For those lesser informed guys like me, I see the replay is Sunday in Aughrim. Is it the same referee ? I though there was an association wide rule where there was another referee appointed for replays.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 24/10/2023 16:37:32    2510098

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2039 - 24/10/2023 22:38:30    2510145

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 24/10/2023 23:56:34    2510150

congrats to neighbours Barndarrig. Great win on Saturday. Annacurragh were a poor team but almost snook it. All the badness caught up on them in the end really. Great celebrations down that way since Saturday. Arklow will feel we left a championship behind after looking at senior final. It was worth the few quid for excitement but not high on quality. No major incidents until linesman made a big mistake. Was right in front of me and he was totally wrong. Referee correct to throw the ball in and he had a good steady game in fairness to him. Blesssington have left it behind them many think. Their supporters turned up in big numbers for a change. Both sets gave torrid abuse to the officials all through the game. As a former ref myself it was hard to listen to. Big crowd coming again next week.

heavyheart19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 146 - 25/10/2023 08:18:30    2510157

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 25/10/2023 11:16:45    2510195

Are Clonmel Commercials playing this Sunday?

willielee (Wicklow) - Posts: 42 - 27/10/2023 14:19:32    2510634

neutralfan (Wicklow) - Posts: 224 - 27/10/2023 14:40:54    2510644

Had the privilege of watching a really good u15s A final today in Newtownmountkennedy ,what a clean classy game of football it was between Rathnew and st Nicholas.

Albundy19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 78 - 28/10/2023 22:30:33    2510774

On the Barndarrig front its great to see then getting the win. They've been plugging away on several fronts and its great to see reward for all the progress.. we need more of this

ponger (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 29/10/2023 00:57:20    2510786

neutralfan (Wicklow) - Posts: 224 - 29/10/2023 19:30:04    2510870

Blessington are champs. Deserved it too. It was low on quality and conditions didn't help. Rathnew lost discipline near the end getting very frustrated with a few calls by the referee. Be lots of teams kicking themselves leaving a championship behind. Blessington will go celebrating for a year as they did in 21. AGB in 24. Heard it here first.

heavyheart19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 146 - 29/10/2023 22:27:59    2510885

Rathnew while defeated have to be the story of the year. Darren Coffey, the manager of the year. An unbelievable job getting the best out of his players. As we watched yesterday they had their chances but ultimately came up short however serious over achieving in my opinion.
No one in their right mind could have predicted this Rathnew team getting to a final replay. They played to their strengths, trusted their experience. 2023 will be a big year for Rathnew as they go forward.

Blessington worthy champions in the end. Their quality eventually came to the fore, losing Mclouglin strangely focused their minds on the job and they were more controlled in their play. Kevin Quinn is a superb player backed up by a fit, strong and well organised team.
Well done Blesso.

As for the rest of the pretenders…

Tinahely will rue the loss of Darcy, but David Dillon did a fine job and you could see the players went to the well for him.Tinahely have had too many outside managers and need to look inward rather than out to get the best from the group. Dillon will be there again to push for honours.

AGB must be kicking themselves, cruising all year and the set up in the first half of the semi final left Too much to do. You wonder what this team needs to do to shake the nearly men tag. One train of thought would be to take a guide from Tinahely and look inward rather external for direction.

An Tochar. Before the year started it was going to Roundwood. Expectations got the better of this young team. Bitterly disappointing season after such a great showing in 2022. Expect a resurgence next season.

Eire Og had a fine year. Coming up from the second tier they held their own with good displays. The youth in Greystones will inject much needed pace however and they will be a force in a few years with all the excellent work going on there.

Kiltegan are close to Rathnew in their make up. They need to believe they can win it. Plenty of quality players but just need the conveyor belt to start bringing reinforcements.

Baltinglass have had a bad year. Injuires aside a proud club and didn't go out giving their all. One would expect management change to reignite the fire. One thing is for sure it will be a local appointment.

St Pats after a terrible start to the year got their act together and pushed teams to the limit.. They should look to their neighbours and think what is possible still for St Pats and their players.

Bray always are Jekyll and Hyde. They can produce and then implode. I'm not sure if Bray will ever have the togetherness to win a senior again they definitely have the resources but you need a spirit.

Dunlavin will be fighting at the wrong end of the table again but they will be fighting as they showed against Avondale.

Avondale after fine performances during the year couldn't keep it together. The Conor Byrne injury was significant. They should bounce straight back up. New management expected there also.

