bigger panels should have to be names. clubs put down lads who are unavailable (retiring/travelling/etc.)

for example, anyone who played championship in 2014 shouldn't be allowed to play in 2015 at a lower level bar maybe 3-5 players.

onehoponesolo (Meath) - Posts: 21 - 25/08/2015 10:16:46    1775718

This is typical of the North Meath union giving out that their sides can't beat a clubs reserve side, and I repeat, reserve side. If your club is not good enough to beat Skryne/s'hill/nom reserve side than they have no right to step up to the intermediate grade. The junior championship is the weakest it's been in years, look how badly Cortown have done this year.

mclovin96 (Meath) - Posts: 40 - 25/08/2015 14:18:12    1775934

mclovin96 Think your missing the point I think everyone can agree the senior second teams are needed in the division,

But the difference between O mahonies for example second string now and the beginning of the championship would be totally different.

O mahonies bet Meath hill in the beginning well and recently got well bet by Skyrne.
Id be convinced if Meath hill played them with all the first team players now gone it would be a different story.

charles12 (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 25/08/2015 15:23:03    1775999

o mahonys lost to skryne because they were missing 6 starters as they where away who will be back for the quarter final so they are still strong !! no matter what is a 1st team cant beat a second team they dont deserve to win

meathman20 (Meath) - Posts: 83 - 25/08/2015 15:48:43    1776019

Have to agree that the Junior championship needs a massive overhaul. It seems very unfair that North Meath clubs are forced to play against Powerhouses such as Navan O'Mahony's, Summerhill and Duleek/Bellewstown. I mean how could Clonard's best player be expected to compete against Skryne's 24th best player.
What I suggest is an amalgamation of all North Meath clubs. This team could be called "North Meath Tigers" and each year they would get a bye straight into the Semi Final of the Junior championship. I believe this would make this grade a lot more competitive. Thoughts?

5thProvince (Meath) - Posts: 8 - 25/08/2015 18:37:29    1776163

5th province is spot on. The self pitying is kind of pathetic here. Junior clubs arent playing anything near a "de facto senior team" in the early rounds. The best player on any senior club 2nd team is probably the 20th best in a senior club. If your first team cant beat the reserve side of another club, you don't really have much right to complain that you aren't in the latter stages of the championship.

Even if 1 or 2 senior subs play the first round of junior, any club with intentions of winning the JFC should be able to handle that.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1646 - 25/08/2015 19:02:40    1776184

Against Meath Hill in the first round of the championship, Stephen McGabhann played full back and Damien Moran played centre back for O'Mahonys "b's".. Both involved in the senior county final success the year before and both togged out at midfield for O'Mahonys first team against Skryne on Sunday.. So anyone saying these second teams have the 20th best players and all that is completely wrong.. They also had a few others that night, finnegan, smyth and geraghty who are now heavily involved with the seniors.. How is that fair on rural junior clubs??

Ryan9602 (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 25/08/2015 19:15:25    1776192

I don't know if the the problem is the second string senior teams, Carnaross are the only div 3 team that made it into the quarterfinals out 4 or 5 while 3 of the 6 div 4 teams made it threw, even Moylagh who only had won 1 game, I think a lot of teams choked under the pressure of championship football, that being said there shouldn't be 3 first teams in relegation

green99 (Meath) - Posts: 9 - 25/08/2015 21:16:44    1776266

A lot of you guys are missing the point completely, It has nothing to do with division 3 or 4 teams choking under pressure or junior teams moaning about being beating. Its about the unfair advantage teams who play these senior second teams in the later rounds have over teams that meet them in the first two rounds. I'd have no problem with O'Mahoneys winning the junior championship if the team they started with finished the competition but that's not the case. The team that beat Meath Hill is not the team that Skryne beat. Likewise Ger Robinson scored 8 points for Dunboyne in round 2 including 3 unbelievable points in the last few minutes in a 1 point win over Drumconrath. That was his last game in the Junior Championship. Does anyone really believe he is the 24th best player in Dunboyne? The competition is a mess, you now have teams in the quater finals that are nowhere near how strong they were at the start. All first teams should have to name a panel of 22 that can't play in a lower championship.

weekendwarrior (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 26/08/2015 09:08:47    1776310

the first few rounds teams dont use 22 players they use about 17 or 18 so that would leave four or five players sitting around not playing any championship football for 3 rounds which isnt fair either!

