Says it all really...after seeing the Kerry keeper wont b available now picking his club in tipp first. Getting these mercenaries' is a whole sham to play for the weaker counties and it basically gives the two fingers to the players available to play within that county. It may get you results in the short term but in the long run its a big mistake. Players born in that county wont bother picking up a hurl if this situation continues. Kerry and Kildare are big into this, its ridiculous. If the players want to play for Kerry Kildare etc they should play for clubs within the counties, not just waltzing in and taking someone elses place. Its been going on in Kildare now since 2007.

preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 739 - 10/04/2015 15:30:16    1712776

Offside_Rule
County: Antrim
Posts: 2098

1712704 If you check you will see that nowhere did I claim that Kerry were at the standard .

I didn't say you did, I said that you said that Antrim weren't of the standard for 1B so I was saying that if Kerry were they would beat the team who you said weren't. I don't know why some people are getting on the back of Antrim on this one (not you personally damo) as they aren't our rules and as Kevin Ryan said we are on a hiding to nothing regardless of how the match tomorrow goes. Win and people will firstly say it was expected and then go back to saying how we should have been down as losers in the league, lose and we get slated. As for me - well, I am not confident in any way with regards to tomorrow and I won't be in the slightest bit surprised if Kerry are in 1B come tomorrow evening.


Don't wish Antrim any ill , and agree rules weren't of your making , for me its win win , Id like to see Kerry do it [ Underdogs] , equally I have allways admired Antrim and their heroic efforts of keeping the small game alive .
Being made to audition for promotion to which is how it appears is not classy . the sooner a fairer system is in place the better . ambition and performance should get its just reward .
Agree also with you on being on a hiding to nothing , as that's how I feel re us playing Monaghan again .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 10/04/2015 15:43:48    1712785

While the jury is still out on the whole set-up in my head I do see the rational behind how they have set up. Yes we didn't win any game and may not be of the desired standard (though bar one or two of our results the games were all close) but surely then if Kerry are of the standard they will beat the team who, in your words, obviously aren't of the standard so what is the problem? If they don't beat us this weekend then the team who isn't at the standard is still more at the standard than the team from 2A.

This is nothing personal against Antrim, its not their fault this is the system they are forced to contend with, however your argument doesn't take into account the fact that Kerry had to play a game last week, while Antrim were able to rest.

Likewise Kerry are not even given the advantage of either a home or a convenient neutral venue to contest this farce! Instead the Kerry team and supporters have to make a 4 hour trip to Dublin, while Antrim can speed down the M1 in about 90 minutes. Why is it that the team gunning for promotion is so much more disadvantaged in terms of prep time and venue convenience? Surely at the very least they should get home advantage.

The odds are stacked against Kerry and its just not right!

As for the last poster from Kildare, can we put this bollox of Kerry hurling being made up of mercenaries to bed? Can I ask on what grounds your making these claims and how much do you actually know about hurling down here. At present there are three players on the Kerry team from outside the county. So even if they started, 75% of the team is still born and bred Kerrymen.

Worry about Kildare hurling and stop BSing about Kerry hurling!

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 10/04/2015 15:56:59    1712794

Canuck "Despite the best efforts of a good Waterford man Kevin Ryan Antrim are a mediocre junior team that should be demoted and allow someone else the chance."

You be careful now that you don't fall off that mountain of success youse have created for yourselves. I don't really want to highlight subversion of rules regarding playing and training time for minors, but hey!

