Good day for Connacht hurling, no matter what happens in the Christy Ring relegation/promotion play-off game, there'll be a Connacht team competing in the Christy Ring next year. That game next week will be very interesting, its a de facto Connacht final. The Rackard champions should really get more than one week to prepare though.
We're there! Kerry deservedly have won the Christy Ring Cup. We've made the promised land of the McCarthy Cup. After the last two years of hurt, it's great to finally arrive in the big time. G'wan the Kingdom!! :D
Great to be there, Kerry were a different class to a game but limited Derry side. They play some lovely, intelligent hurling. Can't wait to see us with the big boys next spring and summer. Hopefully we will show we deserve to be at that level.
Special mention to the wonderful Shane Nolan, who really lead the charge yesterday. A great day for Kilflynn and Crotta!!!
"The current structures within the Christy Ring Cup require the competition to be run off over a period of five weeks culminating in a final. With four victories required to win the competition, this allows very little time for counties to properly prepare for each game. In the case where one game ends in a draw or a game cannot take place as planned for whatever reason, the one week gap between the semi-finals and finals is then removed. In 2014, Kildare were asked to play six weekends in a row and from there, asked a week later to play Westmeath to "earn" their right to play in the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Such a rushed structure does not assist with the development of hurling in these counties which are aspiring to play at a higher level. While understanding that the rushed nature of these fixtures is due to the request of the counties involved to get the fixtures completed to allow for club championship action, as a committee we do not feel it is unreasonable to allow this competition even a couple of additional weeks to take place. That would give players more time to prepare for the knockout stages, particularly in addition to playing longer in to the summer in the better weather."
As Kerry leave the Ring Cup behind for at least a year and hopefully longer, I have to point out the above. 5 weeks is too short a timescale to run off the lower tier championship. I think the 2020 group are making the right call on extending it by at least 2 weeks. A week gap should be brought in after the 1st round and also after the quarter-finals. I know the 20th of June usually sees Croke Park taken up with a concert of some sort. The Leinster semi-finals are usually the last weekend of June. The Saturday of that weekend would be a fair enough time for the lower tier finals.
Fair play to Kerry, deserved winners. Disappointed for my own county, we looked a little jittery and nervous with some uncharacteristic mistakes. That could be down to pure nerves at playing in Croke Park or simply that Kerry put them under so much pressure. I believe it was probably a combination of both. They say you have to lose one to win one so hopefully next year will be our year, but it will be another tough task to even reach the final.