Div 2 Heidenfeld Trophy 2014 - 2015

Yeah, Kilkenny gone alright. Always annoying, especially for the teams who should have been promoted in their stead, but that's the way I guess.

My predictions -

1 - Celbridge by a distance
2 - Hard to say really. No-one stands out for me. Curragh are fairly ordinary and got promoted two years ago (and came straight back down). Rathmines A maybe?
3 - St Benildus

Relegation -
11 - Inchicore B (sorry guys! Have to go with someone!) If I reckon Phibsboro are in trouble in the Armstrong, that'll factor through here as well. Lucan were fairly weak as well last year, though they stayed up handy enough. Only takes one player having a really bad season to be looking over your shoulder.

First result - St Benildus 1-0 Celbridge; rest of the games on Wednesday. Overcame a 300+ rating gap to win! We're going to cause a lot of teams problems this year; got a very solid squad.

I wonder how Inchicore having two teams will affect their A team? Always makes subs that bit harder. Otherwise, they could be a good shout alright.

We're considerably stronger than last year. Would be very disappointed if we're down near the bottom. I expect to a bit of fun for a change this season!

Second straight relegation, you reckon?

Would be more surprising than a relegated side challenging for an immediate return to the top flight I'd say!

Course, realistically we only really know about our own clubs. I'll believe you'll be a surprise if you believe we'll be one too?

Getting bumped down is usually a sign of an improved team in fairness (or else you've had a bad year )

I was board 1 for a couple of games last season. I might actually be board 8 on Wednesday! And I've only lost 40 points.

I guess the problem is that the fixtures are upon us; first round is this week and teams are getting arranged. You might suddenly have to change from playing on Saturday week down the country to playing three or four days before that at home. It's a bit awkward.

Obviously it would have been nice had Kilkenny withdrawn earlier to allow promotions as you say. But they did this a couple of years ago too when withdrawing from the Ennis after the first round had started. That's why I proposed a motion at the LCU AGM a couple of years back that clubs confirm their participation in divisions by 31 August (or whenever it was), with penalties on remaining teams if they subsequently withdrew.

Gonzaga haven't the strength to win the Heidenfeld. The other two might well have, though.

You've also got to re-jig that down each of the other divisions - promote third place in the O'Hanlon, BA and Bodley too.

I can see that it would be a lot more awkward given the short notice at which it occurred. Though interestingly, at the same time, Portmarnock withdrew from the Bodley and were replaced with Naomh Barróg. So Blanchardstown have changed from travelling to Portmarnock on 2nd October to now going to Naomh Barróg on (I think) 30th September.

I think the bigger issue is the idea of minimising the number of games clubs play on any one day, and I think the fixtures software identifies clubs' consecutive teams and tries to minimise clashes with them (for sub reasons). In that case, re-doing the fixtures for five divisions may have been quite awkward. Unless the computer could do it automatically, of course.

Third place in the Ennis last year was Elm Mount - they're at home to Longford on Saturday. They'd instead have to host Lucan on Saturday week. Elm Mount's fixtures could go to Dún Laoghaire, third in the O'Hanlon - who'd now have to host Longford on Saturday instead of Round Tower next Wednesday. Sure, you can postpone games a couple of weeks (though the calendar is very tight), but you can see the logistical problems of cancelling games three days in advance.

I think this (again) comes down to that Kilkenny should have been more organised.

Bavaria??

Just looking there - our Armstrong only beat Celbridge 4½-3½ last season!

And I drew on 7 in the Armstrong and won on 6 in the Heidenfeld.

All very strange!