National Hurling League Divisions 1 & 2

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Now that the Dublin hurlers have secured their Division 1 status for 2012 ... could they be thinking the unthinkable? Could they possibly repeat the dose of the Walsh Cup and take the Tribes again? Coming off a great win v Kilkenny Galway will be confident but you never know. A win would leave them on 9 points with two sticky fixtures left - the Cats and Cork. One win there and ...........

They(Dublin) beat Clare by 4 points in a high scoring challenge match in Nenagh yesterday

The Puke wrote:They(Dublin) beat Clare by 4 points in a high scoring challenge match in Nenagh yesterday

Promising .... though I hope Anto didn't see any Clare players that he liked ....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

The Puke wrote:They(Dublin) beat Clare by 4 points in a high scoring challenge match in Nenagh yesterday

Promising .... though I hope Anto didn't see any Clare players that he liked ....

4-21 to 2-23 or something similar...Ye are certainly going in the right direction...A win over Offaly in the Leinster quarter final is an absolute must along with putting it up Galway at the very least....very much a watershed year for them, the young lads have developed and paid their dues at this stage, seems to be more strength in depth there this year.....Although Hiney will be a loss for his physical presence along

Well were away to westmeath this week always hate this fixture, never know what way to think, we either will give them a tanking or it will be a scrappy tight affair, i dont know whether westmeath have improved or not, hard to tell with their performances so far this year, id have expected them to do better with their arrival in the liam mccarthy (years late thanks to the idiots in croke park). I think we can take them, depends which saffrons show up on the day though.

What about the dubs this week too? i took galway in the tipster ill be routing for the dubs though, i just cant see them winning every game, remains to be seen though, will be brilliant for them to enter leinster with the scalp of galway already achieved.

Good luck to down this week also, need to get it together lads, no more red cards, treat that laois team nicely!

North Side Gael wrote:Well were away to westmeath this week always hate this fixture, never know what way to think, we either will give them a tanking or it will be a scrappy tight affair, i dont know whether westmeath have improved or not, hard to tell with their performances so far this year, id have expected them to do better with their arrival in the liam mccarthy (years late thanks to the idiots in croke park). I think we can take them, depends which saffrons show up on the day though.

What about the dubs this week too? i took galway in the tipster ill be routing for the dubs though, i just cant see them winning every game, remains to be seen though, will be brilliant for them to enter leinster with the scalp of galway already achieved.

Good luck to down this week also, need to get it together lads, no more red cards, treat that laois team nicely!

Westmeath actually have a few hurlers who wouldn't look out of place on any team in the country such as Andrew Mitchell, Brendan Murtagh, Eoin Price and Derek McNicholas, all fine fine hurlers

The Puke wrote:

North Side Gael wrote:Well were away to westmeath this week always hate this fixture, never know what way to think, we either will give them a tanking or it will be a scrappy tight affair, i dont know whether westmeath have improved or not, hard to tell with their performances so far this year, id have expected them to do better with their arrival in the liam mccarthy (years late thanks to the idiots in croke park). I think we can take them, depends which saffrons show up on the day though.

What about the dubs this week too? i took galway in the tipster ill be routing for the dubs though, i just cant see them winning every game, remains to be seen though, will be brilliant for them to enter leinster with the scalp of galway already achieved.

Good luck to down this week also, need to get it together lads, no more red cards, treat that laois team nicely!

Westmeath actually have a few hurlers who wouldn't look out of place on any team in the country such as Andrew Mitchell, Brendan Murtagh, Eoin Price and Derek McNicholas, all fine fine hurlers

Seen brendan murtagh a few times great hurler, remember us beating them at casement by 6 with about 5 to go, he came on, he was only young the game ended up a draw!

Dont know if kilcoyne is still about, he was a smasher as well from what i can recollect of what i seen of him any time he played.

Nice to see Clare going well in Division 11 as I played against Loughnane when he was at St Pat's Drumcondra and have had a few conversations with the man since.

