NHL Roundup - The Finals

Division 1

• Kilkenny defeated reigning champions Tipperary after extra-time. This was a fantastically enjoyable high-scoring match as both sides really brought out their top game for this one.
  

Division 2

• Offaly gained promotion to the top tier next year as they were able to defeat rivals Wexford by virtue of a solitary goal.
  

Division 3A

• The extra goal scored by Kildare was enough for them to beat Meath.

Division 3B

• London fully justified their place in the National League as they defeated Roscommon with 6 points to spare.
  

Division 4

• Sligo were victorious over Monaghan in a competitive final that went all the way to extra-time.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 9

Division 1

• Waterford won at Cork in a very high-scoring contest.

• Kilkenny had a narrow win over Dublin.

• Galway had a fine win away at Clare.

• Tipperary had a home win against Limerick.
  

Division 2

• Offaly had an easy enough win against Antrim, which saw them advance to the final.

• Wexford topped the table as they thrashed Carlow by 25-points.

• Westmeath had a good home win against Laois.

• Down produced a magnificent comeback to win by 9-points despite being 6-points behind at half-time against Kerry. This result meant that Kerry had lost all 7 of their matches.

Division 3A

• The fixtures had already been completed.
  

Division 3B

• London finished with top of the table with an impressive 100% victory record as they defeated Donegal.

• Louth were much too strong for Tyrone.

• Fingal had a fine win against Roscommon.

• Longford had the weekend off.

Division 4

• Again, all matches had been played.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 8

Division 1

• Kilkenny had a very easy day's work as they hammered Cork. This win more or less gives Kilkenny top spot in the table and earns them a place in the final against...
  

• ...Tipperary, who had a good win at Galway which helped to secure them second place in the table.

• Clare managed a draw at Dublin, but it was not enough as the result sees them relegated.

• Limerick had a narrow win at home to Waterford, but a decent one nonetheless.
  

Division 2

• Antrim produced a very good away win in Laois.
  

• Wexford scored 5 goals which helped them to a home win over Offaly.

• Down were comprehensively beaten at Carlow as their disappointing season continued.

• Westmeath secured a narrow 1-point win away to Kerry.
  

Division 3A

• No games this week due to there only being 6 teams in this division.
  

Division 3B

• London hugely impressed as they went to Longford and obliterated them by 38 points, scoring 7 goals in the process.

• Roscommon had a decent home win against Louth.

• Donegal beat Fingal by just 2 points in a very high scoring match.

• Tyrone had the weekend off.

Division 4

• Again, no fixtures this week for the aforementioned reasons.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 7

Division 1

• Kilkenny absolutely thrashed Clare.

• Dublin showed how much they have improved this term, but they still came away from Tipperary with a narrow loss.

• Galway had a very good win at Waterford.

• Cork secured a narrow 1-point win in a very exciting game against Limerick.
  

Division 2

• Carlow had a fine win away at Westmeath.

• Offaly put in a great performance as they beat Laois.

• Antrim narrowly beat Kerry in an enthralling game.

• Wexford had a very good win away at Down.
  

Division 3A

• Meath had a good win away at Armagh in a game that was an exciting high-scoring affair.

• Derry had a very comfortable home win as they decimated Wicklow.

• Kildare had a decent home win against Mayo.
  

Division 3B

• Roscommon had an easy win up in Tyrone.

• Fingal had a home win against Longford.

• Louth had a really handy win over Donegal.

• London had the weekend off.
  

Division 4

• Leitrim had a narrow win at home against Fermanagh.

• Sligo had an excellent win away at Cavan, beating them by more than double scores.

• Monaghan had a tight 1-point victory against South Down.

NHL Roundup - Week 6

Division 1

• Cork fielded their strongest team to date and it paid dividends as they picked up a very good win at Clare. The turning point in a fascinating match came when Cork hit 10 points in 10 minutes.

• Dublin had a fine and mildly shocking win at home to Dublin to continue their good campaign.

• Galway had a narrow win at home to Limerick.

• Kilkenny thrashed Tipperary by a margin of 17-points.
  

Division 2

• Offaly kept their winning record going as they beat Down.

• Wexford emerged the victors in a tight enough game against Westmeath.

• Carlow had an impressive win at home to Antrim.

• Laois had a fine win away at Kerry.
  

Division 3A

• Meath and Wicklow drew in an exciting sounding game.

• Kildare notched up a home win against Derry.

• Mayo were too strong at home for Armagh.

Division 3B

• London had a home win against Fingal.

• Louth chalked up a handy enough home win against Longford.

