Search
03 Apr 2026
Search
03 Apr 2026
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Belmont are in the SHC semi-finals while Ballinamere are in the quarter-finals
KILCORMAC-Killoughey and Belmont qualified for the semi-finals of the Offaly Senior Hurling Championship on Saturday evening with Birr taking their big winners take all tussle with Kinnitty to claim the final quarter-final place.
With five of the six qualifiers decided before the final round on Saturday evening, most interest centred on Rath where Birr and Kinnitty played to decide who the final team in the knockout stages would be.
There was plenty at stake in the other games where Kilcormac-Killoughey had a very important win over St Rynagh's and Belmont had an impressive win over Shinrone to top the groups and go straight into the semi-finals.
The quarter-final pairings are: St Rynagh's v Shinrone and Ballinamere v Birr. Coolderry beat Seir Kieran by 4-11 to 1-14 to avoid the relegation play off where the Clareen men face Clodiagh Gaels.
Birr finished strongly with the closing four points to beat a very brave Kinnitty by 1-14 to 0-12. K-K will be delighted with their 1-19 to 1-15 win over champions St Rynagh's. Having lost to them in the 2020 final and 2021 semi-final, they really needed a result over the Banagher club. The defeat raises questions about the form of four in a row seeking St Rynagh's who only drew with Kinnitty in their last game. They do, however, remain championship favourites.
In the other game, Belmont did very well to beat Shinrone by 3-18 to 2-14. With a semi-final place on offer for the winners, both sides went for this but Belmont built up a huge 2-16 to 1-7 half time lead and were able to hold off Shinrone's second half rally. The scale of the defeat also knocked Shinrone out of second spot in the group and into the more difficult quarter-final against St Rynagh's on scoring difference with Ballinamere. Shinrone and Ballinamere had drawn their game and their scoring difference was identical, +2 points but Ballinamere claimed second by virtue of having scored more – just three points more.
The quarter-finals will take place on September 3-4.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
