Couple of good matches to look forward to this weekend hopefully the weather isn't to bad. Talks of Cian Kenny out for the village and Joey holden back for the shamrocks. Maybe there's no truth in this
o Loughlin will not take Vegas for granted or they'd be foolish to after last year. there hasn't being much between them the last few years.Thomastown will suit Vegas. If this was in the park it would be more straight foward but id still expect o Loughlins to get the win. They look better this year and have a very good back line. They might lack a foward or two but Owen wall has being excellent. Vegas will play with freedom now and have mixed the good with very poor.
Glenmore will be delighted with the year so far but I think they could be running out of steam. The bridge was probably the shock of the wknd. Blanchfield looks to be playing with the shackles off but Kevin Blanchfield got through a lot of work and I was very impressed with the 2 Hughes and enda Morrissey is very solid at full back. They've being a bit inconsistent aswell but both teams will look at this as a great opportunity.
Ballycallans young lads have repaid the trust management have put in them. Billy Ryan was excellent at midfield and Jeff neary is a Chap who should make the county panel. Tommy ronan has being very good.The village will be dissapointed with the way they went to sleep in the league final. It shows they haven't the panel when missing a few players.kenny would be a huge loss but they might have the bit of experience to sneak over the line.brassil and Scanlon both hurling well.
Undoubtedly the match of the weekend and hopefully it lives up to expectations. The challengers versus the champions. I'd expect the shamrocks bigger players like mullen and Cody to be better. The talk of people tipping the Boro will be music to their ears.
I really think it's time for the Boro to get the win. Buckley was a big loss against the village last year but I was very dissapointed how they downed tools when it was in the melting pot. I think they've improved this year and have learned from that defeat. They've bulked up and have what a few teams haven't got is a few fowards. Sheehan,Moore,Gaffney and nolan can hurt defenses.
Some great match ups to look foward to. Clifford's best position is wing back and he could be detailed to mark mullen.Colin and eoin Cody will test the Boro backs. Hopefully a good crowd and a good match.
We don’t have a great record in lreland of punishing well known public figures
He was an idol to so many including myself , but I'd say he's going to jail for a nice spell , there's a lot of money over a long time period and the deviance of how it was done is shocking
As someone who really admired DJ and went to club matches just to see him play, it saddens me to say that, if found guilty, he has to go to jail
I hope he gets everything he deserves 😡
It certainly is.
It's in the open now.
Funeral burials in Mullinavat & Thomastown (venue) Saturday likely the reason for the time change
Whats the logic to Saturdays fixtures?
Mullinavat v OLG has been moved to 3.30 (had been down for 1 originally). So the Minor A county final and 2 senior QF's are now all on at the same time
Young irelands playing st brigids and not tullaroan they play thomastown. I would go for
Brigids to bt young irelands
Muckalee to bt barrow
Tullaroan to bt thomastown
Conahy to bt Clara.
All 4 games close to call and could go eeithier way
Yeah in a funny way Freshford getting relegated last year might be the best thing that happened them in the long run and they definitely seem a more united bunch this year!
Thomastown play some great hurling as can be seen by the scores they've been putting up this year, I think it's the mental side they need to get right to finally see them over the line, as you say if they go up they have the talent to stay up and do well. As well as that intermediate will be a mine field next year with Comer or Danesfort coming down and Freshford (most likely) going up and you'd imagine that the young Dunnamaggin/Young Irelands/Mooncoin teams will continue to get stronger also.
Yeah I have seen Freshford a few times this year and if they did not have such a negative year last year(matters off the field), I'm sure they would be competing in the Intermediate semi final Sunday week. Sometimes relegation is not such a bad thing as it results in big changes. Aside from the county Junior an All Ireland would be a great year for Freshford.
Thomastown would be a very good senior side, and deserve to go up. Play a nice brand and have a big panel, a senior club in everything bar name
True - A marker needs to be put down.
Dicksboro wont enjoy going to Skeogh on a tight bumpy pitch... Will they be complacent?
Y. Irelands - hit and miss , should have enough to win as Tullaroan - very poor.
St Martins should have enough to beat B Rangers - as they are very poor- Young team.
Conahy V Clara - Should be a Conahy win.
Camogie post.
Think Piltown need the win more than the boro, being beaten again by Dicksboro for the 3rd time in a row in championship wont do any good ffor piltowns confidence . The ffirst round of the championship also on with tough games thatt are hard to call.
