Leinster Hurling Semis - Your thoughts please!

Danno

June 12th, Croke Park, Dublin.

Laois V Wexford

Kilkenny V Offaly

We've seen three great games in the Munster so far, how will the aforementioned Leinster teams serve the spectator? Many people will be expecting the southeastern sides to waltz through Croker into the Leinster Final... but will they?

Will the midland sides put up good fights?

Laois having shot down a gutsy Dublin side will certainly put it up to Wexford who have had a dissapointing league campaign. Newly blodded Mullanney is a revelation between the sticks for the O'Moore side and certainly knows how to stop the shots. His classicly saved Dublin penalty on May 22nd would have been shown again and again on The Sunday Game if his name were Davey Fitzgerald. Joe Fitz in the Laois defence played a stormer, clearing everything he contested. Indeed, the Laois defence has been very good throughout the league, especially against Kilkenny where they played very well. In the centre of the park, James Young continues to be the star man, taking sharp frees and picking off lovely points to the standard that Kilkenny fans would be satisfied with. Up front, Damien Culleton turned on the style against the Dubs carving open the defence to fire home excellent goals.
Now, Wexford who won their mini-All Ireland last year by beating Kilkenny with a blistering last second goal have slowly faded away from that great feat. Nevertheless, the Model County have strength in depth and will be looking to re-assert themselves as kingpins of Leinster. They relish another crack at Kilkenny in a Leinster final to prove that they are not a flash-in-the-pan side and that they can be considered as All Ireland contenders.
It should be therefore expected that Wexford will win, but only if they can find their form. Laois go into this tie with nothing expected of them, no pressure. Laois will give it their all and could surprise many. Last time out the sides drew 2-18 to 2-18. Wexford will need more than Jacobs Cream Crackers this time though as a new man - Paddy Mullanney is between the sticks.

After that game, Traditional Kilkenny face an Offaly team that has lived out in division two of the league. Sensationally dumped into division two last year by Laois, Offaly have ran the year untested. This was very evident when Carlow shocked the hurling world by beating Offaly in the league. So, nobody knows how Offaly will start off their Championship season. Untested, and humiliated by Carlow, Offaly are unpredictable. Kilkenny are after coming through the league quite well, would have been perfect only for the Banner who plastered them on their own home turf. Kilkenny avenged this defeat by reversing the tables and hockying Clare out of Thurles in the league final. You have got to remember too that Kilkenny won nothing last year, yes nothing. Kilkenny too have to re-assert themselves as Leinster kingpins. They also relish a crack at Wexford in a Leinster final to avenge Jacob's cream cracker in last years Leinster semi. Kilkenny will be out to win this and win it well. If Offaly do not hit the ground running, then they can expect a very very humiliating scoreline defeat. Nonetheless, Offaly are calling back supremo Whelehan to the fore and his star status, experience and leadership could provide Offaly the fodder to put it up to the cats.

So with all the history discussed before these games get underway, there are grounds for two exciting games and grounds for two very one-sided games. I do hope that they are exciting. I do have faith in the midland duo to serve up some tasty hurling and put Leinster hurling up there with the quality and excitement that the three munster games served up. If this happens then we are in for a very memorable 2005 hurling season. And lets face it, hurling needs it.

- Danno.

Danno

Wexford are still looking to blood new players for the Laois game...

Flukey

Wexford had a few bad games in the League. Laois always seem to come up short when they play the bigger powers. Wexford for me in that one. Kilkenny obviously look the better bet for the other game.

Big Ears

Weford to win by a big score , Kilkenny to win by a massive score .

Danno

I dunno about Wexford winning by a big margin. I think Laois have made big improvements this year. We ran all the big names in hurling closely in the league. Kilkenny were the biggest victors against us with a 7 point win.

In the last meeting with Wexford we got a 2-18 to 2-18 draw.

I feel that it will be a close call. I expect Wexford to win it, but if Laois get a big slice of the lucky cake then we might just pull off a surprise.

Big Ears

Danno wrote:

I dunno about Wexford winning by a big margin. I think Laois have made big improvements this year. We ran all the big names in hurling closely in the league. Kilkenny were the biggest victors against us with a 7 point win.

