How are 3 teams so dominant in inter county hurling over such a sustained period of t

lawred2 · 22-08-2018 11:24AM

wherearewe45 wrote: »

Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork

Sorry if this has been discussed before but after the final yesterday I went looking up the roll of honor. Those 3 teams have won the vast vast majority of finals over the years. Limerick are fourth most successful in the country with 8 wins. You would imagine teams/counties would rise and fall but these 3 are so dominant throughout the history of the GAA.

well they are traditional hurling counties

But stats are misleading where Tipp are concerned - when one considers the last 50 years

Tipp have only won 6 in the last 50 years so they are not that dominant - conversely Kilkenny have Cork have won it 20 and 10 times respectively so much more dominant than Tipp.

Galway have won 4 in that time so Tipp aren't exactly tipping the scales.

Limerick have only won 3 in the last 80 years.

the_pen_turner · 22-08-2018 11:48AM

the problem is that hurling and football are team sports.
if you take an indevidual sport like boxing , athletics etc the best player will beat the lesser players and work their way up

if if some county got a great hurler like kerry it wouldnt change how bad they are. you need the rest of the team to be fairly good aswell.
its very hard for any county to get all those player together at the same time let alone a county that hasnt thousands of players to pick from.

the big day gets to a lot of the smaller counties. a lot of those counties havnt got to the final in a lifetime . that gets into their heads and they are behind before they start. if you take the top 3, they are all used to big games with 70,000+ people watching.
look at the mayo curse, thats as good as another player to the other team

letsseehere14 · 22-08-2018 02:28PM

lawred2 wrote: »

well they are traditional hurling counties

But stats are misleading where Tipp are concerned - when one considers the last 50 years

Tipp have only won 6 in the last 50 years so they are not that dominant - conversely Kilkenny have Cork have won it 20 and 10 times respectively so much more dominant than Tipp.

Galway have won 4 in that time so Tipp aren't exactly tipping the scales.

Limerick have only won 3 in the last 80 years.

In fairness, I'm not from Tipp, Kilkenny or Cork but I have heard that 50 year stat thrown around and it doesnt mean anything anymore. If the overall stats are misleading then so is the 50 year stat.
Tipp went what, 18 years without an AI, Cork have currently gone 13 and counting. Theyve still dominated Munster historically and also recently and still have more AIs than any other Munster county in recent history.

Why take 50 years to prove 1 team hasnt been dominant and dismiss the previous 10, 20 or 70 odd years before that?
Why not 60 years, what relevance does an All Ireland won in 1968 have over one won in 1958? If you go back 60 years in stead of 50 I think Cork and Tipp have won the same amount (11 AIs each).

Since the start of the Hurling Championship Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny have been dominant.
In Munster terms in the last 60 years Tipp and Cork have won pretty much the same amount of Munsters and the same amount AI's.
But in reality recent form matters most.
In the last 30 years (the length of time where the vast majority of current players have been alive) again they have won pretty much the same amount of Munsters and AI's (10 Munsters each, 5 AIs for Tipp, 4 for Cork)
Since the turn of the millenium they again have won about the same amount of Munsters and AI's (7 Munsters each, 3 AIs for Tipp, 2 for Cork)
In the last 10 years they have won 8 out of 10 Munsters (5 for Tipp, 3 for Cork) between them and Tipp are the only Munster county to have won multiple AIs.
Christ, Limerick, Clare and Waterford have only managed 5 Munster titles and 2 AIs beween them in 20 years!!
So yes, it is Kilkenny, Cork and Tipp the big 3 and its up to us to chase them down and stop that dominance. Unfortunately we havnt been doing a very good job at it at all. Hopefully this year is the start of a few good years for us, but as we know (Clare 2013) that is not always the case.

lawred2 · 22-08-2018 02:36PM

well 50 years is half a century - no other reason for picking it than that

22-08-2018 06:41PM

I think when people say things like "tradition counts for a lot" or variations of that to explain why the traditional counties dominate it's really a short hand for some counties have the right structures in place to be successful.

