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2021 National Hurling League

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Great win for Antrim, just shows you if you do not turn up at this level you get beaten no matter who you are. Clare are fairly in the doldrums last few years. Antrim looked brighter, a bit sharper, Clare just over ran a lot straight into hooks, blocks or traffic. Delighted to see Antrim win and that is a nice tidy ground too. arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4954 - 09/05/2021 20:58:55 2340808 Link
Replying To preddan: "great for Antrim, but seriously is it that big of a surprise? Sambo Mcnaughten said a few months ago this was the best antrim team since the early 90s. Clare have never reached the heights of what they should have since 2013 and have just muddled through the last eight years, none of you can deny that. they play an extremely boring game, never hurl off the cuff (they have the players or had). Had an OK year in 2018 but Galway were a tired team and did run them of the park in the first halves of those games. Even last year year against Laois in the championship laois could have pipped them. Tony Kelly was pulling them through games. There are an enigma of hurling for the last 10 years now with the talent they did possess at underage that never came to fruit in senior. No team is ever going to get it easy going up to the glens either so i cant understand all this shock to the result. It just further shows how lopsided the groups are in Div. 1. Westmeath have been truly thrown in the deep end. Clare, Antrim, Laois, Dublin are all beatable!" Clare will probably beat Wexford next week. bloodyban (Limerick) - Posts: 1710 - 09/05/2021 21:12:02 2340810 Link
Great win for Antrim, but the "feel good" factor of that win hides some of the hammerings that occurred in the first round of games this weekend. It looks like it'll be very tough for Laois and Westmeath over the coming weeks, and Cork had a 12 point lead until they eased up in injury time. This exposes some serious issues about competitiveness in what is supposed to be Division 1 (and the premier level of the competition). The analysts rarely point this out, though. Hear no evil, see no evil... football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 09/05/2021 21:28:27 2340811 Link
Replying To KY4SAM2015: "Great to see Antrim getting a big win. Nice scenery on view too in the background." The Belfast Hills were out of bounds for 30 years. The British Army occupied them and had all sorts of spyware on them. We've only really discovered our own environment in the past 10/15 years. Belfast sits in the Lagan Valley at the foot of the Antrim Plateau. Aesthetically Belfast is in one of the loveliest settings of any major town or city in these islands. Surrounded by hills that taper down to Belfast Lough. Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 09/05/2021 21:30:06 2340812 Link
Replying To bloodyban: "Clare will probably beat Wexford next week." Hope not! Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16017 - 09/05/2021 21:55:40 2340818 Link
Replying To Ulsterman: "The Belfast Hills were out of bounds for 30 years. The British Army occupied them and had all sorts of spyware on them. We've only really discovered our own environment in the past 10/15 years. Belfast sits in the Lagan Valley at the foot of the Antrim Plateau. Aesthetically Belfast is in one of the loveliest settings of any major town or city in these islands. Surrounded by hills that taper down to Belfast Lough." Lived there for 6 years 89-95 was always a beautiful place even with a helicopter every 2 miles! Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16017 - 10/05/2021 08:13:34 2340846 Link
Replying To StoreysTash: "I forgot to say I thought Dublin gave Kilkenny a good battle but Kilkenny just had a little bit more than them." Dublin are going nowhere until they can get all the top Hurlers within the county playing for them. Unfortunately with the success of the senior football team this is not happening. Its an awful shame, imagine the difference a Ciaran Kilkenny and Con o Callaghan would make? Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2356 - 10/05/2021 13:32:56 2340912 Link
Replying To arock: "Great win for Antrim, just shows you if you do not turn up at this level you get beaten no matter who you are. Clare are fairly in the doldrums last few years. Antrim looked brighter, a bit sharper, Clare just over ran a lot straight into hooks, blocks or traffic. Delighted to see Antrim win and that is a nice tidy ground too." probably says more about Clare right now than Antrim. The whole Pat Fitz/Supporters club hullaballoo has to be unsettling. It'll be interesting when the young lad brings his Wexford side to town next week. Maroonatic (Galway) - Posts: 1066 - 10/05/2021 13:35:23 2340914 Link
Replying To football first: "Great win for Antrim, but the "feel good" factor of that win hides some of the hammerings that occurred in the first round of games this weekend. It looks like it'll be very tough for Laois and Westmeath over the coming weeks, and Cork had a 12 point lead until they eased up in injury time. This exposes some serious issues about competitiveness in what is supposed to be Division 1 (and the premier level of the competition). The analysts rarely point this out, though. Hear no evil, see no evil..." The only way the likes of Laois and Westmeath will improve is to play the best teams and see the skill levels etc close at hand. And it is a similar situation in football. the_creeler (Leitrim) - Posts: 119 - 10/05/2021 13:38:52 2340915 Link
Replying To football first: "Great win for Antrim, but the "feel good" factor of that win hides some of the hammerings that occurred in the first round of games this weekend. It looks like it'll be very tough for Laois and Westmeath over the coming weeks, and Cork had a 12 point lead until they eased up in injury time. This exposes some serious issues about competitiveness in what is supposed to be Division 1 (and the premier level of the competition). The analysts rarely point this out, though. Hear no evil, see no evil..." Cork were good for their win and deserved it. However we will see how many 12 point leads they will have when the other half of our team are on the field. You are kidding yourself if you think there is that gulf between Waterford and Cork. Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 3072 - 10/05/2021 15:14:10 2340938 Link
