Christy Ring Final

tonton zola

The GAA once again prove they care very little for the weaker counties by fixing this game for Friday night at 7.30 as a stand alone game in Croker. I honestly can't imagine how they thought this would be a good idea.

Its very patronising of them to think that we will be happy to be squeezed in at a time that nobody in their right mind would play.

They will be very lucky to get 2,000 at it. Why not play it in Portlaoise after the relegation game or before an all Ireland semi like was promised 4 years ago when the comp started.

Shame on the GAA suits

Stevecw

Already done my rant about this game in the CR semi thread below. 2,000 u think will be at this, not a hope. Be lucky if theres 300 max. A total joke the venue, time & day involved.
But ive ranted enough in earlier thread, dont wanna get started again.

will1977

Shocking decision by the GAA, I feel sory for the fans who have to travel on a fri evening to an empty stadium.

Nalz

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=98841

absolute jokers

patmac

Why can't they have it as a curtain raiser to the AI semi-Finals like before. Apart from being totally disrepectful to both counties, what about all the guff spouted about how Croke Park needs 30,000 spectators to break even? Are they going to pay all those stewards to man this game and what about the cost of floodlights, bars, catering etc? Who makes these decisions, of all the dumb things that have been done this year this tops it all, complete waste. I love our games but sometimes I despair at the muppets running it add this to the Paul Galvin episode and we are quickly becoming a laughing stock. Nicky Brennan needs to step in here or resign, a lame duck president if ever there was one.
Some journalist is going to do the maths on this one and the GAA is going to get slaughtered especially in these recesionary times and rightly so. FFS :mad::mad:

Myxomatosis

Carlow and Westmeath are going to boycott Friday nights match.

Carlow manager Jim Greene, Carlow County Board chairman Pat Deering and a Westmeath offical have just been on the radio and said they are going to boycott.

premierstone

Myxomatosis wrote: »

Carlow and Westmeath are going to boycott Friday nights match.

Carlow manager Jim Greene, Carlow County Board chairman Pat Deering and a Westmeath offical have just been on the radio and said they are going to boycott.

My first reaction when i read this dis morning was exactly this that they should tell whoever came up with this brainwave to f**k off. Its an absolute joke in all fairness.

future_plans

They should definitely boycott it. Just shows how much the CCCC actually know. The amount of effort put in by these two panels and they get the 2 fingers shown at them. I'd tell them to fcuk pff with their Christy Ring Cup. It's a disgace. Why can't they fix it for a curtain raiser to one of the hurling Semis....

Mushy

I was always bemused by the setting of time for this match. Didnt know what to make of it to be honest, was prob a state of disbelief and not paying too much attention due to work that I never looked too much into it. Now that its set in, I think its an absolute joke. They could easily put it back a week and have it before the KK-Cork match(although they are considering a triple header for Cork here). Or even the week after before Tipp-Waterford. Dunno what the rush is, feel sorry for the teams, so much work and preperation gone into it, all for this.

Angelicus_22

Surely the GAA will lose money on this match, which as we all know goes against everything they believe in.... Its a total disgrace and id be delighted to see a boycott.

grenache

Do the GAA ever learn from their mistakes?? This isn't the first time they've fixed Ring or Rackard Cup finals as stand alone games, when the sensical thing to do would be to play them before the AI semi final. Fixing it for a Friday nite is an insult to both Carlow and Westmeath. But the GAA don't seem to do common sense. No, just as with the Paul Galvin situation, they over-complicate things to the extreme. The idiots are running the asylum.

Mossy Monk

Hopefully they do boycott this as the GAA have proven yet again it is being run by clowns

NorfolkEnchants

Not sure what else the GAA could have done - the two teams rejected the chance to have it before the Dublin quarter final where there would have been a full house, Croker is taken every other weekend. If anyone thinks that this game should have been prioritised over any other game left in the GAA calendar (even including minor games) then they're only kidding themselves. There is very little interest in the counties' themselves, never mind nationally

future_plans

NorfolkEnchants wrote: »

There is very little interest in the counties' themselves, never mind nationally

I disagree. Maybe there would not be massive national interest, but there would be interest from anybody who has an interest in Hurling (and it's development).

