Christy Ring/Nicky Rackard/Lory Meagher Cups 2013

Kerrydude1981

So the lower tier championships kick off today

Christy Ring

Down V Kerry
Derry V Wicklow
Meath V Armagh
Kildare V Mayo

Nicky Rackard

Tyrone V Louth
Roscommon V Sligo

Lory Meagher

Leitrim V Fermanagh
Warrickshire V Longford

Looking at my own counties Championship the Christy Ring Cup is a competition we should be winning this year,have a tough start away to Down today but we should be good enough to get a win,I think Meath could be the dark horses this year so il say it will be a Kerry and Meath final.

KevIRL

The way the GAA have treated these competitions is nothing short of a disgrace. When the HDC recommended they be set up they included a recommendation that the finals be played as curtain raisers to All Ireland QF's/SF's and have TV exposure. This was done for the first few years and it was great, players got a chance to play on a big day in Croker and the games were televised, fantastic exposure and if continued would have helped grow the game in these counties. Now it seems like the aim is to get them over as quickly and as early as possible with the minimum of fuss and fanfare. There is absolutely no long term thinking within the organisation hierarchy it seems

Had to get that rant off my chest, in terms of the competition, Meath looked strong in the league alright and I think you could be right with your prediction of a Meath Kerry final in the Ring Cup, fancy Roscommon for the Rackard and Longford for the Meagher

Kerrydude1981

KevIRL wrote: »

The way the GAA have treated these competitions is nothing short of a disgrace. When the HDC recommended they be set up they included a recommendation that the finals be played as curtain raisers to All Ireland QF's/SF's and have TV exposure. This was done for the first few years and it was great, players got a chance to play on a big day in Croker and the games were televised, fantastic exposure and if continued would have helped grow the game in these counties. Now it seems like the aim is to get them over as quickly and as early as possible with the minimum of fuss and fanfare. There is absolutely no long term thinking within the organisation hierarchy it seems

Had to get that rant off my chest, in terms of the competition, Meath looked strong in the league alright and I think you could be right with your prediction of a Meath Kerry final in the Ring Cup, fancy Roscommon for the Rackard and Longford for the Meagher

Ya,its pretty sad the way these competitions are treated,no respect to the great men the Cups are named after or the players involved,they train just as hard as the top tier teams.

I remember when they started these competitions I thought it would be great to see Kerry playing in Croke Park before one of the big games and on TV as well,but when we won it, it got a 3 minute report on The Sunday Game and was played in a near empty Croke Park.

Hammer Archer

Ridiculous that they're done with by the end of June. It's disgraceful how poorly teams that aren't in Liam McCarthy are treated by the GAA. It's basically like they're afterthoughts.

Anyway, I'd hope we can put the disappointment of the league behind us and at least make the final. Don;t think we've ever made the Christy Ring final before.
Think Kerry will do it in the Christy Ring. Roscommon for the Nicky Rackard and Fermanagh for the Lory Meagher.

hould on hey

I'm a county man from a lower tier championship aswell And I Will probably play fr My county next year, howevver its pointless putting in The effort To get No reward from or respect from The gaa or media for it.
Give respect get respect is a total joke of a slogan
I Love My county And our football And hurling team but being constantly pshed aside toalet The kilkennys And dublins steal The show in hurling And football really puts a downer on it for a lot of us

Rant over! Good luck To everybody compeeting or going out To support their countyand club in The 13 championship

sataction

Saw two newspapers today, Independent gave decent coverage of the games. Daily Mirror no coverage atall, but then they had to give a page to the match between Wrexham and Newport County.

Kerrydude1981

I think Tom Howard has hit the nail on the head here,re the Christy Ring competition,its supposed to be the second tier competition but its not really I would say the teams playing in it would be 3rd or 4th tier teams.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/hurling/bridging-the-gap-the-crux-for-hurlings-second-tier-teams-230501.html

legendary.xix

From next year, 10 counties will be protected. The next five will go into a provincial qualifying group. This effectively puts the Ring competition third tier below the qualifying group.

