Meath Forum

Junior Championship 2020

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Dunsany falter again... 1st real test and it's Vincent's that move on. Dunsany coulda done with a few of the scores they where clocking up in the junior B group they where in !!!

glenny (Meath) - Posts: 1116 - 18/09/2020 21:36:19    2292966

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Replying To glenny:  "Dunsany falter again... 1st real test and it's Vincent's that move on. Dunsany coulda done with a few of the scores they where clocking up in the junior B group they where in !!!"
How on earth did they manage not to at least draw? Referee gave them every single opportunity in the 15 minutes of injury time. Their free takers just had a nightmare.
Fair play to Vincent's. It definitely wasn't pretty but they defended in numbers and then broke away and picked off a couple of scores when they were under pressure. But I feel it's either Ballivor or Ultans' championship to lose.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1374 - 18/09/2020 22:40:38    2292974

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Dunsany best footballing team but Vincent's were well drilled and the heart, drive and never say die attitude of them was incredible. Felt Dunsany had free in denied just before the Vincent's goal but they had chances to get back into it after that. Great pace to it, but Dunsany must be the Mayo of Meath football. They needed one more scorer last night. The full forward only one on form. Hopefully the county board can organise a referee for the final who can keep up with the play.

Greensheen (Meath) - Posts: 58 - 19/09/2020 12:31:36    2293017

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Replying To Greensheen:  "Dunsany best footballing team but Vincent's were well drilled and the heart, drive and never say die attitude of them was incredible. Felt Dunsany had free in denied just before the Vincent's goal but they had chances to get back into it after that. Great pace to it, but Dunsany must be the Mayo of Meath football. They needed one more scorer last night. The full forward only one on form. Hopefully the county board can organise a referee for the final who can keep up with the play."
No chance the ref can be blamed for them losing this one. They had more than enough opportunities to level and also go ahead in the 16 minutes of injury time. There was also plenty of questionable decisions which went their way so the little sly digs at ref are uncalled for. Dunsany only have themselves to blame. Pierre Fox marked out of the game . Joey keena was exceptional for them i thought but barring harkin their big players like fox and smyth were nowhere to be seen.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 19/09/2020 15:01:02    2293034

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "No chance the ref can be blamed for them losing this one. They had more than enough opportunities to level and also go ahead in the 16 minutes of injury time. There was also plenty of questionable decisions which went their way so the little sly digs at ref are uncalled for. Dunsany only have themselves to blame. Pierre Fox marked out of the game . Joey keena was exceptional for them i thought but barring harkin their big players like fox and smyth were nowhere to be seen."
Don't know what game you were watching, Smyth had a huge second half. The referee was consistently bad for both teams. Probably the worst refereeing that you could see. If you were either manager you would be pulling hair out. Fouls not called when blatant , and soft fouls when game in the melting pot.
County board should have to answer to this. This game deserved better and as said earlier a referee that could keep up with a really fast paced game.
Dunsany manager went to him at the end of the game to probably question decisions. If Vincent's lost the game they would have done the same.
Game wasn't great quality but furious pace. Frustrating as a neutral but if you were involved anger would be an understatement.
Deserved better. Shame on the county board. Hopefully they give a better option for the final.

fitspert (Meath) - Posts: 25 - 19/09/2020 22:15:05    2293094

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Replying To fitspert:  "Don't know what game you were watching, Smyth had a huge second half. The referee was consistently bad for both teams. Probably the worst refereeing that you could see. If you were either manager you would be pulling hair out. Fouls not called when blatant , and soft fouls when game in the melting pot.
County board should have to answer to this. This game deserved better and as said earlier a referee that could keep up with a really fast paced game.
Dunsany manager went to him at the end of the game to probably question decisions. If Vincent's lost the game they would have done the same.
Game wasn't great quality but furious pace. Frustrating as a neutral but if you were involved anger would be an understatement.
Deserved better. Shame on the county board. Hopefully they give a better option for the final."
I agree with you about the ref. My point is he was awful for both teams so neither team could blame him for losing as both got their fair shares of questionable frees. And dunsany had more then enough chances in injury time to level and win it. Didn't see smyth having a huge second half at all. He was a peripheral figure for most of the game. I've seen him regularly and Friday night he was very quiet by his standards and from what I've seen of him before. Barring Harkin their big players didn't show up. Fox barely got a kick. Joey keena led by example. One of the few dunsany players who didn't seem intimidated by the physical approach of St Vincents.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 20/09/2020 12:29:23    2293162

