National Forum

Carlow GAA thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To CARPS:  "Yes, and that's a great thing. It means their football is super competitive. Which is why they have such great county teams. Unlike Carlow, were one club basically has a 50-50 chance of winning at every grade, every year.

As for your point, about urban areas, that's pure nonsense. As Kerry proves. Four of the eight senior clubs were from Killarney or Tralee, this year: Crokes, Na Gaeil, Spa and Kerins. As Fossa will almost certainly win the IFC, there will most likely also be four next year. Just three Killarney, one Tralee, rather than two each.

Combined the two towns have 40,000 people. Kerry, as a whole, has 156,000. Which means they provided 50% of the senior clubs, this year off 25% of the population. And will probably do the same next year. Even if Fossa lost to Milltown, it will still be 38%.

In Carlow, the town provides 12% of the senior clubs, off 43% of the population.

All you're doing here is proving my point.

Sport is all about rivalry. Tralee and Killarney have great rivalries (as does Kilkenny city, for example, in hurling). This fees into great county teams. Carlow town doesn't have any anymore. Because one club has sucked up the whole place."
I'm not disagreeing with your overall point, I agree carlow town should have more senior football teams, its how we get there is where the disagreement comes in, I'd like to see two large town clubs you want to see a fair distribution between the 3 current clubs, I don't think you can introduce catchment areas at this stage and I don't see it getting past a vote as it would have consequences in other areas too where clubs are maybe getting players from areas that might actually be within someone else's natural area. I'd like to see something that works better for carlow, I think young lads in the town that don't play with eire og should have the opportunity to play senior if they are good enough

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 29/10/2023 19:25:10    2510868

Link

Replying To CARPS:  "also, Barrowsider, about the 12% of the town being "non-Irish."

I see in The Kerryman, this week, that the figure for *County* Kerry is 10%. We can assume that would be significantly higher in Tralee and Killarney.

Also, why do we assume that the kids of "non-Irish" won't play GAA? To give one example, Chiedozie Ogbene - born in Nigeria, and now a Premier League soccer player - was a star footballer (up to under-21) in Cork, with Nemo Rangers.

Perhaps GAA clubs just need to make more efforts to attract them?

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/news/non-irish-account-for-10-per-cent-of-kerry-population-cso-reveal/a448573798.html"
And yes as I said in a previous post the gaa needs to work hard on the new irish that might be a better use of gdas gpos etc

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 29/10/2023 20:56:12    2510882

Link

Replying To CARPS:  "also, Barrowsider, about the 12% of the town being "non-Irish."

I see in The Kerryman, this week, that the figure for *County* Kerry is 10%. We can assume that would be significantly higher in Tralee and Killarney.

Also, why do we assume that the kids of "non-Irish" won't play GAA? To give one example, Chiedozie Ogbene - born in Nigeria, and now a Premier League soccer player - was a star footballer (up to under-21) in Cork, with Nemo Rangers.

Perhaps GAA clubs just need to make more efforts to attract them?

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/news/non-irish-account-for-10-per-cent-of-kerry-population-cso-reveal/a448573798.html"
Parents (dads mostly) will push their kids into sports that they themselves played while younger, or follow, which in the case of those born overseas who had kids in Ireland most defenitely does not include GAA.
Its beyond belief the extent to which Irelands demograph is changing and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that if the current rate of immigration continues, within a few generations Irelands population will be predominantly "new irish" so I do agree that in order for the GAA to thrive in this new ireland they'll have to get kids from new demographics involved.

Easier said than done though, and id imagine that global sports like soccer and to a lesser extent rugby will be the main beneficiaries of these changes.

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1942 - 30/10/2023 00:40:23    2510888

Link

Replying To Galway9801:  "Parents (dads mostly) will push their kids into sports that they themselves played while younger, or follow, which in the case of those born overseas who had kids in Ireland most defenitely does not include GAA.
Its beyond belief the extent to which Irelands demograph is changing and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that if the current rate of immigration continues, within a few generations Irelands population will be predominantly "new irish" so I do agree that in order for the GAA to thrive in this new ireland they'll have to get kids from new demographics involved.