Having a county final in late October needs to change.
The summer months are used inefficiently and someone need to change this.
I'd prefer to watch Kevin Quinn or Eddie Doyle playing on decent sod than in a swamp every October.

willielee (Wicklow) - Posts: 42 - 30/10/2023 09:02:46    2510896

Leaving both county final(s) over the last couple of weeks; I felt in some ways positive and some ways negative at the state of football in county wicklow. In terms of positives; it was great to witness such an atmosphere at the grounds particularly yesterday. There was a great atmosphere. There were lots of young children dressed in their club's colours. I would also like to commend, the regularly criticised county board for reducing the cost of attending the replay. The players on both sides were fully committed and showed great determination; particulary Rathnew who in my opinion were inferior to Blessington in a footballing sense but never gave up.

However, there were negatives; firstly, the confusion after the drawn game demonstrated a lack of planning by peopel behind the scenes. They didn't know what the plan was, in the event of a drawn game. Sadly and in my opinion, the quality of football at club level in the county continues to decline. I appreciate that the pitch made under foot conditions tricky but even when the pitch was in a decent state throughout the championship, the quality wasn't there. I wish Blessington all the best in the Leinster club championship; I hope they put up a decent show in representing Wicklow.

Finally, I think the county board need to do something to address how poorly one of the teams intimidated and tried to bully the officials on both days. This type of behaviour, regardless of who or what club is involved shouldn't be tolerated. It is time to stamp it out. The county board have been too weak in this regard for far too long. It is a small minority and the game in the county would be better without those types.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2039 - 30/10/2023 10:51:21    2510910

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 30/10/2023 11:42:45    2510929

I was lucky today to be able to watch some powerful young footballers in action in the Minor A final in Aughrim. Both sides gave their all. Tochair got away to a 7 pt start and then were gradually reeled in by Tomnafinogue. They had a man sent off with a straight red and went 2 behind. It looked all over but nobody told the An Tochair players. They eventually prevailed by the bare minimum. I hate to criticise officials, and coming from the perspective of a neutral observer, both teams could feel aggrieved at some decisions and in particular the Roundwood lads were on the receiving end of some rather "odd" ones. On the plus side, there were maybe 10 or more players on view who could be pushing the senior button in a few years. The under ages do seem to be producing some quality players. It remains to be seen if they develop into senior standard. I still remain to be convinced of the merits of this Tomnafinogue experiment. I can see the merits of some of our smaller clubs joining with one or two of similar size but would Tomnafinogue qualify under that ?

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 30/10/2023 17:00:26    2510952

Glad to see roundwood beat Tomnafinogue in the 17s today as these group teams are a joke ,that combined team had two teams in finals today,there were 10 from Tinahealy on the A team and obviously a few on the second team so they could easily get a team out on their own. When will these combined teams realise that historically their is no future in underage group teams when it comes to seniors st Nicholas being a case point with Donard and Dunlavin at nothing at senior.

Albundy19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 78 - 30/10/2023 19:53:46    2510975

Glad to see roundwood beat Tomnafinogue in the 17s today as these group teams are a joke ,that combined team had two teams in finals today,there were 10 from Tinahealy on the A team and obviously a few on the second team so they could easily get a team out on their own. When will these combined teams realise that historically their is no future in underage group teams when it comes to seniors st Nicholas being a case point with Donard and Dunlavin at nothing at senior.

Albundy19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 78 - 30/10/2023 21:09:47    2510986

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1328 - 31/10/2023 09:31:28    2511008

I thought the standard of the county final was so poor.. Yes there was atmosphere and a good crowd but in terms of up and coming talent there was very little on offer.

Some said earlier that Rathnew had overachieved and i would have to agree, They offered very little , very little. Theo Smith had a good game and covered a lot of ground but Rathnew were out of it at midfield even when Stafford and O'Dowd came to help. The goal was super but scores they got mainly came from a hit an hope. Missed Hayden not starting too..

As for Blessington, i though they should have won this at a canter. The full back did a great job on Stafford and they owned the ball around midfield and cleaned up practically all the broken ball. Quinn up front was the goto man but even he made some strange decision too. If that route wasn't open they retreated with the ball and persisted in lateral and back passing and got turned over a good few times. If they were there yet, they'd never have scored a goal either. McLoughlin not starting no the 40 probably didn't help either. For the 10 minutes after half time they changed tact and went direct and got 4 points and goes to show what could have been done. I also though in general they didn't look fit and always seemed to be passing to a man standing still, nothing fluid.

Referee had a very good game too as others mentioned. I thought the last Rathnew yellow might have been a red...Was there head contact??

For all my negativity i think the ground had a lot got to do with it. I've even less convinced lately of the split season. Playing on heavy, mucky ground in late October. there were even one or two dead bounces of the ball...Is this what we want for our club football showcase?

ponger (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 31/10/2023 12:08:10    2511034

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - Posts: 145 - 31/10/2023 15:01:13    2511064