Christy Ring Cup 2007

[johnneycool]

Kildare side to face Meath on Saturday -

C Cunningham; T Finnerty, P Reidy, P Keegan; D Harney, D Kennedy, K Bracken; C Buggy, B White; K Divilly, T Murphy, L Harney; B Byrne, O Lynch, T Spain.

Have they a chance? Where has the improvement in Meath come from? This could be a good year for Meath GAA all round. Not many would have foreseen the progress so far at the start of the year.

I've always found that counties like Meath, Kerry, Westmeath, Kildare and even Down every once in a while get their act together and make a concerted effort for a few years and start going well. This enthusiasm only lasts for a few years then they're back in a malais. Meath must be on the upturn of this cycle whereas Down are certainly on the downward spiral.

[Sky Blue]

There's a section in Denis Walsh's excellent book "Hurling: The revolution years" on hurling in Down and Kerry called "Love in a cold climate". Interesting stuff. It would confirm what you're saying Johnneycool. Well worth reading.

[Mentalman]

Kildare side to face Meath on Saturday -

C Cunningham; T Finnerty, P Reidy, P Keegan; D Harney, D Kennedy, K Bracken; C Buggy, B White; K Divilly, T Murphy, L Harney; B Byrne, O Lynch, T Spain.

Have they a chance? Where has the improvement in Meath come from? This could be a good year for Meath GAA all round. Not many would have foreseen the progress so far at the start of the year.

I've always found that counties like Meath, Kerry, Westmeath, Kildare and even Down every once in a while get their act together and make a concerted effort for a few years and start going well. This enthusiasm only lasts for a few years then they're back in a malais. Meath must be on the upturn of this cycle whereas Down are certainly on the downward spiral.

Very true JC. Until that cylical system is slowed down there will only ever be a decreasing number of big boys out there. What to do is the question though, are we back to hurling always being the poor relation in those counties, and if so should there be a hurling development board to take over the funding etc. of the game in those counties from their county board?

[Gnevin]

True but with the 3 tier system in place their are meaningful goals to reach off . This year 2 on the  Rackard cup go up while none go down, does this indicate an improvement in the weakest counties?

[johnneycool]

True but with the 3 tier system in place their are meaningful goals to reach off . This year 2 on the  Rackard cup go up while none go down, does this indicate an improvement in the weakest counties?

Whilst the intercounty fixture quantity has gone up I'd question whether the quality of the teams have improved.

Most teams do indeed now have reasonably achievable targets whether that be Christy Ring or the Nicky Rackard tournaments. That places even more commitments on the players who aren't treated as well as the big counties and the pride of playing for the jersey wears a bit thin after a while, so training drops off, performances drop off accordingly. Down, who played in Div1 of the NHL struggled to get a team at home to Meath on saturday past and I'm sure other teams out of the reckoning had similar issues.

There still is a huge gap between tier 1 and tier 2 as Antrim, Laois and to a lesser extent Dublin have found out.

In fairness to Dublin they seem to have the proper structures in place at juvenile level but it will be another 4 to 5 years of the same hard work before they reap any kind of reward at senior level. Keeping that type of entusiasm going for a sustained amount of time is the hard part. Dublin probably have the resources in terms of finance, expertise and player base to compete on a longer term, the others don't.

[Mentalman]

Exciting, if not high quaility games, in Tullamore tonight.

I said to one of the Carlow punters I was chatting to at half time "not to worry, if any county can blow an eleven point lead at half time, it's Westmeath!". How right I was. Somehow though, through a combination of guts and Carlow tiring, the Lakelanders squeaked out a victory by 2 points, 4-11 to 2-15. We were at sea in the middle of the park without Loughlin, but I think Qualter's move to bring him in early to the fray in the second half to bhoy up the team backfired a bit, as try as he might, Enda just wasn't fit. Still on the other hand the move to put John Shaw in at full forward paid handsome dividends, with 3 goals in 3 injury time minutes, all of which he was involved in. Don't know though, you just can't play with 12 men, Westmeath need to find some sort of forward line between now and the final. The only consolation is that that seems to be one of the major differences at this level, lacking real decent inside forwards.

Think it will be a ding dong battle with Kildare in the final. Held on to watch their game. Like ourselves their inside forwards aren't all that. What they do have is a great midfield pairing, playing with real experience, excellent half backs also, and a couple of other decent additions, like 25 who came on. Any Kildare heads throw light on why they had 4 changes to the starting lineup? And why none of those guys appeared off the bench? Injury? Anyway definitely a case of the sum being greater than the parts, Westmeath will have to watch the fouling, Billy White is peerless anywhere from the midfield in. They actually could/should have won by more, lot of wides in the last quarter, when I got the feeling some of the Meath players had more or less thrown their hat at it. Still, saying that, Meath could have had at least a draw only for a bit of panicing at the end.

All in all a good evening's entertainment. Unfortunately looks like I won't make the final, but we'll have to see.

[Iarmhí Abú]

Well done to the hurlers.  Qualter certainly seems to be doing a good job. It's a pity we won't get another chance to play in the Leinster championship.  Great to see the lads getting the chance to lift a trophy in Croker.

