Dublin

[Dinny Breen]

Micro dosing is all the rage now, drugs get flushed out pretty quickly, so if you take a stimulant with that particular game in mind and take only a small dosage it will be out of the system by the next day.

Fair enough Dinny. Maybe they should just do the blood test so, and forget urine? Anyhow, you seem to be something of an expert with regard to doping in general. I'm getting very suspicious of Kildare and Leinster Rugby

Rugby has it's own problems with drugs and other things indeed Jinxy is quite perceptive with his ramblings above.

You would need drugs to watch Kildare never mind play for them.

[Ohtoohtobe]

I only got to watch highlights of the league final now, and after all I'd read, I was expecting a massacre.
Jaysus, there was a point in it with nearly an hour gone. I understand why Dublin are favourites for Sam, but I wouldn't be handing out medals yet. It's April.
Maybe investment is needed in other counties but I wouldn't be panicking. Dublin have won three out of five AIs and the winning margin in all three was narrow. Kerry won seven out of nine so I think everyone needs to relax.

[GalwayBayBoy]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

They were always better footballers than hurlers. Was no surprise that they opted for the big ball.

[Hound]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

They were always better footballers than hurlers. Was no surprise that they opted for the big ball.

I have in my head that Lowndes was similar level at football and hurling, therefore, would be a bigger loss to the hurlers.
Kilkenny had been rated a better hurler at U14, U15, U16 level (and was raved about by those who saw him as something very special), but by minor I thought he was clearlly a better footballer, while still being a strong hurler of course.
It would have been very interesting to see how Costello might have developed at intercounty hurling. He was very different, abundance of pace and skill.
O'Conghaile was certainly a loss to the hurlers. In my view, a very good footballer, but a better hurler. And while struggling to get game time for the footballers, you would have expected him to be a certain starter for the hurlers by now.

[Hound]

I only got to watch highlights of the league final now, and after all I'd read, I was expecting a massacre.
Jaysus, there was a point in it with nearly an hour gone. I understand why Dublin are favourites for Sam, but I wouldn't be handing out medals yet. It's April.
Maybe investment is needed in other counties but I wouldn't be panicking. Dublin have won three out of five AIs and the winning margin in all three was narrow. Kerry won seven out of nine so I think everyone needs to relax.

Dublin totally dominated midfield, which wasn't really expected, but we didn't make that count for most of the game. Our footpassing was terrible. Flynn and, even moreso, Connolly turned over a mountain of ball, and a good few others chipped in with poor passes.

Then we did get two pieces of good fortune to kill the game - although Kerry have only themselves to blame for it - i.e. the sending off and the keeper handing an easy goal to Flynn. Albeit I'd still maintain that Flynn's finish was a poor one - the right option was to pass it to Bernard who would have had an empty net, but he lashed it straight and hard and the keeper kindly got out of the way.

The penalty and the 2nd goal both game from missed efforts at points that hit the post. So both a mix of luck and good play to react quickest.

I don't like being lucky in the league (and we were nothing short of blessed to beat both Monaghan and Roscommon) as I just feel its inevitable that luck will turn.

Clearly favourites, but I don't think we're as far ahead as we were in May 2014. Then I honestly thought we could win the All Ireland with no team getting within 5 or 6 points of us. Then Donegal happened. There'll be tight and exciting games ahead

[Zulu]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

Nonsense, Kilkenny was a star of his team, Con O'Callaghan is very highly rated and Cormac Costello was a star in the making. That's three potential forwards, not to mention Rory O'Carroll and Diarmuid Connolly (who is apparently a brilliant hurler) as others who could have made the Dubs hurling team. There are other, less high profile guys as well, now if you seriously think 6 to 8 guys who could potentially make the county team wouldn't bring Dublin up a level and beyond a poor Cork, handy Limerick, inconsistent Galway and a host of poor teams like Offaly and Wexford then it's you smoking something. Clare were awful last year and Waterford are still very young, so yeah, second to Kilkenny is not an unreasonable comment.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Micro dosing is all the rage now, drugs get flushed out pretty quickly, so if you take a stimulant with that particular game in mind and take only a small dosage it will be out of the system by the next day.

Fair enough Dinny. Maybe they should just do the blood test so, and forget urine? Anyhow, you seem to be something of an expert with regard to doping in general. I'm getting very suspicious of Kildare and Leinster Rugby

Rugby has it's own problems with drugs and other things indeed Jinxy is quite perceptive with his ramblings above.