As the GAA have moved to protect 10 counties, I think all other counties should enter an All-Ireland B competition. It would be beneficial for the top Christy Ring teams to get some competitive games against the counties just outside the "protected 10".

Kerrydude1981

Semi Final Results

Kerry 1-14 Kildare 1-11

Meath 1-25 Down 2-22 (after extra time)

Our lads had to work hard for the win today and could count themselves lucky to be in the final,Kildare who had put up decent scores in the past few weeks created a pile of scoring chances but missed them,id say they missed 2-10 altogether as they had a penalty in the first minute of the game which was also missed.

Looking at the other semi Kerry will have to tighten up for the final because if they give away the amount of chances they did today then it is really going to be a tough day out in Croke Park

Hammer Archer

Gutted we couldn't get the win in Trim today. Two points up at half time in extra time gave us something to hold on to but two atrocious refereeing decisions early in the second half meant the teams were level again. All through the game the referee made some completely baffling decisions so hopefully it's a different referee next weekend. Even still, should have put the game game to bed but some of our players got a rush of blood to the head when in scoring positions.

Fantastic game though.

legendary.xix

Semi-finals are not easy and Kerry got through it. It's great to be back in another Ring final. Going to be tough against who comes out of the other semi-final. Meath have been going well all year while Down have been their most impressive that I can recall since the Ring Cup begun.

lala88

Not a word on The Sunday about any of the games. Complete joke

Kerrydude1981

lala88 wrote: »

Not a word on The Sunday about any of the games. Complete joke

Ya,cant understand why they don't show any footage from any of the games,its alright to show highlights from first round Leinster Championship games with the likes of Carlow and Westmeath playing in them.

RTE having the wrong scoreline for the Kerry game on their website on Saturday says it all really.

Maybe their trying if we don't report on it the competitions might go away approach.

InchicoreDude

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

I think Tom Howard has hit the nail on the head here,re the Christy Ring competition,its supposed to be the second tier competition but its not really I would say the teams playing in it would be 3rd or 4th tier teams.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/hurling/bridging-the-gap-the-crux-for-hurlings-second-tier-teams-230501.html

I disagree with the following though:

“They could possibly beef up the Christy Ring, which I think there are plans to do.
“There are four or five teams who are competing in the Leinster championship, whom in my opinion, clearly are not really good enough to compete for honours.

There are very few competitions where every team in it is capable of competing for honours. In the football championship for example, should Leitrim not compete because they wont compete for honours?

Also, a few years back, I think it was Westmeath who won the Christy Ring and the GAA were threatening not to allow them compete in the Leinster championship. I think it was around the time Galway were being proposed being introduced. Well, Westmeath went up in arms over that. And rightly so. They had won the right to compete in the Liam McCarthy.

I just found this link while I was looking up about this:

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2008/12/23/34369-westmeath-clubs-call-for-automatic-promotion-for-christy-ring-winners/print

Here, Westmeath say that there should be an incentive to win the Christy Ring and that getting into the Liam McCarthy provides that incentive. I tend to agree with this. I like the current structure where the likes of Westmeths Carlow Antrim etc. are playing each other in preliminary games before they come against the likes of Galway & Kilkenny.

I'd love to see Christy Ring games being played as curtain raisers for bigger provinical matches though. And the finals should absolutely be in Croke Park.

legendary.xix

Antrim, Laois, Westmeath and Carlow agreed to the motion in congress that has protected 10 counties and will see 5 enter a qualifying group. The 5 team group of Antrim, Laois, Westmeath, Carlow and London will only consist of 3 in 2015. 2 teams will have been dropped to the Christy Ring with the Ring winner in '15 taking on the team finishing 3rd in the 3 team group in a promotion/relegation play-off.

In fairness, if any competition has promotion only without relegation, a competition will be weakened. This is what happened in the Christy Ring. Kerry were well aware of the gap between Ring and Munster championship when they won the Ring two years ago. The Ring Cup wasn't as competitive as it had been the few years previous to it when you had Carlow and Westmeath in it.

