Good win for Tipp.They are going to be tough this year.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 14/02/2016 12:26:54    1825251

It's great to see Kerry register a win in their first outing in 1B. It's not quite the same heights of '95 where Kerry beat All-Ireland champions Clare in their first outing in the then top Division 1 of 8 teams.

There are going to be some tough games ahead. At least there's a win on the board and it eases that burden.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7871 - 14/02/2016 16:03:14    1825279

Congrats on the win legendzxix. Always good to see a non-traditional county doing well. I hope it continues for the rest of the season. It'd be nice to see you staying up and also progressing from the Leinster group.

I think in future years it'd be better if they changed the hurling group stage from a Leinster group to a provincial championship qualifying group. If Kerry progress they then get to play in the Munster championship rather than having to play in the Leinster. I can't really think of a good reason why that wouldn't be workable.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4236 - 14/02/2016 17:12:35    1825293

Great result for Kerry.Won with a bit to spare.In Portlaoise too.Cheddar will not be a happy man tonight.Kerry will give Offaly i right rattle.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 14/02/2016 17:35:35    1825302

Actually, I wasn't that far off, got 14 of the 15 right, was just way off on the Tipp/Dublin draw prediction (I'm going to give myself, erm, props, or something). Of course, no predictions for the year can be made after one round of games in mid-February, but if I was to make predictions on how the league will turn out, I'd say
for 3b: No games yet, I'd expect it to be between Fermanagh and Longford
3A: I think its between Tyrone and Roscommon
2B: Down will finish top, Donegal bottom if Wicklow can sort themselves out
2A: 2nd most competitive tier in the league. It could be between Westmeath and Carlow again, but if Antrim turn up, they could win it out also. London likely to finish bottom
1B: Hardly going out on a limb to say it'll be between Limerick and Clare, but that seems to be the case. Losing to Kerry today makes Laois the favorites to finish bottom, their game against Offaly is huge for them.
1A: Really hard to say, with 4 teams making the quarters, there's nothing to gain by winning the tier. A team could be poor for the league rounds, finish 4th, and then kick into gear for the quarter-finals. Kilkenny had a strong team out today, but Waterford should have been out of sight at half time. Tipp look to be taking the league seriously as well. I think Tipp will top the group, but maybe not win the league. Dublin and Cork both looked poor, it might be hard for them to avoid 5 and 6th place.

But all in all, a good first weekend, sets up each tier nicely.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 14/02/2016 17:46:27    1825304

Well done to Ciaran Carey, Mark Foley and Kerry! could be the next Limerick management!

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 14/02/2016 17:51:51    1825307

Well done Kerry ??????
1. How many Kerry players were on the team, I don't know , 10, 11, 12, 13 14 or 15
2. Fact - there was 15 Laois players on the team!
3. How well would Laois do if they could take 5 Cork or Limerick hurlers into their team?
4. Kerry went to Croke Park in January and looked for special dispensation so they could continue with rule 6.9 - effectively playing 5 hurlers who are not from Kerry, live in Kerry, or play club hurling in Kerry......... and Laois can't do this?
5. This is masking the great and brillant work going on in Kerry. I was delighted to see the progress of the small ball game in the Kingdom when they defeated Antrim in a playoff last year, but there is something wrong when a county can play so many outsiders when in effect 1/3 of the team are outsiders....
6. this is widespread in many counties.... particuarly those located beside strong counties..
7. Gaels have a look athis rule..... I feel its unfair, especially to the young Kerry hurler sitting on the bench because a limerick hurler has taken his place...... and to the opposition -in this case Laois......

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1676 - 14/02/2016 20:07:45    1825337

Sorry to make you sound like a complete idiot cuchulainn35 but of today's 26 man panel only 1 of them does not play his club hurling in Kerry. However this is his third year with the Kerry hurlers, he works in Kerry and lives there most of the time besides when he goes back home to play his club hurling because he is loyal to his club.

Jackos_Wacko (Kerry) - Posts: 417 - 14/02/2016 21:01:34    1825355

I apologise if i annoyed or upset you, but I believe there is an unfair advantage here, no other county can play outside hurlers in Division 1 of the league..... in fact alot of weaker counties can't avail of this very strange rule..... Patrick Kelly hurls for Clarecastle in Clare and Kerry, he also won an All-Ireland with Clare in 2013 - FACT . He also missed the Christ Ring Cup semi-final last yr because he went to play for his club ... James Logue has won minor, U-21 and Intermediate All-Irelands with his native Tipperary and he still wants to play senior for Tipp, has payed and is playing for Kerry, John O'Neill won MHC and U-21 for Tipp and still plays for Clon.-Rossmore in Tipp, David Butler was also successful underage star with Tipperary.....
I wish Kerry all the best and we need to see more counties rising to the top.... but Laois can't avail of this rule, if fact most counties cannot avail of this rule..... all I want to see is a level paying field....
If we don't discuss this rule then we all closer going down the road of 'buying' players in!!!!! Success is important but at what coast.....this isn't anti Kerry ....this is for the future of our games....

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1676 - 15/02/2016 09:53:26    1825387

Cuchulainn35 are Logue, Kelly and O'Neill still playing for Kerry? Cos I thought they only could play for Kerry if they were still in the Christy Ring or lower.

If they are still living and playing club hurling in Tipp and Clare then they shouldn't be allowed line out for Kerry.

PS I would love if Logue was lining out for Tipp, for whatever reason he has been overlooked.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 11:10:40    1825419

Just looked at the Kerry team. Only Patrick Kelly played for Kerry yesterday out of that three and as far as I know he lives in Kerry so I see no problems there.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 11:12:52    1825420

Sure Tipp have a lad from KIldare playing with them now! :D

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 15/02/2016 11:53:08    1825444

Laois manager Séamas Plunkett spoke in his programme notes about the team's inexperience with several retirements and Willie Hyland and Zane Keenan also unavailable.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 15/02/2016 12:58:00    1825471

Yes they do Blackspot, you are late to the party with that one.

