Far away from the bright Semple Stadium limelight, division 2 of the NHL throws in this weekend. Clare begin their campaign against Down, Westmeath host Wexford, Kildare take on Laois and Carlow make the trip to Belfast for a repeat of last weeks Kehoe Shield game with Antrim. Wexford or Clare to come up. Although Antrim and Laois may have other ideas. Down for the drop but its a hard one to call. Any ideas?

mlhogan1920 (Kildare) - Posts: 5 - 16/02/2010 13:37:14    562960

This weeks predictions along with an end of table prediction.
Antrim Carlow. Antrim by 3, at home and Dunloy lads back I presume?
Kildare Laois. Laois by 5.
Westmeath Wexford. Wexford by 6, hope I am wrong but think Westmeath are transiting between teams? As are Carlow to some extent.
Clare Down. Clare by 15 minimum.
Am open to correction/suggestion etc here.

Clare to go up, buoyed on by last years 21s and also with the crucial game against Wexford at home.
Kildare to go down. Kildare have been improving, were unlucky last year in Ring after appearing to be form team early on in competition but may have to yo yo for a while before settling at this level, again no more than Carlow have been doing. Think we might be a couple of years ahead of Kildare at moment.

getonwithit (Carlow) - Posts: 527 - 16/02/2010 14:49:44    563090

Hard to see past Wexford or Clare as winners although Laois are quietly getting their act together and if they were to beat either of them - and both are home games - then they could be in shake up. Disappointed with Westmeath last year and be interesting to see how Carlow do as had fancied them as progressive. Antrim seem to be in bit of recession at the moment but are always tough at home. Kildare i reckon more likely to survive than Down.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 16/02/2010 15:18:33    563151

Antrim Carlow. Antrim by 3- I'd say Antrim by more unfortunately for you (6)
Kildare Laois. Laois by 5. - I'd say Laois by more.
Westmeath Wexford. Wexford by 6 - Wexford by 10
Clare Down. Clare by 15 minimum - Will Clare pay respect to the league? By no more than 15.

Puddersthecat (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1692 - 16/02/2010 16:08:15    563221

There is a massive gap between the top two, then Laois and then the rest after that.

JPM1981 (Kildare) - Posts: 825 - 16/02/2010 16:09:17    563223

Think Clare deserve to be favourites for promotion, they'll probably have more a stronger panel than Wexford or Antrim with some of the U21's in the squad. Wexford and Antrim will be playing for second spot I feel, with Laois 4th, followed by Westmeath then Carlow.

We did well in the Kehoe Cup and have been coming on slowly for the last couple of seasons, and have gone on a few good runs in the Christy Ring Cup but always seem to get beaten by Westmeath when it matters most. Think we have a decent chance of finishing ahead of Down, we're helped by the fact we have Clare in Newbridge in the final round of games so hopefully they'll have secured a top two finish by then and will field a somewhat weakened team which we might be lucky enough to win against.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3694 - 16/02/2010 16:23:31    563251

It is hard to see past Clare and Wexford but it will be interesting to see if Carlow and Laois can continue to make progress. Carlow should be highly motivated to do well after earning a spot in the Leinster championship. Antrim will have the Dunloy contingent back so they should be at full strength. I'd love to see Antrim back competing at the level of the team of the late 80s/early 90s.

Gaillimh_Abu (Galway) - Posts: 1052 - 16/02/2010 16:49:43    563301

Clare are the obvious front runners. Wexford have done little to impress over the last two or three years and have yet to grasp that they are firmly rooted in Division II at the minute. Laois appeared to be getting their act together towards the end of last season and may edge Wexford out for second. Antrim, as ever, have been woefully inconsistent and their early season form, albeit minus the Dunloy and St Galls players, doesn't suggest they will force their way into the play-offs but are still somewhat of an unknown quantity until we see if Dinny Cahill coming back as manager has an impact. Carlow may keep improving this year and have young lads coming through but will still be short of the pace. Westmeath and Down seem to be stuck in the bottom half of Division II. Kildare seem to be favourites to go down.
Bottom line to get into the top two is that you can't afford to drop more than two points.
Prediction: 1. Clare, 2. Laois, 3. Wexford, 4. Antrim, 5. Carlow, 6. Down, 7. Westmeath, 8.Kildare.

pearsesabu (Antrim) - Posts: 663 - 16/02/2010 17:35:36    563371

Is Galls a dual club pearse? Dont think Laois will be ahead of you.....

getonwithit (Carlow) - Posts: 527 - 16/02/2010 20:37:32    563607

They were involved in the club IHC and two or three of the guys who were starting on the Antrim team last year, like the two McGourtys, Stewarty and Herron were all lining out for St Galls. I assume both McGourtys and Stewarty will tog out next weekend for their footballers as well.

pearsesabu (Antrim) - Posts: 663 - 16/02/2010 21:58:38    563759

Clare should win this division. We have some great U-21's comen through the ranks and with the Sparrow at the helm we should do fine. However, it is important to perform in the playoff because you want to play Div 1. Wexford would be my tip to finish second with Antrim and Laois fighten it out for bronze. To be quite honest i don't see much difference between the 4 remaining teams in Division 4. Carlow have won back to back CR cups but, they only defeated Down & W'meath by a puck of the ball in both finals. Don't get me wrong i have a lot of respect for Carlow and this is a big year for them to build on what they have to date. But, on any given day Carlow, Westmeath, Down, and Kildare are capable of defeating each other.

Should be a interesting league.

Up the Banner

CoraFinne87 (Clare) - Posts: 44 - 17/02/2010 12:51:22    564094

Its an interesting Division, Clare and Wexford are some way ahead. I wouldn't think Laois and Antrim are that far ahead of the other 4, including Carlow. Our biggest problem is that we have Clare and Wex at home with long trips to Antrim and Down which will be tricky. Think when Carlow won up in Down two years ago was first time sinbce 70s

getonwithit (Carlow) - Posts: 527 - 17/02/2010 18:18:56    564733

getonwithit, correct me if i am wrong but i beleive that we beat you 3-13 0-19 in the Christy Ring two years ago and in the league that year we drew 1-11 0-14 at McKenna Park, Ballycran.

Division two is really hoting up. Wexford, Clare, Antrim along with Laois and Carlow all look like solid so far. Very impressed with Carlow and Laois yesterday. Antrim Laois will be a big game and will tell alot about both teams. Wexford & Clare will have tough trips to Carlow. Down, Kildare, and Westmeath are all in a relegation dog fight. It going to be interesting all the way to the end at both the top and bottom of this division.

portavogielad (Down) - Posts: 446 - 01/03/2010 12:51:37    575830

Next two games for Antrim will be the most telling - Laois and Clare, both at home. As the Dunloy and St Gall's contingents have yet to start games it's predict how good or bad we will be. You simply can't afford to drop any more than two points in Div II if you want to have a hope of promotion and, in reality of course, we have to beat Laois and Clare in our own backyard to do that. Laois can't afford to lose another game now and will have to up for it and last Sunday shows that Laois were able to live with Clare for most of the game. The first question will be - can Antrim live with Laois in two weeks time!

pearsesabu (Antrim) - Posts: 663 - 01/03/2010 17:11:55    576176

Ye Laois is a big test for us this year. We havent got much change out of them recently. Cant see us gettin anything against Clare but might get a sneaky result against Wexford with a fair wind , although they are still comfortably superior to us. Lets hope Dinny can instill a bit of belief without tryin to foolishly rubbish the opposition as he did before the Cork match 5 years ago.

gaelantrim (Antrim) - Posts: 1616 - 01/03/2010 17:36:59    576219

Think you're right there port couldn find it. How do ye rate yor chances this year. Carlow are training well and appeared a shade fitter than Westmeath, hard to judge if that was Carlow or Westmeath, perhaps a Westmeath man or woman could enlighten us on how training is going up there. No suprise yet in the league, wonder will there be one and where???

getonwithit (Carlow) - Posts: 527 - 02/03/2010 12:31:09    576851

Laois could cause a surprise or two.

men_of_49 (Meath) - Posts: 2024 - 02/03/2010 12:38:51    576864

men_of_49 - in fairness to Laois, having ran Clare so close, I wouldn't call them taking 2 points off anyone else in the Division a surprise.

pearsesabu (Antrim) - Posts: 663 - 02/03/2010 12:55:39    576900

Interesting division alright. Clare and wexford are frontrunners for first and second. I think laois have been playing well but two very tough games against antrim and carlow will tell a lot for the year to come, with the latter a leinster first round opponent...Laois were unlucky not to take a point from clare sunday but performance wise i'm happy enough.
I expected carlow to beat westmeath but not by so much, i think they could go down.

Markymark (Laois) - Posts: 644 - 02/03/2010 13:26:58    576938

Markymark
County: Laois
Posts: 243

If Joe fitz and Zane get right and J.O.L and Caher healy hurl, it will make a huge difference

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 02/03/2010 14:43:42    577042