U/21 A and B Football Championship

Taibi, you look set to win the C, having won the minor league and championship last year I was very surprised when you posted that you did not have an u21 team

Well Ballyboy, I wasn't aware the C grade existed at U21 level, I'm pretty sure this is the first year?

Anyway I would rather see us in the B grade, winning the C would be of no benefit to any team IMO. Nurney are an Intermediate club, why we are competing at C level at Minor and U21 is baffling. A lot of that minor team that won the league and championship last year aren't interested in playing football anymore for whatever reason.

3/10/12

Qtr Final Shield

SALLINS/NA SOLLÁIN V RATHANGAN

Time: 2 30 PM (E.T. Available) , Venue: TBC

Referee: John Mc Loughlin

Qtr Final Shield

AN GRAINSEACH V TWO MILE HOUSE/TEACH DHÁ MHÍLE

Time: 2 30 PM (E.T. Available) , Venue: Murphy Memorial Park

Referee: Seamus Mc Kiernan

10.11.12 (Sat)
Qtr Final Shield

BYE/ST LAURENCES V ST EDWARDS

Time: 2 30 PM (E.T. Available) , Venue: TBC

Referee: TBC

Qtr Final Shield

CARBURY GAA V MONASTEREVAN

Time: 2 30 PM (E.T. Available) , Venue: TBC

Referee: TBC

Taibi wrote:

There's only 5 teams in the C championship so I doubt there's a shield.

'C' Championship appears to be running on a round robin format. There's a league table up on the official website. I presume the top two teams will contest the final ?

Does the first drawn out team have home venue for the Cup and Shield competition q/fs ? If so as I had presumed , why are venues TBC ?

Fear An Geata wrote:

Taibi wrote:

There's only 5 teams in the C championship so I doubt there's a shield.

'C' Championship appears to be running on a round robin format. There's a league table up on the official website. I presume the top two teams will contest the final ?

Yes it seems that way alright and it looks like it's down to 4 teams as it seems Cappagh have pulled out. Farcical!

Taibi are the teams in the c champship capable of playing in the b champship if so amalgamate both next year

Up until this year it was that way Athyman, why they've added a C championship now I don't know.

What I dont understand is at this age group Nurney would have been together with Athgarvan and Kildangan as St.Brigids? And Grange would have been part of Gerldines as they were last year and played B championship. And Oliver Plunketts with Eadestown and BME how can they be as poor as to be in the C and lose their two matches as an intermediate and senior club maybe they should look to get TMH back in at this level?? . For clubs from the south to be competitive in these 21s championships i think amalgamations are needed. Whats the story with Na Fianna 21s is Robertstown a part of this at u21 level? Also a lot of lads of this age group from Monasterevin and Ballykelly would have been together as St. Evin Gaels. My point is if clubs were amalgamated at minor level and find themselves alone at 21 level theres going to be a weakness. Regarding the other 2 C teams cant see who Caragh could of went with and Ellistown maybe with Nurney/Athgarvan/Kildangan as they did at u16 level this year under the Cuchullan Gaels name.

It's surely not about competitiveness though, but about getting a team out. And Nurney haven't been amalgamated at minor or U21 for the last few years anyway.

Generally, teams that are amalgamated underage will find it hard to develop at adult level. As a club, your responsibility is to your players - all the players, not just the so-called elite - to make sure they get games. So if you can get a team out at all, that's what you should do. And I wonder if sometimes, clubs take the easy option to amalgamate, rather than going around and putting in a bit of effort to actually field a team.

Look at how quickly Robertstown have progressed since fielding underage themselves?

And Ballykelly had no problem being competitive in the U21 last year, getting to the final.

But that's not what it's about, the fact that both these clubs can get 20-odd lads out on a match day means there is no reason for them to be involved in an amalgamation.

Na Fianna gave us a good beating at the weekend and the general view of their mentors and supporters after the game is that they should not be in the B championship. If any more than 3 to 4 teams in the A championship are better than Na Fianna , I will eat my hat. Definitely a strange set up.

Well done to Raheens on a great win over the Sash. I have a feeling myself that Clane will take a bit of beating in the A championship although the Athy forward line looks strong.

Robertstown are with Na Fianna for U-21 level this year Ogie, they were by themselves this year for minor and u-16 but couldn't field a u15 team for winter league or didn't finish out u14 league I think, could be wrong on that.....from what I was told Na Fianna probably should be in U21 A championship but they were graded on minor league and championship performances over the last few years in which they played in the B minor championship and Div 2 minor league, struggled in both competitions i'm told.......that probably explains why they are in U-21 B championship this year....

