See Westmeath hurlers had a great win over Offaly in the Leinster Championship. Last year Laois beat Offaly in the Championship. Carlow are also doing well especially with Mountleinster's club championship run a few years ago. This following Dublin hurlers arrival as a serious hurling county in recent years and Wexford seem to be doing well again at U21 level. Can these improvements be built on and in 10 years have a Leinster championship where 6 or 7 counties are seriously competitive?. As someone who doesn't know the situation on the ground in any of these counties on the ground is this realistic?

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1337 - 04/05/2016 09:37:54    1851830

No.
Because most of the funding goes to Dublin.
Those counties get a measly 40k extra a year to promote hurling.

manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 04/05/2016 14:44:31    1851952

It would be nice to see extra funding going to developing hurling counties similar to what happened when the GAA decided to promote hurling in Dublin and treat it as a special case back in Berties time.

A central fund and backing for developing counties in hurling only.

I cant see it though unfortunately

tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1326 - 04/05/2016 15:16:05    1851965

I believe part of Westmeath's improvement is due to some of the clubs in the North of the county focussing heavily on hurling ahead of football

BlastCalyle (Mayo) - Posts: 206 - 04/05/2016 15:18:44    1851966

Nowadays, by & large, the Westmeath hurlers are treated the same as the footballers, so that it progress. They have a hurling week then a football week in terms of fixtures but there are probably twice as many playing football as hurling in the county, especially as it has next really taken off around Athlone. Paudie Butler has done a fair bit of work with the underage development squads & they've tried to amalgamate weaker clubs to challenge the stronger ones & raise the standard in general. It's a work in progress.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/05/2016 16:29:22    1851996

Good to see Westmeath, Carlow and Laois making strides, but for the likes of Louth, Longford are just keeping the game alive

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1671 - 04/05/2016 18:03:32    1852046

while our senior team are probably a bit off the top at present,i do not consider wexford a weaker county in leinster.it will take a few years for us to really challenge but the signs at underage are promising.i know underage doesnt promise you jack s at senior level but it is still a decent foundation stone.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 04/05/2016 19:20:54    1852073

Keeper, you don't have a clue!
Hurling is nearly dead around Athlone. Southern Gaels barely have an adult team and no teams from U14 up to minor. For a town of 20,000!
There is no hurling in Moate, Kilbeggan or most of south Westmeath.

North Westmeath was always mainly hurling clubs.
Amalgamation has been forced on multiple underage hurling clubs within the county with less focus on numbers participating and more on giving better quality games to elite bunch of players and there is very little development work going on within the county or schools compared to other counties.
Don't be spouting misinformation or giving the WH board credit for stuff they haven't done.
Most player development has been done by the clubs in the county.

manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 04/05/2016 19:47:26    1852083

"especially as it has next really taken off around Athlone."

That was a typo, Manfromdelmonte, so read it again with 'never' instead of 'next'.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/05/2016 21:59:02    1852129

great to see teams like kerry westmeath and laois doing well , carlow have also raised their game too in recent years and would love to see antrim down derry etc on the rise, was at limerick v westmeath qualifier last year , while there was a lot more limerick fans than westmeath supporters (but then again in 2001 in a football qualifier in limerick they outnumbered us) , and was very impressed with the westmeath team and especially with the knowledge and passion for the game of their supporters,

sad to see offaly in decline -they are a great hurling county and all limerick fans are covered in emotional scars from playing them (1994,2003 ,2007,2010) and hopefully they can recover and come back

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 05/05/2016 10:01:23    1852169

while our senior team are probably a bit off the top at present,i do not consider wexford a weaker county in leinster.it will take a few years for us to really challenge but the signs at underage are promising.i know underage doesnt promise you jack s at senior level but it is still a decent foundation stone.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts:1304 - 04/05/2016 19:20:54
Probably phrased Wexford team part wrong in my original post, I also don't think of them as a weaker county. I mentioned Dublin in the post as they are now a serious team and Wexford might be getting back to where they used to be. I was wondering in a few years could we have a much more competitive Leinster Championship than we have had before.

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1337 - 05/05/2016 21:15:40    1852453

The Kerry v Westmeath game tomorrow should be a cracker. It will be interesting to see how the group winners measure up against Galway. I expect the runners-up to beat Laois. It is sad to see Offaly hurling in such a bad state but it is not all that surprising given their dismal showing at schools, minor and under-21 levels for so long.

Gaillimh_Abu (Galway) - Posts: 996 - 06/05/2016 17:19:56    1852631

----- afraid not, it's not a question of the weaker counties imptoving but that of the stronger counties getting weaker, I wish I was wrong.

Scallioneater (Carlow) - Posts: 293 - 07/05/2016 14:31:08    1852740

Posted this topic last year, now delighted to see my own county having come on a bit in one year (compared to where we were before last years Ring cup campaign). I do get the feeling the the teams below the contender level in Leinster are improving a bit and at the businesses end of the competition Wexford could win Leinster for the first time in a while. I think the Leinster championship may be getting a bit healthier.

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1337 - 23/04/2017 23:08:13    1982024

leinster championship could be a cracker this year.
re your original question,it is up to the county boards to promote hurling.meath has a hurling board,right?that is what every county needs,along with clubs putting equal effort into hurling.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 24/04/2017 08:51:23    1982075

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1337 - 25/04/2017 18:27:29    1982623

Good to see Meath making progress. But overall I don't see the weaker Leinster teams improving at all. Laois, Westmeath & Carlow have all fallen back from where they were a couple of years ago. We have Offaly also going backwards, while not classed as a weaker county, they soon will be.

Kildare are improving but that is mainly due to bringing in outsiders. Reidy from Limerick does the majority of their scoring, his brother also plays. Also they have Mulhall from Kilkenny playing. That's a route open to most counties, but happily most have not taken advantage of it.
Much rather have 15 Westmeath, Meath, Carlow men play than have 10, and then 5 imports taking jerseys from guys from their own co.

The Real 1944 (Carlow) - Posts: 1114 - 25/04/2017 20:40:50    1982662

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1902 - 25/04/2017 21:48:32    1982691

While it's great to see how far we've come, you can't really say Leinster hurling as a whole has come on. We beat Kerry, which is a great achievement but historically ourselves and Kerry have been around the same level anyway. They've upped it the last few years but beating them hasn't exactly shook hurling to the core. In the same time frame Carlow have gone down to the Christy Ring, so Leinster as a whole pretty much back where we started.

A far bigger result was Laois beating Offaly 2 years ago, it really looked like they could push on but they have only won 2 or 3 games in the league and championship since.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1642 - 25/04/2017 23:30:04    1982722

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 26/04/2017 04:11:14    1982731