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Replying To wicklowsupport: "I am always careful when talking about individuals as i appreciate these individuals are filling a role in an amateur capacity and can walk away or choose not be involved for a myriad of reasons not related to football. Having said that I can't understand why Kevin O'Brien has left the pitch; pardon the pun. Here is a man who is arguable Wicklow's greatest ever footballer. A man who was brought in from the cold by Micko when he arrived. A man who restored pride and a sense of hope when he was manager of various underage teams. To me he was the obvious choice to take the senior manager's job when Davy Burke resigned. Yet, not only did he not only get the senior job, he's been allowed to go at a time when as a county we are in bad need of people like him. In another post, i agreed about how we shoot ourselves in the foot, this to me is another example of us shooting ourselves in the foot. I'm not living in the county and i may be jumping to conclusions: is this internal politics? Especially when we see the calibre of manager currently managing the intercounty football teams in the county." Apart from earlier managers, we now have a situation where the last 3 senior inter county managers have just walked away mid term and with Mr Kelly, it was mid season. Whatever about the latest one, Davy Burke and his immediate predecessor John Evans had good cv's. And then Kevin with 17's and u'20s. Why did they break away ? Simple question. Somebody knows the answer. Do we need a kind of management/ selectorial panel of say 5/6 people with complete control of all football teams from U17's up ? These people would have the power to thrash out training, coaching, S&C, mental conditioning etc with at least a 5 yr plan. The only input the county board would have would be to provide the resources and funding. None of this thing of having to prostrate themselves in front of a county board every twelve months, many of whom have none or very little in the way of running anything. This is revolutionary I know. But desperate times call for desperate measures. 140 yrs of mediocrity. What's to lose ?? Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 11/04/2022 14:25:55 2410540 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "Apart from earlier managers, we now have a situation where the last 3 senior inter county managers have just walked away mid term and with Mr Kelly, it was mid season. Whatever about the latest one, Davy Burke and his immediate predecessor John Evans had good cv's. And then Kevin with 17's and u'20s. Why did they break away ? Simple question. Somebody knows the answer. Do we need a kind of management/ selectorial panel of say 5/6 people with complete control of all football teams from U17's up ? These people would have the power to thrash out training, coaching, S&C, mental conditioning etc with at least a 5 yr plan. The only input the county board would have would be to provide the resources and funding. None of this thing of having to prostrate themselves in front of a county board every twelve months, many of whom have none or very little in the way of running anything. This is revolutionary I know. But desperate times call for desperate measures. 140 yrs of mediocrity. What's to lose ??" It is a hard question to answer. Something makes me think that it is money; money is the reason Davy Burke left. I don't have any evidence but he is an ambitious guy who was making progress and felt it wasn't been enabled to push on. It is hard to see where we are generating our revenue. No stadium rights sold - other counties do this. No supporter club/major fundraising - other counties do it. I could be wrong. All i can say definitively we won't progress unless we change what we are doing. Hard to see though. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 11/04/2022 16:51:10 2410566 Link
Change is needed. The current management of the u20's and seniors has to go for starters. Both teams have been poorly managed this year. As I said previously, Kevin O'Brien and Jonathan Daniel have to be top of the list. The county board also needs change. This year has been a fiasco, both underage and senior, both hurling and football. It's almost as if the county board doesnt want the county teams to be a success. OldSchoolRules (Australia) - Posts: 10 - 12/04/2022 10:14:26 2410624 Link
