Quote from: Dunloy realist on January 26, 2016, 10:00:36 AMQuote from: whiskeysteve on January 25, 2016, 05:38:07 PMQuote from: cfclg on January 25, 2016, 07:38:06 AM
I have a rant to get off my chest:
See all these people on social media congratulating Coleraine hurlers on their victory in the All Ireland JUNIOR hurling semi. CATCH YOURSELVES ON!
Coleraine were beaten at the quarter final stage of the Derry SENIOR hurling championship by Swatragh in July. Instead of taking their beating like the majority of us and putting the feet up for the winter they decided to use an obvious loophole in the provincial council's rule book and play in an All Ireland JUNIOR competition.
No other provincial council would allow this to happen but I place most of the blame with the club themselves. Its a total disgrace and any victory here will be a shallow one IMO.
End of rant.
total disgrace from our club? at what juncture have we been a proven SENIOR panel? Ourselves and Na Magha made the decision to agree to enter the Derry senior championship. Not on the basis of being too strong for jnr/intermediate but purely down to the fact that we weren't getting too far forming a 2 team 2nd tier.
You are right we took a heavy beating from Swatragh at senior level in exchange for rounding the derry hurling championship out as an 8 team single tier championship. We have played a grand total of TWO senior level teams in championship ever and have lost both. Creggan beat us 2 years ago in the Ulster juniors when we had essentially the same panel. Is this the form of a senior hurling team? Or a junior team? We got well beat in the Ulster intermediate last year by Rossa. We must have forgot we were a bona fide senior team out for a jolly then as well.
Bearing in mind that the county board have alternated ourselves and Na Magha as Derrys junior and intermediate representatives for several years now, and that it was Na Maghas turn to compete at intermediate, what would you have us do for Ulster championship available to us this season, not field? You would do wonders for hurling in our club. Blame the structures that had ourselves and Na Magha switching maybe but why would we not take the competitive route open to us and advance hurling in the club?
Your not a junior hurling club, thats what the poster is trying to say. It is unfair that you get into an ulster competition and not have to win anything for it. The antrim junior champions have to win a championship to get there and thats what prob doesn't sit well with the poster
Its not coleraines fault, its the lack of hurling promotion within derry is the bother. The clubs are not interested in pushing the game enough. Sneill, Lavey, Swatragh all do their part as a dual club and promote both games. Dungiven are a different story as they are two separate clubs so i dont count them in the same vein as the previous clubs.
IMO you should of stayed at intermediate, i seen you last year in the ulster championship and its the level you should compete at.
I'll be for the final and will be supporting you but most def as a club you should be competing at intermediate standard.
I take most of that on board, but what I took issue with in the original post from cfclg was the blaming of our club. I want to repeat 2 things and make them clear when reading rants against the club (tear away at the Ulster council etc):
1. There is no separate junior and intermediate championship to win in Derry, all 8 teams are now thrown together in the one championship despite a clear gulf in class with 2 (ourselves and Na Magha) having been at the lower level and then mandated to move up by agreement, not promotion. The hope is this bears fruit in the long term.
2. As there is no separate junior and intermediate championship a system has been put in place for several years (not by ourselves) that alternates ourselves and Na Magha as the provinical representation for jnr/int. This year was Na Maghas turn to go to intermediate, so to politely contradict the suggestion in your post that we had a choice; we did not. Our choice was to enter junior or not enter anything. What would you have us do within the bounds of this system?
We cannot help the lack of available clubs in Derry to form a second tier within the county, nor can we advance hurling in the club by refusing to field for championships. Competing in junior was the only option left open to us this year. By all means criticise the structures but cfclg made it clear he blamed us for our entry into the junior and would rather we 'put the feet up' and this was what prompted my response, as well as the complete begrudgery toward us.
In any case, as the Ulster junior winners we wont be back in junior for a number of years (i think there is a rule to this effect) so this issue will go away next season.