Stevecw

A place in the qualifiers for Christy Ring winners should def be brought in. CR gets no tv coverage or any notice these days.
Some good games at that level, i'm sure the Meath/Down game wud have given 10 mins good highlights for the Sunday Game last nite, instead of them doing a preview of a championship which started about 3 weeks ago!

legendary.xix

Stevecw wrote: »

A place in the qualifiers for Christy Ring winners should def be brought in. CR gets no tv coverage or any notice these days.
Some good games at that level, i'm sure the Meath/Down game wud have given 10 mins good highlights for the Sunday Game last nite, instead of them doing a preview of a championship which started about 3 weeks ago!

I'd have agreed with that as well. If the GAA felt team's were coming up from the Christy Ring but aren't ready for that level, they could have allowed the Ring Cup winner into the qualifiers. If they got to a certain stage then like the round before the quarter-finals, allow them promotion to a provincial championship.

The provincial qualifier group isn't a bad idea though. It's an acknowledgement that there is a small intermediary group. It's important to have the right balance between the top counties, that group and then the Ring Cup.

Kerrydude1981

So two finals been played this Saturday in Croke Park

Christy Ring

Kerry V Down

Nicky Rackard

Donegal V Roscommon

legendary.xix

Down have been having a good championship since their first round defeat to Kerry. Kerry have been the form team of the non-McCarthy Cup teams all year. Kerry were the best place Ring team in the league. Kerry were the only county in the whole hurling league to win 4 games and not make a divisional final.

It's disappointing that Saturday is the end of the hurling season for lower tier counties. I believe that to be wrong. The better Ring counties, i.e. the 4 Ring Cup semi-finalists, at the very least should enter a competition in June-July including the likes of Antrim, Laois, Carlow and Westmeath, something along the lines of being a B All-Ireland / intermediary competition between the lower McCarthy Cup and higher Ring Cup teams.

Good luck to Kerry on Sunday.

Roscommon, like Down, are having one of their better lower tier seasons. They were brave enough years back to contest Connaught finals and like Down, would've been one of the counties expected to do well in the lower tiers and progress further.

Hammer Archer

I haven't seen Kerry play this year but I wouldn't think they'll have much trouble against Down to be honest.
I was in Ballycran on Saturday and we left the game behind us. In the first half, we played against a strong breeze and up a steep hill. Even with some bad wides we were only 3 points down at half time.
I've no idea what happened in the second half though as we scored one point in the first 20 minutes and Down ran away with it. I didn't think Down were especially good, it's just we didn't come out of the dressing room for the last 35 minutes.

So long as Kerry can put the shackles on Down's giant of a full forward, they should have enough to win. The two week break as opposed to Down's 6th game in 6 weeks should stand to them as well.

legendary.xix

If the break does help, Kerry earned it by winning all games so far. One advantage that is in the CR system when games are played every week, the Round 2A winners benefit from a week off.

DEFTLEFTHAND

The Christy Ring should be held back and played during late summer with the final taking place in CP before the AI final.

Kerrydude1981

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The Christy Ring should be held back and played during late summer with the final taking place in CP before the AI final.

Or even an All Ireland Semi Final,I think the players would be delighted with that

Former GAA President Sean Kelly had an interview in The Kerryman a few weeks back,he said he would like to see the competitions be run off as they were intended to,like the first few years of the Christy Ring Cup was played during the summer months with the final taking place in August before an All Ireland Semi.

The finals got a mention on Championship Matters,they make out the winners of the Christy Ring should be allowed into the qualifiers,wouldn't be a bad idea,Kerry or Down would relish the chance of a shot at the likes of Carlow,Westmeath and Antrim.

Lome

Whos the 3rd game?

Kerrydude1981

Lome wrote: »

Whos the 3rd game?