Replying To OldSchoolRules: "Change is needed. The current management of the u20's and seniors has to go for starters. Both teams have been poorly managed this year. As I said previously, Kevin O'Brien and Jonathan Daniel have to be top of the list. The county board also needs change. This year has been a fiasco, both underage and senior, both hurling and football. It's almost as if the county board doesnt want the county teams to be a success." Good luck with that thought, OldSchoolRules. The problem here is that the majority of veterans and diehards who make up our county board and it's committees firmly and fervently believe that they are irreplaceable. I kid you not. They have devoted their lifetimes to mediocrity but can't see anything wrong. They run a nice little ship financially and the clubs are happy, or so it appears. 140yrs of underachieving has bred this mindset of being content with thinking they have done their best. And woe betide any outsider or interloper who tries to upset this particular applecart. The byeways of our county are littered with the corpses of those who tried to improve matters. They are tolerated for a while and then somehow they will be undermined and discarded, and back to the same old same old. We are where we are and don't really deserve any better until there is a major shake up throughout the entire GAA community within the county. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 12/04/2022 13:32:24 2410663 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "Good luck with that thought, OldSchoolRules. The problem here is that the majority of veterans and diehards who make up our county board and it's committees firmly and fervently believe that they are irreplaceable. I kid you not. They have devoted their lifetimes to mediocrity but can't see anything wrong. They run a nice little ship financially and the clubs are happy, or so it appears. 140yrs of underachieving has bred this mindset of being content with thinking they have done their best. And woe betide any outsider or interloper who tries to upset this particular applecart. The byeways of our county are littered with the corpses of those who tried to improve matters. They are tolerated for a while and then somehow they will be undermined and discarded, and back to the same old same old. We are where we are and don't really deserve any better until there is a major shake up throughout the entire GAA community within the county. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime." I'm not having a go at you and there is probably a great deal of truth in what you say but when you read it in those terms, it is quite depressing. Fifteen years ago it looked like we were finally getting our act together, fast forward and i think we have wasted all that enthusasism that was built up during the period when Micko was on board - all the children wearing the Wicklow jersey etc. Now it seems we are happy to be in the 2nd tier. It is actually the lack of ambition that is hard to take as oppose to not winning something. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 13/04/2022 10:29:09 2410787 Link
Replying To wicklowsupport: "I'm not having a go at you and there is probably a great deal of truth in what you say but when you read it in those terms, it is quite depressing. Fifteen years ago it looked like we were finally getting our act together, fast forward and i think we have wasted all that enthusasism that was built up during the period when Micko was on board - all the children wearing the Wicklow jersey etc. Now it seems we are happy to be in the 2nd tier. It is actually the lack of ambition that is hard to take as oppose to not winning something." I have or had no intention of intruding on anyones sensitivities when I put the piece together, Wicklowsupport. I simply told it as I see and have seen it over the course of my lifetime. Too many false dawns. Even when we had good teams, in the 70s and 80s even into the 90s, we never had enough really quality players any one time to get us over the line. Some of what happened in games we should have won in those days, you couldn't make it up. We never seemed to get the rub of the green, or of anything else either. Some mind blowing decisions on the sideline. Once we brought on a teenager - admittedly one who later became one of our finest - and left one of our best ever footballers on the line. As I said, too numerous to mention. I have always believed that during the undoubted glory days of the Micke era, that we took our eyes off the juvenile scene. Unbelievably, at the end of that wonderful run, we were further back down the pecking order with minor and u21. Look it up. I think the results speak for themselves. No, to me, we are so far behind that it will take a revolution within the county to make the necessary strides to get us even close to Div2, never mind the top table. Hopefully I will be proved wrong, and if I am, there will be nobody happier to say I was Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 13/04/2022 19:03:44 2410893 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "I have or had no intention of intruding on anyones sensitivities when I put the piece together, Wicklowsupport. I simply told it as I see and have seen it over the course of my lifetime. Too many false dawns. Even when we had good teams, in the 70s and 80s even into the 90s, we never had enough really quality players any one time to get us over the line. Some of what happened in games we should have won in those days, you couldn't make it up. We never seemed to get the rub of the green, or of anything else either. Some mind blowing decisions on the sideline. Once we brought on a teenager - admittedly one who