St Rynagh’s withstand Birr charge

St Rynagh’s 2-16 Birr 1-15: After drawing two and losing eight finals since last lifting the Seán Robbins cup in 1993, St Rynagh’s finally returned to the top of the pile in Offaly yesterday afternoon.

They survived a second-half fightback from Birr to edge past their longstanding rivals by four points in the county final at O’Connor Park in Tullamore.

Some 6,675 supporters filed into the county ground for this encounter and many of them might have wondered if a repeat of last year’s smash and grab win for Coolderry over Rynagh’s was on the cards when wind-assisted Birr came from eight points down to trail by just one after 52 minutes.