All Ireland Hurling Championship 2018

No one asked them to be shredded on the basis of Laois. They should be shredded on the basis of thats what the GAA are trying to do, and this thing is merely a stepping stone. Either do it or don’t, this middle ground fob to everyone and no one is a waste of time and effort.

If you want to get into justifiably being on one side or other, what justification apart from luck have Offaly for being on one side of it? What justification is there for the continued treatement of Kerry as an pebble in the shoe of those running hurling in this country?

Laois have a lot of issues, and arent worth your time, but there’s an understandable bewilderment at the continued fuck you from Croke Park over the years when we have made strides to improve ourselves to the best of our abilities and request some extra assistance to push ourselves further.

There is no evidence though to suggest that these great strides ye think ye are making are in fact improving ye. And moreover ye had yer own man at the top table in Croke Park very recently so in a sense ye have only yerselves to blame.

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You can’t judge effort or progress in a county solely by the performance of the first fifteen.
Having said that, I personally can’t really see why a county would be so desperate to play in a competition which would end in a series of demoralising defeats. I don’t think there is enough play in the proposed system all the same, in that the corridor in and out is very narrow.

Great strides? I mentioned strides, improved performances at underage level in tournaments such as the Forristal and Arrabawn are all we can point to, and they are there to be seen. A Leinster Minor Final appearance, and a Leinster U21 final appearance in the last number of years are also further indicators. Our own man in Croke Park did fuck all, because the GAA President has fuck all say, but you know that. A token fuck you grant was all that came our way, which has always been the case for the Tier 2 counties. You’re simply being quarrelsome now for some reason, perhaps someone cut you off this morning, I cant be sure.

I’m just pointing out facts mate. Stop killing the messenger.

Given Alan Milton is the messenger, I cant agree to that.

If Laois are good enough they’ll get promoted. And if they remain good enough, they’ll stay up. You have to draw a line somewhere. Offaly aren’t exactly a powerhouse these days. And if our decline continues at current pace we’ll be in Tier 2 in no time.

Its all based on a whim mate, what about Kerry? How do they get into Munster?

Oh that Kerry rule is a total mess. And had they created a straight 1 up 1 down it would have actually added to the Munster side of things. Imagine the bite in a bottom 2 match in the knowledge that the loser goes to tier 2. It’d be box office. But no they had to bend over backwards to maintain a dead provincial championship.

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This is my point from way back, either put a stake through the thing, or let it off as it is. This is a clusterfuck of a compromise, designed to ease in the abolition of the Provincials. Its a pile of wank, and anyone arguing otherwise hasn’t looked at it.

Laois have only themselves to blame for forcing Cheddar out.

They’d be competing for Leinster and All-Irelands if he was still there.

It wouldn’t be that hard to come up with seedings based on the previous championship to form the basis of the 2 pools. Avoiding repeat pairings from previous championship where possible.

Galway[AI Winner]
Cork[Semi Loser]
Clare[Quarter Loser]
Kilkenny[Qualifier 2 Loser]
Offaly[Qualifier 1 Loser]

Waterford[AI Runner Up]
Tipperary[Semi Loser]
Wexford[Quarter Loser]
Dublin[Qualifier 2 Loser]
Limerick[Qualifier 1 Loser]

Come bottom of your group you’re in the relegation final. Lose that and your down to Tier 2 and the Tier 2 winner is up.

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Waa waa waa

I agree that this proposal is a stepping stone to the abolition of the provincial championships. They’ll be gone by 2021 and replaced by a new system, along similar lines to that coming in, except that the provinces will be mixed and a couple of more teams added to the Liam McCarthy.

Are you suggesting a

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TYPE FORMAT?!!!

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Call it whatever you want, it’s inevitable.

The GAA seem to love the term “round robin” though.

Well this is it, isn’t it. There is definitely still a strong part of GAA support who are still in favour of the provincial Championships, myself included.

Instead of abolishing them outright, what they’ve done is water them down even further to the point of meaninglessness in the guise of giving the players more games (which is what they want) and apparently making time for clubs (still unsure on that front).

A year or two of this and no one will want provincial championships anymore. It’s actually quite clever in some ways.

Westmeath thrown out and told they can’t compete in the ‘All’ Ireland Hurling Championship after they running the reigning champions Tipperary to 9 points in the 2017 campaign.

The Westmeath footballers were beaten by 31 points when they faced reigning All Ireland Football Champions, Dublin in the 2017 campaign. No fear of the Westmeath footballers or the likes of Monaghan, Armagh and Roscommon who were beaten out the gate in the Croke Park getting turfed out of the ‘All’ Ireland Football Championship.

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There’s a lot more merit in properly promoting lower tier championships than there is in placing them in competitions where they consistently are hammered. The real problem is that the GAA doesn’t want to do that either. Restoring 2nd and 3rd tier finals to big days in the calendar (like AI semi-finals) would be a meaningful step. Don’t see it happening though.

Will never happen for ticketing reasons alone.