For me, that means a large pool of underage players being coached well and ultimately coming into a competitive system. Having a lot of players isn't enough, they need to be coached well from their earliest underage sessions (I mean skills wise, not win at all counts). Then when they get to secondary school ideally they would be in a decent school with good coaching and move up into Harty/Fitzgibbon etc. There's no real mystery to it, but it's very hard to do. You need the facilities, the coaches, the schools, the numbers etc.

The Clare win in 2013 and Limerick's win this year (how sweet it is to say that) were based largely on a very narrow age range of players, would make you wonder if other counties could do likewise? With the money in Dublin in GAA you'd have to think they will get their structures great someday soon.

Sonny678 · 22-08-2018 08:01PM

letsseehere14 wrote:

Why take 50 years to prove 1 team hasnt been dominant and dismiss the previous 10, 20 or 70 odd years before that? Why not 60 years, what relevance does an All Ireland won in 1968 have over one won in 1958? If you go back 60 years in stead of 50 I think Cork and Tipp have won the same amount (11 AIs each).

I think 50 years is a good range to look at any sport. Its half a century and probaly u r looking at two or three or more generations of teams or players. 100 year period to examine takes in all the teams since the Independence of Irish state. So if u look at 100 year period 1918 to 2018, it is also a good range for GAA past anaylsis . Prior to 1920s how competitive and how organised was GAAs All Ireland championship, when you had Britian controlling the country, revolution ( The Land War, 1916) War of Independence and Civil War. GAA prior to 1920s , it hard to no the worth of those teams and wins. They are important as they created the GAA tradition. But the organisation was in its infancy. Actually not til probaly 1940s those gaelic football becomes more organised, more competitive and more popular and more a national game. Hurling takes of in 1930s with players like Mick Mackey

In terms of 50 years its a very good way to anaylsis Tipp hurling. Ur basically looking at every Tipp team and players they have produced since they produced their greatest team ever and one of the greatest hurling teams ever, the Tipp team of early to mid 60s. So a period 1968 to 2018 is the era afterward they produced one of the greatest teams ever and it show Tipp for all their tradition, a great hurling county since that great team of 60s Tipp have underachieved ,especially in terms of All Ireland sucess. Tipp have basically won 1 All Ireland every decade. Tipp won 1 All Ireland in the 70s, They won 1 All Ireland in 80s, 1 All Ireland in the 90s , 1 All Ireland in the 00s and 2 All Irelands in this decade. Up to this decade Offaly had won as many All Irelands as Tippearey between 1970 to 2010. ( Offaly 81 85 94 98, Tipp 71, 89, 91, 01). Prior to the 1970s Tipp were the top hurling and kilkenny were a distant third. Since the 60s Kilkenny have become top dog in hurling with a couple of All Irelands in 70s , 2 in a row in the 80s and 90s and off course the 10 All Ireland won under Cody. Tipp are a distant third behind Cork and particularly the Cats in last half century.

Dyr · 22-08-2018 08:19PM

Deleted User wrote: »

With the money in Dublin in GAA you'd have to think they will get their structures great someday soon.

Dublin now have good structures in place but the problem they have is that Dublin is not like the likes of Clare, Galway and Cork where one part of the county favours hurling at club level and the other part favours football

In Dublin most clubs are dual code with football being the big brother so the best players tend to be pushed towards football at club and county level.

letsseehere14 · 23-08-2018 12:52AM

Sonny678 wrote: »

I think 50 years is a good range to look at any sport. Its half a century and probaly u r looking at two or three or more generations of teams or players. 100 year period to examine takes in all the teams since the Independence of Irish state. So if u look at 100 year period 1918 to 2018, it is also a good range for GAA past anaylsis . Prior to 1920s how competitive and how organised was GAAs All Ireland championship, when you had Britian controlling the country, revolution ( The Land War, 1916) War of Independence and Civil War. GAA prior to 1920s , it hard to no the worth of those teams and wins. They are important as they created the GAA tradition. But the organisation was in its infancy. Actually not til probaly 1940s those gaelic football becomes more organised, more competitive and more popular and more a national game. Hurling takes of in 1930s with players like Mick Mackey