It should be the Lory Meagher final,but cant seem to find anything on the GAA website about who is in the final its not on the fixture list for the weekend,which is strange

Didn't know Leitrim pulled out of it to save money

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/leitrim-pull-out-of-warwickshire-trip-to-spend-costs-on-local-hurling-29273767.html

Hammer Archer

Longford and Warwickshire are in the Lory Meagher Cup final. Really shows how much the GAA cares about the competition that they don't even have it in their fixture list.
Leitrim pulled out before their last game to save themselves travelling to Birmingham.

InchicoreDude

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The Christy Ring should be held back and played during late summer with the final taking place in CP before the AI final.

Why are they played so early now? What is the reasoning behind it?

Kerrydude1981

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Why are they played so early now? What is the reasoning behind it?

Get them out of the way early and free up the fixture list so the big teams can have it all to themselves.

Is all about the teams that bring people in the gates so the GAA haven't much time for the lower tier teams competitions.

homerjay2005

kerry in their 3rd final in 4 years, hopefully we can bring home a second title.

one thing here, i dont think we should be in the Munster Championship, win or lose. however, i do think the winners of the Christy Ring Cup (especially given the fact that it is over so soon), should be allowed to enter the Senior Qualifiers.

that surely offers more incentive for teams. agree about the TV thing though, this game should be played before the Leinster final or a Galway V Kilkenny game for example in Croke Park.

lala88

The GAA dont care about them yet will still charge €25 a ticket! Bit steep i think for what they class as second rate

InchicoreDude

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Get them out of the way early and free up the fixture list so the big teams can have it all to themselves.

Is all about the teams that bring people in the gates so the GAA haven't much time for the lower tier teams competitions.

But how do they get in the way of the bigger games???? I doubt anybody going to a Donegal hurling match wont go because they will go to see Kilkenny instead - Am I missing something?

Hammer Archer

Congratulations to Down, Donegal and especially Warwickshire on their wins today. Thought the Longford manager's comments this week about the Lory Meagher final were a bit misguided. When you come out with things like "I have no doubt in my mind that it's our fate to go and win the Lory Meagher Cup final" you're asking for trouble, especially when the team you're playing in the final beat you just a few weeks previously.

Interestingly, the scoreline in today's Christy Ring final was the exact same but in reverse as the one when Kerry and Down met in the first round.

Kerrydude1981

Some game yesterday it had everything a top tier game would have,joy and heartbreak for us in the space of a minute,congrats to Down though for showing great fighting spirit and sticking to the task.

Congrats to Donegal and Warwickshire as well.

jj1

InchicoreDude wrote: »

But how do they get in the way of the bigger games???? I doubt anybody going to a Donegal hurling match wont go because they will go to see Kilkenny instead - Am I missing something?

I'm pretty sure that you're not missing something.

I think playing the 3 lower Championships later in the year was causing club fixture problems for counties that were mainly football counties. The theory was that the county hurling panels couldn't commit fully as most would be playing football with their clubs as well. The idea of having them much earlier without the round robin elements is that the panels are able to fully commit for the period of the competition.

I don't think that viewpoint is correct & I think that county boards in some counties are completely indifferent to a particular code & just want it out of the way to make time for the other code.

KK did something similar with their club football Championships as well. Played it off early so that players wouldn't have to choose between the two codes

Swordfish trombone

In terms of progression, surely Donegal are the most improved hurling county. The leap from winning the Lory M (albeit their 3rd final) to winning the Nicky R at first attempt is a huge achievement - particularly given the success the footballers are currently enjoying. Ray Durack has worked wonders - to his eternal credit. Its fantastic to see the Burt contingent keeping hurling alive, and a thorn in the side of the Donegal GAA staus quo. The Christy Ring, realistically, is a not going to happen in the short term, but progress is progress......well done for the hard and unacknowledged work.

InchicoreDude

jj1 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that you're not missing something.

I think playing the 3 lower Championships later in the year was causing club fixture problems for counties that were mainly football counties. The theory was that the county hurling panels couldn't commit fully as most would be playing football with their clubs as well. The idea of having them much earlier without the round robin elements is that the panels are able to fully commit for the period of the competition.

