Kildare Development Squads

What a good team this is imo, shocking conditions for both teams in hawkfield this morning, quite a good game overall and credit most go the team and their mentors for the amount of effort and commitment that they have shown over the year. Well done to all concerned and I would bet that this will not be the last we hear of this bunch of players and mentors....CILL DARA ABU

I second that. Fairplay to the mentors and coaches who have been involved with that group of lads for the last couple of years.

See there was county minor trials in Hawkfield this morning, some fine footballers on display i'd say....anybody in at it or who was involved in selection of players...

yep i went over for a look myself , minor and 17s management were all there . Two games on , first game was a selection of lads sent in by the clubs and last years 16s v last years 17s . A few new faces looked impressive , though job to pick the squad in fairness

Another trial game this morning in hawkfield between players from U16 squad for 2013 and possible new players that might make this years minor squad....all these players are competing for a place on minor panel 2014.....good enough game although U16 squad players looked that bit sharper. A preliminary minor panel of 34 players trained afterwards and some good players on show I thought....

The Dev squads annual golf fundraiser is on Good Friday in Craddockstown for anyone looking for some exercise.

The 1st Blitz of 2014 are on Easter Sat with I think the u/15's in JTB

the u16's defeated louth and lost out to Dublin and meath on sat, the u/15's defeated wicklow , wexford and laois in jtb

U16 Team 1 defeated Cork by 0-20 to 0-8 in a challenge game in Hawkfield today.2nd game now in progress.
Lessons learned from defeat by Dublin last week.
Dubs had a couple of players Kildare could not handle on the day.(centre forward was exceptional and goalie was another Cluxton with kick-outs finding players following agree hand signals) .
Some good players in this Kildare outfit especially in forward line, but you have to win ball out the field and learn to defend against power runners to be successful.

I heard today that the U16 games against Meath kildare played more of less there strongest team and won easy against Louth they played a weak team and lost then against Dublin they played a mixture of both which is crazy you would want to be playing your best team anytime against Dublin beat them and keep beating them get those players used to beating Dublin mad stuff.

2 good games to get for this squad, kildare won first game easily enough and lost the second game 2-13 to 0-13, by the look of it cork played their strongest team in the second game. It was Corks first outing for this squad this year so you would expect kildare to win with all the reports of the mad training this U16 squad is doing. Nice team, with some good scoring forwards on the first squad.

I have a nephew involved with the under 16 s this year!! A lot of opinions here way off the mark!!!
Overthebar ' all the reports of the mad training ' ?? They have trained 4 times collectively!!!
They have beaten Wicklow and the under 17 s twice!!!
The county board refused to bring all under 16 league semi finals forward from Good Friday meaning the majority of the squad had to play competitively on the Friday night before lining out for three more games on Saturday, Dublin being the last one!!! The dubs were arriving off the back of a three day training camp in UCD!!! I work in UCD!!No fear of them fixing a round of league semi finals the night before a competitive blitz!! I look forward to them playing Dublin again!!!
Both teams today - Kildare and Cork apparently agreed to play their strongest teams first, according to a Cork parent anyways who said they were involved in a five day training camp in UCC all last week in the run up to today!!! A 14 point demolition seems to have us on the right track!! The second kildare team today kicked 21 wides!! Not really good enough but they showed enough spirit in the second half to suggest that they could be involved in the business end of things!!
More support is required!! After all these lads are the future! They play very attractive football and run up big scores but they need support in order to progress!! The management need support and access to resources along the lines of what the " bigger" counties have!! They didn't even get a bite to eat after today where as the Cork lads did!!! These young lads have to be looked after not exploited!!! We are all wearing the same colour after all!!! #lilywhite

Big mistake Midfielder dont "big" them up too much they are out training every monday night and have been doing so for a long while and matches in between. Problem we have in kildare is we win a few matches at under age level and we think we are up there but when it comes to the business end of things we fall way short

Indeed midfielder resources is an issue, there is lots of little things you can if you have the funds. Observer if you win a few matches you surely would have every right to start believing in yourself, sure the whole point is to build ability and confidence, would you not consider a lack of confidence to be our failing, I do, I think its a major problem

Midfielder, I know for a fact that they have trained a lot more than 4 collective sessions that you say, also the have beaten the U17 squad minus 8/9 players that would start for 17 team who are with the minor squad and 1 player who has committed to rugby with Leinster, so they probably should be beaten them like last years U16 team did to last years U17 team.

Seem to remember that last years U16 team had the same problem with club championship fixtures the evening before they were due to play in a Leinster Blitz. This I feel is very unfair on these young lads and must be addressed by the county board fixtures committee. With regard to Cork playing their strongest team in the first or second game, I was told by there mentor that this was their first inter county game together as a squad and what I saw in both games, their second team looked far sharper than the first team. Anyway I still think this squad is a nice team with some good scoring forwards but they will really be judged when they get to minor where the real football starts IMO.