We are delighted to have Conor Kenny playing for us cos he granddad and two granduncles were key members of the Tipperary three in a row winning side of 1949 - 1951. The three were member of Conor's adopted club's first every county final success. Conor's dad was a member of the 1986 county winning side that won the club's only all-Ireland club title in 1987.

You are 100% right he is a Kildare man but he is a Kildare with Tipperary blood pumping through his veins. I think it's a great story to see him wearing the Tipp jersey like other members of his family.

You neglected to mention that Kildare get plenty of Tipp players lining out for them like two of the 2001 all-Ireland winning team. So it is a two way street.

Blackspot if you had a nephew in Kildare what was a brilliant hurler and he wanted to line out for your local club and play for Limerick would you tell no you can't because you are from Kildare?

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 13:13:58    1825481

Yeah its a shame that the Laois team has lost so many of last year's side. It would be great to see them push on. If they lose to Offaly next week they will most certainly be in a relegation final with one of Offaly, Wexford or Kerry.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 13:16:48    1825486

This rule were players in stronger counties could play with weak counties is being abused alot . Counties with third level colleges are registering students from strong counties and when they finish there courses they are still playing with them . In my own coutny we could calim 3 former Calre all-Ireland winners and 2 recently retired Kilkeny hurlers who parents are from our county and win Div 3 handy. But what benefit would that be . I think when Kerry was promoted or any other county wins promotion to Div 1 they shouldnt be using this rule.

gil (Armagh) - Posts: 4 - 15/02/2016 13:44:22    1825503

Gil just out of curiosity who are the five?

Yeah it definitely is a shortcut to promoting hurling outside of Munster, Leinster, Galway, Antrim, Down, Derry etc. The problem I see though is some football counties seem to have complete apathy for hurling, like I'm sure if Cavan are still without a hurling team. Kilkenny get crucified for not having a football team but nobody bats an eye at Cavan. If they still don't have a hurling team when we have a Cavan president then that a big concern.

GAA advertised a hurling development manager job a week or two ago but the job is to oversee the funding going to Laois, Westmeath, Antrim, Carlow and I think one other emerging county. So they are acknowledging that they only want to slowly grow hurling. Don't get me wrong it's great to see those counties being looked after but the weakest hurling counties are being ignored.

What's the state of hurling like in Armagh? Who are the strongest clubs sides?

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 14:37:22    1825530

Kerry hurlers - Proof that tiers work
So many football county squads feel that a tiered system would sound the death knell for inter-county Gaelic football. It would also be day when all counties play against teams of similar ability and are given the chance to make incremental progress.
'No way! We don't want that!' shout the footballers of Wicklow, Leitrim and Waterford et al.
''We want train 5/6 nights a week for 9 months with a constant voice in the back of our heads whispering 'What's the point?' or 'You're out of our depth' knowing our fate but choosing to ignore it. We want to play Kerry or Dublin or Mayo once a year and play 15 men behind the ball and hope we don't get a hiding and do it all again next year.''
This is what the county footballers of 16-20 counties are telling us and worse still, they almost believe it themselves.
The key word in the first paragraph is progress because there is no such thing at football championship level for these players right now. The current championship is built to mirror the Irish economy; it's a boom/bust system. Everyone is happy for a while. The league goes well with promotion gained. Great. Progress. There is some hope.
That is until the inevitable 1st round walloping. Then we hear the cries that football in the county is dead, the team are useless in championship and a high profile manager is needed. None of these are necessarily true of course but nobody wants to hear it.
In 2005 Sean Kelly began the democratization of hurling. He didn't really do anything revolutionary but instead used 'rare' sense. It was under his watch that tiered systems came into operation in hurling and the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups were born. These tiers gave counties a chance to compete in championship at their own level and many have embraced them because they gained a chance to progress. They now know exactly where they stand and this allows them to look themselves in the eye and plan ahead. Each county can make attainable goals each season because they are tested against similar standard opponents. If they pass those tests then they are given more difficult assignments by moving up a tier. It makes sense.
Kerry hurlers are one of the teams who have benefitted. They had steadily improved by investing in underage and targeting a Christy Ring Cup success, which they secured last year. Yesterday they toppled Laois and will fancy taking at least one more scalp in Division 1B.
If Kerry had been told in 2005 that their only option was to enter the Munster Hurling Championship and take an annual hiding where would Kerry's hurling team be now?

SmellyBadger (Limerick) - Posts: 32 - 15/02/2016 14:52:37    1825535

Sorry Kilarney my comment was tongue in cheek! I knew he had a tipp background and have no problem with it. (cheers for the info though). Do you think he could start championship? and if so, what position? Surely seamie will be 14?

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 15/02/2016 15:56:44    1825560

Yeah Callanan will be first choice full-forward when fit. I thinking like everyone else that he would be viewed as a ball winning wing forward which will probably be the case but thing is he will face intense competition for a starting place.

After Saturday I was wondering could you leave him in the full forward line as a target man for Callanan, Bubbles and the McGraths to feed off. But after watching Clare against Cork last year I thought Honan took the sting out of Clare's attack at the expense of O'Donnell and I would be afraid that something similar could happen. So his best bet is wing forward but I am not sure he will start. Having said that we are crying out for impact subs in the forwards so he could be invaluable in that regard. Cos against Galway one of our subs to try to change the match was Conor O'Mahony. You want to be springing forwards off the bench when chasing a match. It was the same in both finals in 2014 we were asking Michael Cahill to come on to win it which wasn't fair on him.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 15/02/2016 16:10:07    1825562