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Dual Counties: True Gaels Or Longtime Suffering

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What a weekend as a Galway dual code supporter.

The hurlers have given us many a great day out over the past 12 years, Saturday was not one of them. Then on to Sunday and a great win over the noisy neighbors,

We were having a discussion that imagine if Galway was primarily a single GAA code county like Kilkenny or Mayo/Kerry. Imagine if we the likes of Shane Walsh, Damien Comer (a fine club hurler) and Sean Kelly playing hurling

OR

The Mannions (no strangers to senior club football with Caltra), Daithi Burke (multiple All Ireland club football winner) or Conor Whelan playing football.

It will never happen, but the hindrance that being a dual county puts on competing with the single sport counties is significant, imagine if the Cliffords and Geaneys were hurlers or if the Walshs, Shefflin, Coadys etc were footballers. Bringing it back to Sunday, could you imagine if Mayo lined out without O Connors, Matie Ruane etc as they played IC hurling?

The_DOC (Galway) - Posts: 710 - 07/05/2024 11:31:42    2543472

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Replying To The_DOC:  "What a weekend as a Galway dual code supporter.

The hurlers have given us many a great day out over the past 12 years, Saturday was not one of them. Then on to Sunday and a great win over the noisy neighbors,

We were having a discussion that imagine if Galway was primarily a single GAA code county like Kilkenny or Mayo/Kerry. Imagine if we the likes of Shane Walsh, Damien Comer (a fine club hurler) and Sean Kelly playing hurling

OR

The Mannions (no strangers to senior club football with Caltra), Daithi Burke (multiple All Ireland club football winner) or Conor Whelan playing football.

It will never happen, but the hindrance that being a dual county puts on competing with the single sport counties is significant, imagine if the Cliffords and Geaneys were hurlers or if the Walshs, Shefflin, Coadys etc were footballers. Bringing it back to Sunday, could you imagine if Mayo lined out without O Connors, Matie Ruane etc as they played IC hurling?"
Nice thread DOC. I moved to Meath in 2015 knowing it was a football county. But never realised how big hurling is in Meath, particularly in the South West. Besides Mickey Burke, have there been many Meath hurlers who would have been picked for the football team if they weren't hurlers?

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7405 - 07/05/2024 12:10:34    2543480

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Tough on dual fans the Heineken cup and FA cup are on at the same time. Would have made a nice double header in Croke Park, but hardly feasible with goal post and pitch mark alterations.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3561 - 07/05/2024 13:44:26    2543494

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It's a discussion we often have in Wexford. If anything, we're even more dual, in that we don't really have a recognised hurling/football split like east and west Galway, Clare, or Cork. An individual club or two in an area may have a traditional preference for one code over the other, but by and large, both hurling and football are played to the same degree across the county.

But anyway - if you think being a Galway supporter is tough sometimes, you should try supporting Wexford!!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2296 - 07/05/2024 15:14:25    2543508

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Replying To The_DOC:  "What a weekend as a Galway dual code supporter.

The hurlers have given us many a great day out over the past 12 years, Saturday was not one of them. Then on to Sunday and a great win over the noisy neighbors,

We were having a discussion that imagine if Galway was primarily a single GAA code county like Kilkenny or Mayo/Kerry. Imagine if we the likes of Shane Walsh, Damien Comer (a fine club hurler) and Sean Kelly playing hurling

OR

The Mannions (no strangers to senior club football with Caltra), Daithi Burke (multiple All Ireland club football winner) or Conor Whelan playing football.

It will never happen, but the hindrance that being a dual county puts on competing with the single sport counties is significant, imagine if the Cliffords and Geaneys were hurlers or if the Walshs, Shefflin, Coadys etc were footballers. Bringing it back to Sunday, could you imagine if Mayo lined out without O Connors, Matie Ruane etc as they played IC hurling?"
Now take that thought and:
- strip away Galway's pedigree of contending and winning in both codes which provides a winning culture
- strip away much of the commercial income that a big county with a big diaspora can bring in
- strip away 2/3rds of the population

And split what's left 50/50 between football and hurling.