One question I would like to know, is there a cohesion between all the development squads from U14 through to U17 and minor. Surely there is a structured plan in place where young lads are assessed when they come in at 14 and as the progress along the line with the various squads they are assessed and monitored to see where the need to develop in terms of technical and tactically ability, strength and conditional work, nutrition/hydration, life style choices, (ie, studies, how the conduct themselves outside of football, commitment). I would hope that all the mentors would sit down as a group and share their experiences, ideas and have a concerted and structured plan in place to work from and that all the mentors buy into this plan. As was stated in another post, there is very little glory for mentors who are with development squads and great credit must go to these people who commit their free time to develop these young lads, long may it continue and keep up the good work lads. CILL DARA ABU.

Absolutely agree ball boy, confidence major issue!! It's essential that young lads play without fear, totally believe in themselves and trust their ability and the best way to do that is to win consistently! We as supporters and fans have a major role to play here by backing these lads to the hilt, not trying to find fault but to back them to find solutions!!!
I know this is a Gaa forum but Liverpool FC are a case in point, they have come from nowhere to find themselves in contention to win their the league with a squad of players not as seasoned or even as good as others but because they are completely backed by their fan base every week they seem to completely believe that they can win! It works!!! Why can't we do the same in Kildare and instead of trying to avoid the likes of Dublin etc line up for the opportunity to chop them down!!!
Overt hear I think there is some structure in place where each level have certain targets to meet suck as technical ability strength and conditioning and life skills!!
I know from the young lad that a lot of emphasis was placed on how they conduct themselves in school in relation to behaviour and homework etc and it has had a positive effect on the nephew for sure!! I think the lads over them are teachers so that helps I guess!
He had a strength and conditioning program for the off season. They brought in their own fella to do it.
If definitely agree with you though that there should without doubt be cohesion all the way through to minor where the mentors with them from 14s should see it through!!

Absolutely agree ball boy, confidence major issue!! It's essential that young lads play without fear, totally believe in themselves and trust their ability and the best way to do that is to win consistently! We as supporters and fans have a major role to play here by backing these lads to the hilt, not trying to find fault but to back them to find solutions!!!
I know this is a Gaa forum but Liverpool FC are a case in point, they have come from nowhere to find themselves in contention to win their the league with a squad of players not as seasoned or even as good as others but because they are completely backed by their fan base every week they seem to completely believe that they can win! It works!!! Why can't we do the same in Kildare and instead of trying to avoid the likes of Dublin etc line up for the opportunity to chop them down!!!
Overt hear I think there is some structure in place where each level have certain targets to meet such as technical ability, strength and conditioning and life skills!!
I know from the young lad that a lot of emphasis was placed on how they conduct themselves in school in relation to behaviour and homework etc and it has had a positive effect on the nephew for sure!! I think the lads over them are teachers so that helps I guess!
He had a strength and conditioning program for the off season. They brought in their own fella to do it due to lack of resources! I think he is with Waterford seniors too!!
If definitely agree with you though that there should without doubt be cohesion all the way through to minor where the mentors with them from 14s should see it through to minor!! Come on Kildare!!!

Overthebar as far as I am aware that is what is done, as for the fixture programme that would take agreement from the clubs which would not be easy, a lot of underage club managers see the development squad programme as a distraction from what they are trying to achieve, but then that also happens at adult level, as I have posted on another thread not everyone buys into it

A free weekend in the fixtures would solve the problem, it's really not good practice asking young lads play inter county the morning after club championship.

Mon 5th may ,Kildare u17s v Kilmacud Crokes Minors in Hawkfield at 7

Kildare Castle wrote:

Mon 5th may ,Kildare u17s v Kilmacud Crokes Minors in Hawkfield at 7

I'm sure there are 100 reasons why I'm wrong, but that just sits uncomfortably.

Crokes were runners up in Dublin last year I think and won it the year before so should be of a pretty good standard again this year. Should be an interesting matchup.

Theres an awful lot of u17 footballers who are good enough to at least get a look in at this level been overlooked for some reason or other

The observer wrote:

Theres an awful lot of u17 footballers who are good enough to at least get a look in at this level been overlooked for some reason or other

dont think any county devolopment squad are in the buisness of overlooking players who are good enough . There were trials for this group earlier in the year , not sure wheter clubs sent lads in or not but if u think theres lads who are good enough for this squad , im sure management would be delighted to hear from you .

in all of the minor league matches ive watched this year so far, which is quiet a few i havent seen one minor or u17 selector at any watching them

The development squads have always had an open door policy, if a club feels they have a player worth a look at all you have to do is contact the relevant squad mentors. Generally speaking if a player hasn't appeared at u15 or 16 there's normally a reason for it, he might not have been available for what ever reason, occasionally you can have guys who develop late a phone call will get them a shot