I would put it above Minor in terms of importance. I still don't understand why they couldn't fit it in. What other matches are on August 17th?

thirdmantackle

two things happening here:

1 - westmeath will have to postpone a round of senior club football games if its the following weekend as a lot of hurlers play senior football
2 - GAA not wanting to move those minor semi finals as they involve teams from the traditional counties.

tonton zola

When I said 2,000 I meant that was the max they could dream of getting. 500 would be more realistic.

This is the pinnacle of the 2nd tier of senior intercounty hurling, it is more important that minor imo. You wouldn't get any more going to a stand alone minor game at that hour at Croker.

Thank god they will refuse to travel. I was trying to make arrangements work-wise myself to get to it so can you imagine what the players were going through.

juvenal

I agree that they should have been given preference over the minor fixtures. How do the GAA expect to develop this competition seriously if they won't afford it the respect it deserves?

According to the press, the counties were given a couple of options, but refused, so they were left with little option?

irishtimes.com wrote:

The GAA today moved to clarify the reasoning behind scheduling the Christy Ring Cup final for this Friday night (7.30pm) at Croke Park.

The two counties involved, Carlow and Westmeath, were afforded the option of playing the decider prior to the All-Ireland football quarter-final on Saturday week, according to the GAA.

Given that this is the game involving Dublin, a large attendance would have been expected for the curtain-raiser but Carlow and Westmeath both declined this option.

And with headquarters hosting two triple headers (four football qualifiers, the Tommy Murphy Cup and Nicky Rackard Cup finals) this weekend, the Central Competitions Control Committee were apparently left with little room for manoeuvre.

"There was no choice but to play the Christy Ring Cup final on Friday evening, August 1st, if it was to be played at headquarters," a statement from the GAA explained.

It added that the counties were also offered the alternative of staging the match in Portlaoise on Saturday.

lorweld

Why did the counties oppose a curtain raiser to Dublin??

As regards the Gaa wasting money on opening up Croke Park? They themselves say it's not financially viable unless they have full attendance!!!

A bit ot I know but a fortnight ago there was an underage blitz played in Croke Park. Don't get me wrong it's great to give young lads and girls the chance to play in Croke Park. My brother is a steward in croke Park and said he was talking to one of the groundsmen who was giving out shi*te about the blitz being played in the middle of the championship. He said they'd ruin the pitch!:)

Orizio

patmac wrote: »

Why can't they have it as a curtain raiser to the AI semi-Finals like before. Apart from being totally disrepectful to both counties, what about all the guff spouted about how Croke Park needs 30,000 spectators to break even? Are they going to pay all those stewards to man this game and what about the cost of floodlights, bars, catering etc? Who makes these decisions, of all the dumb things that have been done this year this tops it all, complete waste. I love our games but sometimes I despair at the muppets running it add this to the Paul Galvin episode and we are quickly becoming a laughing stock. Nicky Brennan needs to step in here or resign, a lame duck president if ever there was one.
Some journalist is going to do the maths on this one and the GAA is going to get slaughtered especially in these recesionary times and rightly so. FFS :mad::mad:

Exactly. The GAA seems determined to play these games as quickly as possible, and the minor quarters and semis should not be given preference over senior hurling.

When is the Tommy Murphy cup final on?

Myxomatosis

Why didn't the counties opt for Portlaoise on Saturday, where the Christy Ring relegation playoffs are being played? Have the play off as a curtain raiser for the final.

Why is it that everybody, the counties themselves and GAA HQ, deem it nessesary to play every game at Croke Park. You could get 30,000 people at Croke Park and the place still seems dead.

30,000 at Portlaoise or any other regional stadium and the atmosphere is amazing.

Orizio

Your asking why players would rather play in Croker over Portlaoise?

