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Replying To CRTW: "Pal being in the relegation final last year slightly skewed the groups along with Tinryland being finalists last year and struggling similarly this year. On the basis of the games this year you'd have to say Clonmore deserve to stay up, you don't always get what you deserve in sport though and Tinryland certainly aren't as bad as they've played in their last two games, I'd absolutely give OL a chance against Rathvilly, EO and Pal is a toss up imo" Yeah. Fair comment. Eire og on last night's form would be toast but they will still give pal all they want. Rathvilly looked very strong today but as I said earlier gaels never put up any effort. If I had to pick a winner I'd plump for Rathvilly. Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 261 - 15/09/2024 20:44:27 2570001 Link
Replying To Overthebar53: "Yeah. Fair comment. Eire og on last night's form would be toast but they will still give pal all they want. Rathvilly looked very strong today but as I said earlier gaels never put up any effort. If I had to pick a winner I'd plump for Rathvilly." Rathvilly certainly have the strongest team and bench and in full flow are hard stop so they probably remain favourites outright, OL's pace will cause them problems but they need to create turnovers high up the field to get real advantage of it though so if Rathvilly avoid that and always kick the ball dead they should have enough, Pal look well coached but can go out of games for spells but I always fancy them in semi finals, EO looked flat and hit some poor wides, on another night they go over and they cruise home, they certainly won't fear Pal. CRTW (Carlow) - Posts: 8 - 15/09/2024 21:27:42 2570010 Link
Replying To CRTW: "Rathvilly certainly have the strongest team and bench and in full flow are hard stop so they probably remain favourites outright, OL's pace will cause them problems but they need to create turnovers high up the field to get real advantage of it though so if Rathvilly avoid that and always kick the ball dead they should have enough, Pal look well coached but can go out of games for spells but I always fancy them in semi finals, EO looked flat and hit some poor wides, on another night they go over and they cruise home, they certainly won't fear Pal." I was at the game Saturday night as a neutral. To suggest that the final score was a reflection of Eire Og being flat is extremely unfair on MLR. Tough conditions with a difficult wind and the tone of the game was set by EO sitting off MLR and attempting to contain them, unlike Rathvilly who went straight for the juggler on Sunday. Majority of EO wides were poor decisions to shoot in the conditions and only 30per cent chance at best, and super defending by Mlr, with one great block on Dunphy in 1st half showed the intent of MLR. MLR had the game and scoreboard in control with a few minutes to go until a mad handpass in backs led to that crazy turnover which resulted in the penalty, however there was a blatant foul on MLRs no 6 creating the turnover. This was a massive test for EO and will stand to them next weekend. Hats off to their opponents who picked themselves up over that last two weeks ( Saturday wasn't even 4 weeks from the SH replay). And had a real go, despite being without possibly their play maker and one of the best young footballers in Carlow, Fitzpatrick. On the back of this Eire Og will be hard to beat going forward , trust me Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 37 - 16/09/2024 15:37:30 2570181 Link
Replying To Carlowtothecore1: "I was at the game Saturday night as a neutral. To suggest that the final score was a reflection of Eire Og being flat is extremely unfair on MLR. Tough conditions with a difficult wind and the tone of the game was set by EO sitting off MLR and attempting to contain them, unlike Rathvilly who went straight for the juggler on Sunday. Majority of EO wides were poor decisions to shoot in the conditions and only 30per cent chance at best, and super defending by Mlr, with one great block on Dunphy in 1st half showed the intent of MLR. MLR had the game and scoreboard in control with a few minutes to go until a mad handpass in backs led to that crazy turnover which resulted in the penalty, however there was a blatant foul on MLRs no 6 creating the turnover. This was a massive test for EO and will stand to them next weekend. Hats off to their opponents who picked themselves up over that last two weeks ( Saturday wasn't even 4 weeks from the SH replay). And had a real go, despite being without possibly their play maker and one of the best young footballers in Carlow, Fitzpatrick. On the back of this Eire Og will be hard to beat going forward , trust me" At no point did I say MLR were poor but EO certainly didn't look like a team who were firing on all cylinders, if they produce a performance like that again on Saturday I for one think they'll be beaten, Chris Nolan scored two outrageous points that certainly wouldn't be considered high percentage, yet down the other end EO were putting shots from the 14 wide so my point is on another night that's a 4 point swing and EO just close it out, as soon as they scored the penalty it was game over I felt anyway, if EO consider that a good performance they certainly won't get anywhere near defending their title. Your point about MLR giving it a go considering the circumstances is a fair one, this split of hurling first and football second has to go imo, making themselves and Mullins play a football championship the week after a county final is ridiculous and unfair. CRTW (Carlow) - Posts: 8 - 16/09/2024 18:17:49 2570229 Link
