Setting the trend - being the best.

[ruralgaa]

it's about time. Some structure had to be put in place as there was no co-ordination between the different under age teams.

[austinstacksabu]

To quote the great George Frideric (Handel to those of you in the know):

"Hallelujah".

Best news about Kerry football I've heard in a long time.

[FatTom]

Sounds good anyway - implementing it is another thing.

[Kingdomson]

This the best news possible for Kerry football and hurling as regards the future. You've got to make it happen, tradition is not enough on its own anymore. Fantastic news! Well done to powers that be for initiating this program. This is news that will lift every Kerry supporter and more importantly build a base for the future.

[starsailor]

jesus lads...saying kerry havent had success at minor level..thats considerable success in my view,they got the taste of croke park and winning munster finals...were we not in a all ireland minor final 2yrs ago and a semie last yr and 3 yrs ago against meath...expecting lads to go training once a week with un 12 with a development squad is a bit too much...personally im not bothered about winning a minor all ireland...the talent still comes though...reidy,p o connor, k o 'leary,gooch,darren o sullivan...have they minor all irelands????just because you lose to tyrone in all ireland final like last yr,doesn't mean you have to look for outside excuses...it's the look on the day...c'est la vie....had we won that day,would people be making a big ho-ha about nothing...thiers plenty of talent in the county...tis only sport after all

[Admin]

Re: Development Squad
Post by KY50 on 10/Apr/06 at 16:33

What is the story now with the development squad ? We may have some significant retirements at the end of this championship so what are we doing about it ?

[Admin]

Moved posts...

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Food for thought
Post by watchdahop on Yesterday at 17:50


Heres a few trends I have noticed and I wonder if they have any significance

1) Where are we going to get the next generation of Kerry players??

We have lost last 3 years to Cork U21s. I would say we should been better than them for the first 2 years. I know Cork do a lot more than us as this level. More trials challenges, players gets weights programmes earlier.
I think neglecting U21 grade will really hurt us in years to come. U21s are more important than minors for Senior team.

County U21 c'ship is a shambles. Look at the number of teams pulling out. Where is next years county U21s going to come from. This in turn will lead to a poorer senior team.

2) Co Junior teams operates on its own
The junior team seems to operate independently of the senior team. Why is it not a feeder team for U21 players and fellows who need more football before they can step up to senior.
Cork won Junior final last year and had 5 of that team against Kerry last Sunday. If Kerry win the junior final this year could a similar thing happen in Kerry? Should there a be a senior selector for the Junior team? I know a lot of fellows turn down the juniors. Would they do this if they thought it would mess up senior championship prospects?

3) Too many weak teams in the county championship /c'ship downgraded
Before fellows could come through for Kerry after a good county championship. This does not happen much now.
Fewer teams mainly divisonal and a few strong club teams would make this a better competition. Fellows who shine should be pushing for the following years national league.

Apparently the county championship is suspended untill after Kerry finish in the champions. Once again we could have the county championship running into christmas. This devalues the competition and leads to less players coming through.

In summary neglecting county U21 team, county U21 c'ship and the county championship as is happening at the moment could have long term detrimental consquences for Kerry.

Any thoughts/sugguestions?

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Re: Food for thought
Post by seamus on Today at 9:31

Agree with you 100% on everything there. Great post.


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Re: Food for thought
Post by Hoffster on Today at 11:43

Agree totally.Our grassroots seem to be lacking.In Dublin they have development squads from U-14 all the way to minor.They train once a week and are given specialist training by coaches.
e.g. free taking,goal keeping.
I'm not sure exactly what kerry have besides the summer camps.Do we have caches going around schools in kerry all year round.Dublin have around 25-30 coaches visiting schools.E.g. Alan Brogan. They are given an area with upto 8-10 schools to visit and also involved with a Club to train juveniles in the evening.

The Leinster council put so much into their coaching and in order to train a team you must have a coaching course done.Do we do this in Kerry???

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Re: Food for thought
Post by buck02 on Today at 11:48

The Kerry County Board have identified the problem and introduced a structured approach to coaching and developing players throughout the county. I think its underway as we speak with development squads from U-14 up.

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Re: Food for thought
Post by realist on Today at 11:59

You're dead right but all these points have been given previously on other topics. Its as obvisious as the nose on your face that the conveyor belt of talen is dried/drying up. Is it coincidence that Cork have won the last few U-21 Munsters and Junior Munsters and now have won the Big one. I think not.

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Re: Food for thought
Post by SteelFixer on Today at 13:29

Super post 'Watchdahop' ! I agree 100% with all your points ! In fact I think you should forward it to the County Secretary Eamon Sullivan and make him aware of what the people on the ground think !

