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Wicklow GAA thread

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Replying To stringfellohawk: "Well done to all 6 players who made it onto the Tailtean team of the year, richly deserved for all" I agree. Well done to Malachy Stone, Eoin Murtagh, Dean Healy, Padraig O'Toole, Oisin McGraynor and Kevin Quinn. Malachy Stone and Dean Healy are winning awards for the second year. Six players on the Tailteann Cup team of the year is a good representation. I'm delighted for Dean Healy who is getting to enjoy these types of awards and winning a cup in Croke Park after so many years putting in top class performances for the county without much recognition or rewards. I hope these players can enjoy tonight and that they can kick on and achieve as much next season which will be more difficult test but that's a conversation for another day. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 16/10/2026 13:59:05 2697544 Link
Replying To Albundy19: "Congratulations to An Tochar BUT! That's the worst county final display by a management and squad in Wicklow championship History (at least in the last 40 years). A few of the teams that Roundwood played and scrapped over would have given a better final performance and definitely wouldn't have rolled over as easy as that Blessington outfit." If your analysis is correct then it doesn't say much for the clubs they defeated. I agree that Blessington crumbled in the second half but on the other hand, An Tóchar were excellent. In recent years, I've accused them of not producing on the big occasions so I'm reluctant to take from their performance when they do produce what people expect from them. We'll find out how good Dunlavin and An Tóchar perform in the Leinster club championship which will allow us to reassess if they are outstanding teams or if they are the best of an average lot. I hope they can proved it is the former. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 16/10/2026 14:03:02 2697545 Link
Replying To Albundy19: "Congratulations to An Tochar BUT! That's the worst county final display by a management and squad in Wicklow championship History (at least in the last 40 years). A few of the teams that Roundwood played and scrapped over would have given a better final performance and definitely wouldn't have rolled over as easy as that Blessington outfit." There is a rumour doing the rounds that the entire Blessington management team resigned during the week. True or false, I have no idea. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2367 - 16/10/2026 14:42:03 2697558 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "There is a rumour doing the rounds that the entire Blessington management team resigned during the week. True or false, I have no idea." I think it might be true, although I saw it on social media and it is hard to know if anything on it is true or not these days. It is very disappointing to get to a county final and not perform as they'd hope. On the flipside, they were in the relegation playoff last season. Overall this year's championship was very competitive with some good team and individual performances along the way. I think An Tóchar are worthy winners as they performed consistently throughout the year and produced their best performance in the final. If someone had told me that they'd come from behind and win against Rathnew and AGB early this year, I wouldn't have believed it. My one fear about the teams I saw this season is how open these teams are defensively. I state this as someone who hated the defensive style of play employed by teams in recent years. I'd hope Dunlavin and An Tóchar don't leave as many open spaces when they play in Leinster club championship as better teams might take advantage. I think if they can keep it a bit tighter than in the local championship and can play to their attacking strength then they might go deeper than previous clubs in the provincial championship. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 16/10/2026 15:41:00 2697569 Link
Replying To wicklowsupport: "If your analysis is correct then it doesn't say much for the clubs they defeated. I agree that Blessington crumbled in the second half but on the other hand, An Tóchar were excellent. In recent years, I've accused them of not producing on the big occasions so I'm reluctant to take from their performance when they do produce what people expect from them. We'll find out how good Dunlavin and An Tóchar perform in the Leinster club championship which will allow us to reassess if they are outstanding teams or if they are the best of an average lot. I hope they can proved it is the former." If my analysis is correct! Is it not the most one sided final in Wicklow championship history in living memory. Albundy19 (Wicklow) - Posts: 160 - 16/10/2026 16:08:22 2697576 Link
Replying To Albundy19: "If my analysis is correct! Is it not the most one sided final in Wicklow championship history in living memory." Yes, winning margin is the largest in a long time. Is the winning margin a reflection of how poor Blessington played as you suggest? Or due to how well An Tochar played. I'd prefer to give An Tochar credit for how they played as oppose to Blessington's underperforming but it is a matter of opinion. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 16/10/2026 23:17:19 2697600 Link
