Rejuvenated St Rynagh's cruise back to knockout hurling

AGAINST Birr, they exploited glaring vulnerability in their opponents’ full-back line to pick up a win, and then they narrowly edged out Coolderry in a contest where both sides had spells of real dominance.

Molloy Environmental Systems Offaly Senior Hurling Championship Group 1 Round 3

St Rynagh's 2-24

Kinnitty 0-19

There were no caveats or asterisks about this win for St. Rynagh’s, which was undoubtedly the best performance they’ve produced since their run to the 2024 county semi-final, and potentially on a par with anything they’ve produced since they were the holders of the Seán Robbins Cup.

On paper, it would be easy to rebut and say that Kinnitty have won one championship match in each of the last four seasons, but there was a lot to like about the way that the Slieve Bloom men went about their business here, and after 22 minutes, if you didn’t know which side was which, it would have been impossible to tell who were the favourites. Paddy Rigney and Paddy Delaney were solid along the centre of the defence, Cathal Robinson was energetic and effective in the middle and Noel Standish was quietly proving that he is well able to hold his own in his first year of adult hurling.

The score stood at 1-7 to 0-9; then Eoin Woods pointed two frees, one punishing a mental error from Noel Standish and the other a harsh call against Conor Hardiman, followed by James Dempsey failing to hold a ball and Shane Rigney using the possession to fire over a typically mercurial score.

With two minutes to go to half-time St. Rynagh’s produced a wonderful attack that saw Stephen Quirke and Aaron Molloy combine to set up Eoin Woods for a clever, batted finish underneath Niall Corrigan. Darragh Scully added another on the run, and a game that was in the melting pot for most of the first half was all but done by the turnaround.

Kinnitty pointed frees either side of half-time, but they need to take a bite rather than a nibble out of St. Rynagh’s lead, and the energy required to try and fight back against St. Rynagh’s relentlessly positive and purposeful deliveries into an effervescent full-forward line was depleting their ability to create good chances at the other end. Stephen Quirke and Evan Houlihan struck inspirational points from range for the blue and gold, and while there were moments of real class from the underdogs, not least Paddy Delaney’s pass to set up a Cathal Robinson point and Conor Hardiman’s score on the run, by now the mountain men were in the vice, and Rynagh’s kept turning the lever.

Luke O’Connor showed a little bit of ring rust from his Summer on the other side of the Atlantic as he put a couple of balls astray, and the truly top-drawer scores didn’t flow as quickly, but with the win safely secured and all eyes on a tilt at Kilcormac-Killoughey, getting minutes into the midfielder and generally stepping back into third gear made sense.

After all, the frenetic, high-quality start proved everything we needed to know about how good St. Rynagh’s could be when they had to.

Kinnitty arrived into the game with intensity and fire and with five minutes played, they had three points on the board. Aodán Kealey got them off the mark, Paddy Delaney split the posts from his own 65m line, and they were asking questions of the St. Rynagh’s defence, albeit Ben Conneely and Dominc Healy came up with the answers when needed.

Paddy Dooley had got the better of Aaron Molloy on each of the first three contests for possession in that corner, but then a laser-like delivery from Pat Camon into Molloy’s hand undid all Dooley’s good work.

Once the attacker got out of the tackle with a spin move, he was through on goal and he duly rifled the ball past Niall Corrigan. Quirke and Camon pointed to make it 1-5 to 0-5, but Kinnitty kept coming. Brian Coughlan added his name to the list of long-range scorers, Noel Standish intercepted an uncharacteristic stray handpass from Ben Conneely, and they were still right there.

Against the Rynagh’s team of 2025, that probably would have been enough to keep them in it right until the end – but the Banagher club are in a very different place 12 months on, and they were about to show it with an explosive and impressive surge towards half-time.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Stephen Quirke (St. Rynagh’s): Not a lot to call between two veterans, but Quirke edges out Pat Camon on the basis of his relentless energy and endeavour in the middle third of the field, and the quality of his deliveries under pressure. Camon had some sublime moments, not least his pass for Aaron Molloy’s goal, but if anything he loses out because he didn’t need to be as relentless over the hour.