An interesting weekend of football behind us and another to come. Senior games were a disappointment at the weekend the quality of the eire og mlr game was very poor and the rathvilly bagenalstown game was over before it started. I'll stick with and eire og rathvilly final Intermediate saw good wins for fenagh and tullow with grange and kildavin/clonegal awaiting in the semis. I think this will be a fenagh kildavin final The junior A saw two close games Friday night with both asca and O'Hanrahans probably leaving the games behind them, kilbride face ballon now and the cocks take on leighlinbridge. It's looking like a kilbride leighlinbridge final but I expect it to be close Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1641 - 16/09/2024 20:56:15 2570251 Link
Replying To CRTW: "At no point did I say MLR were poor but EO certainly didn't look like a team who were firing on all cylinders, if they produce a performance like that again on Saturday I for one think they'll be beaten, Chris Nolan scored two outrageous points that certainly wouldn't be considered high percentage, yet down the other end EO were putting shots from the 14 wide so my point is on another night that's a 4 point swing and EO just close it out, as soon as they scored the penalty it was game over I felt anyway, if EO consider that a good performance they certainly won't get anywhere near defending their title. Your point about MLR giving it a go considering the circumstances is a fair one, this split of hurling first and football second has to go imo, making themselves and Mullins play a football championship the week after a county final is ridiculous and unfair." I dunno if the split season of hurling first and football second has to go tbh. It's very hard be a proper dual club when it's week in week out switching between both codes. It only suits the football clubs who don't hurl & punishes the likes of Bagenalstown MLR Myshall etc who all promote both codes. You'll also kill off the revival of hurling in Carlow town and potentially weaken the likes of Kildavin and burren rangers. It's not ideal but at least it gives both codes decent breathing room and should only help improve the standard if lads are getting blocks of training in each code. Look at Wicklow atm 15 championship weeks in a row for dual clubs, carnew and kiltegan are the only dual clubs competing in both codes….thats not a good thing benchtoaster (Carlow) - Posts: 32 - 17/09/2024 07:30:49 2570280 Link
Replying To benchtoaster: "I dunno if the split season of hurling first and football second has to go tbh. It's very hard be a proper dual club when it's week in week out switching between both codes. It only suits the football clubs who don't hurl & punishes the likes of Bagenalstown MLR Myshall etc who all promote both codes. You'll also kill off the revival of hurling in Carlow town and potentially weaken the likes of Kildavin and burren rangers. It's not ideal but at least it gives both codes decent breathing room and should only help improve the standard if lads are getting blocks of training in each code. Look at Wicklow atm 15 championship weeks in a row for dual clubs, carnew and kiltegan are the only dual clubs competing in both codes….thats not a good thing" If you're a dual club you'll be competing that amount of time anyway? Rangers have been on the go for how many weeks in a row? Obviously you don't want players playing 15 weeks in a row, there's ways to play it off without it being week on week, also the revival of hurling in Carlow Town happened before the split season came in so I think the credit there is due to the hard work that people have put into getting their underage going again, there's no split season for any of the underage competitions and it doesn't cause any issues. I've previously stated here that I think all clubs should be offering or promoting both codes, the amount of kids who never got the chance to play hurling in the country simply because their club doesn't offer it or promote it is scandalous CRTW (Carlow) - Posts: 8 - 17/09/2024 18:51:53 2570455 Link
Replying To CRTW: "If you're a dual club you'll be competing that amount of time anyway? Rangers have been on the go for how many weeks in a row? Obviously you don't want players playing 15 weeks in a row, there's ways to play it off without it being week on week, also the revival of hurling in Carlow Town happened before the split season came in so I think the credit there is due to the hard work that people have put into getting their underage going again, there's no split season for any of the underage competitions and it doesn't cause any issues. I've previously stated here that I think all clubs should be offering or promoting both codes, the amount of kids who never got the chance to play hurling in the country simply because their club doesn't offer it or promote it is scandalous" Don't think the number of games is an issue, but the condensed nature of the championships are ludicrous considering there's 5 weeks from football final to Leinster campaign. 3 of those weeks spread over group stages would make a massive difference to a dual club as pointed out by mlr football manager in recent interview. Also clubs are not being rewarded at admin level for being genuine dual. IMO when it comes to voting on structures and fixtures a dual club should have 2 votes as against a single vote for one code club. Otherwise the football clubs will always make decisions for hurlers in this county. In the same radio report the Bagenalstown chairman said that they need some help from gaa for being a dual club, not sure what he's looking for as in their case they had 3 full weeks once hurling finished to focus on football, and, their record in hurling this year was poor, 1 win in 6 games is the reality, no issue in gaa giving dual clubs help but clubs need their own house in order before seeking help elsewhere! Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 37 - 18/09/2024 14:28:30 2570581 Link
