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On a quick side note from the hurling, who do the big ball enthusiasts see winning this weekend?

Hard to see past Dromara tomorrow night in my opinion. They seem to have really clicked this year. Has there been a lot of work done in the previous years to get them to this point? They have some of the most amazing facilities in the county IMO. Aughlisnafin will certainly fancy themselves. It is not that long ago that the Fin were struggling massively, shipping 50 point losses. It is inspirational to every other club in the county how far they've come since.

Drumgath v Clann na Banna the most intriguing game of the weekend I think. Drumagath have won every game this year between the two, but Banbridge could have a shock in store. Drumgath won the Junior Championship in 2016. Going from Junior to Senior in less than 10 years would be quite impressive, but we'll not tempt fate. I don't think I ever can recall Banbridge being in the top flight of football? Again, we'll not tempt fate, but would be interesting. Clann na Banna, like many of our urban clubs, probably have a lot of potential in them for the future. I didn't expect either of these teams to make the final, let alone win the championship, so credit where credit is due; Im looking forward to this one and either team will be a great addition to the senior championship. Should be a good game. On a side note, a lot could be done to promote the GAA in Banbridge and Rathfriland. I know, I know, the demographics of both towns don't exactly lend themselves to this, particularly Rathfriland, but we live in a changing world, and the success of either team would do wonders for their respective area. I am not saying either team winning this weekend will flip the script of the last 100 years of history, and a GAA forum is not the time nor the place for such discussions, but who knows what the future holds in store? Anyway, should be a good game and credit to each team for the season they've had so far and taking down some decent teams to get here.

Not a heap to say on the senior final, and it wouldn't be my forte anyway. If I was pushed I would say it's hard to look past Kilcoo again? Very slick footballing machine.  I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion on this game over the coming days, so I will leave it to those who are more qualified and more interested in such matters. Whoever wins, would be good to see them go on and win Ulster, and hopefully an All Ireland.

We have two good weekends of action now coming up, with some interesting match ups in both codes. Looking forward to it, should be good.

Great to see all this hurling discussion going on, isn't it?

JHC final now Ballela v Castlewellan with E Belfast paying the price for their first round hammering in Castlewellan as score difference knocked them out despite a good 5 point win v Ballela. Ballela after their win v Castlewellan now favourite for the championship but will be wary of a younger up and coming team.
Shamrocks v Carryduff was tight and shows the gap between the lower SHC and IHC teams isn't much. Maybe time for a rethink of the championship format in Down. Fair play to Shamrocks who too it to the wire.

Not sure if Ballela are favourites to be honest.

Yes, they beat Castlewellan, but Castlewellan have performed better overall in the championship.

Hammered East Belfast, and hammered Ballyvarley, whereas Ballela lost to East Belfast, and it's probably fair to say they got out of jail free against Ballyvarley with some decisions going their way.

This is not to say they aren't well fit to beat Castlewellan. Ballela are a dogged team, but Castlewellan will have learnt from their last encounter and id be surprised if they make the same mistakes again.

Páirc Esler will suit Castlewellan style of play more I'd say, and if they do play their way, and not the way Ballela want them to play, I would have them as favourites.

Of course though, Ballela have the know how on both beating Castlewellan, and winning Junior Championships. If they get their match ups right they'll be well fit go straight back up to intermediate.



Was expecting a bigger winning margin for Carryduff, Shamrocks were impressive. I would definitely agree, we need a rethink on the championship structure. What is the point in having an intermediate final that is the exact same as last year? Bredagh could feasibly win back to back intermediate championships.

It's seems the Liatroim/Murphy experiment is well and truly over, no involvement with them yesterday in Carryduff.

It was strongly rumoured during the week of an acrimonious split but the teamsheets yesterday confirmed it.


Still waiting on the CB confirming but the Senior semifinals in two weeks time look to be;

Ballygalget v Liatroim
Portaferry v Ballycran

Bredagh and Carryduff will be dropping down into the Intermediate grade.

