Dublin were brought crashing back to earth last night as Antrim ended their good league run under the Casement Park floodlights. A win would have guaranteed the Dubs a quarter final spot but now they’ll have to beat Tipperary on Sunday to achieve that. Antrim have been struggling though the league thus far but they finally found some form to claim their first points.

Centre forward Neil McManus done the damage hitting 1-3, the crucial goal coming just before half time. With Brian McFall adding 5 points Antrim were always able to keep their noses in front as Kevin O’Reilly was Dublin’s only real scoring threat, notching up 0-8.

Dublin have named the same team that defeated Limerick for their crucial division 1B re-fixture against Antrim on Wednesday night in Casement Park in Belfast. The game was originally postponed due to bad weather and now that Dublin have recorded wins over Galway and Limerick in the mean time it suddenly becomes a major game for them. Victory for the Dubs will take them to the top of the table and guarantee themselves a place in the playoffs. Dublin have been progressing very impressively, from coming from behind to draw with Kilkenny to out-battling Galway in a slogfest to comfortably defeating Limerick. Antrim have been struggling all campaign and it’s hard to see them having the ability to cope with the Dubs in their present vein of form.

The Dublin team is: G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon, D O’Reilly; J Boland, G O’Meara; T Moore, D Qualter, J Kelly; K O’Reilly, P O’Driscoll, K Flynn.

The Hoganstand reports that Tippeary boss Babs Keating is unhappy with the rough treatment of some of his players in last Sunday’s defeat to Galway. Apparently Pa Bourke, Willie Ryan and Paul Kelly were on the receiving end of some “bad temper”. Of course rather than blame Galway Babs is focusing his blame on the officials in charge of the match.

The referees and linesmen have enough to do and get enough abuse themselves without looking out for every little incident on the pitch and without having to babysit players. Galway are hardly known for their roughhouse play even if Ger Loughnane may be instilling a bit more steel in them. The Tipp players should be well able to look after themselves and Babs would be better off focusing on why his team conceded 26 points. He does tend to get a little “over-excited” in interviews which is mainly just due to his incredible passion for Tipperary hurling. However when he was interviewed on TG4 after the match on Sunday he didn’t sound too upset so I don’t think there’s a whole lot in these latest comments - just a chance to have another snip at GAA officialdom!

Dublin’s great start to the season continued as they saw off Limerick in Limerick by 4 points. What’s even more impressive is that they suffered a couple of injuries before the game and had to make some changes. 22 points is a good score on any day and the Dubs do really seem to be flying at the moment. Next up is an awkward Wednesday night trip to Casement Park to play Antrim. If they can pick up another 2 points there they’ll jump to the top of the table ahead of next weekends final round of fixtures. It will be absolutely great for hurling if they can make it into the semi-finals.

Elsewhere Galway put up a great score of 26 points to see off Tipperary. Rebounding from last weekends surprise defeat the tribesmen were in flying form all throughout the pitch although the concession of 3 goals to the Kelly brothers will be a bit of concern for their full back line.

Cork held off a powerful late surge by Wexford to win by 1-17 to 0-18. At one stage Cork led 1-16 to 0-10 before Wexford hit 7 successive points but they just couldn’t get the few extra to draw level.

Offaly and Clare drew in Birr with Barry Nugent hitting a late equalizer for the away team. The draw keeps Clare in the playoff hunt but Offaly really needed a win to give themselves any hope of being in contention. Instead they’re likely to be drawn into the relegation playoff.

Kilkenny had an easy win over Antrim and Waterford completely annihilated Down. Both northern counties are really struggling and will be playing Division 2 hurling next year.

Check out the league tables page to see how it all stands.

Added a new page to the site that displays the All-Star winners from 1971 to the present. It also includes the team of the century from 1984 and the team of the milllenium from 2000. The final team displayed shows the players who have won the most all-stars at their positions. It’s presented in a layout that lets you see the players county and position at a glance.

While I’m on the All-Star subject I’m going to keep an eye on players throughout the year who are in All-Star form and then compare it with the final selection at the end of the year. The All-Stars are always completely loaded in favour of the All-Ireland finalists as league and early season form is completely ignored. So here I’ll be keeping a tab on the top 3 players at each postion as the season unfolds and updating it based on their performances.

There’s a full round of games down for decision this weekend and by the end of it the playoff and promotion and relegation issues should be much clearer.