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Surely this totally one sided game can be of no benefit at all to Ballivor. Time for a radical rethink of the Junior Championship.
Crazy that there were 5 groups in the IFC and that there were only 3 teams in Ultan's group. Some balancing is very badly needed.
Co committee please act now.
Suggestion: 16 in SFC, 16 in IFC with the rest playing in a revised JFC. Something like the SHC where there would be an A group of the stronger teams and a B group of weaker teams with promotion and relegation between the groups.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 20/09/2020 15:23:12    2293196

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All the junior clubs voted to get rid of the 2nd teams from the championships and bring up the junior B teams. This is what u get. An easier championship to win for them but a lot of 1 sided games and not a very entertaining championship

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 20/09/2020 17:20:41    2293221

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I think they have turned the junior a championship into a micky mouse competition with some terrible teams involved.
The premier championship is also a devalued mini league now
I have no idea what exactly they thought would happened the junior championship when you remove most of the strong teams and promote some really poor teams from junior b.

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 425 - 20/09/2020 19:54:09    2293244

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Blackspot,
You agree that the referee was poor
now . Get off the fence. He was poor. No sly digs. It's there in print. As for junior clubs voting in this new system why did intermediate clubs and seniors not get a vote on this?

Greensheen (Meath) - Posts: 58 - 20/09/2020 21:47:43    2293290

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The small clubs need to get out of their own way. Anybody could see from some of the results in junior A this year that the gap from top to bottom is way to big. The big towns second teams have every right to play in the main stream championships, Ashbournes second team is a solid intermediate side and alot of the senior clubs have junior A teams that would very much upgrade the poor standard. The old system needs to be put back in place. If your good enough you will win instead of this watered down format. I would also draw the big town teams in the same groups as the 1st teams run a similar system to the meath juniors where if they played senior last year or the year before they are ineligible. This would stop the towns teams having a stronger side early in the comp

CMAN1570 (Meath) - Posts: 56 - 20/09/2020 22:30:50    2293306

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Replying To Greensheen:  "Blackspot,
You agree that the referee was poor
now . Get off the fence. He was poor. No sly digs. It's there in print. As for junior clubs voting in this new system why did intermediate clubs and seniors not get a vote on this?"
Get off what fence? he was poor i never said any different . For both teams. So to be moaning that dunsany should have had a free in the build up to Vincents goal is ridiculous. Just another excuse.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 20/09/2020 23:25:11    2293315

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Replying To MillerX:  "Surely this totally one sided game can be of no benefit at all to Ballivor. Time for a radical rethink of the Junior Championship.
Crazy that there were 5 groups in the IFC and that there were only 3 teams in Ultan's group. Some balancing is very badly needed.
Co committee please act now.
Suggestion: 16 in SFC, 16 in IFC with the rest playing in a revised JFC. Something like the SHC where there would be an A group of the stronger teams and a B group of weaker teams with promotion and relegation between the groups."
To be honest I do believe that what you have outlined was the plan with JFC in 2020 with 3 groups of 5 with the 5 Junior B Clubs in one division but Covoid seemingly declared for some reason there wasnt time for that despite not one County player now playing Junior football since Adam Flanagan walked away.

There is no doubt that a big variation now exists in JFC with a number 6/8 very poor teams but at the end of the day these teams need a competition that they can compete in to ensure that those clubs also survive. Some of the beatings handed out will have the opposite effect.

Something needs to be done with I feel perhaps the Top 4 Junior sides moving to the IFC. The best junior sides could well compete at IFC level and therefore improve what has always been a good competition. No difference in having 24 in IFC compared to 20 at present.

Clann na Gael and Moylough have proved this fact and the likes of Ballivor. St Vincents, Dunsany and a few more could easily compete there.

That would leave 10/12 Clubs that would be on a fairly level standard (admittedly a poor one) to play in Junior with maybe St Pauls opting to move back up. A more even standard of competitors would improve the standard in these weaker clubs

noelpconnon (Cavan) - Posts: 219 - 21/09/2020 09:06:57    2293339

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Sure didn't the clubs agree to all the adult championships being regraded to 16 teams each 4 or 5 years ago only for a lot of the Junior clubs to get cold feet and pull the plug at the last minute. Can't really blame the county board as they tried to change things but were prevented from doing so.
I do think the IFC should be whittled down by 4 teams and I think it will be in the not too distant future. The county board just have to make sure the clubs are on board.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1374 - 21/09/2020 09:11:49    2293341

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Poor standard game Friday evening followed by the expected hammering of Ultans by Ballivor. Can't wait to see how Ballivor deal with Vincents doggedness. Likes of Boardsmill can take a lot from this year having pushed Ballivor close in the first round. Mouth watering final ahead.

royalgaaman (Meath) - Posts: 2 - 21/09/2020 09:57:46    2293346

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Ballivor trashing Ultans is a bad example of the one sided ties in the newly structured JFC. Ultans were Intermediate for years so don't get the point there. And they've done well in JFC as far as I know.

