Men's Division Two:
Dublin University 9 (Daire Coady 3, Tolly Humphreys 2, Andrew Beverland 2, Chris Tyrell 2) Suttonians 1 (Ed Hipwell)
Trinity enjoyed a Santry homecoming to savour as they battered league leaders Suttonians for nine to open up the race for the division two crown yet further. The students showed no ill effects from the return to sand-based hockey after spending much of the season on the Grange Road water, racing into a 5-1 half-time lead and scarcely letting up in the second half. Daire Coady scored a trio of penalty corners while Chris Tyrell scored a brace against his former club.
The loss means should Weston win their game in hand on Sutton - home against the students on Saturday - then they will take pole-position. Suttonians next chance to bounce back is on March 2 against Avoca though a defensive record which has leaked 17 goals in three games needs to be put straight in the interim.
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44 comments:
Ah haha! Brilliant!!! Well done trinity!
What has happened to suttonians???
is it aprils fools day already???
tucker
That's what happens when you are missing half your team and have an extremely small squad....
what a result. Ive said it many times, this league is far from over.
half their team? How many players were they missing and who exactly????
Stop making excuses!
Great win for Trinity
Fair play Trinners! Any answers sutton? what happened? Looks like its back to the sand for trinity!!!
flip me, suttonians top of div2 are hammered last night, clontarf who battered everyone in div2 last year and batttered sutts in a friendly earlier in 2010 bottom of div 1 with one point....massive, massive gap.
surely the branch have to think about this. 8-team div 1? no relegation this year, give clontarf a chance to establish themselves? surely they've more chance of doing that with a year under their belt, certainly more chance than anyone coming up from div2 does?
10.21 am: "no relegation this year, give clontarf a chance to establish themselves? surely they've more chance of doing that with a year under their belt, certainly more chance than anyone coming up from div2 does?"
i'm sure clontarf would love such a reprieve but you can't go changing the rules half way through...unless you're FIFA/Sepp Blatter of course.
if there really was an interest in bringing top level hockey on and widening the pool of people playing at the top level, the branch would look at such an option to help club to stay in div 1. strikes me as something the pragmatic dutch would do in the long term interests of developing the game.
Go on the Trin!!! Great result for them. It's been a poor few years for them but they definately have the potential to contest in that league, couple of summer signings and they'll be right in the mix next year!!
they should have an end of year tournament between bottom 2 of div 1 and top 2 of div 2 where each team plays every team once and whoever finishes top 2 of this tournament is in div 1 next year.
Wheels are coming off all over the place!
Quick Fit are probably making a fortune!
Teams should drop out of this league and set up a comedy club instead!
Go on Trinity u heroes!! Sutts have collapsed since losing to Clontarf 10 zip!!
Truth is Trinity have the best squad of players and play a cohesive attacking brand of hockey. Centre midfield is certainly senior 1 material. The only surprise for me is that they are not looking like being promoted this year. Would like to see them play clontarf just to see how far off they would be.
Non-Trinity supporter
11:31, surely the colours match gave an indication to how close or far off they are? slighlty under strength UCD would be roughly as good or as bad as Clontarf.
Nine goals! That's one every 7 mins 42 seconds! As the impending Dizzee Rascal would say 'Bonkers!'.
Didn't Trinity beat Clontarf last year in the cup?? Clontarf didn't batter everybody in Div 2. they had a good short corner routine but apart from that were an ordinary side with better fitness, they never came close to battering any teams fighting for promotion. What they achieved was fantastic but they won games by grinding games out and not by being a class above everybody.
Div 1 Div 2 debate. Any current side in div 2 will get hammered most weeks by Div 1 top sides because of the current squad of players they have but it's the potential to improve on your squad if in Div 1 that's key for these teams. A team that works hard all season to get promoted should be rewarded if Sutts want to get promoted let them they clearly aren't up to the standard now, a few lucky results this year left them in a good position but still to play Weston twice more I can't see them taking the top spot. They are a team if they get promotion can attract back their old stars so they can fight in div 1. Clubs like Suttonians and Trinity have the capacity to improve if promoted where as I'm not so sure about the rest.
I heard that Weston beat Clontarf in a friendly a couple of weeks ago.
So wouldn't be getting too carried away that the Div 1 bottom is stronger than top of Div 2.
The real problem is that Div 1 bottom is almost always the team that went up the previous year or a weakened college team coming down.
