Ulster Club Senior Hurling Championship 08

[Lecale2]

Ballygalget 4-13 0-12 Keady
Cushendall 3-13 2-08 Kevin Lynchs

Ballygalget only made it safe in the last 5 minutes with 2-2 without reply. I was surprised how well Keady played. The other game was a tough encounter with 2 strong defenses on top.

[Minder]

Two strong defences but two pretty poor attacks

[lynchbhoy]

Jeez LB..you are playing down your team bigtime. I know KL have made changes this year but in the last two years you have ran both Cushendall & Dunloy very close & i'd expect the same again tomorrow. Alot will depend on what form the Cushendall forwards are in. I'd expect to see a very tight hard hitting match.

no I was trying to be honest without saying too much before the game...
The new management are going to be good in the long run, but hurling in Dungiven has been under the wing of one man for a long time
and the new managment are going to take a wee while to find their feet.
IMO they have done well , done all the right htings - trying new players , trying players in diff positions etc ,but this went on too late in the season due to the nature of when the hurling is played in Dery.
I'd like to see KL's play in the ulster league, but I am one of the minority on this.
I think (and have done all year) that it will be next year before KL's start to hit top gear again.
No disrespect to the management team (who I hold in high regard) you cant expect to step straight up and win all round you - not against th etop teams in ulster like the Antrim and down champs.

Congrats cushendall, hard luck Lynch's, we will be back next year - please God.

[milltown row]

how did gortnamona do today

[milltown row]

Cushendall could have lost this one. their shooting was terrible and had Lynchs been sharper they could have came away with a win.

AD missed 2 or 3 in front of goal and McKeegan missed plenty of frees. will Ballygalget punish them? and why is it on next week, i be away to Newry

[Two Hands FFS]

Due to the Railway cup. Ulster play in two weeks time

[Lecale2]

Why is the game not away to Newry (or Ballycran)? Antrim clubs play most of these Ulster games at home in Casement. Not fair IMO.

[Lecale2]

The officials were shite today, IMO.

I agreed; with a couple of exceptions!

[Lecale2]

 

[milltown row]

your a piss taker Station

what was the inter. results?

[Bacon]

your a piss taker Station

what was the inter. results?

I heard that Setanta beat Ballela by 7-8 points in the Junior Semi Final.

[orangeman]

Yes, the Pomeroy boys that were with John Devlin were dead on but thon shower of Down f**kers were cat.

Must have been bad !

[Guillem2]

Gort Na Mona and Carrickmore drew in the IHC. Replay next weekend.

I thought the officials did ok. What's the fuse about?

[johnneycool]

Christ we were poor yesterday and must have forgot what got us passed portaferry. The sharpness in the tackle, quick ball all didn't materialise yesterday and maybe some celebrated a bit too hard and also underestimated Keady by the looks of things. The angles we were shooting from were terrible, especially dingy, but the lads following up from the half forwards and midfield weren't exactly busting their guts to make themselves available. However a wins a win even if the last two goals but an undeserved shine on the margin. Keady seemed to make far too many substitutions when they were still in the game and that coupled with a lack of fitness in some positions lead to their collapse at the end

The second game never really sprung to life and only the few forrays by big Geoffrey did get the crowd get going which was disappointing. The Lynches started brightly and seemed to catch the cushendall fullback line off guard but once they settled it was hard to see where the scores from play would come from. The Dall play this sweeper type role and yesterday it seemed to be Sean Delargy getting a lot of ball in and around the middle and either running through with it or playing it down the lines. I only hope that some of the Ballygalget mentors noticed how far up the field the Dall half forwards stay, leaving a lot of space for the full forward line and counteract it. Shane McNaughton aside, the rest of their forwards didn't seem to click with some really bad wides from both placed balls and play. Shane took his two goals well but I thought he got away with a fairly obvious push in the back as the ball was coming in, but as they say, it's only a free if its given.
I was disappointed with the Lynch's but their new chain smoking management maybe need to balance the team a bit more as Emmet McKeever is no centre forward and a spoiler in there is well and good if you have good hurlers around him which they didn't. I was surprised that Kevin Hinphey wasn't put in there to try get the ball past that line as the Dall seemed to have the numbers there to cope with anything thrown at them. As an aside they were caught in possession a bit too often and were a bit pedestrian in their striking and lifting. Hopefully they'll see sense and get into the ulster league which will help step up the sharpeness in their wrists.

As for the final, firstly I think it's a disgrace that none of the four clubs involved yesterday were aware about the final being brought forward a week to facilitate the railway cup until it was announced over the tannoy, certainly Ballygalget club weren't and neither did the Cushendall management as they were as surprised as anyone in Ballygalget.

With our senior manager on holidays, missing yesterdays game against Keady which was thrown in very late in the day, he'll miss all this weeks preparation as he's not back until the weekend coupled with magic's injury even though I don't think he'd make it anyway there's no way we'd have agreed to it.

Who made the decision and who did they consult?

Yes, the Pomeroy boys that were with John Devlin were dead on but thon shower of Down f**kers were cat.

who, the umpires who hadn't a clue where to stand especially the lads at the andytown road end?

[lynchbhoy]

The second game never really sprung to life and only the few forrays by big Geoffrey did get the crowd get going which was disappointing. The Lynches started brightly and seemed to catch the cushendall fullback line off guard but once they settled it was hard to see where the scores from play would come from. The Dall play this sweeper type role and yesterday it seemed to be Sean Delargy getting a lot of ball in and around the middle and either running through with it or playing it down the lines. I only hope that some of the Ballygalget mentors noticed how far up the field the Dall half forwards stay, leaving a lot of space for the full forward line and counteract it. Shane McNaughton aside, the rest of their forwards didn't seem to click with some really bad wides from both placed balls and play. Shane took his two goals well but I thought he got away with a fairly obvious push in the back as the ball was coming in, but as they say, it's only a free if its given.
I was disappointed with the Lynch's but their new chain smoking management maybe need to balance the team a bit more as Emmet McKeever is no centre forward and a spoiler in there is well and good if you have good hurlers around him which they didn't. I was surprised that Kevin Hinphey wasn't put in there to try get the ball past that line as the Dall seemed to have the numbers there to cope with anything thrown at them. As an aside they were caught in possession a bit too often and were a bit pedestrian in their striking and lifting. Hopefully they'll see sense and get into the ulster league which will help step up the sharpeness in their wrists.

While its easy to criticise the management, they are on a learning curve themselves.
I'd prob pick a diff team, but then again I dont have the hurling knowledge these guys have.
Cushendall are a slick team and it was the defensive efforts of  all 15 men of both teams that made it a close quarter game, which cushendall would always win as they are just that bit more skillful.
KL's learned from this exp 2 years ago and were a lot better against Dunloy, but there is a lot to do yet.
I'd not start Geoffrey but if the ball goes in that full forward line can be lethal - however like in a lot of teams, the supply is hard to get.
Also KL's need to concentrate on taking scores from distance and knowing when not to attempt a shot (in a poor percentage location or on the point of being blocked down).
They started their training a lot later this year so they would be fresher for the ulster challenge, but possibly could have benefited from a couple more weeks.
But good luck to cushendall as they are a great side and will be hard stopped now.