Club Championships

citykat

Mountainlad wrote: »

But he only got space when Kilcormac tired, don't think he can fashion it for himself anymore.

Not bad for an old geezer like him to finish top scorer from play and see out the full 80+ mins all the same.

Realt Dearg Sec

feargale wrote: »

I wasn't aware that this thread was confined to making predictions, or to schoolboy attempts at looking cleverer than the other guy, though God knows there's more than enough of that on GAA threads.
I'm not an Offalyman, but Offaly are the only county I have ever seen win their first ever All-Ireland Senior Hurling title, at a time when, I suspect, your posterior wasn't the size of a shirt button. It was one of the highlights of a life spent following hurling and I'm only sorry I didn't see it happen to other counties. It would have been the best thing that could happen to hurling.
I haven't read the pre-match comments on this thread and I have no idea what you posted, but I suspect that my post, harmless as it was, has hurt your feelings in a big way. Maybe you made predictions about the game or decried thè current state of Offaly hurling. I don't know nor do I care what you posted. I have found the current decliñe of Offaly hurling to be sad, though it has to be said that it is still in a healthier state than it was before the rise to glory and is only in decline when measured against the amazing achîevements of the two closing decades of the last century.
The performance of Kilcormac-Killoughey today bucked the recent trend, and the person who begrudges a pat on the back for that lacks a true appreciation of the game of hurllng. For the true aficionado it's not all about rooting for one's own side. You'll probably come to understand that when you grow older.
If you want to see how a mature discussion of sport is conducted in boards can I suggest that you try some of the threads devoted to other sports.
I'll leave you with the suggestion that you google what Brendan Behan said about the begrudgers.

Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the condescension.

Mountainlad

citykat wrote: »

Not bad for an old geezer like him to finish top scorer from play and see out the full 80+ mins all the same.

As I said class when he gets space, but he wasn't doing enough in normal time. Ger Healion destroyed him at the start and to be honest Colin Fennelly was far more effective at center forward at that stage of the game, albeit notorious for taking the wrong option.

He still has plenty to contribute at thus level as obviously he got those 4points in the end, but I'm talking from a broader context. And he may find it tougher again next day out. Do you reckon he's still good enough to play inter county yourself?

citykat

Mountainlad wrote: »

Do you reckon he's still good enough to play inter county yourself?

Good enough - yes no doubt. Quick enough - that's another story.

Mountainlad

citykat wrote: »

Good enough - yes no doubt. Quick enough - that's another story.

He'll never not be good enough. But his body isn't able.

MfMan

citykat wrote: »

:eek:

That wasn't what I saw. Thought myself Colin was man of the match. Full of strong running. Had his man in all sorts of trouble every time he got the ball. AFAIR he was still running at the KK defence well into ET. Had two good attempts on goal which were stopped. On his striking, he tends to go for hail mary shots from out the field - look great when they go over.

If Portumna get through in Galway, looking forward to seeing how JC gets on probably against JH - could make or break him next year. In fairness Ballyhale were given a stern test by KK who might feel they threw it away on missed frees alone but as you said credit to both on a very enjoyable game on the day/pitch that was in it.

Doubt they'll match up if it comes to pass. JC largely plays towards midfield for Portumna these days, as does Ollie in the HF line. Be interesting to see if they'll draw the latter back to bolster the defence if they meet in Feb.

homerjay2005

feargale wrote: »

Well done rank outsiders Kilcormac-Killoughey. To those who had prematurely written off Offaly hurling, it's not dead yet.

Club championships dont prove alot, every year,club winners from the some of the so call weaker counties more than put it up to the winners from the big sides and often beat them also. weve had westmeath, Antrim (all ireland winners) and Clare clubs win their provence in recent years, yet they did absolutely nothing at inter country level in any of those 3 counties.

Cratloe from Clare, should have beaten Dr Crokes last year for example, the Nire had stacks beaten last week if they held their nerve - multiple other examples also, look at the bating that Corofin gave the mayo last 2 sundays ago and so on and so one.

Offaly hurling is at its lowest web in 30 years, nobody said its dead, but plenty of people have said its awful and thats an accurate statement based on senior intercounty results over the past 5 years.

playing GAA at this time of the year is a great leveller in most cases also - wetter/slower pitches, longer grass, wind, rain, cold - all makes a huge difference and helps the weaker teams by a few points in alot of games - the intercounty lads from the big counties would have had longer years also than the inter county players from the weaker counties and again, it all adds up.

keane2097

HJ is spot on.