Replying To Maroonatic: "probably says more about Clare right now than Antrim. The whole Pat Fitz/Supporters club hullaballoo has to be unsettling. It'll be interesting when the young lad brings his Wexford side to town next week." I'd guess we will be bringing a very young team to Ennis and Clare will be super motivated after losing to Antrim. I think the journey and complacency were probably Clares biggest problems although that's not taking away from the fact Antrim have a very good team right now, have a hurling tradition going back centuries, and are very well coached and motivated the last few years. With the level of between match training going on and the level of experimentation with team selection and tactics going on this league, coupled with Wexford having to make a 3 and half plus hour journey on the morning of the game, and our recent poor record against Clare, I think only a fool would bet on the result of the game in Ennis next weekend one way or the other and I am a betting man! Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16017 - 10/05/2021 15:20:54 2340942 Link
Replying To Canuck: "Cork were good for their win and deserved it. However we will see how many 12 point leads they will have when the other half of our team are on the field. You are kidding yourself if you think there is that gulf between Waterford and Cork." Anyone reading anything into any of last weekend's results is kidding themselves. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16017 - 10/05/2021 15:22:41 2340944 Link
Replying To Viking66: "Anyone reading anything into any of last weekend's results is kidding themselves." 100% agree with you. There is absolutely nothing to be read into games after 3 weeks of training. That said, it was great to see Antrim having a big victory, the GAA badly needs to promote and help the likes of Antrim to spread the games reach, and where better to start than traditional strongholds. StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1845 - 10/05/2021 21:39:40 2341004 Link
I just hope Cheddar Plunkett gets the same reaction as Eddie Brennan did in Laois- he is a great guy, one of the good guys no doubt. He brought on Laois hurling no end in his first spell in charge and deserves this crack at the thing. He is a great man manager and without doubt all the time he eat the cheese from the cow. the creeler (Cavan) - Posts: 512 - 11/05/2021 11:03:47 2341063 Link
Replying To tonguey: "I just hope Cheddar Plunkett gets the same reaction as Eddie Brennan did in Laois- he is a great guy, one of the good guys no doubt. He brought on Laois hurling no end in his first spell in charge and deserves this crack at the thing. He is a great man manager and without doubt all the time he eat the cheese from the cow." He just needs to make sure that any criticisms he has of the Laois County Board don't accidentally get broadcast. Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2810 - 11/05/2021 11:12:01 2341067 Link
Replying To Cockney_Cat: "He just needs to make sure that any criticisms he has of the Laois County Board don't accidentally get broadcast." If they gave hurling the same priority as football would make his job easier. They have 8 senior hurling clubs. They have won Leinster and All Ireland titles in Hurling. Ok since the 90s they've had more success at Football especially underage but they are 1 of the mid range counties that with the right investment and interest could get up to competing regularly with the top counties in hurling. It worked for Dublin in the noughties. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16017 - 11/05/2021 11:24:35 2341072 Link
Replying To arock: "Great win for Antrim, just shows you if you do not turn up at this level you get beaten no matter who you are. Clare are fairly in the doldrums last few years. Antrim looked brighter, a bit sharper, Clare just over ran a lot straight into hooks, blocks or traffic. Delighted to see Antrim win and that is a nice tidy ground too." I was really pleased for Antrim. Good to see them back competing at the top. lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 12/05/2021 10:19:23 2341218 Link
Though we lost today there's a lot for us to take away from the game. We didn't drop the head or take a 25 point hammering. We stuck in, took the game to Kilkenny and showed we are starting to compete. It's as much a mental battle as it physical and skill. We have the ability in Antrim, we have been lacking in the other 2 but we are vastly improving in these. It may take us a season or two to really come up to this level but there's bright days ahead for Antrim hurling. A shout out to our footballers as well yesterday. There's such a vast reservoir of potential in Antrim which Croke Park MUST start helping a lot more than it is. Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 16/05/2021 16:54:01 2342395 Link
Replying To Ulsterman: "Though we lost today there's a lot for us to take away from the game. We didn't drop the head or take a 25 point hammering. We stuck in, took the game to Kilkenny and showed we are starting to compete. It's as much a mental battle as it physical and skill. We have the ability in Antrim, we have been lacking in the other 2 but we are vastly improving in these. It may take us a season or two to really come up to this level but there's bright days ahead for Antrim hurling. A shout out to our footballers as well yesterday. There's such a vast reservoir of potential in Antrim which Croke Park MUST start helping a lot more than it is." Good post and well played today But, the 'vast reservoir of potential in Antrim' needs not just Croke Park to help, but also yourselves. Don't let these green shoots fade. Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2810 - 16/05/2021 18:00:11 2342440 Link
A great and important win for Gaillimh today. Gaillimh abú. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2614 - 16/05/2021 18:50:42 2342468 Link