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Wicklow GAA thread

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "Important games for the footballers on Saturday against Fermanagh. Two points is vital towards staying in Division 3. After the first series of games, wicklow will probably be slight favourites which worries me as we don't carry the tag well - doesn't happen very often. The team performed well on Sunday before fading which was probably down to playing half the match with 14 players. It isessential to finish with a full complement on Saturday and to play close to what they did against westmeath for the full 70 minutes. Good luck to all."
Agreed this game Is vital for our chances of staying up. If we win the game it might give the lads the confidence to have a real go at other teams in the division. I'm going for a Wickow win....just about

stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 124 - 03/02/2022 20:58:19    2398234

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "Important games for the footballers on Saturday against Fermanagh. Two points is vital towards staying in Division 3. After the first series of games, wicklow will probably be slight favourites which worries me as we don't carry the tag well - doesn't happen very often. The team performed well on Sunday before fading which was probably down to playing half the match with 14 players. It isessential to finish with a full complement on Saturday and to play close to what they did against westmeath for the full 70 minutes. Good luck to all."
Just in case you are planning to go on Saturday - the match is on Sunday.

Re: the 14 players - the sending off was before half time and there was a black card thrown in so more than 3/4 of an hour with a man down. Reports are that the wind increased at half time and that benefited Westmeath also.

TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 52 - 04/02/2022 14:53:33    2398314

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Does anyone know if any secondary school compete in the leinster 'A' schools competition? If not, what is the highest ranked wicklow school and what competition are they in - B, C?

Yes, the senior footballercare playing on Sunday. When fixtures were released, it was schedule for the 5th but it got changed.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 05/02/2022 18:06:30    2398451

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "Does anyone know if any secondary school compete in the leinster 'A' schools competition? If not, what is the highest ranked wicklow school and what competition are they in - B, C?

Yes, the senior footballercare playing on Sunday. When fixtures were released, it was schedule for the 5th but it got changed."
Dunno about hurling but in football Wicklow have three teams in C, Dunlavin, colaiste Wicklow and Carnew. The rest are all in D unless I'm forgetting someone but don't think so.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1412 - 05/02/2022 19:53:16    2398473

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It seems the county didn't take part in the Senior schools this year for some reason...maybe covid related. It was a competition that we did quite well in in the last few seasons

Optimisticobserver (Wicklow) - Posts: 125 - 06/02/2022 12:03:07    2398537

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Not sure what to make of the game today. The two sloppy goals conceded in the first half is a worry as is the injury to Jackson. Cant complain about the fight back in the second half. It's going to be a very tight group that will probably go down to the last game v louth

stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 124 - 06/02/2022 17:25:15    2398611

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Replying To Optimisticobserver:  "It seems the county didn't take part in the Senior schools this year for some reason...maybe covid related. It was a competition that we did quite well in in the last few seasons"
I know that covid has made participation difficult but I would like to see Wicklow schools participating and trying to move into the Grade 'A' range. I would like to see schools returning to this competition this year. Also, I would like to know (if anyone knows) how much coaching does the county board give to secondary schools in Wicklow?

I hope today's draw with Fermanagh doesn't come back to haunt the senior footballers. I think this was a game that Wicklow had to win to ease the pressure on themselves. Now there isn't much margin for error in the remaining games. Having said that it is 1 point closer to the target to keep us up.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 06/02/2022 17:40:06    2398617

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What on earth is gone wrong with our senior hurlers ?? Where are the hurlers all gone ?? I know that if we were a soccer club anywhere in the world what the cry would be. I have heard things on the ground which I won't repeat but this result just isn't good enough, full stop.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 13/02/2022 15:08:05    2400106

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Replying To Freethinker:  "What on earth is gone wrong with our senior hurlers ?? Where are the hurlers all gone ?? I know that if we were a soccer club anywhere in the world what the cry would be. I have heard things on the ground which I won't repeat but this result just isn't good enough, full stop."
You ask about themanager. What about those who put him there? County board are a shambles and sooner the better they are all gone. Never been a lower mood around Wicklow than is there at present moment.

heavyheart19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 116 - 13/02/2022 16:16:23    2400124