Congratulations to Dean Healy who was named Tailteann Cup player of the year winner last night. He richly deserves this award. He is an outstanding servant to the county and his form with the county team in recent seasons be lies his age. Hopefully there are a couple more years in his legs as he will be vital to the cause next season. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 17/10/2026 12:42:39 2697630 Link
Some great news stories in Wicklow this week Well done to the tailteann cups team of the year winners and well done to An Tochar too A point that won't be made on here by the experts is well done to the underage coaches who helped both sides in their success Obviously well done to An Tochar internally on raring such a fine footballing side but also well done to the garden county academy and the Wicklow underage set ups. Tochar providing players to the county the past decade has benefited both themselves and Wicklow. A great template Someone pointed out to me too that that the tailteann team was full of players who came through the academy too The keyboard warriors will be sick greyhound (Wicklow) - Posts: 78 - 18/10/2026 10:42:28 2697713 Link
Replying To greyhound: "Some great news stories in Wicklow this week Well done to the tailteann cups team of the year winners and well done to An Tochar too A point that won't be made on here by the experts is well done to the underage coaches who helped both sides in their success Obviously well done to An Tochar internally on raring such a fine footballing side but also well done to the garden county academy and the Wicklow underage set ups. Tochar providing players to the county the past decade has benefited both themselves and Wicklow. A great template Someone pointed out to me too that that the tailteann team was full of players who came through the academy too The keyboard warriors will be sick" Not many keyboard warriors on here, in my opinion. There are many on here who express their opinions on many things, and that is what a forum is supposed to exist for. There has been some criticism on here about the fruits of our academy over the years and, in truth, most of them are pretty underwhelmed by the results from the academy, in the main. Fact, we are way behind the top counties at juvenile up to u20 level. That is an unarguable fact. We are in pool 3 in most draws. Us, Carlow, Wexford Waterford and Kilkenny, if they enter. I have watched many juvenile matches over the last few years due mainly to the fact that my grandchildren and those of my friends were playing. And, the successful teams are those where the actual clubs are putting Trojan efforts into coaching, training etc. So, sorry if you feel that these comments make me a "keyboard warrior". And by the way, I welcome your contribution to the forum. I would love to see more interaction on here so we can gauge the sentiments of more Gaels throughout the county. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2367 - 18/10/2026 14:58:06 2697738 Link
An Tóchar fully deserved their title and it has been coming. Their win over Rathnew was the turning point. Roundwood didnt just need to win a knockout match, they needed to make a comment about their bottle and their ability to win games they shouldnt win. I think they benefitted a lot more from that 1-point win than AGB did in thrashing Bray on the same day. Might have been the mental difference between the teams in the semi final. I agree that Blesso were very poor in the final but they have already won 2 championships this decade and they dont owe their supporters anything more. I think it was just written in the stars that this was Roundwoods time at last. They always had the talent to win a championship, maybe even 2 or 3, but they needed to prove they had the bottle. They had done that in the run up to the final and they looked like a team that had broken free from the failings of before. The difference in support on the day was massive (I dont think thats a failing by Blessington but the natural way of things, the Roundwood support was just hungrier in 2026), and I think that goes back to what I said about this being written in the stars. I think Gallachoir should have been put on Fee, especially when it was clear that Fee was in the form of his life, but it was odd to see Gallachoir going off early, so maybe Blesso's hand had already been forced. Roundwood are a bit small and light and that would be my big concern for them ahead of a Leinster campaign but I think theyre the most talented team to represent us for a while so lets hope they do us proud, and theyre capable of it. They have my full support. Bowl (Wicklow) - Posts: 35 - 18/10/2026 15:40:06 2697740 Link
Congrats to our 6 TC team of the year players and special congrats to Dean on his player of the tournament award. Well deserved and earned. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2367 - 18/10/2026 16:39:16 2697749 Link
Replying To greyhound: "Some great news stories in Wicklow this week Well done to the tailteann cups team of the year winners and well done to An Tochar too A point that won't be made on here by the experts is well done to the underage coaches who helped both sides in their success Obviously well done to An Tochar internally on raring such a fine footballing side but also well done to the garden county academy and the Wicklow underage set ups. Tochar providing players to the county the past decade has benefited both themselves and Wicklow. A great template Someone pointed out to me too that that the tailteann team was full of players who came through the academy too The keyboard warriors will be sick" Well done An Tochar. Blesso disappointing on the day, minor didn't go Blesso way either. When you look down through the An Tochar team and even their bench they now have a very strong panel. Some subs on there have played u20 county and would get on any other team which is a good headache for them. StrandedinWW (Wicklow) - Posts: 66 - 18/10/2026 21:31:18 2697803 Link
