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Wexford Hurling Thread

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Replying To Magpie2:  "Hard to see it changing in the short or medium term.
Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork and Clare have been and will always be the leaders in having a hurling ethos.
Areas in the above named counties crave hurling.
They can't get enough of it.
We have that too but unfortunately not as in
tense and only in smaller pockets of our county.
We find it hard to keep lads hurling after the age of 14.
It would be a monumental task to change from where we are now to where the top counties are."
Wouldn't say Clare have always had any more hurling ethos than we have historically. They have currently for sure.
Just out of interest why did you leave out Galway and Limerick? If I had to rank the counties by hurling ethos or culture Id go-
1, Cork
2, Kilkenny
3, Tipp
4, Galway
5, Limerick
6, Clare
7, Wexford
8, Waterford
9, Offaly
10, Dublin

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20093 - 25/06/2026 07:47:20    2681775

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Replying To Magpie2:  "Hard to see it changing in the short or medium term.
Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork and Clare have been and will always be the leaders in having a hurling ethos.
Areas in the above named counties crave hurling.
They can't get enough of it.
We have that too but unfortunately not as in
tense and only in smaller pockets of our county.
We find it hard to keep lads hurling after the age of 14.
It would be a monumental task to change from where we are now to where the top counties are."
Id qualify that by saying thats looking at counties overall. I know hurling people from Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Antrim, Down, and Westmeath who would be at least as passionate about hurling as anyone I met from Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20093 - 25/06/2026 07:57:10    2681777

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Replying To Viking66:  "One other stat worth considering is that Leinster teams have only beaten Munster teams once in 16 attempts in 2025 and 2026 at minor, u20 and Senior combined.
But if you delve in a little deeper 12 of those games were in Munster venues, and 2 were in Croke Park, a neutral venue as its our national stadium.
So only 2 championship games out of 16 between Munster and Leinster teams were actually played in Leinster county venues. Nowlan Park and Wexford Park both hosted one game each."
A good piece by Michael Verney in yesterday's independent if anybody is interested, (posted this yesterday but as per usual it didn't upload)

Hurling has a Leinster problem, with the statistics painting an ailing picture of the province's health compared with Munster.

Of the 100 championship games played between Leinster and Munster opposition in the last decade across minor, U-21/U-20 and senior, teams from the southern province have walked away victorious on 72 occasions.

That figure rises to 75pc (39-13 from 52 games) when you halve the sample size between 2022 and the action thus far this season, and it gets worse the more you drill down.

Of the last 14 All-Ireland titles contested at minor, U-20 and senior, 12 have gone to Munster counties - with victory for the Kilkenny and Offaly U-20s (in '22 and '24) the two outliers.

Four of the last six All-Ireland SHC finals have been all-Munster affairs, while all five Munster counties competing in the top tier have appeared in an All-Ireland senior final in the past six seasons.

Contrast that with the last All-Ireland SHC final appearance for the likes of Offaly (2000), Wexford (1996), Dublin (1961) and Laois (1949), and you get the drift, with Joe Canning (2017) also the last 'Leinster' recipient of Hurler of the Year.

It is highly likely that this year will be an all-Munster All-Ireland final for the third straight year with the Leinster picture looking particularly bleak after a harrowing weekend for hurling, and the province.

Cork demolished Offaly, the third-best team in Leinster this season, by 26 points on Sunday while Clare, the third-best team in Munster, had 13 points to spare over Leinster finalists Dublin the previous night.

Henry Shefflin, pictured in his role as Kilkenny U-20 manager earlier this year, could take up the senior job
Waterford (fourth) and last year's All-Ireland champions Tipperary (fifth) were finished for the year before the end of May, and common sense must now finally prevail when it comes to making appropriate changes to account for Munster's dominance.

Those results on a sobering weekend in Semple Stadium - and the facts above - surely provide enough ammunition for the GAA to take action and address a lopsided championship.

There is no longer any justification for Munster and Leinster to operate under the same structure, with the top three qualifying from the provinces while the fourth and fifth in the former are left out in the cold.


It's nine years since Galway landed Leinster's last blow with an All-Ireland SHC title, and they are carrying the province's hopes again in the last four this year.

