All Irelands

by Gordy88 Sun 6 Jul - 13:15:17

The 63rd All Ireland contest was held in Ennis, County Clare yesterday, (Sat)

Firstly, lets get the moan out of the way, the location was well out of the way, and as such, was poorly attended by Northern bands, and the venue was a complete dump, 2 cubicles and 2 urinals was the height of the toilet facilities, No beer tent, one manky burger van, and an ice cream van,

That was it, frankly a shithole, and if the Northern Ireland branch ever decide to go back to such a dump the should be castrated, assuming that is, that they have any balls in the first place.

However,

There were a lot of missing bands, no NI bands in 4b at all, but most of the regular prize winner were about, with the exception of Cottown in 3a.

Heard Drumlough in 3a, both tuning up and in the ring, they were going rightly, but its a tight grade, and is only going to get tighter,

They had 8 pipers, and a good drum corps, but with the greatest of respect, that few pipers leaves no hiding places, and weaker players can be easily exposed.

I know Iain says he retiring at seasons end, but he needs to stay there, and find 3 or 4 pipers from somewhere, maybe cut 1 and get a winters work out of the rest.

If that could be done, IMO Drumlough would pretty much dominate the grade.

Grade 2 was won by Killeen, with Ravara second, Good result for both bands in fact, as Killeen have been going well, and been consistantly second to Ravara, ravara will be disappointed, but buoyed by the fact that if they continue to dominate the grade, they are likely to go back into grade 1, so that result might actually suit them in some ways.

Grade 1 was SLOT, FMM, Ballycoan, Cullybackey

It was a MSR and Medley competition, we were deservedly 4th in the MSR, as despite having good sound, phrasing, tempos, attack and finish, we had about 10 mistakes, including someone going into the reel 2 beats early, 2 pipers had major wobbles and clatters of mistakes, just a bad day out.

We had a good medley, in fact a very good medley which was bourne out by us coming second to FMM in piping, beating SLOT in piping, so we were very well pleased indeed.

Slot won the med on ensemble and ended up winning both sets and the competition as a whole, the cynical amongst us could say that was a certainty, especially in the deep Irish south, but believe me, they are a hell of a good band, and a good bunch of people too,

From what I was told,(I didnt hear them) it was a fair and accurate result.

So 2 weeks off for the Ulster bands, then we have the Europeans in Lisburn, which is being held a mile and a half from my house. cheers

Cheers

by Redneck Sun 6 Jul - 13:33:20

Cheers Gordy, good summary m8. Got to agree wi the comments reference the location.....WTF a run down cattle market fer the biggest contest of the year in Ireland?......arsewipes the lotta 'em.

Thank god that rugby club was open...... Pint

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Good points regarding our band Gordy m8, things do need sorted m8. There again, ain't that what getting promoted is all about?, even though the band hasn't yet fully clicked IMO, they have always been in the prize list or just outside on EP.
Maybe it's just frustration at the band not taking into the circle what's being achieved in the band hall ( lol, every band can say that am sure ) or the newer additions to the piping corps need a bit more confidence am not too sure, but things will have to change if Drumlough wish to push to the next level. From your remarks I assume your of the same opinion as me that they can and the nucleus of a good band is there.
Getting players in to improve the overall standard is tough as you well know, but we'll see, if there are arses on the seat come close season ( early on ) then I do think we can make a bigger push for the coveted 1st place spot on a more regular basis m8.
Thanks for you honest ( as ever ) remarks towards the band. Pint