later became one of our finest - and left one of our best ever footballers on the line. As I said, too numerous to mention. I have always believed that during the undoubted glory days of the Micke era, that we took our eyes off the juvenile scene. Unbelievably, at the end of that wonderful run, we were further back down the pecking order with minor and u21. Look it up. I think the results speak for themselves. No, to me, we are so far behind that it will take a revolution within the county to make the necessary strides to get us even close to Div2, never mind the top table. Hopefully I will be proved wrong, and if I am, there will be nobody happier to say I was" I agree with you that we took our eye off the ball at juvenile level during the Micko era and instead of capitalising on young people having an interest in playing gaelic football we lost that opportunity. I do believe that there's been a big effort in this area but again as you quite rightly point out; we are so far behind that we are struggling to catchup. In order to try and close this gap, we need to change a number of things but this is where we seem to be running into problems; these changes require further investment - money and changes in mindset and approach but again it seems as a county we don't want to go this extra mile. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 14/04/2022 09:33:51 2410925 Link
Replying To wicklowsupport: "I agree with you that we took our eye off the ball at juvenile level during the Micko era and instead of capitalising on young people having an interest in playing gaelic football we lost that opportunity. I do believe that there's been a big effort in this area but again as you quite rightly point out; we are so far behind that we are struggling to catchup. In order to try and close this gap, we need to change a number of things but this is where we seem to be running into problems; these changes require further investment - money and changes in mindset and approach but again it seems as a county we don't want to go this extra mile." I agree we were since ive been in WW and I believe we are still taking our eye off the ball a juvenile level wicklowsupport. The underage development is the future of WW GAA, so there needs to be a lot of effort being put in. Whether at u14 to minor throughout the years i noticed mangers/selectors picking majority of their own or neighbouring clubs to form the panels for county. im actually dumbfounded by this carry on. This doesn't help future growth. One positive i noticed is a spread of clubs at minor level this year, so maybe theres a change happening. I knew a few young lads very good footballers overlooked, for what reason im not sure, over players with lesser ability at young age groups at u15 and u16 level. These players wont return to GAA seriously if they are dropped at such a young age. Perhaps whats needed is a juvenile A and B championship so counties can have 2 panels so players dont fall away. StrandedinWW (Wicklow) - Posts: 20 - 14/04/2022 12:55:06 2410975 Link
Replying To StrandedinWW: "I agree we were since ive been in WW and I believe we are still taking our eye off the ball a juvenile level wicklowsupport. The underage development is the future of WW GAA, so there needs to be a lot of effort being put in. Whether at u14 to minor throughout the years i noticed mangers/selectors picking majority of their own or neighbouring clubs to form the panels for county. im actually dumbfounded by this carry on. This doesn't help future growth. One positive i noticed is a spread of clubs at minor level this year, so maybe theres a change happening. I knew a few young lads very good footballers overlooked, for what reason im not sure, over players with lesser ability at young age groups at u15 and u16 level. These players wont return to GAA seriously if they are dropped at such a young age. Perhaps whats needed is a juvenile A and B championship so counties can have 2 panels so players dont fall away." If that type of behaviour is going on then it should be stamped out. Players need to becselected on merit. I think this idea that every young player develops at the same time is rubbish. There are examples of players who have played and won senior all irelands but didn't play underage. I agree there should be more juvenile championship if there is a demand. I'm not living locally but based upon what i read here; i would be concerned that clubs are not interested in more games at juvenile level. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 14/04/2022 16:59:29 2411033 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a ……? I am going to say this one more time. Until the clubs decide that Wicklow have to improve at inter county level and take concrete steps to make that happen, we will remain on the same old merry- go - round. I was once an enthusiastic follower of our inter county teams. Followed them all over the country. But, half a century later, countless false dawns, countless "games we should have won'" due to bad decision making on the line and a myriad other excuses, I have to admit that my appetite for watching us throwing away games has waned, disappeared almost. And this has happened at all levels. I could name many specific games but it's best not to. However hope springs eternal and no doubt I will be pulled back when again we have a team that looks the part. When and if that happens I will be first in through the gate. And before I get attacked here again for not being involved in trying to change the system - I have been that soldier. 140 years and very little in the way of silverware. What is the one constant throughout all this ?? I'll leave this for greater brains than mine to answer." Nailed it. dubarra (Wicklow) - Posts: 541 - 17/04/2022 14:41:19 2411314 Link
