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Wexford Club Hurling 2025

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Watched a few games over the weekend, live and on clubber, some weren't close enough to be exciting, Cushinstown v Geraldines, The Alley v Blackwater, Gusserane v Cloughbawn, and Craanford v Fethard. Martins v Rosslare wasnt too bad, pick of the games for exciting finishes that I saw were Jimmys v Rocks, Gorey v Oylegate, and Taghmon v Adamstown.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16734 - 27/07/2025 19:14:03    2628362

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Watched the 2nd half of Askamore v Castletown, the lads from the far north well worth their win, Askamore a little disappointing tbh.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16734 - 27/07/2025 20:04:23    2628375

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Replying To Viking66:  "Watched the 2nd half of Askamore v Castletown, the lads from the far north well worth their win, Askamore a little disappointing tbh."
Have to say that result really surprised me. Would be expecting Askamore to be there or there abouts coming the business end of things so thats a good win for Liam Mellows. All groups look to be tight enough apart from Cloughbawn who are justifying their favourite's tag. Jimmies scoring 1-1 in extra time to win against Tara Rocks/Kilanerin, they dont look as good as last few years but they still have some players to come back still.

In senior the Annes were surprisingly ran close by Crossabeg. Unfortunately Crossabeg have Gorey next but themselves and Ferns do have to play each other in the last game, that will be for 5th v 6th. So they might avoid the dreaded relegation final yet as Ferns have been really poor. Rathnure 3 wins from 3, very impressed so far by them. Harriers had a super win over Shelmaliers. Oulart bottom of this group, at the minute its looking like a Oulart v Ballymurn relegation final, be hard to pick a winner there. Rapps in 5th but probably been a bit unlucky in their games so far, all close affairs.

alwaysasub (Wexford) - Posts: 504 - 28/07/2025 10:42:19    2628532

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Replying To alwaysasub:  "Have to say that result really surprised me. Would be expecting Askamore to be there or there abouts coming the business end of things so thats a good win for Liam Mellows. All groups look to be tight enough apart from Cloughbawn who are justifying their favourite's tag. Jimmies scoring 1-1 in extra time to win against Tara Rocks/Kilanerin, they dont look as good as last few years but they still have some players to come back still.

In senior the Annes were surprisingly ran close by Crossabeg. Unfortunately Crossabeg have Gorey next but themselves and Ferns do have to play each other in the last game, that will be for 5th v 6th. So they might avoid the dreaded relegation final yet as Ferns have been really poor. Rathnure 3 wins from 3, very impressed so far by them. Harriers had a super win over Shelmaliers. Oulart bottom of this group, at the minute its looking like a Oulart v Ballymurn relegation final, be hard to pick a winner there. Rapps in 5th but probably been a bit unlucky in their games so far, all close affairs."
You seem to have the wrong idea about how the relegation finals work. It's not a case of the bottom team in each group playing each other, and the teams finishing fifth being safe from relegation.

Instead, fifth in one group plays sixth in the other group in the preliminary quarter-finals. The losers of those two matches then play the relegation final. So a relegation final could even finish up as fifth v fifth, with the bottom-placed teams from each group already safe.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2999 - 28/07/2025 11:59:04    2628584

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "You seem to have the wrong idea about how the relegation finals work. It's not a case of the bottom team in each group playing each other, and the teams finishing fifth being safe from relegation.

Instead, fifth in one group plays sixth in the other group in the preliminary quarter-finals. The losers of those two matches then play the relegation final. So a relegation final could even finish up as fifth v fifth, with the bottom-placed teams from each group already safe."
I do realise that but I predict that the two bottom teams currently will be the ones in the relegation final, Crossabeg and Oulart, I dont expect either to defeat the teams that finish 5th. Probably wasnt clear, my apologies.

alwaysasub (Wexford) - Posts: 504 - 28/07/2025 12:33:26    2628600

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "You seem to have the wrong idea about how the relegation finals work. It's not a case of the bottom team in each group playing each other, and the teams finishing fifth being safe from relegation.

