“Shameful” if Lusmagh and Shamrocks stay Senior
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:58 am
Strong words from the Man With the Wire in the ‘Tribune’ this week. Shameful words really, in my opinion.
Generally teams have only been relegated when there is a team being promoted to take their place. Otherwise they stay as they are to keep the numbers.
I can only speak for Lusmagh and it’s no overstatement to say that there is huge disappointment that, after 38 years and 174 matches their Senior status is now out of their hands. I note Corrigan writes “of course, dropping a grade is a huge ordeal”. Goddam right it is.
He goes on “their performances this year have been that of relegation teams and they should accept their fate”. As for Lusmagh, the results might be that of relegation candidates but the performances weren’t (he mightn’t be aware but they lost to Belmont by a single point, K/K by 5, Clareen by 4 and Tullamore by 6 having been level after around 45 minutes.
I am aware though, that they didn’t perform well enough in the vital relegation Final against Shamrocks and fair play to Shamrocks, they had a job to do and they did it. I can see what it is like to finish bottom of the pile and for the same club to finish bottom in both grades would be traumatic for them.
I’m not saying Lusmagh have a divine right to hurl Senior. They don’t. However there are 12 Senior clubs in both codes, and 12 clubs in both Senior, Intermediate and Junior. Divided into 2 groups of six, giving each team 5 matches, two before the summer and three after. To be fair to teams they will need that amount of matches in order to get a chance to build momentum or to recover from setbacks. And what's wrong with having matches?
Corrigan writes “And just because a team is promoted it (relegation) still should be stuck with. Last year twelve teams competed in both senior championships and even if that dropped to eleven in both next year, that would not be a bad thing. It would mean groups of five and six but there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that. Indeed a strong case could be made for deducting the number of senior teams to ten teams in both grades and having a more competitive championship.”
I’m going to make a ‘strong case’ to the contrary using an actual example. I’ve been researching Lusmagh’s results since they went Senior after winning the Junior title in 1973. As our great team of the 90s was breaking up, we had a good run at underage winning minor titles in 1997 & 1999, going on to win U21 titles in 1999 & 2001. At the time those graduated to Senior hurling there were 12 Senior clubs, divided into 3 groups of 4 teams with 2 teams advancing from each group. That meant there were only 3 group matches per year, and in 2001, 2002 & 2003 Lusmagh were drawn along with Birr who were then at their peak. That left them needing to win each of the other two matches and when they lost to Shinrone (round 1, 2001) and Tullamore (round 2, 2002) their championship was over for the year, with no chance to recover, no chance to give players a chance to grow accustomed to hurling Senior. To make things worse, in 2003 they were drawn with Birr, Coolderry and St Rynagh’s which effectively wrote off their year before it began.
Had the current system been in place they might well have reached the quarter finals with a chance of further progress. They were a 'top 8' team at that time though obviously they have slipped down the ranks in recent years. They certainly would have benefitted itf they had the extra matches back then. We should be having more matches, not less, and there are few enough matches crammed into a few months anyway. And what if a Senior club’s second team keep winning the Intermediate title into perpetuity? When do we stop relegating teams to Intermediate? When there are 8 Senior clubs left? 6? 4?
Corrigan continues “It will be interesting to see if Shamrocks and Lusmagh made a might to preserve their status” If anyone knows what that means they might let me know. Actually, don’t bother.
He goes on “hopefully they won’t, but if they do, they should still go down”. God between us and all harm that Shamrocks might be in Senior football or Lusmagh in Senior hurling next year is what he seems to be saying here. “It would be a shameful to see a return to the situation that emerged in the early ‘90s when both Walsh Island and Kinnitty were allowed to retain senior status after board room pleas.”
Shameful? I don’t think so. I think ‘shameful’ is a terrible word. Lusmagh and Shamrocks have no need to feel ashamed of anything. And if we’re the boil on the arse of sections of the local media then they’re going to have to live with us. This is the paper who, a few weeks ago described one of the biggest hurling pitches in the county as ‘tight’ , you know.
The Man on the Wire piece also contains an essay along the lines of ‘the day I went to the All-Ireland’ for the entertainment of Lord knows who.
