Meath Forum

2023 Club Hurling Championship

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "Welcome to club GAA fella, a sunday fixture at 7 is normal enough. Would it have anything to do with your club not providing referee's?"
The not enough referee's excuse is one of the CCC's favourite ones.

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 997 - 25/07/2023 09:53:26    2496716

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "Welcome to club GAA fella, a sunday fixture at 7 is normal enough. Would it have anything to do with your club not providing referee's?"
I'm well accustomed to the world of Meath club GAA thanks. A club fixture at 7pm on All Ireland Sunday isn't normal enough, fella. My club does provide referees btw. But are you suggesting that clubs who have games fixed to play on Regular/All Ireland Sunday's at 7pm, are being punished for not providing referees?

Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 383 - 25/07/2023 11:44:42    2496753

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There's senior football and Intermediate fixtures for 7pm this sunday after the All Ireland Football Final.

Theheinoking (Meath) - Posts: 128 - 25/07/2023 12:49:46    2496774

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Replying To Theheinoking:  "There's senior football and Intermediate fixtures for 7pm this sunday after the All Ireland Football Final."
There's a hell of a lot more football games than hurling to be squeezed into a weekend.

Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 383 - 25/07/2023 13:06:58    2496783

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Can see Pats going very well in Junior and stepping up to intermediate. Very young team with lads to come back from what I've heard(And Kildalkey cant get promoted!)

1234me2 (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 26/07/2023 16:49:53    2497138

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Replying To 1234me2:  "Can see Pats going very well in Junior and stepping up to intermediate. Very young team with lads to come back from what I've heard(And Kildalkey cant get promoted!)"
For the size of St Pats and the surrounding clubs they have to pick from they're a joke. Like they can pick from St. Colmcilles,Duleek, Vincents, St Marys, Slane. Its just beyond me how bad they are.

PatrickTopping (Meath) - Posts: 119 - 26/07/2023 19:46:50    2497168

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Replying To ClashofAsh85:  "There really needs to be a restructuring to this championship within the next two years, There's not a pile of difference between the weakest teams in Senior and the top teams in intermediate and only make sense to cut these from the senior championship, a weaker Dunderry team since last year we're unlucky not to beat Blackhall Gaels at the weekend. Boardsmill gave longwood a 10+ point hammering in the first game of Senior last year after winning the intermediate and unfortunately couldn't keep a full team for the rest of the year. Common sense should prevail and make each championship 8 teams.

SHC
Trim
Kiltale
Kildalkey
Ratoath
Killyon
Na Fianna
CNG
Kilmessan

Premier IHC
Dunboyne
Longwood
Blackhall Gaels
Dunderry
Drumree
Boardsmill
Rathmolyan
Kilskyre Moylagh

IHC
Navan O Mahonys
Wolfe Tones
Kells
Ashbourne
Kildalkey 2nds
Trim 2nds
Dunboyne 2nds
Kilmessan 2nds"
Makes a lot of sense
Any team in a Championship should have a chance of winning it and the reality is only 3 or at a push 4 of the 12 have chance of doing that whereas if it was down to 8 it would leave a stronger IHC with all teams having a realist chance.

By the way I think the Football should also have 8 senior teams also

noelpconnon (Cavan) - Posts: 219 - 27/07/2023 08:50:06    2497210

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Replying To noelpconnon:  "Makes a lot of sense
Any team in a Championship should have a chance of winning it and the reality is only 3 or at a push 4 of the 12 have chance of doing that whereas if it was down to 8 it would leave a stronger IHC with all teams having a realist chance.

By the way I think the Football should also have 8 senior teams also"
whilst i am all for change and restructure your group of 8 senior teams will still see 4 qualify, therefore there is no cut throat set up to put fear into the supposed stronger teams, we need a system where if you lose 2 games your gone end of story, but unfortunately we don't have enough strong clubs to create that, of your 8 senior teams mentioned before a ball was pucked this year I would have said Trim Kildalkey and Ratoath will definitely qualify with the 4th been Kiltale or Na Fianna, please don't get me wrong here, I am not knocking your suggestion but i feel club hurling in Meath at present is very low standard which will again be proven when our county return to league and championship in the new year.

