Antrim Hurling

[podge]

After the county meeting tonight Ballinascreen and Eoghan Rua have been parachuted into Div.3 at the expense of Rasharkin and Bredagh. Why is it that anything goes in the hurling league structures year after year. Why can't we vote to leave well alone for a few seasons. This constant tinkering is or has achieved what exactly? It's not immediately clear to me.

You cannot be serious?  So are Rasharkin and Bredagh in Div 4?  if so that is totally unacceptable. 

[jdyok]

It means two more teams in Div3; more games,no-one relegated to Div4!!!

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

that shouldnt be allowed, wont be suprised if rasharkin and bredagh kick up,, if balinscreen and dungannon want in leagues they should play rasharkin/bredagh in a match and that should decide it

Surely it makes for more games at a high standard, if you know much about Ulster hurling you will know that whatever way you look at it Dungannon and Screen are at least Div 3 standard and maybe  slightly ahead of the other clubs you mentioned in their development. Played all these clubs, with good hurling people in each who I would expect just want to get on with playing games.

[Mourne man]

Does anyone have a list of the teams in each division now? And an idea of when the fixtures are being released?

[johnneycool]

that shouldnt be allowed, wont be suprised if rasharkin and bredagh kick up,, if balinscreen and dungannon want in leagues they should play rasharkin/bredagh in a match and that should decide it

Surely it makes for more games at a high standard, if you know much about Ulster hurling you will know that whatever way you look at it Dungannon and Screen are at least Div 3 standard and maybe  slightly ahead of the other clubs you mentioned in their development. Played all these clubs, with good hurling people in each who I would expect just want to get on with playing games.

How are you surmising that Screen and Dungannon are stronger than Rasharkin and Bredagh?

I always thought you have to join into Div4 just like Bredagh and Ballyvarley?

[ardtole]

If Slaughtneil were to join the Antrim league, what division would they join?

[cfclg]

Essentially Antrim hurling leagues are now becoming an Ulster league for the elite!

Should we encourage this?

Perhaps Burt from Donegal and few others that want to take the game seriously will be putting their hat in the ring next year?

If it wasn't for the amount of travelling I would welcome this idea.

Changing times

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

I have a rant to get off my chest:

See all these people on social media congratulating Coleraine hurlers on their victory in the All Ireland JUNIOR hurling semi. CATCH YOURSELVES ON!

Coleraine were beaten at the quarter final stage of the Derry SENIOR hurling championship by Swatragh in July. Instead of taking their beating like the majority of us and putting the feet up for the winter they decided to use an obvious loophole in the provincial council's rule book and play in an All Ireland JUNIOR competition.

No other provincial council would allow this to happen but I place most of the blame with the club themselves. Its a total disgrace and any victory here will be a shallow one IMO.

End of rant.

total disgrace from our club? at what juncture have we been a proven SENIOR panel? Ourselves and Na Magha made the decision to agree to enter the Derry senior championship. Not on the basis of being too strong for jnr/intermediate but purely down to the fact that we weren't getting too far forming a 2 team 2nd tier.

You are right we took a heavy beating from Swatragh at senior level in exchange for rounding the derry hurling championship out as an 8 team single tier championship. We have played a grand total of TWO senior level teams in championship ever and have lost both. Creggan beat us 2 years ago in the Ulster juniors when we had essentially the same panel. Is this the form of a senior hurling team? Or a junior team? We got well beat in the Ulster intermediate last year by Rossa. We must have forgot we were a bona fide senior team out for a jolly then as well.

Bearing in mind that the county board have alternated ourselves and Na Magha as Derrys junior and intermediate representatives for several years now, and that it was Na Maghas turn to compete at intermediate, what would you have us do for Ulster championship available to us this season, not field? You would do wonders for hurling in our club. Blame the structures that had ourselves and Na Magha switching maybe but why would we not take the competitive route open to us and advance hurling in the club?

Your not a junior hurling club, thats what the poster is trying to say. It is unfair that you get into an ulster competition and not have to win anything for it. The antrim junior champions have to win a championship to get there and thats what prob doesn't sit well with the poster

Its not coleraines fault, its the lack of hurling promotion within derry is the bother. The clubs are not interested in pushing the game enough. Sneill, Lavey, Swatragh all do their part as a dual club and promote both games. Dungiven are a different story as they are two separate clubs so i dont count them in the same vein as the previous clubs.

IMO you should of stayed at intermediate, i seen you last year in the ulster championship and its the level you should compete at.

I'll be for the final and will be supporting you but most def as a club you should be competing at intermediate standard.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

If Slaughtneil were to join the Antrim league, what division would they join?