In terms of 50 years its a very good way to anaylsis Tipp hurling. Ur basically looking at every Tipp team and players they have produced since they produced their greatest team ever and one of the greatest hurling teams ever, the Tipp team of early to mid 60s. So a period 1968 to 2018 is the era afterward they produced one of the greatest teams ever and it show Tipp for all their tradition, a great hurling county since that great team of 60s Tipp have underachieved ,especially in terms of All Ireland sucess. Tipp have basically won 1 All Ireland every decade. Tipp won 1 All Ireland in the 70s, They won 1 All Ireland in 80s, 1 All Ireland in the 90s , 1 All Ireland in the 00s and 2 All Irelands in this decade. Up to this decade Offaly had won as many All Irelands as Tippearey between 1970 to 2010. ( Offaly 81 85 94 98, Tipp 71, 89, 91, 01). Prior to the 1970s Tipp were the top hurling and kilkenny were a distant third. Since the 60s Kilkenny have become top dog in hurling with a couple of All Irelands in 70s , 2 in a row in the 80s and 90s and off course the 10 All Ireland won under Cody. Tipp are a distant third behind Cork and particularly the Cats in last half century.

Look I dont mean to come across as a jerk about this going on and on and I'm only picking on this because trying to blur the lines around the top teams success in an attempt to show that it has been more competitive over recent years is a fruitless endeavour, trying to show that hey us 'smaller' counties have been just as successful as one of the big 3 is I feel dishonest. By trying to frame it that Tipp havent been a top 3 for 50 years or that say Cork havent been for the last 13 years is just not true.

50 years is a completely arbitrary time span with regards to hurling, just because it is a nice round number doesnt give it any significance. Look at it this way:

In the last 10 years Kilkenny have won 5 AIs, Tipp 2 and Cork 0. Does that mean Cork are no longer one of the big 3? After all only Kilkenny and Tipp have won multiple AIs in that period and Cork have won none for 13 years and counting.

What about the last 20 years? Kilkenny have won 11 AI, Cork and Tipp 3 each. Does that mean its only a big 1 now?

How about the last 30 years? Kilkenny have won 13, Cork 4 but Tipp 5. Does that mean Tipp and Kilkenny are the top 2 ahead of Cork? 30 years is a long time after all.

Taking any of these spans of time is the same as taking 50 years like has been done above, and each time a different result is shown. How can 50 years have been taken and used as evidence that its a big 2 when if you take 60 years (not really any different) and it shows a different picture.

The only things that should be looked at is overall roll of honour which clearly shows a big 3, and recent success which also shows that the same 3 counties are still dominant. Sure Tipp have nearly won as many Provincial and AI titles in recent years than all of the teams outside Cork, KK and Tipp combined. Trying to drag them back to the pack by picking random time spans blurs the fact that they are still dominant. We should be dragging them back to the pack by beating them on the field not by picking time spans that suits our narrative. That has not been happening through recent years.

P.S by pretty much disregarding titles won up to the end of the Civil War in 1923, you have belittled half of the AIs ever won by Limerick, Dublin or Wexford. Every AI ever won by Laois, London and Kerry. 1 of the 4 AIs ever won by Clare and 2 of their 6 Munster titles, and the only AI won by Galway prior to 1980.

Speakerboxx · 23-08-2018 01:12AM

elefant wrote: »

It could be as simple as hurling is a really, really difficult sport to master.

Any decent athlete can be made into a decent footballer, but if you don't grow up playing hurling you won't ever get within a million miles of the guys who grow up with hurls.

not always the case. Sean og o halpin started playing hurling when he was 11 and he was one of Corks best hurlers of all time you could argue. There were very few inter county players as good as him in his position.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 23-08-2018 01:33AM

Does the good land argument hold any sway?

