Impressive second half display sees Kilcormac-Killoughey claim Division 1 Title

Two of the favourites for the Offaly Senior Hurling Championship provided an entertaining clash which saw Kilcormac-Killoughey deservedly emerge as winners of the  2023 Division 1 League Final, defeating St Rynagh's in St Brendan’s Park on Friday evening. 

Division 1 Hurling League Final

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-19

St Rynagh's 2-13

Terrific scores throughout the game from both St Rynagh's and Kilcormac-Killoughey summed things up for what was a real end-to-end affair between two teams with plenty of history. Conor Mahon and Aidan Treacy the main scorers on opposite ranks, with Treacy landing 1-8 and Mahon bagging 0-7 all coming from play. 

Conor Hernon had a positive display from wing back with two points from distance along with Stephen Wynne and Simon Og Lyons from a Rynagh's perspective, while Cathal Kilmartin, Damien Kilmartin and Jordan Quinn all equally impressed at the back for Shane Hand’s side. 

Despite having better use of possession, Kilcormac-Killoughey found themselves behind at the break albeit with the wind against them, as Rynagh's were deadly accurate in front of goal thanks to early goals from Jerome Flannery and Aidan Treacy. However, four well taken long range points from the excellent Cathal Kiely left the gap at just one coming into the break. 

An attempted clearance from Conor Clancy was blocked and flicked to the net instinctively by Ger Healion, to swing the game in KK’s favour as Rynagh's were unable to close the gap from that point. 

For Shane Hand’s men it offers great encouragement as they were without a large number of players due to inter-county commitments for both U20 and Senior. Liam Dunphy will not be too despondent as his side showed qualities across the pitch and might have achieved a draw had Aidan Treacy’s last minute 30 metre free not been saved on the goal line. 

Lochlann Kavanagh sent over the game's opening point which was followed up by two frees in succession from Aidan Treacy including one from inside his own half. Dylan Hand had a nice free to start things off, with Conor Mahon soon restoring KK’s lead with a run through the middle and his shot being tipped over by Clancy in the nets. 

St Rynagh's responded with a vengeance as Gary Conneely found himself on the end of a loose ball and powered through with his hand pass finding the hand of the oncoming Jerome Flannery and he fired it low into the net, before registering a point moments later to leave Rynagh's three in front in the early stages. 

Both sides began hitting a series of wides and it wasn’t until the 15th minute before the next score was added thanks to a goal from Aidan Treacy.  Simon Og Lyons laid the ball off to the full forward, he turned off his left hand side and his left was low and hard and in the net to extend Rynagh's lead to six halfway through the half. 

Cathal Kiely’s free on 17 minutes was KK’s first score since the 4th minute, and moments later Conor Mahon reduced the gap after some fine work from Daniel Hand to find him in space to tap over. Aidan Treacy responded with a score for Rynagh's.  Lochlann Kavanagh was on fire as his excellent use of the ball allowed him space to send the ball over from close range, with Cathal Kiely sending over two scores on the bounce after some build up play. 

Cathal Kiely was on fire as he sent over two more points in a row with one from long range followed shortly afterwards by a free, to make it four in a row from a KK perspective. Conor Hernon and Conor Mahon exchanged the final two scores of the half to leave it all to play for in the second with the score at 2-06 to 0-11 in favour of Liam Dunphy’s men. 

The second period started like a house on fire, with three points within the opening two minutes of the restart, Joseph O’Connor opened proceedings straight from throw in, but KK soon found their groove as did veteran Conor Mahon. The centre forward was constantly finding himself in space and added three points in a row to bring his tally to 0-06 for the evening after just 34 minutes and all from play. 

James Kilmartin made it a two point difference, before Conor Clancy’s attempted clearance was blocked down expertly by full forward Ger Healion before tapping it into an empty net to make it a five point margin with 20 left to play. 

