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Replying To ElGranSenor: "I suppose one drawback of Minor being U17 is that you have more TYs playing, think we're down two starters from the last day who are away on a TY trip to the US" Think the team might actually be stronger on account of that.....
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:12:14
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Replying To Pikeman96: "@viking66 - I've never actually said or suggested that starting to play adult hurling a year earlier might not be a benefit to players, and a benefit we might see pay off for our county U20 teams.
But I think it'd be only a very small factor in the overall scheme of things, compared to other things like having effective management teams in place, good coaching, good gameplans, good S&C, and so on. It seems others would have you believe it's the major thing missing that will have a massive effect all by itself." I agree its only 1 thing we need to improve, and that by itself it will only make a small bit of difference.
But if you look at our u20s this year Galway only brought the game into ET with a last puck of a ball 65 out towards the sideline. We were only a very small bit away from winning that game.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:16:28
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Replying To Pikeman96: "That's actually a very interesting idea, and deserves further consideration.
Shorter championships (and particularly the first one - says groups of four, with just two going through) - could bring more of the "cut-throat" and "consequences" that another poster was looking for but had no ideas of his own. And if you do get knocked out early, well, there'll be more matches and a fresh start later in the year anyway.
Only obvious and immediate flaw is that by Rule, you can't run an official competition for U11, but that's only a minor point in the overall scheme of things. Another consideration is that you'd need twice as many sets of medals that somebody somewhere would have to pay for, but that's only a minor point too.
So, again - a really good idea, and worth further thought." We would only need the same amount of medals if we didnt have Shields? Or are there no medals for Shield winners?
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:18:24
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "With the current Minor format at inter-county level, it's harder than it was before the play club championship games in April and May
I'm not too sure a Minor league is that much of an issue, think Clare have had one for quite a while now if I'm not mistaken?
I know there used to be the Jim Byrne Cup for U17s late in the year (A precursor for Minor football the following year), don't know if that's still going, there might have been an U13 hurling competition a few years back as well that was run late in the year
Could do with bringing back competitions like these and extending the playing year, have to make sure all clubs are involved as I don't think all clubs too part in the Jim Byrne Cup for example
Maybe competitions (Possibly indoors for the younger age groups) for U9/U11/U13/U15/U17 in winter and early spring?
I know there's also a district competition for Rackard League 6th Class students in both hurling and football" We run a small u13 tournament in February, and last year we competed in an u13 tournament in Killenaule. Not sure there are any other u13 tournaments? The end of year Martin Storey Cup is for u14s.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:20:00
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "With the current Minor format at inter-county level, it's harder than it was before the play club championship games in April and May
I'm not too sure a Minor league is that much of an issue, think Clare have had one for quite a while now if I'm not mistaken?
I know there used to be the Jim Byrne Cup for U17s late in the year (A precursor for Minor football the following year), don't know if that's still going, there might have been an U13 hurling competition a few years back as well that was run late in the year
Could do with bringing back competitions like these and extending the playing year, have to make sure all clubs are involved as I don't think all clubs too part in the Jim Byrne Cup for example
Maybe competitions (Possibly indoors for the younger age groups) for U9/U11/U13/U15/U17 in winter and early spring?
I know there's also a district competition for Rackard League 6th Class students in both hurling and football" There is a Rackard League District tournament since last year. Agree we need more winter hurling in the September to Christmas period, in more agegroups than just u12. It hasnt done Clare any harm, and they are running them the last 4 years I think.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:21:43
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Replying To Formertownie: "Are the dev squads detrimental to underage hurling .
Squads of say 45 for hurling and 45 for football . Who are nt permitted to play in development leagues u16 or 18 . Leaving clubs without big numbers at a stretch across 2 ages to to fill teams fo dev leagues .
If u cant field teams how can you keep players playing.
I see a couple of walkoves or concedings in football dev finals . Not necessarily related could be exams school trips etc .
But if 90 players are taken out of equation for dev leagues cant be good for clubs and intensity in those games .
Club players go backwards . Dev squad players get better . Come back to clubs and play championship and can dominate as club players standards dropped .
Which has the knock on of dev squad players get complacent as they don't have to try as hard their standard drop. It's all related . Go back to dev squads and year on year they drop their standards of skill/intensity level as they dont get challenged enough at club level . It's a recurring cycle .
Our drop in underage age intercounty competiveness is related to the expansion of the intercounty underage championship competition . Which affects club championship which then affects stands of dev squads .
Theres Too much emphasis on intercountyy at underage.
Should not take away from club" It doesn't take away from club. None of our u14s or u15s have missed any club training or matches on account of being in development squads, and pretty sure thats the case for the 2 lads on the u16 development squad also.
All counties are running development squads , so there must be some merit in the idea.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:24:21
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Replying To Pikeman96: "Here's a downside to the new "Minors can play adult" rule, albeit not one that affects the higher level of things, so it's the kind of thing that probably won't get much attention -
In the All County Leagues for the past few years, my club was able to field two hurling and two football teams in every round, all obviously made up of players who were already out of Minor. This year, we haven't been able to do it once. There hasn't been a single match in either hurling or football where our second team hasn't had to bring three or four or even more Minors.