Bredagh TBH were disappointing yesterday, allowing our lads to pop off points at will in the first few minutes but they did manage a few of their own, the two goals in quick succession killed the game off as a competition.
Our lads continued where they left off against Portaferry with a high % of their shots resulting in scores but there was little pressure on the shooter for a lot of them.
All the same, we've been dire for most of the year and no one in Ballygalget of a sound mind saw us sitting top of the round robin in September but it will be for nought if we don't perform in the semi-final.

The Liatroim/Rossa experiment was an interesting one now that it is all said and done. Came the closest anybody has came in a long, long time, to upsetting the hierarchy of Down hurling and reaching a senior final. It will be interesting to see how Liatorim go from here on out. I'd say Ballygalget will have too much for them this year, but they have come on a long way from when Collie Murphy first took them over.

They are in a good position to build on going forward.

A few months ago I didn't expect Ballygalget would be sitting top of the group, but they've really impressed so far.

Ballycran and Portaferry will be interesting to see where the Ports really are at.

Must be the first year in a good where it's not going to be a Port/Cran final?

[Ye I am hearing that in the u16 Hurling championship the final is down for Sunday. It was postponed 2 weeks ago because Carryduff complained as one player from their u14s is involved and they had u14 football championship that weekend. Final now fixed for Sunday morning and county in their wisdom have made Castlewellan play u16 championship on Saturday with many involved in both. You couldn't make it up. There is a dual club 48 rule at adult level. Why not at juvenile. You couldn't make it up!]

Intermediate went much the way it was as expected to, albeit, a closer affair in both games than was expected.

Last years seniors relegation team went head to head with last years junior promotion team, and it went much the way anyone would expect. Wasn't as handy for the Newry men as some had predicted, but they were well worth their win. There are other games Kilclief will be targeting, and this game simply was not one of them, but there is positives to take from it all the same. Very little else to say really. Shamrocks will be happy to get the win, and onto the next one.

Clonduff almost had the shock of the weekend and got a goal to go ahead of the Point with a few minutes left, before the Point tapped in a late minute goal to come away with the win.

Both teams were far from full strength, and both missed plenty of chances, and will have a lot of work to do.

Clonduff will be backing themselves to give Shamrocks a scare based off current form, and Kilclief will be up for it against the Point. Ultimately though, it is hard to see past Shamrocks and Warrenpoint again, given both teams are at home.

There's not a lot more to be said for the intermediate teams. They just don't have the resources to be challenging in the senior championship at the minute. Hopefully some day the senior championship expands further and we have these teams getting exposure to playing the top teams more often.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to be interested in the interlace championship, given 2 of Bredagh/Carryduff/Liatroim/Ballycran will come down and  in all likelihood clean up, it is hard to get as invested as the junior or senior championships. Hopefully someone sorts that soon. The intermediate championship should be for intermediate clubs, not senior clubs who didn't win the senior championship.

One thing I think we need to point out is what bad form it was from the county board to arrange for Clonduff to play both hurling and football on the same day. That's not fair on anybody, and was always going to leave the hurlers in a bad position.  Players shouldn't be forced to choose between one or the other, and nor should spectators. Football is king in Clonduff, and that's okay, but it seems very unfair to fix a hurling game at home on a Sunday afternoon, and at the same time, most of the parish is down the road in Mayobridge watching the footballers against Glenn.

Hopefully we have more cooperation between hurling and football for our clubs and players in the future. Both a great games, no one should be having to pick between them.

Ye I am hearing that in the u16 Hurling championship the final is down for Sunday. It was postponed 2 weeks ago because Carryduff complained as one player from their u14s is involved and they had u14 football championship that weekend. Final now fixed for Sunday morning and county in their wisdom have made Castlewellan play u16 championship on Saturday with many involved in both. You couldn't make it up. There is a dual club 48 rule at adult level. Why not at juvenile. You couldn't make it up!

didn't prevent Castlewellan prevailing on Sunday so well done to them.