Former Cricket strongholds (KK and Tipp) is the other argument that always comes up when this question is posed.

Athough I never really subscribed to that theory.

Look at the 3 counties Provincial and League Title wins also, they're miles ahead of the pack.

There has to be some factor which caused this.

riffmongous · 23-08-2018 01:53AM

I don't know what it's like in other counties but go around kilkenny and you'll always see kids with a hurl in their hand, in the schools, in the fields, on the streets.. it sounds like a cliche but it's the truth

rossie1977 · 25-08-2018 11:34AM

Sonny678 wrote: »

Thats 21 counties out of 32 that have been starved of All Ireland sucess and most of them have been starved of provicial sucess over all in football. A handful of hurling counties have dominated hurling. A handful of football counties have dominated football.

Those counties might not have enjoyed all Ireland success at senior level they have seen provincial success and reached the latter stages of the championship last 25 years

Clare got to an All-Ireland quarter final two years ago
Tipp an All-Ireland semi final 2 years ago (won minor All-Ireland in 2011 and under 21 all Ireland final in 2015)
Limerick did play in a number of Munster finals in the 00s

Sligo won connacht title in 2007 and reached finals in 2010, 2012 (which they lost by one or two scores), and 2015.
Leitrim won connacht in 94, connacht final in 2000
Roscommon were connacht champions last year
Mayo were all ireland finalists last year

Monaghan two recent ulster championships and all ireland semi finalists this year
Fermanagh AI quarter finalists in 2015, semi finalists in 2004
Cavan ulster title in 97

Wexford AI semi finalists in 2008
Laois Leinster champions
Kildare all Ireland finalists in 1998

Can you really say over past 20 years that Down and Derry have been more successful than Mayo e.g.

In hurling Galway are the only Connacht side to achieve anything of note. Roscommon did participate in a few 'Connacht finals' in the 00s but nearly all were facile. In ulster its only Antrim thats made a dent. In Leinster; Kilkenny, Offaly, Dublin, Wexford that have reached provincial or quarter finals and everyone in Munster aside from Kerry

So really if you break it down further its not as black and white as you made it out. Teams like Sligo have had success at provincial level winning a connacht title and beating Mayo and Galway multiple times as well as Tyrone in 2002 (who would win AI following year) and one kick of the ball away from beating Kerry in Killarney in 2009 with Kerry winning AI that year.

Powerhouse · 25-08-2018 08:52PM

lawred2 wrote: »

well they are traditional hurling counties

But stats are misleading where Tipp are concerned - when one considers the last 50 years

Tipp have only won 6 in the last 50 years so they are not that dominant - conversely Kilkenny have Cork have won it 20 and 10 times respectively so much more dominant than Tipp.

Galway have won 4 in that time so Tipp aren't exactly tipping the scales.

Limerick have only won 3 in the last 80 years.

The stats aren’t misleading. The original post referred to the entire history of the game. You could make Offaly out to be an absolute giant of the game if you were to ignore the parameters in the original post and say they have 4 All Irelands since 1980 but it wouldn’t really reflect their situation either currently or historically. As for the Tipperary-Cork thing.......60 years ago Cork had three All Ireland more than Tipperary. The same stats applies today.

conor05 · 26-08-2018 12:28AM

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Hurling is very strongly embedded in a relatively small region of the country where it was always played.

Draw a line from South Galway through a part of Dublin down to Munster including North Kerry and you have your hurling stronghold.

Hurling region in Glens of Antrim and Ards Down too.

I love them hurling areas, the passion is phenomenal!

conor05 · 26-08-2018 12:38AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I think when people say things like "tradition counts for a lot" or variations of that to explain why the traditional counties dominate it's really a short hand for some counties have the right structures in place to be successful.