In the last meeting with Wexford we got a 2-18 to 2-18 draw.

I feel that it will be a close call. I expect Wexford to win it, but if Laois get a big slice of the lucky cake then we might just pull off a surprise.

When I say big I mean about 6 or 7 points , im not expecting Wexford to totally outclass Laois , the game will probably be tight for a long time , but I just expect Wexford to add on the few extra scores at the end and pull away from Laois .

Waylander

Sorry Danno but I just cant see Laois getting close to Wexford. A couple of seasons ago Dublin were doing reasonably well in the league, and if I recall correctly even beat Kilkenny in the O Byrne cup final, but when it came toi championship they were put back in their place. They nearly ran Offaly close one year but Offaly pulled clear in the last 15 minutes. The other one Kilkenny should win reasonably comfortably. Wonder what odds you can get on a Wexford Leinster double?

Repli

Another Wexford / Kilkenny final would be great

Big Ears

Repli wrote:

Another Wexford / Kilkenny final would be great

well thats what your gettin .

Danno

Big Ears wrote:

well thats what your gettin .

You are very confident on that!

Kilkenny were pretty sure of a seventh-in-a-row Leinster last year too...

...remember?

Board@Work

For me its another Wexford/Killkenny final.

I Hope Wexford win it but can't see it happening.

I also hope Laois give them a good game but I find it hard to see them getting close to wexford. Wexford to win by a two goal margin for me in that one....

Big Ears

Danno wrote:

You are very confident on that!

Kilkenny were pretty sure of a seventh-in-a-row Leinster last year too...

...remember?

ah , but I gave Wexford a better chance then than I give Offaly now , if Offaly played in Munster they would be put out in the first round most years .

nlgbbbblth

my predictions

Semi Finals
Wexford 2-17 Laois 1-14
Kilkenny 6-9 Offaly 1-12

Final - bear in mind that Wexford will have VENGEANCE on their mind after the league defeat by Kilkenny

Wexford 4-12 Kilkenny 1-18

Danno

Are you mad! Kilkenny 6-09 V 1-12 Offaly

I know Shefflin is a goal poacher, but to deny Kilkenny a double figure point tally is totally ludicrous. Kilkenny have the best point takers on any hurling field.

Here are my predictions:

Laois 2-12 V 0-19 Wexford or Laois 2-16 V 1-18 Wexford
Kilkenny 3-17 V 2-16 Offaly

Final
Laois 1-13 V 0-22 Kilkenny or "Wishful" Laois 2-14 V 0-19 Kilkenny
Wexford 1-16 V 2-17 Kilkenny

Of course, wishful!

nlgbbbblth

I remember the last time Laois made Leinster Final

1985 - beaten by the Biffo scum

also they played their part in a great Leinster Semi Final in 1981
Offaly 3-20 Laois 6-10

some game. Paddy Kirwan got a flukey point for Offaly in the last minute to put them through to the final.

Offaly won that final - they took out our great hero Tony Doran in the first half and their supporters threw bottles at the stretcher as he was carried off the field. I watched the game from the stands and was appalled at the bad sportmanship from Offaly.

Biffo scum.

Danno

Biffo "Scum"

Naaah - they are not THAT bad - pretty close though!

thirdmantackle

I have videos at home from 1984 and the Centenary Cup when Roscommon beat Wexford, Cork, Antrim, Dublin and Offaly in Hurling.

Yes thats right, in Senior Hurling!!!

nlgbbbblth

thirdmantackle wrote:

I have videos at home from 1984 and the Centenary Cup when Roscommon beat Wexford, Cork, Antrim, Dublin and Offaly in Hurling.

Yes thats right, in Senior Hurling!!!

I remember Wexford losing to Roscommon in the Centenary Cup by one point in Athleague. Very embarrassing - rumour was that the players were out drinking the night before

don't remember them beating the other four teams though - were they all Centenary Cup or were some of them league matches?

are they Sunday Games videos or what?

I remember Mayo beating Waterford around 1985

KevIRL

nlgbbbblth wrote:

?

