MINOR CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTIONS

following Champ 3 with interest, have been chatting with a few people about the status and grading. Sarsfield were able to put out a new team against Leixlip and Rheban. a win of 14 and 10 points respectively, a team in  Champ 3 that can do that???,  I think Sarsfields have won 22 titles. not taking away from any of them but they are undoing the work smaller\weaker clubs are doing by doing what they done these last few weeks. .earlier on in this forem people were questioning how a club as big as leixip would be in Champ 3 but It appears that if you can put a second team in a lower Champ and have 35 lads at your disposal no one bats an eyelid. Have I missed something??

I'm going to guess that sash b team didn't have their 16s for opening few games as they prob were focused on their own championship and that's why they weren't as strong

Exactly Mikeys, too see the progress and improvement of the Sash minor B team denograted on here is saddening! Our Minor B team entered this championship to win it, sorry if that disapoints some people but the essence of competition is every team competing to win the competition they are involved in. Our minor B team may prove to not be good enough to win the competition but they should not be demonised for trying to win it!!

thank you for your insight Mikeys and Topcat. but I need to make something very clear. I did not demonise any team for their efforts or denigrate their characters. Lads want to got out and play football and that is what its all about. yes, we know the u16 were not availabale till after thier final. The lads that played the first 3 games, were they brushed aside?. every team is in it to compete\in it to win it. the Sash have a fantastic pool of talent, should they not have a team therefore in champ A, B and C. again to reiterate, I did not demonise or denigrate the team, I do however question the ethic behind winning at all costs.

Looks like the bulk of the 17 & 18 year olds that played earlier rounds were dropped off team in favour of the u16s that have now become available to the selectors. No rules broken but certainly can understand if some players may have a rethink about togging our again. Surely Sarsfields could have been competitive in the B championship had they entered it.

It's hardly in the spirit to play the b players all through and then drop them for the 16s once you get to the knock out games. It would seem they did it in the league as well. Unfair to the lads who played the first 3 games and to the other teams in the group.

Crying foul for what Sarsfields did to their own players has imo a taste off sour grapes. The tendency should be to try and emulate what the Sash do. If Sarsfields go on and win it then fair play but they should be moved up next year accordingly and the clubs who feel hard do by should ensure this. I say this as someone who has been on the receiving end in the past, as for Leixlip they are where they are for a reason, they shouldn't be but that's their own fault, glad to hear they are working to rectify it

time to split them in two me thinks, they're becoming far to successful. Seriously they are producing some outstanding young footballers

Lilyboy such a dreamers comment. In the spirit of the competition and lads who trained to be dropped for 16's is poor and sending the wrong message to younger players and parents. Sash have to be admired for the time and effort they put in but at what cost . It could impload on then very quickly. Leixlip are building and yes it is our own fault we were in that mess but its been rectified.

I was only joking Bob

Ballyboy and Lillyboy, it is very easy to stand up on pedestal and present throwaway comments about splitting up clubs and telling others to emulate what the Sash have done. A team present to ther own club where they feel their team would be best represented in league and Championship and then the club present to county board. if you have 40 odd players to pick from and request champ 3 then please get down off your pedestal and reavulate what you are doing? that is IMO

Sarsfields minor Bs only won one of 3 group games so to say they are competing in a grade too low for them is nonsense and not backed up by facts. Had they have lost all 3 games then everybody would be happy and this conversation would never have started!

I'm on no pedestal, as I pointed out we have been on the receiving end of this on more than one occasion and when I said ''emulate' I include my own club in that.

Have a good look at the gradings for minor and u16 this year, the general trend is for clubs to request a drop down, Rehban to be fair opted to go up 2 div at u15 last year, that kind of honesty is rare

Topcat, I would expect that if the Sash win it that they would go up and not plead to remain at this level next year, would you agree ?

Everybody would be happy?? who is everybody? what facts do you require? the sash the only team in Champ C with 40 plus player in their pool. Topcat, you are correct, if they had not won any of the 3 games, this conversation would not have started, but the conversation started because a question was asked? how could a team that only won 1 game by 2 points. parachute in a virtually new team and call themselves a champ 3 team. nobody is disrespecting the work put in over the years. clubs are trying to emulate what the sash have done. The end target should be the same. To streghten Kildare football and the county be the best it can be. but back to the original question. IS this a level playing ground???

