2 of these were in the senior Q/F last year, Senans won the Intermediate and Patâs have been there or thereabouts for a good few years now!
Shows a complete lack of interest in the county set up by players now.
Oolas best footballers are probably hurlers which doesnât help. Thereâs a few missing as well obviously which isnât taken into account. Pats definitely have a few who could be playing
Iâd say thereâs only 2 debutants in the starting lineup? All decent players, but they do lack in experience and thatâs where weâll be hurt.
Hard to see how that side is going to put up a match winning total.
Never bet against your own and all that but Laois -4 at 21/20 looks a cracking betâŚ
That Limerick team will give a good account of themselves v those Laois serpants pal.
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Proposal for a Qualifier element to be included in the Junior Hurling Championships has been voted on by the junior Hurling clubs to be ratified at January 30th Co Board Meeting. If it is defeated the current championship set up will remain.
New proposal sees the Junior Hurling Championship continue to be ran on a divisional basis. As it stands the 4 Divisional winners and 4 Divisional beaten finalists go through (making up an 8 team County Championship Series). However now, the beaten Divisional Semi Finalists will play off against each other, the winner proceeding to the County series with both Divisional finalists. The Divisional winners go straight through to County Quarter Finals. The 4 Beaten Divisional Finalists must play the 4 Divisional Qualifiers in a County Series Qualifier/Preliminary Quarter Final type game which will be seeded (divisional runners up cannot face each other or the qualifier from their own division) with the 4 winning teams of these games proceeding on to the County Quarter Finals to face the 4 Divisional Champions.
The Co Board were trying to push a separate County Championship made up of the 4 Semi Finalists of each Division making a 16 team (4 groups of 4) County Series but the logistics, fixture congestion/dual clubs/length of entire season to win County championship were the drawback of this.
Only a matter of time before it goes All County, it just makes too much sense but the Divisional boards are clinging on for dear life
Going all county would make absolute sense, but the stronger clubs in each division wont vote for it.
The clubs left in the city after Pats and Na Piarsaighs 2nd team going up certainly wont, nor will the East or South clubs, then you have the west thinking of big gates from 20 years ago. There isnt a hope of it happening.
In reality it would suit the wesht clubs the most, but they love their junior A championship.
I got a pain in my head reading that. They have to go all county.
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They wonât be this year anyway.
The new proposal is fairly good in fairness in my opinion. Basically the same as it stands but leaves the door open for one of the beaten Divisional Semi Finalists. Itâll change it up a small bit anyway
Am I right in interpreting that as say both losing west semi finalists play a 3rd/4th playoff with the winner playing a losing finalist from a different division in the last 16. Backdoor route could be tough. Be basically five KO games to get to the final.
Better than it was but itâs still a fudge and only adds to the fixture congestion
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That actually makes things worse tbh.
A 16-team All-County Junior Championship would be a very good, youâd have some absolutely cracking matches. A lot of teams in and around the same level.
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It should be divisions of 8 all the way down IMO. If that means some teams are playing Junior F or whatever then so be it, at least theyâll be playing in a competition theyâve a realistic chance of winning. Top four in the semis, Two finalists up, two down. The better teams will rise fast & the dross will fall fast.
Everyone gets at a minimum seven games, maximum 9. All divisions can play off the same fixture list, etc. etc. etc.
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Itâs an interesting idea. Canât ever see it being implemented, but it could definitely work.
Think we had 86 hurling teams lining out in Championship last year.
So with the current labels, youâd have 24 from Senior through to Intermediate. Then youâd 8 Junior grades- A to H.
The most obvious problem of all is there arenât nearly enough referees to play 43 matches over a weekend, I donât think.
Then youâd have teams at higher grades not allowing subs play for the 2nd team unless the match was after the higher grade. So then youâd be trying to schedule the senior & intermediate games on the Friday and have the lower junior games on a Saturday and Sunday.
And currently, at lower grades, teams elect at what level to play at⌠Youâd be suggesting promotion/relegation across the board. But there can be a massive variance in the quality of a Junior B team from one year to the next.
Itâs a nice idea but there already definitely flaws to iron out. Couldnât see it ever being implemented anyway.
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Probably the main stumbling block.
The 2nd team issue could be ironed out simply enough with every team that has a second team having to play before said second team on the first weekend. They do that as a rule anyway. After that itâs not an issue. Lack of refs would be a problem alright. Maybe the bottom 4 divisions could play on an alternate weekend or something.
As you said itâll never happen anyway.
Imagine telling someone you played Junior H?
I played junior F in Dublin once upon a time 
Dublin is odd like that but it works well. There are around 10 hurling divisions and 10 championships and they arenât linked. You have to win your championship to go up.
You could have one division 5 team playing Junior A Championship and another playing Junior E championship and not a whole lot between them.
I found the standard as a whole in Dublin to be surprisingly good, even down that low. Main issue was youâd play a team and beat them handy early in the year and play them again later in the year and they wouldnât be related to the same team. Ringers everywhere at that level.
System is good in Dublin, loads of league games to keep you ticking over and itâs taken seriously enough. The fixture calendar was relatively solid as well. At the lower levels anyway.
A serious lack of axemen and cut in though. Very little dirt. Bangers are a serious issue alright