Kilkenny GAA Thread

In Wexford here lads it's all set at divisions of 8 teams at underage, in u12 and 14 I think it's 5 divisions of 8 and then a 6th division with clubs who have enough numbers to field a 2nd team, divisions narrow a bit a u16 and particularly u18 with lads dropping out and a few more amalgamations.

The following setup maybe?

Roinn A, 6 teams - Roinn B, 6 teams. Roinn C, 2 Groups of 6 teams. Roinn D, 2 Groups of 6 teams. Anything after that, one or two groups of 6's, depending on numbers. Surely that structure would be better in terms of competitiveness?

To determine the make up of the Roinns, we should split the county geographically into 3 regions leagues (North, Mid and South for arguments sake). Try have 12 teams per region, or as even as you can, with 2 groups of 5/6/7 (depending on the numbers) in each region.

The top 2 teams of each group play each other. The winners go to Roinn A, and the losers go to Roinn B. Roinn C would contain teams ranked 3 & 4 in the regional leagues. Roinn D would contain the next 12 lowest teams.

Cons - Way too many one-sided hammerings in the regional leagues. Unfortunately, you'd have Roinn A teams playing Roinn D teams, and that would obviously not be great. Another con is the number of games required, and that might not feasible with the minors/schools in flow earlier in the year. Ideally, you'd be looking at starting in June, and having a game every week over the summer into September.

Pros - The Roinns are smaller, so would likely be more competitive. The regionals leagues are heavily imbalanced, but that imbalance would see teams finished in their merited positions, which would then see them move into the appropriate Roinn for the Championship. There would be no clubs pulling strokes and dropping tiers to suit their ambitions, and every year begins with every club starting out with the ability to win Roinn A, the regional leagues just help sort teams out their level on the field. As every club starts off at the same level, it also means that a club isn't linked to a particular Roinn via promotion/relegation, it goes on a year to year basis.

There's likely a few other ways there's pros and cons, it's likely unworkable, but it's worth thinking about.

Under 19 was ran in 5 roinns while it was in existence and it was really competitive I felt with 8 teams in each. Probably should be the way it should be at all levels. Just change the name of the roinns to stop the snobbery.

A lot of clubs do take the piss every year looking to drop down grades etc. County board has been too open to club demands.

Great game in Ballyragget.

Tullaroan Clara yet another game with both teams scoring more than 20 points. Clara led for most of the game by two to five points but a late flurry of points by Tullaroan gave them a 2 point winning margin. Bill Walton, Dylan Simpson and Mossy doing the bulk of the scoring. Rory Glynn, Dara Glynn, David Barcoe did well for Clara who had the better goal chances and maybe deserved a draw.

Tommy Walsh went off injured after 4 minutes with a suspected cruciate ligament. The 4 games in 4 weeks is going to have an impact on clubs with many players picking up niggles or worse

Interesting to see Tommy Walsh senior in his role as selector. Didn't go roaring at referees or linesman. More encouraging his own players. Think he will be more inspirational than a master technician

Tommy Walsh was in serious pain after the injury, nobody near him after a sharp turn by Glynn so you'd fear the worst there. Less than 2 minutes gone.

Very impressed with Tullaroan the first day and they showed great resilience tonight but hard to see them having enough now without the 2 Walsh's. Shane in a sling tonight so hard to see him featuring in the league again. Is Darragh Glynn a brother of Rory's? Looks a very good player.

Would love to see Tommy Walsh brought in as a selector for next year. That man just makes sense every time he speaks and his passion must be infectious on players.

any word on the Village v Tullougher

Watched St. Lachtains v Young Irelands earlier. YI started off on fire, 3 goals scored in roughly the first 10 minutes. SL were so open at the back and it looked like YI would run riot. SL deserve serious credit for sticking at it and not dropping the head when it would have been easy to do so. They quickly enough fought their way back into the game and lead at half time from memory, despite letting in the 3 early goals. They were the better team in the 2nd half as well, keeping YI in check with a savage intensity and great technique in their tackling. Some turnaround after a hammering last week against Danesfort to then dominate YI.

C Bergin, Brian Kennedy, Cathal Hickey, Alan Rafter and Liam Hickey were very impressive for SL. Darren Brennan in goal is a fantastic outlet for ball as well, as is Killeen centre forward. YI were disappointing, but best of them was probably Sean Farrell, Paddy Langton, Seamus Farrell and Diarmuid Langton

Ballycallan and Mullinavat drew 3-18 to 2-21

I thought Freshford were much hungrier than Gowran, their half back line cleaned up, Cathal Hickey in particular. Brian Kennedy is remarkable. Even though Gowran got the early well taken goals, they only scored 2 points from play up to the 45th minute, both by Diarmuid Langton. Very dissappointing from Young Irelands

I thonk Dicksboro will be more disappointed than the Bridge after their draw even though the latter led for most of the game. Boro played a lot of short passing but were turned over a lot by the Bridge in the first half. As the Bridge tired, the Boro got more space and led by a point late on playing with a strong wind. Davy Blanch hit a long free to draw the game.

Patrick Lacey, Cillian Hackett and Timmy Clifford did well, Cillian Buckley got on a world of ball.

The Bridge half back line impressed, Davy Blanch returning to form. The same could be said about Liam Blanchfield.

Don't know what is the story with Bill Sheahan, he usually thrives on the hard ground? The Bridge don't have the strength in depth with injuries and travel

Yes, Hickey and Kennedy really came thundering into the game and took hold. YI couldn’t win a ball in the middle third, totally outfought. SL made great use of possession too once they won it. You’d wonder did YI think after the 3 early goals they’d stroll through it.

Watched Mooncoin v B&W earlier too. Whilst the scoreline isn’t a true reflection on the game, Mooncoin were just far slicker with the ball and found their scores easier to come by. Two soft enough, but well taken, goals after B&W lost possession in defence and a poor puck out. Mooncoin will want to improve for future games. The Skeough men will be happy enough with a lot of that game, but need to cut out the mistakes at the back. They’ll want Sam Byrne back as soon as possible. Best for Mooncoin were Paul Henebery, Liam Hogan and Adam Croke, despite Croke missing a few score-able chances. Best for B&W were probably Paul Murphy, the Nipper Lennon and Martin Kelly

For a number of years, the Boro have been flying in the league only to come up short in the knockout stages. They should make the semi finals but not sure they have the power when conditions get tougher

A disappointing element today was the huge number of rucks in the match against the Bridge

Boro Vs Bennestbridge - probably a deserved draw with both teams having the chance to win but maybe not enough class to see off the other team. Agree with both teams being poor rather than two good teams going at it. Boro missing Harry Shine, Tom Kenny, Bill Sheehan, Matty Kelliher and then Shane Stapleton which are big losses.