• Donegal thrashed Tyrone with a 19-point margin of victory.

• Roscommon had the weekend off.
  

Division 4

• Fermanagh had a surprising home loss to Monaghan.

• Leitrim made use of home advantage to beat Cavan.

• There was a draw in the game between South Down and Sligo.

NHL Roundup - Week 5

Both of these matches were rescheduled games from Week 1.

Division 3A

• Armagh came away from Wicklow with a 1 point victory.

Division 3B

• London had a fine win away at Roscommon, which took them to the top of the table.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 4

All these matches were rearranged ties that had been called off in due to bad weather earlier in the competition (Week 1).

Division 1

• Galway were very poor at home and Kilkenny made them pay for it. The result will be bitterly disappointing for Galway as they would have been looking at this game in order to have a right go at the best team in the land.

Division 2

• Offaly had a fairly routine victory against Carlow.

• Antrim and Westmeath shared a draw. It will probably be a bitter-sweet result for the Ulster side as while they had home advantage, they were not at full strength as they had some key players missing.
  

• Laois had a decent enough victory at home against Down.
  

Division 3A

• Meath made it a really impressive 3 wins from 3 matches as they were able to secure a 1 point victory over Kildare.

Division 3B

• There was a cracking game between Donegal and Longford, as the visitors were able to come back from a large half-time deficit and score 3 goals, but it was not enough as the Ulstermen held on for a home win by 2 points.
  

• Fingal had a fine win up in Tyrone and they had 4 points to spare in that contest.

Division 4

• Fermanagh battled hard in order to secure a win at Cavan.

• Sligo had a very easy win at home against Monaghan.

NHL Roundup - Week 3

Division 1

• Reigning champions Tipperary continued their impressive 100% start with a fine win over Clare.

• Waterford gained some measure of revenge as they downed Kilkenny by a margin of 4 points.

• The usual disclaimer applies to Cork as they were thumped at home by Galway.

• Limerick had an important win at home to Dublin.
  

Division 2

• Offaly dominated their match against Kerry, winning by a massive margin of 24 points.

• Antrim beat Wexford in a very exciting match that produced a total of 8 goals. These are 2 teams that are in-between the top and middle tiers in terms of quality so each team would have had a lot to prove against one another.

• There were 8 goals once again as Down had an impressive win at Westmeath in what looked to be another enthralling contest.

• And to conclude this goalfest of a division, Laois had a decent win against local neighbours Carlow.
  

Division 3A

• Meath had a very good win away at Derry, who in their own right are a decent enough side. It probably would have been a bit of a shock for Derry to lose as while they are not good enough to be amongst the top sides, they can make a good nuisance of themselves against the second tier teams.

• Armagh edged out Kildare by a point and having home advantage proved to be key.

• The 2 goals proved crucial for Mayo as they have a very respectable win at Wicklow.

Division 3B

• London had a very good victory as they travelled over to Louth, and it is results like this that justifies their participation in this competition.

• Roscommon were firing on all cylinders as they chalked up a big win at home to Donegal.

• Tyrone got their first win of the campaign, albeit an extremely narrow win at home to Longford. But hey, we'll take them any which way they come.

• Fingal had the weekend off.

Division 4

• Home advantage proved crucial to Monaghan as they downed Leitrim by a single point.

• A good win for Fermanagh away to Sligo, and they scored 2 goals as well so that should give them a huge lift going into their next match.

• Cavan had a decent win at home to South Down.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 2

Division 1

• The Saturday night game saw defending champions Tipperary win very easily against Cork. Although, bear in mind that this is a young and inexperienced Cork side so it probably doesn't reflect the bigger picture.

• Kilkenny only managed a 1-point victory at home to Limerick, with the winner coming 7 minutes into injury time. It was a tough break for Limerick but they can't feel too bad with themselves as Kilkenny are the best team in the country and beforehand would have been expected to win quite comfortably.

• Waterford had a good win away at Clare and they are a team I like very much. They have plenty of attacking flair and rarely resort to negative tactics. Perhaps they have underachieved in recent times and they will be desperate to bounce back this year after getting hammered in the All-Ireland final last year.

• The surprise of the weekend was Dublin racking up a massive 12-point win against Galway. But from the reports it suggests they fully deserved their victory and the margin of their win was in no way flattering.

Division 2

• Carlow continued to show that they are an up-and-coming team as they beat Kerry with a few points to spare on Saturday evening.
  

• Wexford are really impressing as they ended up with another very comprehensive win, this time against Laois. In the end Wexford ended up scoring twice as many points as their opponents in which looked like a great, open, free-flowing match.

