Combined Ulster Hurling Team

[doolittle]

Alternative Ulster

Ulster hurling. Even the sound of it feels like hard work, let alone trying to promote it.

Call to mind a sports scene far more familiar to make the point that it does not have to be this way. Last November 82,000 people in Croke
Park witnessed Ireland defeating South Africa. Now ask yourself: do you really think Ireland would have beaten the world champions in the professional era if the ERC had blocked provinces competing in the Heineken Cup?

That it could have happened if the clubs of Munster, instead of pooling their talents, were still independent little republics operating in
the All-Ireland League? With Ronan O'Gara's Cork Constitution being routinely hammered in the Heineken Cup by everyone other than Treviso, the inevitable consequence of so small a base operating against superclubs such as Wasps and Toulouse? If the furthest and highest Marcus Horan could go at club level was to move into Limerick and play with Shannon?

Of course not. If all this talent was diluted would be crushed by the sport's traditional powers – a bit like Antrim and Down and Derry
are in hurling.

Not long ago, RTÉ's Sunday Sport devoted nearly 20 minutes of primetime television to this very subject. The same clichés were trotted out: 'start with the kids', 'get the coaches into them', 'it's going to take hard work and it's going to take time'. About the most imaginative it got was the idea of Antrim playing in the Leinster Minor Championship.
Michael Duignan felt there was some hope for Derry, Down and perhaps Armagh but none for the others. "They're wasting their time in a
lot of the football counties," he said. "Forget about it: it's not going to happen." Never, in the course of those 20 minutes, was Team Ulster mooted. It is by time the GAA faced up to one of its hidden realities: the county system may have served football very well but it has essentially failed hurling. Whereas hurling has remained a two-province sport, the domain of ten to 12 counties, the decade just past saw 18 different counties contest an All-Ireland Senior football
quarter-final. 26 experienced the hype and buzz that went with a Senior provincial final.

In fact only three counties – Carlow, Kilkenny ...

Kieran Shannon makes the case for a combined Ulster hurling team in the latest edition of Sliotar Magazine, John McIlwaine also analyses the performance of the Ulster Counties in the NHL and previews the Championship from an northern perspective.

Sliotar Magazine is FREE, simply sign up at http://www.sliotarmagazine.com

[awfulynice]

Its hard to know if this idea would work or not, but I think its an idea that should at least be tried for perhaps one or two league seasons before being dismissed or implemented, You have Antrim & Down in Division 2 & Derry & Armagh in Division 3A, you would imagine that the combination of these 4 teams should come close to competing a division 2 final?

But Would this do a lot to promote the game in these 4 counties?

If Dublin is anything to go by there would be an explosion in terms of underage numbers choosing hurling rather than football. "Success breads success" never a truer word was said

Would the 4 counties actually want this setup? there would also be difficulties with training etc with some large distances between some of those counties?

If the 4 counties really want to grow hurling in the Ulster province they should opt for this, continuing as they are now is probably not an option anymore if they really want to put ulster hurling on the map

[johnneycool]

Would this 'team Ulster' enter the Leinster championship instead of Antrim? Antrim wouldn't vote for it if it was though even if they are still competing in the Ulster championship!!


Would the Ulster council fund an external coach (not JP McManus style though) to control the team?


It might work to an extent, but each county would also want to maintain their own identity, via some form of meaningful championship in an already log jammed intercounty fixture list and squeezing out club hurling to even more dubious backwaters.

[imtommygunn]

Like johnney says logistically it would be tough to manage but I would definitely see some merits.

If you had Magic Johnston, Paul Braniff, Neil McManus, Aaron Graffin, Liam Hinphey, Declan Coulter etc on one team then you would like to think the ulster teams would compete a lot better.

At the minute in the top end of the championship ulster ain't competing and every team is about christy ring standard.

I wouldn't see Antrim, on current form, having any chance against Offaly.

[awfulynice]

Would it be an idea to restart the ulster championship early in the year, i.e end of april between league and championship, as there will most likely be only 4 teams competing, it would only consist of two games, but at least would allow the 4 counties to maintain their own identity whilst giving the "All Ulster" managers 4 games to look at their squads without having to travel to 100 club games!!

I know that there is a huge schedule but i think a gap of 2-4 weeks can be found in the championship season for this.

I think "Team Ulster" would probably have to enter the Leinster Championship, I think they could definately be competitive against the likes of Laois, Carlow, Offaly, Dublin & Wexford providing the whole project was taken seriously and given enough backing at national and local level. It would be great to see another team competitive, and perhaps this may work in connaught with the rest of that province or is there any appetite for hurling in Mayo, Sligo & Roscommon??

[the colonel]

Not a bad idea in principle. But in reality I can't see it ever happening in a million years