July 30th, 2012 
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KnockOn.ie regular Niall Moran joins host Rob Murphy to set the scene as Junior clubs all over the country get back to training and stuck into the pre-season.
During the conversation they take a look at another unpredictable campaign in Leinster. Ask who can challenge Richmond in Munster, Monivea in Connacht and what will happen in Ulster this season after Clogher Valley surprised many last year.
It’s all early season calls but it might whet the appetite ahead of the race to see who follows Skerries (pic: Eric Walsh) into the AIL.
Editor Note:Initial Audio Glitch fixed. Apologies.
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http://knockonrugby.podomatic.com/entry/2012-07-29T11_46_47-07_00
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Technical glitch – no sound after first 2/3 seconds
any chance of discussing Leinster 1b in a podcast. probably going to be the closest league this year obviously i’m biased but i think Ashbourne could just sneak it.
Niall Moran wont give a podcast about 1b because hes in it with Longford. He will be to afraid he’ll have to eat his own words I reckon. We all know hes hiding behind the pen name “Leinster Ed”
Doesn’t have to be Niall Moran. I’m just looking to hear peoples opinions on what should be an exciting league. My Predictions for final table would be:
ASHBOURNE
MONKSTOWN
TULLOW
LONGFORD
WICKLOW
CLONDALKIN
CO.CARLOW
PORTARLINGTON
Editor: We’ll have a podcast looking at Leinster Division 1b, 2a, 2b and 3 on here later this week or early next week.
Ashbourne will struggle even if you are being biased!!!! I would say they will have the same struggle unless they can get their hands on a 10 and some backs. You can’t look past Monkstown tobounce straight back but sure that won’t be the case. Portarlington will not be bottom that is for sure. I fancy carlow wicklow or clondalkin for the drop.
promotion contenders: monkstown/tullow/portarlington
mid table: ashbourne/longford
relegation battle: wicklow/clondalkin/carlow
is obviously to early to speculate fully as nobody will have an idea of any teams capability until after the second round of games.
excuse the spelling, typed in a hurry.
Did Ashbourne keep their 9 from last year?
Hearing strong rumours that Ashbourne have gotten in Skerries back row Dave Lee as a player-coach. Good signing for them. Big ball carrier, he’ll be loving it down in Clondalkin.
Wow!!! Where do you get you inside info? Brilliant.
Carried Skerries to a Towns Cup Final many years ago. True stalwart, a beast of a man.
And very modest too, considering he’s a Skerries legend, or is that a Skerries leg end?
Ashbourne might not win it.. But i dont think we will struggle. i agree that Wicklow Carlow and Clondalkin will struggle. If Wicklow go down i can see there club folding.
ashbournestalwart wicklow went on a bad losing streak in new year the club would not fold they have a fantastic youth set up!!!!! would appreciate if you didn’t tag yourself as an ashbourne supporter as if you remember wicklow beat ashbourne twice last season!!!!
Ashley_BMW s you do make me chuckle as always with nonsense!!!
Lets wait until the whistle blows on Sept 30th before we predict a winner
“if wicklow go down, I can see there club folding” – Ashbourneestalwart
Possibly the most ridiculous comment I’ve seen on this website, and that is saying something. Obviously despite your username you must not be much of a stalwart if you think a clubs relegation from 1B to 2A would lead to the folding of their 1st,2nd,3rd XV’s as well as all their underage and mini rugby teams. By the way I don’t think Wicklow will be relegated at all.
yeah fair enough FOLD might have been a bit of an over the top statement but i do feel they are wasting there succesful underage set up, and if that keeps happening they will struggle to keep there best young talent. So if they do ever get relegated from 1b they will find it hard to come back up.
can’t see Wicklow getting relegated to be honest,to go from second last season to relegation battle seems too much of a drop, even with this being the most competitive league in leinster, with 5 teams with 7 wins last season, a fast start to the league will be essential.
portarlington will suprise in 1b, good bunch of lads there, 2 new coachs that know there stuff, can def see a top 4 finish
who have they brought in as coaches.. and are they players coaches.by the looks of thing it will be an extremely tight and very interesting league
Dave hanlon ex tullamore 6 and Sean rochford , hanlon is a player coach a monster of a man years of experience at tullamore and Leinster juniors . They also have a prop back from new Zealand and Alex mihajlovic ex co Carlow Ail and Bedford blues in English championship . I’ve a feeling you might be eating your words soon enough ashbournestalwart as their not the only team recruiting well . Not to forget ye haven’t beat portarlington for nearly 4 years now and ye finished 3rd when they won the lge in 2010 .