Instead, fifth in one group plays sixth in the other group in the preliminary quarter-finals. The losers of those two matches then play the relegation final. So a relegation final could even finish up as fifth v fifth, with the bottom-placed teams from each group already safe."
And those bottom placed teams in a QF proper then too, while 2 of the 3rd and 4th placed teams will be out. A truly bizarre system altogether.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16734 - 28/07/2025 12:39:36    2628606

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Replying To Viking66:  "And those bottom placed teams in a QF proper then too, while 2 of the 3rd and 4th placed teams will be out. A truly bizarre system altogether."
Yes completely ridiculous. Be interesting come the end of year if it will be changed or not.

alwaysasub (Wexford) - Posts: 504 - 28/07/2025 16:23:31    2628744

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Replying To alwaysasub:  "Yes completely ridiculous. Be interesting come the end of year if it will be changed or not."
Imagine it will be voted on in January

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16734 - 28/07/2025 16:47:36    2628754

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Watched a few games back on clubber,
Harriers had a good win improved performance again against shels!! I think the shels are a bit light up in the forwards and heavily reliant on Hearne in midfield who got a wonderful goal and got through huge work!!! Harriers played well as a collective lee chin immense in the second half,Richie kehoe outstanding throughout at full back!!

Gorey and oylegate was a poor affair,gorey really not at the pitch of it this year not hurling well at all,Garry molly sending off had a massive effect on the game!!! Oylegate deserved their win and Casey was the man!!!little bit worrying for Gorey alot of them underperformed again!!!

Anne's and crossabeg was closer than I thought!!! I thought the Anne's just hurled a little bit better in patches and obviously the goal from Rochford was massive help!!! Crossabeg are poor but I will give them huge credit for effort they tried extremely hard and for what they lack hurling wise the have huge work rate!!! I thought the Anne's struggled big time with crossabegs physicality to be honest!!! I know crossabeg will be down in the bottom and I think who ever they meet in that would want the stomach for battle because crossabeg will bring it!!!

Rapps and barntown was tight,great to see Liam ryan back!!! Felt that the rapps where doing enough to win but barntown never went away and got the draw!! Kevin foyle was class and ran the show,barntown just hung in and got the draw!! Both teams finding their feet i feel still and both are improving!!!

Oulart v martins was really only going to be one winner,oulart stayed in the game for a good 40 mins!! Martins cruising along without really been tested!!!

Ferns and rathnure a good tussel,paul morris a big loss!!Ferns look a team at the very end alot of miles on all the clock,total opposite with rathnure very young lots of energy good forwards and are improving at the back but still think that's going to be their down fall at the business end!!

theboys (Wexford) - Posts: 285 - 29/07/2025 08:37:28    2628885

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "You seem to have the wrong idea about how the relegation finals work. It's not a case of the bottom team in each group playing each other, and the teams finishing fifth being safe from relegation.

Instead, fifth in one group plays sixth in the other group in the preliminary quarter-finals. The losers of those two matches then play the relegation final. So a relegation final could even finish up as fifth v fifth, with the bottom-placed teams from each group already safe."
Crazy system, if you finish bottom of the group after 5 games you have no business being in there.
Plus its good for players and the championship, although a bit like Wexford I doubt anybody should be subscribing to the "that game does not matter, the next one is the one to win" as if they can just turn a switch.
But 5 games and nobody eliminated and you finish bottom you are not out. Crazy.

StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1912 - 29/07/2025 12:34:14    2628980

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Replying To StoreysTash:  "Crazy system, if you finish bottom of the group after 5 games you have no business being in there.
Plus its good for players and the championship, although a bit like Wexford I doubt anybody should be subscribing to the "that game does not matter, the next one is the one to win" as if they can just turn a switch.
But 5 games and nobody eliminated and you finish bottom you are not out. Crazy."
Look at cloughbawn last year. Won two games and competitive in other group games. Didn't happen for them in quarter final and then relegation final. Think they won 2 games when they were relegated a few years ago too. Teams with no wins in the group have 1 good day out in the quarter finals and safe. Needs to change.