Easier said than done though, and id imagine that global sports like soccer and to a lesser extent rugby will be the main beneficiaries of these changes."
I don't like to see a bit of casual racism or 'dog whistle' comments thrown about and a GAA forum is certainly not the place for,it. I can only respectfully assume it was not the poster's intention to do so. People from this country emigrated fleeing persecution, hunger seeking a better life and equally people new to this country who want to get on and contribute are more than welcome in my book. I hope we will see children of some of these on Carlow teams in the future, as elsewhere, including representing this country.

Bainisteoir (National) - Posts: 564 - 30/10/2023 23:00:02    2510997

Link

Replying To Bainisteoir:  "I don't like to see a bit of casual racism or 'dog whistle' comments thrown about and a GAA forum is certainly not the place for,it. I can only respectfully assume it was not the poster's intention to do so. People from this country emigrated fleeing persecution, hunger seeking a better life and equally people new to this country who want to get on and contribute are more than welcome in my book. I hope we will see children of some of these on Carlow teams in the future, as elsewhere, including representing this country."
Well said bainisteoir, far too much of it pervading our society, at this time especially. We need to be vocal in our condemnation of this horrible attitude to these unfortunate people because remaining silent is interpreted by these racists as tacit approval for their disgusting comments.

Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 295 - 31/10/2023 11:04:12    2511018

Link

Replying To Bainisteoir:  "I don't like to see a bit of casual racism or 'dog whistle' comments thrown about and a GAA forum is certainly not the place for,it. I can only respectfully assume it was not the poster's intention to do so. People from this country emigrated fleeing persecution, hunger seeking a better life and equally people new to this country who want to get on and contribute are more than welcome in my book. I hope we will see children of some of these on Carlow teams in the future, as elsewhere, including representing this country."
Absolutely, and just to be clear my comments are certainly not directed that way, I'm just pointing out the changing challenges of recruiting young players, I see opportunity in it but it will take some extra work

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 31/10/2023 11:27:52    2511027

Link

Best of luck to Eire Og tomorrow. And congratulations to Ross Dunphy. Would be outstanding if they can beat Kilmacud, And why can't they?

Here's a question to the floor. I thought Rathvilly would win the Carlow SFC this year. I still think they would have won if Brendan Murphy had been fit for the semi final.

But in a way I'm glad it was Éire Óg, because they clearly perform better in Leinster, and it's good for Carlow to be represented well there.

I looked it up just now, and in this century, Rathvlly have only won two games in Leinster. Both against Kilkenny teams, but they have lost five (with one draw). Palatine have won one game (against Wicklow) and lost four. Old Leighlin were defeated in all three they played. Meanwhile, O'Hanrahan's won six and lost only two. But they are a Junior club now.

Why is it that Rathvilly and Palatine (and previously Old Leighlin) can match Éire Óg in Carlow. But can't make any impact in Leinster? And why can Éire Óg do it, and the Blues before them (with an even better ratio)?

Is there some weird magic potion that only town teams possess? Interested in people's thoughts.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 742 - 03/11/2023 11:51:56    2511403

Link

Replying To CARPS:  "Best of luck to Eire Og tomorrow. And congratulations to Ross Dunphy. Would be outstanding if they can beat Kilmacud, And why can't they?

Here's a question to the floor. I thought Rathvilly would win the Carlow SFC this year. I still think they would have won if Brendan Murphy had been fit for the semi final.

But in a way I'm glad it was Éire Óg, because they clearly perform better in Leinster, and it's good for Carlow to be represented well there.

I looked it up just now, and in this century, Rathvlly have only won two games in Leinster. Both against Kilkenny teams, but they have lost five (with one draw). Palatine have won one game (against Wicklow) and lost four. Old Leighlin were defeated in all three they played. Meanwhile, O'Hanrahan's won six and lost only two. But they are a Junior club now.

Why is it that Rathvilly and Palatine (and previously Old Leighlin) can match Éire Óg in Carlow. But can't make any impact in Leinster? And why can Éire Óg do it, and the Blues before them (with an even better ratio)?

