Hurling

Danno

Does anyone out there care about the respect shown to hurling in many counties...?

klash

Danno wrote:

Does anyone out there care about the respect shown to hurling in many counties...?

My county wouldn't let us have our county final in our county pitch because there was a junior B football match (Not really important) the next day. Seems we would have destroyed the pitch for the footballers.

mchurl

It really is looked down upon by some counties and this is what leads to such a poor showing from these counties. If hurling is to be revived, more respect needs to be given the players, and more coaching needs to be done at a young age in these counties.

carpothepunk

Hurling in Louth gets fock all respect,but we have an excellent set up.We go down to the DJ Carey school of excellence every summer,we have a good schools league and we play in many blitzes.The senior game needs more recognition though.

klash

Kilkenny are the only county that do it the right game around.

All respect to Hurling, more respect for hurling then any county gives to football and absolutely no time for football.

Seriously though, can we honestly see counties giving equal status to both codes ? I mean is it a situation of being good at one and neglecting the other OR being ****e at both ?

Look at the lower tier counties like Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Louth etc. What is the point for these counties to give equal status to both ? They're no good at football (relatively speaking), would given equal status to both codes divide their limited resources even more ?

Personally i'd rather them all give hurling the preference over football.

Flukey

The Kilkenny county board should be sacked. They are the only county that do not enter a team into the football championship. If the Kilkenny county board is not prepared to properly promote football, then they should get a new one in that will. "There is no interest in football in Kilkenny" I hear you say. Well it is up to the county board to create it, or to be more precise: increase it, as there is a lot there. A number of the high profile hurlers, including DJ Carey, are pretty handy footballers too.

"There is no tradition of football in Kilkenny" is another one we hear. Actually, that is not the case. Which county won the first ever Leinster Senior Football Championship? Yes, believe it or not, it was Kilkenny. It wasn't their last either. In fact, out of the 32, there are 10 counties in Ireland that have less senior football provincial titles than Kilkenny. Check it, if you don't believe me.

As Kilkenny are now the only non-competing county, that means that there are 10 less successful counties that play every year in the championship. If they can, then there is absolutely no reason why Kilkenny can't. It is up to the county board.

As I said, if they don't do their job, which is to promote Gaelic Games in their county, then they should be sacked. The same should be the case for the other 31 counties too. All county boards are there to promote Gaelic games in their counties. If they fail to do it, they should be sacked, and replaced with county boards that will promote both major codes.

Anyway, traditions can be created. Prior to 1980, Offaly had never even won a Leinster senior hurling title, and now they have 4 All-Ireland senior hurling titles. While having no real tradition before 1980, they have been at or near the top table of hurling ever since. That is one of many modern examples of counties creating tradition in football or hurling. Tyrone, the dominant force of football now, only won their first All-Ireland in 2003! So there is no reason why Kilkenny can't create, or to be more accurate: revive, their football tradition. Well, there is one reason: an incompetent county board. Simple solution: SACK THEM!!!

nlgbbbblth

Flukey wrote:

Prior to 1980, Offaly had never even won a Leinster senior hurling title, and now they have 4 All-Ireland senior hurling titles. While having no real tradition before 1980, they have been at or near the top table of hurling ever since.

As a native of Wexford I would say that the Offaly breakthrough was A Bad Thing. Three times in the 1980s we had Kilkenny beaten only for the 'Faithful County' to destroy our summer. What made it worse was they only deserved to win one of those three finals (1988). Their cynical hatchet-job on Tony Doran in the 1981 Leinster final was appalling and watching him being showered with bottles/cans/other objects as he was stretchered off the field was truly disturbing to watch. Johnny Dooley's last minute snatch in 1998 was typical of Offaly's soul-destroying habit of winning games with last minute scores in which they were the inferior side.

Kilkenny's football situation is a disgrace. They have at least ten football clubs in the county and have no excuse for not entering a team. They played national league football until 1997. Although towards the end they were flung into a group with the likes of Kerry and became a target for teams looking to boost scoring averages.

The GAA's system of divisions 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B is b*llocks. Just go for 1, 2, 3 and 4.

mchurl

Kilkenny should be made to enter a senior football side, it is totally unfair for the players in the county that play football to have no inter county team to try to get on to.

klash

Flukey wrote:

The Kilkenny county board should be sacked. They are the only county that do not enter a team into the football championship.

