National Forum

Wexford Hurling Thread

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Replying To Formertownie:  "Surely good players playing in lower divisions with their clubs should make 2nd level college teams and get tested at a higher level.. even if in a or b championship they get better exposure to higher level . Is this the place where intercounty underage individuals should be judged more tgan local club chsmpionship . Rather than div 4 or 5 .
Are nt there trials for all clubs where they send their most promising and capable/committed and best attitude players needing a combination of all three to be successful .
And this shold be done every year for every player so that no player is guaranteed a place on an underage squad . So complacency and nepotism can be weeded out ."
Of course there are trials. There is also data collected on all the lads who were previously involved with development squads. And lads who are standing out with their clubs usually get noticed too.
There seems to be an impression some lads on this forum have that a lad gets to be manager by accident, gives the selectors jobs to a couple of his buddies, and then picks a group of lads because he drinks with their fathers.
The truth of the matter is any 2 of us could watch the same game and pick out 3 different lads to eachother who impressed us. Exceptional lads like Chin, Reck, Rory etc will stand out to anyone, but there are never many of these at one time in any county, except for the odd golden generation.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19084 - 07/04/2026 15:03:18    2665108

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One thing for sure we need to start winning a few underage games soon.

hunting (Wexford) - Posts: 1194 - 07/04/2026 15:19:48    2665112

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Replying To bigladforage:  "The sad reality is that when boys return to their junior clubs from underage county teams the vast majority are lost to senior county as their development is lost , senior clubs martins ratnure harriers shels rathangan and all senior and top inter clubs train to county level, and will still produce our senior intercounty adult players
All clubs need to step up and raise the bar
I really admire st annes not a big pool to pick from and most years their underage are playing in low grades but maintain a high level of senior club land have produced some great players to our county and underage teams
Ballyhale in kilkenny play under age in the lower grades but still maintain a serious senior level , players need to be devloped at their clubs and the best devlopment is at senior level just the sad reality"
I think you make some fair points and it makes me think how do we help to bridge the gap between the stronger and weaker clubs

I suppose district sides work well in Kerry and Cork and give players at smaller clubs a helping hand when it comes to playing at the top level but given how many young players play both hurling and football in Wexford, district sides are unfortunately not a viable option

It's probably been said before but as much as Wexford as a county should have a development plan, clubs (and schools) should have their own development plans too. Unfortunately, I get the sense that a lot of clubs would think this is a load of nonsense; ironically, I also get the sense that those most receptive to the concept of a development plan would be ones least in need of it whilst the clubs who need it the most are the ones least likely to be interested in it

Clubs should really set out their targets across four timeframes: 1-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-10 years, and 10 years+ at both adult and underage level and once they have that done, they should be outlining the processes (technical, tactical, physical, and psychological) by which they hope to achieve those targets

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1034 - 07/04/2026 16:39:55    2665122

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Replying To Viking66:  "Of course there are trials. There is also data collected on all the lads who were previously involved with development squads. And lads who are standing out with their clubs usually get noticed too.
There seems to be an impression some lads on this forum have that a lad gets to be manager by accident, gives the selectors jobs to a couple of his buddies, and then picks a group of lads because he drinks with their fathers.
The truth of the matter is any 2 of us could watch the same game and pick out 3 different lads to eachother who impressed us. Exceptional lads like Chin, Reck, Rory etc will stand out to anyone, but there are never many of these at one time in any county, except for the odd golden generation."
Yes of course there are trials every year but its not a clean slate every year . No player should be guaranteed a place on dev squad year on year they need to be challenged on their progress
To keep progressing every child needs to prove they are improving year on year . . And if your not released with the carrot of returning when u prove yourself .
Stats are wonderful are measurements etc but you still need to have a ruthless streak too .
No one person should have the final say but if its true I m hearing one person seems to dictating a little too much and if you cross him you are most certainly going to be discarded either directly or constructively.
If that one person had only the betterment of hurling alone as his only agenda that woild nt be so bad but fear he us a little more self serving than that .

Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 567 - 07/04/2026 17:15:07    2665127

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Replying To hunting:  "One thing for sure we need to start winning a few underage games soon."
Absolutely

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19084 - 07/04/2026 17:46:33    2665135

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Replying To bigladforage:  "The sad reality is that when boys return to their junior clubs from underage county teams the vast majority are lost to senior county as their development is lost , senior clubs martins ratnure harriers shels rathangan and all senior and top inter clubs train to county level, and will still produce our senior intercounty adult players
All clubs need to step up and raise the bar
I really admire st annes not a big pool to pick from and most years their underage are playing in low grades but maintain a high level of senior club land have produced some great players to our county and underage teams
Ballyhale in kilkenny play under age in the lower grades but still maintain a serious senior level , players need to be devloped at their clubs and the best devlopment is at senior level just the sad reality"
Most years Annes arent below div 2.
Ballyhale would start out at lower grades ok, as they havent the numbers.
Agree all the clubs need to step up, but there are Senior clubs who only coach their underage lads, at least at u12 and u14 and maybe older, once a week for large parts of each season , as they have the numbers to be competitive despite this.
There are other Senior clubs who only coach their lads for a shorter season, 2 only started back towards the end of April 2 years ago at u12 and u14, and finished up in September/October. Not sure what they are doing this year.
Just because a club is Senior at adult doesn't neccessarily mean they are perfect at underage.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19084 - 07/04/2026 17:53:21    2665136

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