You would need drugs to watch Kildare never mind play for them.

Watching Kildare is a natural depressant.

[Lar Naparka]

Lar, as someone who lives in Dublin and has a good knowledge of the general sports scene on both sides of the river, I can tell you it is the GAA that's eating into rugby's participation base, not the other way around.
Nationally, where rugby is making inroads is in the provincial towns and more traditional 'rural' GAA areas, where they are coming from a very low base.
If you look at the traditional rugby powers in Dublin, they are tiny operations compared with the GAA superclubs like Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyboden.
And they're getting smaller by the year, which is why Blackrock were so desperate to enter into a ground-sharing deal with Cuala at Stradbrook.
The provincial scene has strangled club rugby in this country.

I accept what you are saying without any bother but it's not the numbers of underage players that worries HQ, it's the drop off rate. BTW, most of what I'm saying here  is on foot of a chat I had with Pat Daly and a few mutual acquaintances some years ago. (Has anyone else even heard of the report I have been referring to?)
In junior player numbers, rugby is nothing more than a minor distraction in the capital but the money spent on Leinster jerseys, scarves etc. is another matter entirely. So is the amount of people who turn up for interprovincials and Pro 12s and the likes.
It's percentages not actual numbers than worry HQ. I once played junior football with Bective down your way. If there was a derby with Dunderry, just about every living soul  would turn up too cheer, heckle, fight or sometimes all three. "Market penetration" was close to 100%.
The pubs in Robinstown ad Bective and the Balreask Arms were packed til closing time and well beyond.  The club was and is  the heart and soul of this small, rural community and the same could be said of hundreds of others throughout the land. My local club, Ciarans in Donnycarney, does a brisk pub business but find it hard to get managers for underage sides.  I live within 500 yards of the place and yet most of the people in my vicinity wouldn't be aware of or interested in any of the games played there. Ciarans to the vast majority means the bar and nothing else.

The worry of the Croke Park heads seems to be that, while the population is growing at an ever increasing rate, the numbers who actively identify with their local club or indeed the GAA in general are not growing at the same pace.

[INDIANA]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

Kikenny was the best minor hurler in the country at his age group in 2011. Even Mattie Murphy said so. He's ten times the hurler then he is at football.

[INDIANA]

Lar, as someone who lives in Dublin and has a good knowledge of the general sports scene on both sides of the river, I can tell you it is the GAA that's eating into rugby's participation base, not the other way around.
Nationally, where rugby is making inroads is in the provincial towns and more traditional 'rural' GAA areas, where they are coming from a very low base.
If you look at the traditional rugby powers in Dublin, they are tiny operations compared with the GAA superclubs like Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyboden.
And they're getting smaller by the year, which is why Blackrock were so desperate to enter into a ground-sharing deal with Cuala at Stradbrook.
The provincial scene has strangled club rugby in this country.

I accept what you are saying without any bother but it's not the numbers of underage players that worries HQ, it's the drop off rate. BTW, most of what I'm saying here  is on foot of a chat I had with Pat Daly and a few mutual acquaintances some years ago. (Has anyone else even heard of the report I have been referring to?)
In junior player numbers, rugby is nothing more than a minor distraction in the capital but the money spent on Leinster jerseys, scarves etc. is another matter entirely. So is the amount of people who turn up for interprovincials and Pro 12s and the likes.
It's percentages not actual numbers than worry HQ. I once played junior football with Bective down your way. If there was a derby with Dunderry, just about every living soul  would turn up too cheer, heckle, fight or sometimes all three. "Market penetration" was close to 100%.
The pubs in Robinstown ad Bective and the Balreask Arms were packed til closing time and well beyond.  The club was and is  the heart and soul of this small, rural community and the same could be said of hundreds of others throughout the land. My local club, Ciarans in Donnycarney, does a brisk pub business but find it hard to get managers for underage sides.  I live within 500 yards of the place and yet most of the people in my vicinity wouldn't be aware of or interested in any of the games played there. Ciarans to the vast majority means the bar and nothing else.

The worry of the Croke Park heads seems to be that, while the population is growing at an ever increasing rate, the numbers who actively identify with their local club or indeed the GAA in general are not growing at the same pace.

Lar the participation levels in Dublin are ridiculous. GAA are the best games in the world for kids to play and parents see that now. Rugby is the sport you want everyone's else's kids to play

[ashman]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

Kikenny was the best minor hurler in the country at his age group in 2011. Even Mattie Murphy said so. He's ten times the hurler then he is at football.

