Hurling in small football counties

didlyi · November 19, 2023, 11:13:43 AM

As this is mainly a football site , I ask those from the 5 counties of Leitrim, Fernamagh, Longford, Louth and Cavan what they really think about the proposal to stop them playing league hurling and spend the resources on hurling coaching instead. Is this driven from within and does anyone really care about hurling here? Is there a genuine belief that the GAA is to blame for not promoting hurling in these counties or is that a convenient excuse for the actual truth that the county boards would prefer little or no interference from hurling so they can put all their resources into football?
The reason I ask is I hear the 'nobody here cares about hurling' and on the other hand 'the gaa has failed promotion of the game' in the same breath. The truth lies somehwere between.

Edit to remove caps in thread title...Mod5

Milltown Row2 · November 19, 2023, 12:25:18 PM

A good friend of mine is currently or was last year the manager of Cavan hurling team, the effort him and the coaches put into the team are huge, throughout the league campaign and championship, the commitment he says the lads put in, is phenomenal.

Taking away that side of things will prevent the possibility of a league playoff final in Croke, dent serious effort required in the build up to championship.

Getting from preseason league to championship requires strength conditioning training 100's hours of drills, training games and a league campaign.

To expect a county to just turn up in May and play is just daft..

Trust me, these teams will be training away doing all their other stuff and will have competitive games lined up with various clubs and counties, the spend will probably be the same.

And why would you deny them that?

Is the GAA in debt?

Brendan · November 19, 2023, 01:30:28 PM

A problem I have with the current system, Fermanagh has 1 club so basically 1 club contributing to the county team and getting tens of thousands spent on their players, furthering the gap between them and the emerging teams who are only fielding at underage at the minute

Milltown Row2 · November 19, 2023, 02:43:51 PM

Quote from: Brendan on November 19, 2023, 01:30:28 PMA problem I have with the current system, Fermanagh has 1 club so basically 1 club contributing to the county team and getting tens of thousands spent on their players, furthering the gap between them and the emerging teams who are only fielding at underage at the minute

They play in another counties league, so they are competing and promoting hurling, and if it's only one team, they'll hardly be spending what Kilkenny spends on intercounty prep, Lisnaskea play also.. besides, not too many clubs in Fermanagh a football either

Eire90 · November 19, 2023, 02:46:14 PM

is there counties with only two junior hurling clubs so do they just one championship match a year

Eire90 · November 19, 2023, 02:52:02 PM

should they not have an ulster club league for hurling antrim derry down can maybe keep their leagues and championships the ulster club championship could be rest of ulster champions then down derry antrim champions.

Milltown Row2 · November 19, 2023, 03:04:24 PM

Quote from: Eire90 on November 19, 2023, 02:52:02 PMshould they not have an ulster club league for hurling antrim derry down can maybe keep their leagues and championships the ulster club championship could be rest of ulster champions then down derry antrim champions.

There has been many formats over the years, there was a winter Ulster league (my last medal

) that teams from all over played in prior to normal leagues.. nearly sure there was a mid Ulster league too..

Antrim caters for clubs from Armagh, Tyrone, Derry and Down, we are certainly doing our bit in Ulster and long gone are the days of all Antrim club's winning the grades in the Ulster club, so standards across Ulster has improved..

The problem for most clubs is the duality of the various clubs and fitting those fixtures into already busy leagues..

didlyi · November 19, 2023, 07:00:50 PM

https://twitter.com/ShaneSaint/status/1725590429783986442

Sambo seems very sure where the problem lies. You would think he knows the problems with hurling more than most in that part of the country/

ardtole · November 19, 2023, 07:17:44 PM

Hard to disagree with anything Sambo is saying there.

Saffrongael · November 19, 2023, 07:24:44 PM

Quote from: didlyi on November 19, 2023, 07:00:50 PMhttps://twitter.com/ShaneSaint/status/1725590429783986442

Sambo seems very sure where the problem lies. You would think he knows the problems with hurling more than most in that part of the country/

Sambo good for a sound byte, but if you want serious analysis best look elsewhere

marty34 · November 19, 2023, 08:32:53 PM

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on November 19, 2023, 03:04:24 PM
Quote from: Eire90 on November 19, 2023, 02:52:02 PMshould they not have an ulster club league for hurling antrim derry down can maybe keep their leagues and championships the ulster club championship could be rest of ulster champions then down derry antrim champions.

