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National Hurling League 2026

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Replying To Viking66:  "He was another lad who breezed into Leinster with arrogance :-)"
I think anyone who believes that a proud Connacht man or a proud Ulster man should breaks their bones trying to be champions of Leinster is either naive or extremely arrogant. Language should mean something, it should be concise and accurate. Hurling was based in the townland, the parish and eventually the club - pride of place at its heart.
I had nothing against the Leinster Championship when it was true to its name. The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors.

Crashingwaves (Galway) - Posts: 312 - 30/03/2026 11:50:56    2663939

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "It is. A couple of key things went against us in Croke Park that were out of our control but we are where we are having played all our fixtures.

Is it what's best for us or hurling in general though?

I'm comfortable enough with it based on where we are in our rebuild but prefer the previous version where you still got at least one game against a top team.

Or even the early 00s format where you had a couple of games to take risks and you could test yourself against the best teams without anybody killing themselves.

Ultimately nobody really takes the hurling league seriously because it's a warm up competition in bad weather that has no real baring on the main event."
Try telling that to the finalists of Divisions 3 and 4......look at the scorelines.

Of course nobody could be bothered to televise them.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2988 - 30/03/2026 13:11:20    2663952

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "It is. A couple of key things went against us in Croke Park that were out of our control but we are where we are having played all our fixtures.

Is it what's best for us or hurling in general though?

I'm comfortable enough with it based on where we are in our rebuild but prefer the previous version where you still got at least one game against a top team.

Or even the early 00s format where you had a couple of games to take risks and you could test yourself against the best teams without anybody killing themselves.

Ultimately nobody really takes the hurling league seriously because it's a warm up competition in bad weather that has no real baring on the main event."
Are Limerick and Cork in the final because no one else wanted to be or because they are the two best teams in the competition?
The winners of the league have generally done well in the championship since the round robin came in.

It is accurate to say that it didnt matter so much back in the naughties and before but hurling was different then and not for the better.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 163 - 30/03/2026 14:00:38    2663957

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I think anyone who believes that a proud Connacht man or a proud Ulster man should breaks their bones trying to be champions of Leinster is either naive or extremely arrogant. Language should mean something, it should be concise and accurate. Hurling was based in the townland, the parish and eventually the club - pride of place at its heart.
I had nothing against the Leinster Championship when it was true to its name. The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors."
To be fair ye get home venue games and get a warm up match in CP when you are good enough so you are doing okay out of it. I fully get that you probably thought that ye would win more Bob o Keeffes than you have but that's on you not Leinster. I dont think they had to give you home venue.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 163 - 30/03/2026 14:05:01    2663958

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I think anyone who believes that a proud Connacht man or a proud Ulster man should breaks their bones trying to be champions of Leinster is either naive or extremely arrogant. Language should mean something, it should be concise and accurate. Hurling was based in the townland, the parish and eventually the club - pride of place at its heart.
I had nothing against the Leinster Championship when it was true to its name. The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors."
I agree 100% with all of that. But winning a Leinster hurling title means alot to people down here. Same as winning a Munster title means something to people from there. Plenty of friends from Clare hope each year to win one, they havent won one since 1998.
Your post said that we should rename our Provincial title. Why should we?
Personally I think we should move to something more like the Football set up, only with more than 2 levels for the AI series. Run our Provincial championships separately, straight knockout if needs be for time constraints, then run an AI series in 2 groups of 5 for the top tier, top 2 qualify for the AISFs, with seedings based on the previous years League for the 1st year. Maybe 4 tiers, bottom 3 tiers of 8 teams each, with 1 up and 1 down between them thereafter. Thats the 32 counties plus London and New York.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18997 - 30/03/2026 14:19:39    2663963

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I think anyone who believes that a proud Connacht man or a proud Ulster man should breaks their bones trying to be champions of Leinster is either naive or extremely arrogant. Language should mean something, it should be concise and accurate. Hurling was based in the townland, the parish and eventually the club - pride of place at its heart.
I had nothing against the Leinster Championship when it was true to its name. The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors."
You maybe don't realise it, but you're actually doing your own hurlers a huge disservice there.

You're basically suggesting that any Galway team that finds itself in a Leinster Final wouldn't be doing their best to win it. That they wouldn't care that losing would mean they'd have to play an All-Ireland quarter-final against a Munster team, instead of going straight to a semi-final. In short, that they wouldn't be doing their best to give themselves the best chance of playing in All-Ireland Final.

Is that an insult you really want to throw at them?

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3460 - 30/03/2026 14:59:24    2663971

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "You maybe don't realise it, but you're actually doing your own hurlers a huge disservice there.

