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Replying To Onion Breath: "I'm with Carps on this one. It will improve football in the county but only relatively marginally. The setback for hurling will not be marginal. It will be much more significant. How will any hurling only or dual club outside of the south keep numbers hurling when we all know the pressure on players to concentrate on football only will be considerable across most of the county. I'll be interested to see what happens in Bagenalstown. Senior hurling semi finalists last year, senior football semi finalists this year. Either one code will be losers or maybe more likely they'll be got between both and will back in both. That can't be good. Bagenalstown was in doldrums in both codes for long enough. As for Naomh Brid it must be very disheartening. Virtually all their players are football no. 1 priority. Likewise CTHC." A worrying time for hurling after Thursday nights decision.
A lot of progress in the last few years on the hurling front is now in serious danger of being obliterated.
Carlow Tiwn, Naomh Brid, Ballinkillen, Kildavin, Burren Rangers and Setanta in danger of having far less numbers and fat fewer teams with lower standards.
Why did the reps NOT reverse the order by havijg football FIRST for a 2 or 3 year term. Then look at the figures and experiences of the football and hurling clubs and competitions.
Seriously blinkered decision.
'25 was a good year for football.
Fenagh defeated Tinryland.
Eire Og in relegation final.
Gramge had game after game due to draws.
Tullow won junior c with a late late 2 pointer.
Old Leighlin won with a late winner.
A good year for football.
Hurling has made positive strides but its future is now very bleak.
carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1884 - 20/12/2025 11:23:57
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Replying To carlowman: "A worrying time for hurling after Thursday nights decision.
A lot of progress in the last few years on the hurling front is now in serious danger of being obliterated.
Carlow Tiwn, Naomh Brid, Ballinkillen, Kildavin, Burren Rangers and Setanta in danger of having far less numbers and fat fewer teams with lower standards.
Why did the reps NOT reverse the order by havijg football FIRST for a 2 or 3 year term. Then look at the figures and experiences of the football and hurling clubs and competitions.
Seriously blinkered decision.
'25 was a good year for football.
Fenagh defeated Tinryland.
Eire Og in relegation final.
Gramge had game after game due to draws.
Tullow won junior c with a late late 2 pointer.
Old Leighlin won with a late winner.
A good year for football.
Hurling has made positive strides but its future is now very bleak." I honestly don't think there's going to be a compromise that will suit both codes. Hurling needs to be pushed not just within the rest of Carlow outside of the south but nationwide but the problem is football is just more predominant. In the same way MLR and St. Mullins are hurling first at the expense of football, the rest of the county is football first at the expense of hurling. What ever way the vote went, the voice of football first clubs will outweigh the hurling club voices and the football clubs obviously see the standard across the board is down compared to before.
There has to be something done to encourage lads to play hurling from the clubs point of view. The county board can do more but Carlow and Setanta have a catchment area of 27k but field three teams between them and aren't going senior anytime soon. Naomh Brid have three clubs to pull from. Burren rangers are the example for how to grow hurling and should be used as the template to get clubs going.
Hurling is fighting against a stacked deck but more needs to be done at a club level and a county board level outside of having a split championship to grow the sport.
CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 61 - 20/12/2025 11:59:22
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Replying To CarlowJuniorB: "Very dramatic here isn't it?
Both codes were more successful prior to the split." That's simply not true, and anyone following the scene in Carlow closely knows it.
Not long ago the Senior Hurling Championship had just four teams. Under the split season it was built back up to six for 2026. The Intermediate Hurling Championship used to be a joke - with five teams, four of them B teams from senior clubs. It was a fantastic competition this year. We even have IHC players playing county!
We have Kildavin back hurling, Setanta competing at adult level, Naomh Bríd and Carlow Town clearly turning a corner, and Ballinkillen stabilising. That doesn't happen by accident. It happened because hurling finally had certainty and space in the calendar.
And the idea that football somehow suffered is just nonsense. We've just had our best Senior Football Championship in many years: proper drama, competitive games, talking points everywhere. MLR beating Éire Óg, Fenagh winning a first round game, a genuinely novel relegation final, and Fighting Cocks reaching a Leinster final.
So let's be honest about what's really driving this. For the first time ever, Éire Óg found themselves in a relegation playoff,, and suddenly the format is a "failed experiment". Funny how that works.
This is a day that will forever live in infamy. It's a thundering disgrace. I am around a long time now and I am totally disheartened by the engrained anti-hurling attitude in the north of the county. They honestly seem to be more accommodating to soccer and rugby than they are to our beautiful game. Shame on them all.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1001 - 20/12/2025 14:15:55
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There's no doubt that the split season has improved hurling standards in clubs like Burren Rangers, Kildavin and probably Naomh Brid. Whether it has improved in Carlow Town is debatable. Are they any closer to being a senior club again? The standard of the senior hurling championship itself has not improved since split season was introduced. A championship being run off in 6/7 consecutive weeks cannot be healthy for any sport, you can literally be knocked out within 2 weeks. Players going on a J1 missing the whole hurling championship or players who pick up an injury at the wrong time.
The reality is both format's have positive and negatives.
What no one has mentioned is all these players grew up playing underage hurling and football on a week on week off basis. Burren Rangers got to a Minor Hurling final this year and St. Martin's won the Minor Football. Bagenalstown won the Minor Hurling and got to the semi final of Minor Football. Both had plenty of dual players.
