2015 Interprovincials

iDave

Before I even submit the thread I know some of the responses will be to scrap it.
Nevertheless its on this weekend in Galway, Armagh and Down. The competition seems to retain broad support from players. That support kept IRS alive and its now showing signs of recovery.
Get the feeling this is being shoehorned into whatever date they could find. Finals clashing with the Leinster club football final and no Dublin footballers available. None of that can be helpful.
With the GAA pushing to wrap up all club activity within the calendar year it could eventually retake its St Patrick Day slot.
Without TV coverage, GPA backing and some sort of marketing strategy it will always be wandering the desert regardless of the date its played.

Saturday 5 December
Interprovincial SFC semi-finals
Munster v Leinster, Pairc Esler, 4pm
Ulster v Connacht, Athletic Grounds, 7pm

Interprovincial SHC semi-finals
Ulster v Connacht, Pearse Stadium, 12.30pm
Munster v Leinster, Pearse Stadium, 2pm

Sunday 6 December

Interprovincial SFC final
Munster/Leinster v Ulster/Connacht, Athletic Grounds, 2.30pm

Interprovincial SHC final
Ulster/Connacht v Munster/Leinster, Pearse Stadium, 1.30pm

BonnieSituation

Are we only playing Munster in Páirc Esler because of proximity to the Athletic Grounds?

iDave

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Are we only playing Munster in Páirc Esler because of proximity to the Athletic Grounds?

Not sure the reasons for the venue choices.

CrabRevolution

People can blame the GAA all they want for not pushing the interprovincials, but the bottom line is that not enough people care about them for them to be viable.

As far back as the 70s the interprovincials have been said be dying, with attempts to spice it up by adding a Universities select to the competition proving incapable of saving it. For years people suggested playing the final abroad to make it more exciting. This was done, and lo and behold, people still didn't care.

I don't really think the players wanting it amounts to much of an argument. Of course they'd want it, its an easy chance to play some good football with good players. They're under no pressure, they don't have to train too long or too hard for it, nobody cares if you lose, you get your gear and meals and expenses etc.

I'd go as far as to say that the interprovincials get more attention now than they ever did before. Only change is that these days all the attention is on how desperately unpopular and irrelevant they are.

ProudDUB

It suffering because it is being played only a couple of weeks after the International Rules series. If people had any interest in seeing players from the same province/country playing along side each other, the IR series, hoovered it all up imo.

deadybai

Munster Inter Provincial Hurling Panel 2015

Padraic Maher (Tipperary) Captain

John Conlon (Clare)

Cian Dillon (Clare)

Shane Golden (Clare)

David McInerney (Clare)

Shane O’Donnell (Clare)

Conor Ryan (Clare)

Mark Ellis (Cork)

Séamus Harnedy (Cork)

Anthony Nash (Cork)

Paudie O’Sullivan (Cork)

Shane Nolan (Kerry)

Paul Browne (Limerick)

Tom Condon (Limerick)

Shane Dowling (Limerick)

Cian Lynch (Limerick)

Paudie O’Brien (Limerick)

Gavin O’Mahony (Limerick)

James Ryan (Limerick)

Cathal Barrett (Tipperary)

James Barry (Tipperary)

Kieran Bergin (Tipperary)

Darren Gleeson (Tipperary)

Patrick Maher (Tipperary)

John O’Dwyer (Tipperary)

Noel Connors (Waterford)

deadybai

LEINSTER PANEL:

J Dempsey (Offaly),
P Murphy (Kilkenny),
M O'Hanlon (Wexford),
L Ryan (Wexford),
L Chin (Wexford),
M Whelan (Laois),
C Buckley (Kilkenny),
C Fogarty (Kilkenny),
D Redmond (Wexford),
B Carroll (Offaly),
R Hogan (Kilkenny),
C Dwyer (Laois),
G Keegan (Kildare),
C McDonald (Wexford),
M Kavanagh (Carlow),
G Maguire (Dublin),
J Fitzpatrick (Laois),
S Kelly (Wicklow),
M Burke (Meath),
J Boland (Dublin),
L Ryan (Kilkenny),
E Price (Westmeath),
W Walsh (Kilkenny),
L Og McGovern (Wexford),
Z Keenan (Laois),
N O'Brien (Westmeath),
S Dooley (Offaly).

