National Hurling League 2017 Discussion

PTH2009

fixtures
1A- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-1/
1B- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-1b/
2A- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-2a/
2B- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-2b/
3A- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-3a/
3B- http://www.gaa.ie/hurling/hurling-league-roinn-3b/

so the hurling league kicks off Sat 11 Feb. Going to be an interesting league, 1A is always very tight and nobody will want to get relgated ,with 3 teams fighting for promotion from 1B thats going to be a very competitve division. Kilkenny will be out to a prove a point, Tipp might go for the league this year, Clare will want to do 2 in a row, Waterford will want to win back the title after losing out so narrowly in the final replay last year, Dublin and Cork didnt have the best of seasons in 2016 and will both want to impress. For the last 2 seasons the team who won promotion from 1B has gone on to win the league, who knows Galway, Wexford or Limerick might go on to lift the cup on April 23rd

I think Kilkenny will win it but have a funny feeling Wexford might win promotion and go all the way. Davy wants to win everything and has been going very well since he took over down in Wexford

Kerrydude1981

First game is a massive one for us,up against Laois who we beat twice last year,but they were going through a sticky enough year last year so Im expecting them to come to Tralee and give it a good go

If we can get a win against them and then aim for the Offaly game as a game where we shouldnt be too far off getting a result,the games between them against Limerick,Galway and Wexford well if we can be competitive in them then that will do me.

I think Wexford wont be far off getting promoted this year,they have Limerick and Galway up in the first two rounds and if they can get a win in one of those then they should be winning the rest of their games,

I suppose the one thing you could say about Limerick,Galway and Wexford is that the three of them can be very inconsistent,Galway should be well ahead of the rest of the teams but you just never know which Galway team will show up.

PlayByTheRules

Not so sure about Kilkenny winning this year PTH. They have Tipp away and struggle in Semple in the league.

Tipp have handy enough fixtures. Think Tipp will top 1A, the rest is up for grabs.

Dublin are missing an entire full back line and half a team with Cuala in the club championship so I give them no hope but as Cork showed last year you only need to win the relegation game to stay up.

Would agree on Wexford, think they will be the surprise league team this year.

Galway might be missing a few if St Thomas win this weekend. Big Joe is still out too. Limerick will be desperate to get up but think it will be Galway or Wexford.

Kerrydude1981

The little mini league in 1B took another turn tonight with Laois beating Offaly, unless there is a few huge surprises our game at home to Offaly is going to be a big game for both teams

Some performance by the Dubs as well tonight,very open game but they showed great hunger and worked hard for each other and fully deserved the win

Bonniedog

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

The little mini league in 1B took another turn tonight with Laois beating Offaly, unless there is a few huge surprises our game at home to Offaly is going to be a big game for both teams

Some performance by the Dubs as well tonight,very open game but they showed great hunger and worked hard for each other and fully deserved the win

1B will be interesting although you would have to think no-one is going to take Galway.

Great show by our fellas tonight. They never cease to surprise... good and bad

Kerrydude1981

Bonniedog wrote: »

1B will be interesting although you would have to think no-one is going to take Galway.

Great show by our fellas tonight. They never cease to surprise... good and bad

I think the way Cork play suited ye down to the ground,they like to go short and yer lads were on them straight away,shut down the Nash puckout a few times as well in the game,once ye settled and got going there was only one winner of the game,I suppose Patrick Horgan missing a 21 yard free sumed up Corks night.

Ya 1B is set up for Galway to cruise to promotion,tomorrows game will be interesting though,a win for Wexford puts them well in the driving seat for promotion,but as Ger Loughane said last night on Seo Spoirt there is rumours that the league will be restructured next year and that 1A will have 8 teams so finishing in the top two will be vital for Galway,Wexford and Limerick if that happens.

Bonniedog

They should leave league as it is. Wouldn't it be something to see your boys and Dublin in a league quarter final?

It is best set up out of all they have tried. Bad teams have no excuse and coming teams get a shot. Also serves up some great games in play offs.

Dubs/Kerry double header !!!!


On other note. Not going to get carried away with tonight. Great result but this is possibly worst Cork team in 50 years? One fella - who I shall not name - seemed to deliberately hit ball out for a sideline to avoid oncoming. What the fk would Ring say!

OldMrBrennan83

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Kerrydude1981

Bonniedog wrote: »

They should leave league as it is. Wouldn't it be something to see your boys and Dublin in a league quarter final?

It is best set up out of all they have tried. Bad teams have no excuse and coming teams get a shot. Also serves up some great games in play offs.

Dubs/Kerry double header !!!!