I don't think the split season is a success at all. Both championships are over before you can really get into them. 6/7 days between games then in 4 weekends half the teams are gone. In terms of preparing for the next game it's fairly difficult as you're trying to recover from the previous one and work on areas that need it, very little you can do with a quick turn around. Granted all teams are in the same position but that's not the point. The football season is now split in two with a massive gap between league and championship, while hurling is done in the middle of summer and long forgotten now. Visibility of our games is vital for our sports if they are to thrive into the future, the rushed nature of the split season runs contrary to this. Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1641 - 18/09/2024 22:20:23 2570640 Link
Predictions for this weekend? Senior Rathvilly v Old Leighlin - Rathvilly by 2 Éire Óg v Palatine - Palatine by 1 Intermediate Fenagh v Grange - Fenagh by 2 Kildavin/Clonegal v St. Patrick's - Draw Scallionaters69 (Carlow) - Posts: 1 - 19/09/2024 18:50:26 2570838 Link
Replying To Scallionaters69: "Predictions for this weekend? Senior Rathvilly v Old Leighlin - Rathvilly by 2 Éire Óg v Palatine - Palatine by 1 Intermediate Fenagh v Grange - Fenagh by 2 Kildavin/Clonegal v St. Patrick's - Draw" Rathvilly vs Old Leighlin - Rathvilly by 3 points Éire Óg vs Palatine - A draw, with Éire Óg winning replay by 4 points Smokeless Red (Carlow) - Posts: 19 - 19/09/2024 21:04:43 2570853 Link
Replying To Barrowsider: "I don't think the split season is a success at all. Both championships are over before you can really get into them. 6/7 days between games then in 4 weekends half the teams are gone. In terms of preparing for the next game it's fairly difficult as you're trying to recover from the previous one and work on areas that need it, very little you can do with a quick turn around. Granted all teams are in the same position but that's not the point. The football season is now split in two with a massive gap between league and championship, while hurling is done in the middle of summer and long forgotten now. Visibility of our games is vital for our sports if they are to thrive into the future, the rushed nature of the split season runs contrary to this." Spot on barrowsider.Perfectly encapsulated there. Carlow gaa season is now run over 2 months of the year. It's an absolute travesty. Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 261 - 21/09/2024 23:58:49 2571231 Link
Replying To Smokeless Red: "Rathvilly vs Old Leighlin - Rathvilly by 3 points Éire Óg vs Palatine - A draw, with Éire Óg winning replay by 4 points" Exciting finish in NCP last night with EO a whisker away from bringing it to extra time after a great comeback by Eire Og. Palatine are now in a final after an abysmal year last year. Their speed of movement and choosing the best option when in possession was impressive. Shane O ' Neill proving to be the real fulcrum of their team and attack. Pal had a superb start and got goals so quickly. Eire Og took a while but got excellent points and then goals from Quinlan and Dunphy brought the game to the exciting finish Pal did not panic and again moved the ball at pace to give O'Neil the chance to score the winner. Enjoyable match ! carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1839 - 22/09/2024 08:25:40 2571237 Link
That was some game last night. We are very fortunate in that we have four very good senior teams at the moment. This is not the case in most counties. There are usually just one or two dominant teams. There's the basis of a decent county team - based on Eire Og, Palatine, Rathvilly and Old Leighlin alone - there if everyone can be enticed to go in. And surely likes of MLR, Bagenalstown, Tinryland, Clonmore, Fenagh, Kildavin, Grange, Tullow etc have at least one or two players? CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 689 - 22/09/2024 09:35:33 2571242 Link
Replying To CARPS: "That was some game last night. We are very fortunate in that we have four very good senior teams at the moment. This is not the case in most counties. There are usually just one or two dominant teams. There's the basis of a decent county team - based on Eire Og, Palatine, Rathvilly and Old Leighlin alone - there if everyone can be enticed to go in. And surely likes of MLR, Bagenalstown, Tinryland, Clonmore, Fenagh, Kildavin, Grange, Tullow etc have at least one or two players?" Agree. The standard at the top of our senior championship is quite strong at the moment, and same in hurling. Not Leinster club winning good but better to have four decent senior teams than one dominant one even though the one dominant one might as n the past go all the way in Leinster. The fact that the championship is run off like a blitz though is a joke. It seems like it's only started and now it's over for all bar two. It has been a good championship though and fact that Clonmore who came up lost their three games by a cumulative 8 points shows how tight it was. I wasn't in the stand today or last night so didn't see but anyone know if our putative new senior county manager graced the occasion of our semi finals? Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1422 - 22/09/2024 18:11:49 2571280 Link