If it were to happen based on standard it would be Div1. They are a quality side and would be far too strong for the leagues below it.

I wouldnt see them get into the top league as straight away though if it were to happen, you have to earn the right to stay in the top league over the course of a season and with an 8 team league its going to be extremely competitive

[whiskeysteve]

I have a rant to get off my chest:

See all these people on social media congratulating Coleraine hurlers on their victory in the All Ireland JUNIOR hurling semi. CATCH YOURSELVES ON!

Coleraine were beaten at the quarter final stage of the Derry SENIOR hurling championship by Swatragh in July. Instead of taking their beating like the majority of us and putting the feet up for the winter they decided to use an obvious loophole in the provincial council's rule book and play in an All Ireland JUNIOR competition.

No other provincial council would allow this to happen but I place most of the blame with the club themselves. Its a total disgrace and any victory here will be a shallow one IMO.

End of rant.

total disgrace from our club? at what juncture have we been a proven SENIOR panel? Ourselves and Na Magha made the decision to agree to enter the Derry senior championship. Not on the basis of being too strong for jnr/intermediate but purely down to the fact that we weren't getting too far forming a 2 team 2nd tier.

You are right we took a heavy beating from Swatragh at senior level in exchange for rounding the derry hurling championship out as an 8 team single tier championship. We have played a grand total of TWO senior level teams in championship ever and have lost both. Creggan beat us 2 years ago in the Ulster juniors when we had essentially the same panel. Is this the form of a senior hurling team? Or a junior team? We got well beat in the Ulster intermediate last year by Rossa. We must have forgot we were a bona fide senior team out for a jolly then as well.

Bearing in mind that the county board have alternated ourselves and Na Magha as Derrys junior and intermediate representatives for several years now, and that it was Na Maghas turn to compete at intermediate, what would you have us do for Ulster championship available to us this season, not field? You would do wonders for hurling in our club. Blame the structures that had ourselves and Na Magha switching maybe but why would we not take the competitive route open to us and advance hurling in the club?

Your not a junior hurling club, thats what the poster is trying to say. It is unfair that you get into an ulster competition and not have to win anything for it. The antrim junior champions have to win a championship to get there and thats what prob doesn't sit well with the poster

Its not coleraines fault, its the lack of hurling promotion within derry is the bother. The clubs are not interested in pushing the game enough. Sneill, Lavey, Swatragh all do their part as a dual club and promote both games. Dungiven are a different story as they are two separate clubs so i dont count them in the same vein as the previous clubs.

IMO you should of stayed at intermediate, i seen you last year in the ulster championship and its the level you should compete at.

I'll be for the final and will be supporting you but most def as a club you should be competing at intermediate standard.

I take most of that on board, but what I took issue with in the original post from cfclg was the blaming of our club. I want to repeat 2 things and make them clear when reading rants against the club (tear away at the Ulster council etc):

1. There is no separate junior and intermediate championship to win in Derry, all 8 teams are now thrown together in the one championship despite a clear gulf in class with 2 (ourselves and Na Magha) having been at the lower level and then mandated to move up by agreement, not promotion. The hope is this bears fruit in the long term.

2. As there is no separate junior and intermediate championship a system has been put in place for several years (not by ourselves) that alternates ourselves and Na Magha as the provinical representation for jnr/int. This year was Na Maghas turn to go to intermediate, so to politely contradict the suggestion in your post that we had a choice; we did not. Our choice was to enter junior or not enter anything. What would you have us do within the bounds of this system?

We cannot help the lack of available clubs in Derry to form a second tier within the county, nor can we advance hurling in the club by refusing to field for championships. Competing in junior was the only option left open to us this year. By all means criticise the structures but cfclg made it clear he blamed us for our entry into the junior and would rather we 'put the feet up' and this was what prompted my response, as well as the complete begrudgery toward us.

In any case, as the Ulster junior winners we wont be back in junior for a number of years (i think there is a rule to this effect) so this issue will go away next season.

[doodaa]

I have a rant to get off my chest:

See all these people on social media congratulating Coleraine hurlers on their victory in the All Ireland JUNIOR hurling semi. CATCH YOURSELVES ON!

Coleraine were beaten at the quarter final stage of the Derry SENIOR hurling championship by Swatragh in July. Instead of taking their beating like the majority of us and putting the feet up for the winter they decided to use an obvious loophole in the provincial council's rule book and play in an All Ireland JUNIOR competition.

No other provincial council would allow this to happen but I place most of the blame with the club themselves. Its a total disgrace and any victory here will be a shallow one IMO.

