AIL 2024/2025

mun1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122592868#Comment_122592868

don’t be so defensive, just pointing out a couple of facts

1. It was a 2nd team by con.
2. Nenagh got a couple of million from a land sale two years ago, and nenagh results have improved since .

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122592888#Comment_122592888

Nenagh got money and it went straight into the facilities that are still to be completed. Not on anything to do with first team. Results have improved last couple of years but more from vouching changes and more coming through from underage who've been very strong than anything else. 12 of 22 played minis and youths in the club. Another 2 or 3 moved at 18 from nearby junior clubs. So nearly all home grown. How many other ail 1 sides can say that?

good_afternoon

It was not a seconds team from Con at all. Even Dave hyland was back today. They had a very strong side.

Yes a lot of nenagh are home grown. Nenagh are paying players, and paying very well. Don't challenge me on this. I have screenshots to prove this 1000%.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122592968#Comment_122592968

Every clubs paying players in some form or another. No doubt nenagh are as well. No club in country is not. And if they say they're not they're lying

good_afternoon

I'm glad you said that.

It's a huge issue, but you're right everyone is doing it. Scandalous figures too.

All the Dublin crowds

StevenToast

Every club is paying players....Nenagh have transformed their facilities….they have invested very wisely in their future....

The envy of many clubs around the country....

RuPi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122593065#Comment_122593065

There is very few AIL clubs in Ulster that pay players.

Serious win for Nenagh, could do very well in 1B.

Ulster senior league results have been a total mixed bag. Dungannon looking well set for a crack in 2B. Queens will be totally dependent on Ulster releases this season.

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122593065#Comment_122593065

and tbf thats just just an ail thing…….. junior clubs at it too, ex pros and players for higher ail league clubs in recent years were hardly going to lower divisions for the craic like!

Chirpo123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122593169#Comment_122593169

There's more than you'd think!!

On a totally unrelated subject - see Harlequins have secured another signing - Finn Bamber from Sligo

Lost Ormond

Referee appointments for first month 9f games made

Hopefully we will see some previews across media this week ahead of start of games next weekend

Lost Ormond

Fixtures for round 1

1A

Ballynahinch v Armagh

Garryowen v Lansdowne

Terenure v Cork Con

Mary's v Clontarf

UCD v Young Munster

1B

Old Wesley v Blackrock (friday)

Highfield V Naas

Nenagh v Trinity

Old Belvedere v UCC

Queens v Shannon

2A

Ballymena V Corinthians

Banbridge V Barnhall

Buccaneers v instonians

Greystones v navan

Old Crescent v Cashel

2B

Dungannon v Malahide

Galwegians v Skerries

Malone v Clogher Valley

UL Bohs v Sligo

Wanderers v Rainey

2C

Omagh v Clonmel

Bruff v Dolphin

Enniscorthy v Belfast Harlequins

Midleton V Monkstown

Tullamore v Ballyclare

Lost Ormond

SO any thoughts in ups and downs for season. Top 4 for 1A

Any other predictions or hope/aspirations be it your own club or league as a whole?

arsebiscuits1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122633148#Comment_122633148

Last season was the first time in recent memory there was a 2 up and 2 down. The promotion playoff has normally been a bridge too far for 1B teams.

Marys have recruited extremely smartly and look like their worth to stay up in 1A, which should be their goal.

City of Armagh need to seriously turn around last season. They avoided the relegation playoff by virtue of more LBPs. They actually lost more games than Shannon.

Garryowen will need to have recruited smartly to deal with the rigours of 1A. Having seen their pack in person a few times last season they were a good outfit but underpowered against a lot of 1A clubs.

In 1B as ever, it's anyones game.

Blackrock look like they're finally serious about actually getting back to the top. Madigan is coaching there and they're finally reopening the link to the school. They've recruited a few very decent players. This year might be a bit too soon while their recruits age up a bit.

Belvo are a club that just don't go away. Surprised a huge amount of people to make the playoff final last season. Their 20s won the league last season which was a huge achievement as they were up against the likes of UCD, Lansdowne, Tarf, Terenure all of whom have strong u20s teams. So a potential golden generation of players coming up to the seniors. They've recruited a few heavies for the pack too and a new coaching staff. Could be a team to watch.

Nenagh Ormond are on the charge up the leagues. Not sure they'll be in the promotion hunt but it will be fun to watch them

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122633148#Comment_122633148

awh i dunno….. im tossed up between 5 teams on paper all looking good for the top 4/5 in no particular order…… marys, lansdowne, terenure, cork con & tarf. They all look good on paper one of them sides i feel will miss out on the play off spot come mid april next year. Then again wouldn't right off a hinch or one of the limerick sides to do well also.

