Offaly Senior Hurling Championship heads towards knockout stages on predicted lines

THE Molloy Environmental Systems Senior Hurling Championship has proceeded almost exactly as expected and with one round remaining, five of the qualifiers from the two groups are known.

In group 1, Kilcormac-Killoughey, St Rynagh's and Birr are all safely through while Shinrone and Ballinamere have qualified out of group 2.

The top team in each group qualifies for the semi-final with second and third criss crossing in two quarter-finals. Kilcormac-Killoughey are in pole position to claim top spot in group one and a draw in their final game against Birr will be enough for them.

In group 2, the winners of Ballinamere and Shinrone in the final round will make the semi-finals. While reaching the semi-final is an attractive incentive, going the quarter-final route is far from a disaster for any team and has its benefits. The big issue to be decided in the fifth and final round is the final quarter-final place from group 2 where Coolderry and Belmont face into a winners' take all showdown that will not be for the faint hearted.

The relegation play off is between Kinnitty and Seir Kieran. Seir Kieran went into it on Saturday evening in Birr when Coolderry finally got a win, 1-22 to 1-12. With a gun to their head, Coolderry never looked like losing while it was a fourth consecutive defeat for Seir Kieran, who have now completed their group games.

Kinnitty joined them on Sunday when Tullamore got crucial late scores in a 3-16 to 2-14 win. This was a high stakes encounter with the losers going into the relegation play off and Tullamore were delighted to get their first win of the season. Kinnitty still have a game to go against St Rynagh's but a shock win there won't keep them out of the relegation play off.

Kilcormac-Killoughey had a deserved 1-17 to 0-15 win over St Rynagh's in a table topping clash on Saturday evening in Birr. It was a decent display by K-K who are now marginal championship favourites.

K-K play Birr in their final game and there is the possibility of scoring difference deciding who goes into the semi-finals. If Birr beat K-K and St Rynagh's beat Kinnitty, then K-K, St Rynagh's and Birr will tie on six points. Scoring difference will decide who advances if this happens and in this situation, it is only the scores in the games involving each other that will count. The qualifying rules in the event of ties have changed this year and the scores from the Tullamore and Kinnitty games will be discarded – the change of rules caught out Gracefield in the Senior “B” Football Championship as they ended up in the quarter-finals instead of the semis.

Ballinamere secured their knockout place with a very hard earned 1-20 to 1-12 win over Belmont in Tullamore on Sunday. It was a tough, disjointed game and Belmont missed the injured David Nally while David Cox, just on the field as a temporary sub, was red carded 10 minutes into the second half. The win was nowhere near as comfortable as the scoreline suggests as they were level going into injury time.

Ballinamere finished powerfully for a very important win. They are delighted to have secured qualification with a round to go and this was the type of game that they would possibly have lost last year. It wasn't their best ever performance but they showed character to win and no one will be taking them for granted.

So far, K-K, Shinrone, St Rynagh's and Ballinamere are the front runners for the Sean Robbins Cup. Birr have improving to do and while Belmont and Coolderry are capable of big performancs, they are outsiders at the moment.