Christy Ring

[Lecale2]

A very disappointing weekend for Down hurling.

[highking]

Mayo V Carlow

Is this going to be played in Castlebar?

Yes. 3pm in McHale Park next Saturday. Hope to see a good crowd there...

[stevecw]

Wicklow v Mayo
Wicklow will easy win this one. Struggled during league, but have got sorted since. Win by 6 or 7 pts
Down v Derry. A No brainer, Down have an amazing forward division...hit the goals that mattered in group games & will beat Derry by at least 10 pts
Kerry v Carlow- Hard one to call. Carlow are the better team, but the game is in Tralee where Kerry are very rarely beaten. But last time they met in div 2 semi in Limerick Carlow won easily by about 15 points...so id side with Carlow for this..but only by 2 or 3 pts.
Kildare v Westmeath
Its the form team Kildare v the team that thinks they are better than this level!!I dunno if westmeath are all that after a loss to Wicklow!
But if i had to choose i think Kildare might cause a real big shock here & beat Westmeath!

steve you and your predictions crack me up! did you not watch the national league at all!

Happy to hear that i entertain you Franko
But honestly i dont think i was in a minority by any means in expecting Down to win that game. Fair play to Derry, i really didn't think they had that in them. After seeing many league games & seeing Down twice this year they looked a very good side. But obv i underestimated Derry & Mayo too to be honest.
But its great to see 2 new teams reach the semis.

A trip to Westmeath is tough for Derry but after saturdays result who knows. Again id be surprised if they won, but cant rule it out.
And as for Carlow, we continue our tour to all corners of the country! In Down 2 weeks ago, in Kerry on Sat & now away to Mayo next sat.
Again, id have to fancy us to get through, that display in Kerry was very impressive, best we've had this year so hopefully are peaking at right time.
But Mayo really have improved so much & any team that can go to Wicklow and win has to be in with a shout especially in Castlebar.

Ok so for next week in my attempt to crack Franko up again, i'll go for Westmeath & Carlow to win through & set up a repeat of the Div 2 league final.

[Whitehair]

A very disappointing weekend for Down hurling.

Down didnt seem to approach the game in the right frame of mind although i still expected them to have enough firepower to pull through. They missed three clear goal opportunities but to be honest Derry were deserving of their victory. Stephen Henry stuck to his task well on Braniff even though he conceded some early scores, Mark Craig cleared alot of ball and Paddy Mc Closkey looked the part in full forward. Andy Savage had a good game and Braniff scored a few and missed a few, the rest of the Down forwards were mainly anonymous. I was at the Down v Antrim 21s last week and Derry'l fancy their chances again against Antrim. Think 8-9 of their Senior team were u21s and in Dodds, Holly, Craig etc they'v powerful as well as skillful hurlers.

[stevecw]

^ After seeing Down live last wk, im shocked at that loss. Down looked fantastic, while W'Mth were too good

[RedandGreenSniper]

Mayo V Carlow

Is this going to be played in Castlebar?

Yes. 3pm in McHale Park next Saturday. Hope to see a good crowd there...

According to Hogan Stand there's a Christy Ring semi-final in McHale Park alright, but Mayo aren't playing. Pity

Christy Ring Semi-Finals

Mayo v Carlow, Mullingar, 3.00

Westmeath v Derry, Castlebar, 5.00.

Hope the Mayo lads can do the biz here, would be a serious shot in the arm for them. Hopefully they'll get a good travelling support but I wouldn't bank on it I'm afraid

[Tubberman]

Posted on: Today at 07:03:57 AMPosted by: RedandGreenSniper 
Insert Quote
Quote from: highking on July 21, 2008, 06:06:05 PM
Quote from: Bod Mor on July 21, 2008, 02:08:05 AM
Mayo V Carlow

Is this going to be played in Castlebar?


Yes. 3pm in McHale Park next Saturday. Hope to see a good crowd there...


According to Hogan Stand there's a Christy Ring semi-final in McHale Park alright, but Mayo aren't playing. Pity

Christy Ring Semi-Finals

Mayo v Carlow, Mullingar, 3.00

Westmeath v Derry, Castlebar, 5.00.