Blackrock for me in 1a to go up. Arsebiscuits mentions it above, but does anyone know when they started to rebuild that school connection and when was the last time it was that strong? From memory last time i can remember they had a strong schools link was the club team that had the likes of jordi murphy conway and brendan macken playing just out of school so say 2010 or just before it? seemed to have dyed down since then

good_afternoon

1A

Ballynahinch v Armagh - Hard to call. Armagh.

Garryowen v Lansdowne - Lansdowne. They have been building nicely, I think.

Terenure v Cork Con - Very tough. Home advantage may play a part. Con have recruited and got guys back. Going to say con.

Mary's v Clontarf - Mary's will fight tooth and nail but think Tarf will be too strong.

UCD v Young Munster - two mid table teams. Will be close but going to say YM.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122634280#Comment_122634280

I wouldn't be so sure on rock to go up. They've been up and down from 1b to 2a a fair bit in recent years and always had a few from school going to them but obviously not biggest names and these guys haven't even stayed through to ail side.

luke9311

Well yeah outside them your probably looking at Belvo Shannon (although they have a young ish side this year) naas who have a decent coaching ticket this year and Wesley should be there there abouts come play offs. Trinity I think probably need another season or two before they go back up regroup build again

arsebiscuits1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122634280#Comment_122634280

Yeah probably that generation. And most of them moved on pretty quickly. Think Jordi was registered with Lansdowne pretty shortly after school.

Conway the most recent (notable) pro to be affiliated with Blackrock RFC.

Stainalert

1a & 1b both looking very open this year - Any team capable of beating any team on the day in my opinion. Marys look to have recruited well and Garryowen look strong as well so no obvious weak teams in 1A. Old Wesley Blackrock game tonight will be really interesting - both teams with strong ambition to get promoted - Rock look like they are blooding plenty of youngsters. Game of the round has to be Terenure Cork Con. Great to have the AIL back !

Lost Ormond

Hopefully might see some more regular posters here get to some ail games. Not just the few regulars in the thread. I don't think a lot of people realise how high quality many games are even in the lower divisions

Lost Ormond

Wesley beat rock 29 13

Lost Ormond

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/09/21/energia-all-ireland-league-mens-divisions-round-1-results-round-up-2/

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122638790#Comment_122638790

went up to have a look on friday at that game and then in lakelands today v con. rock very poor all game both attack and in D, bit of a size difference too. Chatting to one of the players parents he was saying they hadn't had much games in the run in to ail, 2 games they were meant to play were conceeded in senior league, played the wanderers game then the final. don't think he was making excuses by any means for that loss just making out a lack of minutes on the pitch.

good_afternoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122635486#Comment_122635486

I got 2 out of 5 correct. Not great from me.

Armagh/Hinch was close. Rare you'd see such a low scoring game.

Surprised with garryowen result. Didn't think they would be hammered but didn't see them winning either.

Terenure had a league winning hangover last year but got back to their fighting best and got to final. Maybe con have one this year but will most likely be in top 4 this year. Impressive from nure.

Red card may have cost Mary's a perfect start to return to 1A.

Cookies/UCD was also very close. Not sure what type of a game it was.

Stainalert

Who got red carded for Mary's ?

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122645920#Comment_122645920

ronan watters from what i heard, tip tackle

phog

Injury Findings in the AIL

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/09/24/irfu-and-university-of-limerick-release-latest-iris-study-findings-for-2023-24-season/

arsebiscuits1

I saw this on the AIL roundup the other day and signed up the other day, nothing to it.

https://www.the42.ie/irishrugby-streaming-6496660-Sep2024/

Not much on it at the moment but good to see a dedicated streaming platform for the AIL.

They also have a page to link to the clubs Youtube streams.

Not perfect but a start. Hopefully they build on this

minitrue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122652460#Comment_122652460

How specifically do you think this is good? I'll note this doesn't seem to be building upon any of their prior endeavours and it's not dedicated to the AIL, it's also mentioning Emerging Ireland at this point as potential other selected games they will add to it.

They've shown recently enough that they are happy to lock things behind a paywall and there's zero mention of the games being or remaining free. In fact if you click on the FAQ it's very much written for a paid service. They do say already that you have to register to watch so it's not only hidden away on a service few will ever know about and nobody will stumble into but it's also locked behind making an account with them, an account not covered in their privacy policy that's harvesting email addresses for undisclosed purposes.