For me, that means a large pool of underage players being coached well and ultimately coming into a competitive system. Having a lot of players isn't enough, they need to be coached well from their earliest underage sessions (I mean skills wise, not win at all counts). Then when they get to secondary school ideally they would be in a decent school with good coaching and move up into Harty/Fitzgibbon etc. There's no real mystery to it, but it's very hard to do. You need the facilities, the coaches, the schools, the numbers etc.

The Clare win in 2013 and Limerick's win this year (how sweet it is to say that) were based largely on a very narrow age range of players, would make you wonder if other counties could do likewise? With the money in Dublin in GAA you'd have to think they will get their structures great someday soon.

The underage structures in Limerick are top class and playing numbers in Limerick underage are massive.
Majority of that team last week won AI titles with Ard Scoil Ris and Fitzgibbon cups with Mary I and UL.

I think that environment in Limerick coupled with kids seeing success now at Under 21 and Senior can keep Limerick in the mix big time over the next 10-15 years!

There is still the top 3, but Limerick, Galway and Clare are traditional in their own right too and are producing top class elite Inter County hurlers recently.

Sonny678 · 26-08-2018 01:50AM

You are picking out a couple of achievements counties have had over a couple of generations. If u win 1 or 2 titles in 50 or 60 years or longer or reach semi final once every 70 years that is not consistent sucess. That a county having a long famine without sucess broken up by 1 or 2 good years. Is not consistent sucess.

rossie1977 wrote:

Clare got to an All-Ireland quarter final two years ago Tipp an All-Ireland semi final 2 years ago (won minor All-Ireland in 2011 and under 21 all Ireland final in 2015) Limerick did play in a number of Munster finals in the 00s

Yes Clare got to a q final, but Clare have won 1 Munster title in 90 years.
Yes Tipp reached semi final, there only semi final in over 70 years.
Yes limerick reached Munster final in 00s, but they still havent won Munster title in 120 years.

rossie1977 wrote:

Sligo won connacht title in 2007 and reached finals in 2010, 2012 (which they lost by one or two scores), and 2015. Leitrim won connacht in 94, connacht final in 2000 Roscommon were connacht champions last year Mayo were all ireland finalists last year

Yes Sligo won Connacht in 07, but only their second title in 120 years.
Leitrim won Connacht in 94, but only their second title in 120 years.
Roscommon win Connacht last year and have won Connacht titles every 10 years or so in Connacht , but Roscommon have not won an All Ireland since World War 2 and have played in 1 senior All Ireland final in 55 years.

rossie1977 wrote:

Monaghan two recent ulster championships and all ireland semi finalists this year Fermanagh AI quarter finalists in 2015, semi finalists in 2004 Cavan ulster title in 97

Yes Monaghan won 2 Ulster titles recently , but they have not played in an All Ireland final in 90 years. Only in last few years they had their first win in Croker in 80 years.
Yes Cavan won Ulster in 97, but it is their only Ulster title in 50 years. Cavan have not won a championship match in Croker in over 50 years.

rossie1977 wrote:

Wexford AI semi finalists in 2008 Laois Leinster champions Kildare all Ireland finalists in 1998

Yes Wexford reached semi final in 08, but Wexford have not won a leinster title or beaten Dublin in the championship in 70 years. Wexford have not won All Ireland in 100 years.
Laois won leinster in 03. But that is their only leinster title in 60 years.
Kildare reached All Ireland final in 98, but that is their only All Ireland final appearance at senior in 90 years. Kildare have won 3 leinster titles in 65 years.

rossie1977 wrote:

Can you really say over past 20 years that Down and Derry have been more successful than Mayo e.g.

No I never said that. But until Mayo win Sam, Down still have 5 All Irelands and Derry 1 All Ireland won , since Mayo won their last title 70 years ago.

My point is yes counties have had sucess. But the sucess is an odd year now and again. Actually the sucess is usually 1 or two sucessful years in a couple of generations. If u win 1 title in half century eg Cavan. You cannot honestly say that team has been consistently sucessful. There has been a small handful counties consistently sucessful over the decades. The rest which is the majority have had 1 or two years of sucess in 50 or 60 or 70 years. And most of those years of sucess are at provicial level, not at All-Ireland level.