What is crucial is the county board need to be firm with football clubs in these areas and facilitate discussions in January to create a training schedule that allows hurling clubs to train without being impacted by clashes with football. The hurling clubs cannot be let fend for themselves or it will be a disaster. Hopefully, this pressure will also come from the players themselves. They're plenty of players who take hurling seriously in these clubs who can have a voice if they work together.
ACarlowGael (Carlow) - Posts: 21 - 20/12/2025 15:51:02
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Replying To ACarlowGael: "There's no doubt that the split season has improved hurling standards in clubs like Burren Rangers, Kildavin and probably Naomh Brid. Whether it has improved in Carlow Town is debatable. Are they any closer to being a senior club again? The standard of the senior hurling championship itself has not improved since split season was introduced. A championship being run off in 6/7 consecutive weeks cannot be healthy for any sport, you can literally be knocked out within 2 weeks. Players going on a J1 missing the whole hurling championship or players who pick up an injury at the wrong time.
The reality is both format's have positive and negatives.
What no one has mentioned is all these players grew up playing underage hurling and football on a week on week off basis. Burren Rangers got to a Minor Hurling final this year and St. Martin's won the Minor Football. Bagenalstown won the Minor Hurling and got to the semi final of Minor Football. Both had plenty of dual players.
What is crucial is the county board need to be firm with football clubs in these areas and facilitate discussions in January to create a training schedule that allows hurling clubs to train without being impacted by clashes with football. The hurling clubs cannot be let fend for themselves or it will be a disaster. Hopefully, this pressure will also come from the players themselves. They're plenty of players who take hurling seriously in these clubs who can have a voice if they work together." Anyone know if the u21 B semi going ahead tonight. Seemingly investigation pending into Pal playing a lot of whir 1st team already in the championship?
Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 92 - 20/12/2025 17:19:35
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Replying To ACarlowGael: "There's no doubt that the split season has improved hurling standards in clubs like Burren Rangers, Kildavin and probably Naomh Brid. Whether it has improved in Carlow Town is debatable. Are they any closer to being a senior club again? The standard of the senior hurling championship itself has not improved since split season was introduced. A championship being run off in 6/7 consecutive weeks cannot be healthy for any sport, you can literally be knocked out within 2 weeks. Players going on a J1 missing the whole hurling championship or players who pick up an injury at the wrong time.
The reality is both format's have positive and negatives.
What no one has mentioned is all these players grew up playing underage hurling and football on a week on week off basis. Burren Rangers got to a Minor Hurling final this year and St. Martin's won the Minor Football. Bagenalstown won the Minor Hurling and got to the semi final of Minor Football. Both had plenty of dual players.
What is crucial is the county board need to be firm with football clubs in these areas and facilitate discussions in January to create a training schedule that allows hurling clubs to train without being impacted by clashes with football. The hurling clubs cannot be let fend for themselves or it will be a disaster. Hopefully, this pressure will also come from the players themselves. They're plenty of players who take hurling seriously in these clubs who can have a voice if they work together." This is the most sensible and balanced comment yet. For lads that have been playing underage for the past few years and now entering adult football and hurling this will not be alien to them at all. Have to agree with a lot of what carps said in his last comment, I am not sure why all of a sudden this is now a failed experiment. Surely flipping to football first should have been the first option.
DolmenDave (Carlow) - Posts: 48 - 20/12/2025 18:25:20
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Replying To ACarlowGael: "There's no doubt that the split season has improved hurling standards in clubs like Burren Rangers, Kildavin and probably Naomh Brid. Whether it has improved in Carlow Town is debatable. Are they any closer to being a senior club again? The standard of the senior hurling championship itself has not improved since split season was introduced. A championship being run off in 6/7 consecutive weeks cannot be healthy for any sport, you can literally be knocked out within 2 weeks. Players going on a J1 missing the whole hurling championship or players who pick up an injury at the wrong time.
The reality is both format's have positive and negatives.
What no one has mentioned is all these players grew up playing underage hurling and football on a week on week off basis. Burren Rangers got to a Minor Hurling final this year and St. Martin's won the Minor Football. Bagenalstown won the Minor Hurling and got to the semi final of Minor Football. Both had plenty of dual players.
What is crucial is the county board need to be firm with football clubs in these areas and facilitate discussions in January to create a training schedule that allows hurling clubs to train without being impacted by clashes with football. The hurling clubs cannot be let fend for themselves or it will be a disaster. Hopefully, this pressure will also come from the players themselves. They're plenty of players who take hurling seriously in these clubs who can have a voice if they work together." It's different at underage. Juvenile GAA is developmental. With the very odd exception, you don't have managers giving players ultimatums to pick one over the other, etc.
Being a Naomh Brid/Michael Davitts player at minor is very different to being a Naomh Brid/Old Leighlin one at senior.
Ditto Éire Óg/Carlow Town and Ballon/Burren, Martins/Ballon etc.
There's nothing the board can do. It will all come from mangers. If a chap is 21 and wants his place on X team and manager says he can only have it if he commits 100%, he will almost always choose the stronger code in his area. That's just life.
The split season largely put a halt to that nonsense.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1001 - 20/12/2025 19:26:28
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