Yellowhelmet (Australia) - Posts: 157 - 29/07/2025 13:35:38    2628997

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Replying To StoreysTash:  "Crazy system, if you finish bottom of the group after 5 games you have no business being in there.
Plus its good for players and the championship, although a bit like Wexford I doubt anybody should be subscribing to the "that game does not matter, the next one is the one to win" as if they can just turn a switch.
But 5 games and nobody eliminated and you finish bottom you are not out. Crazy."
As somebody summed things up fairly concisely last year:

We start with 60 teams across the five grades. We play 150 matches. And then we still have 60 teams left.

Makes you wonder how or why should anybody get excited about any of those 150 games.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2999 - 29/07/2025 13:42:58    2629000

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Some great hurling on show last weekend , hopefully more of the same this weekend. Predictions ?

Harriers v Rapps - Harriers
Oulart v Shels - Shels
Rathnure v Annes - Annes
Crossabeg v Naomh Eanna - Naomh Eanna
Martins v Barntown - Martins

Driveit_94 (USA) - Posts: 1 - 29/07/2025 14:15:05    2629013

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Replying To Driveit_94:  "Some great hurling on show last weekend , hopefully more of the same this weekend. Predictions ?

Harriers v Rapps - Harriers
Oulart v Shels - Shels
Rathnure v Annes - Annes
Crossabeg v Naomh Eanna - Naomh Eanna
Martins v Barntown - Martins"
What about Oylegate and Ferns?
Think Rathnure might beat the Annes.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16734 - 29/07/2025 14:37:38    2629024

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Harriers v Rapparees
Harrier put in a good performance against albeit poor Naomh Eanna side, Raps did enough to earn a draw against Glynn, suspect Harrier will continue on their recent strong performances.

Oulart v Shelmaliers.
Last week went as expected and I saw Oulart the week before, they were very poor, Shels might have lost last week but they should still end up with a win here. If they lose and Rapps somehow manage to win, it means they will finish 6th. Although that dosent mean a whole lot anymore under this championship structure.

Martins v Glynn-Barntown
Like last week, should be a straight forward win for the Martins.

Crossabeg v Naomh Eanna
This might be close, Crossabeg put up a good performance last week while Gorey havent got going at all yet. Although if the Gorey side win, it means that Crossabeg will definitely finish 5th or 6th,

Oylegate v Ferns
As stated above, Ferns look like an aging team, not sure they will get a win against Oylegate either. Oylegate to win by 6.

Rathnure v St. Annes
Really looking forward to this one, Rathnure impressive so far, Annes also going about their business nicely. Two form teams., I actually think Rathnure might win, I'll give them the nodd.

Intermediate
Blackwater v Fethard
Blackwater good until last weekend, Fethard poor until last weekend but won. Will go with the form team, Fethard.

Cloughbawn v Askamore
Real surprise seeing Askamore bet last weekend, while Cloughbawn have been putting up big scores. Cloughbawn again to win.

Buffers Alley v Tara Rocks/Kilanerin
The men from Kilanerin probably unlucky to have only 2 points so far, have been good in most games, Alley got last weekend, expect Alley to win again.

Craanford v James
Hard to see anything other than a Jimmies victory, Craanford have been poor enough so far.

Liam Mellows v Horeswood
Horeswood have no wins from 3 and expect that to continue with Liam Mellows getting a great win agsinst Askamore.

Bunclody v Gusserance
Bunclody havent been that impressive yet but Gusserane havent been either. Tough one to pick but will go with the Bunclody men, just.

alwaysasub (Wexford) - Posts: 504 - 29/07/2025 15:50:20    2629048

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "As somebody summed things up fairly concisely last year:

We start with 60 teams across the five grades. We play 150 matches. And then we still have 60 teams left.

