin 95 AI winner Paddy is also on the Dublin hurling panel. They"ll be looking to come 3rd in this group and escape the relegation playoffs.
Craobh Chiarain are back up senior A after a one year hiatus after securing the Senior B title last year. They’ve had a horrid year so far. They were relegated in the league. They have lost two of their better young players to Australia in Conor Ryan and Paul Kelly. Their new outside manager/coach Niall Tyrrell (brother of Jackie) quit 6 weeks ago and as of a few days ago were still looking for a replacement. They have also lost a young prospect Conor Newton who started for the Dublin 20s to a controversial transfer. However write them off a your peril. They will fancy their chances of coming 3rd here. Kevin Hetherton is back from abroad and will end up marking his brother in the group.
St Judes are promoted after losing the senior B final to Craobh last year. They were also just promoted from divison 2 of the league. Danny Sutcliffe is the main man and everything goes through him. Dublin minor manager Martin Barry was over them last year. I don’t know if he is this year. They are in rebuild mode with a lot of young players under 21. Callum Graham possibly the most promising one. They’ll still look to the McManus brothers at either end of the pitch for leadership.
Impressive preview 
With Costello & Gannon fully committed, would Whitehall be actual contenders rather than struggling to survive? Or are they a bit off that regardless?
I’d have said they were two of the standout underage hurlers in the country at their age grade (obviously a while since Costello).
If the two lads committed, yes then they could take a scalp. However I couldn’t see them contending. There is a big drop off between the names mentioned and their supporting cast. Their supporting cast managed mid table in Div 2 in the league which is poor. They are also hamstrung by the fact they are a real dual club. Lots of their hurlers would be starters on their football team. That’s a real heavy load on lads when its football/hurling every second week.
Martin, not with Judes this year.
Wexford senior hurling championship starting this weekend. A change in structure this year as they implement the Kilkenny league style system in place of the previous 4 qualifying from groups of 6 format. The logic behind this was to ensure an extra week of hurling in the calendar, although it now means that the championship will be less cut throat in the initial group stages. The football structure remains as it was. Split season/clay court system gone as well in favour of the traditional 2 weeks on/off for both codes. Top two go directly into the quarter-finals, 3rd meets 4th from the other group in a preliminary quarter, as do 5th and 6th. Crucially the teams in 3rd and 4th are absolved of any relegation fears.
There may be question marks surrounding the quality of the Wexford senior representatives in Leinster recently but the championship itself is very open with Shels, Gorey, St Martin’s, Rapps and Ferns all winning titles since Oulart were dethroned by a young St Martins team back in 2017. St Anne’s appeared in a couple of finals in 2019 and 21’ during that period as well and we had the emergence of Oylegate last year under the tutelage of Dessie Mythen.
Group A contains Oulart, The Anne’s, Gorey, Glynn-Barntown, Crossabeg-Ballymurn and Ferns. Friend of the forum Ed Rowesome is backing Gorey and St Anne’s to prevail in the top two spots and go directly to the quarters. Ferns would be strong candidates too under the management of Pat Bennett but are without centre-back Eoin Murphy and forward Diarmuid Doyle. Oisin and Paudie Foley are expected back for Crossabeg which will be a huge boost to their chances. Oulart were minor hurling champions last year and have a good crop coming. Simon Roche one to keep an eye on. They’re coached by Wexford camogie boss Colin Sunderland. Crucially though both Kevin Sheridan and Murtha Doyle are abroad and Shaun Murphy is an injury doubt.
Meanwhile Group B is composed of Shels, Harriers, Martin’s, Rapps, Oylegate and newly promoted Cloughbawn. If I had to pick a relegation candidate then it probably would be Cloughbawn who will be without former Wexford footballer Colm Kehoe for the early stages. Martin’s as ever have the personnel to win the championship but haven’t managed to do so since 2019. Apparently Willie Cleary is on their coaching ticket with Daithi Hayes this year. It’ll be very interesting to see how things unfold for Richie Power over Shels. They’ll begin the championship without free-taker Ross Banville who’s injured but as long as he’s back for the knockout stages in October then they’ll be fine. Very hard to choose positions in this group. Rapps may struggle in the early stages without Liam Ryan though. JJ Doyle begins his tenure with the Harriers. A very interesting appointment as they look to eke more out of that group who won at underage the whole way up. 2016 Féile champions like Richie Lawlor, Josh Shiel and Kyle Scallan.
The Intermediate follows the same format with Group A containing Rathnure, Tara Rocks, Askamore, Fethard, Bunclody and Horeswood. Both Fethard and Bunclody would be perennial contenders but have been weakened by lads travelling. Fethard were relegated from senior in 2021. Rathnure look the strongest in this group, former Wexford hurler Declan “Skippy” Ruth is in his maiden season in charge there following their first demotion from senior since 1940. Horeswood would’ve been one of the beneficiaries of the split season as they rose through the hurling ranks. They have a real starlet in Conor Foley to call upon following his steady showings for the Wexford seniors in the past two years.
The other group contains Buffers Alley, Gusserane, St James’, Blackwater, Craanford and Taghmon-Camross. Interestingly newly promoted Craanford beat Bunclody in a Div 3 league final recently and came closest to Tullogher-Rosbercon in the Leinster/All-Ireland junior grade last season. Buffers Alley won an U19 A title in 2022 and appeared in the U21 final against Faythe Harriers last year so there’s reason for optimism around Kilmuckridge again. Former Wexford defender Ciaran Kenny is an injury doubt for the early rounds at least.