I remember Mayo beating Waterford around 1985

Not to mention us getting beat by Kerry in the Munster Championship in 1993. I was at it. Sad sad day in Walsh Park :mad:

nlgbbbblth

KevIRL wrote:

Not to mention us getting beat by Kerry in the Munster Championship in 1993. I was at it. Sad sad day in Walsh Park :mad:

do the following numbers ring a bell?

5-31
3-6

thirdmantackle

videos made by a local hurling entuasiast.

Yeah, Roscommon beat all those teams in the Centenary Cup.

It was much more likely that a weaker county would pull off a major shock in years gone by. The strong counties are pulling further and further away from the tier 2 counties

nlgbbbblth

thirdmantackle wrote:

videos made by a local hurling entuasiast.

Yeah, Roscommon beat all those teams in the Centenary Cup.

It was much more likely that a weaker county would pull off a major shock in years gone by. The strong counties are pulling further and further away from the tier 2 counties

that sounds deadly thirdmantackle, would love to see them

no chance you could copy to vhs/dvd for a fee?

thirdmantackle

I might try and see where I could get them done. the quality at times isn't the best.

Danno

I'll have a copy too please!

Can't wait for the hurling on Sunday! Hope Laois do it. Offaly are very quiet at the moment.

kaimera

€20 for kilkenny not to win Leinster. i think my mate duped me on CL Final night :-/

much as I'd love for us to beat Wexford...I'd rather them beat Kilkenny again cos I doubt we will.

cruiserweight

The Wexford team to play Laois is has been announced


http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0607/wexford.html

Wexford manager Seamus Murphy has stated that Darren Stamp is a major injury doubt

Wexford hurling has received a massive boost with the return of Darragh Ryan for Sunday's Leinster senior hurling semi-final with Laois in Croke Park.

Ryan, who had feared that his fitness level would count against let him, has been handed a role at full-back despite the fact the St. Anne's stalwart has played just sixty minutes of hurling since sustaining a knee injury last October.

The game also marks the return of the veteran Adrian Fenlon, who is slotted in along dual star Redmond Barry in midfield.

Star forward Nigel Higgins has also been ruled out of a starting place as he has not fully recovered from injuries received in a recent car accident.

While Darren Stamp is included at centre-back he will be put through a fitness test on a heel injury later in the week.

Wexford Manager Seamus Murphy said: "Darren is extremely doubtful with a heel injury received in the Galway challenge. He has not trained for three weeks and will be looked at again later in the week."

Meanwhile, Murphy hands championship debuts to Redmond Barry, Diarmuid Lyng and Dessie Mythen.

Wexford (SH v Laois):

D Fitzhenry, D O'Connor, D Ryan, K Rossiter, D Ruth, D Stamp, D Lyng, R Barry, A Fenlon, R McCarthy, E Quigley, M Jacob, D Mythen, M Jordan, R Jacob.

Good to see Darragh Ryan back! I am expecting a tight enough game in the first half with Wexford to pull away in th second!

shnaek

I'd put my money on Wexford to beat Laois by a margin of about 6 points, and Kilkenny to beat Offaly by about 8 points. I hope these games aren't as one sided as they look. It really is a shame Galway didn't join Leinster.

stevemac

my mate has bet me a tenner that wexford will beat laois by at least 12 points.

pretty good bet i think.
i think that we (laois) should show an improved performance. maybe not win, but we shouldn't be as far behind as we usually are.

Danno

I think Laois are well up for this and will not disgrace themselves on the pitch. I think that Laois Wexford will serve up the best game.

cruiserweight

Changes to the Wexford team for the semi final clash! Darren Stamp misses out as was expected!


http://www.gaa.ie/plugins/newsfeed.cgi?rm=content&plugin_data_id=6913

Stamp withdrawn from post

Thursday, June 9

Seamus Murphy has been forced into making one change to the Wexford hurling team that was named on Tuesday night.

Malachy Travers has come in to replace Darren Stamp, who has failed to recover from a heel/ankle injury sustained in a challenge game against Galway last week.

The Oulart-the-Ballagh man had been named at centre half back, but has been unable to train since picking up the knock, and on further medical consultation he has been withdrawn.

Declan Ruth will now don the number six jersey, while Travers will slip in at right half back. The Naomh Eanna player is a more than capable replacement, having featured frequently in the League, as well as last year’s Championship.