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Replying To heavyheart19:  "You ask about themanager. What about those who put him there? County board are a shambles and sooner the better they are all gone. Never been a lower mood around Wicklow than is there at present moment."
I will admit i am no hurling expert and i am certainly no fan of the county board and what has transpired or not in relation to the county teams over the years. It took an outside manager of our senior footballers to get ground sponorship in Aughrim which is now gone. Why is there no floodlights in the county ground? But i'm not sure that the issue with the hurlers can be totally attributed to the county board. If my memory is working fully i seem to remember our club representatives in the recent leinster championship got hammered and i am being generous when i use the word 'hammered'. It seems that clubs with the exception of Bray Emmets have not got their house in order. You can't have a county team without a strong local club scene, be it be football or hurling - period. I'm not sure that message has been fully taken on board in wicklow, at least, not across the board.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 13/02/2022 17:24:32    2400144

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "I will admit i am no hurling expert and i am certainly no fan of the county board and what has transpired or not in relation to the county teams over the years. It took an outside manager of our senior footballers to get ground sponorship in Aughrim which is now gone. Why is there no floodlights in the county ground? But i'm not sure that the issue with the hurlers can be totally attributed to the county board. If my memory is working fully i seem to remember our club representatives in the recent leinster championship got hammered and i am being generous when i use the word 'hammered'. It seems that clubs with the exception of Bray Emmets have not got their house in order. You can't have a county team without a strong local club scene, be it be football or hurling - period. I'm not sure that message has been fully taken on board in wicklow, at least, not across the board."
Wicklowsupport, I would rarely take issue with your analysis or opinions regarding football or hurling in our county as you are always able to go straight to the nub of the matter but, I think you may have rose tinted glasses regarding our county champions. They compete on the lower divisions of the Dublin leagues. Is their current dominance due to their "house being in order" or simply the drop in standards within the county. They were knocked out of the Leinster championships by an intermediate Wexford team. That would not have happened a few years ago. And, let me add before someone jumps in here, this is NOT an anti Bray Emmets tirade, rather an attempt to sanction those who have presided over the development of our games over the last two or three decades. The present or recent dominance of Dublin footballers and even their hurlers are a direct result of tremendous investment by their county board and Croke Park with both funding and coaching into both schools and clubs at all levels. The clubs on our county can't be expected to do all this on their own. Back to the hurlers. Where are all the top hurlers from ALL our clubs gone this season. They are not lining out - why ?? The answer is obvious to anyone with their ear to the ground but nobody seems to care.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 13/02/2022 19:10:57    2400179

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "I will admit i am no hurling expert and i am certainly no fan of the county board and what has transpired or not in relation to the county teams over the years. It took an outside manager of our senior footballers to get ground sponorship in Aughrim which is now gone. Why is there no floodlights in the county ground? But i'm not sure that the issue with the hurlers can be totally attributed to the county board. If my memory is working fully i seem to remember our club representatives in the recent leinster championship got hammered and i am being generous when i use the word 'hammered'. It seems that clubs with the exception of Bray Emmets have not got their house in order. You can't have a county team without a strong local club scene, be it be football or hurling - period. I'm not sure that message has been fully taken on board in wicklow, at least, not across the board."
Wicklowsupport, I would rarely take issue with your analysis or opinions regarding football or hurling in our county as you are always able to go straight to the nub of the matter but, I think you may have rose tinted glasses regarding our county champions. They compete on the lower divisions of the Dublin leagues. Is their current dominance due to their "house being in order" or simply the drop in standards within the county. They were knocked out of the Leinster championships by an intermediate Wexford team. That would not have happened a few years ago. And, let me add before someone jumps in here, this is NOT an anti Bray Emmets tirade, rather an attempt to sanction those who have presided over the development of our games over the last two or three decades. The present or recent dominance of Dublin footballers and even their hurlers are a direct result of tremendous investment by their county board and Croke Park with both funding and coaching into both schools and clubs at all levels. The clubs on our county can't be expected to do all this on their own. Back to the hurlers. Where are all the top hurlers from ALL our clubs gone this season. They are not lining out - why ?? The answer is obvious to anyone with their ear to the ground but nobody seems to care.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 13/02/2022 19:30:54    2400184

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The comments on the Wicklow GAA FB page are very interesting......

