Down Hurling Championships underway tomorrow night. Stsrting with a repeat on the 2022 Junior Final. Don't think anybody would have been too surprised by this pairing, with the only caveat being it would have been in the Intermediate Final. Don't think anybody expected Castlewellan to be here, and plenty of people were backing the Point to top the group.
Nonetheless, will probably be the closest game of the weekend. CPN seem to have Castlewellan's number, but Castlewellan have beat the same teams that Warrenpoint beat to get here by bigger margins (albeit the sides have two distinct styles of play). Logically the Point should edge it, but have a feeling Castlewellan may do the back to back, even if they aren't as primed as last year. Interestingly Point manager was on the losing side with Castlewellan in the 2022 fixture.
The novel pairing of Clonduff and Shamrocks in the Intermediate came a bit out of nowhere. Don't think anybody would have been surprised had Clonduff gone out in the group stage based off of form.
Shamrocks have massively regressed from their golden years of 2020-2022ish, but should still probably have enough for Clonduff.
Clonduff will have no fear though, and I have no doubt are backing themselves to grind Shamrocks down and keep the ball off the men who can do the damage.
Senior it's very hard to see past Portaferry. They've won every game in this championship at an average of 25 points, and never looked like they got out of second gear. Ballygalget are the team that came the closest to them (10 points) in the round-robin, but it's very hard to see Portaferry getting caught at the minute. Going for 5 in a row, which to my knowledge, hasn't been done since Kilclief about 100 years ago.
It is all set up for Ballygalget to ruin that, but the Ports will take some stopping in Down.
Should be some good match ups. Some great hurling will be on show.
RE the South Down hurling clubs- there's a few. Point, Clonduff, Shamrocks, as well as Ballela and Ballyvarley.
As has been mentioned, Clann Mhúrn, a hurling club covering An Riocht, Longstone, Attical, Ballymartin, and Gladrumman. As JC says, the trick will be getting them beyond U12. Wouldn't it be great to see?
Couple other clubs this side of the water, although would be considered 'East Down.'
Burren did indeed start up hurling this summer, and by all accounts, it's going well. I know of at least two clubs in South Down who are looking to introduce hurling shortly, and know people in a few more clubs who are talking about going down a similar path, for whatever that's worth.
I don't actually think it's that difficult to start hurling up in clubs at the moment. There is plenty of support available through Hurling Starter Packs, etc., and it is hard to see the downside of clubs offering hurling.
The County Board probably should be taking a more proactive approach to growing the game.
It's great to see individual people and clubs putting the work in, but the Tyrone County Board took the steps to establish 3 hurling clubs in the county.
Something like that done by Down would be unbelievable.
6 clubs have introduced hurling since 2020, if things keep going at that rate it'll be great to see.
Nonetheless, will probably be the closest game of the weekend. CPN seem to have Castlewellan's number, but Castlewellan have beat the same teams that Warrenpoint beat to get here by bigger margins (albeit the sides have two distinct styles of play). Logically the Point should edge it, but have a feeling Castlewellan may do the back to back, even if they aren't as primed as last year. Interestingly Point manager was on the losing side with Castlewellan in the 2022 fixture.
The novel pairing of Clonduff and Shamrocks in the Intermediate came a bit out of nowhere. Don't think anybody would have been surprised had Clonduff gone out in the group stage based off of form.
Shamrocks have massively regressed from their golden years of 2020-2022ish, but should still probably have enough for Clonduff.
Clonduff will have no fear though, and I have no doubt are backing themselves to grind Shamrocks down and keep the ball off the men who can do the damage.
Senior it's very hard to see past Portaferry. They've won every game in this championship at an average of 25 points, and never looked like they got out of second gear. Ballygalget are the team that came the closest to them (10 points) in the round-robin, but it's very hard to see Portaferry getting caught at the minute. Going for 5 in a row, which to my knowledge, hasn't been done since Kilclief about 100 years ago.
It is all set up for Ballygalget to ruin that, but the Ports will take some stopping in Down.
Should be some good match ups. Some great hurling will be on show.
RE the South Down hurling clubs- there's a few. Point, Clonduff, Shamrocks, as well as Ballela and Ballyvarley.
As has been mentioned, Clann Mhúrn, a hurling club covering An Riocht, Longstone, Attical, Ballymartin, and Gladrumman. As JC says, the trick will be getting them beyond U12. Wouldn't it be great to see?
Couple other clubs this side of the water, although would be considered 'East Down.'
Burren did indeed start up hurling this summer, and by all accounts, it's going well. I know of at least two clubs in South Down who are looking to introduce hurling shortly, and know people in a few more clubs who are talking about going down a similar path, for whatever that's worth.
I don't actually think it's that difficult to start hurling up in clubs at the moment. There is plenty of support available through Hurling Starter Packs, etc., and it is hard to see the downside of clubs offering hurling.
The County Board probably should be taking a more proactive approach to growing the game.
It's great to see individual people and clubs putting the work in, but the Tyrone County Board took the steps to establish 3 hurling clubs in the county.
Something like that done by Down would be unbelievable.
6 clubs have introduced hurling since 2020, if things keep going at that rate it'll be great to see.