Just out of interest, who is going to these games? I cannot imagine there being a big crowd at the matches, especially from Kilkenny!

Flukey

The Leinster Hurling Semi-Finals are often amongst the best days of the year in Croke Park. Today has to be the worst I have seen in my many years of going to see them.

Big Ears

Big Ears wrote:

Weford to win by a big score , Kilkenny to win by a massive score .

Oh look at that I was right .

Repli

You were indeed!! Sweet jesus kilkenny are a force to be reckoned with.. 6-28 to 0-14 I think was the final result..
Flukey yeah both matches were very one sided - but the leinster final will be a very good match

johnnyc

the leinster championship is a dead duck it is as simple as that if kilkenny where in munster they wouldn't win the leinster championship every year. i had to laught at the rte presenter when he said that leinster teams have won more all irelands in the 20 years then the munster teams that is true but if we excluded kilkenny leinster is a crap province

RuggieBear

forgive me if i'm wrong here but offally and wexford have won all irelands in the last 20 years....if we exclude cork, only tipp and clare have won all irelands from munster....that's by my very hazy reckoning (i'm very open to correction here )

Danno

Basically we have a SPL setup of hurling now. Two big teams - Cork and Kilkenny.

County boards across the south have to hold themselves accountable for this.

Waylander

I don't really agree with that. Neither of those teams are reigning provincial champions. Munster has alot of copmpetition with Tipp and Waterford, even Clare and Limerick on a good day can beat anyone out there. Wexford are also strong, but I do find Offaly disappoint more often then not.

johnnyc

ah come on the standard of hurling is way better in munster than lenister. If you look at the way cork were on fire against waterford last year but still lost . if the same happened last year when kilkenny were playing wexford, they would give them a trashing. they should scrap leinster and throw them into munster

RuggieBear

johnnyc wrote:

they should scrap leinster and throw them into munster

I'd probably agree with you there....imo there are not enough counties playing hurling to have four provincial championships but that might just compound the problem

shnaek

If Galway accepted the invite to join the leinster championship I think it'd be better for Hurling all round. I read in the paper last week that the Offaly keeper missed out on going to the cat laughs festival with his mates because of training. What Offaly man is going to do that now after such a demoralising day? It's going to be a hard slog to get youth interest going in Offaly hurling again.

Waylander

Sorry johnny I was not disagreeing with you but with Danno, and his SPL statement, I think there are alot more then two competitive teams in the country. I think Leinster is obviously weaker then Munster but these things are cyclical, i do think ther is a place for both championships. I also think Galway, and maybe even Antrim should join the Leinster Championsip and that may ,ake it more competitive.

Flukey

Galway should play in the Connacht Championship and Antrim in the Ulster Championship. In other words, more work needs to be done in those areas, instead abandoning them by re-designating Antrim and Galway. Down and Derry are making it competitive in Ulster. There are some very strong Hurling parts of Connacht, outside of Galway. We have seen people in this thread talking about how limited the Hurling Championship is currently. That being the case we should be trying to widen the game, not narrow it. Bringing Galway and/or Antrim into the Leinster Championship would not help them. The new format this year is better and it will help to develop the other counties in the second and third tier.

As for Offaly, well the only way is up. It'll be a different team we will see next time out. They'll make sure of that. Yesterday's trouncing could be the very incentive they need and motivation they have been lacking.

Waylander

I think if Galway were left in a Connacht their standards would be dragged down as much as the rest of the provinces would improve. For Galway to remain competitive they need to be playing teams that will seriously test them. They will not get that in Connacht.

Flukey

True, now. So my point is that we need to get Connacht to the standard where they will give Galway a good game. People are worrying about Galway Hurling. The real problem is outside of Galway. If they keep concentrating on what to do with Galway, the rest of the province won't improve. Even if they did go into Leinster, they'd only get one or two games, so that will not be a great help. They were put into Munster at one time and that was abandoned because it did not work. It did not help them, so there is no point in trying it with Leinster.

The problem is with the weaker counties, so that is where the focus needs to be. It will take a long time and we are not going to have a competitive Connacht Championship next year, but we need to start doing it now, rather than sitting around for another few years and worrying about where we put Galway. Connacht does not provide competition for them, so the solution is to make sure they do!

