St Rynagh’s 2-16 Birr 1-15
There was a massive outpouring of emotion, relief and celebration in O’Connor Park, Tullamore when St Rynagh’s ended a long 23-year famine as they got the better of Birr in an enthralling Offaly senior hurling final.
It ended years of hard luck stories and ones that got away, coupled with plenty of seasons when they were just not that competitive, as they edged a Birr club who are now in the midst of their own famine and they have not won the Sean Robbins Cup since 2008.
Pipped by a last gasp goal against Coolderry in last year’s final, as usual St Rynagh’s did not make things easy for themselves in a game in which they were clearly the better team but struggled to get home.
A sequence of very poor wides, especially in the first half when they hit 12 , kept them in Birr’s sights way longer than they should have been and on the balance of play, this was much closer to a seven or eight point game than the four that separated the sides at the end.
Anything other than a St Rynagh’s win would have been a travesty of justice but a mixture of their wastefulness and sheer dogged resistance by Birr meant that it went down to the wire and the underdogs could have snatched it.
St Rynagh’s had use of a strong wind in the first half and while they shot way too many wides for their own good, it looked to be going according to plan when a brilliantly taken Joe O’Connor goal put them 1-5 to 0-2 ahead after sixteen minutes.
They went on to lead by 1-8 to 0-5 at half-time but they really should have been home and dry at the break as Birr hung on by a thread - apart from the wides, the winners were very unlucky when Stephen Quirke’s shot on goal rebounded off the post in the 24th minute.
The second half provided fantastic entertainment as Birr hung on for dear life. St Rynagh’s went into a quick 1-10 to 0-5 lead but Birr got a lifeline when Colm Mulrooney scored a 33rd minute goal. It was nip and tuck for long periods as Birr got the deficit back to three points on three different occasions before reducing it to the minimum with nine minutes left.
There was two points in it when a great goal from man of the match Ronan Hughes sealed it for Rynagh’s with two minutes left.
St Rynagh's: C Clancy; D Maloney, D Shortt, B Conneely; C Hernon, A Treacy, P Camon; R Hughes (1-4), G Kelly; S Wynne (0-6, 5f), G Conneely (0-1), S Dolan; J O'Connor (1-2), S Quirke (0-3, 3f), M Maloney. Subs - N Wynne for M Maloney (43m), G Scales for Quirke (47m), P Quirke for Dolan (62m).
Birr: B Mullins; M Verney, P Cleary, E Hayes; B Watkins, D Hayden, S Ryan (0-1); B Harding (0-1), B Whelahan (0-1); C Mulrooney (1-1), C O'Callaghan, R Hanniffy; B Murphy (0-1), E Nolan (0-3), E Cahill (0-7, 7f). Subs - S Lonergan for O'Callaghan (40m), P Mullins for Whelahan (50m), D Watkins for Cahill (61m).
Referee: B Gavin.
