Antrim Hurling

[optimus cheese]

So the Ulster SHC final is off again. Ulster Council are less than useless

[theskull1]

JA Gribben was the best referee, eh Skull??

On the lavey thing, the best hurler they had was big Ollie Collins, Seamus was a better hurler than Henry and the McGurks were good hurlers too, but were more interested in winding up their opponents which led to johnny McGurk getting a dig in the mouth from Spike Baille when we played them once down in an Ulster semi-final in Lavey, ah those were the days.

John Anthony and Ger Devlin ... the best referees in their respective counties for more years than I care to remember

Lavey were a tough outfit. Plenty of top hurlers although never 15 of them. Tactically very astute but as JC said, were too interested in sledging to help get them over the line. Some of them had no shame when the ball was thrown in..all part of the game in their book...not everyone would agree

[Tony Baloney]

So the Ulster SHC final is off again. Ulster Council are less than useless

To be played in 2014 apparently  Couldn't make it up.

[Minder]

That is a complete disgrace. They really don't give one single fcuk about hurling and are not shy about letting the world know it.

Embarrassing.

Ah sure the Ulster Council have loads of "tireless" workers working away for them. It will probably be a curtain raiser to a minor football game.

[Tony Baloney]

The same boys will have got tickets for all the big matches in Croker and black-tie events pressing the flesh of the great and the good from the hurling community in the south and talking balls about how the are supporting the small ball in the north. Load of shite.

[cfclg]

The Ulster hurling cship is in danger of dying off if it keeps going in current format. I know this would be a nightmare for the fixture men but I would propose that it is played off before the Leinster cship and the winners of the Ulster cship play in the Leinster. That would give it back a bit of credibility and something worth playing for.

[johnneycool]

The ring and rackard trophies are played off almost directly after the national leagues are over, so there's no space there for the Ulster championship.

It's as meaningless as the Mckenna cup now.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Time for Antrim down and Derry to forget about the ulster championship.
Let the other 6 counties compete for it?

[btdtgtt]

The same boys will have got tickets for all the big matches in Croker and black-tie events pressing the flesh of the great and the good from the hurling community in the south and talking balls about how the are supporting the small ball in the north. Load of shite.

For them boys - that exactly what hurling is all about.
Shameless mercenaries making a livelihood and profiling themselves out of our games.

[btdtgtt]

Time for Antrim down and Derry to forget about the ulster championship.
Let the other 6 counties compete for it?

I think this time came long ago.
Remember the shambles surrounding NY refusing to travel also.
Its pathetic. And Ulster Council are happy to see it die - unless they want to have dinner or get votes from a hurling officianado from the South.

[johnneycool]

The same boys will have got tickets for all the big matches in Croker and black-tie events pressing the flesh of the great and the good from the hurling community in the south and talking balls about how the are supporting the small ball in the north. Load of shite.

For them boys - that exactly what hurling is all about.
Shameless mercenaries making a livelihood and profiling themselves out of our games.

Sure they'll promote the small ball, but once there's a conflict with the big ball then you know where the priorities lie.

Once the initial date was moved this was always going to be a mess, but why was the date in November then scrapped altogether?

As for the Ulster championship it has its place, possibly without Antrim who're still a good bit stronger than Down, Derry or Armagh.
What benefit is it to Antrim hurling, straight into a final and more often than not, a 10 plus point victory.

[Milltown Row2]

Time for Antrim down and Derry to forget about the ulster championship.
Let the other 6 counties compete for it?

Yeah that be a better idea, for more competitive if we had Carlow Laois  Westmeath Offaly Wexford, though they would think different, Scrap the provincial finals and have a seeded competition  based on the league positions, they play off with a chance to meet the seeded teams in the quarter finals.

While this year was great in terms of hurling I believe this would be great to

[btdtgtt]

I agree it would be great MR2 but it goes back to a point I made earlier.

There's no chance of the big teams doing away with the Munster championship!

Their loyalty is to themselves and developing lesser counties is not their concern - they're doing just fine as it is!

Such a scenario would have to be forced by Croke Park - and the will just isn't there.

We've got to help ourselves and not look round us.
After all - the powers that be have not only let us into Leinster, but re-structured it, to help counties like us.
Can we really complain looking for too much more?
Less begging bowl looking for every other county to change things to suit us - do something ourselves.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

The open draw possibly is a good idea but there's no way Munster would forgo their final. It has to much history and tradition for them to scrap it.

As said before they have restructured the Leinster to suit ourselves and it's up to antrim to either push forward or bitch and moan that no one cares about us.

I would let tr ulster championship go ahead without Antrim and down. Derry hurling could do with an improvement and competing in it along with the rest of ulster and maybe London as well would be a good competition. Also make sure that all the minor and U21 compete at each grade. If the ulster council is serious about promoting the game then they need to do something instead of foaming at the mouth over football each season.

[btdtgtt]

The open draw possibly is a good idea but there's no way Munster would forgo their final. It has to much history and tradition for them to scrap it.

As said before they have restructured the Leinster to suit ourselves and it's up to antrim to either push forward or bitch and moan that no one cares about us.

I would let tr ulster championship go ahead without Antrim and down. Derry hurling could do with an improvement and competing in it along with the rest of ulster and maybe London as well would be a good competition. Also make sure that all the minor and U21 compete at each grade. If the ulster council is serious about promoting the game then they need to do something instead of foaming at the mouth over football each season.

+1
They prolong the Ulster football championship by refusing to play two rounds in the same weekend - but cant fit a single date for the hurling final.
Says it all.
Forget about Ulster council and do our own thing - and again quit this crying for help by expecting everyone to change to suit us. We're irrelevant in the big picture until we sort it out ourselves.