The GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee have decided that Cork’s hurlers will forfeit the games they failed to play during the recent players’ strike. That means that Kilkenny and Waterford will both get 2 points for the game and Cork have 0 points from 2 games.

Not quite sure how scoring difference is handled there, as it stands there’s no benefit in scoring for Kilkenny and Waterford and no deficit for Cork. That could have implications later given that the group looks pretty tight after 2 rounds.

Cork’s first game should now be against Dublin in Parnell Park on March 3rd.

Results from round 2 of the National Hurling League.
Reversal of fortunes for Antrim and Wexford after week 1 with Antrim having a good 7 point win over the model county and Offaly bounced back from their hammering by Tipp to draw with Galway.

League Tables have been updated.

Division 1A
Antrim 3-11 Wexford 1-10
Cork v Waterford [Postponed]
Kilkenny 1-21 Dublin 2-10

Division 1B
Clare 1-25 Laois 1-15
Offaly 3-9 Galway 0-18
Tipperary 2-20 Limerick 2-9

Division 2A
Kerry 4-7 Wicklow 1-11
Kildare 1-15 Mayo 1-14
Westmeath 3-19 Roscommon 1-13

Division 2B
Derry 3-11 London 0-9
Carlow 2-15 Meath 1-13
Down 2-22 Armagh 0-12

Division 3
Donegal 1-20 Louth 3-8
Sligo 3-10 Tyrone 1-20

Division 4
Cavan 1-9 Fermanagh 1-14
Monaghan 2-10 South Down 3-3

Round 2 of the National Hurling League this weekend. The clash between Tipperary and Limerick in Thurles is live on TG4. Cork v Waterford is off, despite the apparent end of the strike.

Saturday February 16th
NHL Round 2 (all games @ 2.30pm)
Division 2A
Kildare v Mayo
Westmeath v Roscommon/

Division 3
Sligo v Tyrone

Sunday February 17th
NHL Round 2 (all games @ 2.30pm unless stated)
Division 1A
Antrim v Wexford (1pm)
Cork v Waterford [Postponed]
Kilkenny v Dublin

Division 1B
Clare v Laois
Offaly v Galway
Tipperary v Limerick (Live on TG4)

Division 2A
Kerry v Wicklow

Division 2B
Derry v London (12pm)
Carlow v Meath
Down v Armagh

Division 3
Donegal v Louth

Division 4
Cavan v Fermanagh
Monaghan v South Down

Portumna’s young star Joe Canning injured his hamstring while playing for LIT against UL in the Fitzgibbon cup. He came off towards the end of the first half and early indications are that it could be serious.

It would be a major blow for Portumna in their quest for the All Ireland club title as they play Tipp champs Loughmore Castleiney next weekend. I don’t understand why club players would refrain from playing with their counties yet still play with the colleges ahead of such a huge game. Clearly the Fitzgibbon cup is taking on more and more importance every year.

Incidentally LIT drew that game with UL thanks to a late point from Willie Hyland of Laois. The result puts LIT through to the quarter finals and UL go out.

Quiet week so far, the Cork strike still dominating. Presumably the Cork v Waterford clash on Sunday will fall by the wayside.

Richie Bennis has decided to start 5 newcomers for Limerick’s big clash with Tipperary in Thurles while their dual player Stephen Lavin has declared for the hurlers after being named in both football and hurling teams at the weekend.

Despite Tipp’s good early form their boss Liam Sheedy has declared that no one is guaranteed a place and he wants competition for all 15 spots in his panel. Sounds like he’s taking a leaf out of Brian Cody’s book. Tipp could be a dark horse this year.

Ger Loughnane seems to have calmed down a bit as he’s only made two changes to the Galway team for their clash with Offaly. Loughnane spent most of last year making constant changes to the team. Maybe he’s finally figuring out his first choice 15 but then again the Portumna guys are still to return and he also wants Ollie Canning to return from his early retirement.

Just noticed over on Setanta Sports site that they have a Setanta NHL team of the week.
This week’s team is led by Wexford with 5 players after their exciting win over Waterford.

