League & Championship hurling 2022

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
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Dodge83
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League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

A thread for all talk of league & championship for this year. When are the draws for the leagues & Championships being made ?

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

Seen that Clonmore Harps are down to play Div 4 hurling this year according to an email of the league & championship entries sent out today. Surely that’s a mistake ??

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bracknaghboy
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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by bracknaghboy »

Dodge83 wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:21 pm Seen that Clonmore Harps are down to play Div 4 hurling this year according to an email of the league & championship entries sent out today. Surely that’s a mistake ??
Has to be an error.
They have done really well just to keep the football team on the go in recent years.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

I was thinking there must have been a mistake made there. Also
Clara & Brosna Gaels both putting out junior b hurling teams this year, I don’t think they played at that grade last year. And Tullamore have opted out

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

Apparently Birr have opted against playing U20 hurling with Carrig & Riverstown and Crinkill this year as they have enough numbers themselves. Interesting to see how this develops

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by private joker »

Find that hard to believe. Should have happened a long time ago. No need for those two under age club s to be joining up.

Dodge83
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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

But in previous years Carrig & Riverstown and Crinkill would have struggled to put out a Crc team at U20 level. Numbers are better this year so I’d imaging that will be the case this year. Although Birr going by themselves might see them struggle this year. There was always 5 or 6 from Carrig & Riverstown on the St Brendan’s team and usually a couple from Crinkill

frankthetank
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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by frankthetank »

Dodge83 wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:50 pm I was thinking there must have been a mistake made there. Also
Clara & Brosna Gaels both putting out junior b hurling teams this year, I don’t think they played at that grade last year. And Tullamore have opted out
So Tullamore, our biggest club, in our biggest urban base can only field two hurling teams.

Good to see the levy each club in Offaly pays to them is working well.

As a point of reference Kilcormac/Killoughey fielded 4 hurling teams in 2021. I think Coolderry did the same. And I think Seir Kieran fielded 3.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by private joker »

Dodge83 wrote: Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:29 pm But in previous years Carrig & Riverstown and Crinkill would have struggled to put out a Crc team at U20 level. Numbers are better this year so I’d imaging that will be the case this year. Although Birr going by themselves might see them struggle this year. There was always 5 or 6 from Carrig & Riverstown on the St Brendan’s team and usually a couple from Crinkill
Towm like birr should always be able to field on their in. Crc should also be able. Yes it might be a struggle, but it's always a struggle in one way or another.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by greenairfield »

Posters some points on this- Birr would have being always able to field a team at u20 level on their own.
They won many championships with 12 to 14 players all from Birr its only in recent years CRC have improved at underage which ment more made the team.

I 100% think it is the perfect decision for many reasons specially if carrig and crinkle plan to join together at adult level.

Over the next few years Birr could well struggle at the age group but so be it I am not sure if the championship is the pinnacle of hurling what this guarntees is no matter how good or bad we are looking after players from our own club first I think that is what every club tries to do from the start.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Dodge83 »

Still remains to be seen if Carrig & Crinkill will amalgamate at adult level but it’s no harm to see them put out their own U20 team and also Birr. It will give all players more game time and that’s what’s important. No point in St Brendan’s putting in a panel of 30 players and only maybe 20 getting game time. I’m sure the 3 clubs involved will be more concerned about their own individual club seasons. I understand Crinkill’s numbers have improved significantly this year and they seem to have a good management team in place. Considering things looked doom and gloom for their future not so long ago , it’s now looking a lot more positive. And them entering the junior C football championship this year will surely attract a few permission players from neighbouring clubs.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by jimbob17 »

frankthetank wrote: Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:15 am
Dodge83 wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:50 pm I was thinking there must have been a mistake made there. Also
Clara & Brosna Gaels both putting out junior b hurling teams this year, I don’t think they played at that grade last year. And Tullamore have opted out
So Tullamore, our biggest club, in our biggest urban base can only field two hurling teams.

Good to see the levy each club in Offaly pays to them is working well.

