All Ireland Senior Hurling Final - Port Láirge vs Cill Chainnigh - 7/09/2008

[orangeman]

That surely was an awsome display but the question is, are Kilkenny so far out in fornt or are the other teams just not that good? I think they are that good, however, it is not good for teh game. It reminds me of the 50's when Real Madrid spent all the money on buying players to sit ont he bench just so they would not have to play against them!

Although Kilkenny is not buying players, obviously, there is a financial discrepancy here that nobody at the GAA seems to want to talk about. The fact of the matter is that there are counties out there who filter all of their funding into one sport. In Kilkenny's case it is hurling, most of the northern counties it is football. It is the same for most of the stronger hurling counties in the past, Tipp, Waterford, Limerick, they all may have football teams but in fairness, they are token teams to make up the numbers.

Now, if say Wexford dropped the football and concentrated on the hurling only, maybe Kilkenny would have a challenger in Leinster. I think the GAA needs to look at this as a mtatter of urgency, I do not believe this crap of them being 'Born with hurleys in their hands'. There needs to be a level playing field. Search online and I dare you to prove me wrong, a disproportionate number of sports grants go to hurling in Kilkenny, from the GAA and National Lottery etc. If we want to be serious about promoting our game it does not serve it well to have one team consistently winning championships, maybe the GAA needs to impliment a ruling to have a proportionate amout of their funding spent on other GAA sprorts in each county. This may level the playing field.

This is not a rant nor a jibe at Kilkenny, greatness should be recognised in every sport, but I feel the future of the game needs the run away teams to be curtailed in some way.

[/b][/i]


What a load of balls !!!!!! Kilkenny don't win titles because they get grants or National Lottery funding ! They win titles because they've got the best hurlers around - Shefflin, Brennan, Larkin, Cha, Hickey,Walsh, JJ, Kvanagh etc etc etc !


Money has NOTHING to do with it !


I suppose Kerry get a pile of grants as well ??

[Bud Wiser]

I do not believe this crap of them being 'Born with hurleys in their hands'.

Neither do a lot of others believe it, and that is their downfall.

I live in an area where there is a green space down the road and years ago there were childrens playground equipment to be installed.  It never was  - insurance and people afraid that children would fall and claim insurance being the reason.

Did you see the program on St. Kierans College the other night, the college from where 11 of yesterdays team came from?  There is no teacher in Dublin that would put children of the ages of the young lads shown through the training those young lads were getting.  Why???  Because we have grown into an insurance claim culture that we can't shake off, if a woman fell on her arse in a shop down in Kerry or Laois she would run out the door with embarressment, if a woman fell on her arse in a shop in Dublin she would be carried out the door to a solicitor.  Teachers are afraid to take on the responsibility and even where teachers are prepared to teach young lads up to 14 yrs they are still restricted by being responsible for those the train, apart from the fact that 90% of teachers are women and have no interest in hurling.

The only teachers that are not afraid to take on hurling and deal with the issues around being afraid of safety or a young lad getting a belt on the head are in St. Kierans and in my opinion the only way to stop the Cats dominance would be to blow it about six fet of the ground which would be a fairly extreme measure.  Young lads need to be hurling from 6yrs of age and to do that training has to be part of the PE at all national schools, or at least optional.  Most schools have hurling blanked for the reasons I have stated = except in Kilkenny of course where they are born with hurls in their hands and if you were down there this morning you would see them carrying them with their schoolbags to school.

[orangeman]

I do not believe this crap of them being 'Born with hurleys in their hands'.

Neither do a lot of others believe it, and that is their downfall.

I live in an area where there is a green space down the road and years ago there were childrens playground equipment to be installed.  It never was  - insurance and people afraid that children would fall and claim insurance being the reason.

Did you see the program on St. Kierans College the other night, the college from where 11 of yesterdays team came from?  There is no teacher in Dublin that would put children of the ages of the young lads shown through the training those young lads were getting.  Why???  Because we have grown into an insurance claim culture that we can't shake off, if a woman fell on her arse in a shop down in Kerry or Laois she would run out the door with embarressment, if a woman fell on her arse in a shop in Dublin she would be carried out the door to a solicitor.  Teachers are afraid to take on the responsibility and even where teachers are prepared to teach young lads up to 14 yrs they are still restricted by being responsible for those the train, apart from the fact that 90% of teachers are women and have no interest in hurling.

The only teachers that are not afraid to take on hurling and deal with the issues around being afraid of safety or a young lad getting a belt on the head are in St. Kierans and in my opinion the only way to stop the Cats dominance would be to blow it about six fet of the ground which would be a fairly extreme measure.  Young lads need to be hurling from 6yrs of age and to do that training has to be part of the PE at all national schools, or at least optional.  Most schools have hurling blanked for the reasons I have stated = except in Kilkenny of course where they are born with hurls in their hands and if you were down there this morning you would see them carrying them with their schoolbags to school.

Very true and a very good post Bud ! 

[Rub-a-dub-Dub]

I suppose you have to get jibes in at Dublin people. I try to have a serious discussion and of course a Dub is not allowed to have an opinion about GAA, we are all coked up supporters who know nothing about the game eh!

It makes me sick to the back teeth the way Dubs are thought of in the GAA community.

[orangeman]

I suppose you have to get jibes in at Dublin people. I try to have a serious discussion and of course a Dub is not allowed to have an opinion about GAA, we are all coked up supporters who know nothing about the game eh!

