Offaly Senior Hurling Championship - Profiles for all ten teams fighting for the Sean Robbins Cup

Belmont

Manager – James Murphy/Coach, Shane Curley;

Selectors – Joe Kenny, Paul Egan;

Captain – Colin Egan;

Retirements/Long term injuries – Paddy Clancy, Barry Egan, Shane Murphy, Conor Kenny are travelling;

New players – Adam Egan, Aron McCabe and Brian Carroll are up from minor.

Last year – Bowed out in the group stages;

Star player – David Nally;

Key players – Oisin Kelly, Jack Clancy, Leon Fox, James Nally;

Prospects – Belmont have been agonisingly close to reaching the final over the years but took a step backwards last year. This year will give an idea of whether that is a temporary blip or more terminal but they laid down a serious marker with a very impressive display when beating Birr in the Division 1 Hurling League final recently. They have earned full respect and are such a tough team to beat. They have a handful of really good players and will have to really perform to emerge from a tough group where there is very little margin for error. They have a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals and are capable of beating anyone in this group but it is going to be very tight here. There was something compelling about the way they played in the league final but championship is always different. They are title contenders but need almost everything to go right for them to make history.