Finally, on a technical issue, Corrigan should, at this stage of his life, know the difference between a quotation mark and an inverted comma, and their uses. See the Carthage Buckley interview in the same paper.
Generally teams have only been relegated when there is a team being promoted to take their place. Otherwise they stay as they are to keep the numbers.
I can only speak for Lusmagh and it’s no overstatement to say that there is huge disappointment that, after 38 years and 174 matches their Senior status is now out of their hands. I note Corrigan writes “of course, dropping a grade is a huge ordeal”. Goddam right it is.
He goes on “their performances this year have been that of relegation teams and they should accept their fate”. As for Lusmagh, the results might be that of relegation candidates but the performances weren’t (he mightn’t be aware but they lost to Belmont by a single point, K/K by 5, Clareen by 4 and Tullamore by 6 having been level after around 45 minutes.
I am aware though, that they didn’t perform well enough in the vital relegation Final against Shamrocks and fair play to Shamrocks, they had a job to do and they did it. I can see what it is like to finish bottom of the pile and for the same club to finish bottom in both grades would be traumatic for them.
I’m not saying Lusmagh have a divine right to hurl Senior. They don’t. However there are 12 Senior clubs in both codes, and 12 clubs in both Senior, Intermediate and Junior. Divided into 2 groups of six, giving each team 5 matches, two before the summer and three after. To be fair to teams they will need that amount of matches in order to get a chance to build momentum or to recover from setbacks. And what's wrong with having matches?
Corrigan writes “And just because a team is promoted it (relegation) still should be stuck with. Last year twelve teams competed in both senior championships and even if that dropped to eleven in both next year, that would not be a bad thing. It would mean groups of five and six but there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that. Indeed a strong case could be made for deducting the number of senior teams to ten teams in both grades and having a more competitive championship.”
I’m going to make a ‘strong case’ to the contrary using an actual example. I’ve been researching Lusmagh’s results since they went Senior after winning the Junior title in 1973. As our great team of the 90s was breaking up, we had a good run at underage winning minor titles in 1997 & 1999, going on to win U21 titles in 1999 & 2001. At the time those graduated to Senior hurling there were 12 Senior clubs, divided into 3 groups of 4 teams with 2 teams advancing from each group. That meant there were only 3 group matches per year, and in 2001, 2002 & 2003 Lusmagh were drawn along with Birr who were then at their peak. That left them needing to win each of the other two matches and when they lost to Shinrone (round 1, 2001) and Tullamore (round 2, 2002) their championship was over for the year, with no chance to recover, no chance to give players a chance to grow accustomed to hurling Senior. To make things worse, in 2003 they were drawn with Birr, Coolderry and St Rynagh’s which effectively wrote off their year before it began.
Had the current system been in place they might well have reached the quarter finals with a chance of further progress. They were a 'top 8' team at that time though obviously they have slipped down the ranks in recent years. They certainly would have benefitted itf they had the extra matches back then. We should be having more matches, not less, and there are few enough matches crammed into a few months anyway. And what if a Senior club’s second team keep winning the Intermediate title into perpetuity? When do we stop relegating teams to Intermediate? When there are 8 Senior clubs left? 6? 4?
Corrigan continues “It will be interesting to see if Shamrocks and Lusmagh made a might to preserve their status” If anyone knows what that means they might let me know. Actually, don’t bother.
He goes on “hopefully they won’t, but if they do, they should still go down”. God between us and all harm that Shamrocks might be in Senior football or Lusmagh in Senior hurling next year is what he seems to be saying here. “It would be a shameful to see a return to the situation that emerged in the early ‘90s when both Walsh Island and Kinnitty were allowed to retain senior status after board room pleas.”
Shameful? I don’t think so. I think ‘shameful’ is a terrible word. Lusmagh and Shamrocks have no need to feel ashamed of anything. And if we’re the boil on the arse of sections of the local media then they’re going to have to live with us. This is the paper who, a few weeks ago described one of the biggest hurling pitches in the county as ‘tight’ , you know.
The Man on the Wire piece also contains an essay along the lines of ‘the day I went to the All-Ireland’ for the entertainment of Lord knows who.
Finally, on a technical issue, Corrigan should, at this stage of his life, know the difference between a quotation mark and an inverted comma, and their uses. See the Carthage Buckley interview in the same paper.