The_Kew_Tour · 26-08-2018 07:23AM

Good Post Above.

Kinda shows that these counties only have succes once in Blue Moon

Niles Crane · 26-08-2018 10:10AM

Sonny678 wrote: »

You are picking out a couple of achievements counties have had over a couple of generations. If u win 1 or 2 titles in 50 or 60 years or longer or reach semi final once every 70 years that is not consistent sucess. That a county having a long famine without sucess broken up by 1 or 2 good years. Is not consistent sucess.

Yes Clare got to a q final, but Clare have won 1 Munster title in 90 years.
Yes Tipp reached semi final, there only semi final in over 70 years.
Yes limerick reached Munster final in 00s, but they still havent won Munster title in 120 years.

Yes Sligo won Connacht in 07, but only their second title in 120 years.
Leitrim won Connacht in 94, but only their second title in 120 years.
Roscommon win Connacht last year and have won Connacht titles every 10 years or so in Connacht , but Roscommon have not won an All Ireland since World War 2 and have played in 1 senior All Ireland final in 55 years.

Yes Monaghan won 2 Ulster titles recently , but they have not played in an All Ireland final in 90 years. Only in last few years they had their first win in Croker in 80 years.
Yes Cavan won Ulster in 97, but it is their only Ulster title in 50 years. Cavan have not won a championship match in Croker in over 50 years.

Yes Wexford reached semi final in 08, but Wexford have not won a leinster title or beaten Dublin in the championship in 70 years. Wexford have not won All Ireland in 100 years.
Laois won leinster in 03. But that is their only leinster title in 60 years.
Kildare reached All Ireland final in 98, but that is their only All Ireland final appearance at senior in 90 years. Kildare have won 3 leinster titles in 65 years.

No I never said that. But until Mayo win Sam, Down still have 5 All Irelands and Derry 1 All Ireland won , since Mayo won their last title 70 years ago.

My point is yes counties have had sucess. But the sucess is an odd year now and again. Actually the sucess is usually 1 or two sucessful years in a couple of generations. If u win 1 title in half century eg Cavan. You cannot honestly say that team has been consistently sucessful. There has been a small handful counties consistently sucessful over the decades. The rest which is the majority have had 1 or two years of sucess in 50 or 60 or 70 years. And most of those years of sucess are at provicial level, not at All-Ireland level.

You keep on defining success solely as winning I don't think that was the point that was being made by the poster you responded to or by me earlier.

In hurling you have 10 or so competitive counties and then there is a chasm between them and the rest where outside the top 10 there has been absolutely no chance of getting into the top ten and having a run at getting far in the championship.

In football you have a limited number of counties who can contend to win over any stretch of time but that group of counties changes all the time, in hurling the same 10 teams play against each other over and over again and it never changes.

For example in the 1990's Monaghan were terrible but since 2003 they have been a good side with regular appearances in the quarter finals and provincial titles being won.

About 20 different teams have played in all ireland football quarter finals in the last 10 years or so whereas in hurling it's the same 7 or 8 teams in this last while and it was those same 7 or 8 teams 50 years ago.

BloodyBill · 26-08-2018 02:25PM

conor05 wrote: »

The underage structures in Limerick are top class and playing numbers in Limerick underage are massive.
Majority of that team last week won AI titles with Ard Scoil Ris and Fitzgibbon cups with Mary I and UL.

I think that environment in Limerick coupled with kids seeing success now at Under 21 and Senior can keep Limerick in the mix big time over the next 10-15 years!

There is still the top 3, but Limerick, Galway and Clare are traditional in their own right too and are producing top class elite Inter County hurlers recently.

