Christy Ring

[Franko]

Congrats to Steve and Carlow! Fair play! Pity the fuc**rs in the big house didnt think it was worth televising. Instead we have Fermanagh v Kildare - score after 24 minutes... 0.00 to 0.00. What bollo*ks!

[theskull1]

Thats a mighty result when you consider how far off the pace they were against Antrim a few years back

Well done Carlow

[davereilly]

What was the name of the Meath hurler that used to be very good? He would have played for any county team in Leinster back in the 90s. Was it Sheridan or something? Cathal?

Cathal Sheridan, from the Kiltale club?

[davereilly]

at his peak horan would have started for kilkenny even cody conceded that.

Guys Nicky Horan broke his hand a few years ago and is not the threat he used to be. Although he is probably the most well known meath hurler outside the county, Mike Cole (Rathmolyon) could also start for Kilkenny.

[stevecw]

Thanks for the congrats guy. Im still suffering from the celebrations last night! What a win! What an amazing game. Still gettin over the hangover after the bar that never ended this morning! Fell home at 9, bar stayed open all night & most fans & most of the team were still there! Cant blame them..but *

This game had everything, top class scores, 7 goals, 38 points, a scored peno & saved peno, and 2 goals in injury time to bring match to extra time, amazing comeback, & somehow in the end the underdogs fighting back to win a classic game of hurling.
As Nicky Brennan said after & a few of the reporters are saying in the papers, this just wasnt one of the best games of hurling this year, it was one of the best of any year.
It really was that good. Only pity was that RTE weren't there to show it live. And from what i hear they only gave it about 3 minutes on Sunday game last night!
But really to win it was all that matters to us, finally after being so close so many times, we get that trophy. The celebrations last night in town were brilliant, havent seen anything like it probably ever in Carlow (as we never have anything to celebrate! )

Lets just hope now they can get focused again for next wkend v Laois in the Promotion/Relegation play off.
I just think its so unfair to ask these Carlow guys to play again next wkend after 5 weeks hurling in a row bringing them after the 1st game at home to Down, Tralee, Castlebar, Tullamore.
And obv they will celebrate a lot this week, but next weekends game is actually the real big one.
Win that and we are in the top tier, the Liam McCarthy. Lose it & we're back to Christy Ring 1st round again next June.
We should beat Laois, but could really do with an extra week. And it would be only fair i think.
The team that are winning & doing well get punished, while Laois have had 3 weeks to relax & have enforced their squad for this game with dual stars who had concentrated on football up to this.

Carlow deserve a week off surely, we are a county doing what the gaa want, in developing underage for the last few years. Reaching that Leinster A minor final 2 years ago. Constantly beating Offaly, Laois, Westmeath at minor level. Its feeding through to the seniors now, and even with a young team we are 1 game away from getting to the top table. But fixing the play off for next week could set us back & leave Laois who seem to be going the opposite direction in the Liam McCarthy.

[magpie seanie]

Well done Carlow. Sligo hurling chairman and senior team selector Tom Brenan is a Carlow man so it was a nice double for him!

Major own goal by the GAA not televising these finals.

[stevecw]

Thanks Seanie, im delighted to see Sligo win a game like that. Just a pity your game & ours weren't on tv.
Sligo game looked ok, im sure you can take Roscommon & get promoted!

[Mentalman]