Glensboy (Antrim) - Posts: 290 - 10/04/2015 17:49:01    1712834

maybe council are afraid that a promoted team from Div 2a will get hammered. I'm from Laois and we were on the end of numerous hammerings over the years. Cork beat us by 30 or so points in the championship just a few years ago. Even this campaign Waterford gave us a good beating. A slight difference in standard in hurling between teams can lead to a lob sided scoreline more so than in football.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 10/04/2015 18:32:57    1712844

Disgrace Kerry not promoted after winning their division.. It's not good for promoting hurling

dingle82 (Down) - Posts: 214 - 10/04/2015 20:15:36    1712875

beansycpn. Last year Offaly finished on 3 points, and Antrim on 0. Antrim then won the relegation playoff between the 2 teams. So if anything it was Antrim who got a second chance, but then Offaly got another go at survival against Kerry.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1646 - 10/04/2015 21:20:25    1712896

Firstly as I've already stated, the play-off is a disgrace. Within the current set-up as it is, it's a disgrace that the play-off is being played only one week after the 2A final. These promotion-relegation play-offs are always only a week after a team has won a final at there level. A motion has to go to congress to ensure these unjustified play-offs are at least 13 days after a team has won at their level. Next weekend is a hurling weekend, the league semi-finals. The play-off should be next Saturday. Of course there should be no play-off at all.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 11/04/2015 11:38:10    1712937

Division 2a winners should go straight up to divison 1b. Whoever finishes bottom of division 1b get a liveline with the division 1b relegation final so they shouldn't get two chances. It does nothing to help grow the game of hurling in counties like Kerry, Kildare, Carlow, Westmeath and Wicklow who are working hard at grassroots level.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 11/04/2015 13:20:03    1712973

What sort of transport are you in Hermit that can get you from N Antrim to Dublin in 90mins? Tis over an hour to Belfast alone!

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 11/04/2015 13:21:31    1712974

If Kerry can't beat Westmeath then Antrim they don't belong up there anyway just to get hammered by the likes of Limerick and Clare, etc. Kerry SHOULD have to go through a gauntlet to get up there or its all a waste even for them.

WoodlawnPat (Galway) - Posts: 288 - 11/04/2015 13:37:17    1712976

The top 2 counties in the Leinster round robin advance to the Leinster quarter-finals and earn a shot through that at earning a seeded place in the Leinster championship should they win the quarter-final.

It's tough on the counties finishing 3rd and 4th that their championship is over. In the interest of giving these counties more game time, I think the counties finishing 3rd and 4th along with the Christy Ring finalist should be allowed into the All-Ireland qualifiers. The disadvantage in finishing 4th in the round robin can remain as relegation to the Ring for the following year. The advantage for winning the Ring and gaining promotion to the round robin can remain for the following year.

This year's provincial quarter-finals are or could be:
Clare v Limerick

Galway v Dublin
Offaly v round robin winner, possibly Laois on league form
Wexford v round robin runner-up, possibly Antrim on league form

If Westmeath and Carlow finish 3rd and 4th, Carlow are relegated to the Ring next year. If Kerry and London are contesting the Ring final, and for arguments sake Kerry win, Kerry are in the round robin next year.

My suggestion for the qualifiers is that the likes of Westmeath, Carlow, Kerry and London would be allowed enter the qualifiers. These 4 counties could be drawn against the losing quarter-finalists in Qualifier round 1.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 11/04/2015 13:52:11    1712980

Glensboy I was a bit harsh on Antrim by calling them a junior team. I do remember a time when they were a better team than Waterford. Again the system work against ye. Winning one game and getting to an All Ireland final. That team was good enough to be closer if they had two or three games against top opposition to get there. You mentioned minor. It is said that winning minor does not always mean success at senior. May be, but you need to be competitive at under age to learn how to win.
Hurling needs a strong team in Antrim and other counties. The current Antrim team belong in division 2A because they lost 5 games, got a second bite of the cherry and lost that also. Kerry belong in division 1B because they won division 2A. Even though I would question also why there should be a play off at the top for this also. The team with the most points should be promoted.
The system is not of Antrim's making. Hopefully ye will go out in the championship and shut us all up by giving top displays. I for one would love to see that happening.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2665 - 11/04/2015 14:46:46    1712992

The Kerry hurlers have gotten into 1B against all the odds. What moves are the powers that be likely to make to put push them back down to 2A? Being a top 12 league county is a notable achievement. G'wan the Kingdom!!!

