Who will break their Famine first?

flahavaj

At the moment Kilkenny and Tipp look the teams to beat in hurling and they could feasibly share Liam McCarthy for the foreseeable future.

But who out the the chasing pack will be the first to join the party?

Galway? Waterford? Dublin? Cork?

While I'd like to think Waterford will be there or thereabouts for the next few years, I think Galway have more talent than anyone else and just need to get everyone on the same page.

dastardly00

Clare

Good question OP.
It's extremely hard to think of any county winning the AI other than Tipp and KK at the moment.

Galway have some fantastic players, and great underage teams...... but you could say that has been true for all their teams over the last 20 years and they never won an AI. So what makes this current crop any more likely to win an AI?

Waterford probably should have won an AI at some stage in the last 5 years. But they seem to always mess up on the big occasions in Croke Park. With a few of their great players recently retiring I feel that this current crop has missed their chance.

Dublin haven't done too well outside the Leinster championship over the last few years (losing to Antrim last year and Limerick the year before, both which neutral fans thought they would win). They are getting stronger and more experienced, and winning the NHL was fantastic, but it's impossible to predict how good the team will get.

Cork hurling at the moment isn't at it's best. But, like Tipp and KK, they have the ability to re-build a team very quickly and assemble a panel of very good hurlers within a couple of seasons. For that reason, I'm going with Cork.

The_Kew_Tour

Limerick

I went for Galway, but it's a toss of a coin really.

If Cork are to win any AI it will be in football for next few years, Cork hurling has not been this bad since 95-97 period.

Dublin, they won the league, they have some fantastic hurlers but im not sure they are ready this year or even next year to get handle in the big days. It only 10 months since they lost to Antrim and real test is can they produce 3-4 big games in a row, no doubt they are on right track.

I would love to see Waterford when an AI but imo they blew it in 07 more so then 08, they taught beating Cork in Croker was be all and that then you march on does not work like that.

Limerick may produce a decent performance or two again though nowhere near the level to win AI the rest imo have lot work to do.

Tipp and Cats will fall someday, but I dont think it will be for another few years yet

Oasis_Dublin

Went for Dublin - hoping they can remove the bottling tendencies of both the footballers, for the last 15 years, and the hurlers for the last 3 years. A national title is a huge step forward. Galway in the semi, assuming things go well on Sunday, is a crucial match in the season as a whole.

premierstone

Galway

I will actually go for a county that hasnt even been mentioned yet here, I think Clare are on the brink of something very special in the next few years, their last few u-21 teams have been very strong, last years minors threw away an all ireland, I think they will go one further this year. Flannans had a very strong team again, and unlike say 5 -10 years ago they are almost exclusively Clare hurlers now and also a number of the Ard scoil Ris team were from the banner.

All of this is very premature of course as Tipp will win at least 6 in a row, so the answer is when we get sick of it and decide to win a football AI for the craic, then Clare will step upto the mark

adrian522

Limerick

premierstone wrote: »

I will actually go for a county that hasnt even been mentioned yet here, I think Clare are on the brink of something very special in the next few years, their last few u-21 teams have been very strong, last years minors threw away an all ireland, I think they will go one further this year. Flannans had a very strong team again, and unlike say 5 -10 years ago they are almost exclusively Clare hurlers now and also a number of the Ard scoil Ris team were from the banner.

All of this is very premature of course as Tipp will win at least 6 in a row, so the answer is when we get sick of it and decide to win a football AI for the craic, then Clare will step upto the mark

Have ye the T-shirts printed yet?

I'd like to think Dublin's big chance is between this year and next, but realistically its probably Waterford and Galway who are most likely to de-throne Tipp.

premierstone

Galway

adrian522 wrote: »

Have ye the T-shirts printed yet?

Well for the five in a row we will just buy the unused ones that the cats had printed, for the 6 I think we'll come up with something a bit more original

looseygoosey

in the next few years,i think Clare will be right up there with the best of them,The U-21 win was a great step forward and hopefully this season the senior outfit can improve and build on last year.