Dude they've been training all year in an attempt to play in HQ. This tends to be a big thing for GAA players.

Myxomatosis

Orizio wrote: »

Your asking why players would rather play in Croker over Portlaoise?

Dude they've been training all year in an attempt to play in HQ. This tends to be a big thing for GAA players.

Well I've played in my time and I'd choose a decent sized stadium full to the brim over a massive stadium mostly empty any day.

Timmy1985

The leadership (or lack of) of the GAA have shown their true shelfish and greedy sides. By promising and organisng the Christy Ring final for the bank holiday weekend of the 2,3,4 Aug and before a McCarthy Hurling All Ireland semi-final 8 months in advance, they not only broke the promise of playing before the McCarthy hurling semi, but also expect the Ring final to be played on the Friday night, the 1st June. The whole idea was to reward the Christy Ring competitiors with a final in Croke Park with a big crowd drawn by the 'A' teams. If the entire population of carlow went to the game, the hogan stand still woulnt be near full. Also a bank holiday weekend, with everyone leaving Dublin friday, it would be traffic chaos to make croker, they expect both Carlow and Westmeath to play an All Ireland final after a days work, and how can one expect to bring their kids when it would be past midnight before some would reach home.Would Kilkenny be expected to do this Mr. Brennan.
Their reason for not giving Carlow or Westmeath croke park on sat or sun, the footballers requested their games to be played there. The tommy murphy cup, a competition that no county cares nor makes an effort for is in croke park on saturday, when all teams in the Christy Ring work hard for the 'PREVILAGE' of competeing in the competition, a competition that means alot to division two countys. Why is the tommy muprhy cup in croke park the weekend the christy ring was fixed to play their?? Once again, a disgrace. Would Micko and Wicklow be expected to play on their own Friday night in Croke Park Mr. Breannan?
As for the offer of the following weekend, would you tell Kilkenny 5 days before the all Ireland final that they cant have croker this weekend but theres room the following weekend. If this weeekend was orginally planned for, theres everything from club fixtures, player holidays booked months in advance etc that wont allow it to be considered.
Im ashamed of our so called leaders, and their 'interest' in improving hurling in the country. The only care about their own counties and have no interest in promoting hurling. Where is the National Hurling Director Paudie Butler? Why isnt he defending the Christy Ring teams. Is this not what the GAA (the people who pay to see the games) are paying him to do. To support and promote hurling. How can he let a second tier football contest that no county cares about take the Christy Ring Finals place in Croker. Why are these guys getting paid at all in our 'Amateur' organisation, when they dont put in any effort at all and when they very clearly let our players know about the amateur status of the GAA when they looked for grants for their efforts.
The GAA leaders need to answer questions and justify their positions, expenses and wages for a job that the only do when it suits them. Mr. Breannan, spend less time talking with the Austrailian Rules and work on your own sports at home. Thats what you were elected to do.

Hitman Actual

Myxomatosis wrote: »

Well I've played in my time and I'd choose a decent sized stadium full to the brim over a massive stadium mostly empty any day.

Part of the initial premise of the CR and NR tournaments was that the finals would be played as part of a double/triple header with a Liam McCarthy semi. The problem still exists that the supporters for the second game tend to arrive late to the CR final, but still, you're not relying on two 'weaker' counties to fill Croke Park.

This is genuinely the only chance a lot of players get to play in HQ. And the problem has worsened since the 2006 Congress as the winners of the Christy Ring final don't even get promoted to the Liam McCarthy Cup; they have to play a tough promotion game with the lowest placed top-tier team. So instead of promoting the weaker counties, the gap, and elitism, between the top tier and everyone else is only widening.

Bduffman

lorweld wrote: »

Why did the counties oppose a curtain raiser to Dublin??