Galway legend Cyril Farrell has no problem acknowledging the gap between Munster and Leinster, and the three-time All-Ireland SHC-winning manager hopes his native county can bite back against Cork.

"The gap is getting bigger with Kilkenny gone flat for a while; now they won't be that long down either and you still expect them to come back, but there's no doubt that there is a gap and it's getting bigger," Farrell says.

"It'll be interesting to see what way the gap is between Cork and Galway, if it shows up that Cork win well then you'd be saying, 'Oh Jesus'. That's the big test, and it's a big test of the Munster versus Leinster debate."

Farrell is adamant that hurling must follow the football template with a backdoor All-Ireland SHC separate to provincial action to ensure the cream always rises to the top, and hurling starts to reappear out of football's shadow.

"Supposing the GAA still had the Munster and Leinster Championships as they are, then you come into a format where everyone is playing everyone in an open draw," Farrell muses.

"Everyone is still in it after the provincials. OK, you'll still have beatings but that then would show you that the Munster counties should nearly be three out of four in the semi-final or four out of four.

"You'd have Waterford in there, they're complaining the whole time and you can't blame them. If that was happening, then the four top teams would come through. To me, that'd be the way.

"Just start it a bit earlier, if they can do it in football then they can do it in hurling. We have very little hurling matches compared to football.

"Don't be trying to take away the Munster Championship because there'd be war, Have Munster and Leinster and then bring all the hurling counties into a pot.


"Two sixes or whatever it is and play away. At least you have everyone in then on the same level. Most of the hurling matches are being played in February and March, in the name of Jaysus."

Five championship hurling games in the month of June is seeing hurling being left in the shade compared with 27 in the big ball during the same period. The time for action is now.

'Hurling is sleepwalking into a crisis at the highest level'
We're shooting ourselves in the foot in terms of hurling's championship structure with not enough counties still in the mix for honours come June. Worrying trends are emerging, and they are getting worse by the year.

Leinster counties need to get their own houses in order, first and foremost, but more meaningful and regular championship games against their Munster counterparts would surely be of benefit in the medium to long term.

Hurling is sleepwalking into a crisis at the highest level with fewer teams outside of Munster realistically competing for national honours each year.


As it stands, Munster is getting stronger and the rest are getting weaker. That's not their problem per se but the greater good of the game as a whole and increased competition across the board must be the goal.

This horse has nearly bolted - please shut the stable door before there's no going back.

YellowShadeOfPurple (Wexford) - Posts: 83 - 25/06/2026 08:56:27    2681784

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Growing up most of my friends played hurling for a very short time and by the age if 12 or 13 most had departed either they were nt good ,had left primary school, secondary school did nt have the same interest as nowadays. or decided they wanted to play soccer in England . Never once did anyone have the ambition to olay league of Ireland tbh in my memory .
Which now at underage is a big drain on gaa talent .

The ironic thing about it all is now that most are in the fifties they are at more matches and have real interest in our national game . Yet none of their children played much if at all .
In fact they used to mock me for nit going out on the tear before games thought it was ridiculous . And I missed weekends away concerts etc . In reality I was an outsider at the time in the group . And yet now I listen and think to myself why now and what changed
The point is the culture even back then was nt hurling in my experience it was more an individual preference . I do believe now there is more interest but more distractions too and other sports to compete with , with higher profiles .
I dont know or think we will ever get that hurling culture within the county needs to take us to a higher level .
We can but try
Promote our local champonship better would be a start make it exciting with jeopardy

Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 621 - 25/06/2026 08:57:32    2681786

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Shane McGrath writing about the importance of culture in his latest piece

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2026/0624/1580091-culture-gap-cant-be-bridged-with-development-squads/

Culture is very hard to fix, takes a very long time, can be fixed but will require a big effort"
Hes some yoke about the development squads though, Cork and Tipp have more lads involved in divisional and development squads from a younger age than any other county for many years. Clare have only just caught up with them numbers wise. Noone else has even close to their numbers involved.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20093 - 25/06/2026 08:57:50    2681787