It makes me sick to the back teeth the way Dubs are thought of in the GAA community.

We all love the Dubs - sure they keep the association afloat - without them, there would be no GAA ! 

[Rub-a-dub-Dub]

I suppose you have to get jibes in at Dublin people. I try to have a serious discussion and of course a Dub is not allowed to have an opinion about GAA, we are all coked up supporters who know nothing about the game eh!

It makes me sick to the back teeth the way Dubs are thought of in the GAA community.

We all love the Dubs - sure they keep the association afloat - without them, there would be no GAA ! 

Thank you oranageman, I was refering to the previous poster with the jibe about the insurance claims.....

Anyways, I am just trying to figure out, how can you make the playing field level with Kilkenny. I mean, it seems wrong to punish greatness, but something has to be done, otherwise kids in other counties will have no interest in playing the game we all love and my fear is that it will die a death in some of the smaller counties.

[orangeman]

As someone on the radio yesterday evening said, this Kilkenny team will NOT last forever and will come to an end sometime - all this talk of 6 in a row is shite - it won't happen !

23 point hidings in All reland finals are very rare - Wateford created a stick for themselves when they got rid of Mc Carthy and the truth is that not a lot of neutrals have any sympathy for what happened yesterday.

[AZOffaly]

Maybe Brian Cody will retire, or better yet, create a new dynasty in Offaly

It's always darkest just before the dawn.

[kevmy]

As a Mayoman I felt I had to come on and say to all Waterford fans that I know the pain!! Take a while away from it and in a few months ye'll be only rarin for a bit of action again. Keep the head up and keep the faith. Hopefully ye'll make it some day, though I feel this team missed the boat in 04 and again last year.

Kilkenny are awesome no doubt about it. It takes a fantastic team to win a three-in-a-row and they are one of the best ever. However they won't last forever. Kerry won 7 titles in 9 years in the 80's in football and then went 11 years without winning one. Sure they'll be odds on to win it next year but maybe with Galway in Leinster things mightn't be quite as easy for them over the next few years.

People should also remember the final of 06 when Kilkenny stopped Cork from the 3-in-a-row. Everyone back then was saying Cork were the team of the decade and now it's Kilkenny. Things change faster than ye think

[Bud Wiser]

Rub a dub dub,

I am not getting at Dubs, it is fair to say that in certain large cities there is more of a claim culture than others. I install CCTV for shops and the main reason is to detect false insurance claims - that happens in Dublin more than in the country and the trend in the country for repair of a broken arm is still a bit of goose grease or a bonesetter or maybe the odd trip to the hospital and back to work but claiming is not as prolific.  I'll put it a different way, and I am sorry if it offends you because it is not intended to.  I would give anything to be allowed train a group of young lads to play hurling, I would love it - but - I would be a bit scared about the insurance risk of doing it in Dublin as against down in the sticks.  It is just a fact of life, nothing to do with getting at Dublin, there are hundreds of thousands of children in Dublin out of a population of 1.75 million and not one of them going to school today would have had a hurl.    The reason they don't is because teachers at national level don't want them to have them.

Ballyboden and indeed all the clubs do a wonderful job with the young lads but counties like the Cats have five years of skill level in the tank ahead of them before they even line out for an U14 game.  If one school, just one school in Dublin adapted hurling as part of the daily luchtime break, even twice a week they have a huge advantage over any other youg lad.

(When I was in Croke Park at the Cats V Cork game I went to buy a hurley for a six year old I am learning the basics to from behind the Cusack Stand - It was retrieved from the back of the shop with efficiency by the girl who informed me that it was €24 !    Maybe that is another reason why we can't promote hurling)

[Minder]

The most impressive thing about that Kilkenny team is their workrate, of course they have skill levels that dont seem human but these fellas never stop tackling. Eoin Kelly came back very deep to help out the backs in the second half and he was tormented by Kilkenny forwards, every time he got the ball there were three round him thumping him (legally). I couldnt see the Waterford backs trying to soften up the Kilkenny forwards as i was towrds Hill 16, i was busy watching Jackie Tyrell softening up Eoin Mc Grath, he spent the first 5 minutes burying his shoulder into Mc Grath before the ball came. People forget Kilkenny players are all wirey, strong f*ckers who will hit you harder than you have been hit before.

[orangeman]

The most impressive thing about that Kilkenny team is their workrate, of course they have skill levels that dont seem human but these fellas never stop tackling. Eoin Kelly came back very deep to help out the backs in the second half and he was tormented by Kilkenny forwards, every time he got the ball there were three round him thumping him (legally). I couldnt see the Waterford backs trying to soften up the Kilkenny forwards as i was towrds Hill 16, i was busy watching Jackie Tyrell softening up Eoin Mc Grath, he spent the first 5 minutes burying his shoulder into Mc Grath before the ball came. People forget Kilkenny players are all wirey, strong f*ckers who will hit you harder than you have been hit before.

Eoin Kelly didn't know what hit him yesterday -

Who was the guys that were hitting the hardest and most often ?

Eddie Brennan and King Henry ! So if they're doing it, the others have to step up as well.

[winsamsoon]

Just out of interest lads what was the price of the tickets for the game yesterday? because i saw tickets with no prices on them and was just wondering what they would have cost for the final.

[orangeman]

Just out of interest lads what was the price of the tickets for the game yesterday? because i saw tickets with no prices on them and was just wondering what they would have cost for the final.

€ 70 each

[winsamsoon]

cheers orangeman.