Congrats to our hurlers on winning the Rackard cup on Saturday. A first national title and seeing a Mayo hurler climb the Hogan steps was special. (Hopefully an omen for later this year;)
I have friends in Hurling mad Tooreen and Ballyhaunis and it is great for them. Special mention to Keith Higgans and also David Kenny and Fergal Boland who only a few week's ago won the u-21 football title in Ennis. The dual game is alive for some in Mayo.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11231 - 07/06/2016 10:28:00    1862634

Fair play to Mayo, they've kept it going in such a huge football county, that said they should have had a man sent off, nasty stroke

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 1909 - 07/06/2016 10:35:41    1862643

Congrats to the county hurlers, it's great to see them secure promotion back to the Christy Ring championship at the first attempt. The manner of their victory is also especially pleasing in light of a lot of the snide comments we get from fans of other teams.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 07/06/2016 13:09:16    1862776

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11231 - 07/06/2016 13:30:22    1862790

Promotion secured with a 1-21 to 1-14 win over Derry today in Bsllinamore. Well done Lads. Now ye can celebrate.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11231 - 11/06/2016 16:54:23    1865162

Well done Mayo but how far have Derry fallen in just 12 months?

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 11/06/2016 18:07:26    1865185

Derry have fallen off a cliff here

from finalists of the CR to relegation
joke

manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 11/06/2016 18:29:22    1865192

Great win for Mayo, but I'm sorry to see Derry go down, especially after getting relegated from 2A in the league as well. I was hoping getting to the Ring final last year would have set them up for success this year, but it really hasn't worked out that way. How much damage will this years double relegation do to hurling in the county? I really hope they bounce back, genuinely.

On the flip side, its been a great year for Connacht hurling. Roscommon have had a great year, winning promotion to 2B, and maintaining their Ring status after winning promotion last year. Now with Mayo's Rackard/promotion wins, we'll have 2 Connacht teams in the Ring for the first time since 2008, when you had 12 teams in the competition. What odds of a Connacht team winning the RIng next year, and getting promoted to the top tier? Anything's possible. Is hurling in Connacht stronger, in the wider sense, than it has been before?

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 11/06/2016 18:33:46    1865198

Not really a mayo team.

liner (Mayo) - Posts: 756 - 11/06/2016 19:33:28    1865219

paddyogall (Mayo) - Posts: 5110 - 11/06/2016 19:38:49    1865222

liner (Mayo) - Posts: 756 - 11/06/2016 19:50:41    1865233

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 11/06/2016 20:21:18    1865248

When Meath won the Nicky Rackard in 2009, there weren't really any celebrations, our own manager described it simply as "steadying the ship" rather than progress. We were put down there as part of a reorganisation and reckoned we never should have been.

I'd put Mayo in the same category this year. I don't want to do an Antrim on it, but Mayo should never really have been down there in the first place. Not in the sense that they were hard done by or have a God given right to Christy Ring hurling, but that they are capable of much better than being relegated to the NR.

That said, Mayo had one job to do this year, and they achieved it with no messing. Beat Armagh twice when underdogs both times, then sealed the deal in an (unneccesary) promotion/relegation playoff.

Talk of Connacht hurling on the up is a bit premature. Roscommon had a good win against what's clearly a terrible Derry team, but then lost their next 2. Mayo meanwhile simply did what they are capable of and got promoted. The odds of either of them winning the Christy Ring next year are very slim.

Some collapse by Derry though. They beat Down in the Christy Ring semi final last May, and since then haven't won a single match in league or championship (excluding a win over Donegal in the Ulster HC). They lost to Kerry in the final, then lost all 5 league matches, and now have lost 4 Christy Ring matches in a row.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 12/06/2016 02:08:17    1865341

Well done to Mayo, I am always delighted to see teams like that get some rewards for their efforts because to stay playing hurling in these counties you have to have a real love of the game. It's easy to play the game in places like Tipperary and Kilkenny, but to stick with it in Mayo you have to endure many dark days. As an example, one of the 'comedians' who posted above suggested the Mayo u17 team should play the Clare camogie team rather than hurlers after a recent defeat - that is the type of rubbish these lads have to put up with. Sadly I see that u17 side conceded their latest game in that tournament so clearly despite the seniors success there is lots of work to be done.
As for Derry it's sad to see their demise but they seem to be hit harder by the dual players problem than any other county. Slaughtneil could easily have won the Ulster club senior this year, and the Coleraine side almost won the junior All-Ireland but presumably many of these lads are not available as they are in the football set-up.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 12/06/2016 10:52:37    1865396

liner (Mayo) - Posts: 756 - 13/06/2016 19:31:12    1866334

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 13/06/2016 22:43:46    1866414

liner (Mayo) - Posts: 756 - 14/06/2016 16:49:22    1866754

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 14/06/2016 21:33:00    1866920

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 14/06/2016 21:54:02    1866935

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 14/06/2016 22:18:10    1866949