Shamrocks book knockout place with routine win over struggling Birr

WITH Birr struggling for numbers, operating off a very small panel in this grade, Shamrocks booked their place in the knockout stages of the Offaly Intermediate Hurling Championship with a win that was every bit as easy as the 2-25 to 0-7 final scoreline suggests.

Molloy Environmental Systems Intermediate Hurling Championship Group 1 Round 2

Shamrocks 2-25

Birr 0-7

The game was a non event and while Shamrocks will be pleased with the way they performed and the hunger and intensity levels they achieved, this win was of limited benefit to them, other than it means the pressure of qualifying out of this group is off with a round to spare.

The championship favourites, Shamrocks are moving well but have not learnt a huge amount from their opening two wins. They also beat Ballinamere easily in round 1 but an improving Shinrone will tell them a lot more in the third round. That game will determine who tops the group and goes directly into the semi-finals as Shinrone have also beaten Birr and Ballinamere – the final round between Birr and Ballinamere will decide who goes into the quarter-finals and the relegation play off.

Shamrocks are in a good place and they could do with winning the final round and taking the direct route into the semi-finals. They are engaging in a delicate balancing act with their dual commitments as their senior footballers are going very well and are assured of a quarter-final berth. They could do with a gap between games to break the continuous cycle of football-hurling-football-hurling and try and avoid injuries.

Already they are down two of their best hurlers in David O'Toole-Greene and Conor Egan, who watched this game in Mucklagh in theirt “civvies” - both are also key footballers and there is a considerable strain on their large number of dual players.

Birr have often been seriously competitive at this grade. They took Drumcullen to a replay in last year's final and would normally have the players to offer a severe test of Shamrocks' credentials but things have clearly took a turn for the worse this year.

They had just seventeen players for their first round defeat by Shinrone and that included their 49 year old senior hurling manager, Barry Whelahan and another long time senior stalwart and former county player Paul Cleary – neither played here with Whelahan patrolling the sideline and Birr had just 18 players. They also have a junior team and obviously don't want to take players off that as their goalkeeper Cillian Fennessy came out the field in the second half with Aaron Whelahan taking over in goals. They were forced to bring Tom Erritty back on late on when a sub Alex Molloy got a belt on the wrists and with all that going on, it was no surprise that Birr were not at the races.

As a result, Shamrocks have to quickly forget about this game and move on. They were on top in every area of the field and facet of play. It would be easy for the Birr mentors to have got frustrated but that would have been a pointless waste of energy. They have no choice but to take this on the chin, accept it for what it is and try and beat Ballinamere and qualify in their last game – this team won't win a championship but they certainly don't want to be relegated and that would be a big step backwards for this great club.

The disparity in the teams was obvious from the throw in as Shamrocks had the game won early. Playing against the wind in the first half, Shamrocks led by 0-9 to 0-2 after 19 minutes with all their points coming from play. Their first free was scored by Eoghan Neville in the 20th minute and Shamrocks had victory wrapped up when they led by 0-15 to 0-6 at the break – Birr hit a few poor wides and could have been closer.

The second half was a procession. Birr were at nothing and didn't manage a score until Craig Shortt got the final score in injury time. Shamrocks were utterly dominant but nearly too much so and it was easy for bad habits to creep in. They got two goals, from Johnny O'Toole-Greene and Eoghan Neville in the 48th and 50th minutes but became sloppy in the closing quarter, hitting seven poor wides in the closing few minutes – their overall wide count of 18 was way too high and despite hitting 25 points, their shooting was anything but clinical.

Those wides were a negative and you would imagine they should have been able to create more goal chances against such an outclassed team – Johnny O'Toole-Greene's goal in particular was soft enough as he got his hurl to a long Padraig Cantwell ball but it could have ended up anywhere. Shamrocks manager Ciaran Slevin, however, won't be too worried about any of this stuff and they are exactly where they want to be.

MATCH ANALYSIS

SEE NEXT: Big games in round three of Offaly Senior Hurling Championship

MAN OF THE MATCH

Padraig Cantwell (Shamrocks): Shamrocks had a lot of players who hurled well and two stood out in particular with real giant performances.

Stephen Malone lorded affairs at centre half back. He controlled the game in an almost understated way, winning ball, sending in pinpoint deliveries and inspiring his team mates with his calm hurling. Malone has got himself into good shape and is a real asset to Shamrocks on current form.

Normally his performance would justify a man of the match rating and there is a temptation to go with him but Padraig Cantwell was the best hurler on the field. As you would expect from a man who has played county, Cantwell oozed class and he had a huge influence on proceedings. He was brilliant in the first half, scoring four excellent points from play while the quality of his hurling shone like a beacon.

Conor Condron, Mark Malone, Jack Molloy, David O'Rourke, Donal Dooley and Eoghan Neville also had excellent games for Shamrocks.

THE SCORERS

Shamrocks: Eoghan Neville 1-7 (4f), Padraig Cantwell 0-5, David O'Rourke 0-4, Johnny O'Toole-Greene 1-0, Stephen Malone, Shane O'Toole-Greene and Shane Heffernan 0-2 each, Jack Molloy, Cathal Healion, Donal Dooley 0-1 each.

Birr: Cathal Kirwan 0-3 (2f), Cian Ryan 0-2, Craig Shortt and Eoghan Pilkington 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

SHAMROCKS: Darragh Minnock; Mark Buckley, Conor Condron, Sean Mooney; Mark Malone, Stephen Malone, Cathal Healion; Jack Molloy, Padraig Cantwell; Eoghan Neville, David O'Rourke, Donal Dooley; Johnny O'Toole-Greene, Shane O'Toole-Greene, Shane Heffernan. Subs – Darragh Neville for Heffernan (52m), Pat Gaffey for Shane O'Toole-Greene (54m).

BIRR: Cillian Fennessy; Adriano Szoma, Sam Smith, Ben Pardy; Gavin Guilfoyle, Craig Pardy, Brian Watkins; Cian Ryan, Craig Shortt; Cathal Kirwan, Eoin Pilkington, Charlie Loughnane; Darragh McNamara, Tom Erritty, Kevin Pardy. Subs – Aaron Whelahan for Ben Pardy (HT), Paddy Mullins for Erritty (HT), Alex Molloy for Kevin Pardy (42m), Tom Erritty for Molloy, inj. (55m).

Referee – Stephen Connolly (Kilcormac-Killoughey).

REFEREE WATCH

Stephen Connolly had an excellent game and there were no issues. It was easy to referee but he did it very well. There was confusion over the scoreline at half time with the scoreboard having it as 0-14 to 0-7 when it should have been 0-15 to 0-6. A point had been put down wrong and Connolly initially thought that was correct but took his time to gather himself, talked to his umpires and duly got it changed: this reporter, and the Shamrocks and Birr officials all had it as 0-15 to 0-6 – one of us could have been wrong but it was highly unlikely that all three made a mistake.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

There was no moment that defined this match but Shamrocks came flying out of the blocks and everyone knew what the outcome was going to be when they led by 0-9 to 0-2 after 19 minutes.

WHAT'S NEXT

Shamrocks play Shinrone and Birr meet Ballinamere in round 3.

STATISTICS

Wides: Shamrocks – 18 (5 in first half); Birr – 10 (6 in first half).

Yellow cards: 0

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0.