But I do agree that combing JFC A and B into one is a joke. You will have one side ties and also so many dud games as there is relegation. I think the threat of relegation needs to be there. It also kills the moral of junior b teams. Really, really hope this ridiculous restructure is moved back.

meathgaa91 (Meath) - Posts: 48 - 21/09/2020 11:18:07    2293366

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Replying To CMAN1570:  "The small clubs need to get out of their own way. Anybody could see from some of the results in junior A this year that the gap from top to bottom is way to big. The big towns second teams have every right to play in the main stream championships, Ashbournes second team is a solid intermediate side and alot of the senior clubs have junior A teams that would very much upgrade the poor standard. The old system needs to be put back in place. If your good enough you will win instead of this watered down format. I would also draw the big town teams in the same groups as the 1st teams run a similar system to the meath juniors where if they played senior last year or the year before they are ineligible. This would stop the towns teams having a stronger side early in the comp"
This whole restructure is on the back of a Dunboyne motion to the county board. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there needs to be a fourth tier as well though. 16 in Senior and intermediate, groups of 4. Easy maths. Break down the rest into two sections. Also agree that Dunboyne, Donaghmore and Ratoath would make grade in intermediate. But then the team that plays the first day is generally robbed of their top players through the competition and therein lies the problem.As for this great new Premier Championship, it is just a league unless this structure is because of covid.

Greensheen (Meath) - Posts: 58 - 22/09/2020 14:35:24    2293578

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Replying To Greensheen:  "This whole restructure is on the back of a Dunboyne motion to the county board. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there needs to be a fourth tier as well though. 16 in Senior and intermediate, groups of 4. Easy maths. Break down the rest into two sections. Also agree that Dunboyne, Donaghmore and Ratoath would make grade in intermediate. But then the team that plays the first day is generally robbed of their top players through the competition and therein lies the problem.As for this great new Premier Championship, it is just a league unless this structure is because of covid."
The restructure wasn't a Dunboyne motion, it was off the back of a competitions review (complete with a PDF Report no less!).

Though the report seemed a bit of a stitch up, as it recommended that 2nd teams be removed into their own championship and not play 2nd teams as they felt this was unfair, yet apparently with no sense of contradiction they also recommended that 2nd teams be integrated into the league system to play 1st teams as this was best for their development...?

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 22/09/2020 15:04:29    2293582

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Replying To Greensheen:  "This whole restructure is on the back of a Dunboyne motion to the county board. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there needs to be a fourth tier as well though. 16 in Senior and intermediate, groups of 4. Easy maths. Break down the rest into two sections. Also agree that Dunboyne, Donaghmore and Ratoath would make grade in intermediate. But then the team that plays the first day is generally robbed of their top players through the competition and therein lies the problem.As for this great new Premier Championship, it is just a league unless this structure is because of covid."
Not sure it was a Dunboyne club motion, or just a county restructuring done by a Dunboyne man among a few. To be fair the big thing was that 2nd teams could join in the A league. And I'm not sure if 3rd and 4th teams could too. But this never got going because of the lockdown. I do agree that it should be an open playing field and 2nd teams should be allowed be in any division of league or tier of championship that they can compete in. It means a higher standard of games. Improves the big clubs with 2nd teams and the junior/inter clubs playing against them. I believe there was a lot of objection from junior clubs because they were annoyed with 2nd teams but that's the nature of competition you won't be happy when you lose. I get the point about the 2nd teams being much stronger in week 1. Perhaps you have to name 21 lads that can't play Senior from week 1 and then after that any additional player used at senior would be ineligible from that. Wouldn't solve it fully but would certainly help

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 22/09/2020 15:31:41    2293588

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Replying To Greensheen:  "This whole restructure is on the back of a Dunboyne motion to the county board. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there needs to be a fourth tier as well though. 16 in Senior and intermediate, groups of 4. Easy maths. Break down the rest into two sections. Also agree that Dunboyne, Donaghmore and Ratoath would make grade in intermediate. But then the team that plays the first day is generally robbed of their top players through the competition and therein lies the problem.As for this great new Premier Championship, it is just a league unless this structure is because of covid."
Just to clarify it was not a dunboyne motion. Dunboyne had nothing to do with it whatsoever and in fact voted against the motion.

printerjet1996 (Meath) - Posts: 3 - 22/09/2020 15:40:03    2293593

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