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Great stuff from the Saffrons. It would be brillant if they could use this to build a decent NHL campaign although they got a very tough draw. I know people are saying its only the Walsh cup but remember that Kilkenny have won this competition for the past 3-4 years so that in itself says something.

Hopefully the sign of things to come and a good omen perhaps for Dunloy as they face Leinster opposition on the 24th of Feb.

I don't know why the Bredagh lads aren't at the juniors as they certainly have a few lads worth their place on the squad at least, perhaps Lecale could throw some light on that. Their promotion means nothing in terms of qualifying for the juniors as Liatriom, Newry, Ballea etc all have players on the squad. I heard that they weren't particularly welcomed with open arms at training etc in the past and that may be a factor

As for the Betsy Gray, given Bredagh will be at full strength they would have to be favourites. I know that the likes of ourselves will be missing 7-8 players between the Juniors and Seniors with teams such as Liatriom also seriously down on numbers.

Given the decision to play without the junior players I don't think the hurling board had much choice but to go for an "official" guideline of 12 players although all the clubs at the meeting on Monday were clear that if they had 15 players available they would play 15 a side. 

I played with Aidan myself at Queens and he was a fine hurler although an absolute nightmare to get to training or indeed matches.

Gave the impression at that stage that he was in Belfast to get away from the hype and the pressure of hurling at home along with having as good a time as possible and seemed to have a very laid back attitude to the game.In fairness to him that was possibly due to being "turned off" playing from having so many different teams to play for.

Paul Keith is a minor and started in the county final as well, don't think there was anyone else who started although Paudie Flynn would probably have been close if he hadn't got injured earlier in the year and certainly played some league games for them while Sean Ennis is only out of minor having been the minor captain last year.

Won't stop me being involved at an underage coaching level with club or county - reality is we volunteer because we love the game and want to pass it on to the next generation. Some players getting 1500 euro shouldn't change that - I think people need a relaity check here, how many clubs in Ireland aren't paying their managers to take senior teams even in division 3-4 of various county leagues.

Are people honestly suggesting that these managers do more to promote the game than the inter county players that pack Croke Park- I don't agree at all with pay for play but these grants certainly aren't pay for play and don't even come from the GAA coffers.

Volunterring has always been the backbone of the GAA and the GPA grants issue won't change that but the increasingly self centred outlook of modern society might.

Congrats to the Crans on another fine win in the Minor Championship. I would have no hesitation in saying that the current group of Cran minors would have to be one of the strongest teams ever in that competition. Future looks very bright for the men from Mc Kenna Park over the next few years.

Young fella, like Johnny Cool would eb reluctant to part with my copy. The Kilkenny County Board had a great handbook developed a couple of years ago by their hurling officer which was given to all their club coaches I think. I got a copy off a guy in Kilkenny, I'm sure if you contacted the Kilkenny county board they would be able to get you a copy. Deals with basic skills, full of great drills and also highlights basic dietary information along with physical fitness etc.

I've a copy of Tony Wall's book myself, it is stiil a great book for coaching the basic skills even if it is about 30-40 years old now. Like yourself Johhnycool inherited mine from the old boy.

Tayto - where and what time is the macth on Sunday?

Great performance from Birr who really deserved their win, their half back line was outstanding and provided a real platform for them particularly in the 2nd half. Novel pairing in the final now and despite Birr's victory I'm sure Ballyboden would rather be facing them than Ballyhale simply as many of the Boden lads would have no fear of offaly hurling given the recent success of dublin underage hurling in the past five years or so.

Interesting macth up - is the Leinster final fixed yet? If so where and when.

I voted for Donal Og, hard call between himself and Fitzhenry as they are both great keppers. I think the public preception of Donal Og is very off in terms of the GPA thing, he is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for a lot of players in the background and taking the flak accordingly.

The guys trains his own club team, is involve in the juvenile coaching in his club and has shown a real willingness to be involved in hurling promotion around the country.

Sligeach - your last comment was a low dig and says more about you and your mentality than the palyer you tried to slight. Gobsh*te.

Letting Armagh use the Marshes??? The pitch is under enough pressure as it is in terms of the volumes of games being played between county, schools, club championship and the use of Shamrocks teams in both hurling and football.

My concern and I voiced this at the time is that Shamrocks team will get to play on this pitch less and less, already there is talk of a ban on training on the pitch from a club persepctive which I have no real issue with in terms of protecting the pitch but at the same time its a bit rich then to have another county play their games there. IMO we can't expect to have all the gain of having a top class pitch and facilties provided for us from a club perepctive and not expect some pain i terms of access to the pitch but that arguement on behalf of the county board is undermined when they suugest letting Armagh use our facilties. I thought Armagh were one of the richest counties in the GAA??

As regards the query about the Bridge being denied access on the Saturday, I think you'll find that is related to Mayobridge's comments about the pitch and the general set-up at the Marshes a couple fo years ago which annoyed a lot of guys at the club while on a previous occasion they arrived unannounced 3-4 years ago and tried to tell the club hurlers to move off the pitch! You can guess the response that got!

The proposal was devised at the Ulster Hurling committee and sent to Ulster Council for ratification, good to see it was past. Need to build our own chapionship and raise our standards here as the recent actions of the HDC regarding Antrim and the All Ireland series shows that they couldn't care less about Ulster hurling.

Johnny heard exactly the same names as you -it is getting ridiculous regarding some of these punters. There were more "backroom" staff in London two years ago than players FFS!

Having these kind of guys involved again will do nothing to convince the Ards clubs that its a new regeime and things will change which to be honest we need. Whether we like it or not, big Kieran, Eoin and Finty are exceptions to this but the reality is that we need the Ards clubs to be fully bought into the county project or it is bound to fail again. You look at Div 1 of the hurling league and the three mentioned players along possibly with Johnny Mc Cusker (when he is in the mood) are the only non Ards players who are excelling in that league and look like they could handle a step up to senior club grade never mind county. This proves that for the forseeable future we are not going to be able to "backfill" the county team with non-Ards players and still compete if the current apathy to the county team continues with some of the Ards senior hurlers.

As I said before I really hope Jongo does a good job but he is being hamstrung before he even begins with some of the baggage being lumbered onto him. I am assuming the meeting in Kilclief is with the Ards clubs, if so why in Kilclief???

Heard a rumour that the Gaelic Life should be interesting this week!

Yes indeed if the rumours are true and I got that from a pretty good source. Unbelievable!