Lower tier hurling an inconvenience for GAA authorities

E have a replay in the Christy Ring Cup and rightly so. The mistake in the scoreline was certainly not the fault of the players from either Meath or Antrim.

Why did it take four days for the CCCC to sort out the mess and why did they originally direct a replay for last Saturday in lonely old Newry? It was as if the CCCC wanted to punish both counties by re-fixing the replay at very short notice not in Croke Park but in Newry.

They left Meath in no man’s land for four days celebrating and not knowing what, if anything, was going to happen regarding the game. Fair play to Meath, they stood their ground and got the replay that suited them and the game will now be played on 25 June in what will most likely be a virtually empty Croke Park.

Was consideration given to playing the game as a curtain raiser to the Leinster semi-final between Galway and Offaly?

The Christy Ring and the other lower tier hurling competitions are clearly just an inconvenience for the GAA authorities.

With the replay will they do what they do when the All-Ireland senior finals end in a draw, i.e. reduce ticket prices and make a contribution to the players’ holiday funds? Meath and Antrim hurlers shouldn’t hold their breath in this regard.

It was great to see Mayo, following their great win in the Nicky Rackard, go on to comprehensively beat Derry in the Christy Ring play-off last Saturday.

Having such an important game just seven days after winning the Nicky Rackard must have put huge limitations on their well-earned celebrations.

I think it is very unfair for winners of these lower tier hurling competitions not to gain automatic promotion. Derry had a disastrous year and failed to win a competitive game all year and Mayo, like Wicklow, benefitted this year from Derry’s sorry collapse.

Congratulations to the county U17 hurling team who have reached their section of the Celtic Cup finals. The finals from Division 1 to 5 will be played next Saturday in the renowned hurling venue of Nowlan Park.

It has been a topsy turvy competition for this Wicklow team as they found the early rounds difficult and were eventually placed at the bottom of their group but thankfully the competition is structured in such a way that every team then plays in a quarter-final and Wicklow qualified for the semi-final following a quarter-final walkover against Mayo.

This walkover disappointed both the Wicklow management and players as the game was fixed for the new Centre of Excellence in Abbottstown on the same date the Mayo seniors won the Nicky Rackard Cup.

They went on to meet West Limerick in the semi-final and following a brave performance against the Limerick team at a Laois venue they came out victorious on a scoreline of 1-18 to 1-15.

Following their well-earned victory over West Limerick they will now play Westmeath in the Division 5 final.

Wicklow will be looking for another strong performance from the reliable custodian Cian Staunton from Glenealy. Cian has all the qualities to be a top inter-county goalkeeper. At no. 3 Brian Kearney from Michael Dwyers has been very impressive and the returning Conor Deering and Aaron Byrne (both Michael Dwyers) will no doubt strengthen Wicklow’s options.

In Ian Clancy (Aughrim), Padraig O’Toole (Michael Dwyers), Jonathan O’Neill, Gary Hughes and Matthew Traynor (all Glenealy) Wicklow have young talented emerging players with the necessary potential to go all the way to senior in the coming years.

Interestingly, the Cuala GAA Club in Dublin provide two players to the squad, George O’Brien and Eoghan Potts. In fact, George is the son of former county player Denis “Ta” O’Brien.

Games between these Wicklow and Westmeath players have been close affairs over the years and this talented Wicklow squad will be confident of winning their final next Saturday in Kilkenny. Hopefully a good number of Wicklow supporters will make the trip to the Marble City to support the lads.

Why are so many GAA games, both juvenile and adult, in Wicklow not played? I have been told that to date over 130 listed games this year have not taken place for one reason or another. Are the competition organisers too lenient when it comes to calling off matches? I am aware that some of the smaller clubs are suffering from low numbers and currently clubs are also competing against many other sports such as soccer and rugby, not to mention non-sporting attractions.

Hopefully with the soccer and rugby season now finished clubs will have greater numbers of players to call on. I wonder do players nowadays have the same commitment levels we saw twenty years ago? I only ask this as I regularly see many varied team selections from week to week in Wicklow clubs.

The Football Qualifiers were relatively kind to Wicklow this time round as we face the short trip to local rivals Carlow next Saturday night. Both teams will be confident of advancing. I saw the league game involving both these teams in Aughrim earlier in the year when following an impressive second half display Carlow emerged victorious.

Coincidentally, when Brendan Murphy went off it was only then Carlow played their best football and played more cohesively as a team.

I expect Wicklow to advance to the next round of the Qualifiers and with the quality of some of the other teams a victory over Carlow would be a great confidence boost to this young Wicklow squad in the next round.

What effect will a Wicklow victory next Saturday have on the local championship fixtures? We should have played at least one, if not two, rounds of games in the six week period since the Laois defeat. Hopefully we won’t be caught for dates at the other end.