I know they've a few Liatroim lads in their ranks but they need to get as many to commit to minor next year and take it from there. Some really good hurlers in that team.

Underage championships all outside the Ards again for the third or fourth year on the bounce.

Minor - Bredagh
U16   - Castlewellan
U14   - Liatroim


As for your comment on linesmen wanting to overturn referees decisions I've seen it a few times by the same gentleman who when he's refereeing certainly wouldn't stand for it..
He must think he's in the Premier league.

It takes all sorts as they say JC...

Is it that many years since an underage championship has gone to the Ards? Do you think everyone else is starting to catch up, or are the Ards sides coming back to the pack? I think it is obviously a mix of both, but you know what I mean.

Castlewellan will be an interesting club to watch for the next couple years to see if they can make the breakthrough.

Ballela made great progress in trying to secure a spot in the Junior Hurling Final. That isnt to say that they're home safe and dry, but it is the best position to be in out of any of the teams in the competition.

It was a bit of a shock to some that Ballela beat Castlewellan, given Castlewellan's form as of late, but Ballela are a cute team and made Castlewellan play their game, and it worked.

Castlewellan will be dissapointed with this, but they are still very much in the hunt for the championship , and I imagine they will have learnt from last year and will carry those lessons into the next round.

East Belfast sent out a statement with a 20 point thumping of Ballyvarley. Not sure if there was extra motivation given the multiple bomb hoaxes over the course of the week into the build up of the match, or did something go wrong with Ballyvarley on the day, but a 20 point margin is a serious result.

Rumours of East Belfast demise after the first round have been greatly exaggerated, and they won't fear Ballela tomorrow.

Despite the hammering, and being winless so far in the championship, I think I'm right in saying Ballyvarley can still qualify for the final if they beat Castlewellan by a big enough margin, and their old rivals, Ballela, give East Belfast a similar beating.

Castlewellan will be more careful though than they were this time last year, and I would expect them to come away with the win tomorrow. Ballyvarley might have needed that wake up call in Henry Jones, but it will require a serious turnaround in form to make it to the final.

I would expect Ballela to beat East Belfast and top the group tomorrow. Not a certainty by any means, and East Belfast won't fear them, especially after the score they put out in the last round, but Ballela will know to play to their strengths and have a couple quality players I'm not sure East Belfast will be able to handle.

If my maths is correct, if the results go the right way with the right margins, any team can still reach the final, so it is all still to play for, and should be an interesting final weekend given there are no dead rubbers.


Intermediate semi finals are the exact same as last year's, and it is difficult looking past a repeat of last years final.

Warrenpoint and Shamrocks are probably still a wee bit off Carryduff and Bredagh but each team performed well to get here.

Shamrocks put on good displays against Kilclief and Clonduff, proving their ability, and a young Warrenpoint side showed good character to survive a scare from Clonduff and to earn a win over Kilclief.

The game between the two was also good viewing.

CPN will probably feel like they could have had a win had they done a few things differently, but they are certainly closing the gap on their neighbours, and will be interesting to see how they get on in the future. There's a couple decent players on the Point squad who could perhaps be worth looking at for the Down team.

Shamrocks look to have recovered a wee bit from where they were last year, and seemed very comfortable in the Intermediate. They will be well fit for Carryduff, but the South Belfast side's experience of playing, and competing with, senior sides this year should see them over the line.

Warrenpoint would love to give Bredagh a rattle, particularly given how Bredagh seem to have taken a step backwards, going off their performances this year in the championship. Nonetheless, Bredagh have plenty of good players all over the pitch, and when push comes to shove, I'd expect them to pull away and be heading back to Belfast with a win.

Clonduff secured their Intermediate status for 2025 with what I believe was a first competitive win of the year for the Hilltown men. Had to grind out a win over Kilclief to do it, but they live to fight another day in the intermediate. Given the brutal year the club has gone through, it is impressive they managed to find a way to come out with with the win.

