West U21 Hurling Championship:
The O’Dwyer Steel West U21A Hurling Final was postponed last weekend due to adverse weather conditions. The game has now been re-fixed for this Sunday December 13th in Cashel with a 12 noon throw in. Clonoulty/Rossmore and Cappawhite/Treacys will meet in what is the 56th O’Dwyer Steel West U21A Hurling final.
It will be the second meeting of the sides this year. When the sides met in the group phase of the competition it was Clonoulty/Rossmore who had a comprehensive victory. Clonoulty/Rossmore go into the final unbeaten having defeated both Cashel King Cormacs and Cappawhite/Treacys in the group phase of the competition.
Cappawhite/Treacys won their opening two games against Arravale Rovers and Cashel King Cormacs and were defeated in their last group game against their final opponents Clonoulty/Rossmore. They recovered from that loss to defeat Cashel King Cormacs in the semi-final to set up a re-match with Clonoulty/Rossmore.
Clonoulty/Rossmore were beaten minor finalists in the West Minor A final three years ago when they were defeated by Cashel King Cormacs. Cappawhite played in the Minor B Championship while Sean Treacys were joined with Emly in the Minor A championship. Cappawhite/Treacys will be boosted by the fact they were West U21B hurling champions and beaten county finalists in 2014 and have now progressed to final of the 2015 A competition.
Clonoulty/Rossmore will be contesting their 28th U21A Hurling final and their 11th successive final in the grade, winning 8 of the last 10 titles. Only two teams in the last 10 years have wrestled the trophy from Clonoulty/Rossmore’s grasp – Kickhams (2007) and Arravale Rovers (2010).
The last team outside of Clonoulty/Rossmore to retain the U21A Hurling title was Galtee Rovers who completed three in a row between 2002 and 2004. In 2014 they became the first team to win 4 West U21A Hurling titles in a row and will be looking to make it five in a row in 2015. They will be looking for title number 19 in the grade in their own right while they also added two titles when joined with Eire Og in 1972/73.
Cappawhite/Treacys will be playing in their first final as a combination. Cappawhite have won the title on four previous occasions their last title coming in 1999 (where they also added a county title), which was also their last appearance in the final. They have also won six titles in the grade as a combination – four with Eire Og 1962, 77, 78, 80 and two with Solohead 1974/75. Sean Treacys lifted their only title in the grade in 1970 and their last appearance in the final was in 1974 when they were defeated by Cappa/Solohead.
Just a point of interest there have been just four drawn finals in the previous 55 running’s of the competition and the last drawn final in the competition was in 1999 when Cappawhite and Clonoulty/Rossmore finished all square with Cappawhite prevailing in the replay.
The first of this year’s Ollies Bar West U21B Hurling championship semi-finals takes place this Saturday December 12th where Golden/Kilfeacle will take on Galtee/Emly in Sean Treacy Park with a 2:30pm throw in. Extra-time will be played if the sides are level after the 60 minutes. Golden/Kilfeacle will be looking to get through to their second final in a row and their fourth in five seasons while Galtee/Emly will be looking to make it to a first final as a combination.
The second semi-final has been fixed for this Sunday December 13th in Bansha where Eire Og Annacarty Donohill will take on Lattin/Cullen Gaels. The game has a 12 noon throw in with extra-time to be played in the event of a draw. Eire Og will be looking to get to their second final in three years while Lattin/Cullen’s last appearance in the final was in 2002.
County Minor B Hurling Championship:
Commiserations to Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams who were defeated by Moneygall/Clonakenny in the final of this year’s Clean Ireland Recycling County Minor B Hurling championship on Sunday last December 6th in the Ragg. The game was originally fixed for Saturday but was moved to the Sunday due to adverse weather conditions.
County Junior B Football Championship:
Galtee Rovers and Clonmel Commercials will have to do it all again after finishing all square after extra-time their Clean Ireland Recycling County Junior B Football championship semi-final re-fixture on Friday night last in Dr Morris Park.
Munster Junior B Hurling Championship:
Eire Og Annacarty Donohill’s year continues unabated after they qualified for the Munster Junior B Hurling Final after victory over Dunhill of Waterford after extra-time last Sunday in Killeedy. They will now face either Shanballymore (Cork) or Broadford (Clare) in this year’s decider which is provisionally fixed for January 31st. Shanballymore and Broadford meet this December 13th at 2pm in Killeedy. The winners of Munster final will play the losers of Leinster and vice versa in the All Ireland semi-finals.
West Convention:
The 87th West Convention will take place this Thursday night December 10th in the Eire Og GAA centre in Annacarty at 8pm. Presently there will be elections for two positions on the night.
There will be a new Chairman of the Board as Tom English has completed his three year term as Chairman and so John O’Shea from the Clonoulty/Rossmore club will now become Chairman of the board. With John O’Shea stepping up to the role of Chairman the position of Vice-Chairman must becomes vacant. There are three nominees for the position of Vice-Chairman – Richard O’Connor (Arravale Rovers), Michael Ryan (Solohead) and Tom Hayes (Kickhams).
Michael Long’s five year term as Secretary of the board has also reached its conclusion. Michael McCarthy from Cappawhite who has served as Assistant Secretary for the last four years is the only nominee for the position and he will make the step up to secretary.
Both treasurer positions have become vacant with both Sean Bradshaw and Willie O’Grady stepping down. There is two nominees for the position of Treasurer – Claire O’Brien (Arravale Rovers) and Michael Devlin (Eire Og Annacarty Donohill). Billy Ryan (Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams) is the sole nominee for the position of Assistant Treasurer.
Inclusion:
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Fixtures:
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Francis Coughlan
West Tipperary GAA PRO