Was at the game last night, and would first like to say I think the best team won. Right from the warm-up we were very lax. I don't know if there was some sort of sense of entitlement amongst our players, or they took Carlow for granted, or indeed some problem in the camp, but we only seemed to get a move on when we went 10 points down in the second half. Either way I think we've taken a step back this year, and no tangible benefits of the new regime have been seen yet - emphasis on yet. Carlow played as a team throughout, making a lot of use of the handpass to get them out of tight situations. On the other hand our midfield was crowed out, the half backs had a bit of a mare, and the forward line won no ball, resulting in massive pressure on the back line. Let's face it only for Brendan Murtagh we wouldn't have been in the game - he scored something line 2-10? In saying that he will probably still blame himself for the loss, missing a penalty in the first period of injury time (could we have had advantage there?) although he shouldn't as we fired 6 other simple wides in the same period which would have killed the game. My only other gripe was that Carlow's first point in the second half was a blatant wide - blatant. However that happens to you, and I suppose what goes around comes around, remembering our square ball goal against Down in the final 4 years ago. An exciting game all round, lots of scores, but I think we'd have to admit that the quality wasn't brilliant at times - reminded me of the EUFA Cup final between Alaves and Liverpool a few years back - you couldn't take your eye off it. Fair dues to Carlow, keep her lit, and best of luck in the playoff!

[Galforever]

Hope Carlow can take Laois now. It would be good for a new different team to be in the Liam McCarthy & I think Laois need to go to Christy Ring level anyways if they are to progress. They were miles off the pace this year so they definitely need to be competing a lower level for at least a year.

I dont know much about the standard of the non-hurling counties. There is obviously a huge gap between christy ring & most of the liam mccarthy teams. But is it the same between the nicky rackard & Christy Ring? Is there also a big gap there? If not, then why have a relegantion /promotion playofff at all & not just have a direct swap?

[AZOffaly]

Can I belatedly add my congratulations to Carlow on a great win. I feel sorry for Johnny Dooley and the Westmeath lads, but they'll surely contest this again next year. It's a big turnaround from the League final where Westmeath were quite a bit better on the day.

Carlow are making strides in hurling, and it's great to see. While I would be very sorry to see Laois dropping out of the McCarthy Cup, I would love to see Carlow up and running in it as well. I won't wish either side the best of luck in the playoff, but I hope the better side wins out on the day.

Well done again in this, and I think it's worth mentioning that these competitions have been a great success, and I hope they continue.

[Mentalman]

I dont know much about the standard of the non-hurling counties. There is obviously a huge gap between christy ring & most of the liam mccarthy teams. But is it the same between the nicky rackard & Christy Ring? Is there also a big gap there? If not, then why have a relegantion /promotion playofff at all & not just have a direct swap?

The difference between the Christy Ring winners and the worst Liam McCarthy county would typically be 3 to 5 points on the day, that's going on recent Westmeath/Laois games. However this year Laois seem to be going a little worse and might not be all that motivated, and if Carlow don't do the dog on it after winning the other night, which they are entitled to do, must be in with a great shout. As for the difference between the Rackard winners and the worst team in Ring tournament, the gap would be even smaller I'd reckon. I think the playoff system was brought in as a compromise. Taking the Ring competition for instance, the first year, 2005, Westmeath won it. On that occasion they were automatically promoted to the McCarthy Cup. After catching Dublin out in the first round in monsoon conditions, they lost to Kilkenny and then they went on to have a torrid time thereafter in the group stages, losing all games before being beat in the relegation play off by Dublin. The following year there was no promotion from Christy Ring for Westmeath despite wining it again, probably based on the fact that ring counties had not been able to bridge the gap, plus none of the Liam McCarthy counties wanting to countenance a year at Ring level, which to be fair would do them no good. So this year the compromise seems to have been reached that the possibility of promotion exists, which is a great carrot, but only if the best Christy Ring county, Carlow, can beat the worst Liam McCarthy county, Laois. That seems fair enough to me - when combined with the changes to the league structure it offers the chance at improvement for al involved. Of course the chance remains though, given this years precedent, that no matter who loses the play off, the Leinster council still might invite them to compete in the Leinster Senior championship next year, while also remaining in the Ring Cup, which I hope is the case.

[johnneycool]

What was the name of the Meath hurler that used to be very good? He would have played for any county team in Leinster back in the 90s. Was it Sheridan or something? Cathal?

Cathal Sheridan, from the Kiltale club?

I know the lad you're talking about but for the life of me can't remember his name now but it's not Sheridan

He's a big lad and was some spud in his day, I think he managed Meath hurlers very recently.