And then you'll see where the likes of Laois, Carlow, Westmeath etc are!

Laoisvillian (Laois) - Posts: 82 - 07/05/2024 15:19:55    2543511

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Replying To The_DOC:  "What a weekend as a Galway dual code supporter.

The hurlers have given us many a great day out over the past 12 years, Saturday was not one of them. Then on to Sunday and a great win over the noisy neighbors,

We were having a discussion that imagine if Galway was primarily a single GAA code county like Kilkenny or Mayo/Kerry. Imagine if we the likes of Shane Walsh, Damien Comer (a fine club hurler) and Sean Kelly playing hurling

OR

The Mannions (no strangers to senior club football with Caltra), Daithi Burke (multiple All Ireland club football winner) or Conor Whelan playing football.

It will never happen, but the hindrance that being a dual county puts on competing with the single sport counties is significant, imagine if the Cliffords and Geaneys were hurlers or if the Walshs, Shefflin, Coadys etc were footballers. Bringing it back to Sunday, could you imagine if Mayo lined out without O Connors, Matie Ruane etc as they played IC hurling?"
Well fyi Kerry are a dual county albeit second tier and our hurlers have lost good players to football.Now Galway might be affecteda little too but no counties have been affected more than Cork and Dublin.Cork have lost some class footballers to the hurling and Dubs the opposite losing some great hurlers to the footballers.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 3704 - 07/05/2024 15:50:54    2543517

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Replying To CiarraiMick:  "Well fyi Kerry are a dual county albeit second tier and our hurlers have lost good players to football.Now Galway might be affecteda little too but no counties have been affected more than Cork and Dublin.Cork have lost some class footballers to the hurling and Dubs the opposite losing some great hurlers to the footballers."
I'd argue that Wexford are affected as much as any county. Most years, almost all (if not all) of their intercounty hurling team are dual players, who play club football at the highest level.
While Cork and Dublin may lose some star players to the hurling and football respectively, you could argue that Wexford loses a large proportion of its best footballers, due to the fact that they're all hurlers.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2080 - 07/05/2024 16:53:32    2543533

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Replying To CiarraiMick:  "Well fyi Kerry are a dual county albeit second tier and our hurlers have lost good players to football.Now Galway might be affecteda little too but no counties have been affected more than Cork and Dublin.Cork have lost some class footballers to the hurling and Dubs the opposite losing some great hurlers to the footballers."
Our footballers lost Lee Chin, Matthew O'Hanlon, Liam og Mcgovern who all played intercounty football. Good hurlers like Red Barry, Ciaran Lyng, Glen Malone and Mossy Waters all ended up playing football. And we don't even have half the playing numbers of either Cork or Dublin.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12504 - 07/05/2024 16:58:11    2543534

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Replying To The_DOC:  "What a weekend as a Galway dual code supporter.

The hurlers have given us many a great day out over the past 12 years, Saturday was not one of them. Then on to Sunday and a great win over the noisy neighbors,

We were having a discussion that imagine if Galway was primarily a single GAA code county like Kilkenny or Mayo/Kerry. Imagine if we the likes of Shane Walsh, Damien Comer (a fine club hurler) and Sean Kelly playing hurling

OR

The Mannions (no strangers to senior club football with Caltra), Daithi Burke (multiple All Ireland club football winner) or Conor Whelan playing football.

It will never happen, but the hindrance that being a dual county puts on competing with the single sport counties is significant, imagine if the Cliffords and Geaneys were hurlers or if the Walshs, Shefflin, Coadys etc were footballers. Bringing it back to Sunday, could you imagine if Mayo lined out without O Connors, Matie Ruane etc as they played IC hurling?"
Well fyi Kerry are a dual county albeit second tier and our hurlers have lost good players to football.Now Galway might be affecteda little too but no counties have been affected more than Cork and Dublin.Cork have lost some class footballers to the hurling and Dubs the opposite losing some great hurlers to the footballers.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 3704 - 07/05/2024 17:29:14    2543543

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Dublin mostly beat Galway in hurling championship. Galway footballers not beaten Dublin footballers in championships since 1940s? Struggling here... ever maybe??