Most of the players on the senior panel are brought in on the back of reputations built up in their underage or school playing days ! This attitude is prevalent amongst members of this forum aswell ! I've often mentioned players (who were performing consistently well on the local scene) that I thought would be worth a look at in the senior setup, and on nearly all occasions I was laughed at and ridiculed ! A month ago a prominent Journalist writing for a Cork paper was criticising Morgan for bringing in the likes of Pearse O' Neill and Ger Spillane, saying they they were no where near good enough at this level ! Look at whats happened since ! The Tipperrary media and public were saying the same about Michael Webster last year, and he has turned into one of the best full forwards in the country ! Armagh have a new guy in their half back line this year and he has proved a great success, even though Joe Kernan was told by many he was wasting his time with him ! Its easy to say the talent is'nt out there, but how do you know unless you try new fellas out !

I think we are entering into a transition, but I don't think it is a serious one like we had in the late 80's and early 90's ! Despite the fact that we are'nt winning at underage, I still think there is enough quality there to be brought through along with the established performers on the local scene !

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Re: Food for thought
Post by Jo90 on Today at 14:44

I wouldn't say JOC isn't giving the youngsters a chance - look at Donaghy, Darren O'Sullivan, Paul O'Connor, Bryan Sheahan. Also lack of success underage isn't always a good barometer. Prior to 1975 Kerry had won only 1 of the previous 9 Munster Minor titles and Kerry didn't do too badly from 1975 - 1986 as a result.
The U21s are being mistreated alright. Remember 2 years ago when they rested the Gooch against Cork U21s. An All-Ireland was there for the taking that year.

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Re: Food for thought
Post by KY50 on Today at 14:48

Facts

Minor Kerry have been in every minor semi final since and including 2001

We have not won the title since 1994 but I think a significant amount of work has been done in the past few years. The benefits we should see at minor level in the next year or 2

These teams have generally beaten Cork at minor level but have lost the last 3 to Cork- but only by the minimum of margins except this year 3 points. In 2004 had Colm been playing then it is guaranteed that we would have beaten Cork.

There seems to be a breakdown between minor and Under 21.Why is this happening ?

[RashersTierney]

:oYes and they had lots of underage success through the 90s as well. But they didnt win anything much Senior................
ASA, I understand where you're coming from, I really do, everyone knows that Kerry have the highest standards for themselves in football, and that the best have to move with the times, or even stay a step ahead, and that as a Dublin fan in the 70s, 80s, 90s and then since I know only too well what the repurcussions of ignoring the development & underage systems etc are, but..........................I just wonder is this going a bit too far? Is this just panic in the face of (recently) unprecedented changes in the game? How far can "developing" sport really go, how far should it go, has it already gone too far, or am I just forgetting that its always gone through changes like this?
Shouldnt we all just accept that Tyrone are currently the strongest squad, just as Kerry & the Dubs were in the 70s, Kerry, Dublin, Meath, Cork in the 80s etc? I mean its only the year before last yis won Sam, and then 4 years before that. Its also a bit unusual that a third team capable of winning All-Irelands came along at the same time.
Which kind of brings me to my final point - isnt it great that more teams are in competition every year, and the old hegemonies have been broken, for now at least? I know that as (in effect) a neutral hurling fan, I find the current re-dominance of Cork & the Cats to be, ok impressive, but quite frankly not very exciting or inspiring at all, where as the previous 10 years or so were absolutely fantastic, and brought much more interest to the games overall.

[pony]

bigal said:

Which kind of brings me to my final point - isnt it great that more teams are in competition every year, and the old hegemonies have been broken, for now at least? I know that as (in effect) a neutral hurling fan, I find the current re-dominance of Cork & the Cats to be, ok impressive, but quite frankly not very exciting or inspiring at all, where as the previous 10 years or so were absolutely fantastic, and brought much more interest to the games overall.

great points there, the hurling as we will all admit is a far superior game than football(esp in recent times) Is way way too predictable and very uncompetitave.
The more teams that can do well in the football or even win it is becoming by far the most interesting part of the c'ship as the satandard of games right now are quite poor.
Excellent post R.T

[Alan]

I agree that hurling is far above foorball in terms of spectator value - this is one of the annoying things about losing to Cork in football as each year their hurlers do well and their footballers lose to Kerry it puts more and more pressure on the footballers to deliver.
Now after getting the monkey off their back this year I expect the Cork public to support them more and the young Cork team to cause seriious problems for kerry for the next 3 or 4 years.