The team is:

Clinton Hennessey (Wat);
Philip Brennan (Dub), Keith Rossiter (Wex), Paul Roche (Wex);
Joe Bergin (Off), Willie Doran (Wex), Richie Kehoe (Wex);
Joe Caesar (Tipp) Stuart Mullen (Dub);
Jonathan Clancy (Clare), Eoin Quigley (Wex), Joe Kerwick (Tipp);
Pat Tobin (Lim), Iarla Tannion (Gal), Andrew O’Shaughnessy (Lim)

There was an interesting contrast in the opening league results of the teams who performed well in the main pre season tournaments, the Walsh cup and the Waterford Crystal.

Antrim won the Walsh cup and beat Kilkenny along the way so clearly hopes were high for a good league campaign, but what did they do only lose to Dublin by 7 points. All the good January displays were clearly worth nothing. They’re now likely to finish bottom of division 1A.
Offaly who were the beaten finalists in the Walsh cup got hammered by Tipperary, suffering the heaviest defeat of the division 1 teams.
So much for the Walsh cup!

However Tipperary who won the Waterford Crystal Tournament carried their impressive form through with that 2-25 to 2-8 win over Offaly. Liam Sheedy clearly has his team in good early shape and a keen battle for places under way.
Waterford were the beaten finalists and they lost out by a point to Wexford yesterday but that was still a good display given that they’re short a few regulars.

Seems that just like the championship there’s a big difference between the standard of fare in Munster and Leinster.

The league tables after the first round of action have been updated.

All Ireland Junior Club Final
Conahy Shamrocks (Kilkenny) 0-19 Moyle Rovers (Tipperary) 1-9

All Ireland Intermediate Club Final
Clonkill (Westmeath) 3-15 Tomas Larkins (Galway) 2-14

NHL
Division 1A
Waterford 3-8 Wexford 2-12 - Report on Setanta
Dublin 0-22 Antrim 0-15 - Report on Setanta
Cork v Kilkenny [Postponed]

Division 1B
Limerick 3-23 Laois 2-11
Galway 2-24 Clare 3-17 - Report on Setanta
Tipperary 2-25 Offaly 2-8

Division 2A
Kerry 1-11 Westmeath 0-17
Roscommon 0-11 Kildare 2-12
Wicklow 1-16 Mayo 0-17

Division 2B
Down 1-11 Carlow 0-14
Meath 1-25 Derry 0-8
Armagh 1-14 London 0-8

Division 3
Tyrone 1-10 Donegal 1-17
Longford 4-19 Sligo 2-3
Louth BYE

Division 4
Fermanagh 2-10 Monaghan 2-5
Leitrim 0-8 Cavan 2-8
South Down BYE

As expected the Cork players strike has resulted in the Cork Kilkenny hurling game on Sunday being cancelled. Cork’s next outing is due to be against Waterford on Sunday week, the 17th, and if they fail to fulfill that aswell they’ll be thrown out of the league and possibly relegated to a lower division.

At the moment there looks like no hope of a breakthrough in the impasse down by the Lee so it looks like we’ll have a 5 team Division 1A for the hurling league.

The hurling season finally gets into full swing this weekend with the first round of the league, although it looks like Cork won’t be on board so Kilkenny will be idle on Sunday.
We also have the intermediate and junior club finals under lights in Croke Park on Saturday night.

Saturday February 9th
All Ireland Junior Club Final
Moyle Rovers (Tipperary) v Conahy Shamrocks (Kilkenny) - 6pm Croke Park

All Ireland Intermediate Club Final
Tomas Larkins (Galway) v Clonkill (Westmeath) - 7.45pm Croke Park

Sunday February 10th
NHL Round 1 (all games @ 2.30pm)
Division 1A
Waterford v Wexford (on TG4)
Dublin v Antrim
*** Cork v Kilkenny ***

Division 1B
Limerick v Laois
Galway v Clare
Tipperary v Offaly

Division 2A
Kerry v Westmeath
Roscommon v Kildare
Wicklow v Mayo

Division 2B
Down v Carlow
Meath v Derry
Armagh v London

Division 3
Tyrone v Donegal
Longford v Sligo
Louth BYE

Division 4
Fermanagh v Monaghan
Leitrim v Cavan
South Down BYE

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