Dublin & Offaly in Leinster U21 Hurling final

TBT · June 20, 2007, 11:36:52 PM

Dublin 3-12 Wexford 2-14
Offaly 1-13 KK 0-13

Should be a v good final.

INDIANA · June 21, 2007, 12:46:39 AM

good day alright- dublin hung on but always led. ref was a disgrace for both teams but we hung on. offaly have a lot of senior experience so it should be agood final. think it's in parnell.

AZOffaly · June 21, 2007, 06:46:47 AM

Fantastic result for Offaly, and a real shot in the arm. I think this is our first win over Kilkenny at any grade since 2000, which is way too long for a county that was getting used to Cats scalps in the 80s and 90s.

Great news altogether, and I hope it'll be a great U-21 final as well. There might be hope for Leinster hurling at senior level yet....

clootfromthe21 · June 21, 2007, 01:35:42 PM

Any one know when the final is?

INDIANA · June 21, 2007, 01:48:20 PM

18th july parnell park.

glens73 · June 21, 2007, 02:26:08 PM

Is this not a heck of a result for Offaly?

Correct me if I'm wrong but have the Cats not been hammering Offaly at all grades for years now.

INDIANA · June 21, 2007, 02:36:08 PM

fine win by offaly- by all accounts kk aren't that strong at u21 level this year. but that's by their standards - any win over kilkenny at any grade is a hell of a result. Offaly like dublin have about 10 senior panelists playing so it wasn't a huge shock - offaly were quietly fancied to win and have an extremely good side this year.

Bord na Mona man · June 22, 2007, 08:46:53 AM

Quote from: INDIANA on June 21, 2007, 02:36:08 PM
fine win by offaly- by all accounts kk aren't that strong at u21 level this year. but that's by their standards

Kilkenny lost the 2004 All Ireland minor final by 1 point, after a replay, so they were hardly that bad either.

INDIANA · June 22, 2007, 11:14:49 AM

spoke to kilkenny people beofre the game- reckoned it was the worst side since 2000 -they expected nothing -mind you that's by their standards but jesus they hadn't a good word to say about it.

Bord na Mona man · June 22, 2007, 11:56:43 AM

Kilkenny are great lads for that. When they lose it's because they were bad, nothing got to do with the opposition's prowess.
I'm sure they didn't pick 2000 as a random year either, if you follow the same logic.
They have no accurate way of gauging the relevant strengths of their teams year on year, but since they lost to Offaly that year, then they assume they themselves must have been shite.
Heaven forbid another county had a decent vintage in a particular year.

tayto · June 22, 2007, 01:09:49 PM

Well done to Offaly, a great result for Leinster - even Kilkenny fans agree.
Someone made the point that kilkenny beat this offaly side at minor by 17 points, that's a hellofa turnaround from minor to u21.

AZOffaly · June 22, 2007, 02:55:50 PM

Imagine what we'll do to them at senior level???

tayto · June 22, 2007, 04:17:40 PM

if only it'd work out that simple!

Good thing was this result wasnt totally unexpected.

The winner of the Leinster final gets the Ulster champions in the semi so it's all to play for, this is probably the biggest hurling match in dublin hurling in a long time, Hope to god we get some of the lads back in time for the 18th. Unfortunately I have a feeling we wont be seeing Mccaffery hurling again this summer, he needs to get that injury sorted for once and for all.

AZOffaly · June 22, 2007, 04:49:19 PM

To be honest Tayto, I think this is a bigger game for Offaly than Dublin. The perception at large is that hurling is dying in Offaly, and certainly some of the maulings the senior team have gotten in the past few years would attest to that opinion. Our underage teams have also been very unsuccessful, by and large. Now I feel that our underage teams are always going to struggle until a batch all come together, because our county pick is small. I think our seniors are better than their results show, but constantly being beaten down by the top teams has led to a huge crisis in confidence with them.

If the Under 21s were to win Leinster, it would re-inforce with them that they *can* compete, and have the hurling skills to do so. With such a large number of them on the senior panel, I would expect that to give a boost there as well. Beating Kilkenny will already have been a big fillip. We need lads who are not automatically starting with an inferiority complex with Kilkenny, and I bet BRian Cody wasn't too happy with that result in Nowlan Park.

Having said that, it would be an even bigger boost for the lads themselves to go on now and win Leinster, and would only enhance that feeling that they belong at the top table of hurling counties.

Dublin on the other hand are improving, and are already strong at underage level. If they win, it will simply underline that fact, but if they lose, the wheels will not come off the wagon.

tayto · June 22, 2007, 05:05:31 PM

I agree that Offaly could well do with the boost, if they were up against anyone else i'd cheer them on. but so could Dublin, we've been knocking on the door of an U21 Leinster title for so long, to finally win it would be a massive boost to everyone involved in the underage coaching development system, and the players themselves. success at this level would possibly make the decision for dual players that little bit more difficult to make, we've loads of talented dual players coming through, i want the decision of which code to stick with to be as difficult as possible for them. All this underage progress badly needs to silverware at an older age group to help keep the whole show on the road.

I don't go along with this hurling dying in Offaly stuff, seems to me it's impossible for any county with a small pick to stay successful over the decades, you're bound to need rebuilding periods. I dont know if it's true but I believe they were slow to setup the underage structures, combined with a small pick the current malaise was probably enevitable, I'm sure you'll be back. Sher did St Rynagh's give Castleknock a hellofa game in the Feile, much moreso then a lot of the other teams they met.

Still think we'll be up against it mind you.