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2749 - 07/05/2024 23:12:46    2543581

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We all hear of the plan to expand hurling and football in counties where one code is dominant over the other especially the hurling promotion.
If we harp on about the benefits if a single code surely we are shooting ourselves in the foot by preaching if u concentrate on one we ll be more successful as a county ,
"Why would we do that sure it'll mean we are less successful at our preferred code "
To be totally honest success should be measured by the amount of people that participate as a percentage of population than how many all irelands a county wins .
Surely in this day and age participation is paramount .
Let the county championships at any level be the all ireland in the players heads .
Play as many and as much sport as u can, because all too soon u wont be able to .
The people that scream concentrate on one be it supporters of little concept on the benefits of sport .
Or are paid managers ,coaches , or crave their own success . Are not thinking of the participants thats for sure .
Let the players choose what they and not us .

Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 199 - 08/05/2024 09:13:56    2543607

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Replying To BarneyGrant:  "Dublin mostly beat Galway in hurling championship. Galway footballers not beaten Dublin footballers in championships since 1940s? Struggling here... ever maybe??"
1934.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2749 - 08/05/2024 09:22:18    2543611

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "I'd argue that Wexford are affected as much as any county. Most years, almost all (if not all) of their intercounty hurling team are dual players, who play club football at the highest level.
While Cork and Dublin may lose some star players to the hurling and football respectively, you could argue that Wexford loses a large proportion of its best footballers, due to the fact that they're all hurlers."
Very true.

Almost all our players across all levels of club are dual players.

Same almost all of our clubs are dual clubs.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 2819 - 08/05/2024 10:17:39    2543629

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "Very true.

Almost all our players across all levels of club are dual players.

Same almost all of our clubs are dual clubs."
Per head Laois,Westmeath,Offaly and Clare are the true gaels.Each of these counties should get double the funding counties of similar population such as Kilkenny or Cavan get.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1487 - 08/05/2024 13:51:28    2543673

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Replying To jobber:  "Per head Laois,Westmeath,Offaly and Clare are the true gaels.Each of these counties should get double the funding counties of similar population such as Kilkenny or Cavan get."
All 4 of those counties have a far higher percentage of single code clubs and players than Wexford does.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12504 - 08/05/2024 16:23:59    2543708

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Replying To jobber:  "Per head Laois,Westmeath,Offaly and Clare are the true gaels.Each of these counties should get double the funding counties of similar population such as Kilkenny or Cavan get."
And what should Carlow get? Treble?

We have only 61,000 people - far less than any of the four mentioned above - and we are senior in hurling. Three of the above are intermediate.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 627 - 08/05/2024 16:43:51    2543712

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Little old Carlow here.

We have only 61,000 people. Third smallest population in Ireland. And we are the only one of the sub-80,000 people counties that is genuinely dual. The likes of Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo and Longford basically don't bother with hurling.

Of the eleven senior hurling countries, the next lowest population is Kilkenny (104,000) - but they don't play football at all.

Right now, there are a good few county hurlers who would walk onto the football team: Most notably Conor Lawler.

All of our county hurlers play football for the clubs. About half of them senior.

In recent years, Sean 'Choo Choo' Murphy (Sky Sports man of the match against Dublin a few years back) was a very good hurler, but was better known for football., Meanwhile, Dennis Murphy and Eddie Byrne were accomplished underage footballers who only played hurling at adult level.

Meanwhile, the biggest loss to Carlow hurlers ever was probably Padraig Amond -- but that was to a different code, alas.

If we were like Kilkenny or Monaghan - and put all our eggs into one basket - I think people would have a different impression of Carlow GAA.

But we try to do both. And sadly we don't have the numbers to be a top team in either.

We do have a decent club record - both Eire Og and O'Hanrahan's have won Leinster titles in football and Mount Leinster Rangers achieved the hurling equivalent. St Mullins have been there or thereabouts too.

