Hurling Rankings

grenache wrote: »

Are Dublin currently a better hurling side than Limerick, at this point in time?

All you're illustrating is you haven't a clue how a ranking system works and what it judges. I'd explain it a bit more but I've no time for a 'Johnny one-liner' whose sole intention is to knock something that I put a bucket load of work into. Not my fault you don't understand how a ranking system works.

Plenty of people have criticised this in a constructive way and there was some great discussion in the earlier days of this thread as a result, and if you took the time to go back through the thread you'd see that I acknowledge plenty of times that it is flawed, and there is no such thing as a perfect system.

Putting the ranking system aside for a moment; here's my subjective ranking of teams based on performance in this years championship!


1-KILKENNY; Top two positions have to go to KK and Tipperary, Kilkenny get the nod as they remain the only undefeated team and unlike Tipp they came out on the right side of a tight game with Limerick.

2-TIPPERARY; Win the replay and swap them with Kilkenny. Great response to their defeat to Limerick, genuinely seem to have improved with each game.

3-CORK; Were this down to semi final performances, Limerick would take 3rd hands down. However they get the nod as they won the clash between the two in the Munster final, and won impressively against Clare and Waterford.

4-LIMERICK; A landmark win over Tipperary in Thurles for the first time since 1973 was sadly to be the only parallel for my home county to that great year as our wait continues. An emphatic hammering of Wexford was a great response to a disappointing closing quarter in the Munster final and gave Kilkenny one hell of a game in the semi.

5-WEXFORD; Is it too soon to say Wexford are back? They have certainly made great progress, an unremarkable Leinster campaign combined a hammering of Antrim with a flat performance v Dublin. The absorbing tussles with Clare provided us with great scenes at the final whistle in Wexford Park. The feel good factor returned to Wexford and they dispatched of Waterford before falling apart the following weekend v Limerick. Plenty to build on for next year.

6-GALWAY; Generous perhaps, were very lucky to defeat Laois but followed that up with a remarkable late rally to steal a draw against Kilkenny before being dismissed with relative ease in the replay. Gave Tipp a good game for the first 3 quarters but finished very poorly. A disappointing year, but their two defeats came at the hands of the two best teams of the championship.

7-DUBLIN; One of a few teams who disappointed, a good win down in Wexford Park where they struggled the year before but they were very poor by the standards they have set themselves in the last 6 years.

8-CLARE; A team that looked somewhat jaded this year. Always looked second best against Cork but showed good battling qualities to fight back in the two games v Wexford when reduced to 14 (and 13) men.

9-WATERFORD; A strange year, showed great promise in the first game v Cork but comprehensively outclassed in the replay. A victory over Laois was their solitary win of the 2014 campaign and even given Wexfords revival they will be disappointed in Waterford to have been knocked out by their eastern neighbours. One to forget for the Déise.

10-OFFALY; Unfortunately they were simply awful against Kilkenny, also suffered a big defeat at the hands of Tipperary. They finish 10th on account of their dramatic late win over Antrim, sad how far they have fallen in the last 14 years.

11-ANTRIM; Well beaten by Wexford and really probably should have held out and defeated Offaly. Although Laois were the better team, Antrim get the nod as they won the clash between the two in the qualifier group.

12-LAOIS; A strange and frustrating year for Laois, they play out of their skins for games they were widely expected to lose and they fall flat for games they were expected to win. Unlucky against Galway and disappointing v Waterford. Will be disappointed by the defeat to Antrim in the qualifying group but including the league campaign there were 4 or 5 promising performances by Laois in 2014. Hopefully that translates into championship victories in the next few years.

List of outcomes ahead of the replay, top two assured for both, the victor will emerge at number 1. Outcomes listed on x-axis. Cork and Clare just thrown in to illustrate the gap!

Position|previous|change|Team|Points
1st |(1)|=|KILKENNY|9302
2nd |(2)|=|TIPPERARY|8768
3rd |(5)|+2|DUBLIN|8586
4th |(3)|-1|CORK|8530
5th |(7)|+2|GALWAY|8450
6th |(4)|-2|CLARE|8398
7th |(6)|-1|LIMERICK|8362
8th |(8)|=|WATERFORD|8135
9th |(9)|=|WEXFORD|7905
10th |(10)|=|OFFALY|7666
11th |(11)|=|LAOIS|7160
12th |(12)|=|ANTRIM|7108
13th |(13)|=|KERRY|6545
14th |(14)|=|CARLOW|6518
15th |(15)|=|WESTMEATH|6450
16th |(16)|=|KILDARE|6382
17th |(17)|=|DERRY|6119
18th |(18)|=|LONDON|5907
19th |(19)|=|DOWN|5903
20th |(21)|+1|WICKLOW|5679
21st |(20)|-1|MEATH|5623
22nd |(22)|=|MAYO|5462
23rd |(23)|=|ARMAGH|4834
24th |(25)|+1|FINGAL|4707
25th |(24)|-1|DONEGAL|4704
26th |(26)|=|TYRONE|4600
27th |(27)|=|ROSCOMMON|4458
28th |(28)|=|LOUTH|3934
29th |(30)|+1|MONAGHAN|3923
30th |(29)|-1|FERMANAGH|3842
31st |(31)|=|LONGFORD|3731
32nd |(32)|=|WARWICKSHIRE|3409
33rd |(33)|=|SLIGO|3101
34th |(34)|=|LEITRIM|2878

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Fair play to the author for his work. Only giving an opinion.