What about combined teams from inter grade entering the senior championship ?

pixey (Meath) - Posts: 60 - 27/07/2023 10:00:29    2497219

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Replying To pixey:  "whilst i am all for change and restructure your group of 8 senior teams will still see 4 qualify, therefore there is no cut throat set up to put fear into the supposed stronger teams, we need a system where if you lose 2 games your gone end of story, but unfortunately we don't have enough strong clubs to create that, of your 8 senior teams mentioned before a ball was pucked this year I would have said Trim Kildalkey and Ratoath will definitely qualify with the 4th been Kiltale or Na Fianna, please don't get me wrong here, I am not knocking your suggestion but i feel club hurling in Meath at present is very low standard which will again be proven when our county return to league and championship in the new year.

What about combined teams from inter grade entering the senior championship ?"
Who said 1 group of 8?

Two groups of 4, now thats cut throat.
Same as Offaly & Wexford

PatrickTopping (Meath) - Posts: 119 - 27/07/2023 10:19:11    2497226

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "For the size of St Pats and the surrounding clubs they have to pick from they're a joke. Like they can pick from St. Colmcilles,Duleek, Vincents, St Marys, Slane. Its just beyond me how bad they are."
Unfortunately no one from East Meath seems to want to play hurling, it's not like they have an abundance of players to choose from. Doesn't help them that clubs like Kildalkey, Ratoath and Kiltale etc seem to bring down senior players everytime they play them.
That being said I doubt you'll consider them a joke in a few years time

1234me2 (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 27/07/2023 11:56:48    2497253

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Wexford have 2 groups of 6, with 4 teams from each group going into the QFs. Offaly have 2 groups of 5, with 3 teams advancing to the knockouts. Our SHC groups actually have more at stake since only 50% of counties progress, compared to 66% in Wexford and 60% in Offaly.

All these demands for more "cut-throat" and "peril" are futile. No format in the world will make the current Trim or Kildalkey (or previous Kiltale and Kilmessan teams) worry about playing Dunderry or Clann na nGael.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1664 - 27/07/2023 12:03:48    2497256

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "Who said 1 group of 8?

Two groups of 4, now thats cut throat.
Same as Offaly & Wexford"
Maybe going back to grassroots is the way forward. Does hurling in Meath get a fair shout in the County Board? Look at Kildalkey and Drumree putting out 3 teams and competing. We need to get buy-in from all the clubs to improve standards. We have a population of 220 000 in Meath, no shortage of potential for duel success. Let's see a 10 year plan where there is investment in Hurling.

TownJohnT (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 27/07/2023 12:19:33    2497261

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Replying To TownJohnT:  "Maybe going back to grassroots is the way forward. Does hurling in Meath get a fair shout in the County Board? Look at Kildalkey and Drumree putting out 3 teams and competing. We need to get buy-in from all the clubs to improve standards. We have a population of 220 000 in Meath, no shortage of potential for duel success. Let's see a 10 year plan where there is investment in Hurling."
Totally agree but it takes buy in from the clubs. Too many football only clubs and refusal to change that as most involved in said clubs never played the game.

There was massive investment underage over the past decade in all the Standard hurling clubs and this was enforced by efforts of peter durnin and a few others.

Unfortunately the CB cant force clubs to put out hurling teams but maybe a way of doing it would be to have a points scoring system for teams put out at each grade and in each code and then the population pull is factored into the score. Clubs with more points get more championship games and funding ect.

Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 640 - 27/07/2023 13:52:32    2497296

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Replying To CastleBravo:  "Wexford have 2 groups of 6, with 4 teams from each group going into the QFs. Offaly have 2 groups of 5, with 3 teams advancing to the knockouts. Our SHC groups actually have more at stake since only 50% of counties progress, compared to 66% in Wexford and 60% in Offaly.

All these demands for more "cut-throat" and "peril" are futile. No format in the world will make the current Trim or Kildalkey (or previous Kiltale and Kilmessan teams) worry about playing Dunderry or Clann na nGael."
Right so, the Meath SFC is a group of 4, same with IFC, 4 teams aswel. Why not SHC.

