National Hurling League 2017 Discussion

Mantis Toboggan · 01-04-2017 08:40PM

Django99 wrote: »

1B relegation final sounds like a cracker, gone to extra time Kerry 4-14 Laois 1-23.

Jaysus typical Laois couldn't hang on

An Ciarraioch · 01-04-2017 08:42PM

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Jaysus typical Laois couldn't hang on

In fairness, you were playing for virtually 70 minutes with 14 men!

Mantis Toboggan · 01-04-2017 08:47PM

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

In fairness, you were playing for virtually 70 minutes with 14 men!

7 points up with 12 minutes to go

Hammer Archer · 01-04-2017 09:23PM

1-30 to 4-20 to Laois it finishes. Some game by the sounds of it.

Meath finally get out of Division 2B after beating Wicklow 4-24 to 2-15.

Django99 · 01-04-2017 09:24PM

Laois win by 1!

1-30 to 4-20. I hope to God that was recorded because it sounds like game of the year.

Rasputin11 · 01-04-2017 09:32PM

Big win for Donegal in the 3A Final, 2-8 scored by former Tipp minor Davin Flynn, some addition for Donegal.

Ompala · 01-04-2017 09:46PM

IB sounded like a mad game altogether!

Rasputin11 wrote: »

Big win for Donegal in the 3A Final, 2-8 scored by former Tipp minor Davin Flynn, some addition for Donegal.

From Roscrea?

Rasputin11 · 02-04-2017 12:09AM

Ompala wrote: »

IB sounded like a mad game altogether!

From Roscrea?

Yep.

cms88 · 02-04-2017 04:19PM

I still dont understand why the GAA still have all these play offs. Two years in a row now Laois have finished bottom but have gotten out thanks to play offs.

Then again i dont is Offaly getting to the QF a bigger joke based on winning on game, that was their last!

Mantis Toboggan · 02-04-2017 04:24PM

Wow Galway are miles off the pace here

Django99 · 02-04-2017 05:44PM

Galway come back to win, Wexford beat Kilkenny and Limerick edge past Cork. 3 1B teams into the semi finals.

The difference between 1A and 1B is closing it seems.

02-04-2017 05:53PM

I can't remember the last time I saw us play as bad in those first 20mins.

To go 8 down, then from 3 to 10 again and somehow win was remarkable given the play for long periods.

There's a sign in there somewhere that reflects either on Waterford being suspect or Galway having something to them... We'll find out which one as the summer progresses.

washman3 · 02-04-2017 06:05PM

Django99 wrote: »

Galway come back to win, Wexford beat Kilkenny and Limerick edge past Cork. 3 1B teams into the semi finals.

The difference between 1A and 1B is closing it seems.

Sometimes the 'experts' can be wrong...;)

OldMrBrennan83 · 02-04-2017 06:09PM

This post has been deleted.

Django99 · 02-04-2017 06:14PM

Patww79 wrote: »

Jaysus the Davy Wexico hype train will be in full flow now. Hotels being booked for the 3rd of September.

Love him or hate him he has a serious short term impact on every team he's managed. Credit also must go to Liam Dunne though, Wexford were closer to Kerry than Kilkenny a few years ago.

Bonniedog · 02-04-2017 06:19PM

Django99 wrote: »

Galway come back to win, Wexford beat Kilkenny and Limerick edge past Cork. 3 1B teams into the semi finals.

The difference between 1A and 1B is closing it seems.

The only difference is that there are generally two teams who become the whipping boys. Mightn't do Dublin any harm to be there next year as still a fair bit of rebuilding to do, and they will get to the play offs.

Django99 · 02-04-2017 06:38PM

Bonniedog wrote: »

The only difference is that there are generally two teams who become the whipping boys. Mightn't do Dublin any harm to be there next year as still a fair bit of rebuilding to do, and they will get to the play offs.

Laois and Kerry took a couple of beatings but were competitive enough for the most part. The gap between them and the top 10 is also narrowing.

fdsfdsahhertdd · 02-04-2017 09:08PM

Kudos to Wexford.
A very well deserved win.
They bearded the Lion in his own den.

