National Hurling League 2017

[sam88885a]

Sam what are you smoking...We deserve t be in a quarter final because we "performed well" in our last 3 matches.
We deserved not to be relegated but too be in a league quarter final is ridiculous and just shows another flaw in the structure of the hurling format.

We didnt make the rules ,4 team from 1a and four from 1b make the quarter finals , we were at a huge disadvantage after getting hammered by Galway and then losing to Laois but in the 3 games since we made up the ground on Kerry and Laois .
The structure is crazy in that the 5th and 6th team in the league are gone and the 7th,8th,9th and 10th teams make the quarter finals but with the structure as it is we got there fairly .

[greenairfield]

Yes and everybody knows we got there fairly....The issues I have is the system is wrong and it's just for the gaa to make more income.
The championship is now delayed by a month where we could be playing matches..which has a knock on affect with club hurling later in the year.
You would have to be hugely concerned on what tipp will do to us at the weekend also.

[Bord na Mona man]

Yes and everybody knows we got there fairly....The issues I have is the system is wrong and it's just for the gaa to make more income.

Aye, they'll make a fortune out of the Offaly-Tipp gate!

[Conrad]

I wouldn't take heed of all this noise coming from Clare about the league structure.. If they cared so much about the league, why did they dismiss their manager after winning the bloody thing last year?! Think its a mixture of unrealistic expectations by Clare folk & an effort to deflect attention away from the Clare players ahead of a game where they could easily be relegated back down to Div 1B.
Fact is, Clare won it in 2016 after qualifying through division 1B. Was there any complaints about the structure when they breezed through Div 1B back then..
This year being their first year back up in division 1A it was always going to be a struggle, hence relegation final. Being the only team in Div 1A to change management in 2017 didnt help either.. Suck it up "maaan"!!

[sam88885a]

i agree both Clare and Waterford won the league out of 1 b ,i wouldnt be surprised if Galway go on and win this year league either.

[sam88885a]

Good luck to all involved on sunday , Big test for such a young team .
I think there are only 3 change from the team that Galway hammered a few week ago ,D Shortt replaces C Doughan ,E Grogan replaces D Moloney and D King replaces B Connelly. There are lots of positional changes and the balance lof the team looks much better .If we can compete with Tipp on sunday ,Kevin Ryan will have done some job in a very short time . Here Hoping .Best of luck .

[fifitrixiebelle]

Tipp Team V Offaly: Gleeson Meagher Barry Cahill Kennedy R Maher P Maher Breen Forde D McCormack OMeara N McGrath ODwyer Callanan J McGrath

[Slieve Bloom Man]

Tipp Team V Offaly: Gleeson Meagher Barry Cahill Kennedy R Maher P Maher Breen Forde D McCormack OMeara N McGrath ODwyer Callanan J McGrath

Strong Tipp team - Ryan isn't resting too many. Great for Offaly players to look forward to challenge of playing against the big names.You want to play against the best. It's also great that game is in Offaly. Let's hope Offaly can be competitive for as long as possible and play with pride and passion. Best of luck to all involved.

[Kevin]

Nothing to lose here.

Tear into them!!

Best of luck to all involved!!!

[sam88885a]

Very strong Tipp team ,Big test for our full back line especially young Enda Grogan making his first start at left corner back .I think we do ok today .
Lovely day for hurling , anything other than a big win for Tipp will be a shock so we have notting to lose .Best of luck lads

[private joker]

A farce of a league where a team like offaly make Q/F and teams like clare and dublin hurl a relegation match. Absolutely out of their depth vs Tipperary.

[ditchhurler]

A farce of a league where a team like offaly make Q/F and teams like clare and dublin hurl a relegation match. Absolutely out of their depth vs Tipperary.

So were Clare and Dublin

[private joker]

Dublin were vs Tipperary this year but for the last few years Dublin have recorded victories over tipperary. Clare lost this year by 7 points to Tipp. Hardly out of their depth. Offaly were cannon fodder today

[kingscounty]

Well beaten but battled hard , scored 3 goals against all Ireland champions. We have some good players, Oisin Kelly is very good prospect, we weren't expecting much from today I'm going to stay positive, we have few players to come back before championship.

[Bord na Mona man]

Having no viable puck out catchers is like boxing one handed. James Dempsey took 45 puckouts today with no noted catchers to aim at.
Despite this Offaly battled valiantly and 3-13 is still a decent total. I think most supporters were heartened to see Offaly still going at it after 70 minutes.

There were plenty of sneers during the week about how Tipp would win by 40 or 50 points.

P.S. So what about Dublin and Clare, they finished bottom of their pool and shouldn't expect any favours because of this.