I don't think that viewpoint is correct & I think that county boards in some counties are completely indifferent to a particular code & just want it out of the way to make time for the other code.

KK did something similar with their club football Championships as well. Played it off early so that players wouldn't have to choose between the two codes

Aah ok, that is more logical! Thank you.

Kerrydude1981

jj1 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that you're not missing something.

I think playing the 3 lower Championships later in the year was causing club fixture problems for counties that were mainly football counties. The theory was that the county hurling panels couldn't commit fully as most would be playing football with their clubs as well. The idea of having them much earlier without the round robin elements is that the panels are able to fully commit for the period of the competition.

I don't think that viewpoint is correct & I think that county boards in some counties are completely indifferent to a particular code & just want it out of the way to make time for the other code.

KK did something similar with their club football Championships as well. Played it off early so that players wouldn't have to choose between the two codes

Some of the Kerry lads had to play the first round of the County Football Championship yesterday,County Board once again showing very little respect towards the hurlers pretty sad asking fellas to play 24 hours after an All Ireland final.

What did ye make of Donal Og's idea on The Sunday Game last night? Having a combined Ulster team in the Liam McCarthy Cup

legendary.xix

Congratulations to Down. Welcome to the Christy Ring top table! Naturally I'm disappointed for my own county. It was the result I feared. Down seemed to gain a momentum in this year's championship that we have not seen for a few years. For Kerry hurling, it'll be interesting to see how they respond to yesterday's defeat. Next year the Ring winner will advance to a promotion/relegation play-off to join the provincial play-off group.

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

What did ye make of Donal Og's idea on The Sunday Game last night? Having a combined Ulster team in the Liam McCarthy Cup

Sounds like the divisional teams that play in Kerry and Cork championships. Not sure it will work at inter-county level. I don't think the Down management would want their better players missing training to take part with an Ulster team. I'm not looking to knock the idea as their is merit in it. At the same time there's a place for a Leinster and Connaught-Munster team. Donal Og's call seem to revolve around the fact the lower tier cups are over in early June. A couple of weeks though is no preparation for a team to be put together to take on a team training all year. This time next year the Ring winner will be preparing for a promotion/relegation play-off to join the provincial qualifier group. My own preference to bring on the better Ring teams is for the Ring semi-finalists to join 4 teams like Antrim, Carlow, Laois and Westmeath in a B championship to provide them more game time in June-July.

keane2097

It would be very much like Divisional teams as they have in Kerry. Assuming the counties involved would still line out with all their players in Lory Meagher/Nicky Rackard/Christy Ring this would only be a good thing, gradually improving the standard of some players in the county, driving others to try and get to that higher level etc.

I think it's pretty unarguable that someone like Darren O'Sullivan benefits from playing top level club football for Mid Kerry rather than just playing at a far lower level for Glenbeigh, think this would definitely help weaker counties in the long run.

legendary.xix

keane2097 wrote: »

It would be very much like Divisional teams as they have in Kerry. Assuming the counties involved would still line out with all their players in Lory Meagher/Nicky Rackard/Christy Ring this would only be a good thing, gradually improving the standard of some players in the county, driving others to try and get to that higher level etc.

I think it's pretty unarguable that someone like Darren O'Sullivan benefits from playing top level club football for Mid Kerry rather than just playing at a far lower level for Glenbeigh, think this would definitely help weaker counties in the long run.

There is merit in it alright. Divisional teams could simply enter at the qualifier stages when the Ring/Rackard/Meagher Cups have already completed. There are one or two snags.
The gap between Ring/Rackard/Meagher Cup finals and the qualifiers is two weeks. Is that enough time for players to prepare to take on a team who've been training all year? The Ring/Rackard/Meagher Cup semi-finalists and finalists will be in no position to release players any sooner considering their own commitments. The Ring winner next year will qualify for a promotion/relegation play-off to join the McCarthy Cup provincial qualifier group. This will either be a week after the Ring final or the same weekend as the qualifiers.

Stevecw

Looking at the hurling qualifier draw there earlier. It had 7 teams. My own county Carlow got a bye, so end up away to either Wexford/Dublin. That's a hammering for us, without even having had a game in weeks to prepare.