We can over emphasise the success of the academy in Limerick. Limerick has a jump on alot of counties in that rugby has shown the hurlers how to prepare professionally. Ard Scoil is an example..the hurlers could measure themselves in the gym off the rugby players. The overall emphasis on sport in Limerick in general is huge aswell. Then after saying all those positives..the very best young athletic talents play rugby in the city..and that's the way it always has been. So no one can rest on their laurels.

Heres Johnny · 26-08-2018 02:52PM

In football I don't think picking up the odd provincial title in 100+ years where you only have 6 counties in Munster, 5 in Connacht, 9 in Ulster and 12 in Leinster represents any modicum of success at all.

Considering 1 or 2 all Ireland semis or an odd provincial win over that long period of time is more akin to throwing sh*t at a wall and getting lucky that a bit sticks than any indicator of success

Can't claim it makes for a balanced playing field at all.

It's just the nature of sport that the top dominating teams have an off year. Success is stopping that domination and I don't see it any more in football than I do in hurling

rossie1977 · 26-08-2018 04:17PM

Heres Johnny wrote: »

In football I don't think picking up the odd provincial title in 100+ years where you only have 6 counties in Munster, 5 in Connacht, 9 in Ulster and 12 in Leinster represents any modicum of success at all.

Considering 1 or 2 all Ireland semis or an odd provincial win over that long period of time is more akin to throwing sh*t at a wall and getting lucky that a bit sticks than any indicator of success

Can't claim it makes for a balanced playing field at all.

Nobody is claiming a balanced playing field.

For a county like Leitrim with less than 30,000 people to win a Connacht title is an incredible achievement considering the difference in size and resources between them and Mayo/Galway is vast. Its akin to say St Mirren winning the Scottish League title ahead of Celtic and Rangers.

Monaghan with 5,000 adult males between the ages of 18 and 34 just reached an Ireland semi final.

My point as others have stated in Gaelic football its more likely for more counties to claim provincial success, reach latter stages of the championship or achieve underage and club success than it would be in hurling where all those accolades are shared among 10-11 counties year in year out.

nlrkjos · 28-08-2018 09:38PM

riffmongous wrote: »

I don't know what it's like in other counties but go around kilkenny and you'll always see kids with a hurl in their hand, in the schools, in the fields, on the streets.. it sounds like a cliche but it's the truth

we could get away in school with leaving your sack at home, but not your hurley, bateing a tennis ball up the road and home again was where the skills were learnt, hitting the "children crossing" sign from 30/40 yards was considered kids stuff before you were in second year.We may have been as thick as the wall, but by gasus we could hit the wall.:D

Powerhouse · 29-08-2018 10:12PM

conor05 wrote: »

The underage structures in Limerick are top class and playing numbers in Limerick underage are massive.
Majority of that team last week won AI titles with Ard Scoil Ris and Fitzgibbon cups with Mary I and UL.

I think that environment in Limerick coupled with kids seeing success now at Under 21 and Senior can keep Limerick in the mix big time over the next 10-15 years!

I wouldn’t directly question what you are saying about Limerick and playing numbers as I wouldn’t know the facts but your referencing of an All Ireland title for Ard Scoil Ris (they have never won one) would suggest your own remarks are loose enough. But when Kilkenny were going well we were told too that there was no end to their talent and hurlers were falling out of the trees. Likewise Galway after last year were the next big thing as were Clare in 2013. Everyone looks unassailable in the immediate glow of victory. Doesn’t always work out.

Hector Bellend · 31-08-2018 06:15PM

wherearewe45 wrote: »

Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork

Sorry if this has been discussed before but after the final yesterday I went looking up the roll of honor. Those 3 teams have won the vast vast majority of finals over the years. Limerick are fourth most successful in the country with 8 wins. You would imagine teams/counties would rise and fall but these 3 are so dominant throughout the history of the GAA.

Kilkenny are the only irish county that dont compete in the SFC and only two counties have made it to double figures.

Kerry 37 and Dublin 27.

How are 3 teams so dominant in inter county hurling over such a sustained period of t

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