PatrickTopping (Meath) - Posts: 119 - 27/07/2023 14:32:48    2497307

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "For the size of St Pats and the surrounding clubs they have to pick from they're a joke. Like they can pick from St. Colmcilles,Duleek, Vincents, St Marys, Slane. Its just beyond me how bad they are."
You're a bit harsh there buck

Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 383 - 27/07/2023 17:12:05    2497336

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Replying To 1234me2:  "Unfortunately no one from East Meath seems to want to play hurling, it's not like they have an abundance of players to choose from. Doesn't help them that clubs like Kildalkey, Ratoath and Kiltale etc seem to bring down senior players everytime they play them.
That being said I doubt you'll consider them a joke in a few years time"
Clubs with 3 teams name a 1st 15 who can only play senior, a 2nd 13 who can only play Intermediate and above. St Pats are getting a 28 player start on clubs with three teams. 3rd teams are made up of experienced and young players. That's all St Pats have to beat.

TownJohnT (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 27/07/2023 17:45:19    2497343

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Replying To Selwyn:  "You're a bit harsh there buck"
Not really. It's a failure of the county board that they are not putting coaches in the schools in these areas.

Foley91 (Meath) - Posts: 418 - 27/07/2023 21:41:45    2497369

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Replying To 1234me2:  "Unfortunately no one from East Meath seems to want to play hurling, it's not like they have an abundance of players to choose from. Doesn't help them that clubs like Kildalkey, Ratoath and Kiltale etc seem to bring down senior players everytime they play them.
That being said I doubt you'll consider them a joke in a few years time"
I wasn't aware that a club could bring a senior player down to play in the junior grade. How many senior players did kildalkey bring down for the junior 2 final last year?

Tobefair80 (Meath) - Posts: 70 - 27/07/2023 22:03:23    2497370

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Replying To 1234me2:  "Unfortunately no one from East Meath seems to want to play hurling, it's not like they have an abundance of players to choose from. Doesn't help them that clubs like Kildalkey, Ratoath and Kiltale etc seem to bring down senior players everytime they play them.
That being said I doubt you'll consider them a joke in a few years time"
Yeah kildalkey bringing seniors players from 2010 down to play, the players playing for there juniors are well past senior hurling days

loyalroyal23 (Meath) - Posts: 20 - 27/07/2023 22:27:22    2497373

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Replying To PatrickTopping:  "Who said 1 group of 8?

Two groups of 4, now thats cut throat.
Same as Offaly & Wexford"
ok so 2 groups of 4, do you seed them based on previous year ? if so protecting the stringer teams, if you dont seed them you could end with lob sided semi final or final which defeats the purpose aswell.

I know there is no quick fix and unless the game is pushed harder at club level in all the clubs that play hurling we will never overcome the current situation.

Senior Championship.
Trim and Kilmessan dominated for years, both fell away for long periods, Trim are now back and could dominate for a few a years, Kilmessan have a bit to go yet to return to the winners enclosure.

Since the year 2000 we have had 6 winners of Jubliee with 2 of those with just 1 win so 4 clubs have accounted for 21 titles, Kiltale x 7, Kildalkey x 5, Kilmessan x 5, Trim x 4, Killyon x 1, Rathmolyon x 1.
Maybe this is acceptable at club level but it highlights the issues we have at county level and these issues will be more apparent next year.

Does anyone see any option of restructure to try make the senior championship more competitive ?

Intermediate Championship.
11 winners in the same period if you count Athboy's 1 in the current CNG number. Of the 11 winners 2 teams have gone on to contest senior finals, Longwood promoted in 2009 and contested the SHC final in 2013, defeated by Kilmessan, Ratoath promoted in 2016 contested finals in 2020 and 2022 beaten each time by Trim.

Boardsmill promoted in 2021, relegated in 2022, Wolfe Tones promoted in 2020 relegated in 2021, CNG promoted in 2019, still senior but in B group, Na Fianna promoted in 2018 and now competitive in A group, Navan o Mahonys promoted in 2017 and relegated in 2019 or 2020, not sure here. So my point been that the current IHC and SHC group B is not proving to be a stepping stone to success. No team promoted since the year 2000 has won a senior title.

Do we need a restructure or do we need clubs to work harder.

Our biggest towns, Dunboyne 15k people, poor Senior B, Ashbourne, 2016 population 13k people, Intermediate B, Navan, 2022 population figure 34k people, poor Intermediate A.
We are not getting enough from these clubs despite the fact football is the first game. If these clubs cant push the boundaries harder our counties team's will suffer for ever more.

Just my opinion, not looking for angry reaction just looking for any sensible thoughts people might have.

pixey (Meath) - Posts: 60 - 28/07/2023 09:33:18    2497387

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