Interesting year ahead…5 teams in with a good shout of winning division 1 and three probably fighting out to avoid relegation…Clare and Limerick look the front runners for Division 2 but will get plenty of it off Antrim and Laois who could well cause an upset or two…
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Odds to win Division 1
Outright Betting
Tipperary 6/4
Kilkenny 7/4
Galway 9/2
Cork 8/1
Waterford 12/1
Offaly 33/1
Dublin 66/1
Wexford 80/1
Each Way Odds 1/3 places 1,2
relegation
To be Relegated Hide
Wexford 5/6
Offaly 11/4
Dublin 11/4
Waterford 12/1
Cork 16/1
Galway 33/1
Tipperary 100/1
Kilkenny 250/1
Offaly at 11/4 to be relegated looks a standout bet
I’ll be watching the odds on the Kerry matches with interest. Very unlucky not to win the Christy Ring last year and they are definately better than Down and about the same as Westmeath and Carlow. Have you odds on relegation from the second division Puke?
Over the last two years Offaly have looked a much better team than Wexford. Always hard to tell with the league but you’d expect the three games between Dublin, Offaly, and Wexford to decide who takes the drop. Dublin’s home games this year are against Kilkenny, Galway, and Tipp. Having to travel to both Wexford and Offaly is putting it up to them. Playing at their best they’re well capable of beating both, but they were very inconsistent last year, in both league and championship.
KK are a little value at 7/4
The are 6/5 to win the AI and looking at what they’re “B” team is doing in the walsh cup even if they do rest 3-4 they’ll still make tha final
Dublin have to beat Wexford and another win or two would be decent preparation for the championship.
We’re straight into the serious stuff as whoever loses in Ennis is on thin ice for the rest of the campaign. Should be a good crowd in Cusack Park that day anyway.
Will take a while for Wexford to settle on a team and the Oulart lads will only be going back from now. Dublin seem somewhat settled settled and Offaly wont change much from last year I’d imagine so I’d put Wexford favourites for the drop too.
I think there’s a really strong chance that Wexford will be relegated but survival chances were conversely improved by Oulart’s defeat last weekend. We would lack any depth whatsoever without their players given they’ve potentially 6 or 7 county team starters. I don’t think there’s much between us, Offaly and Dublin in truth.
I’ve heard that a few times alright but I haven’t seen anything official. Hard to know if it’s a good idea or not, despite the fact that it would suit us.
I’d think ye are a bit behind the Duds at this stage.
I see it as
1st Tier
Tipp & KK. Out on their own
2nd Tier
Galway. Capable of matching the top tier on a good day and losing to anyone with hurleys on another day.
3rd Tier
Waterford, Cork. Rebuilding a bit at the moment.
4th Tier
Dublin. Will put it up to a few this year and might move up a notch.
5th Tier
Clare, Limerick, Wexford, Offaly. Clare have a nice team coming through & Offaly are improving. I’m hoping a full strength Limerick can get back to parity with Waterford & Cork this year. Hard to see em doing any better than that anytime soon. Not having a dig at Wexford here but don’t see where their improvement will come from.
6th Tier
Antrim, Laois. Might be being a bit harsh on Antrim here we’ll see come the league.
7th Tier
Carlow, Westmeath, Kerry etc… the also rans. Making strides but no team that has come up from the Christy Ring has made any sort of impression bar the Dud’s who have massive population & investment advantages over their rivals. Hard to see any team make a breakthrough from here in the near term
It would suit Clare and Limerick alright…But for me Division one & two should consist of 14 teams as opposed to 16…7 in each division, hopefully closing the gap somewhat between division 1 and 2 and leading to two far more competative leagues…It would allow each team a bye week as welll
If 2 are going up does it follow that 2 will be relegated? Ridiculous that the promotion and relegation parameters are unclear starting when the league is about to get underway.
Looking forward to Ennis Sunday week though I dont expect us to win. This years league is about finding a team and promotion would be a bonus. The league structure may well be different next year anyway.
Would fancy Tipp to win the Div 1 title. They’re the outstanding team in the country and I’d expect to treat the league in a similiar fashion to last year ie. give the panel a chance to show what they’re made of. Galway might go close but cant see them beating Tipp in a final if it comes down to it. The rest are also-rans IMO.
The trouble is the likes of Kerry, Down, Westmeath and Carlow are too strong for the division below them. It doesn’t do anything for the development of hurling to have them hockeying division 3 teams. Kerry strolled through Division 3 last year.
Wouldn’t have a huge problem with that myself. I was completely against Wexford’s moaning a couple of years ago when we went down. They basically wanted a top division of 9 so, if you take this year’s Division 1 teams plus Clare and Limerick, it essentially would have meant that 1 of these 10 would miss out each season but would almost be guaranteed promotion the following year (no offence to Laois or Antrim). Having 7 or 8 teams at least gives the improving/emerging teams like Carlow a chance to test themselves against a few better teams and make gradual progress. They’ll be looking to build on beating Wexford last year.