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Replying To Goreylad1985:  "So what would Cork have beaten us by and how many goals would they have scored against our defence in your opinion?????"
10pts. Offaly are not as bad as they looked. That is a very young team and a huge occasion and their play looked like it. Wexfoed have a young team but they do have some more seasoned campaigners in the ranks and that makes a difference before you even set food on the field for such a big event.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2218 - 25/06/2026 09:29:26    2681799

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Replying To Viking66:  "Hes some yoke about the development squads though, Cork and Tipp have more lads involved in divisional and development squads from a younger age than any other county for many years. Clare have only just caught up with them numbers wise. Noone else has even close to their numbers involved."
Yes but culture is more important

I don't really agree with his Clare point btw, that U20 team this year would have been no older than U15 in 2021 when they had a really bad Minor result so it's not as if their improved underage results are because they changed things back then, it's too short a time period and that Minor result was a bit of a freak, their U20s did a lot better three years later so it must have been a COVID thing

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1413 - 25/06/2026 11:02:26    2681816

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Replying To Viking66:  "Wouldn't say Clare have always had any more hurling ethos than we have historically. They have currently for sure.
Just out of interest why did you leave out Galway and Limerick? If I had to rank the counties by hurling ethos or culture Id go-
1, Cork
2, Kilkenny
3, Tipp
4, Galway
5, Limerick
6, Clare
7, Wexford
8, Waterford
9, Offaly
10, Dublin"
I'd say it's really like

KK
Tipp
Cork


Clare
Limerick
Galway

Waterford
Wexford
Offaly


Dublin

That's strictly based on culture, doesn't take account of population size and demographics and also doesn't account for the share of population playing hurling compared to football

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1413 - 25/06/2026 11:05:43    2681818

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Yes but culture is more important

I don't really agree with his Clare point btw, that U20 team this year would have been no older than U15 in 2021 when they had a really bad Minor result so it's not as if their improved underage results are because they changed things back then, it's too short a time period and that Minor result was a bit of a freak, their U20s did a lot better three years later so it must have been a COVID thing"
They massively changed what they did within a year. 2 main ones were winter hurling from u11 to minor, something like our ASH for u12s, and massively expanded the numbers in their development squads and minor panel. Guess the 3 counties which still field 2 Celtic Challenge teams?


Clare, Tipp and Cork.

Another big change they introduced back then was fielding mixed ability teams all the way up to u16.

All those things would've made a difference.

The u20s 3 years later had a good few u19s and u18s on it, so its not really a great pointer.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20093 - 25/06/2026 12:12:45    2681829

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Replying To Magpie2:  "Hard to see it changing in the short or medium term.
Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork and Clare have been and will always be the leaders in having a hurling ethos.
Areas in the above named counties crave hurling.
They can't get enough of it.
We have that too but unfortunately not as in
tense and only in smaller pockets of our county.
We find it hard to keep lads hurling after the age of 14.
It would be a monumental task to change from where we are now to where the top counties are."
South and east Galway would have a culture as strong as anywhere in the big 3 counties. You can see it in their club championship. To the detriment of their county teams at times in the past. Loughrea, portunna, sarsfields Athenry etc

richiepmurphy (Kilkenny) - Posts: 114 - 25/06/2026 13:12:09    2681847

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Limerick culture pre-2018 would have been like our own. You need to aim to break that glass ceiling.

StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 2116 - 25/06/2026 14:24:49    2681868

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Replying To richiepmurphy:  "South and east Galway would have a culture as strong as anywhere in the big 3 counties. You can see it in their club championship. To the detriment of their county teams at times in the past. Loughrea, portunna, sarsfields Athenry etc"
Here's an honest question: is Galway not more of a football county than a hurling county? Could be wrong on this but I don't think there's much hurling north or west of Turloughmore

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1413 - 25/06/2026 15:16:44    2681878

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Here's an honest question: is Galway not more of a football county than a hurling county? Could be wrong on this but I don't think there's much hurling north or west of Turloughmore"
Its like 2 different counties that way. Even the big dual clubs like Moycullen have seperate hurling and football clubs. There wouldn't be many dual clubs like the majority of ours are.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20093 - 25/06/2026 15:38:29    2681888

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Here's an honest question: is Galway not more of a football county than a hurling county? Could be wrong on this but I don't think there's much hurling north or west of Turloughmore"
It's pretty split.

