Ive just seen something that says alot about hurling up here on the ulster website

Sunday 27th Sep 2015
Fermanagh(CONC)v(0-0)Cavan
2015 Ulster Junior Hurling Club Championship Preliminary Round

A result a month before the game is due to take place!!!!!!

Further proof in my mind that we need an ulster A and ulster B team

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/08/2015 11:15:46    1772379

Fermanagh currently have only one Club, Lisbellaw who will be competing in the Ulster Senior Championship.

martinprince (Tyrone) - Posts: 187 - 19/08/2015 11:29:08    1772391

Have Lisnaskea folded?

geoff (Tyrone) - Posts: 377 - 19/08/2015 12:07:20    1772431

'Further proof in my mind that we need an ulster A and ulster B team'

To do what?

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/08/2015 12:34:34    1772452

Play in the christy ring. What chance to fermanagh donegal tyrone and armagh have. I like to see maybe a east/west team. All star of ulster type thing. I know the logistics would be tough but would be great to have

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/08/2015 12:45:03    1772455

DCFC,

This has been debated for years on this forum, im afraid there is no benefit to it whatsoever.

Leaving aside the obvious logistics as you point out.

Lets look at the Ulster Railway Cup teams over the years. Out of a squad of say 30 players, you will have maybe 15/16 from Antrim of which usually 9/10 will start. Likewise if you were to select from the weaker teams the best team of those 4 or 5 counties will provide the bulk of the squad and team so basically it becomes the strongest county with 4 or 5 other decent hurlers.
I would also like to add that Ulster have never won a railway cup in hurling in my lifetime and im in my forties so why would it follow that they would be anymore successful against intercounty teams.

We are going over old ground here as everyone knows the problems we face beginning with the Ulster Council and the various County Boards getting their finger out and genuinely trying to promote the game. Croke Park also have a huge role to play in this as there are big issues within Antrim as well as the rest of ulster, particularly in Belfast.

However, probably the biggest problem right across Ulster is apathy, bar the obvious pockets of hurling areas, and if no-one can be bothered then it will never improve!

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/08/2015 13:05:48    1772471

Difference with the railway cup team is they play other provinces. How many counties would our railway cup team beat if training together as a team all year rather than a few weeks

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/08/2015 13:21:33    1772487

There is nothing wrong with the current Ulster club Championship. Currently there is Junior, intermediate and senior that give access to all levels like the other provinces. They then join the all Ireland serious and have done quiet well over recent years.

As for the conceding mention above. Lisnaskea are in somewhat of a tradition and are finding it difficult to field at senior level, hopefully they can get their underage sorted out and come back in the coming years. I also support the fact that they have the manners to concede in advance instead of having a team prepare for a game that gets cancelled at the last minute.

The only other Fermanagh team are a more established outfit and will be competing in the senior championship.

donkeykong (Fermanagh) - Posts: 147 - 19/08/2015 13:29:59    1772493

Difference with the railway cup team is they play other provinces. How many counties would our railway cup team beat if training together as a team all year rather than a few weeks

The way hurling is in Ulster at the minute you'd be lucky to get a full panel of players to turn up for training consistently in their own county but to travel to the other side of the province? forget about it. It would be a waste of time and like the railway cup teams it would have no following because nobody feels that sense of identity with a province the way they feel about their county.

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2385 - 19/08/2015 14:04:58    1772520

A question for Antrim people, is the current system of Antrim playing in the Leinster championship doing the county or the game up there any good, would the old system of the Ulster champ winners qualifying for the knockout stages of the All Ireland be any better, maybe the winners could enter quarterfinals or should we all go back to the old provincial champ and leave out the Liam McCarthy teams, either play it alongside the current Christy Ring, Nicky Rickard, Lory Meaghar cups or replace them, those champ finish too early in the year, I mean where are those county players at the moment? Playing with their clubs while Galway, Kilkenny, Tipp etc are playing their hearts out in Croke Park

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 19/08/2015 14:35:29    1772555

'Difference with the railway cup team is they play other provinces. How many counties would our railway cup team beat if training together as a team all year rather than a few weeks'

None of 1A and very few of 1B so theres no merit in it!

And I was watching decent Ulster Railway Cup teams in the early 90's, I think they got to one final if im right and it was in Casement.

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/08/2015 15:18:30    1772602

" you'd be lucky to get a full panel of players to turn up for training consistently in their own county but to travel to the other side of the province? forget about it. It would be a waste of time and like the railway cup teams it would have no following because nobody feels that sense of identity with a province the way they feel about their county. "

I know a few boys in Derry who would do more than travel to the far side of the province for a chance at some big teams.

You could vary the training. Derry one week, antrim the next etc

Ulster is the province where most people feel an identity. Only province I know of that people go for their neighbours once their own team is knocked out. kerry wouldnt do that for cork, mayo for galway or dublin for meath

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/08/2015 15:24:08    1772607

If there is a better way for ulster teams to compete and get a few thousand at a game im all ears. People on this forum rarely come up with ideas but instead just say other people ideas wont work. very negative attitude in my opinion

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/08/2015 15:26:47    1772611

riverboys
County: Mayo
Posts: 456

1772555 A question for Antrim people, is the current system of Antrim playing in the Leinster championship doing the county or the game up there any good, would the old system of the Ulster champ winners qualifying for the knockout stages of the All Ireland be any better, maybe the winners could enter quarterfinals or should we all go back to the old provincial champ and leave out the Liam McCarthy teams, either play it alongside the current Christy Ring, Nicky Rickard, Lory Meaghar cups or replace them, those champ finish too early in the year, I mean where are those county players at the moment? Playing with their clubs while Galway, Kilkenny, Tipp etc are playing their hearts out in Croke Park

It doesn't matter which championship Antrim are in at the minute, theyre too weak for Leinster proper (excluding the qualifying group) and too strong for Ulster.
The problem isn't the championship structure its apathy within Ulster and a lack of desire to correct this by Central Council, Ulster Council and County Boards.

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/08/2015 15:28:00    1772612

Would the Fermanagh rep not play in the intermediate championship...? They'd get utterly trounced by the Derry or Down champions if they were in the senior.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1642 - 19/08/2015 16:14:56    1772658

The Fermanagh champions won the Ulster Junior and Intermediate therefore have been in the senior the past few years and only lost 2-17 to 1-11 against the Down champions Portaferry last winter.

geoff (Tyrone) - Posts: 377 - 19/08/2015 16:20:38    1772664

DCFC,

If I stand accused of being negative because im a realist then im guilty as charged!

No point in having great ideas which are pie in the sky when it comes to implementing them.

The problems with Ulster hurling run a lot deeper than creating an all ulster A and B team which is the point im trying to make

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/08/2015 16:29:51    1772675

Seems the year before that they got beaten 4-18 to 0-7 to the Derry champs. Do they play any matches in Fermanagh or do they get no games till october?

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1642 - 19/08/2015 16:32:29    1772678

Fermanagh clubs play in the Ulster and Armagh league....

This is a non-post... Fermanagh will be represented in both Intermediate and senior and will be competitive which is more than most counties....
This is just a computer error as we all know that Fermanagh wouldn't and can't be represented

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1671 - 19/08/2015 17:59:42    1772745

DCFC,

Have a read of Kevin Ryan's interview in todays Irish News iro Antrim u21s playing in an all Ireland semi final this weekend.

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 20/08/2015 10:21:28    1772978