On other note. Not going to get carried away with tonight. Great result but this is possibly worst Cork team in 50 years? One fella - who I shall not name - seemed to deliberately hit ball out for a sideline to avoid oncoming. What the fk would Ring say!

Was trying to think there,I thought there was a double header in Killarney in the mid 90s but checked and there wasnt

Bonniedog

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Was trying to think there,I thought there was a double header in Killarney in the mid 90s but checked and there wasnt

I remember being at games in Tralee - time Hennessys were playing, early 80s, but would be 100% that there was never a double header.


Yeah Pat, Cunningham is a bit of a puzzle. He could have come in, stuck with same set up and done neither particularly well or badly.

To be honest, there has been a lot of infighting, no-one's fault in particular, But, he has stuck to his guns. Some great young players coming through and tonight showed what they were made of. Have to tip my hat to GC for having balls to follow through on that, in fairness. But, early days.

OldMrBrennan83

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Bonniedog

Patww79 wrote: »

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Mmmmm.


Some of the fellas that 'retired' or whatever were among the best Dublin hurlers - Mikey, Keaney, McCaffrey et al.

But he had to call some changes. He's not Daly. He's not their buddy. Somewhere in between be perfect but sure every team has similar difficulties.

Anyway, at time seniors seem at low ebb we are Leinster club, minor and 21s champions. You told anyone that 30 years ago you'd have been given an injection

feargale

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Ger Loughane said last night on Seo Spoirt there is rumours that the league will be restructured next year and that 1A will have 8 teams so finishing in the top two will be vital for Galway,Wexford and Limerick if that happens.

It's just a pity they wouldn't stick with one bloody thing for a while instead of all the chopping and changing. Slightly off topic they switched the Walsh Cup and Kehoe Cup for a number of years. What the hell was that for? To leave people under the impression that a team had won something bigger than it did in fact? And the history of the Junior inter-county championship is a joke. It's difficult to know the standard of it at any given time.

Farcical situation here in Salthill where Wexford are wearing purple and Galway are wearing maroon... ooh and its foggy as well.

Django99

Wexford take a huge scalp beating Galway. Odds on for promotion now by a long way.

Rightwing

Well done Wex ad davy fitz.

1B will be competitive next year, maybe KK will join it.

washman3

Davy gets Wexford promoted after just 2 games..!!

Rightwing

washman3 wrote: »

Davy gets Wexford promoted after just 2 games..!!

Would take the likes of Kiely 102

Kerrydude1981

Massive win for Wexford

Limerick gave us a nice hammering

PTH2009

After week 2 of the league we have an already very tight 1A with Tipp the only side with 2 wins (4), Waterford, Clare, Cork and Dublin on 2 points each and in a surprising turn of events Kilkenny lie on 0 points after 2 games.

Round 3 (4/5 mar)
Dublin vs Waterford- Sat
Kilkenny vs Cork
Tipperary vs Clare

Wins are crucial for all teams the next round with Tipp looking to secure there qf place. A fair bit of pressure will be on the losers of the Dublin vs Waterford and Kilkenny vs Cork games.

Wexford have one foot through the promotion door with there marvelous wins over Limerick and Galway and have 3 games left against the weaker teams. Limerick and Galway will face off in the last round and are relying on a shock defeat of Wexford to stand any chance of promotion

washman3

Rightwing wrote: »

Would take the likes of Kiely 102

Kiely doesn't have a Ciaran McDonald and Lee Chin et al. Simple as.
Loads of players that can score goals V Kerry/Laois/Offaly (no disrespect to those teams) but cant when games are in the melting pot.

Well done wexford, fully deserved.

nice_guy80

washman3 wrote: »

Kiely doesn't have a Ciaran McDonald and Lee Chin et al. Simple as.
Loads of players that can score goals V Kerry/Laois/Offaly (no disrespect to those teams) but cant when games are in the melting pot.

Well done wexford, fully deserved.

Where are all those excellent Na Piarsaigh players gone to?

Rightwing

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Where are all those excellent Na Piarsaigh players gone to?

A poor manager can destroy any number of players. And if there's 1 thing Limerick are good at, it's unearthing poor managers.

I know some people are saying we'd need Wexford to lose a game, as unlikely as that is now.

But wouldn'tthat still mean both Limerick or Galway(assuming they win the next two and whom ever wins the last game) lose the head to head against Wexford?.

There's no situation really where 3 teams end up on one loss to create a three way, points total situation now.

Wexford would have to lose two games if I'm not mistaken.

Frankie Lee

Big win for Kildare over Westmeath in division 2a. Could Westmeath end up down in 2b while still a Liam McCarthy team?

