Structures

[Butch Cassidy]

What's people's thoughts on the Leinster championship? It's sad that losing to Offaly can be counted as a blessing buy when you see the 'reward' for winning its hard not to be a small way relieved.

Nothing will top the feeling of winning the  Leinster in 03 but think Leinster championship as it is now is a waste of time. Maybe moving it to the start of the year and replacing the O Byrne cup is the way forward.

[Chrimtain]

I think you are right. Its now an entirely devalued competition so let it take the place of the O'Byrne Cup at the start of the season.

[From the Terrace]

Croke park don't seem to want to do anything with our provincial football setup. Leinster & Munster are not competitive, Connacht is mildly competitive, Ulster is a good championship.

Option leave Connacht & Ulster alone. Mix Leinster & Munster Top 8 in one division - bottom 10 in division two type championship both knockout competitions.
 
Hurling is different for me, i like both championships & would like to see 2 rest weeks instead of 1 atm.

[High Fielder]

Munster isn't much better. Connacht marginally better than that and Ulster the most competitive but depressing to watch. The bigger question is what does the GAA want for counties like Laois and many like us. All suggestions I have seen throw us in with Leitrim and Wicklow and we play each other until we're blue in the face and eventually, somehow, you go up a level, maybe two. Nobody really cares.

We just can't compete. Forget all the scribes and wafflers who tell us to get our house in order. It just can't be done. They know it can't be done either, but they're happy with the status quo. Personally I think it's rubbish, and by the looks of things so do many other people. They can do what they like with it. Re jig, play in September, replace this with that, whatever. In reality, gaelic games will always be dominated by the same counties and that's just that

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Can anyone work out how Dublin are as good as they are? The template is there so why aren't other leinster counties copying it and competing with them?
My thoughts on it is that it's mostly down to an almost endless supply of money and a very good County board. The obscene amount of money they were granted by the GAA was used very wisely and they are still reaping the rewards of that investment, money is rolling in from sponsorship and things are only getting better for them. So what do other counties do or is it a lost cause.
Thoughts please.....

[The PRO]

Can anyone work out how Dublin are as good as they are? The template is there so why aren't other leinster counties copying it and competing with them?
My thoughts on it is that it's mostly down to an almost endless supply of money and a very good County board. The obscene amount of money they were granted by the GAA was used very wisely and they are still reaping the rewards of that investment, money is rolling in from sponsorship and things are only getting better for them. So what do other counties do or is it a lost cause.
Thoughts please.....

I'll play devil's advocate!
I think Dublin have hit on an exceptional seam of footballers.
Yeah, the money and good administration helped but I would say they've had a couple of superb managers and a generational group of players.
Their minor and under 20 record isn't all that and they've never really pushed on to the next level in hurling so I think at some point, they will come back to the field.

[From the Bunker]

Can anyone work out how Dublin are as good as they are? The template is there so why aren't other leinster counties copying it and competing with them?
My thoughts on it is that it's mostly down to an almost endless supply of money and a very good County board. The obscene amount of money they were granted by the GAA was used very wisely and they are still reaping the rewards of that investment, money is rolling in from sponsorship and things are only getting better for them. So what do other counties do or is it a lost cause.
Thoughts please.....

I have entered a token amount of links below. You look at these Dublin clubs, you look at the facilities, you look at the numbers, you look at the money involved, you look at their professional coaches.

All doing great work - but, you can't help but see the advantages.

Bring that onto the next level - Intercounty, and you see how high the bar to be reached is. Home games ALL the time added to this. It's a complete farce. The gas thing is that the Gaelic fraternity are in complete denial or just don't want to deal with this.

[Ogie]

Think this is the best place to Post this

Have been thinking about Clare since Sunday

A relatively split Dual County

As of 2023 Census
Laois Population 91,657
Clare Population 127,938, so yes an extra 36k people, not huge on the grand scale

Has the All Ireland wins of 95 and 97, 2013 embedded such a hurling culture to drive underage success /standards, Obviously any Senior Success huge for any County's development but must be driven and organised too.