And ? What about the tossers that don't give hurling the time of day ? Most counties have hurling teams, a lot of those hurling teams are made up from a mere handful of clubs and i'd put money on it that most players aren't even from the counties in question.

THATS the disgrace. Hurling is the real national game.

A number of the high profile hurlers, including DJ Carey, are pretty handy footballers too.

Yeah and they don't care about football. I know this as a fact. Go to Tipperary, go to Kilkenny. Go to Hurling strongholds, i'll bet you almost every hurler plays football but its only something to do when theres no hurling. Thats all.

mchurl

klash wrote:

Yeah and they don't care about football. I know this as a fact. Go to Tipperary, go to Kilkenny. Go to Hurling strongholds, i'll bet you almost every hurler plays football but its only something to do when theres no hurling. Thats all.

Is this not the same problem that is damaging hurling then? The fact that hurlers in a footballing county only play hurling when there is nothing else to do, and they dont care about hurling?

Mushy

i'll bet you almost every hurler plays football but its only something to do when theres no hurling.

To an extent, yes this is very much so true! But dont forget there are dual players and they arent doin it cos they arent playin hurling at the time. Michaél Webster from Tipp for example! Had never played a Championship game for Tipp before he came up against Diarmuid O Sullivan, and he showed him what can be done even with lack of experience!

FLUKEY, very good point there about Offaly. Its never too late to start up a tradition. It has to come from somewhere. Kilkenny should at least enter a team in football so the footballers of the county can strive towards something while playing.

mchurl

Mushy wrote:

Kilkenny should at least enter a team in football so the footballers of the county can strive towards something while playing.

Exactly my point up above

Big Ears

klash wrote:

Yeah and they don't care about football. I know this as a fact. Go to Tipperary, go to Kilkenny. Go to Hurling strongholds, i'll bet you almost every hurler plays football but its only something to do when theres no hurling. Thats all.

bollocks , Tipperary minor footballers lost by 3 points to Kerry in the Munster championship and really gave them a tough game . This isn't something that people who only play football 'when there's no hurling' are capable of .
The development of football has been taken serious at underage level in Tipperary and in the future the senior team will reap the rewards .

Evil_Bilbo

its typical of the kilkenny attitude to pack something in because they arent doing well in it. To pack in the football just because they took a few heavy beatings dosent suprise me at all.

Not only is it typical of the players to pack in the football and stick with the more glamorous winning hurling side, its bloody typical of kilkenny supporters to cease all support when their county hits hard times. One bad match last year and immediate talk of sacking Cody. What are they like?

Look at the likes of westmeath - not too strong with hurling or football, but they've made a real go of both in the last few years.

It is a disgrace that hurling isnt played in more counties, but for a county to not even field a football team is a bit of a joke.

popebenny16

Was in Portlaoise yesterday supporting the Dublin hurlers. No respect for the game, playing it on a day like that. The Offaly manager said it straight - if it had been Kilkenny or Cork down to play yesterday the games would have been postponed.

The pitch at the town end was a disgrace, you wouldnt put a Junior b game on it. The Laois Corner forward twisted his ankle in the muck, we knew it was going to happen where it did from the first half of the Dublin match but still the game went on.

I think that says it all about respect for hurling, as does this. Well done to the Westmeath hurlers yesterday, its a pity that the winners of that game get to see Kilkenny so quickly.

We already know that the following four teams will battle it out to avoid relegation to Christy Ring come august: Dublin, Down (or New York) Westmeath and Laois. And that, in May, says it all.

Danno

Those games in Portlaoise yesterday should not have gone ahead. Shame on the Leinster Council.

WhatsGoingOn

Flukey wrote:

The Kilkenny county board should be sacked. They are the only county that do not enter a team into the football championship. If the Kilkenny county board is not prepared to properly promote football, then they should get a new one in that will. "There is no interest in football in Kilkenny" I hear you say. Well it is up to the county board to create it, or to be more precise: increase it, as there is a lot there. A number of the high profile hurlers, including DJ Carey, are pretty handy footballers too.

"There is no tradition of football in Kilkenny" is another one we hear. Actually, that is not the case. Which county won the first ever Leinster Senior Football Championship? Yes, believe it or not, it was Kilkenny. It wasn't their last either. In fact, out of the 32, there are 10 counties in Ireland that have less senior football provincial titles than Kilkenny. Check it, if you don't believe me.

