Thoughts On Relegation

Senior Hurling Relegation

While I was having a quick browse through the Waterford GAA discussion page on boards.ie, I noticed some interesting posts about the Waterford senior hurling championship for 2011. What surprised me greatly about some of the responses was there was almost as much debate about who was going to be relegated as there was about who was going to win the championship.

Normally no one even mentions the dreaded R ‘word’ until at least half-way through the championship when they can see what teams are struggling. However, this year for some reason, people are already discussing who is still going to be around this time next year.

The general consensus seems to be that there are only three teams in the equation for the drop to the Intermediate championship and I don’t think anyone would be awful surprised at the names of the clubs mentioned. The two most recent winners of the Intermediate championship, Dungarvan and Roanmore are in the mix as are Stradbally who have narrowly avoided relegation for the last two years.

Many people also seemed to think that Roanmore were the better equipped of the three teams mentioned to have a ‘crack’ at the senior championship and that the relegation issue would probably come down to a clash of the other two teams.

This also surprised me as I would be of the opinion that this youthful Dungarvan side is only going to get better and having survived their first year amongst the big boys, they could well kick on and become a force in the senior championship over the nest few seasons, a la Passage in 2010.

It may well be wishful thinking by the city dwellers that browse boards.ie but to say that Roanmore will go further in the championship than Dungarvan is, in this writer’s opinion a bit of a fallacy. Roanmore came from absolutely nowhere to win the Intermediate championship last season, beating a relatively weak Clonea side in the final. A year previously, Dungarvan had beaten a far superior Clonea side in an absorbing county final and Dungarvan side have probably improved since then.

Although Roanmore have a couple of players such as Stephen Flynn and Stephen Murphy who were chipping in with two or three points a game, they remained largely dependent on Gavin O’Brien for the majority of their scores last season. They will need others to step up to the plate in order to take the pressure off O’Brien (who is still eligible for minor this year) and that is not as easy in the cut and thrust of senior championship. The Gracedieu based outfit do have a strong defence where Waterford panellist Frank McGrath and Ger Quinlan are the star players. They will need these two players to perform out of their skins of they are to keep out the calibre of forward they will meet in a few months time.

When you compare that to the Dungarvan side, you will see that the old boro men have the necessary strength in depth to have an extended run in the championship. They have exceptional young players in Colm Curran, Darren Duggan and Eoin Healy while the likes of Jamie Nagle and Gavin Crotty have been getting game time in the Waterford Crystal Cup for the Waterford senior team.

The last mentioned team that appear to be in the equation are ‘Brick’ Walsh’s Stradbally. Over the years, Stradbally have given a lot to the senior championship and it was a testament to their never-say-die attitude that they managed to avoid the drop for the last two years. Although football is most certainly their priority, they still manage to perform to a high level in the small ball code as well. It must also be noted that they have never availed of the opportunity to rest big players in hurling games, even when they have had big football matches coming up and for that they must be praised.

It would be unfair of me to comment on who I think will slip through the trapdoor to Intermediate in 2011 and I will not do so. Needless to say, it is always sad to see someone relegated but that is part and parcel of the championship and just as someone will go down, someone else will also come up.