ShamoBuc

Clare

Think Cork are capable of rejigging and rebuilding and becoming a force in a few years but it could take longer as the quality doesn't seem to be there in great numbers at present( a few are there this year but not much apparently at U21/minor)
The Dubs could maintain their progress but winning an AI is a tad harder of course than a league.
Galway are Galway.... for some reason they don't seem capable of performing to their top level more than once in a championship season. They might beat one of the top two but not both in a season - which is normally required to win Liam - the qf draw might help them if there was an upset along the way though.
Waterford seem like the team (other than your own designated county) that you want to win Liam but you know won't ( for whatever reason). Some fantastic hurlers but it seems to go wrong somewhere every summer.
As for Lim/Wex/Off/Clare ..... I'd guess 8-10 yrs before one of them win...but you never know.

Diabhal Beag

Limerick

Would love to see Galway win but I think that a better Cork team in the future will be the next AI champ outside of Tipp/KK.

Galway can be great but never have that all-round brilliant performances as even against Tipp last year our backs for the most part were dreadful.

Brian017

I think the 'Big 3' needs to be broken to give the Hurling C'ship a massive shot in the arm.

And at the moment, Dublin are the most likely to do that imo. Though, I think this year is just about a year too soon for them.

LuckyGent88

Limerick

While i would love to say Clare, i just cant see it happening in the near future unless the young lads we have coming through really make the step up to senior level which is unlikely that most of them will.
i went for Galway, just think they have the right mix of youth and experience (also having big Joe in there team might help)

Clareman

Limerick

I wasn't able to say Clare unfortunately, yes we have some great under age teams coming through, but so do Tipp, Killkenny & Dublin, if we had some older players to shore things up or if we were playing division 1 next year, the best we can hope for in the next few years is to play 4 or more championship games, and that will be draw dependant. I think Galway are best placed at the moment to mount a challenge

dastardly00

Limerick

dastardly00 wrote: »

Galway have some fantastic players, and great underage teams...... but you could say that has been true for all their teams over the last 20 years and they never won an AI. So what makes this current crop any more likely to win an AI?

The fact that they are different people?.

If that reasoning held any ground then Dublin wouldn't have won the league, and I could delve into about a million other sporting examples.

Simple fact is, our main championship unlike other sports is held on a (semi) KO basis for a paltry sum of the year, it just takes one good win and the next thing you know ''such such are back''(In Galways instance 2005 against Tipp in the 1/4s, went onto play the final)

This isn't a post to say we'll do it this year.... this is just simply putting it that a team from 15years ago has no basis on how this years team plays.

All things considered I think we need a change of management to reach the next level, our aerial ability and general build up play is too predictable and aimless, if we can start playing like a team and winning ball in the half forwards we'd move it another level.

dastardly00

Clare

gilberto_eire wrote: »

The fact that they are different people?.

If that reasoning held any ground then Dublin wouldn't have won the league, and I could delve into about a million other sporting examples.

Fair point. I didn't mean to specifically refer to the current Galway senior hurling panel. They are certainly good enough to beat KK, Tipp or any team on there day. But, I don't think the current panel are at the stage that they can beat the likes of Tipp and KK in the same year to win the AI.

I suppose in my original post I should have referred to Galway hurling GAA in general (including county board, clubs etc.). With all the minor, U-21, and Club championships Galway have won, they really should have transferred those wins into senior AI championships. There's a piece of the jigsaw missing that's preventing them from gaining success in the senior championship. If they don't find that missing piece, then it could be a while before they win an AI again.

Perhaps my original post regarding Galway isn't that relevant to this thread and to when next they will win an AI. Maybe it's more of a reference to the overall success (or lack of) of the Galway senior team within the last 20 years.

dastardly00

Limerick

dastardly00 wrote: »

Fair point. I didn't mean to specifically refer to the current Galway senior hurling panel. They are certainly good enough to beat KK, Tipp or any team on there day. But, I don't think the current panel are at the stage that they can beat the likes of Tipp and KK in the same year to win the AI.