Football:
Corofin, Tuam, Dunmore, Claregalway and Annaghdown are North Board.

Bearna, Killanin, SHKK, Moycullen, St Michaels, St James and Outherard are the clubs surrounding Galway town.

Then Mountbellew and Caltra towards South Galway.

In Senior hurling then most of the clubs are south/east Galway apart from Turloughmore and Athenry to an extent.

Then there's 2 Hurling teams in around the town of Galway who have good history of Liam Mellows and Castlegar.

Claregalway have their own Hurling team called Carnmor and Annaghdown also have a team.

Corofin are part of the club Sylane along with Kilconly, Caherlistrane and Sylane itself.

ColmFlaherty (Galway) - Posts: 119 - 25/06/2026 15:39:08    2681889

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Replying To ColmFlaherty:  "It's pretty split.

Football:
Corofin, Tuam, Dunmore, Claregalway and Annaghdown are North Board.

Bearna, Killanin, SHKK, Moycullen, St Michaels, St James and Outherard are the clubs surrounding Galway town.

Then Mountbellew and Caltra towards South Galway.

In Senior hurling then most of the clubs are south/east Galway apart from Turloughmore and Athenry to an extent.

Then there's 2 Hurling teams in around the town of Galway who have good history of Liam Mellows and Castlegar.

Claregalway have their own Hurling team called Carnmor and Annaghdown also have a team.

Corofin are part of the club Sylane along with Kilconly, Caherlistrane and Sylane itself."
You forgot Moycullen and Spiddal. They have decent hurlers too especially moycullen

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 620 - 25/06/2026 16:56:25    2681910

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "You forgot Moycullen and Spiddal. They have decent hurlers too especially moycullen"
True Moycullen would have the Daverns and Fionn McDonagh who's a decent club hurler.

ColmFlaherty (Galway) - Posts: 119 - 25/06/2026 17:45:20    2681921

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So many still looking at football as the big issue for hurling.

Soccer is the biggest issue in Wexford. Whether you are football or hurling or both, we are all GAA people and should be GAA first. Soccer is killing GAA in Wexford.

Clubs in other counties don't just rock up in May or June to get ready for championships. They train from January, do gym work in the winter. Not play soccer until May. Clubs in Wexford don't take the leagues seriously, don't take hurling and football seriously. Every club, if people want Wexford to be competitive, should be training 3 times a week with a full squad from mid January at the latest. Take training seriously. Take the games seriously. That's the standard.

Some on here will be shocked by that and will complain or tell me I'm wrong. Which says it all really.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2594 - 25/06/2026 20:48:57    2681941

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Replying To icehonesty:  "So many still looking at football as the big issue for hurling.

Soccer is the biggest issue in Wexford. Whether you are football or hurling or both, we are all GAA people and should be GAA first. Soccer is killing GAA in Wexford.

Clubs in other counties don't just rock up in May or June to get ready for championships. They train from January, do gym work in the winter. Not play soccer until May. Clubs in Wexford don't take the leagues seriously, don't take hurling and football seriously. Every club, if people want Wexford to be competitive, should be training 3 times a week with a full squad from mid January at the latest. Take training seriously. Take the games seriously. That's the standard.

Some on here will be shocked by that and will complain or tell me I'm wrong. Which says it all really."
Tbh, the best way of getting lads to train hard from the start of the season is by getting rid of the split season; if you've Championship in April, then lads are more likely to take their training sessions seriously earlier in the year

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1413 - 25/06/2026 23:14:20    2681959

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I know we've discussed winter coaching & training for young players before but saw someone (Apologies, can't remember the poster's name) suggest a baronies tournament in the winter and it got me thinking, also tried to combine with the winter schools competition under floodlights that Kinnerk suggested

This is just a rough idea, doesn't take into consideration the number of coaches needed but am just putting it out there as an idea

