Meath Forum

Players coming from the Navan area

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Why is Navan not producing good footballers?

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1807 - 12/10/2023 14:09:21    2508040

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Replying To bert09:  "Why is Navan not producing good footballers?"
Why should a certain area have to produce good footballers? Every team goes through its phase of great players/team for years but eventually that comes to an end

redracoon (Meath) - Posts: 57 - 12/10/2023 15:27:44    2508052

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Replying To redracoon:  "Why should a certain area have to produce good footballers? Every team goes through its phase of great players/team for years but eventually that comes to an end"
Exactly, navan yeams won it 5/6 years between 12 and 17. Just unusual not to have anyobe on the county panel atm

Ed2010 (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 12/10/2023 15:32:13    2508053

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Where are the players North of Navan as well? Can't be just down to population as the reason that the North Meath clubs can't produce a decent footballer!

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 997 - 13/10/2023 09:02:21    2508109

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Replying To bert09:  "Why is Navan not producing good footballers?"
I know...but maybe I shouldn't tell them. For years the De La Salle brothers took care of all underage in Navan, including primary school, they even had their own underage club. Then the brothers left town and fortunately the late Paddy O'Brien and his helpers took over and kept up the good work that the De La Salle brothers had been doing for years. But then Paddy got too old and eventually departed this mortal earth and as regards underage it's been downhill since. I know St Pats is still there but the school isn't attended by all the youth of the town and the boys are at least 12 by the time they attend. So until NOM and Simonstown and Walterstown, who all drew from the De La Salle setup, work tirelessly and consistently with the kid from age 6 or 7 up there will not be a consistent conveyor of talent emerging from the clubs concerned. Even then nothing is guaranteed, after all from each competition of let's say 8 to 16 teams there can be only one winner but that does not mean that all the rest are 'also rans'. A lot can change in a year.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 13/10/2023 12:43:54    2508164

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Replying To MillerX:  "I know...but maybe I shouldn't tell them. For years the De La Salle brothers took care of all underage in Navan, including primary school, they even had their own underage club. Then the brothers left town and fortunately the late Paddy O'Brien and his helpers took over and kept up the good work that the De La Salle brothers had been doing for years. But then Paddy got too old and eventually departed this mortal earth and as regards underage it's been downhill since. I know St Pats is still there but the school isn't attended by all the youth of the town and the boys are at least 12 by the time they attend. So until NOM and Simonstown and Walterstown, who all drew from the De La Salle setup, work tirelessly and consistently with the kid from age 6 or 7 up there will not be a consistent conveyor of talent emerging from the clubs concerned. Even then nothing is guaranteed, after all from each competition of let's say 8 to 16 teams there can be only one winner but that does not mean that all the rest are 'also rans'. A lot can change in a year."
Are you serious?

Ed2010 (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 13/10/2023 17:39:12    2508246

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It is an interesting one because the population is there and even the population growth is there but neither Simonstown or O'Mahony's have had any minor success (even making a division 1 final or semi that I can remember) since 2010. And last years St Pats schools team had a team with non starters from NOM or Simonstown which seems impossible and I do think it's hurting Meath football generally

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 13/10/2023 22:37:04    2508278

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Just a side note to North Meath not producing many good footballers, as a man from across the border in the wee county with a keen interest in Meath football, I have to say the work being put in with Killary Emmets over the last few years has been outstanding.

They've won 2 minor division 2's in 3 seasons and although they consist of 2 traditionally strong north Meath clubs it's still an excellent sign that the underage conveyor is starting to roll again.

A small thing aswell which would probably go unnoticed by a lot of people not from the louth border region is the number of young Syddan footballers who go to school across the border in Ardee.

Why is this relevant you may ask? Well the community school in Ardee have done Trojan work in the past few years under a Micky Harte led programme/regime to get the school competing at A schools level for the first time.

Syddan youngsters are reaping the rewards of this as can be seen from some of current crop of minors that won last weekend.

These are players being constantly exposed to the highest level of football on a consistent basis. It will silently bode Syddan well in the future.

