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Wicklow GAA thread

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I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?

Tank (Wicklow) - Posts: 9 - 26/03/2024 05:42:10    2533785

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Replying To stringfellohawk:  "Tough campaign for us this year..did we even manage a goal in all of the games? I wonder how many of the players will be off travelling after we get knocked out of the Leinster Championship?"
We scored one goal. The worst in the whole of the four divisions.

TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 52 - 26/03/2024 09:15:47    2533795

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Replying To TopDrawer:  "We scored one goal. The worst in the whole of the four divisions."
Not only that, we let in 11 goals - the most in Div 3 anyway. Not sure if any other team conceded more in the other divisions - I doubt it.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 26/03/2024 10:00:27    2533801

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Replying To Freethinker:  "Not only that, we let in 11 goals - the most in Div 3 anyway. Not sure if any other team conceded more in the other divisions - I doubt it."
GAA League Tables had the four divisions side by side. We were at the bottom of the ladder for all the stats really.

I found it interesting that even the teams at the bottom of div 1 & 2 had scored much more than us and the other teams at the bottom of 3 & 4 even though they were losing games to the highest standard teams. This is stating the bl**din' obvious but actually getting scores is crucial to winning matches. Our one win came in an 0-9 to 0-8 match.

TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 52 - 26/03/2024 10:54:35    2533817

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Replying To Tank:  "I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?"
There are very few on here who would disagree with anything you say. Whereas my comments are not as fact based as yours, I have been saying similar for years. Our association is approaching a century and a half in existence. During that time the only consistent thing about Wicklow is that we are always on or near the bottom of the pile. We now fave a bleak financial outlook, just to exacerbate the problem. I think that, over the years, a culture has developed within the clubs in the county that we we will settle for trying to win our own internal championships, so the standards required to exceed at inter county level are rarely strived for. This has bred severe rivalry between clubs. Nothing wrong with healthy rivalry as long as it doesn't become violent, which has often been the case. The amount of incidents like the one you mentioned which have been swept under the carpet is nothing less than shameful. When clubs have broken through the mediocrity, they have been successful. Baltinglass, Rathnew, An Tochair, Tinahely and if I remember correctly Kiltegan gave Leinster a lash. And this was reflected in inter county performances, at senior level at least. Other than that we have been mediocre. The county board seem to think they are doing their best always and it's someone else's fault when we keep falling flat.I don't know how, if ever this can be changed. But I do know that if any messiah comes on the scene, they would need miraculous powers to break through the firewalls with which the levers of power are protected.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 26/03/2024 10:57:51    2533820

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Replying To Tank:  "I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?"
The Minor Hurling team should be pulled out of the championship straight away. 48 points beating against a weak county. Terrible

kodak13 (Wicklow) - Posts: 66 - 26/03/2024 13:24:09    2533866

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Replying To kodak13:  "The Minor Hurling team should be pulled out of the championship straight away. 48 points beating against a weak county. Terrible"
35 scores in 60 minutes is a score every 1.7 minutes. Allowing for puck outs, that was some scoring. Reminds me of juvenile hurling when one team had 2 or 3 bigger lads and between them would control the ball. Grab every puck out and send it back in.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 26/03/2024 15:06:19    2533903

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Replying To Freethinker:  "35 scores in 60 minutes is a score every 1.7 minutes. Allowing for puck outs, that was some scoring. Reminds me of juvenile hurling when one team had 2 or 3 bigger lads and between them would control the ball. Grab every puck out and send it back in."
That's what I don't get. If our goalie pucked out the ball 50 times and we only got one score from play? Surely our half forwards were coached on this ie they should know where the ball is going before the goalie pucks it and be first to it. Then it's man on man and at least a 50% chance of getting a score....

liam500 (Wicklow) - Posts: 175 - 26/03/2024 16:30:33    2533934

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Replying To Tank:  "I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?"
Hard to disagree with any of this. Another poster on here said recently that we are as low now as we have ever been before and I have to agree. Everyone else in Leinster has moved on, gotten their act together in some way, shape or form. Even leaving the traditional strong counties like Dublin, Kildare, Meath aside everyone else has something to lean on - Wexford are building nicely again in hurling's top tier, Carlow are Joe McDonagh champions, Louth are super competitive and progressing new stadium plans, Longford picked up the O'Byrne Cup, Westmeath won the first Tailteann cup, Laois are operating at McDonagh level in Hurling and will see themselves as strong contenders for that as well as the Tailteann cup.