Gowran v st brigids
Conahy v Clara
Muckalee v barrow
Thomastown v Tullaroan.
It's a poor indictment of our forwards that only 2 have got all star nominations given that we've got to an All Ireland and won Leinster, albeit Tom Phelan a little unlucky not to be included. Going forward next year this is an are we are going to have to improve on if we want to win an all Ireland!
Tom Phelan very unlucky to miss out on All Star Nomination
If Boro can beat Shamrocks on Sunday I think every other team left in it will fancy their chances of going and winning it! It would make for 2 really interesting semi finals but Shamrocks are Shamrocks and won't go down easy!
Think you are right about Freshford being well ahead of the pack, the remaining teams in junior are probably even enough but Freshford should be well clear. I do think this could be the year Thomastown finally get over the line but I don't think they're as far ahead of Lisdowney as that, I think if they do meet in the final that will be a tight game!
Senior Camogie League Final on this Saturday at 1pm.
Its being played in Tom Walsh pk, Skeoghvosteen .... ( Blacks & Whites Gaa )
Should be a great game - the 2 best sides in the County meeting for the second time this year.
From what I heard Cloughbawn put very little in football this year after losing Intermediate A final 2 years in a row, just about stayed out of relegation this year, think alot of lads didn't even tog and the lads who play Soccer aren't going near it until the hurling is concluded, they want to give it a good rattle as when they won Intermediate in 2018 they had to play Naas 6 days after the county final, I'd imagine preparation was far from ideal 🍺🍺
Think they are better than every other team in these grades too but 4-6 points better would be a fairer assessment in my view. Interesting to see if both can push on and win Championship's after kind of easing to league titles.
Thanks for the synopsis lads. I would think our two champions aren't actually teams for the ages, but Cloughbawn are an experienced side and in Harry Kehoe and Conal Flood have a couple of real scoring threats.
Craanford Fr O'Regans are a good solod side with no real stars among their number, but they were comfortable enough in every game in the knockouts in their championship, despite being underdogs every game. They play a football county 1/4 final this weekend and it will be their 14th weekend in a row with a small squad. That must take a toll at some point. Craanford are a club quite local to me so I know them well.
Both teams have been playing football the last 5 weekends and haven't hurled in 6 weeks. That will be a huge disadvantage and is a real downside to Wexford splitting the season between football and hurling.
Senior is wide open, Ballyhale v Boro this weekend will be a cracker. Boro will be hard to stop if they get through.
Freshford and Thomastown are 10 points better than there closest challengers in Junior and Intermediate. But that does not guarantee they will win it
Intermediate championships are at semi final stage Thomastown play Dunnamaggin and Lisdowney play Mooncoin. Thomastown would be favourites to win the first game, they recently won the intermediate league for the fifth year in a row and have gone close to winning intermediate over the last 5/6 years but always seem to fall just short but have looked very impressive this year. Dunanmaggin are a young team and it's probably a year or 2 too early for them, they're in U17A and U15A finals so definitely a team on the up. Lisdowney were relegated from senior last year and should be too strong for Mooncoin, who also seem to be a club heading in the right direction. More than likely a Thomastown v Lisdowney final which would be a repeat of the 2020 final which Lisdowney won after penalties. Both are good strong teams with good scoring ability.
Junior is only coming into the knockout stages now. St Lachtains (Freshfird) are the favourites to win it out, they were relegated from intermediate last year after getting to the county final the previous year. Their main challengers are probably going to be Windgap and Tullogher Rosbercon (who have a very tricky first round tie against Graignamanagh at the weekend) but St Lachtains have looked a class above the other junior teams.
I've actually seen Cloughbawn play a couple of times this year (albeit challenge games) but they look a good team and play a nice brand of hurling and will be very hard to beat.
Hi folks. Our club championships are completed down here in Wexford and I am up to speed with how your senior championship is going, but just wondering how your intermediate and junior are going?
Our intermediate champions are Cloughbawn, bouncing straight back to senior after 1 year.
Our Intermediate A champions (junior by a fancy name) are Craanford Fr. O'Regans.
Both clubs may face Kilkenny opponents so just interested to know how your championships are going.