All things considered, Kilclief did well in their first year back in the intermediate, and gave everyone they came up against a good game. They'll fancy themselves to be back in 2026.

A couple good games in store this weekend, let's hope it's a good weekend of small ball action   

last round of the senior hurling championship this weekend with all to play for in the 3 and 4th spots.

All games are at 3.00pm this Sunday to avoid any skullduggery.

We've the top spot secured and Portaferry have second spot secured so the rest all have a shot at either the remaining two semi-final berths.

Ballycran would be favourites for the 3rd spot even if they lose to Liatroim but that could come down to score difference if Bredagh beat us. If we beat Bredagh and Liatroim beat Ballycran then Liatroim would go 3rd on head to heads and Ballycran going 4th with they'd probably prefer.

It's hard to see Carryduff get anything from their game with Portaferry but if we beat Bredagh and Ballycran beat Liatroim then it would be a three way tie for the 4th spot and that would come down to score differences..

Are you all still with me?

No one ever said that following the senior championship was going to be easy JC...

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I may have the wrong figure on population then, if it is around the 20k mark then surely there is an opportunity there. I know in the past an odd player from RGU have played for Ards teams, as they have no football teams to conflict with, so the Kilclief hurlers are probably all from their own area. As long as it doesn't hurt an existing club in the long term then like you say it would be great to have another club in the area.
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Either way, we can all see it's a big area to not be serviced by a hurling team.

Have heard of the odd Downpatrick fella heading across the water (like JC's mate  ), but we all know that the travel involved with that will never appeal to most people.

The only way to properly take advantage of the population is to have a local hurling team in the area.

Would be great to see (as long as it didn't damage another club, as you say- but I'd say it would be alright  )

Intermediate went much the way it was as expected to, albeit, a closer affair in both games than was expected.

Last years seniors relegation team went head to head with last years junior promotion team, and it went much the way anyone would expect. Wasn't as handy for the Newry men as some had predicted, but they were well worth their win. There are other games Kilclief will be targeting, and this game simply was not one of them, but there is positives to take from it all the same. Very little else to say really. Shamrocks will be happy to get the win, and onto the next one.

Clonduff almost had the shock of the weekend and got a goal to go ahead of the Point with a few minutes left, before the Point tapped in a late minute goal to come away with the win.

Both teams were far from full strength, and both missed plenty of chances, and will have a lot of work to do.

Clonduff will be backing themselves to give Shamrocks a scare based off current form, and Kilclief will be up for it against the Point. Ultimately though, it is hard to see past Shamrocks and Warrenpoint again, given both teams are at home.

There's not a lot more to be said for the intermediate teams. They just don't have the resources to be challenging in the senior championship at the minute. Hopefully some day the senior championship expands further and we have these teams getting exposure to playing the top teams more often.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to be interested in the interlace championship, given 2 of Bredagh/Carryduff/Liatroim/Ballycran will come down and  in all likelihood clean up, it is hard to get as invested as the junior or senior championships. Hopefully someone sorts that soon. The intermediate championship should be for intermediate clubs, not senior clubs who didn't win the senior championship.

One thing I think we need to point out is what bad form it was from the county board to arrange for Clonduff to play both hurling and football on the same day. That's not fair on anybody, and was always going to leave the hurlers in a bad position.  Players shouldn't be forced to choose between one or the other, and nor should spectators. Football is king in Clonduff, and that's okay, but it seems very unfair to fix a hurling game at home on a Sunday afternoon, and at the same time, most of the parish is down the road in Mayobridge watching the footballers against Glenn.

Hopefully we have more cooperation between hurling and football for our clubs and players in the future. Both a great games, no one should be having to pick between them.

The first round of the Junior Hurling Championship was enjoyable, and has given us some interesting scenarios going into the next round.

Ballyvarley v Ballela was good viewing. Ballyvarley will feel very hard done by over this one. Game was competitive, with both teams in it until the very end.

Ballea very solid from frees. Think they only missed one. Having  a player who can put the ball over from anywhere on the field is a massive asset. However, the fact they only scored 1-01 from play is concerning.