Probably because they'd still have to play in an empty stadium because the Dubs would all be in the pub.:D

Pride Fighter

Bduffman wrote: »

Probably because they'd still have to play in an empty stadium because the Dubs would all be in the pub.:D

Rubbish, its because they had Senior County Championships schedueled on the same day. Anyway the final is going to be held in Tullamore on Sunday, defeats the purpose of the final being held in Croker.

Stevecw

So thats it then throw the Christy Ring final on at 6pm on a Sunday evening in Tullamore. No double or triple header in Croke Park & no live TV! At start of the year the hurlers of these counties expected a game before the AI semi live on tv, and now we have this!
While ok its better than a Friday night in front of 300 people in Croker, its still nowhere near good enough.

Also why Tullamore? Thats right next to Westmeath & a long way from Carlow. Portlaoise is the obvious mid point between both counties. Even that much they couldn't get right.

future_plans

I know. It is an awful pity. Can only guess that both counties agreed to accept what was on offer for the greater good. The winners have to go on and play a promotion/relegation play-off after that match. It's poor poor treatment of the lower tier hurling counties though. Brennan is having a desparately poor reign.

Bduffman

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Rubbish, its because they had Senior County Championships schedueled on the same day. Anyway the final is going to be held in Tullamore on Sunday, defeats the purpose of the final being held in Croker.

Did you have a sense of humour bypass?

Hitman Actual

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Rubbish, its because they had Senior County Championships schedueled on the same day.

While I don't know the full details from back home (Westmeath), from the reports I'm getting this is true. The problem is, the offer to play before the Dublin game wasn't offered to the hurling management, but to the Westmeath county board, who refused as they don't want to delay the county football championship. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they would put county football before inter-county hurling. This whole mess, from GAA HQ to internal county bias, just highlights the problems that hurling has in the weaker counties. I have to say, I'm genuinely worried about the effect this will have on Westmeath hurling.

interlocked

Why not put on a tripleheader on Aug 10th and 17th?

Minor match first, then the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard fnals and the senior semi finals aftewards.

Givung prefernce to 16 and 17 year olds from invariably the stronger counties over senior hurlers of the second and third tiers is just insulting. If these minors are eventually good enough to make senior then they will have earned the right to play Croke Park at a future date.

The whole rational behind these tournaments was the achievement of a realistic dream for players from weaker counties, they'd never challenge for Liam McCarthy but at least they could aspire to their day in the sun

I remember an newspaper article by Liam Griffin shortly after Croke Park was opened up, he was in Donegal talking to some county hurlers, one of them commented "David Beckham has a better chanceof playing in Croke Park that I ever will"

Developing hurling, my arse.

Myxomatosis

The counties were lead to believe that the play-off against the bottom top tier team, Loais, would be played this weekend, having played the final last weekend.

The counties want this competition to be over as soon as possible as the clubs in each of the counties are suffering as a result.

There was a period of 8 weeks of nothing before the Christy Ring Cup. Here in Carlow the county players were not allowed play for thier clubs, as the County had "booked" them.

Basically, by not starting the Christy Ring Cup at an earlier date because the GAA want, or wanted to, have the final as an opener to an All Ireland Semi, they are in turn destroying the club game in the county because the county players cannot play, and when they do get back it's late late summer and there's only a handful of club games left to play. Thus, in an attempt to promote and develop weaker counties, the GAA are infact hindering any possible development with stupid scheduling.

Hitman Actual

Myxomatosis wrote: »

The counties were lead to believe that the play-off against the bottom top tier team, Loais, would be played this weekend, having played the final last weekend.

The counties want this competition to be over as soon as possible as the clubs in each of the counties are suffering as a result.

There was a period of 8 weeks of nothing before the Christy Ring Cup. Here in Carlow the county players were not allowed play for thier clubs, as the County had "booked" them.

Basically, by not starting the Christy Ring Cup at an earlier date because the GAA want, or wanted to, have the final as an opener to an All Ireland Semi, they are in turn destroying the club game in the county because the county players cannot play, and when they do get back it's late late summer and there's only a handful of club games left to play. Thus, in an attempt to promote and develop weaker counties, the GAA are infact hindering any possible development with stupid scheduling.