iDave

Fair play to Mickey Burke making the hurling panel.

arctictree

Looks like they chose 1 player from each of the weaker counties.

paulie21

You know this is a waste of time when the Dubs would rather go on their holidays

redlead

paulie21 wrote: »

You know this is a waste of time when the Dubs would rather go on their holidays

looks like the Waterford hurlers have done the same. Definitely time to scrap this. It's a noble idea but not noble enough for anyone to turn up/care about the games so why should the players care? They have enough other games on throughout the year

CrabRevolution

Maybe I'm just cynical but the Leinster team definitely has the look that they chose a strong core of a team, then one each from Wicklow, Meath Kildare etc.

On top of that, I'm not normally one to criticise players, but Mickey Burke isnt even the best hurler in Meath, I have no idea how he got on to the team. There's several hurlers better than him in the county, maybe they couldnt commit or werent chosen because of club activity.

deadybai

Pity its not on the tele. I dont think I've ever seen one of these games. Being on the tele might spark some interest.

Players like this series and the International rules series/Shinty because you get to play at the top level. The more games against better players, the better player you will become.

redlead

deadybai wrote: »

Players like this series and the International rules series/Shinty because you get to play at the top level. The more games against better players, the better player you will become.

anyone that gets on an iner prov team certainly isn't lacking game time

dastardly00

The hurling is on in Pearse Stadium ... which is a few minutes down the road from where I live .... but I'm not around this weekend. D'oh!

danganabu

dastardly00 wrote: »

The hurling is on in Pearse Stadium ... which is a few minutes down the road from where I live .... but I'm not around this weekend. D'oh!

Looking at the weather warnings, I would be amazed if these went ahead, and twice as amazed if they went ahead in Pearse Stadium.

dastardly00

danganabu wrote: »

Looking at the weather warnings, I would be amazed if these went ahead, and twice as amazed if they went ahead in Pearse Stadium.

It's ridiculously windy here at the moment alright.

Mayo Club 51

Is there anyone thinking of heading up to these match's? We've some tickets going if anyone interested.

http://mayoclub51.com/2015-interprovincial-championship/

BobBobBobBob

The Cork lads are on their way up to Pearse Stadium but it will probably called off they think!

cms88

Both sets of semi finals are off.

On another note it was great to see such a spread of players by all the teams. Great for lads from Tyrone, Donegal, Roscommon, Kerry, Carlow etc getting to play with and against lads form Kilkenny, Tipp etc. Same with the football

iDave

cms88 wrote: »

Both sets of semi finals are off

Shame. Further emphasises the need for a better calendar.

If this competition is to be continued it should be on maybe the October bank holiday weekend. Ok the club championships would still be going on but what happened to November and December supposedly being down time. Games shouldn't be played at this time of year.

Clareman

In my opinion the Railway Cups were fine when players were only getting 1 game a year and it could be played off in conjunction with the main championship, now that's not an option it needs a massive re-think.

Personally, I would look to make a festival weekend for invited players, semi-finals on the Saturday, finals on a Sunday with the ground being completely open to allow people in and out as they want. Also, make the games more "fun" and throw in some quirky stuff like rotating subs, 2 points for sidelines, 4 quarters instead of halves, maybe try some trial rules, make it like the Concern match after the All Ireland's

Xenophile

Clareman wrote: »

In my opinion the Railway Cups were fine when players were only getting 1 game a year and it could be played off in conjunction with the main championship, now that's not an option it needs a massive re-think.

Personally, I would look to make a festival weekend for invited players, semi-finals on the Saturday, finals on a Sunday with the ground being completely open to allow people in and out as they want. Also, make the games more "fun" and throw in some quirky stuff like rotating subs, 2 points for sidelines, 4 quarters instead of halves, maybe try some trial rules, make it like the Concern match after the All Ireland's

Nice thinking outside the box, but a bit too radical

One way or another bring them back to St. Patricks day and the finals played on the Easter Public Holidays, Sunday and Monday, three games each day and possibly one on the eve of the Holidays. All of the above incorporating the Club Finals or in conjunction with the Club Finals.

feargale

Thanks for putting up the. Munster and Leinster hurling panels. That's more than either of the Dublin dailies did. They would gladly talk the RC to extinction but wouldn't even give us that.
Can anyone put up the Ulster and Connacht selections? Thanks.

dastardly00

feargale wrote: »

Can anyone put up the Ulster and Connacht selections? Thanks.

