Thursday, October 2, 2008

Irish School's draw

The draw for this year’s All-Ireland Schools tournament, to be held in Villiers in Limerick from October 22 to 24. One place is still up for grabs with Munster pair Middleton and Newtown playing for the final place.

Group A sees holders Cookstown take on St Andrews in one of the more mouthwatering opening ties. Andrews are one of five sides from Leinster to qualify with local Champions taking their place in group D. Their main opposition will probably come from RBAI.

Emerging sides Sutton Park, High School and Kilkenny are the other sides from the province.

Group A: Cookstown, Villiers, St Andrews, Kilkenny

Group B: Banbridge, Regent, Ashton, High School

Group C: Royal and Prior, Wallace, Sutton Park, Bandon
Group D: RBAI, Kilkeel, Wesley, Midleton/Newtown

57 comments:

Anonymous said...

the draw is a joke!putting the top 2 in the same group
Andrews have 7 irish internationals while cookstown have 6 or 7 also!!

Anonymous said...

bandon 4 the title!

Anonymous said...

shanny?

Anonymous said...

The reason andrews are in the same group as cookstown is because they have failed to either win a domestic trophy (leinster senior cup or league) or get out of their all Ireland group in the last 3/4 years

Anonymous said...

you want to win it you gotta beat the best teams. If you're good enough you'll qualify. Don't blame the draw.

Anonymous said...

Well technically they won there league last year...As at the and of the season they had 3 more points than wesley!!But had to play a league final...Ridicolous

Anonymous said...

cookstown have a 20yr old full international playin for them.andrews mite aswell calll back timmy lewis!

Anonymous said...

Bandon have proved to be the most improved and the strongest team of the last 5 years reaching 3finals in a row(only winning one) and then 2semi finals in a row compared to them never qualifying from their group ever before this decade. but they cant compete with full internationals-its a joke!!

Anonymous said...

BGS have also won the "south of ireland league"-(bandon and ashton play in the leinster league) for the last 5 years in a row!!

Anonymous said...

Who's this 20 year old and whats the story there??

Anonymous said...

The draw is not a joke and they have not put the 2 best teams together... You see cookstwon and wesley are the best 2 teams, and that's why the seeded draw has put them in opposite groups!

Anonymous said...

a 20 yr old.. couldnt be?

Anonymous said...

it promises to be a good tournament but i can only us having 1 leinster team through from what ive heard.. semis - Cookstown , Wallace, Wesley and Banbridge/Ashton

Anonymous said...

Andrews are a better team than Wesley, and Wesley knows it. As for the all-irelands, andrews have the potential to go all the way, but only if their senior players step up to the mark and are fully focussed on the day. Cookstown are a very good team, and on paper they should win, but everyone knows how hard it is to retain a trophy and the pressure is also on them as they are regarded as the favourites

Anonymous said...

wesely are not one of the better teams as andrews beat them 4-1 2 weeks ago!!!

Anonymous said...

Cookstown/Andrews to win it?

Anonymous said...

i agree with the two bgs comments we were class!id put my house on cookstown winning it this year tho

Anonymous said...

i am sick of andrews people saying every year that they are better than wesley, wesley have proven over last 5 years that they are a better hockey school, untill andrews start winning some leinster and national cups they need to stop moaning, and show what there made of on the pitch on big stage.

Anonymous said...

Is chloe Watkins on the andrews team just a rumour..

Anonymous said...

Andrews will walk the senior cup and league this year.wesley are awfull, who evr wins the match between andrews and cookstown will win the all irelands,no noubt.the only reason bandon gets into semis finals is because they are always top seed in munster beacause there are only two teams down there and get an easy draw.

Anonymous said...

itll be a tough game but i think with andrews missin out on trophies last season they will b more hungry this season. so watch out cookstown!

ps: andrews are better than wesly!fullstop..

Anonymous said...

Wesley have proven at every possible level that they are better than andrews! They can take their 7 internationals and drive them straight back home on the 23rd October because it will be the same old story, the same bottlers wont have any courage to step upto the plate whatsoever

Stephen Findlater said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

The "20 year old international" from Cookstown actually only just turned 19 a couple of months ago!! Not his fault if he's good enough for senior selection!!