All these games tend to show is that bad weather brings better teams down to the level of worse teams, which is hardly something any of us are surprised about unless we're trying to have a dig at someone.

feargale

toxicity234 wrote: »

Can't miss easy frees and win. Slevin Buied his grandmother yesterday and hurled with a broken finger. he was excellent from play but missed some free he put over in his sleep other days.

That explains alot, and he did indeed do well from play but it's difficult to understand why he wasn't relieved of free-taking duties during the game,

feargale

@ keane & homerjay, fair comment and very valid points especially by homerjay. I would just say that Kilcormac exceeded expectations yesterday and that can do Offaly no harm. Homerjay rightly says that Offaly hurling is at its lowest ebb in 30 years, but believe it or not it has been lower. Between 1929 and 1969 Offaly failed to reach a Leinster final, and to my knowledge won nothing then, not even a Leinster junior, bar a Division Two final against Kerry in 1966. If you check the records from 1930 to 1960 I think you will find about two Offaly hurlers featuring in a Railway Cup final. A combination of events in the sixties created a springboard: the coming of a committed hurling man to the Birr school, the rise of St. Rynaghs and Paddy Molloy who was then one of the country's best hurlers.
I would say that for a county with a handful of clubs, one of them doing well is more significant for the county than it would be for Kilkenny, Cork or Tipp.
A county as small as Offaly was never going to maintain the stunning successes of 1980-1997. That county may produce a good crop once every 30 years or so, and then needs additional factors favouring it, including luck. Next time Offaly will have some tradition to sustain it, unlike the last time.
Of course, as you suggest, the competitive nature of hurling has changed. I'm not sure where that is going to lead us.

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the condescension.

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

What, out of interest, do you do on the weekend? I really hope it's something that justifies that level of condescension.

You seem to be no stranger to condescension. I wonder why.

MfMan

feargale wrote: »

@ keane & homerjay, fair comment and very valid points especially by homerjay. I would just say that Kilcormac exceeded expectations yesterday and that can do Offaly no harm. Homerjay rightly says that Offaly hurling is at its lowest ebb in 30 years, but believe it or not it has been lower. Between 1929 and 1969 Offaly failed to reach a Leinster final, and to my knowledge won nothing then, not even a Leinster junior, bar a Division Two final against Kerry in 1966. If you check the records from 1930 to 1960 I think you will find about two Offaly hurlers featuring in a Railway Cup final. A combination of events in the sixties created a springboard: the coming of a committed hurling man to the Birr school, the rise of St. Rynaghs and Paddy Molloy who was then one of the country's best hurlers.
I would say that for a county with a handful of clubs, one of them doing well is more significant for the county than it would be for Kilkenny, Cork or Tipp.
A county as small as Offaly was never going to maintain the stunning successes of 1980-1997. That county may produce a good crop once every 30 years or so, and then needs additional factors favouring it, including luck. Next time Offaly will have some tradition to sustain it, unlike the last time.
Of course, as you suggest, the competitive nature of hurling has changed. I'm not sure where that is going to lead us.





You seem to be no stranger to condescension. I wonder why.

I would argue that Kilcormac didn't play up to expectation; they reached the AI final more recently than B/S and the likes of Currams didn't reach his best standard. Ballyhale were well there for the taking, (conditions didn't drag them down to KK's level), and would have been had the opposition had a better freetaker.

Mountainlad

MfMan wrote: »

I would argue that Kilcormac didn't play up to expectation; they reached the AI final more recently than B/S and the likes of Currams didn't reach his best standard. Ballyhale were well there for the taking, (conditions didn't drag them down to KK's level), and would have been had the opposition had a better freetaker.

Wouldn't agree to be honest. Talent wise there is no doubt who the better side was. The fact they were only a good free taker from winning is definitely exceeding general expectation.

Always_Running

Very predictable one sided Leinster final. St Vincent's rarely had to get out of 2nd gear. Corofin v St Vincent's in the All Ireland semi final next in what should be a close contested match.

Frankie Lee

The Tipperary SFC final is only on next weekend, that is an utter disgrace. The GAA should fine county boards for every week a championship goes beyond the end of October. They are treating players with utter contempt with that sort of fixture organising.

Kerrydude1981

How was the Galway Hurling Championship held up?