meathman20 (Meath) - Posts: 83 - 26/08/2015 09:21:34    1776315

They only use 2 or 3 subs to save those players for the junior championship, Senior teams would make a lot more subs if those players couldn't play junior from the start.
Also these 4 or 5 players have A League, B League and countless training sessions to force their way into their first team. Its unfair to ruin the Junior Championship to accommodate 4 or 5 players from senior clubs.

weekendwarrior (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 26/08/2015 09:43:25    1776328

Castlebravo Give me a break 20th best player? O'Mahony's fielded four players in a must-win game against Skryne last Sunday that played against Meath hill in their JFC opener - Stephen MacGabhann, Damien Moran, Henry Finnegan and Cathal Smyth. MacGabhann and Moran were in midfield where the strongest players usually play. Now that's a fair chunk of a team. Again I have no problem with senior reserves in the JFC just pool them together in the same group and at least we will see the genuine teams qualifying for the knockout stages and if they win from there, fair play to them.

emmet (None) - Posts: 33 - 26/08/2015 09:52:12    1776336

Cop on lads. This just shows the weakness of the Junior championship. If a team is good enough or above average enough they will win the junior championship. When has a second team of a club last won the Junior Championship even? If anything, the presence of second string teams are of benefit to the Junior championship whose standard woould decline further without them.

mawmouther (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 26/08/2015 10:22:57    1776347

A junior team will still win it this year it wont be a second team,

charles12 (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 26/08/2015 13:38:49    1776526

mawmouther the reason 2nd string teams haven't been winning Junior is because they lose their team after the group stages. It amazes me how people who are from the senior clubs continuously claim that 1st team clubs in the JFC use this topic as an excuse to whine and complain about having to play senior 2nd teams. They have every right to be upset about it because the system is a shambles. Seeing players who were involved heavily in the SFC play at Junior the following year is ridiculous and I agree fully with emmet on his suggestion for a new system.

trueblue1995 (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 26/08/2015 18:20:16    1776769

I disagree.

mawmouther (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 26/08/2015 21:27:04    1776854

mawn you dont know what your talking about, very strong 2nd teams like O'mahonys do ruin it for the 1st teams in the competitions and they progressively get weaker. some of the players they have at the start would walk on to any first team in the senior. its not o'mahonys fault of course but it does need to be looked into

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 27/08/2015 08:24:37    1776878

All senior teams play before their junior team play their first game. Those 15 players plus any subs that play in this senior championship match are not allowed play junior championship. I dont think senior clubc hold back players for Junior championships, do you?

If a player doesn't play senior championship and is not allowed play junior champiionship, he has no championship to play. That doesn't sound fair to me.

Maybe you could get all the junior clubs that don't want to play a second team in it or are just moaners and put them in their own "Junior A Divison 2 championship". Then keep the Junior championship as it is with the second string teams and first teams that are not whingers. You can even call it the "Junior A Division 1 championship" if that sounds better to you.

Having so-called "Stronger players" play in the junior championship can only be a good thing to improve standards of football.

I think that it is only a couple of people that have problems with this and maybe ye are involved in the running, playing, supporting or a casual supporter of a junior club. You may be bitter that a sceond team has beaten you this year or beaten you for numerous years. I think the ideas you suggest would devalue an already weakened junior championship (winners and runners-up promoted for a few years there). I think the vast majority of people have no problem with how this is run and this has been the way for a long time.

mawmouther (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 27/08/2015 13:29:21    1777066

mawmouther

I dont think the problem is with stronger players playing in the junior championship, its that they appear for one maybe two rounds max and then their taken up to the first team and it leaves the later rounds of the championships skewed cos the the second teams become weaker. Having these teams is good for the championship but only if their consistent throughout.

glover (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 27/08/2015 14:33:59    1777111

Would it not stop all this that if a player plays in any championship be it senior or junior then he is stuck playing in that same championship till the end of the year, so once a player starts a junior game he's not allowed to be called to his senior team, although this would strengthen the second teams more bi it would be fairer, or you could pull all second teams from intermediate and junior A down and create a reserve championship like in the soccer and then pull up the junior B first teams such as slane, moynalty Kilbride to balance out the junior

green99 (Meath) - Posts: 9 - 27/08/2015 15:35:03    1777156