Some controversial decisions, and was unusual to see so much disagreement between a referee and his linesmen/umpires. Refereeing is a tough job, and I'm not one to say what calls were right and which were wrong, but general consensus is Ballela will not be awarded those sort of frees in the next round, or indeed, will get away with some challenges.

Both teams will be a handful for anybody they meet from here on out. Ballela aren't as swash-buckling as some teams, but they know how to get a job done, and can really pull it out of the bag when needs be. Ballyvarley are a young, hungry side, and will want to get another crack at Ballela, and will be out to make amends.

Interesting to see former Antrim hurler Domhnall Nugent with the Ballela men. On the team sheet as 'mentor.' Not really sure what that means, but I'm sure having someone from that level in the club will offer some benefits. Nugent has already played with St John's this year, but would be some craic next year to see him standing in midfield on green and gold. 


Castlewellan and East Belfast was a different game. East Belfast started well, but were blown away in the end. Castlewellan had a lot more in the tank in the second half (and look like they still have more in store). They were strong almost everywhere, and the areas they weren't, they protected well. They seem to have learnt a lot from last years' mistakes, fixed them, and will be hard to stop.

Castlewellan look very fit, and have a couple handy fellas in different positions across the pitch, and someone said they'd fancy them for the intermediate if they were in it. I don't know if they're that far yet, but they certainly seem to have their house in order.


East Belfast just seemed lost. They switched off and allowed Castlewellan to run through them far too easily and take goal chances. I don't think that match is a reflection of how good a team they actually are, and it could very well be the wake up call they needed. They seemed quite stand-offish, and the only plan was to lump the ball into the full forward line and hope for the best. They are a better team than that and I would expect there to be a higher intensity performance in the next round.



This weekend could be interesting.

Ballela v Castlewllan in a top of the table clash could throw up a surprise. Logic says that Castlewellan should be too strong for Ballela. But I don't think Castlewellan will ever get such a good day for hurling again as they did last week. Bright, dry, warm, at home. Things can change when it's a cold, wet day in Ballela, and Ballela drag you down to their level and force you to play their game. Castlewellan probably should come out on top, and there won't be the same types of frees for Ballela to utilise- but Castlewellan's full back line does not look as strong as Ballyvarley's and Ballela might be better from play.

Ballyvarley and East Belfast both find themselves in a must win situation. East Belfast scraped a draw last year, but won comfortably enough in the league this year.

Given there's been several bomb scares this week at Henry Jones, let's hope everybody is safe this weekend, and it sends a message to those behind it than hurling is not going away any time soon.

If both teams play like they did in the last round, Ballyvarley should win comfortably enough. However I doubt East Belfast will play the way they did the last day. I expect them to be far more competitive, and they'll not fear Ballyvarley after dealing with them in the league.

Ballyvarley don't have the same forwards that Castlewellan do, but they could still do damage to East Belfast up front if current form is anything to go by, but East Belfast will be out to keep their league/championship double hopes alive.

Sad news about Tom Daly, the Cork native who was residing in Warrenpoint who was Down Hurling Officer for a few years.

RIP Tom.


Terrible news. Gentleman. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Awful sad. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Bryansford hurled in the 1980's for a short while. Think they won a Special Junior Championship. Michael Hanley (RIP), a Tipperary native, was a hurling influence in the local primary schools in the Newcastle area throughout the 90's in relation to the small ball game but I don't think anything formal in terms of establishing it at club level ever happened.

Very interesting, never knew that.

Often times, it seems that it takes one very dedicated person to keep something going, and when they unfortunately pass away or move out of the area, there is no one to keep it going.

Encouraging hurling in schools is a great thing.

Hopefully some day hurling returns to Newcastle. Clann na Boirce were a successful club in the very, very early years of the Down Hurling Championship; would be great to see hurling at the foot of the Mournes again after all these years.