Molloy and Darragh Scully were lively and sharp, Evan Houlihan is the battery that powers the forward line and further back down the field Ben Conneely, Garry Conneely and Dominic Healy will all be very content with their hour’s work.

Paddy Dooley didn’t deserve to concede 1-2 after turning over four of the first five balls that were sent into his corner, while Conor Hardiman, Paddy Delaney, Cathal Robinson and Noel Standish will all feel that they are carrying good form into the Birr game.

THE SCORERS

St. Rynagh’s: Eoin Woods 1-9 (0-7f, 0-1 65), Aaron Molloy 1-2, Darragh Scully 0-4, Shane Rigney 0-4, Stephen Quirke 0-3, Evan Houlihan 0-1, Pat Camon 0-1.

Kinnitty: James Dempsey 0-6f, Noel Standish 0-4 (0-1f), Cathal Robinson 0-3, Adam Carroll 0-2, Paddy Delaney 0-1, Aodán Kealey 0-1, Brian Coughlan 0-1, Conor Hardiman 0-1.

THE TEAMS

ST. RYNAGH’S: Conor Clancy; Daire Daly, Ben Conneely, Dominic Healy; Ciarán Daly, Pat Camon, Garry Conneely; Stephen Quirke, Ronan Hughes; Shane Rigney, Evan Houlihan, Eoin Woods; Aaron Molloy, Jerome Flannery, Darragh Scully.

Subs: Luke O’Connor for Hughes, 41mins; Matthew Maloney for Flannery, 46mins; Eric Rigney for D Daly, 46mins; Paul Cannon for C Daly, 52mins; Niall Flannery for Scully, 57mins.

KINNITTY: Niall Corrigan; Michael Dooley, Paddy Rigney, Paddy Dooley; Brian Coughlan, Paddy Delaney, Conor Hardiman; Cathal Robinson, Danny Flanagan; Ruairc Fay, James Dempsey, Aodán Kealey; Adam Carroll, William Molloy, Noel Standish.

Sub: Odhrán Kealey for Fay, half-time; Thomas Leahy for Carroll, 52mins; Jason Armstrong for Molloy 52 mins.

Referee – David McLoughlin (Shinrone).

REFEREE WATCH

If you really wanted to nitpick, Conor Hardiman was desperately unlucky to be pinged for a chop down on Shane Rigney late in the first half when it looked as if the Kinnitty captain made an immaculate play on the sliotar to dispossess the Offaly forward.

At the time, with the score finely poised at 1-8 to 0-9, it felt significant. By the end it wasn’t, and there was no other instance where it would be possible to fault David McLoughlin, which speaks volumes for the performance of the Shinrone official.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

St. Rynagh’s second point came from an aimless clearance from Michael Dooley, and that contrasted sharply with the accuracy with which Pat Camon snapped the ball right back into Shane Rigney’s hand. From 60 metres out, Rigney was entitled to go for his score but he could see that Darragh Scully was out in front so he put the ball on a plate for his inside forward, who duly split the posts. The purpose and precision was what made St. Rynagh’s so impressive in this game.

VENUE WATCH

St. Brendan’s Park still had a nice covering of green grass despite the recent conditions and played fast and true, enabling a lively championship outing. A nice crowd came out to take in their recommended daily dose of Vitamin D, as well as an attractive double bill of matches.

WHAT'S NEXT

Both teams will be back in St. Brendan’s Park on Sunday week (August 23rd) for another double header. St. Rynagh’s will bring their round robin campaign to an end with a game against Kilcormac-Killoughey, knowing that a win or draw will guarantee top spot.

Kinnitty will take on Birr, and because of results elsewhere, two wins can still force them back into contention for knockout hurling.

STATISTICS

Wides: Kinnitty – 14 (8 in first half); St. Rynagh’s – 9 (5 in first half).

Yellow cards: St. Rynagh’s – 0; Kinnitty – 1 (Cathal Robinson, 49mins).

Red cards: St. Rynagh’s – 0; Kinnitty – 0.