Replying To dubarra: "Nailed it." A simple question with maybe not such a simple answer. How many of the players who were involved in the 2021 County Senior Hurling Final were playing in the last Christy Ring games ?? This should be a easy one for you , Hurling Nut. This should be interesting. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 18/04/2022 09:28:28 2411457 Link
Very quiet build up in advance of Sunday's championship first round against Laois. What are peoples' opinion on the game? I feel as though i am grasping at straws a bit by listing home advantage as a positive. Sadly it didn't help us a great deal in the recent nfl game against Laois. Having said that we should have a chance considering Laois were relegated along with ourselves in the league. Best of luck to players and management. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 19/04/2022 12:09:20 2411536 Link
Replying To wicklowsupport: "Very quiet build up in advance of Sunday's championship first round against Laois. What are peoples' opinion on the game? I feel as though i am grasping at straws a bit by listing home advantage as a positive. Sadly it didn't help us a great deal in the recent nfl game against Laois. Having said that we should have a chance considering Laois were relegated along with ourselves in the league. Best of luck to players and management." Best of luck to all involved but I don't hold out much hope for a win unfortunately...I hope I am wrong. The match between the two in the league probably isn't much of a good indicator given that we had just lost our manager the week before. stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 124 - 20/04/2022 12:40:23 2411777 Link
Well done to the minor footballers tonight. A come from behind win usually doesn't happen for Wicklow teams. Onto a home quarter final now. Does anyone know the opposition? stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 124 - 20/04/2022 21:28:36 2411955 Link
Congrats to last nights u17 team on a good win. I don't know who they play next and there will be tougher battles but, keep up the good work lads. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 21/04/2022 08:37:51 2411973 Link
Replying To Freethinker: "Congrats to last nights u17 team on a good win. I don't know who they play next and there will be tougher battles but, keep up the good work lads." Westmeath away next Wednesday in a preliminary 1/4. Not exactly sure how the draw works. Wicklow, Carlow, and Wexford were in a 3 team group and they are playing the 3rd placed teams from the two 4 team groups. That will leave 6 teams so maybe Dublin and Kildare (winners of the 4 team groups) are into the 1/2 finals and winners of the preliminary 1/4 finals will play second place in the 4 team groups (Laois and Longford) TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 51 - 21/04/2022 11:39:25 2412038 Link
Wicklow vs Laois. Quality wise, its like 2 bald men fighting over a comb. sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2897 - 22/04/2022 09:22:19 2412192 Link
This is a game that Wicklow should aim to win. As they say winning becomes a habit just like losing can. We are at home. We are playing a team at our level not a team from division 1 or 2. It is important that we win to offer some encouragement to our young players. A win on Sunday would soften the blow of relegation, give the team another game in Leinster before the Tailteann cup begins. I hope the players and management take the Tailteann cup seriously and we put our best possible team out in the competition. I am not a fan of this competition but once we are in it, we should try to win it and see where it brings us. wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1909 - 22/04/2022 09:42:19 2412194 Link
2-14 to 0-5 behind in the hurling at half time. Its actually eeally sad at this point. sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2897 - 23/04/2022 13:19:56 2412472 Link
Replying To sponger: "2-14 to 0-5 behind in the hurling at half time. Its actually eeally sad at this point." I asked a question last week, nobody picked up on it. I will put it out there again. How many players from last years county final lined out on todays game ?? Next question - Why didn't they ?? Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 989 - 23/04/2022 14:18:02 2412486 Link