I wonder if Nicky would go and have a good talk to himself, the arrogant nonce.

He as GAA president removed the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and the Lory Meagher finals away from AI semi-final days and onto a day on their own and now there's talk of moving it out of Croke Park.

Developing hurling in the weaker counties is purely all talk and no action!

Sure they even wanted to rearrange the national leagues to ensure the likes of Laois, Antrim, and even Offaly don't get to play the big teams...

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 26/02/2015 13:21:41    1697086

Personally, I don't think anything was done under Nicky Brennan's or Christy Cooney's tenure as President to help weaker counties. Liam O'Neill has spearheaded some initiatives like the Táin leagues but ultimately we paddle our own canoe or it sinks....

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 26/02/2015 14:28:07    1697112

Táin leagues

I presume you know how they're functioning Keeper7?

In my own county it was decided to pull the existing hurling leagues and row in behind this Táin league, none of the hurling clubs were informed and it was only when it was divulged this time last year that an unholy row errupted and the Down hurling leagues were reinstated.

As for the Táin leagues, the amount of traveling is making it unfeasible for clubs to stay in it, but have been forced to stay as to let it be seen as a success, never mind the reality, put up a good story anyway.

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 26/02/2015 14:41:20    1697119

I admit that when I read it, it seemed like he was giving himself a huge pat on the back. There may be tiny shoots of progress in some counties but in reality it seems everything is being done to keep hurling strong in the stronger counties to the detriment of the weaker ones.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 26/02/2015 15:01:15    1697127

Bunny

I don't think anything has been done for hurling at all. We got no help down here. Any progress here is due to hard graft from the same volunteers over and over again.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 2628 - 26/02/2015 15:29:29    1697135

Bricktop,

What kind of league did ye have in Down? How many teams? The 3 Ards clubs are playing in Antrim, right? The Táin league just superceeded the Ulster league, no?Longford clubs were pushed out of the Ulster Táin & had to play in the newly-formed Connacht Táin instead which begins at the end of January.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 26/02/2015 16:21:02    1697156

As a measure of the success of the Ulster Tain League, last years 46 teams spread over five divisions has now reduced this year to 24 teams over three divisions.
Last years division one was never completed, and in the lower division after teams had lost two or more games they never fulfilled any further fixtures.

martinprince (Tyrone) - Posts: 187 - 26/02/2015 17:17:00    1697185

The standard of hurling among the top 6-8 counties is possibly at an all time high standard. Outside of that has much changed? When I wasa kid starting off watching hurling the likes of Fermanagh Louth Leitrim and Cavan were always struggling. Cavan now don't compete and the other 3 haven't got much better so it's probably wrong to make the claim hats being made.

Flip side is though what are the county boards in the weaker counties really doing to improve it? It's ok saying the GAA are paying lip service but that could also be aimed at some county boards

Brianmac78 (Dublin) - Posts: 1168 - 26/02/2015 17:53:42    1697194

21 years ago...lets face it, the so called big 3 were not in a good place. Tipp and KK in particular are in a better place now but in general there is very little doubt in my mind hurling isn't in a better place.

The mid 90's were by far the most enjoyable in living memory with the likes of Offaly, Wexford, Clare and even Limerick bringing a huge buzz to the game.

As mentioned above it is a farce what the GAA has done with the other 3 competitions. Theyve set up a hurling commitee where people from the bigger counties have loosely spoken about implmenting the KK template in the weaker counties. How could anyone even think this is possible? Hurling is miles ahead of any other sport in KK where the weaker counties its miles behind in most so obviously a completely diff template is needed.

I guarantee you most hurling people watched the likes of the C Ring and N Rackard finals on tv. Now you'd struggle to see highlights and in a few more years they won't even be played i'd say

tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 26/02/2015 18:17:41    1697201

Hurling is in a better place, but for whom? the big 5/6 counties.

Outside of that it is poor

Offaly have disappeared in Leinster, with no minor, U21 or senior for over a decade
Wexford have been nowhere until recently
Carlow made progress but are working off a tiny base
Westmeath are looking force through an amalgamation of half the underage hurling clubs in the county for some reason, instead of putting some sort of a plan in place to develop hurling in the county

It seems most of the funding has gone to Dublin hurling and everyone else has been left with crumbs

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 26/02/2015 18:41:01    1697213

Bricktop,

What kind of league did ye have in Down? How many teams? The 3 Ards clubs are playing in Antrim, right? The Táin league just superceeded the Ulster league, no?Longford clubs were pushed out of the Ulster Táin & had to play in the newly-formed Connacht Táin instead which begins at the end of January.

there are two divisions/groups in Down hurling made up of about a dozen or so teams in total with the Ards clubs reserves and thirds teams competing in them, Bredagh may also have a reserve team in one of the leagues, which helps to beef them up a bit.
The North Down/ Banbridge area clubs are moving into the Antrim leagues along with the Ards clubs as the mess with the Táin (Ulster version) leagues and re structured Down leagues there was a good part of the summer where there were no fixtures.
Everything is squeezed in and around football hence why as Martin has shown they aren't even remotely completed..

Yes, a lot of these issues are down to the lip service paid to hurling by county boards, but there's no political will within the Ulster Council (another bastion of football) to ensure that dates are set aside within each county for hurling games and not impacted with putting football fixtures on at the same time forcing dual players to choose..

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 27/02/2015 09:04:10    1697299

Martinprince,

"As a measure of the success of the Ulster Tain League, last years 46 teams spread over five divisions has now reduced this year to 24 teams over three divisions.
Last years division one was never completed, and in the lower division after teams had lost two or more games they never fulfilled any further fixtures."

Could this have something to do with the timing of the competition being moved to a couple of months later (April/May) than when it was originally set up (February)? The one good thing about the early start was always that it got going before the football season began.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/02/2015 12:05:28    1697355

Brianmac,

"Flip side is though what are the county boards in the weaker counties really doing to improve it? It's ok saying the GAA are paying lip service but that could also be aimed at some county boards"

This is the crux of the problem in counties like mine. What the CB here do for hurling is mere tokenism at it's finest. The Vision 20/20 Plan being rolled out here where we're supposed to be challenging for Sam Maguires in 5 years time (Kerry & Dublin must be quaking in their boots!) makes no reference to hurling or dual players. This plan comes from people who have GAMES Development in their job titles/descriptions but there's only one game being developed here. There's no plan for hurling. Voluntary people involved in hurling have to come up with a plan themselves & then go cap-in-hand to the CB for approval/resources/funding which in all likelihood would be refused anyway. The hands are totally tied!

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/02/2015 12:16:57    1697360

Valley,

"Westmeath are looking force through an amalgamation of half the underage hurling clubs in the county for some reason, instead of putting some sort of a plan in place to develop hurling in the county"

Heard something about that. In fairness, the standard in underage hurling in Westmeath isn't bad. A lot of the smaller clubs seem to have gotten their act together in the last few years so this proposal unnecessary, I think.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/02/2015 12:23:56    1697363