He was a fine hurler but had a huge swing that was found out.  Cormac Costelloe was a far tidier hurler tbh.

[heffo]

Lar, as someone who lives in Dublin and has a good knowledge of the general sports scene on both sides of the river, I can tell you it is the GAA that's eating into rugby's participation base, not the other way around.
Nationally, where rugby is making inroads is in the provincial towns and more traditional 'rural' GAA areas, where they are coming from a very low base.
If you look at the traditional rugby powers in Dublin, they are tiny operations compared with the GAA superclubs like Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyboden.
And they're getting smaller by the year, which is why Blackrock were so desperate to enter into a ground-sharing deal with Cuala at Stradbrook.
The provincial scene has strangled club rugby in this country.

I accept what you are saying without any bother but it's not the numbers of underage players that worries HQ, it's the drop off rate. BTW, most of what I'm saying here  is on foot of a chat I had with Pat Daly and a few mutual acquaintances some years ago. (Has anyone else even heard of the report I have been referring to?)
In junior player numbers, rugby is nothing more than a minor distraction in the capital but the money spent on Leinster jerseys, scarves etc. is another matter entirely. So is the amount of people who turn up for interprovincials and Pro 12s and the likes.
It's percentages not actual numbers than worry HQ. I once played junior football with Bective down your way. If there was a derby with Dunderry, just about every living soul  would turn up too cheer, heckle, fight or sometimes all three. "Market penetration" was close to 100%.
The pubs in Robinstown ad Bective and the Balreask Arms were packed til closing time and well beyond.  The club was and is  the heart and soul of this small, rural community and the same could be said of hundreds of others throughout the land. My local club, Ciarans in Donnycarney, does a brisk pub business but find it hard to get managers for underage sides.  I live within 500 yards of the place and yet most of the people in my vicinity wouldn't be aware of or interested in any of the games played there. Ciarans to the vast majority means the bar and nothing else.

The worry of the Croke Park heads seems to be that, while the population is growing at an ever increasing rate, the numbers who actively identify with their local club or indeed the GAA in general are not growing at the same pace.

If it's the same report I seen that was compiled by the National Research committee, it concluded that the drop out rate from 13-18 was a phenomenon across all Irish sport and sport in general in Europe and the drop out rate was no higher in Dublin than elsewhere (pro-rata) - it was created by Daragh Sheridan (IIRC)

[Croí na hÉireann]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

Nonsense, Kilkenny was a star of his team, Con O'Callaghan is very highly rated and Cormac Costello was a star in the making. That's three potential forwards, not to mention Rory O'Carroll and Diarmuid Connolly (who is apparently a brilliant hurler) as others who could have made the Dubs hurling team. There are other, less high profile guys as well, now if you seriously think 6 to 8 guys who could potentially make the county team wouldn't bring Dublin up a level and beyond a poor Cork, handy Limerick, inconsistent Galway and a host of poor teams like Offaly and Wexford then it's you smoking something. Clare were awful last year and Waterford are still very young, so yeah, second to Kilkenny is not an unreasonable comment.

When Tomás Brady (limited footballer by Dublin standards) picks sitting on the Dublin bench over a central role with the hurlers you can see the difficulties that the hurlers still face in attracting the cream of the crop.

[Canalman]

Disagree with Indy about Kilkenny as a hurler. Much better footballer imo.

Major losses to Dublin hurling imo are Costello, McHugh and Tomás Brady. Sutcliffe not playing a catastrophe. Pretty much the rest of our best underage hurlers in recent years on the senior panel.

Think Cormac would have been a superstar hurler.

All imo of course.

[GalwayBayBoy]

The only reason they aren't much further up the pecking order in hurling is that the best young hurlers go to football. If they picked hurling Dublin would probably be only behind Kilkenny.

There should undoubtedly be targeted funding for other counties, starting with the bigger ones, but many of them still have to ask themselves why they're so far off the standard of Dublin.

If you seriously believe that, then you're smoking something special...

Lowndes and Kilkenny were decent enough underage hurlers, hardly world beaters..

Kikenny was the best minor hurler in the country at his age group in 2011. Even Mattie Murphy said so. He's ten times the hurler then he is at football.

I must say I saw him hurl a few times at underage and I don't think he was even the best player on the pitch any time I saw him. He was certainly very decent though but that sounds like typical Mattie hyperbole if he did actually say that.