Is Pat Spillane Right Or Wrong With His Three Improvement Suggestions . - 8 Like(s)
All three suggestions are nonsense and consistent with frequent suggestions that keep coming from "stalwarts" of Spillane's era who continue to hark for a return to the days of full/centre backs collecting balls , throwing their head down and kicking it aimless downfield. Spillane was obviously a great player in his day but the standard & conditioning of players back then was atrocious as any passing view of the All Ireland Gold series on TG4 will attest. No mainstream commentator will ever come out and say this obviously for fear of retribution from the established "great & good" from that era, including Spillane, who hold powerful positions across the GAA world today. There is nothing wrong with the game and this continued attitude of " things were much better in my day , let's try and turn it back to how it was when I played" will damage our game.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 09/10/2022 21:50:52

Professor Niall Moyna says Dublin are too dominant - 5 Like(s)
The argument "sure we haven't won much in Hurling" by Dublin supporters is a nonsense. Ye have arguably made more progress in Hurling under your period of financial boom than in Football. Perennial cannon fodder for Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly in Leinster during the 90s and early 2000s, now ye are competitive as a top tier hurling county. The starting point for the footballers was much higher and you would have always had reasonable aspirations of being in the shake up every year.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 31/01/2018 12:54:48

Eire Og Greystones situation - 3 Like(s)

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - 06/10/2017 15:40:24

Croke Park - The World's First Green Stadium - 2 Like(s)
I'd prefer to see the GAA focusing on meaningful, tangible initiatives like properly promoting hurling and sorting the fixtures chaos than indulging this nonsense.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 27/02/2024 02:24:29

Wicklow GAA thread - 2 Like(s)
Fair play to the footballers on a great result and also to the young Hurlers who are soldiering on in what is a completely thankless situation they find themselves in through no fault of their own. It just goes to show that regardless of how shambolic the administration of GAA is in Wicklow (and i'm not sure people outside of Wicklow truly understand how bad it is, you have to experience it first hand to appreciate it!) we still manage, despite ourselves to produce players that have enough pride in themselves and pride in where they come from to keep going , put up with all the nonsense that comes with operating under such a dysfunctional organization and every now and again produce results like yesterday. Imagine what we could do if we had anything approaching some decent leadership, organization and vision at County Board Level.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 26/04/2022 14:13:41

Time For More Sense About Match Locations And Times? - 2 Like(s)
The elephant in the room in all of this is Croke Park and it's going to be hard to address. The stadium is badly designed and far too big for what the GAA needs. In the heady days of the celtic tiger in the mid 2000s when the stadium was new and shiny and the football championship way more competitive, is was great. However it has not aged well and does not compare well to modern stadia in different sports. Realistically the GAA can only fill it now on AI final days and with Ed Sheeran, Garth Brooks. Croke Park experience is absolutely no comparison to a day out at a provenical venue, fans mingling around the town for the day having the banter, full house in a close compact venue. The GAA need a 50-55K modern stadium as it's flagship venue and ideally not in the middle of Dublin. Doubt there'll be enough appetite or budget to take such a project on for a while though.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 08/06/2022 15:37:33

All Ireland Club Final, Kilmacud V Glen (Derry) - 2 Like(s)
I know Brolly usually likes to stir it up, but he is spot on in this case. The GAA 's stance on this is pathetic and really paints the authorities in a bad a light. Given their current position , they should republish the rule book and clearly mark which rules are not actually rules and in fact are only suggestions. i.e. we suggest this is how things work but when push comes to shove we'll let ye sort it out among yourselves Don't come near us on these ones unless you have an objection. Also , what other "rules" fall under the "we're not doing anything unless you object category"?