OK, I only spent about 3 minutes scrolling through the privacy policy and might have missed something but why do they even need accounts at all? If it's because they plan to charge why not be up-front about it? If they don't plan to charge then they must be planning to exploit it in another way they are obfuscating.

They are covering 12 games and unknown semi finals (implying all of them which I find hard to believe) so it's not even a game a week (even ignoring the missed first week).

What are the clubs who do stream themselves meant to do when the IRFU turn up, put out a second stream to their audience or abandon their audience to it?

Why are they putting money into rolling their own solution and maintaining it? It is a whitelabel solution and plus.irishrugby.ie site is just a mask for the provider who actually runs that site but they will be paying for everything directly. Would that money not be better spent supporting those clubs who are streaming so they can improve their streams and helping those who aren't streaming yet start? The email harvesting alone proves it's not some moral position against the dominance of Alphabet's youtube which is the only reason I could think of to go down this route and even then rowing in behind something like peertube would avoid them reinventing wheels and being beholden to an outside company to do anything.

FTR it's not the same company they used previously to charge for AIL semi-finals.

We'll have to see what the service is like also, will it let you do things like pause, rewind, watch later, change playback speed or zoom? Will it work equally well on TVs, phones and computers? The FAQ already highlights some of the issues like limited smart tv support, no chromecast support, a limit of 10 views assuming rewatching/watching later is enabled and one device at a time.

And that's all before we get to the question of what the coverage will be like. They don't tout anything about it so there's no reason to think it will match the best existing streams, though to be fair most streams are so basic I can't imagine they will aim to be any worse than the usual fair.

The only positive I can find is that, based on prior years, there's 5 regular season WAIL games which will be streamed that otherwise wouldn't have been, 2 of which are "big 4" games namely Blackrock Vs Bohs and Railway Vs Blackrock. Of course taking 1 of the 3 prime home games for those clubs discourages them a little from starting up their own streaming.

arsebiscuits1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122653194#Comment_122653194

How specifically do you think this is good?

They are showing games. For free. Something is better than nothing.

You've done a 10 paragraph response that seems to hinge on something that a) is not the case now and b) might not be the case at all.

minitrue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122653229#Comment_122653229

How many of those games would not have been shown anyway?

Where does it say "free" anywhere? Click on the FAQ and it leads with how to get to the payment page.

I did address numerous other points which aren't just about whether or not they will charge.

Guilty as charged for tending to type too much ;)

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122653194#Comment_122653194

It's good as they're showing games. It's better than them not doing it.

TThat It's n9t dedicated to AIL shouldn't be an issue. It's covering all games at all levels that they'll show. Likely will have irish underage internationals or the Irish clubs xv there as well. It not remaining free shouldn't have to be an issue. Especially if it means production standards are kept high and money is invested back into the service maybe to expand it over time???

Leinster5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122634280#Comment_122634280

I think Con, Nure, Tarf & Lansdowne will make up the Top 4. Not sure Mary's have the depth in the front 5 to get them through the Winter months.

As for Rock, since they've been on an upward curve they've always attracted some good players from the school. I think they've always had a decent relationship with the school. I recall back before Covid they had their current AIL coach Luke Hickey, Mark Roche & a St. Michael's coach in charge of their U20s who were in the top division at the time and they recruited a lot of SCT players over the few years who still seem to feature for their AIL side regularly. One would think if they get up to 1A they'd be a sure thing for majority of Rock pupils and former past pupils involved elsewhere.

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122654434#Comment_122654434

yeah think ur spot on on your top 4 call. im saying marys be there or there abouts given on paper they recruited well have a decent squad but just wonder if they lack the experience given its there first year up.

Rock yeah im saying that a while now they would get up that said i went to see them last week against wesley and they were poor. falling off tackles and a few kicks blocked down throughout the game and not much creativity in attack noticable size difference (which might not be much of a surpise if your bringing in a good few young lads out of school) to add to that wesley had. Think rock or onto something but it will be a long term project that will take more than one season for it to click. Haven't seen much of trinity either so be interesting to see how they go this year or even if they can climb back up

luke9311

mark roch by the way is still involved in one of their teams as far as i know just not their senior side.

Lost Ormond

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/09/26/energiaail-mens-divisions-2a-2b-2c-round-2-previews/

Lost Ormond

Big Win for cookies over the nure. Nenagh going strong. From 19-7 down half time to win 38-36.

Shannon beat Wesley in thomond. Wesley will be very disappointed with their 2nd half performance especially to come away with nothing.