[realist]

Jeez guys and gals I dunno, I would rather see 6 teams play the game properly and have great matches against each other rather than 30 or so average teams all boring the lives out of us with the same negative tactics

[RashersTierney]

If more counties are competative, then standards SHOULD be better overall. Not always true I know, but in general it is, as sides have to keep maintaining standards and/or improving. Makes simple sense to me, but then........I'm a simple lad

[watchdahop]

Further update: lots of comments re U21 teams lack of success no Minor Al since 94 etc.
Work this out.
Crokes U16s play on Wednesday night (last night) in County C'ship
Their U21s have to play tonight againts Brendans in the County C'ship
The minors have to play County championship on Friday against Stacks tomorrow night and if they win they have to play on Tuesday night.
A lot of their U16s play minor. A lot of minors are due to play U21.
You could have some U16s playing championship 3 nights in a row.
You could have some minors playing 3 champions ship matches in 5 days.
This is not a pro Crokes rant. Thats just one example I am sure there are other clubs/divisional teams in the same boat.

The county board just seem to want to run competitions off at the drop of a hat with no games for months. Or am I missing something??

Where are next years County minor team going to come from? And the U21s? You would think based on some forms in the years championships?? If they are being run off like this are they proper championships at all?

Am I the only one that thinks that this kind of approach has cost our underage county teams and will cost them in the future. Or does the merit of the current system just escape me?

[Mickmack]

Which kind of brings me to my final point - isnt it great that more teams are in competition every year, and the old hegemonies have been broken, for now at least? I know that as (in effect) a neutral hurling fan, I find the current re-dominance of Cork & the Cats to be, ok impressive, but quite frankly not very exciting or inspiring at all, where as the previous 10 years or so were absolutely fantastic, and brought much more interest to the games overall. [/quote]

May I recommend a marvellous hurling book called THE REVOLUTION YEARS........it charts the rise of Clare, Wexford, Offaly..... and how the old money like Cork, Kilkenny and Tipp had to adapt to survive. In a word.......... "unputdownable"

[RashersTierney]

mickmack said:

Which kind of brings me to my final point - isnt it great that more teams are in competition every year, and the old hegemonies have been broken, for now at least? I know that as (in effect) a neutral hurling fan, I find the current re-dominance of Cork & the Cats to be, ok impressive, but quite frankly not very exciting or inspiring at all, where as the previous 10 years or so were absolutely fantastic, and brought much more interest to the games overall.

May I recommend a marvellous hurling book called THE REVOLUTION YEARS........it charts the rise of Clare, Wexford, Offaly..... and how the old money like Cork, Kilkenny and Tipp had to adapt to survive. In a word.......... "unputdownable"[/quote]



I'll have a look out for it Mick thanks.
BTW Stop stealing my posts & giving me no credit

[Mickmack]

Rashers.......... for some reason i cant get it to put the quote in the blue box with the previous authors name on it......... maybe I am doing something wong.......

[RashersTierney]

mickmack said:

Rashers.......... for some reason i cant get it to put the quote in the blue box with the previous authors name on it......... maybe I am doing something wong.......

I think the Cookie Monster must have got your computer!



(Pillar Caffrey expalins about the Dubs new diet)

Seriously though, what's your best Gah books? I havent stopped reading Paidi's, O'Leary's and all Con Houlihan's books (which have loads of Gah amongst other stuff)

[austinstacksabu]

There's a few. Eamonn Sweeneys "The Long Road to Croker" is a magnificant read.

We have a library down Kerry way - from Dr. Eamon O'Sullivans books to the original, and best "How to play Gaelic Football" by the great Dick Fitzgerald, after whom Fitzgerald Stadium is named, through the Golden Years book of the early 80s to Mick O'Connells "A Kerry footballer".

Martin Brehenys bio with John O'Leary is worth a peep as is a hidden gem - "The Ultimate GAA Encyclopedia" which he wrote with Donal Keenan. Vincent Hogans ghost written autobiography with Nicky English is also fantastic reading as are the various quote and history books by Eoghan Corry. Liam Dunnes one with Damian Lawlor is fairly depressing stuff at times. Christy O'Connor's (brother of Jamsie of Clare fame) "Last Man standing" about hurling goal keepers is a very thorough and well written study by a former sub goalie to Davy Fitz.

However, if you want to get one book, buy Keith Duggan's "The Lifelong Season". It is a GAA masterpiece.

[RashersTierney]

Nice one ASA, I like Keith Duggan's stuff in the papers alot.

[falveyb2k]

Hurling the revolution years is the best sports book you could possibly read. It covers loads of teams including Kerry and some of the stories told by ex players and coaches are magnificent