Respect from a cat. Nice one!

PTH2009 · 02-04-2017 09:20PM

great win for Wexford and i believe the future is very very bright for them

Limerick also had a good win over Cork

Galway done very well to come back from 10 points down to win by 3 over a experimental but spirited Waterford team

Offaly scored a good 3-13 but conceeded 4-28 vs Tipp

Semi finals will be intresting with Wexford having nothing too lose against Tipp, while the all 1B clash of Limerick and Galway will be a hard one too call. Its amazing that 3 of the 4 semi finalists are from 1B

Dublin will play 1B hurling after losing out the Clare, while Kerry will go down to 2A and be replaced by Antrim next year

TheRiverman · 02-04-2017 09:25PM

Kilkenny will need to up their goalscoring rate during the Championship.

Realt Dearg Sec · 02-04-2017 11:30PM

I dunno how many goals we've gotten this year and last but it is clearly a major limitation of our forwards at the moment, nobody with the killer instinct. Colin fennelly has his moments and is willing to go and threaten but his finishing continues to disappoint. Aside from the spine of the defence, it's the biggest impediment to us winning the all Ireland this year. Both problems clearly in evidence today.

I know a lot of people will strongly fancy tipp for the league but I'm backing Wexford to go all the way. Whether that'll translate to the championship is another matter entirely but they looked hungry as bejesus today.

Django99 · 03-04-2017 12:27AM

I hope today's results, and the general state of hurling at the moment is enough to convince the powers that be and the public that this league structure is as good as it gets.

Since this system was introduced, only Kilkenny and Tipp have have stayed in 1A. All the other teams have been in 1B, and most of them have actually improved from their stint in 1B.

When this format was introduced in 2012, Kilkenny and Tipp had contested the previous 3 All Ireland finals. Limerick, Clare and Wexford were regarded as second tier teams. The gap between Kilkenny at the top and Offaly in 3rd place in 1B was astronomical. Today, if Limerick played Tipp they would give themselves a much bigger chance.

There is now virtually no gap between second in 1A and 3rd in 1B. If this is not seen as progress I don't know what would be.

dastardly00 · 03-04-2017 12:23PM

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

I dunno how many goals we've gotten this year and last but it is clearly a major limitation of our forwards at the moment, nobody with the killer instinct. Colin fennelly has his moments and is willing to go and threaten but his finishing continues to disappoint. Aside from the spine of the defence, it's the biggest impediment to us winning the all Ireland this year. Both problems clearly in evidence today.

5 goals in the 2017 League (3 from play and 2 penalties). Looking back at the 3 previous League campaigns, it's clear to see that we are seriously struggling to score goals (average of less than one goal per game).

Year | Games | Goals (from Play) | Goals (from Placed Balls) | Ave. Goals per Game
2014 | 8 | 17 | 4 | 2.63
2015 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1.33
2016 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 1.71
2017 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0.833

And looking strictly at the players who are scoring goals, the difference is Colin Fennelly.
In 2014 he scored 4 goals in 7 matches.
In 2015 he was a part of the Ballyhale team that contested the AI Club Final and he only played the relegation play-off match against Clare.
In 2016 he scored 3 goals in 5 matches.
In 2017 he failed to score in 4 matches.

Kerrydude1981 · 03-04-2017 03:35PM

Gutted that we got relegated,back down to 2A,will be favorites to come straight back up but it wont be easy,we have a young team and I would hope the experience of the last two years will stand to them next year and hopefully they will have the hunger to get back up to Division 1B

Now the goal for the rest of the season is to stay in the qualifier group and hopefully come out of it this year

Pity the game Saturday night didnt get a few minutes highlights on RTE last night

Django99 · 03-04-2017 04:26PM

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Gutted that we got relegated,back down to 2A,will be favorites to come straight back up but it wont be easy,we have a young team and I would hope the experience of the last two years will stand to them next year and hopefully they will have the hunger to get back up to Division 1B

Now the goal for the rest of the season is to stay in the qualifier group and hopefully come out of it this year

Pity the game Saturday night didnt get a few minutes highlights on RTE last night

It certainly won't be easy, with Meath now in 2A with a year in the Leinster round robin will make it even more difficult. Westmeath are surely disappointed not to have been promoted this year after a good championship last year. Kildare have a lot of new players that might take some time to gel as a team, but will probably be better next year.

