Kildare Players Unavailable for Gilroys Leinster

good enough - 'meaningless rubbish of a game

I agree. I know there's great history to the Railway Cup but in this day and age it could be done away with.

Agreed, wouldn't want to risk injury or burn-out because of that.

The Railway cup should be let die. It's clear there's little interest in it anymore. The GAA have been trying their best to revive it in recent years but they would be better off focusing on more important competitions imo.

That's disappointing to hear, it matters not peoples opinion of the Railway cup, the fact of the matter is it is a representative competition that our county voted to retain a few years back and a lot of great Kildare players have accepted the honour of playing on this team down through the years. As for the risk of injury or burn-out I would say there is a bigger risk of that happening at the many weekly training sessions. I can only assume the decision not to take part was down unavailability of the players asked in as stated in the report, anything else would have to be considered a snub and I for one don't not believe we have reason to be that arrogant

Will the players not be playing with there clubs this weekend as the Aldridge, Keogh cups etc are all starting

I hope the reasons for the players unavailability are genuine, as to snub the competition would be poor form imo. If every County was to take that view where would that leave us. As ballyboy said we voted to retain this competition so it is deserving of our support.

Add to that Fear its now aiding Crumlin Children's Hospital which imo is all the more reason it should be supported by us all

Who was asked to go I wonder? I went to Parnell park last year emmet and mickey started and jd was a sub. Emmet got 10 min Mickey got about 45 min and Jd got less than 5 min.
Give respect get respect my hole... Just saying

Ballyboy, by saying we should all support it do you actually mean go to the games ?

I support Crumlin children's hospital anytime I'm asked and I'd gladly pay them the entrance price of a ticket rather than go to a game.

Would be interesting to poll just how many posters have actually 'attended' a railway cup game ?

I've never, and never will

Whats the reason for our Lads not being available ??,
If all Counties took that decision then these Games would be no longer, which IMO would be a shame.

peile wrote:

Ballyboy, by saying we should all support it do you actually mean go to the games ?

I support Crumlin children's hospital anytime I'm asked and I'd gladly pay them the entrance price of a ticket rather than go to a game.

Would be interesting to poll just how many posters have actually 'attended' a railway cup game ?

This is the thing, I've been to a lot of gaa matches over the years but I've never been to a Railway cup game and I'd have very little interest in going even if there were Kildare lads involved.

Was at Railway Cup games ( about 10) between 57 & 70, not since.

Was often the first club game or training & later it became "family time".

After 6 games in a row the lads need a day off.

Ideal opportunity for lads from counties who were not so busy.

Presume Dubs will have 5 or 6 & almost as many from the Leinster runners-up !!!

The Kildare players should be available to the Leinster team and whoever says otherwise are wrong. It should be an honour to play for your province. I hope that there is a genuine reason for them not being available and if not , it is very disappointing.

tomcruise wrote:

The Kildare players should be available to the Leinster team and whoever says otherwise are wrong. It should be an honour to play for your province. I hope that there is a genuine reason for them not being available and if not , it is very disappointing.

Whoever says otherwise are not wrong Tom. Its their opinion. There is no right or wrong here.

I would be of the opinion that it is absolutely no benefit for lads to be part of the Leinster team.

Firstly the timing of it is completely ridiculous. At the moment The National Football League, Sigerson Cup, u21 and minor football is running at the same time. If you have lads invovled with Sigerson, Lads involved with the u21 panel and lads on the Leinster Railway cup team, where does that leave the rest of the panel that want and need 3 weeks competitive training before we play Kerry?

We've had a fantastic start to the League, lets not shoot ourselves in the foot by picking up needless injuries with the Leinster team or our own panel being at a loss.

Tom why don;t you get down of your soap box and tell us why the players should be honoured to play with Leinster in a meaningless game in front of a few hundred people?

They'd be far better being released to their clubs in my opinion.

I have as much interest in this dead format as I do in listening to the westlife back catalogue.
It should be consigned to the history books.
Anyway from what I heard only three were called up, one of those has a knock, and the other two have wedding duties. You might be able to sleep now tomcruise.
Nice if the media to report it as Kildare make players unavailable when it was nothing like that.

I should add that one if the was John Doyle, now the last thing the great man needs is a meaningless game in horrible conditions at his stage if football.

Only for this thread I'd guess that I and many people on here wouldn't have known it was even taking place this weekend.

I'd actually like to see the Compromise Rules Series scrapped and instead market The Railway Cup a lot more.

Great sign of intent and focus that our lads are "unavailable". Dead competition - glad the lads are saving themselves for Kildare's season.

You make your point well and there seems to be genuine reasons for the lads not playing. My belief however is that you should be encouraging and promoting the competition eg look at the respect of the Ulster players for it.

ps I slept well last night. I was in my Club most of the night raising money to pay the Hawkfield Levy which was to cease a couple of years ago but has been extended for the next how many years. Strange.

While there are pros and cons I would agree with Tom. I would hate to see these Matches dropped, and IMO it should be an honour to represent your province.. Look at the Rugby Boys ( i know they get paid, and its part of the HCup ),
I think the powers that be should try harder to enhance the importance of representing your Province and raise the Profile of these Matches.. Remember the Days when it was an Honour and the Crowds would flock to see them.. What went wrong??

Surely this says more about the GAA, their treatment of the Railway Cups over 30 years and the competition itself than it does about the Kildare players. Guys play when there's something to play for.

I dont see the point in it anymore. Its not needed. The club championships and all-irelands are much more interesting. Nobody is going to bust a gut for an Inter-pro at the start of the season.

Kill it off instead of wasting time on it every year.

Times change, the merits and value of different trophies change, in truth the O'Byrne cup probably has more significance now than the Railway Cup, sport continually evolves, look at the growth in Ladies football, Rounders and Handball were once almost on a par with the others, look at similar situations even outside of GAA, the F.A. Cup was massive once, now most clubs consider it a distraction, you cant force people to like this, it's like the compromise games, it no longer relevant, and how many of the players playing in it will actually giving it 100% intensity?.