You're basically suggesting that any Galway team that finds itself in a Leinster Final wouldn't be doing their best to win it. That they wouldn't care that losing would mean they'd have to play an All-Ireland quarter-final against a Munster team, instead of going straight to a semi-final. In short, that they wouldn't be doing their best to give themselves the best chance of playing in All-Ireland Final.

Is that an insult you really want to throw at them?"
I made no such assertion about the Galway hurlers, you know well I wasn't insulting anyone. You have missed the point I was making. Simply put, the so called Leinster championship is no longer a Leinster Championship. Imagine if Wexford were asked to play in another province, would it mean the same to them to be Connacht, Munster or Ulster champions?

Crashingwaves (Galway) - Posts: 312 - 30/03/2026 16:14:31    2663984

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Replying To Viking66:  "I agree 100% with all of that. But winning a Leinster hurling title means alot to people down here. Same as winning a Munster title means something to people from there. Plenty of friends from Clare hope each year to win one, they havent won one since 1998.
Your post said that we should rename our Provincial title. Why should we?
Personally I think we should move to something more like the Football set up, only with more than 2 levels for the AI series. Run our Provincial championships separately, straight knockout if needs be for time constraints, then run an AI series in 2 groups of 5 for the top tier, top 2 qualify for the AISFs, with seedings based on the previous years League for the 1st year. Maybe 4 tiers, bottom 3 tiers of 8 teams each, with 1 up and 1 down between them thereafter. Thats the 32 counties plus London and New York."
I never said you should rename your provincial title: I wrote:
"The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors".
What we have is neither fish nor fowl, a hybrid. You gave the impression that it was Galway who instigated the move to Leinster, that's not the case. The provincial system was broken a long time but due to the closed and blinkered provincial mindsets in charge of the GAA it's taking it years to fix it.

Crashingwaves (Galway) - Posts: 312 - 30/03/2026 16:25:48    2663985

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "Are Limerick and Cork in the final because no one else wanted to be or because they are the two best teams in the competition?
The winners of the league have generally done well in the championship since the round robin came in.

It is accurate to say that it didnt matter so much back in the naughties and before but hurling was different then and not for the better."
Yes indeed Limerick & Cork two best teams in Hurling right now both want to win it too why wouldn't you.

clooney (Clare) - Posts: 1008 - 30/03/2026 17:05:50    2663993

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I never said you should rename your provincial title: I wrote:
"The Leinster council should have held onto its championship, in its traditional knockout format, the GAA could have created another competition that would be inclusive and respectful to all competitors".
What we have is neither fish nor fowl, a hybrid. You gave the impression that it was Galway who instigated the move to Leinster, that's not the case. The provincial system was broken a long time but due to the closed and blinkered provincial mindsets in charge of the GAA it's taking it years to fix it."
You said that in your last post ok. But read back the thread to what you posted earlier about not calling our Provincial Championship by its proper name any more.
And I didnt give the impression that Galway instigated it at all. I was just pointing out what way it was sold to all of us in Leinster before the vote was taken allowing you to compete in our Championship.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18997 - 30/03/2026 22:37:04    2664043

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I made no such assertion about the Galway hurlers, you know well I wasn't insulting anyone. You have missed the point I was making. Simply put, the so called Leinster championship is no longer a Leinster Championship. Imagine if Wexford were asked to play in another province, would it mean the same to them to be Connacht, Munster or Ulster champions?"
No it wouldn't. Thats why we play in the Leinster Championship and pretty much always have since it started, bar a few years.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18997 - 30/03/2026 22:38:55    2664044

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Replying To Crashingwaves:  "I made no such assertion about the Galway hurlers, you know well I wasn't insulting anyone. You have missed the point I was making. Simply put, the so called Leinster championship is no longer a Leinster Championship. Imagine if Wexford were asked to play in another province, would it mean the same to them to be Connacht, Munster or Ulster champions?"
Now you're moving the goalposts. "Wouldn't mean the same to them" is different to "wouldn't be trying their best to win it". And anyway, I daresay we in Wexford would gladly accept any trophy we might earn and any "champions" title that comes with it, no matter what province it was called after! :D

And I'd still maintain that suggesting "a proud Connacht man" wouldn't be doing his best to win a Leinster title means that man wouldn't be giving it his all if he was playing a Leinster Final, which in turn means he wouldn't be doing his best to get his team straight to an All-Ireland semi-final. No matter how unintentional it was, that's what you implied.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3460 - 31/03/2026 09:16:17    2664065

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "Are Limerick and Cork in the final because no one else wanted to be or because they are the two best teams in the competition?
The winners of the league have generally done well in the championship since the round robin came in.