Replying To greyhound: "Some great news stories in Wicklow this week Well done to the tailteann cups team of the year winners and well done to An Tochar too A point that won't be made on here by the experts is well done to the underage coaches who helped both sides in their success Obviously well done to An Tochar internally on raring such a fine footballing side but also well done to the garden county academy and the Wicklow underage set ups. Tochar providing players to the county the past decade has benefited both themselves and Wicklow. A great template Someone pointed out to me too that that the tailteann team was full of players who came through the academy too The keyboard warriors will be sick" Good to read you input. I'd imagine that most of the work which resulted in An Tóchar's victory against Blessington is predominantly due to the club's coaching structures, however, I agree their players benefits from playing with the county especially under the current management team and experience of playing in big games for the county team. It might encourage players from other clubs to join county setups. Personally, I think our senior football team benefits from an external management team as I don't think there are enough good managers-coaches within the county to do the same job. My reason for stating this opinion is our underage teams are underperforming and have underperformed at minor and u-20 level in recent years. The last good minor/u-20 team was the team managed by Kevin O'Brien containing Kevin Quinn, Matthew Ging, Eoin Darcy, Malachy Stones etc who are now performing so well at club and county level. Since then, we've struggled at minor and u-20 level. People including me, question leaving a head of development in place when our underage teams have been underperforming and continues to underperform in the Leinster championship. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2296 - 19/10/2026 09:50:02 2697832 Link
Replying To greyhound: "Some great news stories in Wicklow this week Well done to the tailteann cups team of the year winners and well done to An Tochar too A point that won't be made on here by the experts is well done to the underage coaches who helped both sides in their success Obviously well done to An Tochar internally on raring such a fine footballing side but also well done to the garden county academy and the Wicklow underage set ups. Tochar providing players to the county the past decade has benefited both themselves and Wicklow. A great template Someone pointed out to me too that that the tailteann team was full of players who came through the academy too The keyboard warriors will be sick" Here here Well done to all the underage coaches. Have helped to build some fine players that we are all enjoying Some "experts" on here talking about winning at underage Alas that is why they are on forums and not on football fields jokeshop (Wicklow) - Posts: 33 - 19/10/2026 15:35:59 2697910 Link
Big congratulation to An Tochar. They have emphatically answered the questions many of us on here posed over the last two years on their ability to get the job done on the big day. Not only did they do it, but they done it with a swagger. I hope they show up well now in the Leinster Championship. In my playing days ,I always found An Tochar to be a progressive club- great facilities long before other clubs caught up - Clubhouse, Bar, Floodlights etc. They also played a running and handpassing brand of football long before that became the norm. Separately, I echo the comments on managerial/coaching appointments and why certain names are always in the frame for jobs when they have had zero track record of success. Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - Posts: 204 - 19/10/2026 16:22:34 2697917 Link
Replying To jokeshop: "Here here Well done to all the underage coaches. Have helped to build some fine players that we are all enjoying Some "experts" on here talking about winning at underage Alas that is why they are on forums and not on football fields" I think the point about coaches is being missed here. Yes, underage coach's are doing a great job - for their clubs. And that is showing throughout the various underage championships. Any criticism of the academys are strictly stating facts. We, as a county, at underage, are no longer anywhere near the top tier in Leinster, where twenty plus years ago, we were regularly able to compete with them. That is an undeniable fact. Just look back on the records. Our present manager, Oisin McC and his team have really improved the present squad and the results are obvious, with a TC cup and 6 players on the team of the year and player of the year. But all these players got their grounding in the game from the tremendous coaching from their clubs - and I know many of them. Your comment about people being on forums instead of playing fields, well, that's your opinion and you are entitled to it. I, for one, am in my twilight years and would look a bit ridiculous on a playing field, in any capacity. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2367 - 19/10/2026 17:28:57 2697930 Link