4 sides on the maximum of 10 in 2A and none meet next week will they do so again. If they do will make things very interesting.

Ballyclare going g very well after their opening games as a senior club. Only side on 10 in 2C

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/09/28/energia-all-ireland-league-mens-divisions-round-2-results-round-up-4/

good_afternoon

Agreed good win for cookies. Was an exciting game, apparently. Garryowen doing well. Their team sheet is stronger than I thought it might be. Tarf will never be too far off. Expected Mary's to beat CofA. Not looking too good for CofA but they were close to Hinch. Con back to business as usual it would seem. I did think that Lansdowne would win against UCD.

Nenagh look like a team that mean business Ormond.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122663554#Comment_122663554

It's obviously way too early to call it, but if Ballyclare were to win 2C this year how many years in a row would that be that the promoted Junior club from the previous year goes on to win 2C?

Clogher, Instonians and Enniscorthy, I think, have won the last three 2C titles following promotion. Does the run go back further than that?

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122669486#Comment_122669486

Enniscorthy weren't in their first season as senior club when they won 2C. They were in their 3rd season I think when they got promotio

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122669644#Comment_122669644

They were promoted in 2019, were 2nd in 2C when the league was suspended in 2020, 2020/21 didn't happen and then they won 2C in 2021/22. All a bit messy to be sure but they won the first fully completed 2C after their promotion.

Chirpo123

I think the Ulster Junior Championship was so competitive for a few years that it has just led to a production of 3 or 4 teams that are well battle hardened and used to success - Instonians, Clogher and Ballyclare were all in and around there for a long time before Inst went up. Clogher and Ballyclare were dominating the cups and AIJC and then Clogher and now subsequently Ballyclare have followed Inst up - albeit with a different recruitment strategy - Enniskillen and Dromore are setting the pace this season and look very strong - Enniskillen ran Ballyclare to the wire last season.

Both City of Derry and Bangor coming down from 2C have struggled in this league so that shows the quality in Ulster Junior Rugby at the minute. I think both Dromore and Enniskillen will enter the AIL in the next few years - the success of Instonians and Clogher will only add to the belief that the quality is already there to be competitive in 2C.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672983#Comment_122672983

Fair point. You only have to look through the years and the winner of round robin. Leinster had a huge number of clubs go senior in a row like tullamore Wanderers etc. Munster had nenagh bruff clonakilty and highfield(who had been relegated to junior and bounced straight back up) all go senior in space of 5 years

Lost Ormond

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/10/03/energia-all-ireland-league-fixtures-this-weekend

luke9311

interesting pick from Lansdowne to give Todd Lawlor a run out on the wing for 1st ail cap. They must see something they like in him. If I’m not mistaken he’s only just out of school or maybe the year before? Great to see young lads getting chances though

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684370#Comment_122684370

Year before I'm fairly certain but even at ail 1 under 20s playing isn't out of norm. You will see good numbers each season doing it.

Anyone going to game this weekend. Wesley nenagh or belvo rock for me

luke9311

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684538#Comment_122684538

Ah fair i remember seeing him in a game alright just couldnt remember off the top of my head if it was 2023 or 2024 season year. I agree with you on that it isn't the norm just didn't see it coming this early, even to start. But its good for there getting there chances either way.

Im planning on going over to lakelands myself i think its pissing rain all day which probably suit nure more so than lansdowne who love the free flow heads up rugby passing i guess. my memories of nure over the years love the dog fight games and tuck up the jumper carry style i guess but they can mix and match.

FtD v2

No, Todd Lawlor is just out of school in June 2024.

Was part of a really good Newbridge backline that also contained Paddy Taylor (now playing AIL with Naas) and Diarmuid Mangan’s brother Ciarán now playing with Blackrock.

Also planning on going to Nure-Lansdowne tomorrow.

hold my beer

Heading to Lakelands too. The weather is to be dry and windy.

Lost Ormond

Tarf, nure and con top of 1A. Mary's level with con as they keep picking up lot of bonus points

Ucd struggling?

Another win for nenagh. Going very well. Belvo in 2nd behind the tipp side. Trinity struggling here as well. 2nd relegation in a row possible??

4 at top of 2a on the max of 15 and 4 yet to win a game tho 1 of those has a draw. Very much 2 divisions in 1 the way it's going

WWanderers and Skerries going well both connacht clubs struggling in 2B

Top 3 in 2c have drawn games with teams where at near bottom.

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/10/05/energia-all-ireland-league-mens-divisions-round-3-results-round-up-3/