Hurling review: London calling

brits

 

It’s almost as if the Kildare hurlers are following the lead of their footballing counterparts. After a spring where their naturally talented athletes continually failed to deliver with the big ball, the Lilywhite hurlers are now facing a surprisingly early exit from the Christy Ring Cup of which they are the incumbent champions.

We remarked ahead of their visit to Ruislip that the home side would get a significant advantage from their home venue – but conversely expected that taking a replay to Newbridge would suit the champions to get the job done and progress onwards. That was not to be the case, and now Kildare find themselves with only one chance left to salvage their silverware. They travel away to face Mayo – a game where they ought to be strong favourites, but we’ve said that about them already this year.

In the Leinster championship Antrim could not repeat their heroics from their clash with Laois – collapsing to a horrendous defeat against Westmeath, who are now safe from relegation. Westmeath will face Laois in a fortnight to decide the top two places in the round-robin stage (winner plays Offaly, loser plays Wexford; a draw leaves Westmeath on top) while Carlow and Antrim will meet to decide to decide who faces relegation (a draw will suffice for Antrim).

On the rankings front, Laois’s win over Carlow sees them jump to 11th place, over Kerry who gained comparatively little from a narrow win over Meath. Lower down, Armagh jump two places to 22nd after a strong win over Tyrone. Lancashire prop up the table after losing their inaugural outing to Fermanagh, but their strong performance suggests they’ll make hay if they can match the standard of the other sides they’ll face in the next few weeks.

Hurling rankings
(w/e May 10, 2015)
1 Kilkenny 2174
2 Tipperary 2101
3 Cork 1991
4 Waterford 1941
5 Dublin 1914
6 Limerick 1860
7 Galway 1858
8 Clare 1845
9 Wexford 1699
10 Offaly 1591
11 (+1) Laois 1473
12 (-1) Kerry 1468
13 (+1) Westmeath 1392
14 (-1) Antrim 1326
15 Kildare 1281
16 Carlow 1264
17 (+1) Down 1254
18 (-1) Meath 1235
19 Derry 1172
20 London 1136
21 Wicklow 1033
22 (+2) Armagh 1009
23 Roscommon 989
24 (-2) Tyrone 935
25 Mayo 930
26 Donegal 886
27 (+1) Fingal 795
28 (-1) Monaghan 782
29 Louth 644
30 (+1) Fermanagh 618
31 (-1) Longford 576
32 Warwicks 493
33 Leitrim 362
34 Sligo 287
35 Lancashire 240

We’re back on Thursday to profile the next round of games in the lower-tier championships as Leinster takes a week off.

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