I totally agree with you on competitions not being totally held up due to inter-county, but I thought most counties ran their competitions regardless? There have definitely been several rounds of both the hurling and football championships in Westmeath. But it's still a disgrace that a round of a senior county football championship takes precedence over an inter-county hurling final.

premierstone

lenny_leonard wrote: »

I totally agree with you on competitions not being totally held up due to inter-county, but I thought most counties ran their competitions regardless? There have definitely been several rounds of both the hurling and football championships in Westmeath. But it's still a disgrace that a round of a senior county football championship takes precedence over an inter-county hurling final.

And therein lies the real problem, if their own county board wont help them and continue to undermine them, then there is very little croke park or anyone else can do about it.

The issue of been a weaker hurling county is actually only a secondary problem and the real problem is how they are treated in their own county (Laois hurlers are another perfect example).

Hitman Actual

I agree, premierstone, and that's the most frustrating part of this for me. I guess there's nothing you can do about the numbers though (50-odd football clubs and 15 hurling clubs in WM). It's a losing battle.

Flukey

lenny_leonard wrote: »

I agree, premierstone, and that's the most frustrating part of this for me. I guess there's nothing you can do about the numbers though (50-odd football clubs and 15 hurling clubs in WM). It's a losing battle.

One man from each club and they can field a team, and I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. The county board needs to get their finger out and get those clubs working hard and get a few more clubs going. Offaly has less clubs and has done really well over recent decades, both at club and intercounty level. GAA at the top level should be doing as much as they can to get hurling going in weaker counties, and the same for weaker football counties too of course. Trying to relegate the Christy Ring Cup final to a Friday night in Croke Park just isn't good enough.

Any county board not promoting the weaker game, should be sacked, no matter how good they are doing in the stronger game. Kilkenny are going for 3 All-Ireland hurling titles this year and Kerry are going for 3 football titles in a row. Both county boards should be sacked for not doing their duty as they do little to support the other game. The likes of Offaly, Galway, Cork, and even Dublin and Wexford have county boards that are way ahead of them, because they are promoting both games, which is what every single county board should be doing. Those counties still have their faults in how they are going about it, but they are at least doing it and fielding competitive teams in both codes.

They all need help from GAA HQ, but they are not getting a good example with what they are doing with the Christy Ring Cup final. Even if they held it outside Croke Park in a provincial stadium, at a suitable time when they would get a good crowd, that would be better than a Friday night in Croke Park. It should of course be in Croke Park at a time when it can get exposure that it would not get on a Friday night. Despite have a Hurling Development Council, when it comes down to it, Hurling gets a raw deal.

Even with what the Hurling Development Council is actually doing, more to make the big counties stronger and the weaker counties weaker is the inevitable result. Moving Galway and Antrim into Leinster does nothing for the weaker counties. Their attention should be on the real "weaker counties", not on the strong ones, even the ones at the back end of the leading pack. Galway will as usual start next year's championship amongst the favourites, proving they are among the strong counties - even if they don't fulfil their potential. When the HDC starts doing it's job properly, it's the likes of what are currently Christy Ring counties being listed as contenders for the McCarthy Cup that will show they are achieving something.

Hitman Actual

Good post Flukey. The funny thing is, the current Westmeath team is a result of a huge underage plan in the mid 90's. It's the best team since the mid 80's when we beat Galway and were unlucky to lose to KK in the league QF, before emigration decimated the team. So there are occasional pushes from the county board to improve hurling, but I guess when football comes more to prominence, as in the last few years (winning Leinster, for example), then hurling gets pushed aside to a certain extent.

Anyway, enough ranting from me, I'm sure it's getting boring at this stage.