What structures are in place in relation to Hurling Boards & Competitions,

Club Clare / Laois Gaels Comparisons

Underage Structures , Academies, Competitions

Secondary Schools hurling, again huge culture of it in Clare,

There is nothing near a comparable competitive infrastructure in place or supports to drive hurling here,
Could we try to at least to imitate best practices in relation to all of the above by taking the best ideas, for hurling (& football),

Or without the initial success have we not the interest or enough of people willing to do so,

This is not a post designed to slag off anyone, just genuinely interested in the detail of how its done in Clare and what could we do to better ourselves here

[on the hop]

Think this is the best place to Post this

Have been thinking about Clare since Sunday

A relatively split Dual County

As of 2023 Census
Laois Population 91,657
Clare Population 127,938, so yes an extra 36k people, not huge on the grand scale

Has the All Ireland wins of 95 and 97, 2013 embedded such a hurling culture to drive underage success /standards, Obviously any Senior Success huge for any County's development but must be driven and organised too.

What structures are in place in relation to Hurling Boards & Competitions,

Club Clare / Laois Gaels Comparisons

Underage Structures , Academies, Competitions

Secondary Schools hurling, again huge culture of it in Clare,

There is nothing near a comparable competitive infrastructure in place or supports to drive hurling here,
Could we try to at least to imitate best practices in relation to all of the above by taking the best ideas, for hurling (& football),

Or without the initial success have we not the interest or enough of people willing to do so,

This is not a post designed to slag off anyone, just genuinely interested in the detail of how its done in Clare and what could we do to better ourselves here

the secondary schools but definitely the amount of players who play fitzgibbon at a high level has helped them

[Laois Rising]

You cannot just compare population but compare the playing population. Clare has 26 hurling clubs with about 15 of them on a par or stronger than our top 4 clubs. That's a huge difference when it comes to a county set up. We have   probably a third of the pick of hurlers that Clare has available to them. Our intermediate championship is bulked up by second teams so they aren't adding any potential players that could be brought into an intercounty panel. To say that Clare has only 30,000 more in population is too simplistic. Portlaoise has a population of 20,000 plus and of that how many from the town are hurling? The heartland of Laois GAA is predominantly football whereas it is the reversal in Clare.   

[clonadmad]

You cannot just compare population but compare the playing population. Clare has 26 hurling clubs with about 15 of them on a par or stronger than our top 4 clubs. That's a huge difference when it comes to a county set up. We have   probably a third of the pick of hurlers that Clare has available to them. Our intermediate championship is bulked up by second teams so they aren't adding any potential players that could be brought into an intercounty panel. To say that Clare has only 30,000 more in population is too simplistic. Portlaoise has a population of 20,000 plus and of that how many from the town are hurling? The heartland of Laois GAA is predominantly football whereas it is the reversal in Clare.   

Going on the 2022 numbers of total registered players

Clare had 3 x and close to 4 x the numbers of Hurlers Laois had and close to 3 x the number of Footballers

If the populations of Clare and Laois were similar,there would still be a much greater number of Clare players as the participation rate for Gaelic Games is much higher in Clare than what it is,in Laois

The 5 counties with the largest number of registered hurlers were

Cork
Tipp
Dublin
Galway
Kilkenny

[burdizzo]

Yeah, but Laois have more adult hurling teams than Offaly and Carlow, and can barely keep up with them. If it was just numbers Dublin would have a few all-Irelands by now, too.

[clonadmad]

Yeah, but Laois have more adult hurling teams than Offaly and Carlow, and can barely keep up with them. If it was just numbers Dublin would have a few all-Irelands by now, too.

The top 8 counties by registered hurling players in 2022

Cork
Tipp

Dublin
Galway

Kilkenny
Limerick

Clare
Wexford

Well done on taking the one outlier (Dublin) and running with it to make your case

The reality is you need a large playing base to have any chance of winning an All Ireland

But you also need a hurling culture,knowledge and tradition which Offaly has,of winning All Irelands in a purple patch during the 80's and 90's which might never come around again

You also need 2/3/4 of your second level schools hurling at A and/or Harty Cup level

[burdizzo]

Plus, these days, quite a lot of money.