Christy Ring 09

[shark]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

[highking]

There are six adult hurling clubs in Mayo. Only four clubs were represented on the team against Westmeath. There is just Senior league and senior championship (10 games per year). There is no junior in Mayo. Even still, our county board struggle to get the competitions finished. I dont know what would happen if another club came along. About 7 players on the Mayo hurling team also play football.

[johnneycool]

As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

Would you also be suitably delighted if the footballers fall at the first hurdle in Leinster and subsequently the backdoor route?

[shark]

As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

Would you also be suitably delighted if the footballers fall at the first hurdle in Leinster and subsequently the backdoor route?

Ok, I phrased that incorrectly.  I'm delighted that the Christy Ring is finishing up considerably earlier than previous years.  Even if Westmeath has gone on to win it this year, it would have been over far earlier than previous years, with less games involved. 
I have no real preference for football over hurling or visa versa.
I do like to see my county doing well, but in saying that I am disillusioned with the way the club game has been shunted in recent years.  Last summer a round of SFC games was called off with 5 days notice at the behest of the county football management.
Adding games to the Christy Ring, as was suggested above, will only make matters worse.
Despite what Dessie Farrell might have us believe, inter-county players are not the only ones who make sacrifices, and at least they know when their inter-county matches are going to be played. 
I would like to see Westmeath do well in both codes, but I don't lose any sleep if they are beaten, because at least I then know I can start playing regular championship games myself.

[Gnevin]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

What sort of CB can't organise competitions for 15 clubs and factor in the CRC ?

[shark]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

What sort of CB can't organise competitions for 15 clubs and factor in the CRC ?

Well judging by the amount of county finals finishing in November, quite a few have trouble looking after their club championships. Off the top of my head, Wexford, Waterford and Kerry had their football finals extremely late.  
In your own county Boden were beaten by Vincents in the first round of the SFC, and now must wait until August to play their first backdoor match.  It's like starting a new season all over again.
I'm not trying to single out the Christy Ring.  There was a round of football qualifiers abolished to help free up space for club fixtures, but that only lasted 1 year.

What i'm trying to say is, it's all well and good trying to expand these inter-county competitions, but time must be allotted to play club championships.  And that time must be from April - October.

[neilthemac]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

I'm sure the hurlers down there don't like when the footballers go on a run in Leinster? some games just have to be played midweek. Wasn't there a break between the league and CR starting? why couldn't a round of senior games be played off in those few weeks

[Cosmo Kramer]

This weekends fixtures (from gaa.ie):

GAA Christy Ring Cup

Sat 23rd May

Quarter Final: Kildare V Mayo
venue:Kiltoom, time:3 30 pm, (Ref:TBC)
In the event of a draw at the end of normal time, extra time will be played

Quarter Final: Kerry V Derry
venue:Tullamore, time:3 30 pm, (Ref:TBC)
In the event of a draw at the end of normal time, extra time will be played

Phase 1: Promotion/Relegation: Wicklow V Westmeath
venue:Clane, time:3 30 pm, (Ref:TBC)
In the event of a draw at the end of normal time, extra time will be played

And then...

Sat 6th June

Semi Final: Carlow V TBC
venue:TBC, time:TBC, (Ref:TBC)

Semi Final: Down V TBC
venue:TBC, time:TBC, (Ref:TBC)

Id say the two quarter finals would be fairly tight. Kildare and Mayo both had good wins over Westmeath, Kerry and Derry both had narrow enough defeats against Down.

[Gnevin]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

What sort of CB can't organise competitions for 15 clubs and factor in the CRC ?

Well judging by the amount of county finals finishing in November, quite a few have trouble looking after their club championships. Off the top of my head, Wexford, Waterford and Kerry had their football finals extremely late.  
In your own county Boden were beaten by Vincents in the first round of the SFC, and now must wait until August to play their first backdoor match.  It's like starting a new season all over again.
I'm not trying to single out the Christy Ring.  There was a round of football qualifiers abolished to help free up space for club fixtures, but that only lasted 1 year.

What i'm trying to say is, it's all well and good trying to expand these inter-county competitions, but time must be allotted to play club championships.  And that time must be from April - October.

I know it's a country wide problem but the larger counties make more effort I suppose because they just have too .  I don't know why in some counties come May no club games happen until September .

[johnneycool]

the group stages were impeeding club games in all the counties. they already get round robin games in the league

however, this knockout format is not be the best either. in reality the CR winners should be allowed a shot at the McCarthy cup in the same year - allow them in at qrt final stage or in qualifiers.

Why can't county boards organise their club games during the summer?  Seems like a very weak excuse too me .

How many hurling clubs would Mayo, Westmeath etc have?

There are 15 hurling clubs in Westmeath.  It's not just hurling that is affected though.
In the Westmeath senior football championship Killucan, Mullingar Shamrocks, St.Malachy's and The Downs all have players on the county hurling panel, so football gets held up too.  And on the flip side Raharney, St.Oliver Plunketts, Clonkill and Castletown all have hurlers on the county football panel.  This is before even looking at the intermediate and junior championships. 
The club championship gets disturbed badly enough when the county footballers go on a solid run, without Christy Ring being thrown into the equation.  There is a round of club football championship this coming weekend.  Due to the Christy Ring, Killucan v Shamrocks is on Monday evening, which is bad enough at the best of times, but during college exams is just unfair.
As a duel club player, I am delighted to see the Christy Ring finishing up for my county this weekend.

I'm sure the hurlers down there don't like when the footballers go on a run in Leinster? some games just have to be played midweek. Wasn't there a break between the league and CR starting? why couldn't a round of senior games be played off in those few weeks

How many county managers will want any of their players to participate in a round of club championship games the week leading up to a big game irrespective of code?
It may be more likely to squeeze in club games the week after a big game but then the clubs would be crying about lack of preparation time etc etc and in the middle are the players getting fucked around, intercounty lads getting too much and club hurlers not getting enough.

[Rossfan]

From 1st Weekend in April till last Weekend in October there are at least 30 weekends.
It's long past time the GAA was able to reserve some weekends specifically for Club competitions,some for Inter Co Football and some for inter Co hurling to enable the Inter Co and the Club Championships to run in a  logical structure over the best months of the year.
As for Co team managers being put out......sorting out the whole GAA fixture mess has to get priority over their selfish concerns.

[Tatler Jack]

In fairness to the much maligned Cork CB there were a round of c'ship matches last weekend in hurling and football even though the senior footballers are playing this coming weekend and the hurlers the week after. It just is not possible to postpone club games indefinitely to faciltate county teams and counties all over the country should face uo to this. If they dont they will continue to loose good club players and standards at club level will continue to fall.

[corcaioch]

I think Mayo could be darkhorses at this stage. It might be a year too soon for them, but I wouldn't write them off.

[slow corner back]

Wise man not to write them off Corcaigh they saw off Kildare today by 1-16 to 1-10 also today Kerry beat Derry 4-21 to 2-12. Very convincing from the kingdom. Not sure who plays who in the semis

[FermPundit]

Wise man not to write them off Corcaigh they saw off Kildare today by 1-16 to 1-10 also today Kerry beat Derry 4-21 to 2-12. Very convincing from the kingdom. Not sure who plays who in the semis

John Dooley scored all four of Kerry's goals and Shane Brick scored 15 points. Two very talented hurlers. It looks like the Derry defence couldn't handle the pair of them.