Square_Ball_15 (Wicklow) - Posts: 2662 - 15/01/2014 18:47:54    1532350

square,

Without getting into it too much it is obvious that the big towns bar Wicklow town which has a great tradition need major work for football and i have to say that the Rocks won many hurling titles and did not have any problem with soccer, and strangely enough even though they have gone back alot they still had 2 u12 hurling teams this year while the combined 3 clubs had a major problem fielding 1 football team and that is the squad that was adopted from very young by Dareen Mc Gee ?

anpleota (Wicklow) - Posts: 204 - 15/01/2014 21:36:36    1532415

All valid and well made points, all that is required now is for the county board and clubs to start the work. I still haven't ever come across the football strategy that was published two years ago for the county ... I would love to know what is in it and how much of it has been put into practice? The bottom line for the county is that there is no quick fixes and no one else is going to do it for us. Look at Meath, won an All Ireland in 1999, probably neglected their underage when they were successfully but then made a conscious decision to go to under age coaching, got to an All Ireland minor final and their seniors have been improving steadily and they were as close to beating Dublin this year in the Leinster final than any one ... will we see a transformation like this in Wicklow in the next 5 years - not based upon the last 130 years?!!

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1198 - 16/01/2014 08:32:40    1532438

Wicklow Support I asked the question before about the area that you are talking about and you failed to answer. I asked a county official and was categorically told that their is primary schools coaching done in every primary school in Wicklow.

In relation to developing a lean mean competitive championship that will lead on to better county squads.

There is most definitely a case for a amalgamations of many of the smaller clubs. Too many clubs that are going through the motions of trying to field teams. Because of lack of players, in some cases mentors and club officials these clubs are destined to become extinct. Bad standards of coaching is also common. The obvious answer is that these clubs should merge but the reality is that there is no appetite for this and some people would rather their club would fold completely than join up with bitter local rivals.

Larger towns including my own (Bray) are failing to attract the local youth. Having only 1 under 14 team in a town of our size is not good. We should be fielding at least 3 teams at each age group.

We would have a better chance of teams competing at under 21 if the clubs were amalgamated.

sirlarry (Wicklow) - Posts: 512 - 16/01/2014 15:01:56    1532616

wicklowsupport just a few things on meath. We are still re building big time and are optimistic that we can now become serious contenders under Mick O'Dowd. We may be far from there yet.

We did neglect underage after 1999 but that was only half the problem. Too often a young lad with talent would get nowhere near the senior team meaning we never blooded our new talent early and the older lads held onto their places on name and reputation alone. MOD has recognized that there is up and coming talent from the last 5 or so minor teams and has open the doors to every talented young lad. We've found a few gems and added to the young lads Banty brought through (although he'd no choice with injuries and lads quitting) we now have a bit of real potential.

Just want to point out we actually had sorted out the underage for years but we were not utilizing it at senior level until Banty's last year onwards.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 16/01/2014 17:13:43    1532709

Wicklow Support I asked the question before about the area that you are talking about and you failed to answer. I asked a county official and was categorically told that their is primary schools coaching done in every primary school in Wicklow.

sirlarry (Wicklow) - Posts: 512 - 18/01/2014 18:10:13    1533435

Square ball mcgraynor was 18 not 17 as you said when he was brought in by Dwyer.

Pat Mustard (None) - Posts: 343 - 18/01/2014 19:53:51    1533485

Square ball and Wicklow support seem to agree a lot.

First sign of madness.

Pat Mustard (None) - Posts: 343 - 18/01/2014 20:03:09    1533492

Can we take any positives out of the fact Meath hammered DCU yesterday? A DCU team that beat Dublin previously. In my opinion, I wasn't surprised at the Meath result,it's the level we are at. Looking forward to the league, big first game at home to London. Would we be outsiders?

neutralfan (Wicklow) - Posts: 204 - 20/01/2014 10:45:36    1534102

Neutralfan

Will be interesting to see what kind of team London have out for us. Heard somewhere that they played some C'ship games early so they could get a number of lads transferring over in 2013 to be free to play in Div4.

Would be taking too much from DCU result - not sure how close they are to Sigerson kick off - that may have coloured their approach & likewise UCD who took a beating off Kildare.

Only thing we can read into is that Meath are probably going to be too good for Div 2 & we are so far in the dark as to how we will go in Div 4. The team are training 4 nights a week and putting a lot in - so credit where its due.

Pat Mustard - As long as we dont start agreeing with you - then that will be total madness

Square_Ball_15 (Wicklow) - Posts: 2662 - 20/01/2014 12:20:54    1534166