OLDYELLAR

kilkenny looking good !

KevIRL

Flukey wrote:

True, now. So my point is that we need to get Connacht to the standard where they will give Galway a good game. People are worrying about Galway Hurling. The real problem is outside of Galway. If they keep concentrating on what to do with Galway, the rest of the province won't improve. Even if they did go into Leinster, they'd only get one or two games, so that will not be a great help. They were put into Munster at one time and that was abandoned because it did not work. It did not help them, so there is no point in trying it with Leinster.

The problem is with the weaker counties, so that is where the focus needs to be. It will take a long time and we are not going to have a competitive Connacht Championship next year, but we need to start doing it now, rather than sitting around for another few years and worrying about where we put Galway. Connacht does not provide competition for them, so the solution is to make sure they do!

There has been a lot of thought put into 2 extra competitions this year for weaker counties. The Ring and Rackard Cups. The GAC has committed to having the final stages (semi and finals) as curtain raisers to all ireland quarter finals and semi finals. A fantastic idea, what better incentive for the hurlers of say Tyrone than the prospect of a game in Croker. Now all we need is for the county boards in these counties to get behind their hurling teams. Easier said than done!

Big Ears

OLDYELLAR wrote:

kilkenny looking good !

They beat a team that was defeated by Carlow :eek: in the league .
I now rank Laois a better team than Offaly , congratulations Laois .

Flukey

That is what I am saying. What is happening is good. That is where the attention needs to be, not on where Galway and Antrim play. The Rackard and Ring cups will help and it should be mandatory for county boards to put the effort into promoting games. They should not be allowed to wash their hands of one or the other.

Danno

Exactly Flukey.

COUNTY BOARDS are responsible, as I said earlier.

Kilkenny should be banned from hurling because of their lip service to Football. Its dramatic action like this is needed to get things right.

Also, parents and schools should be doing more.

Flukey

I've often thought that one about the county board myself Danno, but realistically it wouldn't be that simple. Still, there are many quality hurlers in Kilkenny that would not get on the county team, but would make the team of any other county. However there would be a lot of them that could wear the Kilkenny shirt, in football. They say Kilkenny has no footballers or no tradition. That is not true. Even the great DJ himself is meant to be a handy footballer. Another fact that will surprise people is that there are 10 counties in Ireland that have less Senior Football Provincial titles than Kilkenny. They were also the first county to win the Leinster football championship. They have won it in 1888, 1900 and 1911.


There are counties playing in the championships that have less provincial football titles than Kilkenny and/or have been waiting longer since their last provincial win than Kilkenny, like Limerick who have one, in 1896. If they can play in it, there is no reason why Kilkenny can't. The county board should be made to field a team and all county boards should be made to field teams and promote both codes for competitions. If they won't do it, then they should get in a country board that will. In Kilkenny's case, it would not hurt their hurling strength to promote football. As I said at the start, it could be the best way to keep a lot of fit young men interested in the GAA there and give them a chance to represent their county, instead of letting them drift into oblivion because they are not good enough to get on their own county hurling team.

nlgbbbblth

Kilkenny now play one match every year
The O'Byrne Cup.
They beat Kildare in it by 0-8 to 0-5 in 1988.

they haven't played in Leinster since 1982
and dropped down from the league sometime in the mid-1990s.

Whenever Wexford played them I always went along to the games. One particular occasion in 1990, Kilkenny were scheduled to play Wexford at 11AM on a Sunday morning. National Football League Division 4.
Three of us drove to Thomastown with Wexford flags hanging out of each window, beeping the horn as we drove through the town. Much to the amusement of the mass-going locals.

We were the only three spectators at the game, applauded every Wexford score as if it was an All-Ireland winning one, and when the game concluded (Wexford winning by something like 4-19 to 0-2) we invaded the pitch.

It was quite funny in what I think was their last season. The league format had been revised by the GAC (yet again) so the teams were not graded by ability (i.e Divs 1 to 4) so Kilkenny were lumped in with good teams, among them Kerry.

Basically scoring average were going to be necessary to separate teams level on points so all teams went out with the sole intention of trying to score as much as possible against them.

Unfortunately none of those games were televised. :mad: