on Saturday Armagh play Donegal , but they also play Westmeath in the quarter-final of the MHC B in Armagh at 12.00, now that game should be finished by 1.30, but wouldn't it be great to play the fixture in Croke Park before what will be a sell out - rather than rushing down the road after the game to get into Dublin on a Saturday afternoon.....
Common sense i would have thought!!!

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1671 - 06/08/2014 14:45:32    1632482

What kind of a team have ye? Westmeath should be strong at this level...

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 06/08/2014 15:02:40    1632493

Our minor hurlers are playing the same day too.. If they fixed Armagh - Westmeath for Croke Park then they would also have to allow Donegal - Roscommon play there too. Making it a quadruple header!! Could it have been possible or too much?? One at 12, one at 1.30, then Armagh - Donegal at 4

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 520 - 06/08/2014 15:21:27    1632504

Could Donegal V Roscommon minor hurlers have been played before their minor footballers last weekend or are there dual players involved with both?

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 06/08/2014 15:38:49    1632514

Think there's a few dual players alright, Jamie Brennan is a serious Hurler. I'd imagine Colm Kelly too is in the Hurling Squad.

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 520 - 06/08/2014 16:19:29    1632541

This has got me thinking, has there ever been a year where the 8 senior football quarter finalists and 8 minor football quarter finalists were totally different? i.e. no county reached both the senior and minor QFs. I'd imagine with Kerry and Cork's domination of Munster the chances of neither of them making the minor provincial final is slim.

On the Armagh-Donegal topic, to play the devils advocate: in most Croker games where there is a minor curtain raiser, the teams have earned the right to be there by being the best in their provinces, so they get their day out in Croker after months of toil. No offence to the Armagh and Donegal minor hurling teams,but they have done nothing more to merit being a curtain raiser than registering teams in the minor B and drawing each other in the first round.

On the other hand, I can imagine it'd be an amazing experience for these lads to play in Croke Park. The place would still be empty though, considering around half the fans would be there just for the Dublin match 4 hours later, and if Donegal/Armagh people arent bothered supporting these teams at home,they wouldnt make the effort to head in early to Croke Park to watch them. Talk of playing in front of a full house is nonsense.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 06/08/2014 16:42:06    1632561

Seems I made a mistake,I thought the hurling match was Armagh-Donegal, aside from the "drawing each other" bit, my point still stands.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 06/08/2014 16:44:03    1632566

HandballRef
County: Donegal
Posts: 94

1632541 Think there's a few dual players alright, Jamie Brennan is a serious Hurler. I'd imagine Colm Kelly too is in the Hurling Squad.

I must be very ignorant. I would have thought in Donegal that intercounty minor footballers played football and hurling was an evil to be avoided at all costs. Kind of refreshing. We have about 5/6 every year down here but does us no favours really.

Given the hype around the senior football game, they could have switched the dates of the games possibly, if they could not change the venues.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 06/08/2014 17:55:48    1632615

Donegal are making strides in hurling, Benny. Their U16s compete at 'B' level & they send an U15 squad to compete at U16 'C'. That's fairly progressive, IMO.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 06/08/2014 18:09:42    1632621

keeper7
County: Longford
Posts: 2113

1632621 Donegal are making strides in hurling, Benny. Their U16s compete at 'B' level & they send an U15 squad to compete at U16 'C'. That's fairly progressive, IMO.

Absolutely agree. Great to see. Hurling and football can survive together at club level and all clubs should try and promote both (IMO - a pipe dream I realise). I just thought (ignorantly it seems) that the dual minor star was the preserve of a handful of counties.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 06/08/2014 18:41:13    1632638

It was just a suggestion, it would be a great promotional tool for the underage hurlers from where ever they are from,

and to my Meath friend ( who is completly wrong in the Attendence) - Dublin will have a big crowd - but Armagh , Donegal and Monaghan will travel in massive numbers - over 60,000 at least from the 3 counties
I believe there will be 45-50,000 at the start of the Armagh v Donegal game..... so a curtain raiser would have some crowd, small but significant in numbers...

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1671 - 06/08/2014 18:49:07    1632642