Think everyone is going around in circles. The responsibility is with the club it has nothing to do with county board. It happens at every age group when grading comes around from senior level right down through Bord na nOg to Northboard and Southboard.

I could have predicted the winners of this years u16 C championship last November. The only people that know the true strength of their team is the people that are working directly with the teams involved.

No rules broken at all but the question still must be asked, how can a team that won only one group game are now within touching distance of a championship

Sarsfields do not have a panel of 40 on their minor B panel, maybe between the A and B panels it would number that many. It is not a completely new panel, it is more or less the same panel Sarsfields minor B's had available to them for their league campaign, this was obviously drastically reduced during the u/16 championship but is now back to full strength and is able to compete at this level.

"is able to compete at this level"?

Is able to dominate and destroy every other team at this level, you mean. The only two results we need to look at is the two games against Leixlip. In the group game Leixlip won 1-12 to 0-7. 13 days later Sarsfields won 2-16 to 0-8. That's a 22 point turnaround. Full strength and able to compete me arse. They should not be in that championship. It's only making a mockery on the whole thing. Shame on the club for doing it and shame on the county board for facilitating them. And regardless of how the championship pans out, there will be a lot of angry club delegates at the next county board meeting over this carry on.

Regarding the numbers, they had 33 players against Rheban apparently. Rheban had 19.

I feel for Rheban. Small club with no chance of winning an A championship. We played them in April and beat us ( leixlip) fair and square. They are a great club with great people. It's clubs like this that are keeping the GAA going. Imagine the lift it would have given the parish if they had won. Sash have no pride in winning this C championship. Leixlip where I'm from should not be here. But that's our problem. The county board need to do something about this farce. I wish St Edwards or Carbruary all the best in the final. Sash if I could I would curse you to never win another championship again . It's small.parishes that cherish winning a C championship for decades.

Just to set the record straight as regards Sash in Minor C championship.
Sash played in Div 4 of the league and beat Naas in the final, upgraded to Minor C for the championship, beat St Kevins by 4 pts with all their U16's available, only six were used, played Castledermot in Rd 2 and lost a competitive match by 2pts with their U16's again playing, Lost third game to Leixlip by 8pts with no U16's playing. 4 teams ended up on 2pts in the league and were separated on score difference with Sash on the same score difference as Sallins but Sallins had scored more. We did request the 1/4 final game against Leixlip to be moved but it was not Sash fault that the venue was change three times! U16 championship should never have clashed with minor as there was a six week gap between the last of the round robin games and the semifinals in that competition.
When we played Leixlip in the 1/4 final we again used only six of our under sixteen team that had won the championship on the previous Saturday, 2 day rest, and we then played Rheban and again we only started six of the U16'S. Maybe if the Rheban midfielder, who looked like a good footballer I might add, didn't get himself black carded for kicking then we might have had a different result on Saturday. Sash did have 22 players togged out on Saturday. Do people think it fair that some guys playing Minor C football shouldn't have the same right to win a medal at a grade that they are more comfortable with just because they are from a Senior club?

jASUS curragh command I never heard such a watery excuse. Do you know why you are explaining yourself and justifying sarsfields . GO ON AND WIN THE FINAL . When you are explaining your loosing. Your club will have no sympathy from anyone else inside the county. Well done another championship for you trophy cabinet. I just hope your happy with your lot! Its no wonder Kildare have not won an All Ireland since 1928. Mikey I think we will join the Dubs .

So a club making the best use of their own resources is hindering the county team's prospects? Sarsfields may or may not win the final but they shouldn't apologise for getting there, the fact other teams haven't been able beat them is not Sarsfields problem

What are sarsfeilds going to do if there minor and senior teams get to the county finals.I think there's some of the minors starters on the senior team.

Lots of bridges to be crossed before that becomes a problem!!

Is there any team left in the championship that can realistically beat this sarsfields team? I've seen them twice and they look so impressive...

Well lads, I am seriously at a loss when trying to comprehend the defensive comments from the Sarsfields corner. is this the first time you were questioned about your tactics? your division choice and your teams. I said at the beginning of this discussion, that no one can take away from your 22 title? most successful club in kildare status. a level playing field, that is what I am questioning. If you have team in Division 1. by God a mentor\manager should do everything in his power to win that Div and use all of thier resources to do so. however it seem the case that "The Sash" are holding back on players of div 1 status and saving them for Div 3.  I await with bated breath, the answer to this.