OldMrBrennan83

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Frankie Lee

Lads teaching and working in the county I believe. The best homegrown player in Gerry Keegan is in Australia for the year while other very strong hurlers like Johnny Byrne and Fergal Conway are focusing on the football.

Quaid found it very hard to get a panel together numbers wise so decided to see who would be available even if they are still hurling with their clubs in other counties. David Reidy in particular has been scoring very heavily and I'd imagine he would still be on the Limerick panel if living down there still.

arctictree

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Big win for Kildare over Westmeath in division 2a. Could Westmeath end up down in 2b while still a Liam McCarthy team?

Meath are in 2b and are a Liam Mccarthy team this year.

Frankie Lee

arctictree wrote: »

Meath are in 2b and are a Liam Mccarthy team this year.

It will be a fair jump in class in the summer.

Rumpy Pumpy

Kildare are making great strides in hurling. They are drafting in a few players, but the club game in the county is coming on in leaps and bounds.

Frankie Lee

Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »

Kildare are making great strides in hurling. They are drafting in a few players, but the club game in the county is coming on in leaps and bounds.

Underachieving for the player numbers in the county but the future is bright enough. Very good work being done in the big north Kildare clubs while the Newbridge clubs have got their act together in underage in recent years. South Kildare clubs need to do more.

washman3

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I know some people are saying we'd need Wexford to lose a game, as unlikely as that is now.

But wouldn'tthat still mean both Limerick or Galway(assuming they win the next two and whom ever wins the last game) lose the head to head against Wexford?.

There's no situation really where 3 teams end up on one loss to create a three way, points total situation now.

Wexford would have to lose two games if I'm not mistaken.

League is over. Wexford are promoted. No other team will beat them. Simple as. Galway and Limerick now just playing for positions.

OldMrBrennan83

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Mantis Toboggan

Jerseys in the Galway wexford game was a disgrace. Fair play to Wexford on getting promotion, disaster for Galway.

arctictree

Frankie Lee wrote: »

It will be a fair jump in class in the summer.

Huge jump for Meath. They should progress to 2A for next year unless they slip up in the final. They need to at least be playing 2A teams to have any hope of progressing in the Leinster championship.

feargale

What was the score Kildare v Westmeath? Kildare 1-16 Westmeath? RTE says WH 1-14, Wiki says WH 0-14. Did Westmeath score a goal? Thanks.

I'm inclined to believe Wiki. RTE are prone to mistakes.I wouldn't mind but RTE seem to have decided that it's beneath their dignity to report the results of NHL games in the lower divisions.

arctictree

Also, I think Meath are as good as any county in 2A. Just like Galway are as good as any county in 1A (ignoring today!). These small divisions are a funny setup.

washman3

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Where are all those excellent Na Piarsaigh players gone to?

Forwards:
Shane Dowling - injured/virus will be back for championship.
Kevin Downes - done cruciate playing football, due back in April.
David Dempsey - on the starting team now,playing very well, unavailable today.
Peter Casey - just out of minor,also on the starting team so far this year, 'rested today' but playing very well.
Ronan Lynch, started today and racked up a big score. For me, better suited to backs/midfield.
Alan Dempsey - will be pushing hard for a championship start. Amazingly left off the squad by T.J.Ryan for 2 seasons.
David Breen - retired from intercounty, physio at Wasps Rugby.
Adrian Breen - left the panel during last years league. Don't know why.

Backs:
Mike Casey - made his debut in Munster league, looks a certain championship starter at corner back, brother of Peter.
Cathal King - Na Piarsigh Captain, got a few runs but time is running out, unlikely to feature in future panels.
William O'Donoghue - forms a formidable midfied partnership with Alan Dempsey for N.P. Jury still out on whether he can make it at county level, but on the panel at present.

Hope this answers your question..:D
Dowling and Downes would be a huge asset as they are proven goalscorers, as is Barry Nash (South Liberties) who was playing very well in the Munster League. Dropped from panel after Munster League Final for disciplinary reasons but door is still open for him to return for championship. A great talent, and going to Wexford Park last week without him I felt was an uphill task. With him playing I would have fancied us to scrape by.

Rumpy Pumpy

arctictree wrote: »

Also, I think Meath are as good as any county in 2A. Just like Galway are as good as any county in 1A (ignoring today!). These small divisions are a funny setup.

The whole League structure is broken for hurling. Realistically; Galway, Limerick and Wexford should be in the top division. But there's no appetite to have that many games.