You’d expect last years beaten finalists Rathgarogue-Cushinstown to be favourites for the Intermediate A grade. Although the improving Davidstown-Courtnacuddy looked impressive when dismantling the Duffry Rovers in a league final last week. Liam Mellows have been knocking on the door in Intermediate A for a few years now and are bolstered by the return of Colin Kennedy. Adamstown, Ballygarrett, Monageer and possibly Geraldine O’ Hanrahans the other contenders.
who is Dermot Moran? Do you mean Paddy Moran?
Has to be Paddy “the Ram” Moran .
Sorry my bad.
Depends what you mean by committed I suppose. I’ve seen Costelloe hurl three times in the championship over the years for Whitehall and he was pretty ineffective in all three.
Kerry hurling
Senior Championship 1/4 Final Draw
Kilmoyley v Causeway
Ballyduff v Lixnaw
Ballyheigue v Crotta
Abbeydorney v St Brendans
To be played next weekend
Kilmoyley Causeway the stand out fixture. One big gun at least will be gone. Ballyduff motoring well
Round 3 of the JJ Kavanagh Senior Hurling Championship
St Mullins 3-23 Myshall 0-19
Ballinkillen 1-17 Bagenalstown 1-14
I only made it in for the last few minutes of the St Mullins match. Events in Düsseldorf delayed me. I knew St Mullins would win handily anyway.
Bagenalstown have been talked up all year as dark horses, all the more so after winning the league. Ballinkillen could be the ones to watch as dark horses though. They’re really going well now under new management and were very impressive tonight.
Sean ‘Choo Choo’ Murphy is back in the fold now and was causing havoc tonight. They have a few good young players after coming in as well.
St Mullins 2 3pts
Ballinkillen 3 3pts
ML Rangers 2 2pts
Bagenalstown 2 2pts
Myshall 3 2pts
Round 4
Ballinkillen v St Mullins
Bagenalstown v Mount Leinster Rangers
Bye Myshall
Round 5
Bagenalstown v St Mullins
Myshall v Mount Leinster Rangers
Bye Ballinkillen
That’s a terrible result for Myshall. They probably felt they were safe enough after beating Ballinkillen on the opening weekend but that result tonight changes the whole dynamic. They now need to get a result against Rangers which seems unlikely. Rangers themselves are under a little bit of pressure to avoid defeat there. There’d be no love lost between those two. Myshall had 3 sent off against them back around 2015. Interesting enough sequence of events considering the 4 from 5 format seemed like it would be devoid of drama.
Ballinkillen v St Mullins could be lively next week. Ballinkillen should have beaten them in semi final two years ago, losing out controversially by 1 point. Ballinkillen weren’t going well last year though and when the semi final against St Mullins was getting away from them, they lowered the blade in a big way and had 4 sent off.
Week one of the Wexford club hurling championships took place over the weekend. The program for games from Senior, Intermediate, Intermediate A, Junior and Junior A is listed above. I wouldn’t read too much into it though as there will be changes on most teams throughout and some lads who will feature later weren’t even listed this weekend. A little bit of shadow boxing early doors with this new format.
Going through the results in senior. St Anne’s started with a resounding 1-26 to 0-15 victory against Oulart, Dave Redmond managing against his former club. Liam Rochford with the Anne’s goal. Tellingly Oulart were depleted due to a combination of injuries and holidays. Naomh Éanna dished out a beating to a young Glynn-Barntown team who were severely lacking scores from play from forwards(2-20 to 0-11). The other game in Group A saw Ferns prevail comfortably against Crossabeg-Ballymurn by 2-23 to 2-10. Paudie Foley not back until later in the campaign for Crossabeg. The promising Corey Byrne-Dunbar with two first-half goals for the 2022 champions.
In Group B Shels got the better of Faythe Harriers 4-11 to 1-16 on the opening night in rain soaked Wexford Park. Wexford midfielder Conor Hearne with a brace of goals for the victors as they recovered from a 5 point deficit. St Martin’s ousted Cloughbawn (1-18 to 0-14) and Oylegate had 3 goals to spare against the Rapps. Rory O’ Connor scoring a mammoth 1-15 for the Martin’s as they eventually pulled away from Cloughbawn in the final quarter. 0-12 of that tally came from frees as he assumed that role in he absence of big Joe Coleman. The margin of victory in the Oylegate v Rapps game was misleading as the Enniscorthy town team played most of the second-half with 14 men and only trailed by 2 points late on before two quick-fire goals.
Moving on to intermediate, Rathnure sent out an early statement of intent with a resounding 2-20 to 0-5 victory against a depleted Tara Rocks team. They only listed 19 players on the panel. Askamore were surprisingly convincing winners against Fethard (4-21 to 2-16). Although Fethard did finish with 13 men following two late dismissals, the inter-county experience for Tucker Kinsella and James Byrne this year obviously helping the Askamore cause. Also in that group, Bunclody racked up 5-24 against Horeswood despite the absence of Aidan Nolan through injury.
In Group B of the intermediate Craanford secured an impressive 2-18 to 0-16 victory against 2022 finalists Taghmon-Camross. Ian Carty a big absentee for Taghmon. Meanwhile Buffers Alley hammered a weakened Gusserane 4-30 to 0-14 and St James’ beat a disappointing Blackwater 1-21 to 1-7. You’d wonder how much you can read into these early results when nobody is eliminated in the groups.
In the Intermediate A championship there was a 1-12 apiece draw between Adamstown and Davidstown-Courtnacuddy. Cushinstown were 8 point winners against Clongeen and Monageer edged out Shels 2nd team by 3 points. Liam Mellows will be strong contenders and the Castletown men hammered Ballygarret by 5-14 to 2-4. Geraldine O’ Hanrahans beat St Martin’s second string by 4-18 to 0-20.