Pity Down as CR winners couldn't have joined in at this stage and made it 8 teams. A game between say Carlow and Down would be close. It would give Down a go at the lower Liam McCarthy teams, and would give the likes of Carlow an extra tough game if we did manage to beat Down, before facing a Wex/Dub.

legendary.xix

Stevecw wrote: »

Looking at the hurling qualifier draw there earlier. It had 7 teams. My own county Carlow got a bye, so end up away to either Wexford/Dublin. That's a hammering for us, without even having had a game in weeks to prepare.

Pity Down as CR winners couldn't have joined in at this stage and made it 8 teams. A game between say Carlow and Down would be close. It would give Down a go at the lower Liam McCarthy teams, and would give the likes of Carlow an extra tough game if we did manage to beat Down, before facing a Wex/Dub.

You make a fair point but there are one or two points to be aware of:

1) The McCarthy Cup has expanded with Carlow, Westmeath and London joining over recent years. Last year two counties had byes at this stage and before that 3 had byes prior to Westmeath joining the Leinster championship.

2) At congress it was voted that Antrim, Laois, Carlow, Westmeath and London will enter a provincial qualifying group next year. The top 2 teams in the group will advance to the Leinster championship quarter-finals. The bottom team of 5 will be relegated to the Ring Cup. The 4th placed team of 5 will take on the Ring Cup winner 2014 in a promotion relegation final. This will result in the provincial group only having 4 counties in 2015 and it will reduce by one more to 3 teams, 13 McCarthy Cup teams in total, in 2016.

nice_guy80

Stevecw wrote: »

Looking at the hurling qualifier draw there earlier. It had 7 teams. My own county Carlow got a bye, so end up away to either Wexford/Dublin. That's a hammering for us, without even having had a game in weeks to prepare.

Pity Down as CR winners couldn't have joined in at this stage and made it 8 teams. A game between say Carlow and Down would be close. It would give Down a go at the lower Liam McCarthy teams, and would give the likes of Carlow an extra tough game if we did manage to beat Down, before facing a Wex/Dub.

that would make sense

something the GAA don't do much of

InchicoreDude

nice_guy80 wrote: »

that would make sense

something the GAA don't do much of

In fairness, I think their approach outlined by legendary above is fairly sensible.

Hammer Archer

Anyone know if Donegal and Warwickshire will be promoted to the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard respectively? Haven't seen any word of teams being relegated. It'd be a bit unfair on both teams if they're forced to stay in the same grade next season. I'd say Warwickshire especially would be able to compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup. Donegal would probably have it tougher if they were to promote.

Kerrydude1981

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Anyone know if Donegal and Warwickshire will be promoted to the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard respectively? Haven't seen any word of teams being relegated. It'd be a bit unfair on both teams if they're forced to stay in the same grade next season. I'd say Warwickshire especially would be able to compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup. Donegal would probably have it tougher if they were to promote.

Donegal will surely want a crack at it,dont know how the places in both cups will be decided though as there is no relegation play off like it was when it first started,its it league position that decides it now?

paul0103

It looks like the format for the 3 competitions are staying as they are for 2014. From the official guide pg 102 here (found on Meath County Board Website)

the Counties eligible to participate in the Championship are:
Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Down, Derry, Armagh, Kerry and Mayo.

This really seems to be a ridiculous situation. It just makes winning any of the lower championships this year pointless. I know plenty of people have said it before, but surely it would be of benefit to Down this year to take a place in the preliminary round of the hurling qualifiers.

It is going to be made progressively harder to make it into Liam MacCarthy in the following two years. This would be fair enough if it ends up in a stronger Christy Ring championship, but I wonder how long it will last if a team like Antrim gets relegated and then has to have all of their championship games squeezed into the space of 6 weeks.