Those Minor lads are not being brought because they're good enough and strong enough that they should have been playing anyway, and that the only thing that would have stopped them before now was a rule. They're being brought because it's easier now for older players to opt out in any given week. "Sure they don't need me that badly. They can just bring up some of the young lads instead."
So these older ones who should indeed be playing are now starting to drift away instead. And I'd expect my club is not alone in this." Think thats more to do with the players concerned. They surely wouldn't drift away just because there's younger lads to take their place. Noone hurls just because they dont want to let anyone down by not hurling by the time they get to minor.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:26:14
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Replying To MyOhMi: "If anything I think certain lads are been flogged to death currently .. especially at U11 / U12 / U13 / U14 level. Primary schools have Rackard League, Mini 7s, Rounders etc as well as U12 and U14 championship, rising stars etc and soccer is only just after finishing up. Throw Football into the mix on top of that" Agree the demands on younger lads in the crossover months are pretty extreme if they play both soccer and GAA.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19735 - 22/05/2026 15:27:34
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Replying To Viking66: " Replying To Pikeman96: "<b>@viking66 </b>- I've never actually said or suggested that starting to play adult hurling a year earlier might not be a benefit to players, and a benefit we might see pay off for our county U20 teams.
But I think it'd be only a very small factor in the overall scheme of things, compared to other things like having effective management teams in place, good coaching, good gameplans, good S&C, and so on. It seems others would have you believe it's the major thing missing that will have a massive effect all by itself."</div>I agree its only 1 thing we need to improve, and that by itself it will only make a small bit of difference.
But if you look at our u20s this year Galway only brought the game into ET with a last puck of a ball 65 out towards the sideline. We were only a very small bit away from winning that game." Or in other words - one slightly less accurate puck from an opposition free-taker, and we'd have been back in a Leinster Final. With a bunch of players who hadn't played adult hurling while still Minors. That's a measure of how small the margin is and is as good an example as any of why I'm not convinced the change will be as significant as many seem to believe it will be.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3686 - 22/05/2026 15:42:59
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Replying To Viking66: "We would only need the same amount of medals if we didnt have Shields? Or are there no medals for Shield winners?" That's true, and didn't occur to me when I was spitballing earlier.
Does occur to me that we'd still need trophies inscribed U13, U15 and U17 as well as the U14, U16 and U18 ones that are currently in use.
Then again, maybe we already have them in the back of a press somewhere, from the time we used to operate at those ages!
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3686 - 22/05/2026 15:45:22
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Replying To Viking66: "There is a Rackard League District tournament since last year. Agree we need more winter hurling in the September to Christmas period, in more agegroups than just u12. It hasnt done Clare any harm, and they are running them the last 4 years I think." Just so people know how that Rackard League District tournament works -
Each school in a District is asked to put forward a couple of players towards a squad of about 20 to 22. The four District teams then play each other over the course of three weeks at the COE, before there's a Cup Final played between first and second, and a Shield Final between third and fourth. But there's no extra coaching or training sessions or anything in between those matches.
Two of the boys from the underage squad I'm involved in with the club were on the District football team, and they tell me even at the end of it, they still didn't even know the names of the two men who were over the team. Note that I'm not calling them coaches, because by all accounts, there was no actual coaching done.
Good to give the boys the extra games all right, and they definitely enjoyed the experience, but realistically it won't be a major step forward in making them better players.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3686 - 22/05/2026 15:56:10
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Replying To Viking66: "Think thats more to do with the players concerned. They surely wouldn't drift away just because there's younger lads to take their place. Noone hurls just because they dont want to let anyone down by not hurling by the time they get to minor." And finally for now - it's obviously to do with the players concerned all right. But fact of the matter is that they were turning up last year when we couldn't rely on Minors to make up the numbers instead, and now that we can call up Minors, the same few lads are not turning up.
Maybe this is just another case of 2 + 2 making three or five or something else other than four, as with so much else to do with the "Minors playing or not playing adult" discussion, but it's definitely the case that it's been happening.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3686 - 22/05/2026 15:59:13
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Replying To Viking66: "We run a small u13 tournament in February, and last year we competed in an u13 tournament in Killenaule. Not sure there are any other u13 tournaments? The end of year Martin Storey Cup is for u14s." This one was over 15 years ago now, might have been just a Gorey District thing, I dunno, can just remember a few games being played at U13 level in November
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1291 - 22/05/2026 16:43:11
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Replying To Viking66: "There is a Rackard League District tournament since last year. Agree we need more winter hurling in the September to Christmas period, in more agegroups than just u12. It hasnt done Clare any harm, and they are running them the last 4 years I think." I suppose you would have to work winter hurling around the following though
County semi-finals and finals at underage level
Rackard League - Schools + District competitions
Secondary schools competitions
ASH
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1291 - 22/05/2026 16:44:59
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