St Rynagh's show terrific character to eliminate Shinrone in game of the championship

THE Offaly Senior Hurling Championship burst to live in spectacular fashion in Birr on Saturday when St Rynagh's eliminated Shinrone in a high scoring, breathtakingly thrilling quarter-final shootout.

Molloy Environmental Systems Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final

St Rynagh's 1-24

Shinrone 0-25

In a match that could have swung either way, St Rynagh's finished brilliantly to qualify for a semi-final meeting with Kilcormac-Killoughey or Ballinamere. They were in serious bother when trailing by 0-23 to 0-19 with ten minutes left but a fantastic goal changed the whole game, Stephen Quirke finishing brilliantly after Shane Rigney's surging run down the Shinrone throats.

Shinrone really should have been five or six points clear when the experienced Quirke got his 50th minute goal and St Rynagh's discovered a new lease of life late on. Sean Cleary edged Shinrone back in front a minute later but St Rynagh's were excellent from here to the final whistle.

In a scintillating spell of relentess pressure, St Rynagh's powered across the finish line. Eoin Woods got two points, one free, and Gary Conneely converted a long range free to edge them ahead 1-22 to 0-14 with three minutes left.

The excellent Darragh Scully and a flying Shane Rigney added points and suddenly the gap was three with three minutes of injury time to play. Shinrone's composure flew out the window and they contributed to their own demise. Their shooting had been too erratic for the whole second half as they hit eleven wides and they were off target with three long range frees, two of them from goalkeeper Eamon Cleary and one by Adam Landy.

Sub JP Cleary got a 60th minute point but Shinrone still required a goal to survive. They dug deep and launched a couple of long balls into the danger zone but the St Rynagh's full back line, led magnificently by Ben Conneely, were super the whole day and held firm as they recorded a great win.

It was a serious test of character for St Rynagh's and they did really well to pass it. Shinrone also played a huge part in a genuinely exciting, high quality game. They had struggled in the group and fell into the quarter-finals but were so close to extending their season. They will harbour huge regrets about this game as they had St Rynagh's on the ropes for twenty second half minutes and didn't put them away.

In the wind up, however, their group campaign didn't lie and when St Rynagh's found a powerful late head of steam, Shinrone were powerless to stop them. It was a great win for St Rynagh's, who didn't qualify from the group last year and have turned a big corner this year.

The whole game made gripping viewing from the throw in to the final whistle. It was a score fest, fifty in all, and both sets of players should take a bow.

It started at a fierce intensity and pace. Shinrone had three points in a blistering one minute twenty seconds at the start, St Rynagh's replied with five in a row and it was real end to end stuff. Both full back lines were in control but both sides were happy to slot over points from out the field.

There were terrific individual displays in the first half and Shane Rigney got four quality points for Rynagh's, Adrian Cleary did a mountain of great work for Shinrone. St Rynagh's led by 0-9 to 0-6 after 12 minutes, it was 0-9 to 0-8 three minutes later, 0-14 to 0-13 as it went into injury time and Rigney's fourth point, after fantastic Ben Conneely work, gave the winners a 0-15 to 0-13 half time lead.

Shinrone were outstanding for twenty minutes into the second half. Killian Sampson found his best form in the heart of defence, Dara Maher cleared some quality ball and Shinrone powered into a winning position. They got a four point lead, 0-20 to 0-16 after 39 minutes and St Rynagh's were hanging on for dear life. Crucially they didn't let Shinrone get any further ahead than four points but that was not all down to St Rynagh's as the losers missed some very scoreable chances – their shot selection let them down and they took on scores from the wrong places on a few occasions.

They looked like they had the measure of Rynagh's but each time they got four ahead, they conceded the next score. It was 0-21 to 0-17, 0-22 to 0-18 and 0-23 to 0-19 at different stages and Stephen Quirke's goal ignited St Rynagh's victory charge, as Shinrone found they had ran their race.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Shane Rigney (St Rynagh's): A tough call between Ben Conneely, Adrian Cleary and Shane Rigney. Conneely gave a master class of defensive play. His reading of the game was top class and some of his blocks and interceptions took the breath away. He was pivotal to St Rynagh's not conceding what would probably have been a devastating goal.

Adrian Cleary had his best game of the season for Shinrone and would have been the selection if they won. He scored three points but did so much quality work in the middle third.

Shane Rigney is the selection. He went out of the game in the middle third when Shinrone got on top but was on fire in the first half, a huge factor in St Rynagh's being ahead at the break. He finished powerfully, setting up the all important score and getting a superb closing point to put them three ahead as it went into injury time. His foraging and general play was of a very high order.

There were plenty of other great displays on both sides in different spells, Dara Maher, Adam Landy, Sean Cleary for Shinrone; Gary Conneely, Joey O'Connor, Stephen Quirke, Darragh Scully, Luke O'Connor and Eoin Woods for St Rynagh's.

THE SCORERS

St Rynagh's: Eoin Woods 0-6 (3f), Shane Rigney 0-5, Darragh Scully 0-4, Gary Conneely (3f) and Luke O'Connor 0-3 each, Stephen Quirke 1-0, Aaron Molloy, Evan Houlihan and Ronan Hughes 0-1 each.

Shinrone: Donal Morkan 0-7 (6f), Sean Cleary, Adrian Cleary 0-3 each, Eamonn Cleary (2f), Luke Watkins, James O'Sullivan and Adam Landy 0-2 each, Dan Doughan, Killian Sampson, Jason Sampson, JP Cleary 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

SHINRONE: Eamonn Cleary; Peter Cleary, Gearoid Maher, Darragh Landy; Dan Doughan, Killian Sampson, Dara Maher; Adrian Cleary, Luke Watkins; James O'Sullivan, Jason Sampson, Adam Landy;Sean Cleary, Paul Cleary, Donal Morkan Subs – JP Cleary for Morkan (49m), Declan Cleary for Watkins (52m), Fionn Carney for Sean Cleary (57m), Eoin Bailey-O'Brien for O'Sullivan (57m)

ST RYNAGH'S: Conor Clancy; Matthew Maloney, Ben Conneely, Dominic Healy; Pat Camon, Joey O'Connor, Gary Conneely; Stephen Quirke, Evan Houlihan; Shane Rigney, Ronan Hughes, Eoin Woods; Darragh Scully, Luke O'Connor, Aaron Molloy. Subs – Ciaran Daly for Houlihan (43m), Paul Quirke for Molloy (49m),

Referee – Matthew Farrell.

REFEREE WATCH

Matthew Farrell's refereeing contributed to the enjoyment levels. He let it run and applied it consistently. Frees were very hard earned, as were yellow cards, and the Roscommon native had an excellent game.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Stephen Quirke's goal and the run by Shane Rigney was a moment of great quality and also turned this game on its head. Without it, St Rynagh's would almost certainly have been beaten.

VENUE WATCH

Birr had great stewards on duty and took obvious pride in hosting this fixture. There were no issues.

WHAT'S NEXT

St Rynagh's go into the semi-finals.

STATISTICS

Wides: Shinrone – 17 (6 in first half); St Rynagh's - 7(4 in first half).

Yellow cards: 0

Red cards: 0