Senior County Championships Round Robin Round-up
Thrills & spills all over the place. The three divisional winners didn’t qualify. What does that say about the divisions? Very competitive for clubs are focussing on County Round robins. Proof will be in the pudding in the prelims I suppose. It’s bumper time for the County board coffers though with three games they weren’t expecting.
It would take a brave man to predict the three winners confidently and more importantly put his money where his mouth is. Only Borrisoleigh & Thurles Sarsfields are finished for the year. The structure & paying public are the winners here. One criticism and it’s only very slight as we understand the complexities of trying to put fixtures in place on such a busy weekend, but there should’ve been an opportunity to attend one final round game from each group over the course of the two days. Anyway onto the action.
Group 1
The simple take from this is that nobody is out. All four incumbents have a chance at Dan Breen. Holycross/Ballycahill did their business early and could afford to rest players in round 3. Toomevara put in a powerful display to finally outlast foes Kiladanagan. The North & West winners both needing the back-up plan of a preliminary game to get the season back on track.
Clonoulty/Rossmore are in relegation if they get knocked out of the Championship. (We are split on this. The divisions need the prelim lifeline but at the same time a team finishing fourth in their group shouldn’t get another go. It’s also very unfair on the other teams in relegation. )
Rd. 3 results
Clonoulty/Rossmore 4-19 Holycross/Ballycahill 2-21
Toomevara 1-26 Kiladangan 1-13
1st – Holycross – 4pts +6 (Head to head for 1st)
2nd – Toomevara 4pts +21
3rd – Kiladangan 2pts -15 (North Champions)
4th – Clonoulty 0pts -12 (West Champions)
Group 2
The dreaded 3-way tie rules came into play here. Again we are not sure whether this is fair. Why should one game scores be discarded when all the games are played in a group? As it happens it was irrelevant in this group. Anyway Nenagh did Nenagh things and comprehensively beat Mullinahone. Thurles Sars beat Cashel but not by enough to secure second place.
They needed another point against Cashel in any scenario. They also can’t have been happy with (lack of) injury time played in this game. Sars are now finished for the year, a reset is needed, it’s not a rebuild as there are plenty of players but maybe some younger lads need to get more of a chance. Mullinahone go into relegation with only scoring 4-50 across the 3 games. It’s a poor return.
Rd.3 Results
Thurles Sars 0-25 Cashel KC 1-19
Nenagh EO 3-23 Mullinahone 2-11
1st – Nenagh Eire Og 4pts +18 (+3)
2nd – Cashel KC 4pts +5 (-1)
3rd – Thurles Sars 4pts +3 (-2)
4th – Mullinahone 0pts -26
Group 3
If only all groups were this easy :D. Loughmore/Castleiney with 3 from 3. The reigning County Champs are in a great position. Had the group wrapped up after round 2 and still went out and comprehensively won round 3.
Everyone plays everyday seems to be the motto. Drom/Inch got the better of mid champions JK Brackens and when you stand back and look at it only for McGrath magic in injury time would’ve finished level on points with the Loughmore crowd. We were guilty of writing them off, happy to be wrong.
Brackens have been in relative free-fall since the mid final win. A tough tough preliminary needed now too. With football commitments this weekend Shane Keegan has only 1 week to turn their fortunes around. Lorrha are up and down aren’t they.
Maybe they knew last weekend they were in relegation and played like it knowing the result meant nothing but we saw elsewhere that relegation bound teams went after a win to bolster them for the fight.
Rd. 3 Results
Loughmore/Castleiney 3-26 Lorrha/Dorrha 1-17
Drom/Inch 3-18 JK Brackens 1-17
1st – Loughmore/Castleiney 6pts +28
2nd – Drom/Inch 4pts +10
3rd – JK Brackens 2pts – 9
4th – Lorrha/Dorrha 0pts -29
Group 4
Moycarkey/Borris had their business done and played like it and no better team than Borris to take advantage. With top spot secure Moycarkey had both eyes on the quarter-finals. Borris put up a healthy 3-21 but with Kilruane winning the chance to come out of the group was gone.
The draw with Roscrea costly. Kilruane didn’t have it all their own way but will be a tough battle for anyone going forward. Injury concerns to Jerry Cahill & Craig Morgan though. Roscrea got a decent performance and will need to replicate that fighting spirit whenever the relegation battles occur.
Rd.3 Results
Borris-ileigh 3-21 Moycarkey/Borris 2-17
Kilruane McDonaghs 1-23 Roscrea 0-20
1st – Moycarkey/Borris 4pts +7
2nd – Kilruane McDonaghs 4pts +5
3rd – Borris-Ileigh 3pts +/-0
4th – Roscrea 1pt -12
Three teams needed preliminary quarter-finals and the draws were completed at a meeting of the CCC last Monday night.
Saturday Sep 20th at 4pm in Borris-Ileigh
JK Brackens v Toomevara
Sunday Sep 21st at 3.30pm in Boherlahan
Clonoulty/Rossmore v Drom/Inch
Sunday September 21st at 3.30pm in Nenagh
Kiladanagan v Kilruane McDonaghs
Quarter-finals Draw
Group winners – Holycross/Ballycahill, Nenagh EO, Moycarkey/Borris & Loughmore/Castleiney
Pot 2 – Cashel KC + winners of Preliminary Quarters.
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