Here you go.

Ulster Hurling Inter-Provincial Panel:
1. Chrissy O’Connell – Captain (Aontroim)
2. Odhran McFadden (Aontroim)
3. John Dillon (Aontroim)
4. Conor McKinley (Aontroim)
5. Danny Cullen (Dun na nGall)
6. Neal McAuley (Aontroim)
7. Kevin Hinphey (Doire)
8. Conor Woods (An Dún)
9. Daniel McKernan (Aontroim)
10. Damien Casey (Tír Eoghan)
11. Paul Cleary (Doire)
12. Aiden Kelly (Tír Eoghan)
13. Danny Toner (An Dún)
14. Conor Corvan (Ard Mhacha)
15. Ciaran Clark (Aontroim)
16. Stephen Keith (An Dún)
17. Joe Boyle (Dun na nGall)
18. Gerard Walsh (Aontroim)
19. Simon McCrory (Aontroim)
20. Micheal Dudley (Aontroim)
21. Stephen McAfee (Aontroim)
22. Alan Grant (Doire)
23. Ruairi Convery (Doire)
24. Ronan McDermott (Dun na nGall)

Connacht Hurling Inter-Provincial Panel:
1. J Skehill(Galway)
2. F Moore(Galway)
3. K Hynes(Galway)
4. P Kellehan(Roscommon)
5. A Harte(Galway)
6. G Lally(Galway)
7. G McInerney(Galway)
8. M Kelly(Roscommon)
9. A Smith(Galway)
10. C Whelan(Galway)
11. J Cooney(Galway)
12. P Brehony(Galway)
13. S Moloney(Galway)
14. J Canning(Galway)
15. R Cummins(Galway)
16. J Keane(Galway)
17. P Mannion(Galway)
18. J Coen(Galway)
19. L Kilcline(Roscommon)
20. D Collins(Galway)
21. E Burke(Galway)
22. J Flynn(Galway)
23. B Molloy(Galway)
24. K Feeney (Mayo)

Prop Joe

How about this for an idea.

Every club in Ireland has a chance to tender for the Inter-Pro's from the smallest clubs in Ireland to the largest - All the club needs is four dressing rooms.

It would be massive occasions for the clubs and would draw a greater crowd locally than what it usually draws.

I would play it off in one day with 2 x 40 min Semi finals followed by a 40 min final. (With inter change subs)

iDave

CCCC say it won't be rearranged for this weekend

mayo.mick

iDave wrote: »

CCCC say it won't be rearranged for this weekend

Meeting again on January 12th I think and a date will be set then.

feargale

Prop Joe wrote: »

How about this for an idea.
Every club in Ireland has a chance to tender for the Inter-Pro's from the smallest clubs in Ireland to the largest - All the club needs is four dressing rooms.
It would be massive occasions for the clubs and would draw a greater crowd locally than what it usually draws.
I would play it off in one day with 2 x 40 min Semi finals followed by a 40 min final. (With inter change subs)

Here's another idea. Play it a week before the All-Stars are selected, and make it a bit, though not entirely relevant to the selection

Pete_Cavan

Clareman wrote: »

In my opinion the Railway Cups were fine when players were only getting 1 game a year and it could be played off in conjunction with the main championship, now that's not an option it needs a massive re-think.

Personally, I would look to make a festival weekend for invited players, semi-finals on the Saturday, finals on a Sunday with the ground being completely open to allow people in and out as they want. Also, make the games more "fun" and throw in some quirky stuff like rotating subs, 2 points for sidelines, 4 quarters instead of halves, maybe try some trial rules, make it like the Concern match after the All Ireland's

This is the only way to make the interpros work IMO. Turn it into something like the Barbarians in rugby, gather the best players and let them show their stuff. Encourage a fast and open game, it will never be more than an exhibition anyway so it should be about entertainment rather than cut throat championship which can be hampered by fear of losing. Make it fun for both players and fans. Having a charity element to it also helps with the feel good factor.