Replying To Onion Breath: "Agree. The standard at the top of our senior championship is quite strong at the moment, and same in hurling. Not Leinster club winning good but better to have four decent senior teams than one dominant one even though the one dominant one might as n the past go all the way in Leinster. The fact that the championship is run off like a blitz though is a joke. It seems like it's only started and now it's over for all bar two. It has been a good championship though and fact that Clonmore who came up lost their three games by a cumulative 8 points shows how tight it was. I wasn't in the stand today or last night so didn't see but anyone know if our putative new senior county manager graced the occasion of our semi finals?" Couldn't swear to it but didn't see him there today anyway Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 261 - 22/09/2024 19:30:10 2571299 Link
Well we now have all our final pairings. Rathvilly vs palatine should be a good game, brendan Murphy is in great form and I think he could swing this one Brandon kelly I would hope to see in a carlow jersey next year a very exciting talent these past couple of years. Palatine have match winners too though and have serious pace right throughout the team. It's great to see some younger players starting to emerge in these clubs both finalists have a nice blend of youth and experience. Intermediate will see fenagh vs kildavin/clonegal it's hard to see anyone but fenagh in this, but credit to kildavin for pushing those minor players right into the first team. Jake nolan is an exciting forward and another I'd be expecting to play inter County down the line. Fenagh have improved as the year has gone on and you would expect them to prevail here Junior A sees leighlin bridge play ballon. Leighlin are unbeaten in league and championship this year and had to win ugly today against the cocks that might just stand to them. Ballon are the coming team though they have some really top class underage player coming on line and if they don't do it this year it's only a matter of time before they do, I'll go with leighlin here, I think their time has come. I think as these championships have developed so to the standard has improved. As far as I can tell there isn't much of a difference between junior and Intermediate clonmore tullow fenagh and myshall have all been junior in recent years and 2 of those have also went senior while tullow and myshall have maintained their status. Personally I'd like an enlarged Intermediate possibly a ten team two groups of 5, I think the extra games would be very beneficial for the development of clubs at that level, if that meant a less competitive junior so be it. I think for senior I'd move away from these groups of 4 instead I'd have 4 rounds where you can play anyone with the top 4 at the end making semis and bottom 4 relegation semis. Something a bit different and create a bit of excitement in the unknown. Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1641 - 22/09/2024 20:26:23 2571312 Link
Replying To Overthebar53: "Couldn't swear to it but didn't see him there today anyway" Now I might be wrong, but I thought I may saw him on the pitch after the St Bridgids match on TG4. Not 100% certain and might be wrong, so not stirring. Open to correction. Was anyone else tuned in? Passer_By (Carlow) - Posts: 519 - 22/09/2024 22:13:06 2571333 Link
Replying To CW88: "There's a regional competition for U16's beginning in October. From word on the ground, the players aren't overly keen on it. I would imagine this is due to timing, with other sports back up and running by then. I see this as a major stumbling block, as is playing a competition that late in the year when the weather and pitches will be poor. The aims of this competition is to improve the minor county team. However, I feel that playing this will prolong the club season and reduce the county minor manager's access to the players, and we are already behind on basic skills and tactics! I don't think 4 or 5 games in Winter will improve the minor team. I feel this is a long way from the answer." speaking of county managers access, have they made an appointment for the minor role yet? With 16s club nearly complete for the year you would think someone should be in the role before the last round of games before the finals more4me (Carlow) - Posts: 102 - 23/09/2024 10:30:43 2571406 Link
Replying To Passer_By: "Now I might be wrong, but I thought I may saw him on the pitch after the St Bridgids match on TG4. Not 100% certain and might be wrong, so not stirring. Open to correction. Was anyone else tuned in?" Fair enough. I wasn't there on Saturday so can't comment. Anyone know if he was there on Saturday? Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 261 - 23/09/2024 10:33:55 2571409 Link