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Dublin schools were fairly average at best until mid 2000s. When they won an all ireland they were spilt in 2. Then in recent years combined schools couldn't go beyond leinster. Think a Waterford combined schools won an all ireland also then it was stopped.

Lads are ye high?

Birr dropped to B because of the beatings they were getting over the last 10/15 years. (Check the results)

Dublin colleges won an all Ireland in around 06/07 they beat Birr who had just won the A league in the semi final and went on to win the big prize they then split into Dublin South/North.

Just because we are strong this year and maybe next year due to our brilliant minor team I am pretty confident if you fast forward the clock Peters, CBS or Good counsel would return the favour to us.

We need a team in the A and our schools are certainly not up too it unless combined.

The fact that St. Kieran's just won their semi-final convincingly would suggest to me that the final will be a very high quality, competitive affair, and that might save the concept of Offaly Schools for another while, particularly if it is explained that this is an anomaly of a year (which it is).

It's also true to say that some years, there isn't a world of difference between St. Kieran's and the Kilkenny minor team as well, given that they tend to pull players in from all parts of the county.

However I'm not at all convinced that the concept of a combined schools team is worth saving, frankly - in fact I believe it's not. Absolutely, on paper, the concept that "we want our players playing at a higher level" makes sense, but only if you consider "our players" to be the 25-30 elite guys that make this panel. In fact, "our players" should refer to every hurler in the county who is playing schools hurling.

Now the context for this is that while the Leinster schools football championship is a big competition with (I think) 22 or 23 schools taking part this year, the Leinster Colleges hurling is not like that. Because St. Kieran's are so good, year in and year out, teams don't enter unless they feel they will be well able to take them on. And because of this, if you're 12 or 14 points a worse team than St. Kieran's, then you won't win a game at "A" level. Naas CBS are currently going through a real purple patch in football, and they've just won their quarter-final by seven points. It's entirely possible that no-one gets any closer than that, though for the sake of Coláiste Choilm who play them this coming Friday, I hope that's not the case.

Now possibly the argument that needs to be made here is that the right thing to do is for a lot fewer schools to play "A" football, but it's also the case that for teams this year like St. Mary's in Edenderry, or Willie Mulhall's Clane side, or even traditional schools like Patrician Newbridge and Knockbeg College, they got good competitive games at "A" level this year, and there was a certain cache to their fixtures, even though any one of them wouldn't have been a good bet at 100/1 to win it out.

Hurling is not like that, so I absolutely do not fault St. Brendan's for not being able to keep going at "A" level.

However ultimately, the aim for Offaly should be to have St. Brendan's hurling at "A", for Coláiste Choilm to be pushing for the same thing, while in the long run, you'd also love to saw Kilcormac competing consistently at "B" (as opposed to this year, when they have a freak generation), with Banagher holding their own at that grade as well, and for Gallen to maybe consolidate at "C", ideally to be joined by Killina. However none of those schools will ever come close to maximising their potential if their star guys are not available for league and challenge games, and when they don't train too often with the others and when they do train, they're going easy because of their heavy workload.

To put it a different way - let's say there's a group of five hurlers in a particular school, who all get drafted up to play with Offaly combined schools. Will that benefit those five hurlers? Yes, absolutely, notwithstanding the very real danger of overload, given that they're now quite possibly playing football and hurling for their own school as well as combined football or hurling, and most likely on a county U-20 panel as well.

However their absence greatly restricts the chances of their own school succeeding, which is a negative for the other 20 hurlers (or footballers) on that school's senior team. It's a negative for the allure and attraction of playing in that school, because it means that they're more likely to miss out on a few big glamour days. For example, Gallen CS came quite close in a tight knockout game in the North Leinster C football championship this year. Would they have maybe got over the line if they had clear and unfettered access to all their players? We'll never know, but possibly. So yes, the five stars win out, but the other guys on the panel, and the generation of hurlers coming up after them, potential lose big time.

Most of all, I disagree that schools football and hurling should be an environment where it's all about pushing lads further and further down the road towards being a senior county player. That's not what that's about. It should be about exposure to different styles, playing with friends, and playing in an environment that is free from all the "pride in the parish" partisan stuff which is grand in small doses, but shouldn't be a year round thing.

In general I feel that there are just too many teams that players are playing with in a calendar year between club, county and then school/college. Add in dual activities, especially at underage club level, and you could easily see how a player could be playing in 15-20 different competitions a year.

A lot of the time people will say that the solution is that you can’t play dual, but I honestly feel that if a player enjoys both codes that maybe the solution is to completely limit the teams they commit to.
If you are looking at teams to nix for the players with the highest miles on the clock then combined schools teams is high on the list. Also, if a player is an experienced inter-county player then there is no need for them to be playing Sigerson/Fitzgibbon.

Kilcormac v Naas CBS fixed for next Tuesday (7th February).

private joker wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:29 pm Kilcormac bet naas

How did Colaiste Choilm get on in their Leinster Colleges game v Naas CBS today? The game was in Ratheniska.

Lost 1 -7 to 8

Best of luck to the Offaly Combined Schools team in Leinster Final tomorrow

private joker wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:57 pm Lost 1 -7 to 8

Pity about the result. Thanks for the update.

Well done to Offaly Schools on beating St. Kieran’s College Kilkenny today by 1-16 to 1-14, in the Leinster Colleges A Final.

Plain of the Herbs wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:24 pm Kilcormac v Naas CBS fixed for next Tuesday (7th February).

Kilcormac 1-20 Naas 4-4 result from earlier.

Shur Private Joker told us that last week!

bracknaghboy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 1:00 amKilcormac 1-20 Naas 4-4 result from earlier.

private joker wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:29 pmKilcormac bet naas

The final is fixed for Glenisk OCP on next Saturday (the 18th) at 2pm.

Incredible foresight on my behalf!!

Seen there were underage hurling and football teams out today

What are the expectations for these teams? Are the teams that played today likely to be close to the strongest both teams can field?

Some trimming the young hurlers took

pigeon house biffo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 8:51 pm Seen there were underage hurling and football teams out today

What are the expectations for these teams? Are the teams that played today likely to be close to the strongest both teams can field?

Some trimming the young hurlers took

What were the results?