It is accurate to say that it didnt matter so much back in the naughties and before but hurling was different then and not for the better."
I do think they're the best two teams at the minute, and last year as well.

Having said that I doubt their goals for the year included winning the league as a priority. I'd imagine now that they find themselves in the final they'll want to win it, but getting one over on the other is as important as the trophy which will be forgotten fairly quickly once Munster kicks off.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4373 - 31/03/2026 10:06:48    2664072

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Replying To clooney:  "Yes indeed Limerick & Cork two best teams in Hurling right now both want to win it too why wouldn't you."
I'm sure All-Ireland Champions Tipperary would have something to say about Limerick & Cork being the "two best teams in hurling right now" :)

LimerickandProud (Limerick) - Posts: 225 - 31/03/2026 11:06:37    2664082

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Replying To Viking66:  "You said that in your last post ok. But read back the thread to what you posted earlier about not calling our Provincial Championship by its proper name any more.
And I didnt give the impression that Galway instigated it at all. I was just pointing out what way it was sold to all of us in Leinster before the vote was taken allowing you to compete in our Championship."
Interesting reading

Leinster finals in the 16 years prior to Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 2 runners-up

Wexford - 3 wins, 9 runners-up

Offaly - 2 wins, 5 runners-up

Leinster finals in the 16 years after Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 3 runners-up

Galway - 3 wins, 7 runners-up

Dublin - 1 win, 5 runners-up

Wexford - 1 win, 1 runner-up

Fair to say we're the big losers in opening up Leinster to everyone.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4373 - 31/03/2026 11:21:32    2664086

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "Interesting reading

Leinster finals in the 16 years prior to Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 2 runners-up

Wexford - 3 wins, 9 runners-up

Offaly - 2 wins, 5 runners-up

Leinster finals in the 16 years after Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 3 runners-up

Galway - 3 wins, 7 runners-up

Dublin - 1 win, 5 runners-up

Wexford - 1 win, 1 runner-up

Fair to say we're the big losers in opening up Leinster to everyone."
Your the big losers REGARDLESS of Leinster being open or not, ye have played in 3 All ireland final s in the last 50 years and one 1. Im not saying it in jest, I loved that 96 team, but serioursly, would it ahve made a difference if Galway kept hammering Rossies/Mayo in Connacht? All it would have done in reality is added + 3 to Kk and +7 in runners up divided across Lenister counties.

The_DOC (Galway) - Posts: 842 - 31/03/2026 11:46:29    2664090

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "Interesting reading

Leinster finals in the 16 years prior to Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 2 runners-up

Wexford - 3 wins, 9 runners-up

Offaly - 2 wins, 5 runners-up

Leinster finals in the 16 years after Galway joining

Kilkenny - 11 wins, 3 runners-up

Galway - 3 wins, 7 runners-up

Dublin - 1 win, 5 runners-up

Wexford - 1 win, 1 runner-up

Fair to say we're the big losers in opening up Leinster to everyone."
Its actually interesting to see how much Dublin improved in that time..

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 163 - 31/03/2026 11:48:49    2664091

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Replying To Viking66:  "No it wouldn't. Thats why we play in the Leinster Championship and pretty much always have since it started, bar a few years."
Well there you are, thanks for your honesty.

Crashingwaves (Galway) - Posts: 312 - 31/03/2026 11:57:25    2664095

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@DoylerWex - yup. We went from being in Leinster Finals most years (12 out of 16), to only being there once in a blue moon.

Thing is though, Galway coming into Leinster coincided more or less with Dublin appointing Anthony Daly as manager, and Wexford appointing Colm Bonnar. Dublin made great progress, while we went backwards. I reckon that's every bit as much factor in the record for the past 16 years as Galway's introduction to Leinster.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3460 - 31/03/2026 12:16:08    2664104

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "Now you're moving the goalposts. "Wouldn't mean the same to them" is different to "wouldn't be trying their best to win it". And anyway, I daresay we in Wexford would gladly accept any trophy we might earn and any "champions" title that comes with it, no matter what province it was called after! :D

And I'd still maintain that suggesting "a proud Connacht man" wouldn't be doing his best to win a Leinster title means that man wouldn't be giving it his all if he was playing a Leinster Final, which in turn means he wouldn't be doing his best to get his team straight to an All-Ireland semi-final. No matter how unintentional it was, that's what you implied."
Hurling as I stated previously came from the townland, the parish and the club, an amateur game - all that has changed obviously.

Crashingwaves (Galway) - Posts: 312 - 31/03/2026 12:16:35    2664105

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