Meath Forum

Meath Feile 2023

(Oldest Posts First)

Yesterday I attended the division 2 feile and discovered everything that is wrong with the Meath juvenile setup. Two lads from Athboy stood out like a sore thumb against all opposition but they were dropped from the Meath u15 panel a few weeks back. Athboy beat Ratoath by 11 points in the final and they have 5 members on the panel. It's time perceived big club bias was eradicated from the selection criteria and maybe that's why we need more outsiders involved in the selection to eliminate this unfairness in selection for the long term betterment of Meath football. Incidentally the next best player was a midfielder from Ballivor also dropped off the panel.

AthboyCelt (Meath) - Posts: 147 - 07/05/2023 09:50:55    2476279

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "Yesterday I attended the division 2 feile and discovered everything that is wrong with the Meath juvenile setup. Two lads from Athboy stood out like a sore thumb against all opposition but they were dropped from the Meath u15 panel a few weeks back. Athboy beat Ratoath by 11 points in the final and they have 5 members on the panel. It's time perceived big club bias was eradicated from the selection criteria and maybe that's why we need more outsiders involved in the selection to eliminate this unfairness in selection for the long term betterment of Meath football. Incidentally the next best player was a midfielder from Ballivor also dropped off the panel."
Do Meath at u15 level not have 2/3 teams? Hard enough to be dropped off that you'd think.

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1318 - 07/05/2023 14:45:27    2476377

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club bias and coach bias to certain players no matter about ability is a major issue. I could not believe what i was hearing when a person told me last week about a situation with a player that has been drafted onto the the extended minor panel and dropped from the U15 development panel. This player was from a so called smaller club. Until we get this right we are wasting our time at adult level. It appears to be, its not what your ability is or potential is, its who you know, what club you play with or who you are related too. Crazy stuff

bonecrusher (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 07/05/2023 15:09:28    2476387

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "Yesterday I attended the division 2 feile and discovered everything that is wrong with the Meath juvenile setup. Two lads from Athboy stood out like a sore thumb against all opposition but they were dropped from the Meath u15 panel a few weeks back. Athboy beat Ratoath by 11 points in the final and they have 5 members on the panel. It's time perceived big club bias was eradicated from the selection criteria and maybe that's why we need more outsiders involved in the selection to eliminate this unfairness in selection for the long term betterment of Meath football. Incidentally the next best player was a midfielder from Ballivor also dropped off the panel."
Waffle Waffle and even more Waffle . The old big club bias myth is alive and well..

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 07/05/2023 23:13:13    2476572

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Replying To bonecrusher:  "club bias and coach bias to certain players no matter about ability is a major issue. I could not believe what i was hearing when a person told me last week about a situation with a player that has been drafted onto the the extended minor panel and dropped from the U15 development panel. This player was from a so called smaller club. Until we get this right we are wasting our time at adult level. It appears to be, its not what your ability is or potential is, its who you know, what club you play with or who you are related too. Crazy stuff"
this years minor panel of has players from 21 clubs at all levels. from jnr to senior
of the senior clubs
Dunboyne have 4 Gaeil colmcille and senchelstown and skryne 2 while
Ratoath, trim st colmcilles & summerhill only have 1 player on the panel.

https://meath.gaa.ie/minor-football-panel-unveiled/

Islander21 (Meath) - Posts: 12 - 08/05/2023 10:20:18    2476633

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "Yesterday I attended the division 2 feile and discovered everything that is wrong with the Meath juvenile setup. Two lads from Athboy stood out like a sore thumb against all opposition but they were dropped from the Meath u15 panel a few weeks back. Athboy beat Ratoath by 11 points in the final and they have 5 members on the panel. It's time perceived big club bias was eradicated from the selection criteria and maybe that's why we need more outsiders involved in the selection to eliminate this unfairness in selection for the long term betterment of Meath football. Incidentally the next best player was a midfielder from Ballivor also dropped off the panel."
This type of ***** is exactly why Meath GAA is in the position that it is. If the player who's mentioned is good enough then he will work his way back onto the team by minor. Look at this years minor team, a whole host of players from north meath on it which is fantastic because we need those clubs to improve to make meath a better footballing counties. The ***** about big club bias is just ridiculous, look at division 1 at that age group, most of the teams are from south meath so obviously you're going to have a larger representation, if you fail to recognise that well then I'm not sure what to say. Do you honestly believe coaches are giving up all that time to go out and say 'ahh I don't like this club so ill drop this player off the panel'. If you care that much why don't you go manage the teams? This sort of divisiveness and nonsense is exactly why we are performing so poorly as a county.