A similar scenario took place about 5 to 10 years ago with Meath hill youngsters attending the patrician high school in carrickmacross and playing ulster A football. They began to see success and carried it onto the club scene with Meath Hill!

Just thought it's an interesting take from someone who sees a lot of negativity about North Meath football.

3rdmanin (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 13/10/2023 22:42:48    2508280

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Where are the players North of Navan as well? Can't be just down to population as the reason that the North Meath clubs can't produce a decent footballer!"
Best player in meath is from north meath. rathkenny

Harnan6 (Meath) - Posts: 35 - 14/10/2023 00:35:44    2508293

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Replying To Ed2010:  "Are you serious?"
Yes, I gave my honest opinion.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 14/10/2023 09:01:29    2508301

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Where are the players North of Navan as well? Can't be just down to population as the reason that the North Meath clubs can't produce a decent footballer!"
Completely disagree here, some of the best young players in the county are coming through at North Meath clubs. The work done at Killary Emmets from an underage perspective has been very good. They hammered Trim in the Div 2 Minor final a week ago.

O'Carolan College in Nobber reached the All Ireland final last year, albeit a C final - it primarily consisted of players from Nobber, Rathkenny, Castletown, Kilmainhamwood, Syddan etc..

How exactly has things gone for Meath over the last 10 years full of those stars produced by your Dunboynes/Ashbournes and Ratoaths of this world? So to say North Meath clubs "can't produce a decent footballer" is an outrageous statement

hyperache (Meath) - Posts: 251 - 16/10/2023 11:14:20    2508590

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Replying To Ed2010:  "Are you serious?"
Se la salle are gone since the 70s. The keegans won by town teams in the last 10 years had nothing to do with them. Incredible post to be hobest

Ed2010 (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 16/10/2023 12:17:59    2508615

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Replying To Ed2010:  "Se la salle are gone since the 70s. The keegans won by town teams in the last 10 years had nothing to do with them. Incredible post to be hobest"
You didn't read the whole post or picked on sections that you didn't agree with. I stated the the 'brothers left town' (to give the historical background) and were replaces by the late Paddy O'Brien and his committee IT AFTER THIS when Paddy passed away that the decline in underage took place. So the Navan clubs will have to appoint committees who will have to treat underage more diligently. Also by the way other clubs in the vicinity of Navan, historically I mean, benefited from the De Le Salle input. As I say it's my honest opinion and very often we don't recognise the impact of a school or schools change of management can have in an area.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 16/10/2023 18:46:51    2508723

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Where are the players North of Navan as well? Can't be just down to population as the reason that the North Meath clubs can't produce a decent footballer!"
Very true. There seems to be a lack of interest in football north of the Boyne. All lower division stuff except in the Keogan house.

Ashrules (Dublin) - Posts: 549 - 17/10/2023 10:38:08    2508775

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Very true. There seems to be a lack of interest in football north of the Boyne. All lower division stuff except in the Keogan house."
Wolfe tones

Senior champions 2021

Semi finalist 2022 and 2023

You're a bit of an empty can lad

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 17/10/2023 11:56:01    2508800

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Very true. There seems to be a lack of interest in football north of the Boyne. All lower division stuff except in the Keogan house."
Tones, Kells and Rathkenny are senior. No one knows how it will go for them, I reckon one of Tones or Kells will be back at intermediate in the next 5 years.

Drumbaragh, Castletown, Michael's, Oldcastle, Nobber, Meath Hill all intermediate, none of them will be play senior anytime soon.

Out of 32 clubs there's 9 from North Meath playing in the 2 highest grades. Syddan and Castletown are probably best positioned to make senior given their underage success and schools level some of them are playing at.

Seneschalstown, Walterstown, Simonstown, Skryne, O Mahonys, Bective would be central Meath. Navan will be senior again in the next 5 years and Walterstown won't be far behind them. Seneschalstown have good underage teams coming through each year, all it takes is bringing 4 or 5 of them through off each team and there could be a senior championship back in Yellow Furze.

Cilles, Duleek, Vincents and Pats are East Meath, Duleek and Pats are both capable of making senior in the next couple of years.