Is there some weird magic potion that only town teams possess? Interested in people's thoughts."
The question about not performing well at Leinster level has been much talked about in Palatine and Rathvilly as well as OL for many years.
There is no doubt that Eire Og and O 'Hanrahan's have had great days.
I think that Eire Og had a benchmark with the late Bobby Miller instilling a 'can do' attitude through serious training and multiple practice matches against top notch opposition thus instilling confidence in Eire Og. They got on a roll and saw the county final as the minor goal with Leinster being the real goal.
Eire Og have continued in that vein.
The Blues had a seriously good team and had one of the best trainers in Michael Dempsey who again followed a familiar pattern with training hard mixed with practice matches instilling confidence.
Of course the Blues wanted to emulate what Eire Og had been doing and win a Leinster too ! That was also a big motivation !
Why have the rest of the clubs not performed?
I think its a mixture of things. Firstly, Leinster is now a serious competition for all clubs and all want to perform at top level.
No county takes any other county champions for granted and that's one reason. Secondly, some clubs in Carlow have NOT put in the required effort after county finals and have viewed winning Carlow as the full achievement for the year. Thirdly, I believe that some clubs have not had the required level of confidence to succeed and so have suffered defeats. When defeated then, clubs have gone back into their shell and consoled themselves with winning the county and have further dented their prospects of doing better the next time they win the county.
Winning the county is a great achievement but in this day and age, some clubs have their aim set higher.
In Eire Og's instance they have former players from successful teams driving on current players as well.
As for Saturday night, well.. let's wait and see !

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1852 - 03/11/2023 14:37:44    2511441

Link

Replying To carlowman:  "The question about not performing well at Leinster level has been much talked about in Palatine and Rathvilly as well as OL for many years.
There is no doubt that Eire Og and O 'Hanrahan's have had great days.
I think that Eire Og had a benchmark with the late Bobby Miller instilling a 'can do' attitude through serious training and multiple practice matches against top notch opposition thus instilling confidence in Eire Og. They got on a roll and saw the county final as the minor goal with Leinster being the real goal.
Eire Og have continued in that vein.
The Blues had a seriously good team and had one of the best trainers in Michael Dempsey who again followed a familiar pattern with training hard mixed with practice matches instilling confidence.
Of course the Blues wanted to emulate what Eire Og had been doing and win a Leinster too ! That was also a big motivation !
Why have the rest of the clubs not performed?
I think its a mixture of things. Firstly, Leinster is now a serious competition for all clubs and all want to perform at top level.
No county takes any other county champions for granted and that's one reason. Secondly, some clubs in Carlow have NOT put in the required effort after county finals and have viewed winning Carlow as the full achievement for the year. Thirdly, I believe that some clubs have not had the required level of confidence to succeed and so have suffered defeats. When defeated then, clubs have gone back into their shell and consoled themselves with winning the county and have further dented their prospects of doing better the next time they win the county.
Winning the county is a great achievement but in this day and age, some clubs have their aim set higher.
In Eire Og's instance they have former players from successful teams driving on current players as well.
As for Saturday night, well.. let's wait and see !"
Sorry, I forgot to include Éire Óg's record: 9 wins, 1 draw and 7 defeats.

As for your points. I can kind of understand Old Leighlin being happy enough to win Carlow. But Rathvilly? They have 9 titles in the last 40 years. So they are hardly some plucky underdog. They really should be trying to press on.

As for Pal, if the Blues were inspired by Éire Óg you'd think would be too? Just out the road? Although, to be fair, they've come close a few times to getting good wins.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 742 - 03/11/2023 15:39:08    2511450

Link

Replying To CARPS:  "Best of luck to Eire Og tomorrow. And congratulations to Ross Dunphy. Would be outstanding if they can beat Kilmacud, And why can't they?

Here's a question to the floor. I thought Rathvilly would win the Carlow SFC this year. I still think they would have won if Brendan Murphy had been fit for the semi final.

But in a way I'm glad it was Éire Óg, because they clearly perform better in Leinster, and it's good for Carlow to be represented well there.

I looked it up just now, and in this century, Rathvlly have only won two games in Leinster. Both against Kilkenny teams, but they have lost five (with one draw). Palatine have won one game (against Wicklow) and lost four. Old Leighlin were defeated in all three they played. Meanwhile, O'Hanrahan's won six and lost only two. But they are a Junior club now.

Why is it that Rathvilly and Palatine (and previously Old Leighlin) can match Éire Óg in Carlow. But can't make any impact in Leinster? And why can Éire Óg do it, and the Blues before them (with an even better ratio)?