contributingtoamelee (Meath) - Posts: 40 - 08/05/2023 11:05:48    2476659

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "Yesterday I attended the division 2 feile and discovered everything that is wrong with the Meath juvenile setup. Two lads from Athboy stood out like a sore thumb against all opposition but they were dropped from the Meath u15 panel a few weeks back. Athboy beat Ratoath by 11 points in the final and they have 5 members on the panel. It's time perceived big club bias was eradicated from the selection criteria and maybe that's why we need more outsiders involved in the selection to eliminate this unfairness in selection for the long term betterment of Meath football. Incidentally the next best player was a midfielder from Ballivor also dropped off the panel."
A) it's embarrassing creating a thread about an under 15 player being dropped from a Meath team. B) you said it correctly "perceived big club bias". That's all it is, perceived, it's in your head. This years minors in their last game had 6 starters from senior clubs and 9 from non senior clubs. Of the 6 senior 2 are Skryne and 1 from Seneschalstown. 0 from Ratoath, 0 from Ashbourne, 0 from Dunshaughlin, 1 from St Colmcilles. Also the job of a development squad manager at under 15 is not to pick the best under 15 players currently. It's to pick the best future players for minor, 20's and senior and that is probably based on skill and athletic indicators. A lad could be more physically developed and better currently but that's no guarantee by minor it won't flip. Honestly everybody Meath manager has enough pressure on him with expectations, you genuinely think they'd cut off half the county just because of bias? At the end of the day it's their reputation at stake if things go wrong, they clearly aren't going to self sabotage for no reason

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1458 - 08/05/2023 11:30:02    2476670

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "A) it's embarrassing creating a thread about an under 15 player being dropped from a Meath team. B) you said it correctly "perceived big club bias". That's all it is, perceived, it's in your head. This years minors in their last game had 6 starters from senior clubs and 9 from non senior clubs. Of the 6 senior 2 are Skryne and 1 from Seneschalstown. 0 from Ratoath, 0 from Ashbourne, 0 from Dunshaughlin, 1 from St Colmcilles. Also the job of a development squad manager at under 15 is not to pick the best under 15 players currently. It's to pick the best future players for minor, 20's and senior and that is probably based on skill and athletic indicators. A lad could be more physically developed and better currently but that's no guarantee by minor it won't flip. Honestly everybody Meath manager has enough pressure on him with expectations, you genuinely think they'd cut off half the county just because of bias? At the end of the day it's their reputation at stake if things go wrong, they clearly aren't going to self sabotage for no reason"
It's all in my head so. I must be paranoid, you'd think with 5 county players that Ratoath would beat a team like Athboy comfortably, yeah I'm delusional. So you feel that the Meath underage setup is 100% fair with no favouritism to the clubs of mentors/selectors?

AthboyCelt (Meath) - Posts: 147 - 08/05/2023 13:50:03    2476732

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "It's all in my head so. I must be paranoid, you'd think with 5 county players that Ratoath would beat a team like Athboy comfortably, yeah I'm delusional. So you feel that the Meath underage setup is 100% fair with no favouritism to the clubs of mentors/selectors?"
Sure they could have 5 county players and then the rest are no good. Its a game of 15 v 15.

How often down the years have we seem at all levels with loads of county players but don't always win the championships.

You are incredibly naive if you think these managers and selectors who's reputations are on the line would pick lesser players from so called big clubs ahead of better players from so called smaller clubs. It wouldn't be in their interest.

I've no idea why the 2 lads from athboy you are talking about were cut from the meath u15s but I can would be fairly confident in saying it was not because they play for a small club like Clann Na Gael. (Not me calling CNG a small club)

If the management felt they were good enough they'd be there regardless of where they are from and at the end of the day its all about opinions. Your opinion is they are better than what's on the meath u15 and its the management's that they aren't at this moment in time. The management are the ones that count because they are making the calls.

Also so they out performed on the day the 5 Ratoath county players ?? So what . That's 1 day. Just because they were cut from the panel does not mean they aren't talented players so it's not that of surprise if they out performed on the day the county players.

The management have probably seen these lads 2 or 3 times a week now for the last 2 years maybe more so are forming the opinion over a long period of time. Maybe they are correct maybe they are incorrect but I would be confident they came to their decision based off the correct criteria such as ability fitness attitude character attendance punctuality potential etc and not just because they are from a big club or a small club.

So yes I would say it is all in your head .

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 08/05/2023 14:22:22    2476747

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Replying To AthboyCelt:  "It's all in my head so. I must be paranoid, you'd think with 5 county players that Ratoath would beat a team like Athboy comfortably, yeah I'm delusional. So you feel that the Meath underage setup is 100% fair with no favouritism to the clubs of mentors/selectors?"
I was also at the Div 2 Feile in Kells supporting Dunshaughlin. Congrats to Clan naGael (not Athboy) for winning Div 2 of Feile. No mean achievement and plenty of promising footballers on view. They beat us in the semi. We had a 10 min rest after our third group game (4 team group) where CNG had at least an hour's rest from their second (3 team group).

I blame Meath CB for fixing the knockout games on the same day, expecting far too much from U15's. Semis and finals should have been played on Sunday. Not sure if it would have changed the outcome, but would have been fairer to all, especially Dunshaughlin and Ratoath.

Our lads played the semi-final, their fourth consecutive game, in virtual exhaustion and carried injuries from the three previous games. I can only imagine how the neighbours felt on their 5th consecutive game.

Met loads of lovely GAA people with CNG and suggest to you that your comments are an embarrassment to them. You should be ashamed of yourself.

aghref (Meath) - Posts: 148 - 08/05/2023 14:25:51    2476749

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