End of rant.

total disgrace from our club? at what juncture have we been a proven SENIOR panel? Ourselves and Na Magha made the decision to agree to enter the Derry senior championship. Not on the basis of being too strong for jnr/intermediate but purely down to the fact that we weren't getting too far forming a 2 team 2nd tier.

You are right we took a heavy beating from Swatragh at senior level in exchange for rounding the derry hurling championship out as an 8 team single tier championship. We have played a grand total of TWO senior level teams in championship ever and have lost both. Creggan beat us 2 years ago in the Ulster juniors when we had essentially the same panel. Is this the form of a senior hurling team? Or a junior team? We got well beat in the Ulster intermediate last year by Rossa. We must have forgot we were a bona fide senior team out for a jolly then as well.

Bearing in mind that the county board have alternated ourselves and Na Magha as Derrys junior and intermediate representatives for several years now, and that it was Na Maghas turn to compete at intermediate, what would you have us do for Ulster championship available to us this season, not field? You would do wonders for hurling in our club. Blame the structures that had ourselves and Na Magha switching maybe but why would we not take the competitive route open to us and advance hurling in the club?

Your not a junior hurling club, thats what the poster is trying to say. It is unfair that you get into an ulster competition and not have to win anything for it. The antrim junior champions have to win a championship to get there and thats what prob doesn't sit well with the poster

Its not coleraines fault, its the lack of hurling promotion within derry is the bother. The clubs are not interested in pushing the game enough. Sneill, Lavey, Swatragh all do their part as a dual club and promote both games. Dungiven are a different story as they are two separate clubs so i dont count them in the same vein as the previous clubs.

IMO you should of stayed at intermediate, i seen you last year in the ulster championship and its the level you should compete at.

I'll be for the final and will be supporting you but most def as a club you should be competing at intermediate standard.

2014 was a bit of a red herring tbh in terms of our intermediate performance.
We were getting a 10point beating by Bredagh with ten mins to go and fluked 3 goals and a couple of points to beat them.
We played exceptionally well to beat an underpar Carrickmore side and then got our asses handed to us in the final against a proper intermediate side in Rossa.
The last time we were ever near an Intermediate final was 2004 I believe.

If we had in the past consistently made Ulster Junior finals then there may be a case that we should be intermediate. As it stood we had never even made a final until 2015 when we won it.

Im sure if it makes cfclg feel better we can ask the county board to start the junior championship up again and get that one match cleared up out of the way.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

That

I have a rant to get off my chest:

See all these people on social media congratulating Coleraine hurlers on their victory in the All Ireland JUNIOR hurling semi. CATCH YOURSELVES ON!

Coleraine were beaten at the quarter final stage of the Derry SENIOR hurling championship by Swatragh in July. Instead of taking their beating like the majority of us and putting the feet up for the winter they decided to use an obvious loophole in the provincial council's rule book and play in an All Ireland JUNIOR competition.

No other provincial council would allow this to happen but I place most of the blame with the club themselves. Its a total disgrace and any victory here will be a shallow one IMO.

End of rant.

total disgrace from our club? at what juncture have we been a proven SENIOR panel? Ourselves and Na Magha made the decision to agree to enter the Derry senior championship. Not on the basis of being too strong for jnr/intermediate but purely down to the fact that we weren't getting too far forming a 2 team 2nd tier.

You are right we took a heavy beating from Swatragh at senior level in exchange for rounding the derry hurling championship out as an 8 team single tier championship. We have played a grand total of TWO senior level teams in championship ever and have lost both. Creggan beat us 2 years ago in the Ulster juniors when we had essentially the same panel. Is this the form of a senior hurling team? Or a junior team? We got well beat in the Ulster intermediate last year by Rossa. We must have forgot we were a bona fide senior team out for a jolly then as well.

Bearing in mind that the county board have alternated ourselves and Na Magha as Derrys junior and intermediate representatives for several years now, and that it was Na Maghas turn to compete at intermediate, what would you have us do for Ulster championship available to us this season, not field? You would do wonders for hurling in our club. Blame the structures that had ourselves and Na Magha switching maybe but why would we not take the competitive route open to us and advance hurling in the club?

Your not a junior hurling club, thats what the poster is trying to say. It is unfair that you get into an ulster competition and not have to win anything for it. The antrim junior champions have to win a championship to get there and thats what prob doesn't sit well with the poster

Its not coleraines fault, its the lack of hurling promotion within derry is the bother. The clubs are not interested in pushing the game enough. Sneill, Lavey, Swatragh all do their part as a dual club and promote both games. Dungiven are a different story as they are two separate clubs so i dont count them in the same vein as the previous clubs.

