National hurling league Round 1

[slow corner back]

This thread does seem to have gone down like the preverbial lead balloon, shame as in the lower divisions there are quite a few intresting goings on.
Starting in the top teirs Galway Limerick and Tipp are in the knockout stages. Unless Offally can beat Clare by 15 points Offally are relegated and Laois will join them unless they beat Tipp in Thurles, unlikely. The Cats are in the semi, surprise surprise and if results go to form they will be joined by Cork and Waterford in the quarters. If that happens Antrim will be relegated for the second year running with points difference sorting out whether Wexford or Dublin join them. Currently Dublin are 15 points better off than Wexford and have shown better form throughout the league.
As steve has said Carlow Down and Derry are all in the race for the top two positions, hopefully a decent crowd turns out for the Carlow Derry match. In the other division 2 it is even tighter with Kerry Westmeath and Kildare all on six points. With westmeath playing Kildare it is set up for Kerry to qualify, maybe some of the Kerry posters will show some support for the hurlers and see if they can go one better than the footballers and beat Mayo next Sunday.
In Division 3 Donegal look good for the title sitting two points clear and playing bottom team Sligo on Sunday.
In Div 4 Fermanagh top the table but have played all their games and have a negative scoring difference. If South Down and Monaghan both win on Sunday they should make the final for Div 4
Predictions for sunday night
Div 1 Semi finalists Kilkenny and Tipperary
QF Cork, Waterford,Galway,Limerick
Relegated Antrim, Wexford, Laois, Offally
expect lots of appeals to change the league structures AGAIN
Div 2 semi finalists Westmeath, Kerry,Carlow and Down
Div 3 Final Donegal V Louth
Div 4 Final S Down V Monaghan

[youbetterbelieveit]

Division 1A           
Team       Played Won Drawn Lost For  Against Pts Diff  Pts.
Kilkenny       4       4       0      0   1-69  3-29     34       8
Cork            4       2       0      2   4-42  3-23     22       4
Waterford    4       2       0      2   6-51  5-47      7        4
Dublin          4       1       1      2   4-63  6-63     -6        3
Wexford      4       1       1      2   6-36  6-57     -21       3
Antrim         4       1       0      3   7-43  5-85     -36       2
                 
Division 1B           
Team      Played Won Drawn Lost For  Against  Pts Diff  Pts.
Galway        4       2       2       0  8-84  6-50      40        6
Tipperary     4       2       2       0  5-75  4-50      28        6
Limerick       4       3       0       1 12-66 5-60      27        6
Clare           4       1       1       2  4-71  6-68      -3         3
Laois           4       1       0       3  4-51 12-87    -60         2
Offaly          4       0       1       3  8-47 8-79      -32        1
                   
Division 2A           
Team       Played Won Drawn Lost For  Against Pts Diff   Pts.
Westmeath 4       3        0       1  8-68   4-47      33       6
Kerry          4       3        0       1  11-42 1-48      24       6
Kildare        4       3        0       1  4-54   5-52       -1       6
Mayo          4       2        0       2  5-61   4-53      11       4
Wicklow      4       1        0       3  2-50   8-59     -27       2
Roscommon 4       0       0        4  1-42   9-58     -40       0
                 
Division 2B           
Team       Played Won Drawn Lost For  Against Pts Diff   Pts.
Carlow        4       3       1        0 7-57   4-44       22       7
Derry          4       3       0        1 8-48   6-61       -7        6
Down         4       2       1        1 8-64   2-66       16       5
Meath        4        2       0        2 3-78   5-46      26        4
Armagh      4        1       0        3 4-50   8-54     -16        2
London      4        0       0        42-34    7-60     -41        0

                 
Division 3A           
Team      Played Won Drawn Lost For  Against Pts Diff  Pts.
Donegal      3       3       0      0   2-53   4-31     16       6
Louth         3       2       0      1  12-31  6-40      9        4
Longford     2       1       0      1  4-31   2-19      18       2
Tyrone       3       1       0      2   5-39   7-38      -5       2
Sligo          3        0       0      3  7-24   11-50    -38      0

                 
Division 3B           
Team       Played Won Drawn Lost For   Against Pts Diff  Pts.
Fermanagh   4       3       0       1   5-44 10-40    -11       6
South Down 3      2        0       1 13-36 3-27       39       4
Monaghan    3      2        0       1  7-26  5-19       13       4
Cavan          3      1        0       2  4-26  5-38      -14       2
Leitrim         3      0        0       3  1-22  7-31      -27       0

         

[youbetterbelieveit]

Well It is getting fairly clear who is going to progress from each respective group.
In Division 1A  - Kilkenny will go through to the Semi-finals, with Cork and Waterford in the qtr finals.
In Division 1B  - Tipperary hold the upper hand and should take the semi final spot, what with Limerick and Galway playing each other, and both these will go to the qtr finals.

In Division 2A  - Westmeath and Kerry, seem to be better placed but Kildare and Mayo could come through.
In Divsion 2B  - I think Down and Carlow shoudl get through, Carlow shouldnt lose at home against Derry but it is possible.

In Division 3A - Donegal seem to be clear of the chasing pack. And will easily come out of the group.
In Division 3B - I think South Down could come out of the group.

[youbetterbelieveit]

With regard to the make up of next years national hurling league, I believe it should definitely go ahead, especially with some of the results that have occured during the current national league. Laois, Wexford, Antrim and Offaly have suffered huge defeats to the bigger teams, and I believe that it doesnt have any value to have these type of games.