No worries! It's not meant to be taken too seriously anyway, all I'd say is that perhaps its harsh to dismiss it based on the ranking of just one of the 34 teams!

Position|previous|change|Team|Points
1st |(1)|=|KILKENNY|9124
2nd |(2)|=|TIPPERARY|8802
3rd |(3)|=|DUBLIN|8764
4th |(4)|=|CORK|8606
5th |(5)|=|GALWAY|8416
6th |(7)|+1|LIMERICK|8367
7th |(6)|-1|CLARE|8322
8th |(8)|=|WATERFORD|8135
9th |(9)|=|WEXFORD|8023
10th |(10)|=|OFFALY|7548
11th |(11)|=|LAOIS|7160
12th |(12)|=|ANTRIM|7103
13th |(14)|+1|CARLOW|6610
14th |(13)|-1|KERRY|6603
15th |(16)|+1|KILDARE|6402
16th |(15)|-1|WESTMEATH|6381
17th |(17)|=|DERRY|6188
18th |(19)|+1|DOWN|5833
19th |(18)|-1|LONDON|5815
20th |(21)|+1|MEATH|5750
21st |(20)|-1|WICKLOW|5621
22nd |(22)|=|MAYO|5335
23rd |(23)|=|ARMAGH|4885
24th |(26)|+2|TYRONE|4694
25th |(25)|=|DONEGAL|4653
26th |(24)|-2|FINGAL|4613
27th |(27)|=|ROSCOMMON|4348
28th |(29)|+1|MONAGHAN|4033
29th |(28)|-1|LOUTH|4015
30th |(30)|=|FERMANAGH|3842
31st |(31)|=|LONGFORD|3761
32nd |(32)|=|WARWICKSHIRE|3409
33rd |(33)|=|SLIGO|3101
34th |(34)|=|LEITRIM|2878


Nice bit of movement mid table, interesting to see Down move up a place despite losing, however London lost even more points than Down thus they both swap places.

Tyrone reach their highest ever position in the 11 years I have run this of 24th following their victory over Roscommon.

In the top tier, Clare's run of six competitive games without a victory sees them slip to 7th, while Dublin consolidate third win with their victory over Kilkenny which pulls Kilkenny back a little bit towards the chasing pack. They still hold a comfortable lead however.

Position|previous|change|Team|Points
1st |(2)|+1|TIPPERARY|8989
2nd |(1)|-1|KILKENNY|8916
3rd |(3)|=|CORK|8867
4th |(4)|=|DUBLIN|8502
5th |(5)|=|GALWAY|8443
6th |(7)|+1|CLARE|8317
7th |(6)|-1|LIMERICK|8298
8th |(8)|=|WATERFORD|8214
9th |(9)|=|WEXFORD|8041
10th |(10)|=|OFFALY|7602
11th |(11)|=|LAOIS|7189
12th |(12)|=|ANTRIM|6992
13th |(14)|+1|WESTMEATH|6584
14th |(13)|-1|CARLOW|6568
15th |(16)|+1|KERRY|6505
16th |(15)|-1|KILDARE|6402
17th |(17)|=|DERRY|6187
18th |(18)|=|DOWN|5983
19th |(19)|=|LONDON|5831
20th |(20)|=|MEATH|5644
21st |(21)|=|WICKLOW|5543
22nd |(22)|=|MAYO|5235
23rd |(23)|=|ARMAGH|5018
24th |(24)|=|TYRONE|4743
25th |(25)|=|DONEGAL|4626
26th |(26)|=|ROSCOMMON|4557
27th |(27)|=|FINGAL|4407
28th |(28)|=|MONAGHAN|4144
29th |(29)|=|LOUTH|3901
30th |(30)|=|LONGFORD|3824
31st |(31)|=|FERMANAGH|3712
32nd |(32)|=|WARWICKSHIRE|3428
33rd |(33)|=|SLIGO|2947
34th |(34)|=|LEITRIM|2920


Clare move back in front of Limerick who are now well and truly in Waterford and Wexford's sights. And a bit of movement immediately outside the big 12 following Kerry's good win at Carlow.

However, most significant change is at the very top. Tipperary take the top spot for the first time since early 2011. It's very rare that Kilkenny are not number 1, and the general trend has been that whenever they do get knocked from the top they have gained it back within two or three games.

Nothing between the top 3, a win for Cork next weekend could see them hit top spot for the first time since the end of 2005. And in the midst of this era where thongs have supposedly never been so wide open, the top three enjoying a relatively comfortable gap ahead of the chasing pack are the traditional big 3, sigh!