The Man Behind the Wire - Offaly Senior Hurling Championship Team of the Year

LOOKING back on it now, Kilcormac-Killoughey's dominance of the Offaly Senior Hurling Championship in 2023 was considerably more pronounced than we realised in real time. They produced a truly memorable performance as they destroyed champions, Shinrone by 3-26 to 3-8 in the final a few weeks ago

Kilcormac-Killoughey's win was not a surprise, even though a lot of people were predicting that Shinrone would retain their title – I spoke to a former Offaly hurler a couple of nights before the final and he was genuinely surprised at the volume of people expecting Shinrone to win: stating that almost everyone he was speaking with were going with the holders and wondering was he reading it all wrong as he confidently predicted a K-K win.

From early in the championship, some observers were stating that it was Kilcormac-Killoughey's to lose and they were proven right. The reason for such doubt about them was their second half implosion in the county final against Shinrone in 2022 but this year, they never put a foot wrong.

The draw was kind to them as they were drawn in the weaker group and then got the two weakest teams first, Kinnitty and Tullamore. They cruised to wins in these and this removed qualification for the knockout stages as a problem very early in the day. They then set their sights on topping the group and qualifying direct for the semi-finals, achieving this with wins over St Rynagh's and Birr.

Their toughest game of the year was provided by St Rynagh's in the semi-final but they powered home in the closing quarter. They kept the best wine to last with a sensational display of non stop, high intensity hurling to leave Shinrone shellshocked – K-K were always capable of winning the final but the extent of their dominance, the sheer relentlessness of their hurling was a surprise.

While people often moan about the standard of Offaly hurling, picking a Senior Hurling Championship team of the year was no easy task. As in football, it is based purely on displays in the club campaign and the county team is not considered at all.

There were some very tough calls on some positions – positions where outstanding performers lost out purely because of the excellence of someone else. There were positions where there were three or even four genuine contenders, others where there was a smaller pool to choose for. There were a handful of players who were automatic choices and this is very much a personal selection – what appeals to me in a player may not be appreciated or could even be seen as a flaw by someone else.

It is always hard to pick a team of this nature. For example, do you leave a player off because of one bad day at the office and if this bad day is in a big knockout game, does it count for more than in a league game – ultimately it has to as championship is all about performing when the stakes are at their highest but there is also a very human nature to sport and there can be all sort of reasons, some of them not known publicly, about why a player can have an off day.

There were conundrums when it came to selection and the greatest one was caused by Ballinamere who did very well to emerge as title contenders, qualifying from the hardest group in top place but then floundering badly in the second half of their semi-final defeat by Shinrone. Ballinamere have a handful of the best hurlers in Offaly and it would be very possible for them to have five players on this team – Ciaran Burke, Sam and Dan Bourke, Ross Ravenhill and Brian Duignan. Ultimately, however, they didn't make the final and five would be too many, no matter who hard it is to leave off some of those fine young players.

TAP ON THE ARROWS ABOVE OR NEXT BELOW TO GO THROUGH THE FULL TEAM

1 – Goalkeeper: Conor Slevin (Kilcormac-Killoughey)

Conor Slevin is a fairly straightforward selection. He was almost flawless between the posts for Kilcormac-Killoughey and the accuracy of his puckouts and clearances was a huge asset to them.