Is there some weird magic potion that only town teams possess? Interested in people's thoughts."
I think carlowman covers it fairly well there, I would say ambition is possibly the main one, for most clubs winning the csfc is the end game, that's success. If you asked Any senior footballer in carlow what their goal with their club is, it's winning carlow, if you ask an eire og senior its winning leinster, the dream in eire og is an all Ireland and the dream in most other clubs is another carlow championship. That's not to say teams don't want to do well outside carlow but that's seen very much so as bonus territory.

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 03/11/2023 16:14:00    2511453

Link

Credit to EO on Saturday, I thought they match Crokes in most areas, but forwards just didn't show up on the night and turnovers was were the game was lost.

Actually think if that was the EO team of 2019 they win that game.

TaosHum (Carlow) - Posts: 250 - 06/11/2023 08:01:17    2511667

Link

Replying To TaosHum:  "Credit to EO on Saturday, I thought they match Crokes in most areas, but forwards just didn't show up on the night and turnovers was were the game was lost.

Actually think if that was the EO team of 2019 they win that game."
It was a poor game not an easy watch, I thought kilmacud choked eire og out of it. The physical difference between the two teams was huge, kilmacud looked to me to have plenty left in the tank, I think eire og will have to improve their conditioning if they are to advance at this level. In carlow eire og and Rathvilly are miles ahead of the rest on that side.

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 06/11/2023 09:53:32    2511683

Link

Replying To TaosHum:  "Credit to EO on Saturday, I thought they match Crokes in most areas, but forwards just didn't show up on the night and turnovers was were the game was lost.

Actually think if that was the EO team of 2019 they win that game."
They will be disappointment in that performance. They showed Crokes too much respect at times and they also lost their way in attack like you said. Missing 5/6 key players in a game such as that does not help especially when it's the all Ireland champions you are playing.

EireOgAbu (Carlow) - Posts: 21 - 06/11/2023 12:55:16    2511735

Link

It's time of the year where manager merry go round kicks in . Any one know what clubs whether Gaelic or hurling are changing management or has new management in place ?

BacksAndForwards (Wexford) - Posts: 36 - 06/11/2023 16:32:12    2511801

Link

The split season in carlow should stay. Football should become first half though to give our more competitive teams (hurlers in club and county) a better chance in leinster

MLR (Carlow) - Posts: 77 - 12/11/2023 16:53:22    2512562

Link

Replying To MLR:  "The split season in carlow should stay. Football should become first half though to give our more competitive teams (hurlers in club and county) a better chance in leinster"
Very hard on carlow county champions to compete with such a long gap. It was evident particularly in the first half that MLR were lacking competitive sharpness. Naomh Eanna had the same difficulty in their game.Challenge matches are all well and good but don't compensate for competitive action. O'Loughlins only won the kk County final a couple of weeks back. In saying that I thought MLR were the better team in the second half. Byrnes first yellow was a joke, I know the referee applied the rules but common sense should of being used. Anyway hard luck to MLR and congrats to O'Loughlins. Hopefully a good year ahead for carlow hurling.

Unusedsub (Carlow) - Posts: 95 - 12/11/2023 17:15:31    2512569

Link

Replying To MLR:  "The split season in carlow should stay. Football should become first half though to give our more competitive teams (hurlers in club and county) a better chance in leinster"
Definitely cost Rangers today, they just weren't as sharp as they needed to be.
If the County final was in the last 2-3 weeks Rangers win that game.

Skippy2 (Carlow) - Posts: 69 - 12/11/2023 18:13:31    2512578

Link

Replying To MLR:  "The split season in carlow should stay. Football should become first half though to give our more competitive teams (hurlers in club and county) a better chance in leinster"
Why would the clubs want to play hurling on dirty ground in October?

July and August are great months for the game, especially when it comes to skills. Dry pitches, sun on their backs.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 742 - 12/11/2023 18:32:44    2512581

Link

I thought it was the hurling clubs pushing to go first in the split?

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1673 - 12/11/2023 21:29:30    2512605

Link

This new split season is a mirage. The exact same pertains in carlow and lots of other counties as did before this new measure. I don't see any benefit in it at all. On the contrary it's a huge disadvantage to counties like carlow and doing nothing to promote games.

Overthebar53 (Carlow) - Posts: 295 - 12/11/2023 21:56:37    2512612

Link