Moving it around to different county grounds each year it should attract decent crowds due to the novelty and have a few other things around it, entertainment for kids, food stalls, etc. Make a big effort to attract as many locals as possible, you are unlikely to get many travelling big distances to attend but should be able to pull a decent crowd by really promoting it within, say, 30km radius of the venue. Get the pricing strategy right as well, keep the cost of tickets for both days close to the price of a Sunday ticket otherwise a lot of people will just go on Sunday. The bigger the crowds at the games, the more likely it is that a tv station will want to pick it up.

Green_Tae

feargale wrote: »

Here's another idea. Play it a week before the All-Stars are selected, and make it a bit, though not entirely relevant to the selection

Yeah, I feel tying it to the All-Stars is the best course of action to take - a pair of finals acting as a prelude to the awards ceremony makes a lot sense and whatever has been said about the lack of public interest in this competition, the inter-provincials still retain more cultural appeal than the actual All-Star matches do.

Also worth pointing out that the international rules series was a dead duck until it was taken seriously by both associations and marketed properly. You would imagine that the same applies to the Inter-Pros.

CrabRevolution

When was the international rules ever a dead duck? The lowest ever attendance at a Croke Park match for the IR series was 29'000 in 2013, and that could be partly put down to the fact Ireland had a big score already racked up from the first game of the series that year, and the AFL had only sent an indigenous side of lesser quality.

Even after it was skipped for a year after all the fights in 2006, the attendences (in both Ireland and Australia) were north of 50'000 when it returned in 2008/2010.

Interprovincial games struggle to get 200 fans, its far far more moribund than the IR ever was.

Boom__Boom

CrabRevolution wrote: »

When was the international rules ever a dead duck? The lowest ever attendance at a Croke Park match for the IR series was 29'000 in 2013, and that could be partly put down to the fact Ireland had a big score already racked up from the first game of the series that year, and the AFL had only sent an indigenous side of lesser quality.

For this the attendance is a bit misleading given how cheap the tickets are and the extremely high percentage of the attendance that is made up of kids tickets plus the whole issue of how many are sold versus given away. There were a number of years where the international rules has been run at a loss.

CrabRevolution

Still not comparable really, the "lowest" ebb of the international rules was nearly 30'000 people showing up to watch a second rate match. In comparison, I attended an interprovincial hurling semi final held near me a year or 2 ago and there were more players than spectators.

Even then, I don't know why people always bring the IR into the argument when the Interpros are discussed. What connection have they to each other? Why are they painted as opposite sides of an argument? If the IR was scrapped, people still wouldnt care about the Interpros, I'm not sure what makes anyone think otherwise.

Boom__Boom

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Still not comparable really, the "lowest" ebb of the international rules was nearly 30'000 people showing up to watch a second rate match. In comparison, I attended an interprovincial hurling semi final held near me a year or 2 ago and there were more players than spectators.

Even then, I don't know why people always bring the IR into the argument when the Interpros are discussed. What connection have they to each other? Why are they painted as opposite sides of an argument? If the IR was scrapped, people still wouldnt care about the Interpros, I'm not sure what makes anyone think otherwise.

Well with the international rules, there was a lot of talk about scrapping them because they were losing money and there didn't seem to be that much interest in them - the games in Croke Park don't cost a high amount but sending a panel off to OZ for a 2/3 weeks is a fairly costly proposition.

Overall for me there is a world of difference between the interprovincals and the international rules in my eyes - the interprovincals are a corpse at this stage, whereas the international rules have some bit of life in them . The way I see it is for both competitions those playing or watching aren't that all massively concerned about the result once the game is over - they fall into the category of nice to win but no-ones going to lose any sleep over losing them. This is a structural issue and I don't think there's any way to overcome it - with the international rules there is no really sense of rivalry as the squads change so much from year to year on both sides. For the interprovincials, county and club are always and ever going to mean much much more for players.

feargale

I see the 2016 Interprovincials, semi-finals and finals, have been fixed for the weekend of 10/11th December. ( GAA Diary 2016. ) Two things give me an enormous pain in the erse:
1. Hurling in December.
2. Christmas carols in October.