I see the final was won today by Gort.

washman3

Frankie Lee wrote: »

The Tipperary SFC final is only on next weekend, that is an utter disgrace. The GAA should fine county boards for every week a championship goes beyond the end of October. They are treating players with utter contempt with that sort of fixture organising.

And the Galway hurling final played today, even though the county senior team exited the championship in late July.
As long as the players are willing to put up with this s###e the county boards will change nothing.
Here in Limerick, the semi finals of the U-21 premier football are on next weekend with the final sometime between Christmas and the new year.
All games have been played under lights so far.
Consider that we had the finest summer in 25 years and we now expect these young men to play in December.......

washman3

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

How was the Galway Hurling Championship held up?

I see the final was won today by Gort.

They're late every year but this year was worse because 1 team played an illegal player in the 1/4 finals, were thrown out, and appealed, and eventually ran out of appeals.
Little wonder they cannot unite to win an AI senior hurling title.!!

BTW. was the North Kerry Football final played yet, and who is involved.?

Kerrydude1981

washman3 wrote: »

They're late every year but this year was worse because 1 team played an illegal player in the 1/4 finals, were thrown out, and appealed, and eventually ran out of appeals.
Little wonder they cannot unite to win an AI senior hurling title.!!

BTW. was the North Kerry Football final played yet, and who is involved.?

The North Kerry "Jingle Bells" Championship is still going,there was a draw in the quarter finals between Brosna and St Senans the winners play Listowel Emmets in the Semi Final while the other Semi Final is between Beale and Ballyduff,

Utopia Parkway

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

How was the Galway Hurling Championship held up?

I see the final was won today by Gort.

Illegal player played, then appeals, etc. Held up the entire championship for 2 months.

homeofhurling

it seems Dublin clubs are winning the club leinster as easy as they are winning the inter county leinster finals.

DoctaDee

homeofhurling wrote: »

it seems Dublin clubs are winning the club leinster as easy as they are winning the inter county leinster finals.

Looks like Vins are gonna have to be split in 2 .. only those born between Collins & Griffith Ave need apply :rolleyes: ..

Dirty Dingus McGee

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229360

Brilliant stuff the Tipperary football final ends in a draw so we could potentially be back to the War of Independence days when finals were played a couple of years behind schedule.

Dirty Dingus McGee

homeofhurling wrote: »

it seems Dublin clubs are winning the club leinster as easy as they are winning the inter county leinster finals.

In all honesty I'd say the Dublin senior championship is actually tougher to win than the Leinster championship.

Mountainlad

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229360

Brilliant stuff the Tipperary football final ends in a draw so we could potentially be back to the War of Independence days when finals were played a couple of years behind schedule.

Or, theyll play it 3 weeks time.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Mountainlad wrote: »

Or, theyll play it 3 weeks time.

I was exaggerating a bit but it's still mad that a county final for 2014 will not be played in 2014.

Fr Tod Umptious

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229360

Brilliant stuff the Tipperary football final ends in a draw so we could potentially be back to the War of Independence days when finals were played a couple of years behind schedule.

The famous 1992 clash between Aherlow and Nenagh (I think) was this time of year.

Frankie Lee

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The famous 1992 clash between Aherlow and Nenagh (I think) was this time of year.

That was only an u21 game but was in January.

TiggerInParis

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Brilliant stuff the Tipperary football final ends in a draw so we could potentially be back to the War of Independence days when finals were played a couple of years behind schedule.

Replay is next Sunday so it'll be a dry christmas for the lads. I'd imagine there'll be extra-time if necessary.

Borders no.2

I had to laugh when I heard it ended in a draw. Farcical stuff. The goings on with the hurling in Galway and football in Wexford and Tipperary amongst others has been absolutely shambolic. Donegal stopped up everything but at least everyone knew that was the case and they got on with it then when the year was over. It means the Donegal champions had effectively no chance in Ulster but at least the players knew where they stood.

People wonder why players go off playing soccer or rugby, the answer is simple, with those games 99% of the time you know when and who you will be playing and you can arrange a normal life around that. Until the GAA get a grip on this and take matters outside the control of interest groups and county managers more of this is what we'll be seeing.

washman3

Limerick U-21 premier football semi-final was played today, and ended in a draw.!!!
Replay is on St.Stephens day with the final fixed for New Years Eve...
Read elsewhere that all the clubs agreed to starting this championship in October.