In the 1990s Ger used the example of Antrim and Down to inspire his team, especially Down. He would tell his troops that Down only had THREE clubs, but had reached the all Ireland semi and performed credibly against Cork in 1992, and had also beaten Kilkenny at Nowlan Park in a relegation play off to maintain their division one status.

Basically he told his non believers that if Down could do it, and Antrim in 1989, well surely Clare could do something.

maybe, if Puke is to be believed, he modeled the style of play on Down as well.

Clare 4-15 Kerry 1-6 at half time

Clare 6-23 Kerry 1-18 full time

The Whipping Boys win a game?????

great to see them keeping the game going in the hurling wilderness that is Munster.......

Hope we put up a good show against Limerick today. Very short up front, will have to take all the chances we get. Craig Doyle will be a big loss with his pace and ability to take scores. Hoping for a good game. Ceatharlach Abú!

Won today, virtually guaranteeing another season in division 11, with Limerick, Clare and sides like that.

From Munster I mean. Anyone who knows anything about hurling is aware that the hurling "stronghold" comprises counties that border Tipperary, and Wexford, and not all of those bordering Tipp are strong. Hence we can marvel at the improvement in Dublin, but at least Dublin can hurl against fellow Leinster "strongholds" like Kilkenny, Wexford and Offaly from an early age.

Now look at Down. Three senior clubs, all located in a small area on the Ards peninsular, in splendid isolation from the hurling mainland. Never mind hat the Ards would be a cold enough house for hurlers, but who can these lads measure themselves against when they are young? the nearest "stronghold" to them is....Antrim. So it is only when they become aged 18 that they MIGHT come across hurlers from the real stronghold, South Leinster, Munster and Galway, for the first time. and given Antrim's predominance at minor level in Ulster, even that is unlikely.

There is also no school's nursery to fall back on either, no St Kieran's, St Flannan's or North Mon in Down.

Noow given those drawbacks consider this. Under Sean McGuinness, arguably the greatest inter county hurling manager ever I grant you, Down contested all Ireland semi finals in 1992 and 1995 and gave a good account of themselves. They also played in Division ONE for a number of years, a county with THREE clubs!!!!! And one of those years they beat Kilkenny at Nowlan Park to maintain their Division one status, and relegated Kilkenny in the process.

All of the above is a bit like Ireland winning the cricket world cup, or Olympic basketball title. To improve their standards the three Down clubs play in the ANTRIM league. I know Antrim have had four sides in the club final, but seriously it is not the standard of say Galway or Kilkenny or Cork.

So to me the achievements of Down hurlers, pound for pound, is the biggest success story in the GAA. I hated Down all my life, and swore I would end it all if they ever beat Antrim in Ulster. When they did just that in 1992, 11 months after Antrim's best ever senior hurling display versus Kilkenny in the 1991 semi, I actually welcomed it. these lads were something special.

The fact that they can continue to produce players who would grace any county, Braniff and Joohnston of the present crop, and club teams who can run Newtownshandrum to a point in the all Ireland club semi, is nothing short of a sporting miracle.

Perhaps now you will understand my disgust at these sporting titans being labeled as "scumbags" by people who should perhaps know better.

My last word on that subject.

Down defeating Laois all but assures that it will be a Clare V Limerick Final in division 2 & that Westmeath will be relegated....All is not well in the laois camp by the sounds of it, players not too enamored with their new manager and county board, it is alleged only 12 lads showed up for training during the week


Heard Cork and Tipp played out a fairly poor draw, John O'Brien got a second yellow for hitting Eoin Cadogan an uppercut, NSG will be gutted to see the ref not following the letter of the law by giving him a second yellow as opposed to a straight red....

The Dubs went down to a late Eanna Ryan goal after hitting the bones of 20 wides, supposedly in front of a a big crowd(for this time of year) in Parnell Park...Between these two and kilkenny for a spot in the league final

While Offaly's win over Wexford all but guarentees them division 1 hurling next year and sees Wexford heading back towards Division 2

patrique wrote:
My last word on that subject.

