It’s some spot,we had a good look around it while sheltering from the half time hailstones last spring when we were there for the London match.We were delighted on the Saturday night to hear the game had been moved to the Bekan only to be horrified when we got there Sunday only to be told we were playing outside as the congress was taking place inside on Monday and the chairs etc had already been laid out.We use orange sloitars for astro/ball wall night training.
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17 year olds were banned playing fron 2016 onwards but my point is that its pretty much impossible for counties now to run off 6 proper championships (Minor Hurling & Football, Under 21 Hurling & Football and Adult Hurling & Football) in 5 and a half months. Hence all this talk about decoupling.
Tipp have abandoned the County U21 Hurling and Football championships this year due to time constraints. All thats left are dumbed down Divisional championships with walkovers already an issue. Clonmel Commercials havent even bothered to enter a team in South Under 21 Football which ssys it all.
If there was some club activity from February to May then it would alleviate pressure and all competitions could be finished out accordingly.
But thanks to the split season this isnt possible. There was little or no talk about decoupling until the split season came along.
Gas Cunt
It’s an unbelievable facility. Hopefully will be there again in the new year
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With the GAA, you are hardly ever comparing like with like. The 32 counties are notably different in key regards. So are individual clubs. How would you compare, say, Blacks and Whites and Thurles Sarsfields?
If nothing else, Tipperary has about twice as many clubs as Kilkenny and football, stating the obvious, is more of a priority in your county. So you cannot compare like with like. But the reality in Kilkenny is that the pairing for all of the U21 Finals, A grade to E grade, have all been decided as of this weekend. The Senior Final was traditionally played on the last Sunday of October. This year, that decider was played on the second Sunday of October. Football wise, all the adult finals have been played off in good time. So…
You need to stop talking about ‘split season zealots’. The idea that going backwards to prior fixture arrangements – or that returning Minor to U18 – represents some sort of panacea for all GAA ills is a mirage. What you are effectively urging as regards Kilkenny is a return to playing one league round in April, two league rounds in May, one league round in July and one league round in August. Five league ties over a 20 week spell caused a lot of problems – as per the CPA. We cannot wish away that sentiment.
On balance, I am in favour of Minor being U17 and of U17s not being eligible for adult play. The divide is a neat one. As broached before, I think an amendment could be introduced whereby a club, if able to demonstrate the need to field U17 players to make up an adult panel of 21, can apply for an exception to this rule – parental consent presumed. There is rarely good sense in a ‘one size fits all’ approach, in the fiction that a large urban club with massive numbers at its disposal rows the same boat as a rural club.
Where I do firmly agree with you is on the issue of provincial round robins. A kneejerk and inefficient ‘innovation’.
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I am not advocating Kilkenny play Senior Club matches in April and since they have pretty much zero football, the 5 and half months from July onwards is probably plenty time to play Minor/Under 21 and Adult Hurling Championships. But Kilkenny are a bit of an outlier.
There are many other counties (Tipp, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Waterford, Dublin, Wexford, Laois, Offaly, Galway, Carlow etc) where both codes are played by a large portion of clubs - therefore they have 6 championships to complete across both codes rather than 3.
These counties need to be given time in the first 6 and a half months of the year to play some of these (the minor and under 21 would be preferable early in the year). Or else decoupling is inevitable. You cant logistically expect to play 6 proper competitions in 5 and a half months.
Its a total joke these Under 17 and Under 20 Inter county competitions have become with their round robins and back doors. The nadir for me was when in minor this year, Clare, Galway and Laois broke off into a round robin when the Provincial championships had been completed. Locking these young lads into full time Intercounty set ups from November to the following June or July is a terrible move and whatever about split season at Senior, a split season at underage will change the GAA for the worse.
It was January until September they were locked up in under previous system.
County players used to always play Club Minor and Under 21 games throughout the year.
In what counties?
Pretty much everywhere.
Like Noel McGrath would have been playing full Club Under 21 Football campaigns during the spring back in 2009/2010/2011. John McGrath the same when his time came. Before lockdown in 2020 Sheedy tried to stop Paddy Cadell playing a club under 21 match and there was war over it.
In Clare they used run off Club Under 21 Hurling in spring and Tony Kelly and the boys would always be in action.
Obviously if you were only a County Minor or Under 21 you’d be playing all these games too.
This gave more leeway later in the year.
Now the solution is to either decouple or abandon some of these club competitions thanks to the split season zealots.
So players played Club U21 one week and County the next?
Yes.
Playing for the club 7 days before a Championship game? Fascinating.
Not Intercounty Senior Championship as Club Under 21 Football would be wrapped up on May Bank Holiday before Championship would start. There might be a crossover during the league alright but was usually managed alright.
It wouldn’t have been unusual for a County Minor to play a Club game 7 days before an Intercounty Minor game (and that’s the way it should be)
I’m going to wager this would be very unusual.
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Lads, are those hurl ógs any use? I’ve been assigned the task of getting “hurling sticks” from Santa for my lads. They are 4.5 and 2.5 so would hurl ógs or proper hurls be more appropriate? Just to preempt any muldoon input, they’re not called “hurleys” you weird cunts.
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Handy for ‘tipping away’ (@Locke) around the house with a soft ball. Older child may prefer a normal hurl
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Bring them out to Phillip Doyle’s when you’re down again, get a professional opinion.
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They’re grand as when used as a weapon (and they will only be used as a weapon) they don’t do that much damage.
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Forget about it for the 4.5 year old. That’s far too late to start hurling, might as well just get him a football.
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