Hurling Age Grades Confirmed
Age grades in club youth hurling in Tyrone are now in line with youth football after the counties hurling development committee agreed a new structure on Tuesday night. Chairman of the HDC Peter Kerr confirmed that age grades in the county will be Under 6 &half, 8 & half, 10 & half and 12 & half falling into line with school class ages .
“We felt it will help avoid confusion for parents and young hurlers and footballers, all the clubs were in agreement and we can move forward now”
A busy meeting also agreed the structures for the new look adult competitions within the county. The senior hurling championship will feature Dungannon, Carrickmore and Naomh Colmcille and the trio will also contest the senior league with the league winners set for a county final spot, second and third will play off for a final spot while the team that loses that play-off will face the winners of the new Junior B championship for the junior title. The winners going through to represent Tyrone in the Ulster club series
The new Junior B championship will follow on from a new league cup that will feature on the calendar in May and will involve Omagh, Killyclogher and Strabane with teams from Carrickmore, Dungannon and Naomh Colmcille also included , no county players will be involved in this competition.
“It’s all about development” explained the chairman, “We want teams to be competing and encourage participation from the clubs working hard to get back up to competitive speed in senior hurling , all the clubs across the county feel this is the best way forward, we will be working now on dates with the CCC and look forward now to the new league cup in May to get things up and running”
Work is ongoing at underage level with all the clubs reporting healthy numbers at all age grades. Dates are being fixed for all underage blitzes currently and it will be all systems go shortly, the first of the blitz days is fixed for April 7th and will follow similar lines to last year’s successful arrangement with youth football.
The Feile will be played before the end of April now to allow the three Tyrone qualifiers plenty of time to build up for the June tournament. It was agreed too that Dungannon will play host to the Tyrone Feile this year.
A new Under 15 Og Sport competition has been added to the calendar , the seven a side competition has been a huge hit over the years in football and the Tyrone winners will go on to the new Ulster competition.
By Paddy Wed 7th Mar