In Division 1A Clare, Waterford, Cork and Wexford all sit on 4 points. Cork and Wexford meet in Cork so that will remove one of them from the race. You’d have to expect Cork to win that one with home advantage. Waterford should comfortably account for Down in Waterford and no doubt give their scoring difference a boost in the process to move them closer to Clare who have a significant advantage in that regard. The banner men travel to Offaly where the home team desperately need a win to avoid getting dragged into the relegation battle. Clare seem to have shaken off most of their injury worries while Offaly seem to have developed a few so the Clare men should be able to get another 2 points there.

It’s equally tight in division 1B where Galway and Tipperary have 4 points, Kilkenny and Dublin have 3 and Limerick have 2. Galway and Tipp meet in Galway in what should be the game of the weekend. Ger Loughnane will no doubt have given his charges a roasting (and 50 laps of the nearest bog or sand banks) after their defeat to Dublin so I’d expect them to come out with all guns blazing and edge that one. Kilkenny should be able to build on their big win over Limerick and dispatch Antrim, although they do have to make an extra long journey to Ballycastle rather than the usual Casement Park. Limerick and Dublin should be a fascinating game. Dublin will be hugely confident of continuing their great start to the league while Limerick badly need to get back on track after two defeats. Limerick have home advantage and the Dubs 2 good results have come at home in Parnell Park so i’ll have to go with Limerick in that one.

In division 2A leaders Wicklow should solidify their advantage by beating bottom team Armagh. The two teams immediately behind them, Laois and Meath, meet in Portlaoise and Laois should be able to win that and keep the pressure on Wicklow.

In division 2B it’s very tight with Westmeath, Kildare and Mayo all on 3 points and Kerry on 2. Kildare travel over to London for a tricky assignment while Westmeath should be too strong for Mayo.

Came across a new website called GaelicSurvival which according to it’s tag is “Ireland’s only Gaelic Games fantasy game that gives you the chance to win thousands of euros in prizes”.

Uses both hurling and football, after you register each week you pick what you think will be the outcome of all the weekends matches and you get points based on correct selections.

I don’t know of any other GAA based fantasy games out there so if you haven’t already done go ahead and give it a go at http://www.gaelicsurvival.com/register.html.

A hectic weekend of action during some awful weather conditions. Kilkenny people are happy again after Ballyhale’s easy win in the club final and the county teams hammering of Limerick yesterday. Dublin produced a huge shock, beating Galway. If they can beat Antrim in their re-fixed clash they’ll jump to the top of the division and at the very least guarantee themselves Division 1 hurling next year. Cork were lucky to avoid being victims of another shock as they just edged past Down up north in some very wintry weather. Waterford fell to Clare so all the 100% records are gone in Division 1.

The results and league tables pages have been updated.

Ballyhale Shamrocks and Loughrea do battle on St. Patricks day for the All-Ireland Club title. Ballyhale are looking for their 4th title to take them top of the winners table with Birr while Loughrea are looking for their first.

The first 3 titles for Ballyhale came back in 81, 84 and 90 when they were powered by the Fennelly clan, since then they’ve had lean times but now driven by current stars Henry Shefflin and Cha Fitzpatrick they are favourites again to claim another title. Loughrea had to overcome reigning champions Portumna in Galway so while it may be their first appearance there’s no doubt they have what it takes to win and make themselves the 6th Galway club to do so.

Given the way Loughrea “took care of” Portumna’s young prodigy Joe Canning in Galway I’m sure they’ll be trying to keep a tight rein on Henry and Cha but as Ballyhale proved in the semi-final comeback win over Toomevara they have a very well rounded team with a host of talented young players who can all step up to the plate.

With plenty of scoring ability on both sides and the wide open spaces of Croke Park we should see a fairly high scoring game. I’ll pick Ballyhale Shamrocks to win on a scoreline of 2-18 to 2-14.

Robert Emmets of London created some history yesterday as they became the first club side from London to appear in a club final in Croke Park. It was in the Intermediate final and they produced a performance to match the occassion as they outclassed Galway side Killimordaly on a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-8. It’s a great boost for hurling across the water amidst all the current concern about the state of hurling.

The junior final was a return to the norm however as Kilkenny side Danesfort saw off the challenge of plucky Clooney Gaels from Antrim on a score of 2-16 to 2-8.

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