It took until the 43rd minute for St Rynagh's to register their second score of the half with a close range free from Treacy, and moments Conor Hernon brought it back to just a three point game with a score from distance moments after substitute Luke O’Connor’s effort at goal was saved by Conor Slevin. 

One of the stars of last year’s Offaly Minor Hurling team Daniel Hand got off the mark with a fine score from out near the sideline, before a 65 from Aidan Treacy reduced the deficit to just three with eight minutes remaining on the clock. 

Rynagh's were beginning to waste their given opportunities both from play and placed balls, while KK were starting to pull further away as two consecutive scores from Karl Guinan and another from Conor Mahon extended their lead to five, moments before Luke O’Connor’s excellent score while being pressured brought it back to four with four left. 

The next few minutes both sides competed strongly and fairly for possession in a game which referee Adam Kinahan had little by incident to deal with. Aidan Treacy added two frees with Kiely adding an extra one to leave it at three in it coming into stoppage time. Rynagh's did have one last opportunity to level the game and bring it to extra time but Aidan Treacy’s last minute free was blocked by a flurry of KK defenders before Adam Kinahan blew his whistle with Kilcormac-Killoughey winning out by 1-19 to 2-13 to be crowned League Champions for 2023.    

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Conor Mahon (Kilcormac-Killoughey): Certain players had reason to be happy with their displays but Conor Mahon stood out with a total of 0-07 all coming from play. His movement, shooting and all round game was top class 

THE SCORERS

Kilcormac-Killoughey: Conor Mahon 0-7, Cathal Kiely 0-6 (3frees); Ger Healion 1-0, Lochlann Kavanagh 0-2, Karl Guinan, James Kilmartin, Daniel Hand and Dylan Hand (1free) 0-1 each

St Rynagh's: Aidan Treacy 1-8 (4frees, 1 65’); Jerome Flannery 1-1; Conor Hernon 0-2; Joseph O’Connor and Luke O’Connor 0-01 each

THE TEAMS

Kilcormac-Killoughey: Conor Slevin, Cathal Kilmartin, Oisin Mahon, Alan Spain, Tom Spain, Damien Kilmartin, Jordan Quinn, Killian Leonard, Cathal Kiely, Dylan Hand, Conor Mahon, Shane Guinan, Lochlann Kavanagh, Ger Healion, Daniel Hand. Subs - James Kilmartin for Killian Leonard (Half Time); Dan Currams for Dylan Hand ( Half Time); Karl Guinan for Shane Guinan (Half Time); James Gorman for Daniel Hand (58m).

St Rynagh's: Conor Clancy, Kelan Rigney, Stephen Wynne, Dominic Healy, Michael Mc Loughlin, Simon Og Lyons, Conor Hernon, Joseph O’Connor, Pat Camon, Fergal Hanamy, Jerome Flannery, Gary Conneely, Evan Houlihan, Aidan Treacy, Eoin Woods. Subs – Luke O’Connor for Eoin Woods (40m); Sean Finneran for Fergal Hanamy (48m);  Brian Rigney for Michael Mac Loughlin (62m). 

Referee – Adam Kinahan (Clodiagh Gaels).

REFEREE WATCH

Adam Kinahan refereed the game very well. Controlled it professionally and allowed the game to flow without any major decisions going against either side. It wasn’t a dirty game which made things easier for him. 

VENUE WATCH

St Brendan’s Park in Birr was in excellent conditions ahead of the throw-in. On a beautiful evening for hurling, the pitch was splendid and is credited to the groundsmen in Birr for all their hard work to facilitate the final. A light breeze on what a real summer day. 

WHAT'S NEXT

The League campaign is now finished for both teams. 

STATISTICS

Wides: St Rynaghs – 16 ( 10 in first half, 6 in 2nd half); Kilcormac-Killoughey – 16 (8 in first half, 8 in 2nd half).

Yellow cards: St Rynaghs –  Aidan Treacy (1) Kilcormac-Killoughey – (0 ).

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: 0