Anonymous said...

for those of us who have been out of school hockey for awhile, what is the name of the cookstown player with a cap?

Anonymous said...

Killkenny outside bet?

Anonymous said...

No actually there senior international repeated his final 2 years in school. It has to be considered slightly unfair that they have two overage players still representing at this level. The other being David Best who is currently in the Irish Development squad.

Anonymous said...

is besty still in school??
if he is thats ridiculous.

Can't write off Kilkenny..
I'd give it a good €5 each way at 14/1..

Anonymous said...

where did you get 14-1 on kilkenny???

Anonymous said...

from my intense knowledge of hockey..
where else i am a qualified actuary after all...
why is there some competition here for hookhockey bookie??

Anonymous said...

My bet is it to be a cookstown wesley final. Wesley only lossed (4-3 btw), to andrews because they were missing 5 players, and cookstown have only lossed one player from last years team... Wesley recently showed their worth by trashing bandbridge 3-0. Will be a great comp to watch tho!

Anonymous said...

Where do you get this info...4-3 i was at the game it was 4-1..Can even tell you who scored for andrews Alex Fox x2, Jamie Haughton, Richard Sykes...For Wesley Robert Whealan. Both sides had full strength teams, With the better players almost cancelling eachother out, The Andrews team just seemed to have more on the bench!

ps:I'm a nuetral

Anonymous said...

forget bout previous senior teams..de andrews team of now have never lost a competitive game since the team formed 6 years ago..the weseley team hav consistently been out played by this andrews team and are no more than average..as for the mouthwatering andrews vs cookstown game it is all about the mindset comin into the game..with C'town off form i back andrews 2 take wat they finally deserve!!!cant go wrong with Haughton up front...goal machine

Anonymous said...

are you sure about the dates being 22-24?

Anonymous said...

Yea ... limerick villiers

Stephen Findlater said...

I'm assured that these are the dates for the competition and the full fixture programme will be available this week.

The competition has been made midweek in recent years to make players available for club games at the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Cookstown v Andrews is the Wednesday (25th) at 2.30 pm at villiers..

Anonymous said...

22nd is wednesday

Anonymous said...

David Best is 18. Hardly over age. David Ames is a year behing a school as he moved here from south africa. Are we going to be racist now??

Anonymous said...

james barber for top scorer

Anonymous said...

high school 2 beat ashton and regent and give banbridge a scare in the group

Anonymous said...

so that boy could play for south africa? cool..

Anonymous said...

Saw Wesley rip Bandbridge to shreds last Wednesday up north. I seriously think High School have a chance to get out of the group!. has the semi's been drawn yet?

Anonymous said...

Bandbridge and Aston have both very poor teams this year. Could be an upset in there group.

Anonymous said...

what score did wesley beat ashton and banbridge?

Anonymous said...

Wesley beat bandbridge 3-0, and their game against Ashton was scheduled for today, but has been postponed to the 20th November.

Anonymous said...

what are people on about saying andrews shouldn't of been drawn with cookstown they have done nothing over the past couple of years.Bandon on the other hand my not have a great side this year but from recent years the group they got was fair

Anonymous said...

wesley next year...unstoppable

Anonymous said...

how are banbridge looking this year?

Anonymous said...

do high school have a good team this year?

Anonymous said...

high school have by far their best ever team this year. 4 or 5 real quality players + a lot of really solid players. may not win the all irelands but i wouldnt want 2 draw them in the senior cup

Anonymous said...

james barber will be a huge threat and a great asset for highschool in the all irelands.

Anonymous said...

"wesley next year...unstoppable" why are wesley people so arrogant they will never win the schools again because they do not have the quality.

Anonymous said...

1 cookstown 2 andrews 3 wesley 4 bandon 5 wallace 6 royal and prior 7 banbridge 8 ashton 9 rbai 10 high school 11 sutton 12 kilkeel 13 kilkenny 14 regent 15 midleton 16 villiers

Anonymous said...

Cookstown for the win older players or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Nobody is talking about Bandon who are in serious contention for the title as always!

Anonymous said...

yes bandons recent record 2007:semi 2006:semi 2005:winners 2004:final lost on strokes 2003:final lost on strokes