In times past, even if the senior county teams were never contesting Leinster finals , we had the odd underage team or clubs that would give us a day out. Some great days were had following Rathnew , Baltinglass &, An Tochar around Leinster , where we competed as equals and often were vastly superior to the opposition. Our hurling clubs contested in the Senior club and were never disgraced. We contested an U21 final in the early 2000s against a Dublin team who included lads that would go on to greater things.

Hawkeye2 (Wicklow) - Posts: 121 - 26/03/2024 20:15:49    2533992

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Good win for the U20s last night. Some nice footballers on the team.

TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 52 - 27/03/2024 12:39:47    2534080

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Replying To TopDrawer:  "Good win for the U20s last night. Some nice footballers on the team."
A win is a win and congrats to all involved There have been many close encounters with Wexford at minor and u20 in recent times. So at least we are keeping abreast of them. I hope the team learn and improve with each game. There will be tougher assignments ahead.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 27/03/2024 13:49:27    2534092

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Replying To TopDrawer:  "Good win for the U20s last night. Some nice footballers on the team."
Watched it live on clubber. You have some excellent lads coming through. Horrible conditions for football!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11864 - 27/03/2024 14:21:17    2534097

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Replying To Tank:  "I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?"
Your well articulated contribution makes for sobering reading; the question is - will anyone in authority in Wicklow bother to acknowledge what is happen and what are they willing to do about it. To be fair, the problem in the county is a collective failure as oppose to blaming the county board all the time; this is not to say they are not to blame for some of the problems. The most damning part of your piece is the population one; we have one of the biggest populations in Leinster but the whole county is so dysfunctional that population is no advantage as a huge percentage of the county's population want nothing to do with the clubs or county teams. Our hurling crisis has reached such a point that we would be better dropping out until we get our act together or decide to concentrate on football going forward; this isn't to say that there is much to cheer about with regard to the football scene as there isn't. I remember supporters tell me back in the 90s that Baltinglass and then Rathnew's domination was bad for football in the county; I'd imagine there are some supporters who would love to have a couple of clubs leading the county's charge now. It isn't hard to decipher why we are weak at county level - we have no secondary school playing in any of the leading competitions in Leinster. Our club champions are losing to some of the weakest county champions in the Leinster club championship at senior, intermediate and junior level. We haven't had an underage team contest a provincial final since the early 2000s; at a time when the rest of Leinster is struggling. There is no manager out there who could get any more from the playing population the clubs are producing. The only thing I can think of to explain why things have got so bad is this: as other counties have become more professional we have been further exposed in terms of what we are doing wrong. Will things change? I don't see it but I live in hope or maybe I am deluded.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1910 - 27/03/2024 15:43:20    2534123

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Replying To Viking66:  "Watched it live on clubber. You have some excellent lads coming through. Horrible conditions for football!"
Great to see a good result at football. But we have seen really good under 20s of the past 5 years and rearly do many go on to the senior team. Not really sure of the reasons

InterestWicklow (Wicklow) - Posts: 5 - 28/03/2024 12:20:27    2534282

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Replying To Tank:  "I predicted the footballers would win one game and hurlers zero. And we pumped in serious money this year! That money is going to dry up very soon.

A fully prepared minor hurling team with almost all their best available players and a 30 man panel - lost by 48 points in first round of second tier Leinster competition.

People will come on here and talk about our great underage football teams in the next few weeks… Yes we will win a few matches at U17s and U20s. However please note that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate the weakest teams. The very weakest teams are all grouped together - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow (Please note Wexford and Carlow are both hurling counties! And would absolutely destroy us at hurling). I don't know how Laois got put in with us for U20s but Group 2 is clearly marked as the weak group as the winners only go to QF stage, other group winners go to SF.

This weekend Division 1 - Top 8 teams in the county. Avondale only had 15 players and played a 56 year old!! They only lost by 7 again Tinahely away - a top 4 team in the county multiple semi's and finals over past 4 years. Let that sink in - D1 - no subs - a 56 year old playing and not getting hammered. Please stop..

St Pats and Balto look to be gone. They won't drop to intermediate as the weak teams in Senior are extremely poor to put it mildly. But both have regressed significantly.

We need to start getting real, we are the worst GAA county in the country. Longford and Leitrim are close but Leitrim better football team ranking for 2025. But there is basically zero hurling in these counties. Leitrim has same population as Bray. Longford same as Greystones and Bray. Longford way better at underage football than us over past 20 years. We need to realise this instead of thinking everything is fine. At county board meetings we need to stop the "this person doing a great job" and "we have done so much". The promotion last year was the biggest papering over the cracks I have ever seen. It was a fluke. We actually have nearly all the best players togging out, I know of several other counties where this is not the case in D3 and D4 most especially for all the hurling counties. We have very little emigration as a county compared to others, I would say close to the least in Ireland.

