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See Westmeath hurlers had a great win over Offaly in the Leinster Championship. Last year Laois beat Offaly in the Championship. Carlow are also doing well especially with Mountleinster's club championship run a few years ago. This following Dublin hurlers arrival as a serious hurling county in recent years and Wexford seem to be doing well again at U21 level. Can these improvements be built on and in 10 years have a Leinster championship where 6 or 7 counties are seriously competitive?. As someone who doesn't know the situation on the ground in any of these counties on the ground is this realistic? bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1347 - 04/05/2016 09:37:54 1851830 Link 0 |
No. manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 04/05/2016 14:44:31 1851952 Link 0 |
It would be nice to see extra funding going to developing hurling counties similar to what happened when the GAA decided to promote hurling in Dublin and treat it as a special case back in Berties time. tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1337 - 04/05/2016 15:16:05 1851965 Link 0 |
I believe part of Westmeath's improvement is due to some of the clubs in the North of the county focussing heavily on hurling ahead of football BlastCalyle (Mayo) - Posts: 206 - 04/05/2016 15:18:44 1851966 Link 0 |
Nowadays, by & large, the Westmeath hurlers are treated the same as the footballers, so that it progress. They have a hurling week then a football week in terms of fixtures but there are probably twice as many playing football as hurling in the county, especially as it has next really taken off around Athlone. Paudie Butler has done a fair bit of work with the underage development squads & they've tried to amalgamate weaker clubs to challenge the stronger ones & raise the standard in general. It's a work in progress. keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/05/2016 16:29:22 1851996 Link 0 |
Good to see Westmeath, Carlow and Laois making strides, but for the likes of Louth, Longford are just keeping the game alive cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1673 - 04/05/2016 18:03:32 1852046 Link 0 |
while our senior team are probably a bit off the top at present,i do not consider wexford a weaker county in leinster.it will take a few years for us to really challenge but the signs at underage are promising.i know underage doesnt promise you jack s at senior level but it is still a decent foundation stone. perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 04/05/2016 19:20:54 1852073 Link 0 |
Keeper, you don't have a clue! manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 04/05/2016 19:47:26 1852083 Link 0 |
"especially as it has next really taken off around Athlone." keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/05/2016 21:59:02 1852129 Link 0 |
great to see teams like kerry westmeath and laois doing well , carlow have also raised their game too in recent years and would love to see antrim down derry etc on the rise, was at limerick v westmeath qualifier last year , while there was a lot more limerick fans than westmeath supporters (but then again in 2001 in a football qualifier in limerick they outnumbered us) , and was very impressed with the westmeath team and especially with the knowledge and passion for the game of their supporters, janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 05/05/2016 10:01:23 1852169 Link 0 |
while our senior team are probably a bit off the top at present,i do not consider wexford a weaker county in leinster.it will take a few years for us to really challenge but the signs at underage are promising.i know underage doesnt promise you jack s at senior level but it is still a decent foundation stone. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1347 - 05/05/2016 21:15:40 1852453 Link 0 |
The Kerry v Westmeath game tomorrow should be a cracker. It will be interesting to see how the group winners measure up against Galway. I expect the runners-up to beat Laois. It is sad to see Offaly hurling in such a bad state but it is not all that surprising given their dismal showing at schools, minor and under-21 levels for so long. Gaillimh_Abu (Galway) - Posts: 996 - 06/05/2016 17:19:56 1852631 Link 0 |
----- afraid not, it's not a question of the weaker counties imptoving but that of the stronger counties getting weaker, I wish I was wrong. Scallioneater (Carlow) - Posts: 293 - 07/05/2016 14:31:08 1852740 Link 0 |
Posted this topic last year, now delighted to see my own county having come on a bit in one year (compared to where we were before last years Ring cup campaign). I do get the feeling the the teams below the contender level in Leinster are improving a bit and at the businesses end of the competition Wexford could win Leinster for the first time in a while. I think the Leinster championship may be getting a bit healthier. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1347 - 23/04/2017 23:08:13 1982024 Link 0 |
leinster championship could be a cracker this year. perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 24/04/2017 08:51:23 1982075 Link 0 |
I believe Meath has a hurling board (well in the past I know they always used to have). The main thing I believe in Meath was initially doing well in the Christy Ring last year gave people a bit of enthusiasm and the 2 final matches against Antrim (and then winning it out) brought more feel profile and feel good factor.
bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1347 - 25/04/2017 18:27:29 1982623 Link 0 |
Good to see Meath making progress. But overall I don't see the weaker Leinster teams improving at all. Laois, Westmeath & Carlow have all fallen back from where they were a couple of years ago. We have Offaly also going backwards, while not classed as a weaker county, they soon will be. The Real 1944 (Carlow) - Posts: 1114 - 25/04/2017 20:40:50 1982662 Link 0 |
I have heard from someone who is close to the Kildare scene that the manager set out wanting to only field Kildare born players but was forced to go to other counties because some of the better Kildare club players turned down the invitation to play with the county. They had reasons which from a club point of view made sense. But the biggest problem in Kildare is that the county board is anti hurling and will do nothing to promote it. The standard won't improve in Kildare because there is very little goodwill towards the game within the county.
PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1903 - 25/04/2017 21:48:32 1982691 Link 0 |
While it's great to see how far we've come, you can't really say Leinster hurling as a whole has come on. We beat Kerry, which is a great achievement but historically ourselves and Kerry have been around the same level anyway. They've upped it the last few years but beating them hasn't exactly shook hurling to the core. In the same time frame Carlow have gone down to the Christy Ring, so Leinster as a whole pretty much back where we started. CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 25/04/2017 23:30:04 1982722 Link 0 |
Kildare hurling has improved a lot. Their minors & U21s usually compete in the Leinster championship proper these days. Celbridge almost won the Leinster intermediate club title against Carickshock.
keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 26/04/2017 04:11:14 1982731 Link 0 |