As Kilkenny are now the only non-competing county, that means that there are 10 less successful counties that play every year in the championship. If they can, then there is absolutely no reason why Kilkenny can't. It is up to the county board.

As I said, if they don't do their job, which is to promote Gaelic Games in their county, then they should be sacked. The same should be the case for the other 31 counties too. All county boards are there to promote Gaelic games in their counties. If they fail to do it, they should be sacked, and replaced with county boards that will promote both major codes.

Anyway, traditions can be created. Prior to 1980, Offaly had never even won a Leinster senior hurling title, and now they have 4 All-Ireland senior hurling titles. While having no real tradition before 1980, they have been at or near the top table of hurling ever since. That is one of many modern examples of counties creating tradition in football or hurling. Tyrone, the dominant force of football now, only won their first All-Ireland in 2003! So there is no reason why Kilkenny can't create, or to be more accurate: revive, their football tradition. Well, there is one reason: an incompetent county board. Simple solution: SACK THEM!!!

A lot of it is mainly down to lack of interest on behalf of the players too. The Kilkenny minor footballers beat Wexford in the Leinster round robin stages this year. But after minor level players tend to lose interest, as can be seen by the fact that the Wexford U-21 footballers hammered Kilkenny only a couple of weeks before that minor match.

The Senior Football Final was played in Kilkenny yesterday, won by Castlecomer on a scoreline of 1-05 to 1-03 in attrocious conditions. The football is got out of the way to make way for the hurling and most teams use it as a way to get fit for the hurling.

planck2

nlgbbbblth wrote:

As a native of Wexford I would say that the Offaly breakthrough was A Bad Thing. Three times in the 1980s we had Kilkenny beaten only for the 'Faithful County' to destroy our summer. What made it worse was they only deserved to win one of those three finals (1988). Their cynical hatchet-job on Tony Doran in the 1981 Leinster final was appalling and watching him being showered with bottles/cans/other objects as he was stretchered off the field was truly disturbing to watch. Johnny Dooley's last minute snatch in 1998 was typical of Offaly's soul-destroying habit of winning games with last minute scores in which they were the inferior side.

Talk about bitter. You really don't have an argument here. Wexford were a bad side, if they were any good they would have been able to finish Offaly off.

slinky

Interesting how a topic about counties' lack of respect for hurling ends up about Kilkenny and football. I know lads on the senior football team and the effort is being put in underage but it wont happen overnight. It will change over the next few years but at least our county final was played in Nowlan Park!

The point is football doesnt need Kilkenny although we should be in the championship. Think of hurling up north, the west huge parts of the country where it's dying. Think of our population size compared to Dublin, Belfast etc but then the majority of county boards are football boards and that aint gonna change. As I said it's hurling that's being squeezed and most of these county boards aren't too disappointed at this.

Orizio

Look,no respect for Football in one county is nowhere near as great a crisis as no respect for Hurling in twenty counties.So this whole Kilkenny debate is a bit pointless no?

Mushy

SAw a thing in the Irish Independant a few days ago. Contained a table of how successful the teams were by giving the counties points for the different stages they reached. My county, Wicklow, were bottom. But they arent going to turn around and pull out of it because of this. They shall try to keep plugging away until it will come right some time. And in wicklow, hurling would be the "minority" sport from the GAA. there is no point in not enetering teams because of recent form. Sure even look at London, havent won a Championship game since the late 70's and people are questioning their participation. The manager defended his team to the end because he was stating that the infrastructure needs to be put in. It isnt that difficult to do it, and a bit of effort needs to be put in.

More onto hurling, i actually felt sorry for those lads playing in Laois that day a few weeks back. a complete diservice to the game it was

Evil_Bilbo

okay enough about kilkenny.

what about dublin? Such a massive city - so many hurling clubs - the minors are doing really well - but once it goes above that level all interest dissapears. Fair dues to westmeath beating them recently but in fairness that should never happen. A population like dublin should really be able to produce a giant-killer of a hurling team if only the interest and promotion by the county board was there. but no....its all football football football.

Another person I blame for this is Pat Spillane. The outspoken w@nker shows football for the first 75% of the sunday game, and slots the hurling in at the end (I remember the highlights of last years leinster final - all 2 minutes of it). I know its not "him" in particular but the shows organizers aswell.