Stevecw

Well after all the talk & controversy it turned out to be an amazing game of hurling!
This game had everything you could want in a game of hurling, top class scores, 7 goals, 38 points, a scored peno & saved peno, a 2 goals in injury time to bring match to extra time, amazing comeback, & somehow in the end the underdogs fighting back to win a classic game of hurling.
As Nicky Brennan said after & a few of the reports are saying, this just wasnt one of the best games of hurling this year, it was one of the best of any year.
It really was that good. Only pity was that RTE weren't there to show it live. And from what i hear they only gave it about 3 minutes on Sunday game last night!

Myxomatosis

I was surprised to see there was more Carlow support than Westmeath. Even with Westmeath scoring 2 goals in the last moments of the 5 mins of injury time, I was fairly confident Carlow would come back again in extra time to see them off.

Great speech by Edward Coady after receiving the cup, he was roaring so loud he really didn't need the microphone at all

Stevecw

Fair play to you for your belief Myxo, but when those 2 goals went in the the 5 mins injury time (where did that come from!!??) i was sick. I was sure that was it, there was no way the lads would recover for extra time.

And to be honest the 1st half of extra time, they didn't, we hardly got a touch. But 2nd half of extra time, i dunno where the spirit & energy came from, but it was amazing to see.

As someone, who has followed the hurlers for so long, at so many of those league games (where about 50 of us show up) it was probably the best day ever as a Carlow supporter.
And as you say where the hell did all the support come from!! Ok it was great to see it, but where are they in league games etc??

Agree about the speech after, it was great to hear. You could just tell by Ed how much it meant to him & the team. Great reception too last night for them in Shamrock Sq.

Lets just hope they can get themselves together again for the Laois game next weekend.
In reality that is actually a bigger game than yesterdays!
Win that & we are in the top tier. Lose it its back to Round 1 Christy Ring again next June/July!
At this stage after all the good minor sides etc, we should be at the top table of hurling.
Lets just hope we have same support for Laois game next weekend as we had in Tullamore last night

Hitman Actual

Stevecw wrote: »

Fair play to you for your belief Myxo, but when those 2 goals went in the the 5 mins injury time (where did that come from!!??) i was sick. I was sure that was it, there was no way the lads would recover for extra time.

And to be honest the 1st half of extra time, they didn't, we hardly got a touch. But 2nd half of extra time, i dunno where the spirit & energy came from, but it was amazing to see.

Re. the 5 minutes of injury time, I wasn't surprised at all; Westmeath had a lot of injuries in the second half. I also think WM slipped up badly in the first half of extra time, we missed 1-4 of what would normally be easy scores.

But a genuine congrats to Carlow, they absolutely deserved the victory, and were much more up for the game than WM. Great supporters as well, we were outnumbered 3-1 in that regard. Enjoy your win lads, and best of luck against Laois.

Hearvee

Completely agree with Lenny above. There were a couple of Westmeath lads off with head injuries during the second half, so 5 mins wasn't unbelievable.

Thought Carlow would crumble in extra-time, especially if Murtagh put away the penalty in extra time. But he didn't, and after that Carlow fully deserved to win it!

Good luck against Laois too!

Took a few photos for those of ye who are interested:


Craig Doyle scores for Carlow


John Shaw scores for Westmeath in injury time


Lifting the cup

Myxomatosis

Some excellent photos there.

Nalz

Up the lollypops! Bring on Laois...

Myxomatosis

I've heard that the match against Laois is going ahead this Saturday at 3 but I haven't a clue where.

There's absolutly no information confirming if the match is to go ahead or if it has been put back.

thirdmantackle

Dr Cullen park. 3pm. a home draw for Carlow after all their travels

Pride Fighter

I predict a Carlow win. I have heard rumours that only 13 players have been turning up to the training sessions in Laois.

lorweld

Laois 4-18 Carlow 3-11

Myxomatosis

Carlow looked very jaded and tired.

Not the worst thing staying in the Christy Ring, as we will be in division 2 next year anyway playing better opposition.

Nice to see big Des Murphy scoring the goal at the end after 19 years of playing with the county.

Danno

Three goals conceeded. FFS. What is wrong in training?