TheManInTheStands wrote:

What I dont understand is at this age group Nurney would have been together with Athgarvan and Kildangan as St.Brigids? And Grange would have been part of Gerldines as they were last year and played B championship. And Oliver Plunketts with Eadestown and BME how can they be as poor as to be in the C and lose their two matches as an intermediate and senior club maybe they should look to get TMH back in at this level?? . For clubs from the south to be competitive in these 21s championships i think amalgamations are needed. Whats the story with Na Fianna 21s is Robertstown a part of this at u21 level? Also a lot of lads of this age group from Monasterevin and Ballykelly would have been together as St. Evin Gaels. My point is if clubs were amalgamated at minor level and find themselves alone at 21 level theres going to be a weakness. Regarding the other 2 C teams cant see who Caragh could of went with and Ellistown maybe with Nurney/Athgarvan/Kildangan as they did at u16 level this year under the Cuchullan Gaels name.

As Ogie has said Nurney haven't been amalgamated with anyone for a while. At a guess I would say theres not even one U21 footballer in Kildangan or Athgarvan.

From my own clubs perspective I would've liked to see them in the B championship, the games would be tougher but they would be the better for it in the long run. beating the likes of Geraldines (Grange, Rheban and Castlemitchell) does no good for the future.

overthebar wrote:

Robertstown are with Na Fianna for U-21 level this year Ogie, they were by themselves this year for minor and u-16 but couldn't field a u15 team for winter league or didn't finish out u14 league I think, could be wrong on that.....from what I was told Na Fianna probably should be in U21 A championship but they were graded on minor league and championship performances over the last few years in which they played in the B minor championship and Div 2 minor league, struggled in both competitions i'm told.......that probably explains why they are in U-21 B championship this year....

But you can see that that is the way Robertstown are going and clearly are aiming to go... that should always be the goal.

As for the grading, that happens every year - it was the same with Castledermot last year, a brilliant team - I wouldn't begrudge them winning a title though, they don't win many. Haven't seen Na Fianna, I might before the year is out.

Not just Na Fianna. St Larences are also too strong for the B Championship. Look its as simple as this, they ( CB ), put it toghether and run it off asap, with not much thought IMO.
I also saw somewhere that the U21 Selectors will be having a look at Matches. This is flawed IMO as Players who are on their last Year of U21 are overage for the County. It would make more sence to have an U20 Championship at this time of the Year.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Not just Na Fianna. St Larences are also too strong for the B Championship. Look its as simple as this, they ( CB ), put it toghether and run it off asap, with not much thought IMO.
I also saw somewhere that the U21 Selectors will be having a look at Matches. This is flawed IMO as Players who are on their last Year of U21 are overage for the County. It would make more sence to have an U20 Championship at this time of the Year.

You sure about that?

yeah, if you're in your last year U21 on Dec 31, 2012 you're overage on Jan 1, 2013

Don't know if Laurence's shouldn't be in 'B', don't think they've won championships when they were minor, U16 etc - not saying they haven't, but don't think they have. They have some nice footballers no doubt. I heard Suncroft were very good in the 'B' against Rathangan...

It's very obvious though that it's a championship that the board is just desperate to get over and done with, even though it's much better football than minor.

Agree with you on that Ogie.......the standard of games at U21 level is at a much higher quality than minor for sure......some fine games and top footballers on show, pity its run off at such a bad time of the year and on some bad pitches, but sure its a hard job to find time and dates to play it any any other time of the year....

Dont want to start a new topic folks, and dont want to start picking the County Team here either, but what Players can people suggest to our " Mr U21 Manager" should be looked at / or have what it takes to play on next Years Team..

I will start it off with a few obvious ones. P. Fogarty, F. Dowling, T. Moolick, S. Hurley, P. Cribben, C. Murphy, D. Hyland,

Unless it's played early in the spring, it's probably the only suitable time of the year for the u21 championship. A lot of the lads that age will head abroad for the summer. I know we had 9 of our u21s in my own club either in the States or in Europe during the summer months. I'm sure it's a similar story in other clubs. Once October rolls around they're all back with the colleges starting up again.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Dont want to start a new topic folks, and dont want to start picking the County Team here either, but what Players can people suggest to our " Mr U21 Manager" should be looked at / or have what it takes to play on next Years Team..

I will start it off with a few obvious ones. P. Fogarty, F. Dowling, T. Moolick, S. Hurley, P. Cribben, C. Murphy, D. Hyland,

Daniel Flynn, Cian Reynolds, Niall Kelly and obviously Kevin Feely if he's still around.

Cian is overage, as discussed above.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Cian is overage, as discussed above.

I thought he played minor in 2010. Turns out 2009 was his last year at minor.

Liam McGovern, Gavin Farrell, Shay Pembroke , Emmett Ralph, Dean King.

Shane Hurley and Dan Nea are the only 2 of our crew that would be anywhere near it I would imagine