Al Monds

The football could be played under International rules in preparation for Australia.
The hurling could be played as Shinty games in preparation for Scotland.
This might make them novel and curious attractions and draw better attendances.
They could be played in August which is relatively quiet and most players are no longer involved in the AI.

HanaleiJ5N

Was the 2015 series just cancelled completely? I don't recall hearing anything about rescheduling?

feargale

Al Monds wrote: »

The football could be played under International rules in preparation for Australia.
The hurling could be played as Shinty games in preparation for Scotland.
This might make them novel and curious attractions and draw better attendances.
They could be played in August which is relatively quiet and most players are no longer involved in the AI.

Like participants in an experiment or exhibits in a freak show? Thanks but no thanks.
I think they deserve the same treatment as any other competition.
I hear only journalists advocating abolition, not the players themselves.

dastardly00

HanaleiJ5N wrote: »

Was the 2015 series just cancelled completely? I don't recall hearing anything about rescheduling?

This is from Páraic Duffy's Annual Report that was published today:

"Maybe now is the time to accept the inevitable: our crowded playing calendar and a lack of interest among players and the public tell us that the competitions have no viable future. "The 2013 competitions [six games] attracted total gate receipts of €12,220, a figure that fell to €7,126 in 2014.
"Both competitions were scheduled for December 2015. Weather conditions led to their postponement. But, in any case, given the number of elite players who had already indicated their non-availability, the signs for a renewal of public interest were not good."

Boom__Boom

dastardly00 wrote: »

This is from Páraic Duffy's Annual Report that was published today:

€7,126 divided by 6 games works out at €1,187.67 a game.
Assuming a ticket price of only a €5 a head, that works out to an attendance of 238 for each game.

Combine that with this bit of his statement

But, in any case, given the number of elite players who had already indicated their non-availability, the signs for a renewal of public interest were not good."

means that it's time for it to be put to rest.

CrabRevolution

Think the ticket prices were a tenner when I went to the 2014 ones, with the student/OAP being €5. Either way that's less than 200 people per match.

feargale

Boom__Boom wrote: »

€7,126 divided by 6 games works out at €1,187.67 a game.
Assuming a ticket price of only a €5 a head, that works out to an attendance of 238 for each game.

Combine that with this bit of his statement
means that it's time for it to be put to rest.

Apply that logic ( re attendances and gate receipts ) to most other sports in Ireland, e.g. hockey, water polo, judo etc. and the conclusion would be to get rid of them in their entirety. The GAA used to be a great national movement, based mainly on voluntary effort. When did it evolve into a business? And as regards this stuff about players not supporting the interprovincials, when was the last time a player from Leitrim or Carlow turned up his nose at the interpros?

CrabRevolution

feargale wrote: »

Apply that logic ( re attendances and gate receipts ) to most other sports in Ireland, e.g. hockey, water polo, judo etc. and the conclusion would be to get rid of them in their entirety. The GAA used to be a great national movement, based mainly on voluntary effort. When did it evolve into a business? And as regards this stuff about players not supporting the interprovincials, when was the last time a player from Leitrim or Carlow turned up his nose at the interpros?

Nobody would ever suggest disbanding minority sports because of low attendances and gate receipts. That would just be wiping those sports from the country.

A big hockey game would interest all of Ireland's hockey fans, an interprovincial series interests about 600 people across 6 games. The interpros are well down the pecking order in terms of prestige or importance in the GAA. They're definitely the least important championship, between club or county, and the attendance numbers reflect that.

Boom__Boom

feargale wrote: »

Apply that logic ( re attendances and gate receipts ) to most other sports in Ireland, e.g. hockey, water polo, judo etc. and the conclusion would be to get rid of them in their entirety. The GAA used to be a great national movement, based mainly on voluntary effort. When did it evolve into a business? And as regards this stuff about players not supporting the interprovincials, when was the last time a player from Leitrim or Carlow turned up his nose at the interpros?

Expect no-one is suggesting getting rid of the sports of football and hurling entirely - just 3 glorified challenge games across 2 codes for county players who already are taken away from their clubs enough, for games which the vast vast majority of the GAA public isn't interested in going to see.