IMO you should of stayed at intermediate, i seen you last year in the ulster championship and its the level you should compete at.

I'll be for the final and will be supporting you but most def as a club you should be competing at intermediate standard.

I take most of that on board, but what I took issue with in the original post from cfclg was the blaming of our club. I want to repeat 2 things and make them clear when reading rants against the club (tear away at the Ulster council etc):

1. There is no separate junior and intermediate championship to win in Derry, all 8 teams are now thrown together in the one championship despite a clear gulf in class with 2 (ourselves and Na Magha) having been at the lower level and then mandated to move up by agreement, not promotion. The hope is this bears fruit in the long term.

2. As there is no separate junior and intermediate championship a system has been put in place for several years (not by ourselves) that alternates ourselves and Na Magha as the provinical representation for jnr/int. This year was Na Maghas turn to go to intermediate, so to politely contradict the suggestion in your post that we had a choice; we did not. Our choice was to enter junior or not enter anything. What would you have us do within the bounds of this system?

We cannot help the lack of available clubs in Derry to form a second tier within the county, nor can we advance hurling in the club by refusing to field for championships. Competing in junior was the only option left open to us this year. By all means criticise the structures but cfclg made it clear he blamed us for our entry into the junior and would rather we 'put the feet up' and this was what prompted my response, as well as the complete begrudgery toward us.

In any case, as the Ulster junior winners we wont be back in junior for a number of years (i think there is a rule to this effect) so this issue will go away next season.

Its the same in armagh where they have a senior and junior championship and no intermediate. The senior winners go into the senior championship. the junior winners go into the ulster junior but the intermediate is a different set up. Its the beaten finalists plus the semi final losers who make up that rep. Ive no idea how it works exactly but thats where Keady came from this year.

The fact theres not even a junior championship in derry is very disappointing. For a county so big and full of so many clubs for them not to have enough hurling teams is shocking. I know the derry board dont care, that much is evident with the lack of interest in the development of the game.

Ive followed Derry hurling and football for years (my mums from co derry) following the club scene so ive always had a strong interest in it. What annoys me is the both the lack of interest from clubs and the county towards hurling, meanwhile clubs like Na Magha & Coleraine are pushing the code on with no obvious push from the county.

No doubt the reps will be in croke park for the final for the free day out and show their faces!

[cfclg]

Whisky and Doodaa.

The fact that there is some sort of rotation system between the two clubs as to which gets entered into what Ulster cship says it all really! Neither club is Junior level standard (I've watched both and know the county players involved). Derry county board should have you playoff in an intermediate final to decide who represents the county in Ulster. Its only one match but happens a lot in Co Down etc and you were only getting one match at senior cship anyway.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Derry Hurling Senior
Lynches
Screen
Swatragh
Slaughtneil
Banagher
Lavey

Intermediate
Eoghan Rua

Junior
Na Magha

This is the level Derry clubs are at as of now 2016. At the start of the 2015, you would have put Eoghan Rua in junior. Neither them or Na Magha have ever won Ulster junior until this year so without any doubt they were correctly graded.
Na Magha were easily beat by div 4 side Carryduff in intermediate. Both teams were hammered in Derry championship.

Resurrect the junior championship in Derry if they wish but as much as it hurts me to say it, Eoghan Rua will beat Na Magha easily.
Fair play Eoghan have made real progress this year and have now managed to reach Croke Park in 3 codes.
As Dooda said they were lucky against Bredagh and as Whiskey correctly said they will now have to play intermediate for 5 years.
Its up to Na Magha to try and progress to where Eoghan Rua are so that we could have an intermediate game in Derry. But as it stands there is a gap between the two and a bigger gap them and the rest of Derry.

Eoghan Rua and Na Magha are trying their best in very difficult circumstances to keep the game going and need all the encouragement they can get.

BTW. Donegal senior runners up go to junior and winners Intermediate too. Courses for horses.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Whisky and Doodaa.

The fact that there is some sort of rotation system between the two clubs as to which gets entered into what Ulster cship says it all really! Neither club is Junior level standard (I've watched both and know the county players involved). Derry county board should have you playoff in an intermediate final to decide who represents the county in Ulster. Its only one match but happens a lot in Co Down etc and you were only getting one match at senior cship anyway.

Individuals don't determine a clubs strength. Paul Galvin(junior football Kerry), Ger Aylward(junior hurling Kilkenny) etc etc.  Sure Lamh Dhearg are playing junior in Antrim with 3 county players. Shane ONeills have county players.