I doubt it said Croker

Given that Down is a county of half a million people and at a conservative guess at least 40% catholic(I would suspect probably more) would mean that there is 200K in the county which is a fair old size to develop gaa players from....I also believe that there is around 60 Gaa clubs in the county, I presume many of these have no interest in promoting hurling for one reason or anothor, this has to be a shocking indictment as to the apathy and inability of Down to promote hurling, hardly a success story, there can be no excuses for this.....


Says it all when losing semifinals by 9 and 11 points after beating nobody of any significance or importance is seen as a note worthy achievement.....Good thing the backdoor was introduced so that these mismatches shall never take place again and there are no more deadrubber semifinals....I believe the Ulster Champions only won one of these semi finals in the bones of 30 attempts they had after Galways attempts to join the Munster championship was scrapped in the late 60's



Shocking lack fo respect for a county like Offaly, a county of less than 70,000 people who have won all stars oin every position in both hurling and football not to mention Senior, monor, NHL 1&2 & junior all ireland hurling titles while they have won Senior, 21's & minor all irelands & NHF football titles.....If you are looking for a success story of the GAA and you consider it to be Down then you would want to come out of the fog

patrique wrote:Now look at Down. Three senior clubs, all located in a small area on the Ards peninsular, in splendid isolation from the hurling mainland. Never mind hat the Ards would be a cold enough house for hurlers, but who can these lads measure themselves against when they are young? the nearest "stronghold" to them is....Antrim. So it is only when they become aged 18 that they MIGHT come across hurlers from the real stronghold, South Leinster, Munster and Galway, for the first time. and given Antrim's predominance at minor level in Ulster, even that is unlikely.

According to Down's Gaa site there are 10 teams competing in Division 1 of the County League and 8 in Division 2.....Hardly as if there are just them three clubs to pick from for the whole county

There are plenty of isolated hurling clubs all over the country be the way

I'd say that nearly as many teams as there is in Offaly

Extremely disappointed with Dublin today and I'd say they are disgusted with themselves. 19 wides! Looking at the result and the fixtures left there was even a chance that they might have got to the final with a win today but they left it behind. They had enough chances to win two games and some of the wides and shot selections were very poor and they have a mountain to climb now. Great crowd and a great day for hurling too but a poor result.

If I had a couple of criticisms one would be that Galway were very cynical and were lucky to finish with 15. And any Dublin player needed to be nearly killed before he got a free. They had good grounds for at least another peno and I think it was Dotsy who was clearly fouled with nothing given and when the ball went up the other end Galway goaled. Them's the breaks.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Extremely disappointed with Dublin today and I'd say they are disgusted with themselves. 19 wides! Looking at the result and the fixtures left there was even a chance that they might have got to the final with a win today but they left it behind. They had enough chances to win two games and some of the wides and shot selections were very poor and they have a mountain to climb now. Great crowd and a great day for hurling too but a poor result.

If I had a couple of criticisms one would be that Galway were very cynical and were lucky to finish with 15. And any Dublin player needed to be nearly killed before he got a free. They had good grounds for at least another peno and I think it was Dotsy who was clearly fouled with nothing given and when the ball went up the other end Galway goaled. Them's the breaks.

That cynical play has been a hallmark of Galway since McIntyre took over, plenty of third men tackles I would presume, it has worked somewhat and physically they are a big/strong side but you would wonder have they the balance and pace in their side to really push on and challenge Tipp and Kilkenny in the coming year, fact is they haave left the last 2 all ireland quarter finals behind them....Will be interesting to see what he does with Canning when he comes back given Tannion's good form at 14 and the fact that their forward line is struggling a bit in other areas

Yeah they were even missing a lot of bigger guys today so the physicality will increase probably! Not so much third man tackles Puke - high ones when a Dublin forward was sprinting on goal were more obvious. No good gettng the head taken off you when you miss the peno - who does that punish? More dirty and sly strokes than third man stuff tbh - even when we got the peno there was a sly slap of the hurl at the man on the ground.