Mullinavat v O'Loughlins - O'Loughlins look back to the form that seen them push Shamrocks all the way in the county final 2 years ago. They're backs are very strong with the 3 county players and added into that the form of David Fogarty and Jordan Molloy have really given them a formidable defence. Even though their forwards lack any big names they have been putting up big scores with Eoin Wall getting back to his best. Mullinavat have had an up and down year and will be happy to have the threat of relegation out of the way. Their backs are big and strong and John Walsh's form has been very good since returning, they'll be a very hard team to break down especially if the weather isn't the best but I fancy O'Loughlins to win this.
Glenmore v Bennetsbridge - Glenmore have had a great year topping their group and the form of the 3 Murphy's has been excellent, thrown in with that they have Ger Aylward, Cathal Beirne and Ian Byrne in their forward line, so fire power shouldn't be a problem to them. Bennetsbridge coming off the back of a good win against Tullaroan will be high on confidence. The spine of their team with Enda Morrissey, David Blanchfield, Kevin Blanchfield and Liam Blanchfield is very strong but they'll be most happy with the performance of the 2 Hughes' who were excellent at the weekend. With Ciaran Brennan and Jason Cleere coming back into the team also they look like they might hitting form at the right time. Glenmore ran out 6 point victors when they played a couple of weeks ago but I fancy Bennetsbridge to over turn that defeat at the weekend.
James Stephens v Graigue Ballycallan - The Village have stuttered through the league and were well beaten in the shield final at the weekend. Luke Scanlon has been in good form this year and they have quality players in Cian Kenny and Eoin Guilfoyle. They usually save their best hurling for championship and will be hoping to step it up again this weekend. GBC have been the surprise package of the championship and are definitely in bonus territory, the only game they won last year was the relegation final but if results had gone their way they could have been in a shield final. Tom Dunphy and Tommy Ronan have been excellent for them and Billy Ryan really stepped it up last weekend. I think this will be a very tight game and the experience of the Village might just shade it.
Dicksboro v Shamrocks - The tie of the round! The champions against the challengers! This has all the making's of a cracking game! Dicksboro have been very good so far and are the only unbeaten team left! Eoin Fennelly, Tom Kenny and Timmy Clifford have been excellent at the back and in Aidan Nolan, Bill Sheenhan and Andy Gaffney they have a dangerous forward line, also a they have an excellent panel and quality subs ready to step in. In the semi final last year against the Village they were bullied and found wanting when things got tight and tough, if they have rectified that problem and can tough it out when they have too I'd give them a great chance! The Shamrocks haven't been at their usual standards this year but this is understandable given their list of unavailable players. Colin Fennelly has returned and any forward line with TJ Reid, Eoin Cody and Adrian Mullen have an embarrassment of riches. Sunday will be a real test of their full back line without Joey Holden, if their backs can breakeven they have the forwards to see them home! This is usually the stage where Shamrocks start to take off and move up the gears but even with all the quality they have their absentee list has to catch up with them eventually, I think the Boro might just shade it.
Boro v Shamrocks on TG4 Sunday
Rest in peace Liam Hinphy a true gentleman great GAA man The Village, Derry, Kilkenny.
I think the current system is perfect and nearly all games are meaningful. Apart from the 3 city teams and Ballyhale, the first objective of all other teams is to avoid the relegation battle. If you do win a couple of matches, the objective then becomes to finish in the top 2 in order to get through the first round of the championship and getting a lower ranked team in the quarter final. Giving those who finish 3rd and 4th a second chance would lessen the incentive to finish in the top 2.
It's hard to imagine that Mullinavat would have beaten Tullaroan yesterday seeing as they lost by about 25 points to them a few weeks ago.
I agree that top 2 is a big incentive but in reality there is no advantage, and indeed there is a disadvantage, to finish in the middle 2 as opposed to the bottom 2.
All the teams know the system, if they wanted to finish 5th or 6th for this advantage they would have. But they do not, look at the Shamrocks for example they finished bottom 2 unintentionally, imaging taking that risk and finishing bottom 2 to play them. Teams want to avoid relegation matches at all costs, look at yesterdays weather, anything is possible in these games. Going off yesterdays performances Mullinavat would have turned over Tullaroan imo. What cost Tullaroan is not the system, but players taking a holiday a week before the league commenced, that put them under pressure from day one and was a variable in the teams early exit from championship. Finishing in the top 2 is a massive advantage.
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