Personally, I think counties that don't finance both codes properly shouldn't be allowed to take part in the championship. Kilkenny and Waterford's carry on is outrageous, on one hand - and the same applies to the Mayo's and Tyrone's on the other.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 627 - 08/05/2024 17:11:37    2543714

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Replying To CARPS:  "Little old Carlow here.

We have only 61,000 people. Third smallest population in Ireland. And we are the only one of the sub-80,000 people counties that is genuinely dual. The likes of Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo and Longford basically don't bother with hurling.

Of the eleven senior hurling countries, the next lowest population is Kilkenny (104,000) - but they don't play football at all.

Right now, there are a good few county hurlers who would walk onto the football team: Most notably Conor Lawler.

All of our county hurlers play football for the clubs. About half of them senior.

In recent years, Sean 'Choo Choo' Murphy (Sky Sports man of the match against Dublin a few years back) was a very good hurler, but was better known for football., Meanwhile, Dennis Murphy and Eddie Byrne were accomplished underage footballers who only played hurling at adult level.

Meanwhile, the biggest loss to Carlow hurlers ever was probably Padraig Amond -- but that was to a different code, alas.

If we were like Kilkenny or Monaghan - and put all our eggs into one basket - I think people would have a different impression of Carlow GAA.

But we try to do both. And sadly we don't have the numbers to be a top team in either.

We do have a decent club record - both Eire Og and O'Hanrahan's have won Leinster titles in football and Mount Leinster Rangers achieved the hurling equivalent. St Mullins have been there or thereabouts too.

Personally, I think counties that don't finance both codes properly shouldn't be allowed to take part in the championship. Kilkenny and Waterford's carry on is outrageous, on one hand - and the same applies to the Mayo's and Tyrone's on the other."
I wouldn't say outrageous. It's pretty understandable really to focus on the code you're traditionally more successful at, especially seeing as how there'd be little support among the people or gaa players themselves of those counties you mentioned for a 50/50 split.

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1786 - 08/05/2024 18:36:20    2543724

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Replying To CARPS:  "Little old Carlow here.

We have only 61,000 people. Third smallest population in Ireland. And we are the only one of the sub-80,000 people counties that is genuinely dual. The likes of Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo and Longford basically don't bother with hurling.

Of the eleven senior hurling countries, the next lowest population is Kilkenny (104,000) - but they don't play football at all.

Right now, there are a good few county hurlers who would walk onto the football team: Most notably Conor Lawler.

All of our county hurlers play football for the clubs. About half of them senior.

In recent years, Sean 'Choo Choo' Murphy (Sky Sports man of the match against Dublin a few years back) was a very good hurler, but was better known for football., Meanwhile, Dennis Murphy and Eddie Byrne were accomplished underage footballers who only played hurling at adult level.

Meanwhile, the biggest loss to Carlow hurlers ever was probably Padraig Amond -- but that was to a different code, alas.

If we were like Kilkenny or Monaghan - and put all our eggs into one basket - I think people would have a different impression of Carlow GAA.

But we try to do both. And sadly we don't have the numbers to be a top team in either.

We do have a decent club record - both Eire Og and O'Hanrahan's have won Leinster titles in football and Mount Leinster Rangers achieved the hurling equivalent. St Mullins have been there or thereabouts too.

Personally, I think counties that don't finance both codes properly shouldn't be allowed to take part in the championship. Kilkenny and Waterford's carry on is outrageous, on one hand - and the same applies to the Mayo's and Tyrone's on the other."
Little old Longford here.

We do bother with hurling, but we have 15,000 less people than Carlow and a League of Ireland team in the town [i(struggling at the minute but won FAI Cup in 2003 & 2004 and spent most of last 20 years in the Premier Division). Only three hurling clubs in the county and little capital investment into hurling development from HQ. Plenty of grassroots work going on to expand hurling at underage, but it needs a turboboost.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 489 - 08/05/2024 18:55:29    2543726

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Replying To CARPS:  "And what should Carlow get? Treble?

We have only 61,000 people - far less than any of the four mentioned above - and we are senior in hurling. Three of the above are intermediate."
Ok apologise a big error on my part.5 counties should get double.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1487 - 09/05/2024 09:08:19    2543777

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