The Christy Ring was always going to be the focus. If Kerry can win the Ring this year for the first time since 2011, 1B hurling will set them up well for the round robin should they get there. Having competed well against Carlow and Westmeath over the last two league campaigns, and now gotten the better of Antrim, Kerry should have a belief that the provincial qualifier group is the level they should be at and competing in. Long term, if Kerry gain promotion to the round robin group, they'll have to be allowed enter the Munster Championship is they finish in the top 2 places.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 11/04/2015 17:19:46    1713050

Congrats to Kerry, great result for them today. The odds were stacked against them, but they pulled it out of the bag. They should head into the Christy Ring on fire on the back of this, they're a team on the up. Games in 1A next year will also bring them on a ton.

Hard to know what to say about Antrim. I could trot out the usual stock platitudes of 'ye've great hurlers, ye're better than this, ye'll bounce back, ye'll show us all in the championship" etc, but that would be just patronizing. I can only hope this is a real wake up call for Antrim hurling, and for Ulster hurling in general. Next year, we won't have any Ulster representation in the top 2 tiers of the hurling league, I don't know the last time that was the case. Its not good enough.

But today's a day to celebrate Kerry's breakthrough, rather than Antrims demise. Lets hope its the first step in getting Kerry back in the Munster championship.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 11/04/2015 17:30:41    1713052

First of all well done Kerry, they are where their hurling deserves to be now. They should not have had to jump through all the ridiculous hoops to get promoted. Antrim hurling is also where it now deserves to be. The days of Antrim pretending to be anything other than a 3rd rate hurling county are gone for good. We can point the finger at others, and Croke Park do have serious questions to answer about their neglect of Gaelic Games in Belfast and Antrim, but we have also brought many problems on ourselves. While some players and clubs continue to hate the sight of each other and while our county board remains shambolic we are going nowhere. Kevin Ryan, like others before him, has tried and failed and we can only solve many of the problems from within. However I reiterate also that the GAA should hang it's collective head in shame at their total abandonement of Gaelic Games in Ireland's second biggest city and conurbation.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9706 - 11/04/2015 18:02:53    1713065

Great for Kerry. Next year they face Clare Limerick Wexford Offaly and Laois. It will do them the world of good and don't be surprised if they take a win or 2.

What of Antrim, obviously deserved to go down but what good will it do the game there? For me there's a fairly clear split of a top 16 and a second 16 and there should be just division 1 and 2 and split them into groups 1 & 2 . 4 all Ireland semi finalists from the previous season are seeded and split in to each group the rest are drawn in randomly. Round robin 7 games top 2 from each group into the semis bottom 2 from each group in to relegation play offs. 1 up 1 down. Drop the cups.

16 d1 teams would be. Kilkenny Tipperary cork Dublin Galway Waterford Clare Limerick Wexford Laois Offaly Kerry Antrim Carlow Westmeath Kildare

Brianmac78 (Dublin) - Posts: 1168 - 11/04/2015 18:05:47    1713068

Comhgáirdeachas Ciarraí! The Kerry hurlers are an example to Antrim on how players from different clubs can put aside internal rivalries & work together for the greater good of the county. Many good men along the way (like John Meyler) have also helped to make this happen. And I hope the goalie from Tipp who didn't play today will now be the sub-goalie.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 11/04/2015 18:17:44    1713074

Today is to be savoured. Now Kerry are up they'll probably scrap the play-off to send them straight back down. We can lose all 5 1B games and the relegation final, and find ourselves back in this play-off next year. Mad stuff. Even when it'll be in our favour, it's still clearly wrong.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 11/04/2015 18:35:10    1713083

Very big congrats to the Kerry Hurlers. An outstanding achievement in a solid football county. They truly EARNED their promotion. I really hope they can pull off a shocker or two in 1B in 2016.

WoodlawnPat (Galway) - Posts: 288 - 11/04/2015 19:20:30    1713098