• Antrim are the best team in Ulster and they proved that once again with a decent win against their provincial rivals Down.

• Offaly won away at Westmeath and the margin of the victory suggests there is still a gulf in class between these two sides.

Division 3A

• Kildare narrowly won their home fixture against Wicklow.

• Armagh and Derry shared a competitive draw in an all-Ulster clash.

• Meath won at home to Mayo, who have now lost their opening 2 games and need to turn things around quickly.

Division 3B

• London destroyed poor Tyrone by a margin of a whopping 34 points.

• Roscommon had a very easy outing away at Longford and would have made for good viewing for any of their travelling fans.

• Fingal had a decent win at home to Louth. It is worth noting that Fingal are not an official country, just an extension of the county of Dublin. I'm not entirely sure why or how they got a place in this League seeing as they do not compete in the Championship during the summer months.

• Donegal had the weekend off.

Division 4

• Monaghan had a comfotable win over Cavan.

• In an all Connacht clash, Sligo were able to win away at Leitrim.

• South Down had their second successive drawn as they and Fermanagh could not best each other. South Down are pretty much in the same boat as Fingal with regards to their participation in the League.

NHL Roundup - Week 1

In a similar vein to the NFL, the National Hurling League plugs the gap between the Winter pre-season and when the All-Ireland series starts in the Summer. Hurling is probably the fastest played sport in the world requiring tremendous skill. If a game turns out to be good, it usually makes for fantastic viewing. They brought in a new, simpler league format this year and more on how the competition is structured can be found here.

Division 1

• Tipperary began the defence of their title with a good win away at Waterford in what sounded like a very impressive display from the champions.

• Limerick narrowly won at home to Clare. In terms of scoring, this was probably the match of the weekend and Clare showed great spirit coming back from a huge deficit at half-time, but it was not enough.

• Cork are not known as the 'Rebels' for nothing and usually cause a ruckus at this time of the year and it is the same case this time around. From what I understand, the senior players have all refused to play and so they have had to field a fringe/youth team or risk being thrown out of this competition and the All-Ireland itself later in the year. Anyway, this was a very good display from them even though Dublin eventually won the match. Dublin are seen as a side that are that hover between the top and second tier so they will take something from this victory, and scoring 4 goals away from home is great.

• The game between Galway and Kilkenny got called off due to the weather.

Division 2

• The only game to go ahead was Wexford getting an expected win at Kerry. Wexford are probably favourites to win this division.

• The other 3 matches were all called off.
  

Division 3A

• Derry beat Mayo in a tight, scrappy game. The result was probably expected seeing as Derry had home advantage.

• The other 2 fixtures did not happen.

Division 3B

• All 3 fixtures got postponed.
  

• Louth had the weekend off regardless of the weather.

Division 4

• South Down and Leitrim shared the spoils. Draws are fairly rare in hurling as there are usually more points scored and the game is more free-flowing than gaelic football.

Postponed Matches

• Here's a full list of all the games that got called off due to the poor weather conditions.
  

So overall it was a slightly muted start to the NHL, even though some of the bigger games delivered fascinating contests.

All-Ireland Gaelic & Hurling Draws 2009

So the draw happened a month or so ago which caught me unaware seeing as this year's season had only just finished.

Some points of note in the hurling...

• The Munster side of things should be as competitive as ever, there are no easy draws in that one. Cork/Tipp should kick things off nicely.
• It is strange to see Antrim (from Ulster) and Galway (from Connacht) in Leinster but it will do both teams a world of benefit. Antrim are too good in Ulster but get whipped by everyone else so they will get some experience against better competition. While Galway will get the added benefit from getting a few extra games under their belt. Kilkenny getting a bye is no big worry as it will give one of the weaker teams a chance to have a proper go in their quarter-final match.

And on the gaelic side of things...

• Maybe London and New York will actually win for a change, doubt it as they play the two strongest teams. And with them being kept apart, both Galway and Mayo should make the final.
• Meath and Dublin meeting in their first matches is huge and should be a really good game. If Dublin come through that they will probably walk Leinster again, if they lose it is anyone's for the taking.
• Cork should meet Kerry in the semi-final which means we will be denied a proper final. Whoever wins their clash will be a certainty to win the province.
• Ulster is the toughest province and neither Tyrone nor Armagh could have asked for a harder start. The All-Ireland Champions versus the Ulster Champions is one tasty clash. Luckily Tyrone should have home advantage. Whoever wins will be favourite to win the final but it is not usually that clear-cut.

So there is plenty to look forward to next year but that's a long way away yet.