We haven't made national headlines this year yet for any assaults which is a positive from the first 5 rounds of league matches. Only one match abandoned. No leaked footage of any assaults. The one last year where full footage of several assaults by one player was circulated on social media and the player received no suspension was an all time low with GAA in this county.

I remember the Pat Gilroy report years ago whereby it was solutions based, it would be interesting to see a similar report focusing on what we are doing wrong and why we have regressed so much in the past 15yrs?"
Just want to call you out on one point: we have Laois, Wexford, and Carlow this year in the under 20 group. We had Dublin, Louth, and Offaly (2021 AI winners). So this point is nonsense.

TopDrawer (Wicklow) - Posts: 52 - 28/03/2024 14:10:52    2534314

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Replying To TopDrawer:  "Just want to call you out on one point: we have Laois, Wexford, and Carlow this year in the under 20 group. We had Dublin, Louth, and Offaly (2021 AI winners). So this point is nonsense."
I think the poster is referring to 2024, not any other year . There is no doubt that Div 2 of this years competition is regarded as the "weaker" Div. just see how the quarters and semis are structured for confirmation.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 28/03/2024 16:47:01    2534349

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Replying To InterestWicklow:  "Great to see a good result at football. But we have seen really good under 20s of the past 5 years and rearly do many go on to the senior team. Not really sure of the reasons"
Agreed, but there are a fair few on our current senior squad. This can only be good in the long term but they are a bit green for senior at the minute - but learning fast. That isn't their or managements fault as there doesn't seem to be a glut of older players falling over themselves to join the panel. There are a few out injured, Zach Cullen and the like. Will Paudie O'Toole even make it back for the Tailteann Cup ? Having been named captain, someone must think he will.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 28/03/2024 17:12:00    2534354

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Replying To TopDrawer:  "Just want to call you out on one point: we have Laois, Wexford, and Carlow this year in the under 20 group. We had Dublin, Louth, and Offaly (2021 AI winners). So this point is nonsense."
I stated that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate us whereby they have grouped the weakest teams together at both u17 and u20. This is a fact, look at the groups and paths after group stages. I don't know the relevance of referencing a group from 3 years ago. I suspect 3 years ago it was an open draw. This year it's clearly not a fully open draw as they have grouped certain teams together, unless you believe this is a coincidence. If it was a coincidence then this point can be deemed "nonsense". I think it's a good thing, it should allow us to win more matches. My point was when we do win some matches don't be coming on here saying we have great underage teams and therefore our future is perfectly fine.

Tank (Wicklow) - Posts: 9 - 29/03/2024 09:45:48    2534427

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Replying To Tank:  "I stated that Leinster GAA are going out of their way to accommodate us whereby they have grouped the weakest teams together at both u17 and u20. This is a fact, look at the groups and paths after group stages. I don't know the relevance of referencing a group from 3 years ago. I suspect 3 years ago it was an open draw. This year it's clearly not a fully open draw as they have grouped certain teams together, unless you believe this is a coincidence. If it was a coincidence then this point can be deemed "nonsense". I think it's a good thing, it should allow us to win more matches. My point was when we do win some matches don't be coming on here saying we have great underage teams and therefore our future is perfectly fine."
Well presented Tank. I personally thought your original post was pretty clear anyway . I had earlier checked out the quarters and semis and thought it was obvious that we were in a "weaker " group. I remember posting last year that, in my opinion, Leinster was evolving into 3 grades for juveniles. Top 4, Kildare, Dublin, Meath and Offaly. Offaly being stuck between 1 and 2. 2nd tier, Westmeath, Longford, Louth and Laois. Laois being somewhere between 2 and 3. And then ourselves, Carlow and Wexford. A few years ago, under K O'Brien, we thought we had cracked it. Then along came Kildare to put manners on us.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 29/03/2024 11:06:06    2534434

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Any opinions yet on how football is shaping up in the county ? Some teams going very well. Eire Og are really blazing a trail, with Rathnew also flying. It seems as if those good minor teams of a few years back are starting to click into gear for Greystones . Still, as a friend of mine used to say, Miley is never handed out in March.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 999 - 30/03/2024 08:18:45    2534564

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