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Wicklow GAA thread

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A double whammy for Bray Emmets today. Both their intermediate and senior teams have been knocked out at the semi-final stage. Arklow Rocks and Carnew Emmets proceed to their respective finals. TheChampion (Wicklow) - Posts: 42 - 19/09/2026 19:45:47 2694330 Link
Replying To Optimisticobserver: "A wide open championship. Two very interesting semi finals in store. Baltinglass have improved since the first round and haven't been really tested so far. I still think they will find Blessington a tough hurdle to cross as they showed a more clinical side to their play and sharpness and hunger which was not there before. I thought the presence of Craig McGuire and Austin Brennan and the placing of Eoin Keogh at full forward added strength power and physiciality to their play.. Baltinglass may struggle at centrefield and may not be able to afford the luxury of placing Kirwan at full forward and even if they do he will face a towering fullback to counteract his presence Whichever team wins the breaking ball at midfield, which I expect a lot of, will have a big bearing on the game.Baltinglass backs haven't really been tested and when they were against AGB they leaked goals but Blessingtons slow build up may give Balto plenty of time to defend. AGB and An Tochar pit two fast moving skillful attractive teams against each other..The Arklow side play the more direct game whereas An Tochar make moves very complicated with a lot of energy used,,many passes and sometimes very few scores for their efforts. AGB will aim to curtail Darragh Fee and Eannna Nolan while An Tochar will need to shackle Brian Hurley and curtail Andy Mahers runs from centre back. Two fascinating games to look forward to." There isn't a gaelic football or hurling team in Ireland that doesn't have a weakness. I've thought that Baltinglass have weaknesses over the last number of years but no team in the county has been able to expose them. Athy exposed them when they played Baltinglass in last year's Leinster club championship but no club from within the county have done so. Baltinglass played in the toughest group in this year's championship and finished joint top on four points with AGB. I think Blessington will put it up to Baltinglass in next weekend's semi-final fixture but I'm not sure Blessington will beat Baltinglass. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2281 - 20/09/2026 11:12:10 2694368 Link
Replying To TheChampion: "A double whammy for Bray Emmets today. Both their intermediate and senior teams have been knocked out at the semi-final stage. Arklow Rocks and Carnew Emmets proceed to their respective finals." Bray Emmets have been great hurling champions and I'm sure they'll be back but it is more beneficial for hurling in the county that new teams have come to the fore. Hopefully these new teams can reinforce the county team as they face into a year when they'll step up considerably in the national hurling league. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2281 - 20/09/2026 11:14:00 2694369 Link
Replying To wicklowsupport: "Bray Emmets have been great hurling champions and I'm sure they'll be back but it is more beneficial for hurling in the county that new teams have come to the fore. Hopefully these new teams can reinforce the county team as they face into a year when they'll step up considerably in the national hurling league." Not too sure we could term Carnew a new team. Certainly newly back to where they proudly sat for decades. They have produced brilliant players for the county over the years. I think o have said on here for a few years that without a county panel backbones by players from clubs like Carnew, the county team has a tough battle to progress. Having said that, they haven't retained their crown yet, and I think that whoever wins today's semi will provide a stern test. I thought that Bray had another in them. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2352 - 20/09/2026 13:05:59 2694379 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "Not too sure we could term Carnew a new team. Certainly newly back to where they proudly sat for decades. They have produced brilliant players for the county over the years. I think o have said on here for a few years that without a county panel backbones by players from clubs like Carnew, the county team has a tough battle to progress. Having said that, they haven't retained their crown yet, and I think that whoever wins today's semi will provide a stern test. I thought that Bray had another in them." You're correct, Carnew aren't a new team. The point I was making is by Bray been beaten, another team has overtaken them which means Bray will need to improve if they want get back to top of the pile. This raises the bar at club level which has to be good for the senior county team. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2281 - 20/09/2026 15:08:59 2694390 Link
So, Carnew have been spacing themselves ?? Who would thought at the start of the year that them and Glenealy would contest the final. Looking at today's game, you would think that Glenealy and St Pats are at a similar level to the game a few weeks back, but Carnew have certainly shifted up through the gears. I don't think that Glenealy are yet at a level to deny them a back to back. So, it's Carnew by 6-8 points for me. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2352 - 20/09/2026 17:57:52 2694400 Link
A more encouraging stat for Hurling in Wicklow is Western Gaels making it to an Intermediate Final where they will play the Rocks. It's not too long ago that there was no Hurling in the west of the county so fair play to those that have driven Western Gales forward. Getting the Rocks back up to something approaching the Hurling force they once were would be a huge boost for Wicklow hurling. Hurling needs the big towns competing well in all grades. On the flip side Avondale have been struggling all year in Hurling which is disappointing to see after them showing signs in the last few years that they were building a foundation to return to senior and be a force again. Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - Posts: 200 - 20/09/2026 19:37:44 2694412 Link
Well at least in the hurling we will have a promotion from intermediate and a drop from senior. Always good to have a bit of jeopardy in senior. liam500 (Wicklow) - Posts: 255 - 20/09/2026 21:18:10 2694420 Link
Absolutely agree that it's good from a neutral point of view that Bray Emmets have set the hurling standard over the last number of years and now the hurling championships have become more competitive with possibly four or five clubs capable of winning both the intermediate and senior hurling championships. It's healthy to have competition within a county instead of one club cleaning up the whole time. TheChampion (Wicklow) - Posts: 42 - 20/09/2026 23:09:18 2694435 Link
Speaking of a more competitive hurling championship, I think something needs to be done about the championship structure. The reality is that the top five teams, being Carnew, Bray, Glenealy, Kiltegan and Pats are far better than other teams in the county which is no disrespect to them but just the reality of it based off results. The above five teams had average winning results of greater than 20 points against the other three teams at Senior this year which isn't doing anyone any good and then it essentially means the championship is just a straight knockout championship as six of eight teams qualify from the group stages, guaranteed to be the above five and whichever other team manages to scrape through. My proposal would be a six team Senior championship with each team playing each other once with the top team going straight to a final, 2nd and 3rd playing in a semi final and 5th and 6th in a relegation playoff. This would mean that every single championship match is important and avoid all of these meaningless group stage matches and then allow the weaker teams to have competitive games in the intermediate championship and being able to have a goal of making a run in the Leinster Junior Championship as opposed to making up the numbers at senior. This is closer to the structure of counties in Leinster that we used to compete with but have now surpassed us such as Carlow, Westmeath, Meath etc. And getting the weaker teams playing spring leagues in stronger counties in the way Kilcoole and Eire Og are doing to bring up their standard and hope that they can bridge the gap in years to come (I don't know if Wexford would allow the likes of Arklow and Barndarrig to play in their leagues but something worth exploring). Any thoughts on this? glen11 (Wicklow) - Posts: 1 - 21/09/2026 11:59:45 2694482 Link
Replying To TheChampion: "Absolutely agree that it's good from a neutral point of view that Bray Emmets have set the hurling standard over the last number of years and now the hurling championships have become more competitive with possibly four or five clubs capable of winning both the intermediate and senior hurling championships. It's healthy to have competition within a county instead of one club cleaning up the whole time." Has the quality and standard of hurling increased in line with the increasing competition, that would be a more important gauge for me and I would argue that Bray have came back to the pack rather than the pack having moved forward??. I think our senior champs play Offaly intermediate champs in Leinster so that will be a good test of where standards lie, wasn't that long ago our senior champs played and competed against their senior champs. Wonderingnow (Wicklow) - Posts: 28 - 21/09/2026 19:24:33 2694542 Link