r/GAA

Surely a black card all day long?? (Clare vs Limerick, where Limerick goalkeeper fouls Clare player through on goal)

Clare v Limerick - 4PM (RTE & BBC Sport NI)

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Random question for the GAA heads here.

Smallest GAA club/parish in each county?

Random one for the GAA historians and local-knowledge merchants.

What would be considered the smallest GAA club or smallest GAA parish/catchment in each county?

I’m especially interested in clubs that don’t really have a “full parish” behind them, or clubs whose catchment is awkward because of county/parish boundaries.

For example, in Laois, Barrowhouse in football and Kyle in hurling would surely be in the conversation. As far as I understand it, both are tied into parish areas that stretch outside Laois, so they aren’t even drawing from a full traditional Laois parish in the way some clubs are. They’re proper small-catchment clubs, but still have their own identity and history.

In Mayo, Ardagh must be one of the smallest parishes in the county in terms of area. It’s a tiny rural parish but still has its own club, which is exactly the sort of example I’m thinking of.

So, county by county, who are the smallest?

Could be based on:

smallest parish area

smallest population/catchment

clubs that don’t have a full parish to themselves

tiny rural clubs still fielding adult teams

clubs that punch way above their numbers

Not necessarily asking for the weakest club — more the smallest pick. The “how are they still producing teams?” type of clubs.

After all of the talk during the week of how it's being perceived as a bit of dam squib so far I'd beg to differ.

Munster may have been a let down with Limerick and Cork powering to the final and Clare building to 3rd place.

Waterford however put in a great fight in every game lost by 2 goals to Clare, came back from 10 points against Tipperary to get a draw when they arguably should've won, put it up to Cork until 5 minutes to go and put it up to Limerick for 60 minutes in their final game.

Over in Leinster we had the current holders Kilkenny dumped out in the groups by the new kids on the block of Offaly along with Dublin having good run in the groups overcoming Galway in Salthill and also getting a historic win against Kilkenny in the Neller since 2013.

Speaking of 2013 the Leinster final contained both teams that were their however this time the side that had many wobbles in the group in Galway managed to get over the line against Dublin by 13 points.

The Munster final was let down with poor conditions and accuracy but had some highlights particularly from Nickie Quaid between the sticks.

The Quarter-Finals were let down from what they could've been with Clare and Cork winning their games in double digit territory but the headlines were of David Reidy and his knock.

The Semi-Finals didn't disappoint with Galway and Cork going at it where Cork had a 1 point lead at half time for Galway to power on to victory in the 2nd half.

The game that followed the next day was a closer game with Clare having a good start being 5 points ahead at the break to ultimately lose by 2 in the end.

Tell me before the Championship if you expected all the above because I certainly didn't.

Gearoid Hegarty.

Cork v Tyrone - 2PM (TG4)

Minor footballers

Hello folks, sitting up having a few gargles with the lads and we're listing here the best of each county, as we're all from different on the island. Top 5. All time for yourselves. What are the takes?

Hi everyone (21m) how are we, listen before I go anywhere I want to emphasise I actually like watching hurling and football is grand too yesterday was a very rare day I was off the farm so I went out to watch a bit of rugby (NZ France aus ire RSA eng) mostly because I live on my own and don't have a TV, Galway cork was on about the same time as eng RSA, I asked the barman (my cousin) if they had the rugby outside as the hurling was on inside he turned it on for me anyway, but as I got up to leave, a few older lads (40 odd) started going on and on, "you're a young lad this is what you should be watching not that other shite, you're very strange etc" I didn't mind it so much at the time, but it got me thinking, growing up I played from 5-13 odd and was poor enough at it I think, but the amount of times I got called a c!nt had hurleys slapped over my arse and head, shorts pulled down doors kicked against me, coaches abusing parents and players, and also other parents treating my parents poorly, there seems to be a bit of an anti gaa culture growing maybe it's more online, but I know I'm not the only one that's had this experience, so I kind of wonder, is it any wonder that some people grow to hate/resent it a bit as they grow up

Cork v Galway - 3:30PM (RTE & BBC Sport NI)

Cork man here. I want to give kudos to Galway as the best dual code county.