Each club nominated three hurlers at every age grade from U10 up to U15 to take part in ASH, Used to be called Tom Dempsey/Rory McCarthy/George O'Connor School of Hurling and players got a jersey at the end of it, there's one particular player who if his name was attached to the school, there'd be massive interest in it amongst young lads

€60 entry for everyone and would take place across six weeks at the end of the year and four weeks across the start of the new year

One 60-minute session during the week and one 90-minute session on a Sunday morning; ideally, each district would host its own three sessions each time involving (a) U10s and U11s, (b) U12s and U13s, and (c) U14s and U15s

Now for the twist: the U10s, U11s, U12s, and U13s would be all coaching sessions but the U14s and U15s would instead take part in a competition with a game every week and then a training session on the Sunday

Bringing this back to the barony point, we could maybe have eight teams (Basically two per district)

So....
Naomh Éanna/Alley/Ballygarrett/Tara Rocks/Castletown
Ballyfad/Craanford/Askamore/Ferns/Pat's
Monageer/Oulart/Oylegate/Shamrocks/Ballyhogue
Rapps/Marshalstown/Bunclody/Duffry/Davidstown
Blackwater/Shels/Crossabeg/Glynn/Harriers/Clonard
Martin's/Anne's/OLI/Fintan's/Rosslare/Kilmore
Rathnure/Cloughbawn/Cushinstown/GOH/Adamstown
Horeswood/James's/Fethard/Gusserane/Clongeen/Taghmon/Bannow (More clubs here as I think numbers are an issue)

Could have two groups of four: the four North teams in one group and the four South teams in the other. They play each other home and away so six matches pre-Christmas. Top two from North division and South division go into Group A after Christmas and the bottom teams go into Group B; three more games there and then for the tenth and final week, #1 plays #2, #3 plays #4, #5 plays #6, and #7 plays #8

I think the younger lads would be ok with two sessions a week but to get the older lads interested, you'd need to have a match every week. My idea ties in with the one mentioned a few days ago and ties in with Kinnerk's proposal too. By November, most of the underage club finals should be over (Or at least should be close to being over), think Junior hurling in schools is over by mid-November and then the 2nd Year competition doesn't start until the New Year if I'm not mistaken, they'll be too young to play U21 and they might be playing Senior with the school but unlikely to be many of them starting when they're U14/U15, should have the scope to play some sort of competition like that during that time of the year

Obviously finding coaches for it would be a big issue and there are other logistical issues too, I'm just bringing it up as a rough idea

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1413 - 25/06/2026 23:37:32    2681961

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Replying To icehonesty:  "So many still looking at football as the big issue for hurling.

Soccer is the biggest issue in Wexford. Whether you are football or hurling or both, we are all GAA people and should be GAA first. Soccer is killing GAA in Wexford.

Clubs in other counties don't just rock up in May or June to get ready for championships. They train from January, do gym work in the winter. Not play soccer until May. Clubs in Wexford don't take the leagues seriously, don't take hurling and football seriously. Every club, if people want Wexford to be competitive, should be training 3 times a week with a full squad from mid January at the latest. Take training seriously. Take the games seriously. That's the standard.

Some on here will be shocked by that and will complain or tell me I'm wrong. Which says it all really."
You're spot on with your observation about soccer. It's absolutely huge in Wexford. We have the biggest junior league in the country and according to proud aficionados of the game in Wexford, it's also the best Junior League in Ireland. A certain club has a stranglehold on young lads in Wexford town and it seems like Wexford C.B.S. is one of the most pre-eminent soccer schools in Leinster if not even Ireland. Soccer has always been big here but it's arguably the biggest sport in the county now as regards playing numbers, competitions etc. and has just taken on a life of its own in the last 10-15 years. There is an obvious correlation here with the downturn in the fortunes of our Co hurling teams at all levels. People don't want to admit this but it's staring us in the face. There's something seriously wrong when one of our best forwards chooses to forsake the county team this season to instead bask in the glory of winning division 5 of the Wexford soccer league and also the Gwyn Jones cup.

Purpleandgold72 (Wexford) - Posts: 295 - 26/06/2026 00:03:01    2681968

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