I suppose in my original post I should have referred to Galway hurling GAA in general (including county board, clubs etc.). With all the minor, U-21, and Club championships Galway have won, they really should have transferred those wins into senior AI championships. There's a piece of the jigsaw missing that's preventing them from gaining success in the senior championship. If they don't find that missing piece, then it could be a while before they win an AI again.

Perhaps my original post regarding Galway isn't that relevant to this thread and to when next they will win an AI. Maybe it's more of a reference to the overall success (or lack of) of the Galway senior team within the last 20 years.

I don't think there's anything wrong as such, if that were the case we wouldn't be winning Minor and U-21's.

The problem is the individual, they are amateur so have no reason to commit their social life to the side for the sport, and as they pass 17/18... they fall of the wagon in some shape or form.

Its just the luck of the draw, how much the lad cares, his fondness for the booze etc.....
Maybe a bigger problem for us is the numbers who attend college? we all know what lads in college are like for the gargle, maybe you had more lads from Tipp/KK/Cork who dropped out at JC, took 9-5 jobs and missed out on the 4/5 nights of drinking craic and continued their development?
Just thinking of our young lads from the past number of years, the vast majority have played Fitzgibbon.

I guess things like this will always be a problem while the GAA isn't Pro, with the boards acting as employers it would keep the lads under control a lot more and their development would continue better.

Kojak

Galway

premierstone wrote: »

I will actually go for a county that hasnt even been mentioned yet here, I think Clare are on the brink of something very special in the next few years, their last few u-21 teams have been very strong, last years minors threw away an all ireland, I think they will go one further this year. Flannans had a very strong team again, and unlike say 5 -10 years ago they are almost exclusively Clare hurlers now and also a number of the Ard scoil Ris team were from the banner.

I would be in agreement with you, premierstone. Of all the other counties outside Tipp and KK, I could see Clare developing into a major force in a few years time. It would appear to me that Tipp (and to a lesser extent KK) will share out the next 4 or so All-Irelands. By that time Clare's All-Ireland U-21 winning team would be reaching 26 or 27 - their prime - and, as long as they can keep them together, Clare should be well primed to win/challenge for an All-Ireland.

As for my own county Galway, I would love to see them winning an All-Ireland, but as I said on this forum before, I don't see them winning a Liam McCarthy for over a decade at least. They keep producing great underage teams (very unbalanced teams IMO) but can never develop them into top level Senior players - no matter how much they think they are. When I say unbalanced underage teams what I mean is that usually you'd have 1 maybe 2 superstars on the team who would rack up huge scores from frees (or the hard work of others) and subsequently get a lot of media coverage. Then a few years later, said player is promoted to the seniors and is expected to do what he done at minor, despite the fact that at minor he never had to win his won ball and, in some cases, could use his physical size to great effect. The lads in question are then, at senior, expected to win their own ball when they have never learned how to do it before.

As a neutral, I would have loved to see Waterford win an AI, but I fear their time has passed. Their best chance was in 2004 - only for the fact that Mullane was suspended against KK they would have reached an AI final (and would have put up more of a fight to cork than KK did - I'm not saying they would have won, but they'd have put up a better show). Also 2007 was another missed opportunity.

Dublin are still an unproven quantity in championship. If they can follow up this year's league win with a good chamiopnship campaign or 2, then they have a great chance. However, it must be remembered that Dublin haven't won an underage AI in many, many years. It begs the question if dublin couldn't win an underage AI, how can they expect to win a Senior one.

as for the rest, I don't see much in any of them. Offaly simply don't have the pick, Wexford are a long way off the pace, Cork seem to be very weak at underage which doesn't bode well for filling positions that will become vacant over time when the 04/05 brigade retire. Antrim and Laois (plus any other Christy Ring winners) are well below the standard required to win a Senior AI.

Maybe if Limerick can keep Donal O'Grady at the helm for another year or two, then they could become dark horses in the championship in a few years time. Their schools teams seem to be getting stronger and should bode well for their underage teams in the near future.