Used to like Galway's free flowing style of hurling but as you say the new man has altered it completely. He could learn from Tipp who thought they might out muscle the Cats - before realising that you also need to have some really good stylish players.

well dublin lose who will we transfer in now

hipster 2 wrote:well dublin lose who will we transfer in now

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Conceding too many goals. Any time a Dublin player got near the Galway goal he got burst. They got two soft ones. Need to sort this out.

we might get ger henderson in so

The Puke wrote:Down defeating Laois all but assures that it will be a Clare V Limerick Final in division 2 & that Westmeath will be relegated....All is not well in the laois camp by the sounds of it, players not too enamored with their new manager and county board, it is alleged only 12 lads showed up for training during the week


Heard Cork and Tipp played out a fairly poor draw, John O'Brien got a second yellow for hitting Eoin Cadogan an uppercut, NSG will be gutted to see the ref not following the letter of the law by giving him a second yellow as opposed to a straight red....

The Dubs went down to a late Eanna Ryan goal after hitting the bones of 20 wides, supposedly in front of a a big crowd(for this time of year) in Parnell Park...Between these two and kilkenny for a spot in the league final

While Offaly's win over Wexford all but guarentees them division 1 hurling next year and sees Wexford heading back towards Division 2

Striking is striking, red card, when we start applying the laws we do have we can start looking at the ones not needed and the ones we need to have, a pointless exercise if you dont.

We had two men sent off against us in that game in mullingar, terrible discipline problem westmesth have, although i refrain from negative comments about them

Im happy enough with our win, keeps us in third place.

I thought mulcahy was on the money we need clare, wexford, antrim and laois in the top tier, possibly carlow and down also, if we are to look at proper development.

The time has come for a proper over haul of the system, but ive already a thread on that, several in fact lol.

North Side Gael wrote:

The Puke wrote:Down defeating Laois all but assures that it will be a Clare V Limerick Final in division 2 & that Westmeath will be relegated....All is not well in the laois camp by the sounds of it, players not too enamored with their new manager and county board, it is alleged only 12 lads showed up for training during the week


Heard Cork and Tipp played out a fairly poor draw, John O'Brien got a second yellow for hitting Eoin Cadogan an uppercut, NSG will be gutted to see the ref not following the letter of the law by giving him a second yellow as opposed to a straight red....

The Dubs went down to a late Eanna Ryan goal after hitting the bones of 20 wides, supposedly in front of a a big crowd(for this time of year) in Parnell Park...Between these two and kilkenny for a spot in the league final

While Offaly's win over Wexford all but guarentees them division 1 hurling next year and sees Wexford heading back towards Division 2

Striking is striking, red card, when we start applying the laws we do have we can start looking at the ones not needed and the ones we need to have, a pointless exercise if you dont.

We had two men sent off against us in that game in mullingar, terrible discipline problem westmesth have, although i refrain from negative comments about them

Im happy enough with our win, keeps us in third place.

I thought mulcahy was on the money we need clare, wexford, antrim and laois in the top tier, possibly carlow and down also, if we are to look at proper development.

The time has come for a proper over haul of the system, but ive already a thread on that, several in fact lol.

They need to bridge the gap in standard between 1 & 2 and that is only going to happen by either extending division one into a 12 or 14 team league like it was back a few years ago or reducing the teams in divison 1 and 2.....

A top division with Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Tipp and a division 2 of Clare, Limerick, Offaly, Wexford, Laois and Antrim would be fine and competative, semifinals and relegation playoffs could be introduced to guarentee more games but it them leaves the likes of Down, Carlow, Westmeath & Kerry in a bad position as they are a notch above the teams below them, it is a very tough balancing act, if you return to the old structure then the threat of relegation is as good as gone for most teams