Hawkeye2 (National) - 24/01/2023 13:38:17

Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)

Hawkeye2 (National) - 26/07/2022 14:14:44

Fresh Faces for the County Senior Team!!! - 1 Like(s)

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - 06/02/2018 20:19:19

Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)

Hawkeye2 (National) - 03/06/2022 18:24:07

Wicklow club forced to play 2 games in 24hrs - 1 Like(s)
Wicklowman is 100% in his assessment of the Hurling work being carried out in Bray & Greystones. There is also trojan work going on in other clubs in terms of facilities & coaching. Arklow have made good strides in recent years and have opened new a clubhouse and after winning the intermediate football championship last year, got to the senior quarter final this year. 5/6 years ago Hurling was extinct in St Patricks Wicklow Town, but now they are fielding 3 adult teams. This year they threw away the senior semi-final (lost 7 point lead in last 5 mins) , won the junior C last week and are in the Inter semi-final this week. Glenealy have been the standard bearers for years and field 3 adult teams, remember this is a village of just one shop & one pub. Laragh won a first football championship in 27 years last weekend when winning the JAFC and that meant as much to those people as any all-Ireland would in Mayo. We are far from a GAA wasteland in Wicklow. Back to the point of the topic though, it should be noted that all of this work is going on despite of the county board rather than due to their input. The majority of the problems we have in the county stem from an absence of leadership and ability to administer to the level required in modern day GAA. A previous poster in this thread made the point of bad PR related to Wicklow GAA and this is just one of a multitude of deficiencies we have at board level. The decision to make Eire Og play two matches in 24 hours is just another sorry episode in a long list of strokes we see in Wicklow on a yearly basis. Unfortunately for Eire Og they see themselves outside the cohort of dominant clubs in the county who set the agenda. Anyone inside the county familiar with how things work could list you 4/5 clubs who would never have been put into the position that Eire Og were due to their influence within the county board.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 03/10/2017 11:06:05

Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
I've long been of the view and have aired it on here a few times in the past, that as a county there is far greater potential for us to make progress in Hurling than in Football. The Hurling pyramid is more evenly structured across the country compared to football and within the 5 hurling tiers we have consistently competed at the upper end of Tier 3 or Christy Ring, competing in a number of finals and looking for a while like we could break into that second tier. This was all done against the backdrop of general apathy bordering on contempt that the County Board have shown to hurling over numerous decades. For some unjustifiable reason, the powers that be in Wicklow have considered us a football county and have consistently dedicated the vast majority of focus, resources & budget to this code to the detriment of Hurling. As another poster points out, several hurling strongholds in the county have regressed sharply in the last 20 years - Arklow, Aughrim, Barndarrig, Kiltegan, Avondale are all operating at levels way below what they would have been in the 80s/90s. Hurling seems to have completely disappeared in Avoca, in favour of Football. Even in Carnew, the conveyor belt doesn't seem to be producing the same quantity of hurlers as in times past. There are some areas of hope with Kiltegan looking like they might once again come to the fore, adult Hurling back in Aughrim after an absence of a number of years, Arklow starting to show promise at underage with their feile team this year. Bray and Eire Og have stepped up to fill the void left by some of the traditional hurling clubs over the past 15-20 years and Western Gaels have brought hurling to an area that was under serviced for Hurling. I get that the clubs need to have the wherewithal to help themselves first and foremost, but I have seen very little by way of action from the county board to correct the regression of hurling. With some focused attention to help the former hurling strongholds coupled with helping the standard bearers like Glenealy, Bray and Carnew to keep moving forward there is no reason why we couldn't be aiming at winning Christy Ring again within 5 -10 years.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 13/09/2022 15:15:32

Rathnew v st Vincent's - 1 Like(s)
Hard luck to Rathnew yesterday , as usual they left everything out on the pitch. Just a few things didn't go their way at crucial times and if Mark Doyle's goal chance hadn't been blocked that might have been enough to get them over the line. Glynn was the stand out man on display again. His double dummy solo on the right and then cut back inside to kick a score off his left , leaving three defenders in his wake, was worth the entry fee alone. It should be noted that out of the 4 semi finalists yesterday, the other three are big town teams with significant catchment and on top of that Moorefield are stacked with a couple of Kerrymen. Fair play to Rathnew for extending the year out into the end of Nov and giving us a couple of great days out.