As you say a pity there wasn't any TV coverage of the game. The funny thing is, the second tier teams seem to more often than not produce brilliant games. Always seem to be high scoring and some great comebacks in a lot of games.

With Eir planning to cover some club games this year, I wonder would they try to cover some of the Christy Ring and maybe the lower leagues next year. Even maybe a weekly highlights show for an hour.

dastardly00 · 03-04-2017 07:29PM

Django99 wrote: »

I hope today's results, and the general state of hurling at the moment is enough to convince the powers that be and the public that this league structure is as good as it gets.

Since this system was introduced, only Kilkenny and Tipp have have stayed in 1A. All the other teams have been in 1B, and most of them have actually improved from their stint in 1B.

When this format was introduced in 2012, Kilkenny and Tipp had contested the previous 3 All Ireland finals. Limerick, Clare and Wexford were regarded as second tier teams. The gap between Kilkenny at the top and Offaly in 3rd place in 1B was astronomical. Today, if Limerick played Tipp they would give themselves a much bigger chance.

There is now virtually no gap between second in 1A and 3rd in 1B. If this is not seen as progress I don't know what would be.

Just imagine if Tipp, Cork, Waterford, KK, Clare, Dublin, Wexford, Galway and Limerick plus AN Other were all playing each other during June/July/August. How great would that be...

Django99 · 03-04-2017 07:48PM

dastardly00 wrote: »

Just imagine if Tipp, Cork, Waterford, KK, Clare, Dublin, Wexford, Galway and Limerick plus AN Other were all playing each other during June/July/August. How great would that be...

A lot of players in both codes have been expressing similar thoughts. And by the way the GAA is moving at the moment that looks to be the future. Interesting times ahead.

letowski · 03-04-2017 08:11PM

Ive 2 things I want to talk about Davy and Wexford. While the Wexford hype train is going full steam ahead, there is a word of caution that must be said, when they taken on KK in Wexford Park. No doubt the place will be bouncing, its great to see a buzz about hurling in Wexford.

The first thing is Davy's teams, be it the Clare or Waterford teams, were notoriously flat in the first round of the championship. Im sure Waterford people will back me up on that. Davy always puts a huge emphasis on fitness during the winter, Clare nearly always started the league fairly fast, so having Limerick and Galway in the first rounds was a dream fixture list for Davy. Afterwards under his tenure with Clare, he always brought the team on a gruelly no-hurling, all-physical traing camp around the start of May, which I think was one of the main reasons for our flat performances in the last 3 years. It will be very interesting to see has he learned anything.

The second is positive. Again going back to my county Clare, Davy didnt have the type of team that were comfortable playing his brand of hurling. As people know, Clare are quite an undersized team, and playing with just 4/5 forwards makes it very difficult. Davy had no solution the last 3 years and was too subborn to change tac, much to our annoyance. However I think he has the type of team in Wexford that would be much more suited to his style. Players up front like Chin, McDonald, Guiney, Nolan, Morris, etc are good strong lads that can win aerial and 50/50 ball, aswell as being mobile and well able to hurl. Its exactly what Davy likes.

I think Wexford can make a good impact in the summer, I dont think teams will fancy playing them.

feargale · 18-04-2017 05:53PM

The 2017 Hurling Championship Pools thread is now up and running. All are welcome.

dastardly00 · 23-04-2017 05:08PM

Congrats to Galway. I really didn't see this specific result coming. Tipp will be disgusted after a near perfect League campaign.

National Hurling League 2017 Discussion

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