Messages

i agree totally with hurl4ever point on having a triple header-this could and should have been done. the treatment of the christy ring goes to show that an elitest attitude is emerging more and more in the gaa-if it don't make money, throw it out.

great to see and it just goes to show how a little organisation can go a long way to getting things done. i wish they could have organised a hurling team from the soccer loving secondary level schools of my city of Derry! Now that would be a bigger challenge than the cross community effort in Belfast

great credit to the Tamar Douban from Na Magha in Derry City. We're a small club in a soccer dominated city (and a football dominated county!) and to win something at an all ireland level is a big deal to us. Hopefully there is more to come from this club and we make an appearance as a team at the Feile in the near future

i sympathise with the views expressed by rolloutking with regards to hurling in Armagh. I guess ,besides Antrim, that it is a similar story everywhere in Ulster-county boards just paying lip service to Hurling. I know it has been mentioned on different threads but the treament of the Derry minors is a disgrace. You have peopole giving up there time to coach and manage teams but are faced with obstacles from their own county board and now ulster council.
Another example of paying lip service to hurling is the appointment of development officers by either county boards or local councils. I have heard thats some council officers in a nearby council are only allowed to dedicate one eighth of their time to hurling because that reflects the make of clubs in the area-well i thought the ethos of development is make stronger the weaker parts i.e. hurling, camogie and ladies football. However that would make to much sense and would be far too hard work for coaches, who by the way, have football backgrounds! Would it not make more sense to appoint a hurling only coach, who copuld dedicate their time to developing hurling in the schools and also in the existing football clubs.
I think one thing is for sure is that if hurling is going to improve in Derry, Armagh, Donegal etc is that we need more clubs playing swinging the ash. At the minute there are no incentives or encouragement from county boards for that to happen. In Derry there have no clubs since Eoghan Rua to have taken up Hurling seriously- i actually see more moves in Donegal (aided by school system) and Tyrone (who successfully hosted Feile this year). I guess that it is a similar story to Derry in Armagh.
By the way good luck to Derry minors and seniors today!

seen those comments by yer man from Donegal and i thought at the time he would be eating those words very soon. Well done Monaghan.

aye too right there doesn't seem to be any logic to it-just some in the club heard a rumour that it is has been muted

can anyone inform me if it is true that two bands on the hurl are banned?

real shame about Hinphey, i hope it's not the end of his intercounty hurling career. i think he is a decent footballer, but he is a very good hurler. he rarely kicks a ball and his game is limited to short hand passing (although this seems to be a frustrating tactic of Derry footballers) not convinced yet that he will nail down a first team place on the football team but he might prove me wrong. come championship time it will be interesting to see if he is in first team. of course if he committed to the hurlers he would be one of the first on the teamsheet.
i think the whole scenario is symptomatic of attitude towards to hurling in Derry and Ulster in general. it's not cool or the 'in thing' to be a hurler. sad state of affairs if you ask me.

i think bar our friend from the tones, most are agreed that the County Board in Derry is treating hurling terribly and unfairly. Examples are as follows

-treatment of Minor team as well documented and also of the senior team
-derogatory comments made by our county chairman about allocating money to the senior team last year (overheard after Kildare game last year)
-removal of hurling dedicated coaching role within county set up
-no encouragement or proper strategy to increase the number of clubs playing the game in Derry (this happens in Donegal, Tyrone etc)
-recently advertised posts for gaelic games officers will most certainly go a footballing coach.
-censorship on official website
-playing championship games in November/December

The list could go on and on and i'm sure other people here could add to this. maybe this stuff should all be brought to press- but i'm the mr mc cloy would somehow censor that also.

Everybody thought nobody cared about football in Derry City until the late nineties-however the dedication of a few and the backing of people in power has raised the profile and participation in this code. Don't spew this nonsense about nobody in Derry caring about hurling, when it is clear for all to see that it is the powers that be that don't and won't support the code in this county. it is an absolute scandal!