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - 27/11/2017 09:42:22

Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Some good dialogue on here lately and good to see that there is some folks left who still care about Wicklow GAA. I , for one, firmly believe and have advocated previously on this forum that the only path forward for us will be with direct intervention from GAA Administration in Croke Park Park. Hopefully over time their preoccupation with Dublin will dissipate and they will start to see the benefits of targeting investment in other counties to promote the game. Wicklow is low hanging fruit in this regard - big overall population & participation potential, large towns that have traditionally been losing out to Soccer/Rugby , strong rural base engrained in the traditions & fabric of the GAA, a local untapped affluent business community which (as seen in the Micko era) are willing to put their hand in their pocket when things are being run properly and a little bit of success emerges. This could happen either with Croke Park stepping directly in and assuming administrative control of GAA affairs in Wicklow (which I believe they did to a certain extent in Kildare previously when their finances had gotten out of control) or as another poster suggested here maybe a local benefactor stepping in and making a pitch to Croke Park to say "I will invest X amount in Wicklow GAA and deliver A, B & C on the understanding that the current administration is kept out of my way". In the absence of some other sort of seismic shift like this, I share the views expressed elsewhere here that the coming years will yield more of what we've endured for last number of decades.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 02/06/2022 21:12:24

Eire Og Greystones situation - 1 Like(s)

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - 02/10/2017 16:39:00

Carlow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Congratulations Carlow, delighted for ye. Just shows what can be done with a bit belief and hard work! Enjoy the celebrations!

Hawkeye2 (National) - 27/05/2023 23:02:11

Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
I want to take a moment here to mark the sad passing of Philip Doyle of Aughrim. Like many others i'd imagine, Philip has been a consistent part of the experience of going to matches in Aughrim throughout my lifetime. Whether it be a junior hurling match on a wet Wednesday evening with only a few diehards or some of the biggest championship days when Aughrim was packed to the rafters , Philip was there manning the shop while holding court with some of the local "experts" !! and would be able to give you a quick summary of how the "first match" was going , who was going well and who wasn't plus you might get some breaking news on the "big game" , a late injury or addition to the squad etc. He'd be up to speed with all the info. Plus if you didn't have enough change for the tea or crisps, that didn't matter, you wouldn't be left go thirsty. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 16/04/2024 17:21:25

Wexford Hurling 2017 - 1 Like(s)
Commiserations on the defeat yesterday, Galway were just a little bit too strong on the day but I'm sure the experience will stand to your young team in the battles ahead. As a Wicklow man, it was fantastic yesterday to see the support you provided for your team. The buses and cars filling up the N11 , every garage on the way up awash with Wexford people and the noise & support ye provided during the game to try & lift the team particularly when Galway started to get an upper hand. I dream of someday that my own county can provide a similar day out.

Hawkeye2 (Wexford) - 03/07/2017 11:28:30

12 Counties In Leinster Only 2 Compete In LSH And Sam Maguire - 1 Like(s)
From a Wicklow perspective I have long held the belief that we have exponentially more potential to grow & improve in Hurling than in Football. With some help from Leinster Council/Croke Park we could be competing at Joe McDonagh level within 10 years. Over the years Wicklow County board have been completely Football biased in terms of all decision making with an almost destructive attitude to Hurling. This Football centric attitude hasn't exactly had us pulling up any trees in the Leinster Championship and despite some greenshoots of late at underage , we are still absolutely miles off of being competitive at Sam Maguire level. Over the past 20 years , Hurling hotbeds in rural areas of the county have been allowed decline in favor of football - Barndarrig, Avoca, Arklow , Avondale, Aughrim were all once proud Hurling first areas and now do not field Hurling teams at all or have Hurling barely hanging on by a thread. (the exception being Aughrim who have begun to field again at adult level in the past 2 years and look to be making great progress) Carnew, down on the Wexford border, were the traditional kingpins of Wicklow hurling and even they have fell on hard times with a long gap now since they last won a senior hurling championship. Our county board's reaction to this decline in Hurling? non-existent basically. I believe ,with even a reasonable level of resourcing/investment/promotion, Wicklow could follow in the footsteps of Kildare and begin to move up a tier or two in Hurling.

Hawkeye2 (National) - 11/04/2023 15:41:44

Carlow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Did I read that right in a post above? O'Hanrahans are now playing junior in Carlow?

Hawkeye2 (National) - 05/10/2022 19:58:40