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 403 - 17/10/2023 14:54:27    2508853

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Some of the comments on here are absolutely laughable. Yous are on about De La Salle impact on football in Navan, like seriously.
NOM have declined there is no doubt about it but they were the second best team in the intermediate championship this year and were not far off league promotion. They had a very young panel.
Previous years at underage but still have players like Louis Collins, Jack McConnell, Aodhan Mallon and others coming through.
Won a Div2 Minor not so long ago.
Simonstown had a good league campaign and improved on their previous championships reaching this years QF.
Again, reached two Div1 minor league finals again and a championship SF where they lost to Cilles in the same year (think it was 2019). They also have a few nice young footballers in Josh Carolan (Meath young player 2019), Aaron Farrelly, Micheal Gavin, Mark Devlin and a lot of others too.
Its not that Navan has bad footballers its that other areas simply have more resources and a far greater pool to pick from.In the last 10 years a navan club has appeared in 5 finals.
If youre going on about North Meath having no football pedigree anymore you may give your head a wobble.
The Tones are always there or there abouts in championships and league. Kells had a freak year, as did Dunboyne. I don't hear anyone here talking about Dunboyne, Dunsh or Laytown/Bettystown questioning why their standard of football considering Navan clubs are hitting higher targets than these areas.

COUNTYTOCOUNTY (Meath) - Posts: 30 - 23/10/2023 13:29:35    2509847

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Fair play to St Pats Navan on making it to the Leinster semi final yesterday. Think the last time they were in a final was 2013 so would be good to bridge that gap. Something I noticed when looking at the report (https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2024/01/16/st-pats-survive-late-clane-revival-to-move-into-last-four/).

There are no Simonstown or O'Mahony's players on the starting team, and only 1 sub from either that came on. I am pretty sure this was also the case last year. Surely it's an area of concern for both clubs and Meath generally that our biggest urban area by a mile doesn't seem to be producing county calibre players at the minute. I think NOM have turned it around a bit at underage and seem to have some good under 15-17 teams coming in the next few years. But interested to get peoples thoughts on it

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 17/01/2024 08:59:07    2520603

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "Fair play to St Pats Navan on making it to the Leinster semi final yesterday. Think the last time they were in a final was 2013 so would be good to bridge that gap. Something I noticed when looking at the report (https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2024/01/16/st-pats-survive-late-clane-revival-to-move-into-last-four/).

There are no Simonstown or O'Mahony's players on the starting team, and only 1 sub from either that came on. I am pretty sure this was also the case last year. Surely it's an area of concern for both clubs and Meath generally that our biggest urban area by a mile doesn't seem to be producing county calibre players at the minute. I think NOM have turned it around a bit at underage and seem to have some good under 15-17 teams coming in the next few years. But interested to get peoples thoughts on it"
For whatever reason the last couple of Minor teams in Simonstown have been quite poor. From 2024 and for the next 7/8 years they will be much stronger, every age group now is competing at Div 1 level. This years team is very strong, but none of them would be in 6th year. I understand that Arron Farrelly goes to school in Beaufort College, he would certainly be on any school team.

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 330 - 17/01/2024 17:31:24    2520691

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "Fair play to St Pats Navan on making it to the Leinster semi final yesterday. Think the last time they were in a final was 2013 so would be good to bridge that gap. Something I noticed when looking at the report (https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2024/01/16/st-pats-survive-late-clane-revival-to-move-into-last-four/).

There are no Simonstown or O'Mahony's players on the starting team, and only 1 sub from either that came on. I am pretty sure this was also the case last year. Surely it's an area of concern for both clubs and Meath generally that our biggest urban area by a mile doesn't seem to be producing county calibre players at the minute. I think NOM have turned it around a bit at underage and seem to have some good under 15-17 teams coming in the next few years. But interested to get peoples thoughts on it"
Agree, it is a concern for sure and likewise was keen to get thoughts on this when first raising this post. Looking at population of navan you'd think a few decent footballers would be flowing through.

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1807 - 17/01/2024 20:36:17    2520715

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