Galway look like spending another year in 1B. This is a team who lost by a point in extra time to a Tipp team who beat Kilkenny easily in the final. I expect them to be in the AI final again this year as they are the best team to challenge Tipp (no disrespect to Kilkenny or Waterford).

mountgomery burns

If Galway want to be in 1A then they should be able to beat Wexford at home.

If they don't care enough, then they are no addtion to 1A or the competition as a whole.

washman3

Patww79 wrote: »

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They can take both eyes off it and still win the 3 remaining games easily.
Wexford and Davy now in a great position for a proper crack at the Leinster title.
They can afford to chop/change/experiment. Davy will be hell bent on winning Leinster, If Jack Guiney returns its achievable. Very strong spine to the team unlike Galway and Limerick, and even Dublin.
Should make for a very interesting summer.

Davys Fits

Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »

The whole League structure is broken for hurling. Realistically; Galway, Limerick and Wexford should be in the top division. But there's no appetite to have that many games.



Heard it all before. Change the format to suit a few temas bla bala bla. Then complaints from Laois, offally etc that they arent getting a chance playing the top teams. The system is just fine. Whats wrong is people jumping to conclusions in mid February.

ThaiTanic

Wexford could shock a few of the 1A teams now, theyre flying

Utopia Parkway

washman3 wrote: »

They can afford to chop/change/experiment. Davy will be hell bent on winning Leinster, If Jack Guiney returns its achievable. Very strong spine to the team unlike Galway and Limerick, and even Dublin.

Well considering the spine of the Galway team contains Colm Callanan, Daithi Burke, David Burke and Joe Canning I'd say that's debatable. That's 4 all-stars. Albeit Canning just came back from a very serious injury and has no hurling done in months and Daithi Burke just came back after playing football for Corofin for the past few months. Think yesterday was the first time he picked up a hurl since last year's semi-final.

I'd pump the brakes a little on Wexford for Leinster though. Davy has them flying fit very early in the year and already playing the patented Davy Fitz sweeper system. Certainly look to have a lot more work done than either Limerick last week or Galway this week. Hard to maintain that level all through the Summer as the Roscommon footballers showed last year. The other sides will regain their match fitness and sharpness as the Summer approaches.

Plus there will still be a sizeable Kilkenny obstacle in their way before they even can get to the final. Kilkenny look a long way off the pace right now but that won't continue indefinitely.

Rasputin11

Wexford will be like Roscommon in the football league last season, out of the blocks quickly due to better fitness, generate media hype due to high profile manager but achieve little come Championship.

PTH2009

Anyone else find it hard too tell the difference between the Galway and Wexford jerseys ???

Rasputin11

PTH2009 wrote: »

Anyone else find it hard too tell the difference between the Galway and Wexford jerseys ???

An utter farce, how the referee let them play is beyond me.

Kerrydude1981

Patww79 wrote: »

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We got a few down the years as well,the only one that showed any bit of fight is still with us,had players from Limerick,Cork,Tipp and Kilkenny All Ireland winners who only came down to go through the motions,the mileage money must have been good I suppose

But anyway I saw this story about John Mullhall last week,

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/beer-pong-in-vegas-xmas-jumpers-and-dodgy-singing-all-ireland-winners-wonderful-journey-takes-new-path-35438753.html

Hammer Archer

It'll be a huge jump for Meath come April. Was at the Derry game and a few things we did we'd get mauled if we did it in the round robin.
The Walsh Cup games were better preparation for the Leinster championship.
Really need to get promoted this year. It's a graveyard of a division. We've been stuck there ever since the league was reshuffled.

Kerrydude1981

Hammer Archer wrote: »

It'll be a huge jump for Meath come April. Was at the Derry game and a few things we did we'd get mauled if we did it in the round robin.
The Walsh Cup games were better preparation for the Leinster championship.
Really need to get promoted this year. It's a graveyard of a division. We've been stuck there ever since the league was reshuffled.

Ive said it a few times Meath were the best team we faced in the Christy Ring Cup the year we won it,we brely got over the line that day in Tralee
Jack Regan was on fire that day,

Looking forward to the game in the championship later on in the year

klairondavis

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Lads teaching and working in the county I believe. The best homegrown player in Gerry Keegan is in Australia for the year while other very strong hurlers like Johnny Byrne and Fergal Conway are focusing on the football.

Quaid found it very hard to get a panel together numbers wise so decided to see who would be available even if they are still hurling with their clubs in other counties. David Reidy in particular has been scoring very heavily and I'd imagine he would still be on the Limerick panel if living down there still.

Conor and Niall Kenny relocated to Borrisoleigh too.

U14-U16 development squads have secured some eyecatching results recently but there a lot of dual players involved. Most are probably likely to opt for football down the line.