But as I said already it could be a while before anyone outside KK or Tipp are lifting Liam McCarthy.

Browney7

Limerick

Who in God's name picked Limerick. We have more of a chance of winning the lotto than the All Ireland. We had a fantastic team in the 90's and we still made a balls of it.

I have a feeling Galway could do something this year. Need to remember they only lost to the eventual All Ireland champions by a point last year having led most of the game. Granted a great team would have kicked on and won but I just think a time will come where they will win at some stage.

carter10

Wexford

Kojak wrote: »

As a neutral, I would have loved to see Waterford win an AI, but I fear their time has passed. Their best chance was in 2004 - only for the fact that Mullane was suspended against KK they would have reached an AI final (and would have put up more of a fight to cork than KK did - I'm not saying they would have won, but they'd have put up a better show). Also 2007 was another missed opportunity.

Why, have they stopped entering teams in the championship?

flahavaj

Limerick

Kojak wrote: »

I would be in agreement with you, premierstone. Of all the other counties outside Tipp and KK, I could see Clare developing into a major force in a few years time. It would appear to me that Tipp (and to a lesser extent KK) will share out the next 4 or so All-Irelands. By that time Clare's All-Ireland U-21 winning team would be reaching 26 or 27 - their prime - and, as long as they can keep them together, Clare should be well primed to win/challenge for an All-Ireland.

Good U-21 teams is no guarantee though, look at Limerick.

LuckyGent88

Limerick

flahavaj wrote: »

Good U-21 teams is no guarantee though, look at Limerick.

and minor teams coming aswell but i would agree with ya. no guarantee of success unfortunetly for us. We will win all-ireland minor this year providing we beat Tipp in few weeks time although injuries are taking there toll at the moment.

Chnandler Bong

Clare

Westmeath?

LuckyGent88

Limerick

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

. We will win all-ireland minor this year providing we beat Tipp in few weeks time although injuries are taking there toll at the moment.

Because you've seen every team to make that assumption :rolleyes:

Kojak

Galway

carter10 wrote: »

Why, have they stopped entering teams in the championship?

That's not what I was getting at - the title of this thread is "who will break the famine first?". I think that, at the present moment in time, they are in a transitional phase and would need a few years to blood their youngsters to fill the positions vacated by the likes of Shanahan, McGrath etc.

From that point of view, I would see Clare or Dublin winning an AI quicker. I never said that Waterford would never again win an AI. I just meant that their best chances were behind them for a few years at least.

flahavaj wrote: »

Good U-21 teams is no guarantee though, look at Limerick.

Oh don't worry, we in Galway are all to aware of that. It may be the case that that U-21 team comes to nought, but I thought I saw enough in them to have the makings of a very good Senior team in a few years.

rebel girl 15

Breaking the famine first - I think Dublin. Galway and Waterford could be there or thereabouts. Dublin simply because they have beaten Tipp and KK, had a solid league campaign and beat KK in a final. Against Offaly, they were in a struggle, but came out the right side of it.

Should be a very interesting championship!

premierstone

Galway

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Because you've seen every team to make that assumption :rolleyes:

Maybe he has, there are u-15, u-16 and u-17 AIs now aswell, and I have personally seen all minor teams in Munster and Galway and KK and tbh Clare are definitley ahead of the rest, but having said that minors are notoriously unpredictable.

premierstone

Limerick

premierstone wrote: »

Maybe he has, there are u-15, u-16 and u-17 AIs now aswell, and I have personally seen all minor teams in Munster and Galway and KK and tbh Clare are definitley ahead of the rest, but having said that minors are notoriously unpredictable.

Maybe?... Let him speak for himself unless you know for certain.

Yes I do know there are under-age.... but the squads wouldn't be the same all the way through and players would progress at different levels so it's irrelevant to this years Minor.

To make a statement saying ''If we beat Tipp we'll win it'' was just plain stupid tbh, there was no ''we should'', it basically stated that game was the AI final.