Ulster Club IFC/JFC 2025

[general_lee]

What do u want Lavey to do? There only 10 teams in Derry, how do u sort out Senior,intermediate and junior of that number. Sure only 3/4 counties put in at senior, some just junior. Did Ballinascreen not get murdered down south in their game last year. For all the years of promoting hurling the GAA give up on hurling in the North. There just not enough hurling men in these counties. Derry should have 20 hurling clubs but there nobody in these stand alone fball clubs who played hurling.

Not necessarily having a go at Lavey. It's the Derry cb allowing teams to drop down. Cúchulainns shouldn't be playing Junior either. What happened to Na Magha and Coleraine entering as Junior reps from Derry? Arguably the only two junior level clubs in the county? Ballinascreen destroyed everyone they played last year and got a man sent off straight away in the all Ireland semi final

[Armagh18]

What do u want Lavey to do? There only 10 teams in Derry, how do u sort out Senior,intermediate and junior of that number. Sure only 3/4 counties put in at senior, some just junior. Did Ballinascreen not get murdered down south in their game last year. For all the years of promoting hurling the GAA give up on hurling in the North. There just not enough hurling men in these counties. Derry should have 20 hurling clubs but there nobody in these stand alone fball clubs who played hurling.

Not necessarily having a go at Lavey. It's the Derry cb allowing teams to drop down. Cúchulainns shouldn't be playing Junior either. What happened to Na Magha and Coleraine entering as Junior reps from Derry? Arguably the only two junior level clubs in the county? Ballinascreen destroyed everyone they played last year and got a man sent off straight away in the all Ireland semi final

Not sure tbh. They're miles off Keady and Middletown in Armagh who are intermediate standard in Ulster and competitive at that level.

[general_lee]

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

[oakleaflad]

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

Or it demonstrates that league and championship are completely separate competitions and league means nothing come championship time.
I'd agree it's those clubs level, they're a similar standard to Glenullin.

[OakLeaf]

how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is

You're a wee bit obsessed by this. Derry clubs play without their county players throughout the league. Take Steelstown, Newbridge beat them by 19 points in the league, but when they met the full Steelstown team in the Championship, they only won by 3 and were pushed all the way. Glenullin have only been a division 1 team this year (not for 4 years as you imply). As others have said they didnt get promoted from the intermediate championship last year. They struggled to beat Foreglen in the final this year. Castledawson got promoted to division 1 last year because everything fell right for them. They were awful in the league and worse in the intermediate championship.

Derry will be using this system for years to come so you should probably save yourself the stress and just let it go. Have you ever thought that Derry club football is just very competitive.

[tiempo]

Derry want to get a few Tyrone men on the board to straighten out the format, could feasibly have the 2nd best club championship in the multiverse

[Splash]

What do u want Lavey to do? There only 10 teams in Derry, how do u sort out Senior,intermediate and junior of that number. Sure only 3/4 counties put in at senior, some just junior. Did Ballinascreen not get murdered down south in their game last year. For all the years of promoting hurling the GAA give up on hurling in the North. There just not enough hurling men in these counties. Derry should have 20 hurling clubs but there nobody in these stand alone fball clubs who played hurling.

Agree there's not enough clubs in Derry. Who is the 10th team, assuming you're counting St Finnbarr's as the 9th team?

There are several clubs which have hurling at underage, so hopefully in the next few years these eventually translate to senior teams.

The system probably isn't fair on other counties as has been demonstrated by Lavey this year, and Ballinascreen last year. I have been backing Lavey from before they even qualified for the junior, but I have heard people saying this year Cootehill and Cúchullains could have won it. Lavey were far too strong for both of those sides.

I was incredibly disappointed by Ballinascreen last year in the All Ireland Series- but the more I think about it the more I wonder was it a particularly bad day for them.

It is hard to begrudge Lavey, but it is difficult for the likes of Castlewellan or Glenravel, who are good junior teams, when they come up against teams that would win most senior championships in other counties. 

Ie, Lavey would probably win a Senior Championship in any Ulster county outside Antrim, Down, or Derry.

If Ulster GAA had to intervene, the solution would probably be to stick Na Magha and Coleraine into a junior final every year- but that obviously has massive flaws and wouldn't work.

The solution is 2-fold: we need to raise the overall standard of club hurling in Ulster, and we need more teams. It is not unfeasible that there could be 20 senior hurling teams in Derry in the next 10 years if the work was put in.

[GTP]

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

Some people may be defensive about it because it seems to be brought up before and after every round of the Ulster Championship and the perfectly reasonable explanations for why it occurred are ignored.
Division 1 football teams in Derry are not always Senior and Division 2 teams are not always Intermediate.

[Armagh18]

Think Lavey are around the level of Middletown would that be fair to say? Who have won the Armagh senior championship 7 years in a row and play in Ulster intermediate?

[marty34]

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

Are yous mixing up football and hurling in this debate?

[Milltown Row2]

Its the same debate different codes, but the same focus from counties to have 'better' representation in the Ulster and All Ireland club

[OakLeaf]

The solution is 2-fold: we need to raise the overall standard of club hurling in Ulster, and we need more teams. It is not unfeasible that there could be 20 senior hurling teams in Derry in the next 10 years if the work was put in.

We're getting off topic here as this is a football thread. There's actually only 8 adult hurling teams in Derry.

I think the only solution to improve levels throughout Ulster is to have leagues at the Ulster level instead of within each county. Grades could be assigned using league positions. Then teams go back to their own county championships.

[Armagh18]

The solution is 2-fold: we need to raise the overall standard of club hurling in Ulster, and we need more teams. It is not unfeasible that there could be 20 senior hurling teams in Derry in the next 10 years if the work was put in.

We're getting off topic here as this is a football thread. There's actually only 8 adult hurling teams in Derry.

I think the only solution to improve levels throughout Ulster is to have leagues at the Ulster level instead of within each county. Grades could be assigned using league positions. Then teams go back to their own county championships.

Good idea but the travelling and cost would put people off.

[Milltown Row2]

To throw a small hand grenade in there and I've mentioned this before..

A lot of counties don't put much into there leagues (well tyrone do   )

Could their be a competition that could be run side by side with the league winners playing in a Ulster All Ireland style competition? It would mean giving the league a purpose

[oakleaflad]

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

What's happening here is counties are embarrassed at how their representatives are performing when truthfully their winners are at a low to mid Intermediate standard in other counties.

Think people just want a level playing field, as much as is possible. Lavey hurlers playing Junior, Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate. Anything for a chance at handy silverware I suppose.

Glenullin footballers playing Intermediate is fine though. You'd have had a case 2-3 years ago and everyone, Glenullin included, would have agreed.
As said previously they didn't get promoted from the Intermediate championship last year. Our leagues and championship are separate. Another Div1 side were in the relegation playoffs of Intermediate this season having not won a championship game. And if we levelled the playing field you'd have the likes of Swatragh or Ballinascreen as our Intermediate representatives. Instead we're giving you all a chance by having almost half our clubs in the senior championship 

Some of you are very defensive of your set up that allows a Division 1 club to win 3 intermediate championships in 4 years. The fact a division 1 club could have potentially ended up in junior for 2026 further demonstrates how farcical decoupling leagues and championships is. Considering Swatragh & Ballinascreen have done nothing at senior level perhaps intermediate is their level?

Are yous mixing up football and hurling in this debate?

No