Its getting hairy and very unpleasant.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2897 - 13/02/2022 19:31:48    2400185

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Pull the county Hurling team out until they are serious about it. The costs of running this senior squad only to be annihilated by Derry .

kodak13 (Wicklow) - Posts: 66 - 13/02/2022 19:54:14    2400191

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Replying To Freethinker:  "Wicklowsupport, I would rarely take issue with your analysis or opinions regarding football or hurling in our county as you are always able to go straight to the nub of the matter but, I think you may have rose tinted glasses regarding our county champions. They compete on the lower divisions of the Dublin leagues. Is their current dominance due to their "house being in order" or simply the drop in standards within the county. They were knocked out of the Leinster championships by an intermediate Wexford team. That would not have happened a few years ago. And, let me add before someone jumps in here, this is NOT an anti Bray Emmets tirade, rather an attempt to sanction those who have presided over the development of our games over the last two or three decades. The present or recent dominance of Dublin footballers and even their hurlers are a direct result of tremendous investment by their county board and Croke Park with both funding and coaching into both schools and clubs at all levels. The clubs on our county can't be expected to do all this on their own. Back to the hurlers. Where are all the top hurlers from ALL our clubs gone this season. They are not lining out - why ?? The answer is obvious to anyone with their ear to the ground but nobody seems to care."
As someone who has local knowledge, it is fair to ask why are some of the top hurlers not playing for the county. This is normally an indication that something is a miss. Equally, I agree, hurling needs a big investment as it is a much more skillful game than football so coaching and development from a very early age is paramount to producing skilled hurlers. I disagree about Bray, they showed initiative to participate in the Dublin leagues and it isn't their fault that the standards are dropping within the county allowing them to win. And while they may not have fared well in the Leinster championship, I do think that based upon what they are doing that they will make progress in this championship in the years ahead. I live close to Naas in Kildare and they went to the Kildare county board about participating in the Kilkenny league which has helped them tremendously, they are now All Ireland intermediate champions. Why could Arklow and Carnew in the south of the county participate in part of the Wexford league? If it helps increase the standards in Wicklow then it is worth a try. As I pointed out in my last post, the county board show no initiative i.e. the naming rights to the county ground. I've never understood why these people are voted back in year after year based upon the job they do but then maybe no one else wants to join the county board especially if they have a different approach!!!

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 14/02/2022 09:21:28    2400236

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "As someone who has local knowledge, it is fair to ask why are some of the top hurlers not playing for the county. This is normally an indication that something is a miss. Equally, I agree, hurling needs a big investment as it is a much more skillful game than football so coaching and development from a very early age is paramount to producing skilled hurlers. I disagree about Bray, they showed initiative to participate in the Dublin leagues and it isn't their fault that the standards are dropping within the county allowing them to win. And while they may not have fared well in the Leinster championship, I do think that based upon what they are doing that they will make progress in this championship in the years ahead. I live close to Naas in Kildare and they went to the Kildare county board about participating in the Kilkenny league which has helped them tremendously, they are now All Ireland intermediate champions. Why could Arklow and Carnew in the south of the county participate in part of the Wexford league? If it helps increase the standards in Wicklow then it is worth a try. As I pointed out in my last post, the county board show no initiative i.e. the naming rights to the county ground. I've never understood why these people are voted back in year after year based upon the job they do but then maybe no one else wants to join the county board especially if they have a different approach!!!"
Unfortunately we are slowly sinking at all levels in the county, both hurling and football. In fairness the ladies or women's football could possibly be bucking that trend. In my lifetime we have made no progress in football and actually regressed in hurling. These are cold hard facts. Now, to my mind there are two reasons for that. One, we are genetically inferior in the skills required or Two, our whole approach to our games has always been wrong from top to bottom. As One is ridiculous, that leaves Two. We can dig down into that in whatever way we want and find whatever answers suit us but, at the end of the day, do those running our clubs really care about anything other than their own self interest. I see a few new names making their way on to the scene at county board level from time to time l, but the nucleus controlling the "regime" - for want of a better word - rarely changes. It seems to me as if the only thing that really changes the situation is when nature intervenes and calls people to their heavenly reward. But possibly I am wrong, sure isn't everything fine, same as it always was and why are people complaining. These people are doing their best. Bottom line is, their best is simply not good enough and hasn't been for years.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 14/02/2022 10:07:49    2400248

