Not particularly and spend too much time in the B for their own good
What a fitting way relegation would be for Graiguecullen to make the 100th anniversary of their defection from Carlow to Laois in 1926.
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2 Minor A winning teams of lads all 30 or under isnāt a bad crop all the same. Possibly a few veterans from the 2010 Minor A winning team still there too. Teams have done a lot more with a loss less.
Down to the knockout stages of the Antrim SHC this weekend.
In the group stages, Group 2 was predictable. Cushendall and Dunloy played in the last game to decide top of the group, and Dunloy won by 6. Cushendall down a couple of players including Paddy Burke, look like a team in transition. Glenariffe, Intermediate champions last year, beat St Endas to claim 3rd place. They look like the 1st club to come up from Intermediate since St Endas, that will be able to stay up.
Group 1 was a bit tougher. County Champions St Johns were out first against their biggest rivals, Rossa. The Johnnieās scrapped a draw. Ballycastle stayed with Loughgiel in 1st half but Loughgiel pulled away early in 2nd half. 2nd round of games saw Loughgiel beat Rossa and St Johns pull away from Ballycastle to win by 4. Bit of drama in last round. Loughgiel beat St Johns 0.30 to 3.14 but after final whistle there were scenes we all love to see, a bit of a melee. Seemed to have been started by the Loughgiel water boy who is a bit of a pup. This was followed by some boxing on the terraces between fans.
Suspensions were handed out this week, 1 match ban for 4 St Johns players and 3 Loughgiel players. Ryan McNulty is St Johns biggest name and Dan McCloskey on the Loughgiel side.
Last group game was Ballycastle away to Rossa to decide 3rd place. Never easy for North Antrim teams up on the Shaws Road but Ballycastle kept their best performance for this game. Always ahead by 3 or 4 points but was squeaky bum time at the end when Rossa got a goal in injury time but the Town held on by a point to go through. Big win for them.
Quarter-final lineup St Johns vs Glenariffe (Today 4.00) and Cushendall vs Ballycastle (Tomorrow 4.00)
Glenariffe have brought through some good young players playing as an underage amalgamation with Shane OāNeills and/or Glenravel. They won a minor championship and u19 championship over last few years. They have a couple of good minors to move up next year so they look set to stay senior for the foreseeable. However, even with the suspensions St Johns should have too much for them.
Cushendall vs Ballycastle - In late July Cushendall beat Ballycastle well in the u21 County final and a lot of players from both those teams will be playing tomorrow. However, I hear Cushendall have lost one of their best young forwards, Bradley and with Paddy Burke potentially out too, there might be a chance for Ballycastle. Of course they will have to contend with Neil McManus refereeing the game too! Ballycastle beat Loughgiel on Wednesday night in the Reserve Championship final and after the result vs Rossa they should be confident. Cushendall will be favourites but itās the old cliche, the longer Ballycastle stays in it the more a chance they have. They met in a semi final 3 years ago and Ballycastle gifted them 2 goals in the 1st half, they canāt do that tomorrow. The head says Cushendall but the heart of course says Ballycastle.
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Best of luck. Are they on the clubber?
Donāt think so. As far as Iām aware none of the Northern counties are on Clubber which is a strange one.
No, Jerome Quinn ex BBC streams them. Heās awful but at least you can watch the game.
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Erinās Isle going the right way in Hurling. Senior A quarter final tomorrow at 2.00, Junior D semi final at 11.00 and a Junior F semi final put back to 5.00, cos of the Senior A final. Thatās some going.
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cos of senior A qf.
Be less marches above if they did
Not many of them came through
Rathnure with a convincing victory over the other St Anneās of Rathangan 2-20 to 0-13. Skippy Ruth ousting Tom Mullaly. Expected it to be a bit closer. Was back to a 6 point game before a Jack Redmond goal finished it off. St Jamesā beat Buffers Alley in the intermediate semi-final. Looked to be virtually over at half-time with the Alley leading by 9 points before a second half comeback. Adamstown beat the Duffry by 5 points in the 3rd tier (Intermediate A) quarter-final.
My grandfather was involved in the Battle of Milford. He had a couple of Carlow County championships with Graigue. I have the medals now.
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Both goalkeepers here in the Carlow SHC of the traditional chunky variety
This is fantastic skelping
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Skin and hair flying already
The Chris Nolan show. What a goal!
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Momentous scenes here in O Moore Park as Kilcavan make it to Senior for the first time in their history with a comprehensive 10 point win over Ballyfin who came down out of Senior last year.
They were full value for it too. Despite being murdered on kick outs in the first half, they were much the better side against the wind as Ballyfin played a fierce ponderous type of game. Cian Ryle kick them over the line then in the second half.
They even had the luxury of bringing on the legendary Derek āFreshā O Connell. Iād reckon Fresh is 55 if heās a day. He played in the famous point that never was game against Carlow back in 1995. He carried them through some dark days alongside his brother Rory. Heāll enjoy this.
The High Chapparal will be bouncing this weekend
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The big goalie made a hames of that just as they got it back to 2 points
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That was a very good save