So the make up for next year is looking like

Division 1
Kilkenny
Cork
Tipperary
Limerick
Waterford
Galway
Dublin
Clare

Division 2
Offaly
Antrim
Wexford
Laois
Down
Carlow
Westmeath
Kerry


Division 3
Derry
Kildare
Mayo
Wicklow
Meath
Donegal
South Down?

[Sean3]

That setup looks fairly good and should make it more competitive. London would probably be in there as well in division 3.

[slow corner back]

I think, although i may be wrong, that next year there will be a div 3A and 3B  which will probably include London,as well as a div4. I believe that North and South Dublin enter the hurling leagues next season, what level they go in at I am not quite sure perhaps some of the Dublin posters could inform us.

[AZOffaly]

I have no complaints about Offaly being in division 2 in the highly probable scenario that we don't beat Clare by 15 points. It was disappointing to lose our nigh on 3 year unbeaten home league record, featuring such luminaries as Galway, Clare, Waterford and Cork, by such a margin on Sunday, but in truth we looked like a division 2 team.

It's a shame really, because the draw with Galway was promising, but the surprise defeat by Laois seemed to knock them back a step. Hopefully they can put in a good performance against Clare, even though it will probably be meaningless unless something ridiculous happens.

[imtommygunn]

AZ do you not think it's high time though that they structured the hurling leagues properly with a division 1, division 2, division 3 and division 4.

Offaly or any relegated team will learn nothing in division 2. If they structured it so 2 was antrim, wexford, dublin offaly etc that would be of great benefit to all these teams.

[AZOffaly]

But that's sort of what they are doing. At the moment it looks as if it will be Offaly, Wexford, Antrim and Laois, along with Kerry, Westmeath, Carlow and Down.

If you have 4 divisions, the best 8 teams deserve to be in Division 1, and they will be next year, as Dublin have probably passed Offaly and Wexford out in Leinster, albeit without reflecting that in the championship yet.

[imtommygunn]

Oh - I actually forgot/not sure I realised they were doing that.

Yep - agreed Dublin quite possibly are in the top 8 at present.

The rest will end up where they deserve to be and it would only serve to do them good.

[AZOffaly]

I'm not surprised. They change the format so often, it's a matter of waiting till the fixtures come out to see who you're in with each year!

[imtommygunn]

The A and B nonsense in the football and hurling has proved to be rubbish IMO. I find the football league considerably more interesting than usual this year. (Perhaps because Antrim are actually playing for something) but the hurling not so much so. (Where we were realistically playing to win 2 games max). If the structure goes to 1,2,3 and 4 it will make it a lot more interesting.(for all involved)

[Plain of the Herbs]

It depends how you look at it. My own feeling is that if there are twelve counties competing for the MacCarthy Cup then there should be twelve counties competing in Division 1 of the League, giving everyone matches against the top teams against whom they will compete in high summer. To do otherwise is only inviting unmerciful hammerings for hapless counties coming up from a lower division.
While it wasn't much fun watching a depleted Offaly lose heavily to last year's All Ireland finalists last Sunday, Offaly were still better off hurling Limerick than they would be hurling a county currently in Division 2.
In case anyone thinks Offaly have been out of their depth in Division 1 in recent years, they reached the quarter final two years ago, accumulating seven points out of ten, while last year they got five points out of ten. The year they spent in Division 2 was partly responsible for the meltdown against Kilkenny later that summer.

The A and B nonsense in the football and hurling has proved to be rubbish IMO. I find the football league considerably more interesting than usual this year. (Perhaps because Antrim are actually playing for something) but the hurling not so much so. (Where we were realistically playing to win 2 games max). If the structure goes to 1,2,3 and 4 it will make it a lot more interesting.(for all involved)

[AZOffaly]

It depends how you look at it. My own feeling is that if there are twelve counties competing for the MacCarthy Cup then there should be twelve counties competing in Division 1 of the League, giving everyone matches against the top teams against whom they will compete in high summer. To do otherwise is only inviting unmerciful hammerings for hapless counties coming up from a lower division.
While it wasn't much fun watching a depleted Offaly lose heavily to last year's All Ireland finalists last Sunday, Offaly were still better off hurling Limerick than they would be hurling a county currently in Division 2.
In case anyone thinks Offaly have been out of their depth in Division 1 in recent years, they reached the quarter final two years ago, accumulating seven points out of ten, while last year they got five points out of ten. The year they spent in Division 2 was partly responsible for the meltdown against Kilkenny later that summer.

The A and B nonsense in the football and hurling has proved to be rubbish IMO. I find the football league considerably more interesting than usual this year. (Perhaps because Antrim are actually playing for something) but the hurling not so much so. (Where we were realistically playing to win 2 games max). If the structure goes to 1,2,3 and 4 it will make it a lot more interesting.(for all involved)

I know what you are saying POTH, but in fairness, Wexford, Antrim and Laois will give decent games next year for Offaly. It's slightly different that it would be if it were only Offaly and Laois going down.

[stevecw]

I reckon that Div 2 next year will be a decent standard. Obviously the promoted Div 2 sides will struggle. But taking my own county Carlow, last year we drew with Laois in the league, we beat them a few weeks ago in a challenge. The year Offaly were in Div 2, we beat Offaly in Carlow. We ended up in the Div 2 final against them & ok we got wiped out in the end.
But honestly the likes of us, Down, Westmeath etc need to be playing the Laois, Wex, Offaly & Antrims to develop. For us games against teams like Armagh & London are just a waste of time. We rest the regulars & still get an easy win.
What is the point of Galway 6-26-Laois 0-6?! Div 1 8 best teams & div 2 next best 8 makes so much sense to me.
I can guarantee no matter who ends up in div 2 next year, there will not be a 38 point win by any team like has happened in div 1 this year.