[11,500 population according to the latest census. If this includes the outskirts and surrounding areas, there are other clubs drawing from this population - Saul, Kilclief (who do hurl), Bright, Ardglass, maybe Teconnaught. So perhaps the option would be a new club solely for hurling, to eliminate the complications of players playing football and hurling for different clubs? Maybe the Kilclief club would object, or could they be persuaded to be a part of it? Worth exploring if the whole surrounding area and clubs can be somehow included, as opposed to just the RGU.]

 
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11,500 population according to the latest census. If this includes the outskirts and surrounding areas, there are other clubs drawing from this population - Saul, Kilclief (who do hurl), Bright, Ardglass, maybe Teconnaught. So perhaps the option would be a new club solely for hurling, to eliminate the complications of players playing football and hurling for different clubs? Maybe the Kilclief club would object, or could they be persuaded to be a part of it? Worth exploring if the whole surrounding area and clubs can be somehow included, as opposed to just the RGU.
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I had a look there, but Downpatrick has a population of 21,916, according to the Census on the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Angency website. The only figure I could find which said Downpatrick has a population of 11,500 is a Wikipedia article which says there is a population of 11,545 (which Wikipedia says is according to the Census, but the Census doesn't mention anything in line with this, and when I clicked on the reference, it took me to a custom table and not the Census figures that were published by the NISRA for 2021).

I'm not sure whether or not this includes areas such as Kilclief and Ardglass etc.

Either way, it is clearly a large population without an outlet for hurling (or with only one outlet if we include Kilclief).

I think you're spot on, a great solution would be to establish a hurling club in the town.

Having dual clubs is great, but there's no point in pretending that some people will never be convinced to join their rival club. Which is understandable.

I think this is partly why clubs like Sean Tracey's, Craobh Rua, Na Magha, etc., are succesful. Sean Tracey's, for example, has players from Clann Eireann, Clan na Gael, and St Peter's, but it is no great stretch to assume if the club had simply come about as say, a Clann Eireann hurling side, they potentially would not have  the same players down to club rivalries.

I think the Clann Mhúrn innovative between the clubs in the Mournes is a great example of how this could be done, and hopefully it works out. 5 rival football clubs, but all feed one hurling club, which removes any complications of say, someone playing football for Ballymartin, but hurling for An Riocht.

I'm not sure how many players Kilclief actually have from Downpatrick, but I would like to think they wouldn't object to the creation of a hurling club in the town. Personally, if such a venture was done, I'd like to see Kilclief remain separate, as the more clubs the better, and it would be a pity to undo the hurling tradition in the area.

You're absolutely right though, it's an idea which is definitely worth exploring. It's an area with a lot of potential for hurling development, and it's a pity that our county town doesn't have an outlet to play our national game.
 

I know everybody is probably more intrigued with the other games happening this weekend, but is there any chance of Ballycastle springing an upset on Loughgiel?

Given the nature of the 3 team group, will Loughgiel hold back for later in the Championship, with Ballycastle going all out to try and ensure they don't finish bottom.

Know it's unlikely, but is it worth discussing?

Liatriom where impressive on Sunday considering they had 2r3 key players sidelined. You have to remember they were playing a really impressive and strong Portaferry so I think the management team will be happy enough. I expect they will beat Bredagh this weekend.
The Ards teams playing Down D1 are not really a reserve team - pretty much the first team minus county players which can be a 3rd of the team - that's my experience anyway
Great post Splash - 1 update is a new Mourne Hurling club set up last year starting at primary school ages. Also good to see Saul do the same.
Great point about about St Kevins plus some other clubs with large memberships numbers already offering Camogie e.g. Mayobridge, Kilkoo, Ballyholland etc

Thanks lad, appreciate it.

The Mourne Club is a great idea and I'm glad to see they're going well. Woudont know as much about Saul but hear it's going well still.

Someone said would St Kevin's players not play for Castlewellen? I'm not sure, but I know a couple lads from the area playing for different clubs (none Castlewellan), and the majority seem to be Carryduff.