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Replying To Freethinker:  "Unfortunately we are slowly sinking at all levels in the county, both hurling and football. In fairness the ladies or women's football could possibly be bucking that trend. In my lifetime we have made no progress in football and actually regressed in hurling. These are cold hard facts. Now, to my mind there are two reasons for that. One, we are genetically inferior in the skills required or Two, our whole approach to our games has always been wrong from top to bottom. As One is ridiculous, that leaves Two. We can dig down into that in whatever way we want and find whatever answers suit us but, at the end of the day, do those running our clubs really care about anything other than their own self interest. I see a few new names making their way on to the scene at county board level from time to time l, but the nucleus controlling the "regime" - for want of a better word - rarely changes. It seems to me as if the only thing that really changes the situation is when nature intervenes and calls people to their heavenly reward. But possibly I am wrong, sure isn't everything fine, same as it always was and why are people complaining. These people are doing their best. Bottom line is, their best is simply not good enough and hasn't been for years."
I agree. I think the biggest problem with Wicklow GAA is that it lacks ambition. Clubs in the past namely Baltinglass and Rathnew bucked this trend at club level but overall there is a distinct lack of ambition as a collective outside some dedicated individuals and as I say a small number of clubs who have achieved at the highest level. I really thought when we got Micko Dwyer on board that we were finally going in the right direction but now I think it is back as bad if not worse than ever. Would people in the county support the idea whereby we focus on one code exclusively and see if progress can be made that way? As it doesn't appear that we are component enough to run one never mind two namely hurling and football.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 14/02/2022 12:19:35    2400281

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "I agree. I think the biggest problem with Wicklow GAA is that it lacks ambition. Clubs in the past namely Baltinglass and Rathnew bucked this trend at club level but overall there is a distinct lack of ambition as a collective outside some dedicated individuals and as I say a small number of clubs who have achieved at the highest level. I really thought when we got Micko Dwyer on board that we were finally going in the right direction but now I think it is back as bad if not worse than ever. Would people in the county support the idea whereby we focus on one code exclusively and see if progress can be made that way? As it doesn't appear that we are component enough to run one never mind two namely hurling and football."
I would imagine that if one code were to be dropped there would be a war within the county. That's possibly what it would take to shake this whole setup to its foundations. To me, our county board is like one big happy family. A few newcomers get in, if they conform, so much the better and if they can't make a difference they won't hang about. There are members of our top table that are around for close to a half century. That would be fine if we were competing at even a reasonably good level - but we never have and are unlikely ever to. Something is badly wrong within our county but I hold out very little hope of it being put right any time soon.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 14/02/2022 13:32:57    2400300

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Replying To Freethinker:  "I would imagine that if one code were to be dropped there would be a war within the county. That's possibly what it would take to shake this whole setup to its foundations. To me, our county board is like one big happy family. A few newcomers get in, if they conform, so much the better and if they can't make a difference they won't hang about. There are members of our top table that are around for close to a half century. That would be fine if we were competing at even a reasonably good level - but we never have and are unlikely ever to. Something is badly wrong within our county but I hold out very little hope of it being put right any time soon."
Why is everyone so obsessed with the county board in this county. First things first is it the county boards fault that there is such a glaring lack of talent in relation to hurling in this county. As an interested observer of GAA in this county for a long time now we tend to blame everyone else but ourselves. I tended to give out years ago about the county board myself personally but since I didn't bother doing anything about I have given up that resentment towards them. Each club in this county has a duty to provide GAA coaching to each of its young players. Those young players that turn up for training have varying levels of talent. Likewise each trainer that is provided by the club also have varying levels of talent to coach. Each club has varying levels of ambition within their club. What I am trying to say here is that unless the club situation is right in respect of culture, ambition , coaching ability , ethos and facilities then and only then are we going to see the so called conveyor belt of talented young players coming through. You also have to assess our schools in this county. We are definitely hampered by ,as I see it at second level no major breakthrough in colleges games. I think there is quite an amount of apathy amongst clubs in this county in relation to development of players. The idea of a GAA club is to Foster the growth of our games in their local community. This is done through encouraging young boys and girls to have fun playing our national games. Going back to the point I made about a club having good coaches, as far as I can see the fun part has been lost on quite an amount of coaches. I have seen a win at all odds mentality creeping in at all levels in our games in all grades. I honestly don't know where hurling hoes from here in this county. I am not from a hurling club so I don't know about what is going on on the ground in relation to the politics of it. Unless you have a constant supply of decent quality young hurlers and coupled with a decent supply of quality coaches, then you ain't going anywhere in a hurry. Hope this makes sense to someone

roseyinthegarden (Wicklow) - Posts: 109 - 14/02/2022 14:22:59    2400311

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While I agree with most if not all of the comments about the county board, they might not be totally to blame for current situation with the senior hurlers. There have been some serious rumblings at one or two of the clubs for quite some time now and this is starting to show up with the senior team. This is going to get worse before it gets any better.

stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 124 - 14/02/2022 15:18:11    2400322

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