I think making the divisions smaller will only weaken the lower division. 10 years ago there was a need for top 3 divisions to have only first teams.
The branch needs to decide if it is in the best interest of hockey in Leinster that smaller clubs are protected in Div 2 and is this the way for hockey to expand. It doesn't seem to be working at the moment.
fair enough we got hammered. we are suffering from injuries and illnesses and we clearly can't cope with them - it showed in us losing so badly. you can not forget though that in the 3 fixtures against trinity we have collected 6 points. we are going to pick ourselves up and do our best and hopefully with a few of our players back we can compete again. i'd be very surprised if weston beat trinity on saturday...
11.31am. Clontarf have collapsed since losing to Sutts 6-4. shut up.
Problem for all is that being as good as UCD or Clontarf is just not good enough for Senior 1. And therein lies the problem.
On their day trinity just score goals for fun. They have a really strong squad just seem to lack consistency. Play a great style though
about time trinity performed to their potential!!
10:21
I heard Weston played clontarf in a friendly one month ago and beat them 2:1. I would agree that there is a huge gap between top 6 of division 1 but not with the other 4teams.
it really doesnt matter that clontarf were beaten by weston or indeed sutts in friendlies this year, the fact is they were as good a team coming out of div2 for a number of years, and yet they're gonna go straight back down arguably without a win.
the gap is huge, but of course clontarf deserve to go down, and someone deserves to go up, that was the deal at the start of the year and it can't be changed now. T
Stephen other than this blog is there a forum to discuss this properly, with the branch? The problem's only getting bigger, and whoever comes up next year, even trinity and sutts are gonna really really struggle. We'll all wish them well of course, but the fact is they'll struggle. what can be done?!
it's obvious that a restructuring of the leagues is necessary, div 2 sides getting promoted and then going straight down (fairly consistently over the years) works against the club in the long run as many players leave at the end of the year....it can take a few years for the club to recover to get back to where it was, and in the meantime div 1 has moved on, ensuring the promotion/relegastion cycle continues.
1) do the branch want to address this? and 2) are we as players happy that this status quo continues and hockey in this country never gets beyond where we are now?
the "establishment" (for want of a better word) seems happy to concentrate on the big clubs whilst ignoring the fact that the vast majority of teams which play outside div 1 and undoubtedly have players/coaches with enormous potential...it's a simple numbers game.
Clontarf walked Div 2 last year. They hammered everyone and were only denied a 100% record in the last 20 seconds of the last match of the season.
This year they would have zero points but for a last minute equaliser against UCD.
On this evidence alone the league should be restructured, not withstanding what is going on in Div 2 at the moment.
Trinity should try and push for promotion...they have the best chance of attracting quality players that will be able to compete
division 2 has just been blown wide open. if weston mess up this weekend i think avoca are back in the running for promotion. sutton loseing 2 out of there past 3 games they need to turn things around quick. my predictions are
1st weston
2nd avoca
3rd sutton
Trinity to conquer the world with 3 English under 18 internationals considering crossing the waters next year.
Can everyone just read the table, it says UCD are in 7th, not 9th, 7th.
UCD will not be in the playoff this year
To 2.15, if UCD aren't good enough for Div 1 how far up the table do you go up before a team is good enough? Are Railway good enough, fingal? or is it only when you get to Monkstown that you are good enough?
where waere 5:26 4:58 and the rest when the "establishment" and the branch arranged the live blog in Nov when topics such as the league structure were being discussed. Players and their clubs need to decide the future of leagues in Leinster
Sutton where missing 3 players, 2 school players and a striker through injury. just shows lack of depth that they need
some of the comments on this are hilarious cause no one seems to be looking at the div 1 table ucd are not struggling there pretty much mid table. Clontarf struggling but have put in plenty of good performances. They were miles ahead in div 2 last year and have improved this year so the gap is huge. Weston to top the division 2 standings by the end of season and will struggle next year but might be able to get a few in to the club that could give them a slim chance of survival.
Likely outcome if things aren't restructured is that suttonians will go up and clontarf will come down. Clontarf will go on to hammer Div 2 again next year after a good year of experiencing top sides week in week out. Suttonians will get hosed each week until they come back down. Will be no difference.
Yes trinity played a good colours match against Ucd and have real potential but its easy to get ur best performance in colours. Only way to break the cycle of promotion and relegations for Div2 sides is a restructuring.