Hope the Mayo lads can do the biz here, would be a serious shot in the arm for them. Hopefully they'll get a good travelling support but I wouldn't bank on it I'm afraid

Looks like it could be a mistake from Hoganstand (shock, horror). I presume they got the venue's the wrong way around.
Would be strange to have Westmeath's game in Castlebar and Mayo's game in Mullingar!!

[Franko]

I have to agree with you steve, whilst I am a Derry fan I am also a realist and I reckon that Westmeath have too much for Derry.  I envisage derry still being in the hunt with 15-20 to go with westmeath then kicking on to in the region of a 10 point win.  This seems to be the tried and tested format for these sort of games!

I think that the other semi will be closer - Mayo have made amazing strides this season under pete finnerty.  They also have home advantage.  However, tradition would suggest that Carlow will eventually win out and I would tend to agree.

As for derry v down - I think that the only people not surprised with this result were derry people - they have already beaten a full down side this year and that combined with some recent ulster championship results all pointed to a close game.  Thats why I couldnt let someone calling the game a 'no brainer' slip by without a mention steve!!

[neilthemac]

I think Derry can beat Westmeath. Cusack park isn't the biggest of pitches and it'll suit Derry.

stop Murtagh playing and the game is there for the taking

[johnneycool]

As for derry v down - I think that the only people not surprised with this result were derry people - they have already beaten a full down side this year and that combined with some recent ulster championship results all pointed to a close game.  Thats why I couldnt let someone calling the game a 'no brainer' slip by without a mention steve!!

I wasn't surprised in the least that Derry won. It was always going to be a banana skin for Down as they were expected to win and the favourites tag doesn't sit too easy with Down hurlers. Derry are more aggressive and physical in their hurling and Down failed to match that and were always playing catch up. Too many fancy dan hurlers at the minute who aren't even that fancy.

It turns out that Big Magic's foot is still giving him bother as he couldn't/wouldn't play for his club last sunday and was only capable of playing in goals on sunday against Loughgeil so I don't know how he was fit to start against both Carlow and Derry.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Posted on: Today at 07:03:57 AMPosted by: RedandGreenSniper 
Insert Quote
Quote from: highking on July 21, 2008, 06:06:05 PM
Quote from: Bod Mor on July 21, 2008, 02:08:05 AM
Mayo V Carlow

Is this going to be played in Castlebar?


Yes. 3pm in McHale Park next Saturday. Hope to see a good crowd there...


According to Hogan Stand there's a Christy Ring semi-final in McHale Park alright, but Mayo aren't playing. Pity

Christy Ring Semi-Finals

Mayo v Carlow, Mullingar, 3.00

Westmeath v Derry, Castlebar, 5.00.

Hope the Mayo lads can do the biz here, would be a serious shot in the arm for them. Hopefully they'll get a good travelling support but I wouldn't bank on it I'm afraid

Looks like it could be a mistake from Hoganstand (shock, horror). I presume they got the venue's the wrong way around.
Would be strange to have Westmeath's game in Castlebar and Mayo's game in Mullingar!!

Yeah, according to The Mayo News, in an interview with Mayo manager Martin Brennan, the game is in McHale Park. Good stuff, hopefully that should help for a good home support. In fairness the standard might be a long way off the Kilkennys of this world but it is a lot higher than a lot of people in Mayo presume it to be

[Galforever]

From gaa.ie:

Christy Ring Cup Semi-Finals
Mullingar 5.00pm Iar Mhí v Doire
Referee: David O'Donovan (BÁC)
(E.T. if Necessary)
Castlebar 3.00pm Maigh Eo v Ceatharlach
Referee: Alan Kelly (Gaillimh)
(E.T. if Necessary)



A possible scenario?

Mayo win the christy ring & gets promoted to liam mcarthy

Assume nexts years Liam McCarthy format is the same as this year.

Does that automatically create a connacht championship?  And in the case of Galway accepting the invitation into Leinster, Where does that leave Mayo? Do they come into leinster as well

[nrico2006]

I'm not sure if the Ring winners go straight up - I think they have to play the bottom team in the McCarthy in a play-off.

[slow corner back]

The ring winners have to play laois for a place in the liam mccarthy next year. Same scenario applies to Derry if they get promoted ie where do they fit into the championship structures?

[hurl4ever]

any derry people feel that liam hinphey should be brought onto the panel for this weekends match, as i personally think that they have a better chance than people think, and could make the final. he may be the man to look after murtagh!!