I mean come on - show the hurling first - that way the people who want to watch the football may sit through it and learn something about the greatest game on earth - maybe even take up an interest in how their own county is fairing - before the warbling kerryman gets to hear the sound of his own voice (which he so clearly cant get enough of).

Bring back michael leister!

cruiserweight

Evil_Bilbo wrote:

Another person I blame for this is Pat Spillane. The outspoken w@nker shows football for the first 75% of the sunday game, and slots the hurling in at the end (I remember the highlights of last years leinster final - all 2 minutes of it). I know its not "him" in particular but the shows organizers aswell.

I mean come on - show the hurling first - that way the people who want to watch the football may sit through it and learn something about the greatest game on earth - maybe even take up an interest in how their own county is fairing - before the warbling kerryman gets to hear the sound of his own voice (which he so clearly cant get enough of).

Bring back michael leister!

Pat Spillane does not decide what is shown on the Sunday Game, it is a bit harsh to blame him for contributing to a lack of interest in hurling in some counties :rolleyes:

slinky

Pat Spillane's a football man he should stick to discussing the football and RTE should have a hurling man organising the hurling analysis. But it's symptomatic of the attitude to hurling from RTE and county boards the length and breadth of the country - just an add-on to the football. Hurling's dying
in many parts of the country and I amn't too optimistic for the future.:(

cruiserweight

slinky wrote:

Pat Spillane's a football man he should stick to discussing the football and RTE should have a hurling man organising the hurling analysis.

Pat Spillane is the host and was chosen because he is outspoken! RTE have dedicated persons to analyse both the hurling and football!

I do not agree that the hurling coverage on RTE is an add on, it is just a matter of fact that there are more football games!

I think that all counties should try to put an equal effort into both games!The table in the Independent that somebody mentioned earlier was to do with success in football, and there in football as well there is a small number of counties that are the most successful!

Scootay

popebenny16 wrote:

We already know that the following four teams will battle it out to avoid relegation to Christy Ring come august: Dublin, Down (or New York) Westmeath and Laois.

Well it won't be Down or New York as they are not in the Liam McCarthy this year so they can't get relegated from it.

It's the bottom four from the qualifiers. So far in the qualifiers are Galway, Clare, Limerick, Dublin and Laois. They'll be joined by the losers of Westmeath v Kilkenny, Offaly v Wexford and Tipperary v Waterford. So that'll be Westmeath, Dublin, Laois and one other in the relegation playoffs.

popebenny16

As down lost the semi they are in Christy Ring but New York are of course in the Liam McCarthy:

GUINNESS ULSTER SHC
Down v Antrim/London, Casement Park
Derry v New York, Gaelic Park, NY

I'm sure you've hard about that result and the problems it now represents for the New York Hurlers.

slinky

cruiserweight wrote:

Pat Spillane is the host and was chosen because he is outspoken!

Sure they could get Loughnane to do the football instead of Spillane now that would be controversial;) Spillane hasn't a clue about hurling it's cringe viewing(the bit they show!) They have no imagination when it comes to promoting hurling never mind Gaelic Games.

cruiserweight

slinky wrote:

Sure they could get Loughnane to do the football instead of Spillane now that would be controversial;) Spillane hasn't a clue about hurling it's cringe viewing(the bit they show!) They have no imagination when it comes to promoting hurling never mind Gaelic Games.

Well there is no great conspiracy against hurling as some in this thread would have us believe :rolleyes: :mad: :eek: :cool: (To use all the faces so I do not ahve to use them again oh wait I do)Why have 2 hosts for the show, when they have experts on to analyse both football and hurling?

mchurl

I agree totally, they decided on Spillane to be the host and all he does is ask the questions. The analysts are there to provide the expert opinion.

slinky

Pat Spillane is fine for the football if that's the thing ye like. He said there are "no tactics in hurling" and continues to ask stupid questions do ye not see the looks on the panelists faces! Football and hurling are completely different sports and I'd prefer to have a real hurling man organizing the discussion.

I'd love to know what it is RTE do to publicize hurling in particular and gaelic games in general? They do a lot of talking about hurling dying and needs to be promoted blah blah and do nothing to create a show that might actually do something. If you watch the football AI on BBC you will see shots of the dressing room, players running out, more
use of stats etc RTE lack imagination IMO.

As for Spillane the time is coming soon when Finnerty will
fling him down behind the couch where he belongs ye read it here first!