Makes you wonder how or why should anybody get excited about any of those 150 games."
This format was proposed by the hurling review committee and passed not once but twice at the Convention. If it is universally disliked and as some would say a continuation of the ills that plague Wexford hurling, what does it say about our ability to plan anything for the future? What it would suggest is there are are no good ideas that everyone in the county would agree on that would take Wexford back to the top.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2031 - 29/07/2025 18:32:14    2629094

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Replying To zinny:  "This format was proposed by the hurling review committee and passed not once but twice at the Convention. If it is universally disliked and as some would say a continuation of the ills that plague Wexford hurling, what does it say about our ability to plan anything for the future? What it would suggest is there are are no good ideas that everyone in the county would agree on that would take Wexford back to the top."
First, just to point out it wasn't passed at Convention. In fairness, you're not the first to make that mistake. League & Championship structures for the year ahead are instead decided at the regular January meeting of the County Board.

And thing is, it doesn't matter if 95% of people in Wexford don't like the system. So long as 51% of people at that meeting vote for it, it's the system we get.

As previously outlined, two key factors:
- People like Adrian Fenlon being at that meeting to speak for the system, and in fairness, he speaks well. Club delegates who haven't been given a clear mandate to oppose it are generally reluctant to put their hand up in front of him and his Hurling Advisory Committee colleagues to vote against it.
- This year, the whole top table (about 16 or 18 votes) voted en bloc for it. Was surprised at that, because they'd voted en block against it the first time around.

One of them told me afterwards it had been decided at one of their own meetings to do that in order to give the system the best chance possible of a second year before making a more long-term decision on it. Personally, I hope they go back next year to voting against it, because 16 or 18 votes is significant out of what's normally a voting size of 70 to 80.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2999 - 29/07/2025 21:03:06    2629129

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Replying To zinny:  "This format was proposed by the hurling review committee and passed not once but twice at the Convention. If it is universally disliked and as some would say a continuation of the ills that plague Wexford hurling, what does it say about our ability to plan anything for the future? What it would suggest is there are are no good ideas that everyone in the county would agree on that would take Wexford back to the top."
Just looking through the updated fixture plan. Any teams that come in the top two in their groups and go straight through to a Q final, they are getting one hurling match in 8 weeks. A game this weekend coming, then no game for 5 weeks. Once top group off again until Q final. So basically, 8 teams in senior and inter get 1 game in 8 weeks. How is that in any means beneficial to Wexford hurling? Can somebody make sense of that please? Its an absolute farce yet again by the co board.

countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 872 - 30/07/2025 08:46:54    2629186

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Replying To countyman2022:  "Just looking through the updated fixture plan. Any teams that come in the top two in their groups and go straight through to a Q final, they are getting one hurling match in 8 weeks. A game this weekend coming, then no game for 5 weeks. Once top group off again until Q final. So basically, 8 teams in senior and inter get 1 game in 8 weeks. How is that in any means beneficial to Wexford hurling? Can somebody make sense of that please? Its an absolute farce yet again by the co board."
Yes, but that's as much to do with the Fleadh and Electric Picnic and the need to also play football as it is to do with the hurling structure. For anyone who hasn't seen the fixture plan, here it is:

August 3: Hurling Round 4
August 10: Free weekend (Fleadh)
August 17: Football Round 3
August 24: Football Round 4
August 31: Free weekend (Electric Picnic)
September 7: Hurling Round 5
September 14: Hurling preliminary quarter-finals
September 21: Football Round 5
September 28: Hurling quarter-finals

So, because of the two free weekends and the football in between, every hurling team in the county will have five weekends off after this weekend.

Those that finish third to sixth then have a match the following weekend as well (preliminary quarter-final), followed by another one two weeks later if they happen to win that one.

Those that finish first and second just have three weeks between matches in September.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2999 - 30/07/2025 10:21:45    2629207

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Sorry, correction to above:

Every hurling team in the county will have four weekends off after this weekend. But that still means they'll all be waiting five weeks for their next match.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2999 - 30/07/2025 11:20:16    2629229

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