New coach in Tullow will be interesting to see where they finish, think it’ll be better than last season. If ashbourne have bulked up their pack, which was one of the weakest last year they will be contenders, they had a good mouthy 9 who seemed to be a nightmare to play against.
Wicklow have an excellent underage set up, they had a decent allround team last year but with the loss of Barry Lynn they could find it difficult this year, they seem to lose a lot of the underage to Colleges in Dublin.
Portarlington have gotten back a few players the last couple of years to bulk up their pack and their back 3 are very exciting to watch. Co. Carlow as i’ve said before lost a few players and are a club in transition, John Burns a very good coach but will have to work magic for them this year. Their youth team did okay last year and they have some talented youngsters if they can hold onto them but will they be able to make the step up?
Don’t know a lot about Monkstown but generally speaking teams that get relegated lose players, played them two years ago and their backline was quite poor but they had a powerful pack, don’t think they’ll jump straight up.
Clondalkin I think could be dark horses, John Bagnal good coach and if he can utilise resources they can go places.
Don’t know enough about Longford but from talking to other coaches it sounds like a horrible place to travel too to come away with points. Always good for a home teams moral. It’s going to be the closest League and look forward to the start.
port have a decent side and the new coaches will push them hard, they should go well this year.
one thing that could be a serious problem this year for smaller clubs especially with only 1 or 2 pitches will be the state of the pitches with the level of rain that has fallen. i was out digging worms on birrs pitch last wkend and had to nearly put on the waders there was that much water! hope it doesnt disrupt the season with abandoned matches etc!
i wonder how long itl be before clara try start a rugby team, some good lads over there flying the rugby flag. make us dream eddie connor
Clara has produced some players throughout the years
lashing rain, waterlogged pitches, cold showers cant wait for new season to start! hope enniscorthy have fixed their showers and tidied up their shabby changing rooms a bit, an awful bleak spot to go to! would ye not build some kind of stand or even plant a few trees or something? newbridge is even worse!
god sorry me belvedere if leinster junior rugby clubs dont live up to your lofty expectations. perhaps you should stick to visiting clubs inside the pale, where your needs are better catered for. No recession in Anglessy road then no? its comments like yours that give leinster fans a bad name
watch out for derry this year. donal milne has them heading in the right direction, few nifty backs, adrian smith at 15 is a real threat. strong man milne is still palyingh off the base of the scrum while flank con hogan is the standout man
I’m sure 2b is terrified of edenderry ! Hope ye don’t draw cill Dara or enniscorthy in the towns cup we’ll see what ye’re made of then . Have ye sorted out that pond of a 1st pitch yet
ha ha thats some statement! cill dara is an awful place to go no shelter anywhere! last time we played ye there was sheep on the 2nds pitch too!
athlone croquet im shocked and hurt by that! all i was saying was that clubs should make more of an effort with facilities. newbridge changing rooms and excuse for a bar is little better than a cattle shed! tullamore is little better with freezing showers the norm and they have a bog of a pitch with an awful slope! is it too much to ask for a hot shower, clean changing room and something edible other than a greasy chicken curry that dundalk and enniscorthy seem to specialize in making unpalatable!!
Lads, the facilities in leinster are grand. A place to change and shower. We are junior rugby players, not internationals, and the infrastructure is in line with what we need.
Whatever club Mr. Belvedere is with obviously has lots of working capital unlike most junior clubs – he sure talks a lot of rubbish. I am involved in the accounts of our club and it is a constant battle keeping afoat. Big sponsorship is a distant memory.
who needs changing rooms? in my day we often got changed in the car or the ditch. played a match in leeds once and we changed in a local farm and all jumped into a big drinking trough afterwards for a wash!
i once saw a match abandonded in gloucester where a herd of cattle broke out of a nearby farm and ended up in our club grounds. anyone have any other good stories?
sure every team has to start somewhere. its great seeing new clubs like west offaly, moate and so on. if we could get more schools playing itd help more
whos looking good for the 7s sat?
Rob Connor Eddie Connor and Odhran Mcentyre are on this way too much.
Cattle invading a pitch . . . nothing! In Tuam they call sheep the cheerleaders! Can’t wait for the new season.
1b definitely will be a tight one, monkstown will go well i feel along with portarlington and carlow. clondalkin will struggle along with tullow. wicklow not too sure where they go from here, losing their two main backs from last year in player coach barry lynn (10/12/13) and stephen duffy (10/15) leaves them with no kicking option and no 10. will be interesting to see how smullen and copeland get on back in their home club as player coaches and what kind of people they can bring in to replace the two players that have moved on.