As a point of reference Kilcormac/Killoughey fielded 4 hurling teams in 2021. I think Coolderry did the same. And I think Seir Kieran fielded 3.
Easy say that but Tullamore hurling is not all that strong and has not been at underage for a long time. They have 3 if not 4 football teams as they should have. You also have to remember that Tullamore is not as big as some may think. For example, Shamrocks comes right in past the Fingerboard to Charleville estate, Clodiagh Gaels comes in very close to the town, as does Cappincur which comes in to the Sacred Heart school almost. On the other side, Durrow and Ballinamere come right in to the edge of the town and as they are in same parish, some living on outskirts of town will play with these clubs.

Kilcormac is a huge area. Have Tullamore done more and are they doing more for hurling than Kilcormac are for football. I would think that is an absolute YES at the moment so lets not put Kilcormac up on a pedestal on this issue. Kilcormac has a huge pick from many primary schools so you need to put that in perspective. Id go as far as saying that you could probably get two senior hurling teams out of KK currently.

So while the football is very strong in Tullamore currently, it is on the back of good underage football structures, like KK in hurling. The hurling element of Tullamore club is not nearly as strong as football element and many dual players choose to concentrate on football or other sports at the expense of hurling once they leave the underage ranks. Not saying Tullamore should not be able to do it better but they are just the facts.

In fairness to Tullamore, it is not their fault that Offaly GAA chose to place a levy on rest of clubs to pay Offaly GAA's bill to Tullamore. The facts are that it was Offaly GAA's initiative to take use of the Tullamore GAA owned ground for their use. Anything Offaly chooses to do to their members to pay any bill is not the business of Tullamore GAA, who just acted in their own best interests when Offaly GAA came knocking and looked to take over the use of O'Connor Park.
jimbob

frankthetank
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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by frankthetank »

Some more than likely irrelevant points from the Division 1 leagues so far:

Birr put up a big score today in beating Rynaghs 1-23 to 3-11. Nice set of forwards developing there.

Kinnitty beat a strong Coolderry outfit last weekend by a point. 2-10 to 0-15.

Kilcormac/Killoughey’s 2nd team hammered Drumcullen last Saturday (atrocious conditions) 5-03 to 0-04.

Lusmagh forced to give a walkover vs Belmont. Numbers most be extremely tight for them.

Seir Kieran vs K/K (1st team) on in the morning.

As an aside a group of 8 with one team qualifying, as is the case in the Division 1 league is no way to promote a competition.

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Lone Shark
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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by Lone Shark »

frankthetank wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 11:48 pm
As an aside a group of 8 with one team qualifying, as is the case in the Division 1 league is no way to promote a competition.
A good few years ago now, I was involved with a review group for Offaly fixtures, and I presented to a county board meeting some findings that involved a few ideas. Two quotes stuck with me from the night. We presented one structure for the hurling championships, that involved groups of four teams, and the league was a much more structured effort, with the last round and the knockouts all taking place after Offaly were done. The idea was to increase the intensity of group championship games, but also to give teams a little bit of a lead in, rather than having to go from playing for Offaly one weekend to playing championship with your club six or seven days later.

One club delegate - "league is all very well, but that means we might only get three hours of actual hurling in a year?!?!"

Later in the same discussion - "fixing the leagues in Offaly is like trying to put life back into a burger".


For work reasons, I keep an eye on games programmes in a lot of counties, and I can say definitively that there is no county I'm aware of that is as dismissive of league games as clubs and players are here in Offaly, particularly on the hurling side of things. You can't "promote" a competition that the clubs don't care about. They want a series of challenge games, to get ready for championship. Actually winning the league? Not a concern whatsoever. It is what it is, there's no point trying to promote it until the clubs themselves make it clear that they're interested in taking it seriously.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: League & Championship hurling 2022

Post by SearingDrive »

Back in circulation after 5/52 in MRHTullamore, following a serious illness. Now in recovery, challenges in Offaly hurling continue. Is the Antrim game in Tullamore next Saturday?
Big test for Ml. Fennelly and squad.
Offaly footballers v Cork in do or die game on Sunday. It ain’t easy being green, white, and gold.

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