Kerrydude1981

Amazing how a game as good as The Christy Ring Final was can only get 2 minutes highlights on The Sunday Game.

legendary.xix

The idea of divisional/combined county teams is a good shout. The better lower tier players should be facilitated to get a taste of the game at the highest level. Lower tier counties aren't getting any inter-county hurling for the rest of the year. There is nothing to lose in even trialling it. If works great, if not, things can return as they are.

paul0103

legendary.xix wrote: »

The idea of divisional/combined county teams is a good shout. The better lower tier players should be facilitated to get a taste of the game at the highest level. Lower tier counties aren't getting any inter-county hurling for the rest of the year. There is nothing to lose in even trialling it. If works great, if not, things can return as they are.

I agree that something has to be done about lower tier counties getting inter county hurling into the summer, but I really don't think that regional or divisional teams are the way to go. Realistically a team needs to be training as a whole squad from October/November, which would be impossible in a regional team situation.

Also as it is at the minute, in most of these counties you have a core support of people who would attend most pre-season, league and championship matches. Then when the Christy Ring comes around, you might get a few more from the county coming to matches. If regional teams were introduced, these extra supporters would certainly be lost, possibly along with some of the core supporters.

What really needs to be done is for counties that are just about one step up from the Christy Ring, e.g Westmeath, London, Antrim etc. to realise that there isn't a hope of any of them competing with the top 10. If this happened we could have a far more competitive CR cup, something similar to what it was when it started out. These teams could join with the current top 4 or 5 from the Christy Ring to form the basis of this. If this was run parallel to the Liam MacCarthy throughout the summer it would get far more public attention, and would be very competitive, and would possibly even interest some of the "football only" supporters in some of these counties.

The same could be continued down through the championships, with the lower CR teams joining the upper teams from Nicky Rackard championship etc.

legendary.xix

paul0103 wrote: »

I agree that something has to be done about lower tier counties getting inter county hurling into the summer, but I really don't think that regional or divisional teams are the way to go. Realistically a team needs to be training as a whole squad from October/November, which would be impossible in a regional team situation.

Also as it is at the minute, in most of these counties you have a core support of people who would attend most pre-season, league and championship matches. Then when the Christy Ring comes around, you might get a few more from the county coming to matches. If regional teams were introduced, these extra supporters would certainly be lost, possibly along with some of the core supporters.

What really needs to be done is for counties that are just about one step up from the Christy Ring, e.g Westmeath, London, Antrim etc. to realise that there isn't a hope of any of them competing with the top 10. If this happened we could have a far more competitive CR cup, something similar to what it was when it started out. These teams could join with the current top 4 or 5 from the Christy Ring to form the basis of this. If this was run parallel to the Liam MacCarthy throughout the summer it would get far more public attention, and would be very competitive, and would possibly even interest some of the "football only" supporters in some of these counties.

The same could be continued down through the championships, with the lower CR teams joining the upper teams from Nicky Rackard championship etc.

Yeah, that's the problem with a regional team, they won't get much time to train together. At other levels of the GAA combined team's have shown they can overcome those obstacles and come to some arrangement. If it was at least tried for 2 or 3 years, there is nothing to lose.

I take your point about dropping some counties back to Ring level. The problem is though, teams want to naturally progress to the next level. The GAA to be fair to them are accommodating this as best they can. Next year 5 counties Antrim, Laois Carlow, Westmeath and London will enter a provincial qualifier group. Only the top 2 in the group will advance to the Leinster championship. Bottom team in the group will be relegated to Ring Cup and second bottom team will take on Ring winner in a promotion/relegation play-off.

The GAA's plan is to reduce to qualifier from 5 initially next year to being only 3 teams in 2016. I think they should only reduce it to 4. With 10 counties guaranteed provincial places and free of the threat of relegation, the GAA have essentially said these are the A level counties and the provincial qualifier counties are B level. I think 4 provincial qualifier counties should be joined by the 4 Ring semi-finalists in an All-Ireland B Championship in July. This would give Ring counties a chance to test themselves against teams just a level above them. The provincial qualifier counties while getting a chance to enter provincial championship would be getting an opportunity to win a championship at their level.