Avondale drop down to Intermediate

HURLING in Wicklow took another big blow last week when Avondale requested to make the drop from Senior to Intermediate.

Results in recent years against the stronger teams have been punishing for the proud GAA club and with a strong concentration on football resulting in a county Senior semi-final appearance last season it does seem to be the sensible move to allow hurling to rebuild with the team playing at a level more suited to their capabilities.

Speaking at the recent championship fixtures meeting, chairperson of the CCC Bridget Kenny outlined Avondale’s request:

‘Avondale GAA Club respectfully request that our current Senior hurling team be regraded to Intermediate status for the 2018 season. We do not make this request lightly. It is for the betterment of hurling in our club and that this is the way forward because as recent results show we are not up to Senior standard. Currently we are very short of numbers and will only be fielding one adult team this year. We feel that Intermediate hurling best serves our club,’ said the statement.

There were some other developments regarding hurling in the county at the meeting. Top of those was the fact that Bray Emmets will not be entering an Intermediate side into this year’s championship.

The Kilcoole club were seeking permission for their Intermediate players to play without the county players in the Junior hurling league.

“They want the matches,” said Seamus Finn. “We don’t have the numbers. The Junior hurling matches on Wednesday night would best suit us. Our county players won’t play and we can’t win the league,” he added.

Kiltegan have also applied to play in the Junior league under the same restrictions as Kilcoole.

Eddie Leonard wondered if it would be better if the Junior league was split in two with the bigger clubs in one section and the smaller clubs in another.

“Before Christmas I spoke to the Outgoing CCC Chairman Mr Hagan.

“Would it be unfair on the likes of Kilmac-Enniskerry and Shillelagh and the likes? Split the Junior league and have the bigger clubs in one section and the smaller clubs playing in their own league. Last year if you look at the results, there’s no point of Kilmac and them coming to Glenealy and getting beaten by a cricket score,” he added.

The current league consists of eight teams, 10 with Kiltegan and Kilcoole.

“We’re not going to promote hurling this way. It’s dying a death. We’re killing hurling in this county,” said Eddie Leonard.