Cork, Dublin and Galway are the only three counties putting out good teams in both codes but Galway went ahead after today's match. They are the same as Cork in the way that they have parts of the county stronger in hurling or football but they make the most of it. Cork don't. Dublin are starting to.

It is a credit to everyone involved in the county board there. Long may it last.

*edit. ill add a caveat and say they are doing the best right now at the top level.

What’s the story with hurling at the moment?
The last few years felt like the game was entering a golden era. Limerick’s dominance was beginning to fade, Cork were coming again, Clare and Tipp along with others back into the mix, and there seemed to be a real buzz around the championship.
But something about this year just hasn’t felt right.
The Munster Championship, which usually gives us a few incredible weeks, never really caught fire. The quarter-finals were poor enough and were mismatches. Even now, with the All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend (commiserations Cork), has there really been much hype? Outside of the likes of Indo GAA, The Hurling Pod and a few other outlets, the build-up has felt strangely quiet.

It almost felt like everyone had already decided it would be Limerick and Cork in the final, and that the semi-finals were just a hurdle to get over. In that sense, maybe Galway doing the business today is actually a great thing for the game. It reminds us that championships are supposed to surprise us.
Football was in a bad place not so long ago. Blanket defences, endless lateral hand-passing and games that had become difficult to watch. But at least there was an acceptance that something had to change. Whether you love or hate the new rules, they’ve undoubtedly created fresh excitement and conversation around the game.

I’m not convinced hurling has an obvious fix. I don’t think banning short puck-outs or making one or two rule tweaks suddenly solves everything. To me, the bigger issue is that the game is it feels like as neutrals we’re missing the great championship stories.
Look at football this year. Louth beat Armagh at the death, suddenly found themselves on the favourable side of the draw, beat Monaghan, and ended up in an All-Ireland semi-final with a genuine chance of reaching the final. Whether you’re from Louth or not, that’s a story people can get behind.

Apart from maybe Offaly’s resurgence this year, where are those stories in hurling? Galway have built a bit of momentum again, but for much of the season the narrative felt like it began and ended with Limerick and Cork. Once Cork were knocked out, it almost felt like part of the championship’s identity disappeared with them.
I also think hurling has a storytelling problem.
Some of the best content I’ve listened to this year wasn’t actually about tactics. It was Pat Ryan on Indo GAA talking about the build-up inside the camp before a Munster final, or maybe some ex players opening up on some podcasts, you know real story telling with emotion about that brings these players and their teams journeys to life. That’s the sort of thing that makes you care.
Hurling has incredible athletes and personalities, but we rarely get to know them. You could have a handful of favourite players in the same room and not pick them out as we barely know what they look like without a helmet. The game needs more stories, more personalities, more rivalries and more reasons for neutrals to become invested beyond simply watching a good match. All of which I believe are exist but they are being underexposed.

I bought a ticket tonight for Limerick v Clare tomorrow, the night before an All-Ireland semi-final. That should probably be impossible. A fixture like that should be sold out, or close to it, well in advance. The fact it isn’t says more than any debate about formats or puck-outs ever could.
Maybe I’m overthinking it, and maybe I’m wrong, but I genuinely feel like hurling is at a crossroads. With ash dieback threatening the very material the game is built on, it almost feels like a pathetic fallacy for where the sport itself is.
What do ye think? Is hurling actually in a great place and I’m just being overly pessimistic, or does something need to change? And if it does, what is that something? What do you think will actually change?

Yet another year where Cork don’t win Liam McCarthy and now it’s going to be at least 22 years which is a poor statistic given a county with their history. The same thing arose as did with the all Ireland last year, they didn’t show up in the second half and they’re under new management and have new players so is a pattern of them falling flat in second halves really down to the set up? As far as next year goes, even getting out of Munster is something you might be doubtful of as this could set them back a lot, but this could bring down the hype to although you would have expected last year to do that. They’re not the only ones in this situation either look at KK they need a complete rebuild, again you’d imagine they should win All Ireland’s again to but unlike Cork, they haven’t gotten to finals where they were outright favourites to win or fallen off the wagon in second halves. The question is, where can Cork go from here? As for Galway, it’s great for them to be back in an AI, it’s been a long time now and who knows, maybe they could go all the way depending on whether they get Clare or Limerick.