This year has been really poor in terms of excitement. The skills are all there but the games just aren't exciting anymore. Part of this is Kilkenny being better than tipp and being far, far, far better than everyone else. Obviously it's not KK's fault but how will the gap close between Laois and KK when KK have no distractions from any other sport and Laois are heavily invested in lots of sports. Cheddar called for investment from the GAA but I can't see how the association can close that gap. Pretty disheartening.

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 05/07/2015 18:10:52    1747851

Another year, Another Kilkenny team in an all ireland semi final without breaking a sweat.

familiarity breeds comtempt.

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 05/07/2015 18:25:39    1747876

Will be a big shock if we're not looking at tipp kilkenny again in September

tipp11 (Tipperary) - Posts: 353 - 05/07/2015 18:44:43    1747895

It's a great game to watch but if you take a step back and watch how it's played it makes no sense, for example a cornerback has the sliotar and what's the 1st thing he thinks of? Thump the ball down the field. Why doesn't he give a short pass to 1 of his team mates and he do the same and the same again until a score is taken, in other words keep possession, quick ball into the corners and play into the space, if you watch the games majority of passes are hit and hope with a 50/50 chance of your team mate winning possession, it's a prehistoric way of playing the game

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 05/07/2015 18:58:35    1747906

"become". It always was boring and always will be.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/07/2015 19:16:07    1747916

hurlinspuds
County: Cork
Posts: 1328

...Obviously it's not KK's fault but how will the gap close between Laois and KK when KK have no distractions from any other sport and Laois are heavily invested in lots of sports. Cheddar called for investment from the GAA but I can't see how the association can close that gap. Pretty disheartening

Ok Hurlinspuds, as you're obviously in the know. How much do Laois invest "in lots of sports"? And where did the money and organising come from for Kilkenny to fly their football team to the UK this year, three times, to play in the British Football Championship, since they "have no distractions from any other sport"

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2466 - 05/07/2015 19:17:54    1747918

Its hard to know where Leinster hurling is really at. On one hand you have Dublin and Wexford (sometimes) showing promise and on another you have Laois and Offaly really struggling to make inroads. The set up is flawed and handing Kilkenny safe passages into the All Ireland Semi Finals is counter productive. Hurling requires more games between the top sides and on that count i think Provincial Hurling is dead. This format is not entertaining.

seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1658 - 05/07/2015 19:27:01    1747925

Cockney Cat

Why did the Kilkenny play in the British championship in the first place? If Kilkenny is a dual county and Kilkenny clubs are putting massive effort and resources into football promotion, then save yourselves a few quid travelling and play Carlow/Wicklow/Dublin..the best team in the country is in Leinster (Dublin), surely they are more suitable challenge for your footballing ambitions...then again I have never seen Scotland play!

Hurlingspuds.

I agree with the sentiment. Ultimately there are abouct 12 teams in the hurling championship. At a stretch only two of them (KK, Tipp) have a chance of winning (ie capable of winning two or three games in a row), 6 others can beat each other and have an outside chance of an upset, you have Wexford who seem to have gone back and all the rest may as well play in the Christy Rin Cup as they have no chance of winning. Yet the tournament starts in May and goes all the way until September. Most of it is boring. The final between Tipp and KK will be good no doubt. This is what keeps us going. The rest is by and large just dragged out filler!

TJ Reid said it exactly right, the championship does not actually start until August. Todays game was not bad but the body language of the KK players after the game suggest they don't really care about it. There is barely a celebration. I don't blame them of course.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 05/07/2015 19:40:46    1747930

It probably cost KK 0.5 % of their overall budget I would guess.

I wasn't having a go at KK, I thought that was clear. I wish every county played hurling with their dedication, that's all. A significant number of Laois's GAA population is gaelic football only, that has a massive impact on how competitive they are. If they had twice the pick their minors would probably have beaten y a few weeks back.

Seany16 - i agree with you!

Riverboys - they aren't as many 50/50 balls as you might think. Most defenders even at club level know how to play a ball that gives the forward the advantage. What you're describing in short passing was used in the mid 00s to good effect but the game has moved on now. I think the team that can compete for 70 minutes the way the galway forwards pressurised the KK defence in the lead up to the near goal for burke today are the team that will beat KK but no one can do that.

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 05/07/2015 19:43:26    1747934

It's a great game to watch but if you take a step back and watch how it's played it makes no sense, for example a cornerback has the sliotar and what's the 1st thing he thinks of? Thump the ball down the field. Why doesn't he give a short pass to 1 of his team mates and he do the same and the same again until a score is taken, in other words keep possession, quick ball into the corners and play into the space, if you watch the games majority of passes are hit and hope with a 50/50 chance of your team mate winning possession, it's a prehistoric way of playing the game

Are you suggesting that they should handpass the ball all the way up the field? What you describe is called a relieving clearance and works in hurling, that why they do it. This notion of adding tactics to the game to make it interesting is not the answer.
Kilkennys dominance is depressing. Beating them will be all the sweeter.

ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 693 - 05/07/2015 20:00:34    1747944

The championship has been very hum drum this year. Maybe we would be better off without the provincials or play them off earlier. Shocking Leinster championship this year and the Munster hasnt been good either. Playing the Leinster final in Croke Park is becoming unneccessary.
I think the time for semi professionalism is now. The amateur model is pretty brutal. Amalgamate counties that need amalgamating to raise revenue and pool resources..say Laois and Offaly, Meath and Westmeath and Longford, an Ulster team. Then youd have a division of say 12 semi- professional teams, no relegation, top 4 into playoffs.. kilkenny, Tipp, Cork, Limerick, Clare,Galway, Wexford,Dublin and maybe a north west Ireland team. The franchise's could move if it wasnt working out. Maybe 12 is too many..maybe finances would only mean 8 or 10..

BanTarleton (Clare) - Posts: 181 - 05/07/2015 20:06:01    1747950

royaldunne, i'd say the same about football but just leave out the 'become' ........ponderous bloody game 90% of the time..yeah, this years hurling championship has been a non event to a great degree. if only there wasn't so much fear in the 'football counties' regarding hurling stealing their good players there might be a bit more promotion of the game and some more competiveness. hurlings demise in places like Offaly and Wexford, my own county and our constant scewing up st the business end of things leaves a small no of counties shrinking even faster. cheddar plunkett called it right earlier. time the GAA woke up to the fact that this amazing game of ours is struggling. That said Cannings goal earlier on against Kilkenny. Christ almighty. perfection....

skillet (Limerick) - Posts: 1062 - 05/07/2015 20:08:39    1747953

Killkenny play a brutal style of puke hurling. Very often today they only had 2 forwards in the Galway half. You'd think the best team in ireland that has always played an attractive style wouldn't resort to this.

Galway were clueless but a team like Waterford I reckon would take the cats unless they let the occasion get to them. Tipp or Cork would have a very good chance too.

I'm predicting Killkenny lose in the semi.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 05/07/2015 20:20:33    1747964

bennybunny
County: Cork
Posts: 2836

1747930 Cockney Cat

Why did the Kilkenny play in the British championship in the first place? If Kilkenny is a dual county and Kilkenny clubs are putting massive effort and resources into football promotion, then save yourselves a few quid travelling and play Carlow/Wicklow/Dublin..the best team in the country is in Leinster (Dublin), surely they are more suitable challenge for your footballing ambitions...then again I have never seen Scotland play!

Benny, they did play, the Tommy Murphy Cup, then the Leinster Junior Football Championship just a few years ago. But they lost every game ecept one, mostly by wide margins. It was counter productive. They are now playing at a level that suits them. Hopefully with some success they will improve and move to the next level. Your snide remark about Scotland GAA is disrespectful to the many who participate and are involved in the sport in that country.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2466 - 05/07/2015 20:26:41    1747974

I'd like to see an amalgamation of a few teams i.e Laois-Carlow, Down-Antrim for the championship. Maybe leave it as is for the league. Why not give it ago. But then its not fair on teams like Kerry who have nobody to amalgamate with. Offaly will never amalgamate..after all the success they had. Some fine players in all these counties. Also fine players in Westmeath. Odds are against any player from counties I mentioned ever winning an all Ireland . Football clubs anywhere will never become dual clubs for fear of losing players to hurling. That is the reason hurling will never expand cause of the football

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 05/07/2015 20:50:29    1747985

I did not make a snide remark about Scotland. I personally know people involved in the GAA there.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 05/07/2015 21:11:38    1748000

riverboys
totally agree. Me being a football mad man and watching football and how their is such an emphasis on keeping the ball and not giving it back to the opposition cannot understand why the majority of the passes in a hurling game are a hit and hope. Even sidelines are just drilled up the line rather than a player coming short looking for it. I always wondered will a team come along one day and completely change the way the game is played in that they always look for a free man and always play safety first tactics similar to Donegal in football

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 05/07/2015 21:38:16    1748027

royaldunne

A bad hurling mathc is still better than a great "fist"ball match

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 2661 - 06/07/2015 11:19:24    1748208

PoppinPoints

The top teams do not play hit and hope hurling. There is certainly more emphasise on the man to man battles but not hit and hope. Do you watch hurling ??Clare won the all-Ireland with a revolutionary style of play. Wexford copied it to some degree last year. There's a million different styles. Even back to 04 cork and wexford started the short puck outs and bypassing a dominant half back line by playing the space rather than the man. The game is developing all the time.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 2661 - 06/07/2015 11:26:13    1748223

Hurling has a serious problem with the lack of competitiveness. In this weekend's qualifiers, there was was average winning margin of greater than 12 points - the result was never in doubt in any of the games. Many games have become a series of rucks, before one team manages to extricate the sliotar and belt it aimlessly down the field.

I think the game suffers from the lack of any serious analysis of playing styles in the media. Analysis based on cliches actually masks serious problems in the game. For example, overcarrying is endemic: the four-step rule is routinely ignored, and any ref who actually tries to apply the rules on personal fouls is generally criticized for "not letting the game flow".

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 06/07/2015 11:32:12    1748238