[Galforever]

The difference between the Christy Ring winners and the worst Liam McCarthy county would typically be 3 to 5 points on the day, that's going on recent Westmeath/Laois games. However this year Laois seem to be going a little worse and might not be all that motivated, and if Carlow don't do the dog on it after winning the other night, which they are entitled to do, must be in with a great shout. As for the difference between the Rackard winners and the worst team in Ring tournament, the gap would be even smaller I'd reckon. I think the playoff system was brought in as a compromise. Taking the Ring competition for instance, the first year, 2005, Westmeath won it. On that occasion they were automatically promoted to the McCarthy Cup. After catching Dublin out in the first round in monsoon conditions, they lost to Kilkenny and then they went on to have a torrid time thereafter in the group stages, losing all games before being beat in the relegation play off by Dublin. The following year there was no promotion from Christy Ring for Westmeath despite wining it again, probably based on the fact that ring counties had not been able to bridge the gap, plus none of the Liam McCarthy counties wanting to countenance a year at Ring level, which to be fair would do them no good. So this year the compromise seems to have been reached that the possibility of promotion exists, which is a great carrot, but only if the best Christy Ring county, Carlow, can beat the worst Liam McCarthy county, Laois. That seems fair enough to me - when combined with the changes to the league structure it offers the chance at improvement for al involved. Of course the chance remains though, given this years precedent, that no matter who loses the play off, the Leinster council still might invite them to compete in the Leinster Senior championship next year, while also remaining in the Ring Cup, which I hope is the case

I definitely understand the need for a play off between Ring & McCarthy.

However, between Rackard & Ring, I am not sure if there is a need for a playoff. A straight promotion / relegation would make more sense to me as the gap in standard isnt as big (as far as I know)

[Mentalman]

The difference between the Christy Ring winners and the worst Liam McCarthy county would typically be 3 to 5 points on the day, that's going on recent Westmeath/Laois games. However this year Laois seem to be going a little worse and might not be all that motivated, and if Carlow don't do the dog on it after winning the other night, which they are entitled to do, must be in with a great shout. As for the difference between the Rackard winners and the worst team in Ring tournament, the gap would be even smaller I'd reckon. I think the playoff system was brought in as a compromise. Taking the Ring competition for instance, the first year, 2005, Westmeath won it. On that occasion they were automatically promoted to the McCarthy Cup. After catching Dublin out in the first round in monsoon conditions, they lost to Kilkenny and then they went on to have a torrid time thereafter in the group stages, losing all games before being beat in the relegation play off by Dublin. The following year there was no promotion from Christy Ring for Westmeath despite wining it again, probably based on the fact that ring counties had not been able to bridge the gap, plus none of the Liam McCarthy counties wanting to countenance a year at Ring level, which to be fair would do them no good. So this year the compromise seems to have been reached that the possibility of promotion exists, which is a great carrot, but only if the best Christy Ring county, Carlow, can beat the worst Liam McCarthy county, Laois. That seems fair enough to me - when combined with the changes to the league structure it offers the chance at improvement for al involved. Of course the chance remains though, given this years precedent, that no matter who loses the play off, the Leinster council still might invite them to compete in the Leinster Senior championship next year, while also remaining in the Ring Cup, which I hope is the case

I definitely understand the need for a play off between Ring & McCarthy.

However, between Rackard & Ring, I am not sure if there is a need for a playoff. A straight promotion / relegation would make more sense to me as the gap in standard isnt as big (as far as I know)

Can only guess it's for consistancies sake? (I know a rarely used concept in GAA circles) Looking back at over the four years most Counties promoted to the Christy Ring have lasted at least one year, except for Roscommon this year who are backin the relegation playoff, suggesting the difference between the top of the lowest grade and the bottom of the second tier isn't that great, as you've suggested. Still I imagine no Christy Ring county wants to drop out, andf the playoff offers them a shot at redemption.

[neilthemac]

Roscommon already had two chances at redemption vs meath and london