There has been many formats over the years, there was a winter Ulster league (my last medal ) that teams from all over played in prior to normal leagues.. nearly sure there was a mid Ulster league too..

Antrim caters for clubs from Armagh, Tyrone, Derry and Down, we are certainly doing our bit in Ulster and long gone are the days of all Antrim club's winning the grades in the Ulster club, so standards across Ulster has improved..

The problem for most clubs is the duality of the various clubs and fitting those fixtures into already busy leagues..

Don't think they allow teams in now, especially at underage level.

Dungannon and Na Magha (iirc) are in at league level but down the divisions at senior level.

Antrim happy enough not to promote other teams/counties which is fair enough.

Ulster League could be an option for the rest of the counties. Bit of travel but it could work.

Milltown Row2 · November 19, 2023, 08:47:50 PM

Quote from: marty34 on November 19, 2023, 08:32:53 PM
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on November 19, 2023, 03:04:24 PM
Quote from: Eire90 on November 19, 2023, 02:52:02 PMshould they not have an ulster club league for hurling antrim derry down can maybe keep their leagues and championships the ulster club championship could be rest of ulster champions then down derry antrim champions.

There has been many formats over the years, there was a winter Ulster league (my last medal ) that teams from all over played in prior to normal leagues.. nearly sure there was a mid Ulster league too..

Antrim caters for clubs from Armagh, Tyrone, Derry and Down, we are certainly doing our bit in Ulster and long gone are the days of all Antrim club's winning the grades in the Ulster club, so standards across Ulster has improved..

The problem for most clubs is the duality of the various clubs and fitting those fixtures into already busy leagues..

Don't think they allow teams in now, especially at underage level.

Dungannon and Na Magha (iirc) are in at league level but down the divisions at senior level.

Antrim happy enough not to promote other teams/counties which is fair enough.

Ulster League could be an option for the rest of the counties. Bit of travel but it could work.

They are in at the level they are at, the best way for them to improve is by beating better teams

Itchy · November 19, 2023, 08:54:56 PM

Well pumping money into training kids that probably are not that interested in being trained in the game wont help either. Personally I think the only way for hurling to thrive in counties like Cavan is for some sort of split season at underage. Example Football April to July, Hurling from Aug to Oct. In small clubs like mine, where you are pulling on the same kids for both sports well in Cavan there will only be one winner.

And to be honest, and I got big grief for this on another thread, small counties cannot afford to keep 2 intercounty teams running and should be focusing on their primary sport. Cavan hurling has improved but in reality an Intermediate club team in Antrim would probably hammer them and the reality is no one I know would even think about going to watch a game. Sorry.

Armagh18 · November 19, 2023, 09:28:13 PM

Quote from: Itchy on November 19, 2023, 08:54:56 PMWell pumping money into training kids that probably are not that interested in being trained in the game wont help either. Personally I think the only way for hurling to thrive in counties like Cavan is for some sort of split season at underage. Example Football April to July, Hurling from Aug to Oct. In small clubs like mine, where you are pulling on the same kids for both sports well in Cavan there will only be one winner.

And to be honest, and I got big grief for this on another thread, small counties cannot afford to keep 2 intercounty teams running and should be focusing on their primary sport. Cavan hurling has improved but in reality an Intermediate club team in Antrim would probably hammer them and the reality is no one I know would even think about going to watch a game. Sorry.

Lads in Cavan that have an interest in hurling deserve the chance to represent their county and should be treated equally to the footballers, completely see where you're coming from.

Wildweasel74 · November 19, 2023, 09:52:44 PM

Simply put their are plenty of clubs of a good size who should have hurling teans, there about 5/6 teams in Derry should have teas, the drive has to come from within the clubs, but unless the have people coming into the area from strong hurling backgrounds it's a struggle, Derry could in theory have 15/20 hurling teas if they put there mine to it, very little hurling is played in Derry primary schools,