'where waere 5:26 4:58 and the rest when the "establishment" and the branch arranged the live blog in Nov when topics such as the league structure were being discussed. Players and their clubs need to decide the future of leagues in Leinster'
You really think a branch blog is going to sort anything out.
The branch dont listen to the member clubs. that is the problem. Some people (arguably from the branch) come on to this blog and complain against people making their feelings known and suggest that they instead attend these 'meetings' to sort stuff out.
The branch dont listen to the clubs at these meetings. They are too busy with their own agendas
1. Messing about with this merger with the ladies section. (How long has this been going on)
2. Complaining about the IHA and the lack of coherence between them and the branch
Division 2 is a real problem. It is not something that needs further discussion, it needs action. The gulf between 1 and 2 has been widening for years. The branch as well as everyone else have been well aware of this.
What is needed now is decisive action, not just another meeting.
Realsitic proposals should be invited and put forward providing solutions.
I would suggest an emergency committee to deal with Div 2, failing that the representative clubs should get together and do something about it.
don't really know why people expect clontarf to come down and win div two again. That rarely happens. Lat time they came down they came down they didnt go straight back up, neither did trinity, avoca or bray who people forget actually managed to stay up for two years. The only team i can think of who managed to bounce straight back are railway
Div 2 needs to be fixed for the start of next season.
You can't change promotion/relegation or change leagues mid-season they'd be uproar.
The only answer I can see is promoting Div 3 sides into Div 2.
Advantages:
- 1st XI sides in Div 2 will experience a higher standard of hockey, which will better prepare them for Div 1.
- There'll be 10 sides in Div 2.
- The 1st XI sides will experience playing on Div 1 pitches and against Div 1 benchers.
- Unless you beat 2nd XI sides consistently you won't get promoted.
Disadvantages:
- Pulling 4 up from Div 3 would propagate down the divisions. Although the number of team in various leagues is a mess anyway.
- There may be no relegation/promotion in Div 1 & 2 if a 1st XI doesn't finish high enough.
- 2nd XI sides may not want to play in Div 2.
- It's possible we could end up with no 1st XI teams in Div 2.
"You can't change promotion/relegation or change leagues mid-season they'd be uproar."
You'd think that but it was within a whisker of happening last year. Avoca put forward a suggestion prior to a Leinster Branch meeting for two sides from division 2 to be automatically promoted and 2 from division to be automatically relegated as a way of giving impetus to Div 2 as it is very rare that a playoff match is won by the Div 2 team (only UCD in the last how many years?). After much discussion it was decided that the changes would have taken effect last season as a temporary measure until it was discussed again.
The vote was VERY close in and it was narrowly decided to stick with the way things were.
If the vote had turned the other way, UCD and Kilkenny would have been automatically relegated last year and Bray and Clontarf would have been automatically promoted.
It can happen. It would be outrageous, akin to the president of fifa changing the rules of world cup qualifiers or something half way through the competition, but it can happen.
Solution
Div 1- 8 teams (less league fixtures, more time for Cup competitions, IHL, Europe, as well as refixes due to weather and Internationals)
Div 2- 8 teams
Promotion/Relegation- Get rid of playoff. 2 up, 2 down- much better and gives wider opportunity to all clubs.
Showers League- Expand to all Clubs. League of about 30. Points for Quality, Hygiene, Hot water with bonus points for soap on a rope!
Merging division 2 and 3 is the only solution. There are not enough teams in Division 2.
Division 2 should have 1 team relegated with the top 5 in div 3 promoted.
The top 2 or 3 teams in division 4 should be promoted into div 3 as div 4 has too many teams in it anyway.
This would create 3 leagues with similar number of teams and teams of similar standards in each, far more so than the current situation.
"Can everyone just read the table, it says UCD are in 7th, not 9th, 7th.
UCD will not be in the playoff this year
February 24, 2010 7:32 PM"
If they lose to both Railway and Fingal they will be.
lads, don't mind all this div 1 or 2 talk...you'd want to see what i did in training tonight....jeeez. unreal.
""Sutton where missing 3 players, 2 school players and a striker through injury. just shows lack of depth that they need""
GREAT STORY
Div 3 players wouldnt want any kind of merger or anything id say. Div3 is great and very close. Dont change it cos div 2 is in a mess.....
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