[Mentalman]

Congrats to the Westmeath lads, bringing home the bacon once again! Not as exciting as the game versus Down two years back when the big prize was on offer, but still great to win. Westmeath performed as they have most of the season, building a fairly commanding lead before half time, then relaxing a bit. Generally in that situation when the other team got back into the game they gave another spurt to close out the match, but that wasn't needed yesterday, although it should have been. Billy White had his one off day of the year from frees on the big occasion otherwise it would have been a lot tighter. If Kildare had one or two better forwards it also would have made it a lot more difficult, I think, judging from the Meath game, that's a problem they have had all along.

I would echo Iarmhí's comments, the very least that should be available to the winners of the Christy Ring is a playoff game against the worst team in the Liam McCarthy, otherwise all the talk of rewarding counties promoting hurling is pretty much just that - talk. I mean what's to motivate the likes of Down, Kerry, Westmeath, Carlow and Kildare, after they have won Christy Ring, a self contained championship just won't be enough. From a hurling promotion point of view kids, the hurlers of tomorrow, are obviously more drawn to a sport where their county is mixing it with the big boys. Also it keeps the weaker counties in the Liam McCarthy on their toes throughout the whole year, although I'm sure from their point of view they would rather concentrate on their club championships.

[Msgr. Horan]

I dont see anything wrong with a one-up, one-down system. Of course the HDC may have been afraid that the team going down might be a "traditional" hurling county who were just having a bad (albeit very bad) year who might hammer everyone the next year in the Christy Ring thus annoying the rest
i think what might be better is the suggestion of a playoff game, say the bottom two teams from the "Tier 1" group stages play eachother, the loser then plays the winner of the Christy Ring. The winner goes up, the loser goes down. Similar for the worst/best teams between the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Well done to the lads, did all that was expected of them even if they did slacken off when they realised that Kildare hadn't bothered turning up. Greville, Dowdall, McCormack and Carty were the standouts for me. Great to see another trophy being lifted in Croker by the maroon and shites, 3 trophies in 4 years not bad going...
Darren could do with brushing up on his public speaking though although he was in fine form with the 3 cheers... Quite the native speaker too 

See we're allowed compete for Leinster next year, what would happen though if we were to make the final or win the thing??? * As has been suggested by Your Grace, a play-off between the bottom team from the Liam McCarthy is the least the winners of the Christy Ring cup deserves...










*Apart from pigs taking to the skies of course.

[Mentalman]

See we're allowed compete for Leinster next year, what would happen though if we were to make the final or win the thing??? * As has been suggested by Your Grace, a play-off between the bottom team from the Liam McCarthy is the least the winners of the Christy Ring cup deserves...

*Apart from pigs taking to the skies of course.

Just reading that

Westmeath hurlers set for 2008 provincial championship
06 August 2007

Following their Christy Ring Cup final win over Kildare (2-15 to 0-13), the hurlers of Westmeath will be given the chance to pit their skills against Leinster's finest next year.

Westmeath's application to play in the 2008 Leinster SHC campaign has been approved and they will also get the chance to defend their Christy Ring Cup title as well.

"We took a decision at a hurling forum in Leinster some time ago that Westmeath would be allowed into the Leinster championship," Leinster PRO Tom Farrell confirmed.

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=81508

Strange one, realistically how can they play in both?

[Dinny Breen]

Kildare Hurlers are just Kildare footballers in disguise. 

[Mentalman]

Kildare Hurlers are just Kildare footballers in disguise. 

Still I reckon if they could pick up an inside forward somewhere they would do real damage. The experience will stand the team, outside of the Tipp lads, in good stead. Look at Westmeath, some of them boys are 10 years on the go, getting hammered out of sight in LSHC games. Takes a long time for the weaker counties to get a side together. Expect Kildare, if they can keep that side together, and Carlow, if their manager's resignation doesn't set them back, to be compeiting to the last in next year's Ring Cup.

[Dinny Breen]

In fairness the hurling folk in the county were quite confident going up to Croker but with the bus breaking down etc they had no luck, then in the first half 12 wides and the 2nd Westmeath goal was a clear foul on the goalie as well. However the U/21's were only beaten by 5pt against the Leinster Champions and the minors reached the All-Ireland B final. Hurling is on the up in the county and the likes of Kennedy and O'Dowd will bring on our hurlers. The future is bright, baby steps is the key though..

[Croí na hÉireann]

Strange one, realistically how can they play in both?

I can only assume that they will be treated the same as the counties in Division 4 of the league, i.e. you're into the Tommy Murphy/Christy Ring unless u make ur provincial final. But then again doesn't the Christy Ring begin at the same time as the LSHC??? My head hurts...

In fairness the hurling folk in the county were quite confident going up to Croker but with the bus breaking down etc they had no luck, then in the first half 12 wides and the 2nd Westmeath goal was a clear foul on the goalie as well. However the U/21's were only beaten by 5pt against the Leinster Champions and the minors reached the All-Ireland B final. Hurling is on the up in the county and the likes of Kennedy and O'Dowd will bring on our hurlers. The future is bright, baby steps is the key though..

I would imagine that the bus breaking down had a big physcologial effect on the Kildare team, they didn't look at all settled on the field and were very slow out of the blocks. Couldn't figure out for the life of me how they had beaten an Eastmeath team we had drawn with in Naavaan until I heard about the bus...