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All good points viking .
But there is an atmosphere of acceptability of our position imo at prsent which is understandable in current position
My fear is it could get a whole lot worse before it gets any better .
The love for hurling is just dwindling its sad to see .
Young lads are just not picking hurling as their first love .
The time has come to do something completely radical . We are just going to have to think outside the box .
I know a few people involved at u16 div 1 level and they think the level is very low this year in particular which probably reflects the results at intercounty level hearing lads that stood out at u14 last year and the year before have stopped playing. I ve no idea why .
But thats alarming to say the least .
We can have all the reports from whoever but I keep saying this if the kids dont have the love for the game nothing will instill that into them .
How do we entice small kids to pick up the hurl I m not sure but maybe our obsession with winning even at u10 could be part of our downfall . I ll admit when I started coaching I may have been that coach too .
Only as years went by a tournament win in any age neans little its important but not critical .
I actually think being competive and losing gives them that bit between their teeth to improve .
Winning everything gives u an air of entitlement as u go up through ranks then its hard to accept defeat and possibly a reason to step away when going gets tough we ve all seen it . Where as a middle of road team or player might just get the bug and have best attitude to improve as ge has no other option if he wants to succeed.
Again in this age regardless of medals for everyone .
If u lose u are prob more lambasted than ever before .
The foundations of any successful.team is their love for what they do . It's remarkable if u ask players how many dont actually enjoy it as much as they should why .
Pressure , workload , time, no life outside hurling,
My main point is we as a county need to make our game more attractive and somewhere kids want to be .I
Is it time to readjust and make our county championships the pinnacle. And not judge success by how our county teams are doing and their success .
Build from the bottom up . This has all been said before . But we cant compare ourselves to other counties at present if our fundamentals are nt right .
We ve got to find a model that suits where we are at and we cant fast track it .
Let's start by having a county wide forum where each club has to come up with something by way of a different approach to entice more are continued participation.
Maybe one such idea would be a hurling wall in all towns villages where kids can go at any stage to practice and at times have competitionss on wall ball skills . .
Surely wexford park could find a space that could be used on its grounds to set the ball rolling so to speak . Floodlit of course in winter/spring/autumn time. .
I know most clubs have hurling walls but are nt always close enough to hand
Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 665 - 16/08/2026 11:38:03
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "The underage competitions are a bit hard to follow but here's what I think is the case, U15 probably the easiest to follow
U15 Arrabawn A Cup
SFs
KK 2-11 Tipp Blue 1-13
Limerick 2-19 Waterford 0-11
Final
Kilkenny beat Limerick
U15 Arrabawn A Shield
SFs
Cork Red 6-21 Dublin 1-09
Laois 3-12 Galway 1-17
Final
Cork Red 7-20 Laois 0-10
U15 Arrabawn A Cup
Final
Wexford 2-16 Tipperary Gold 3-06 (Saw somewhere on Twitter that says Tipp got 3-09)
U15 Arrabawn B Shield
Final
Cork White 6-20 Clare Saffron 1-07
U15 John Doyle A Cup
SFs
Wexford 4-12 Kerry 3-10
Antrim 3-11 Kildare 1-12
As for prior results this year, the U15 A's lost to Cork White by 5-21 to 3-13, Tipperary Blue by 3-25 to 1-17, and Waterford by 4-17 to 3-13 and they then beat Clare Saffron by 6-25 to 0-10 while the U15 B's beat Wicklow 11-21 to 0-05, Carlow by 1-17 to 1-12, and Antrim Saffron by 5-22 to 1-05
U16 a bit more complicated to get my head around and it's harder to find results for these but the old Eugene Carey in Kilworth looked like the main competition, then there was the Michael Foley and some other competition where a Clare team played against Laois and Offaly, Cork also won some sort of competition in Dublin so it's all a bit of a mess
Galway defeated Waterford by a point in the U16 final; Galway had beaten Cork by 1-24 to 0-12 and Waterford had beaten Limerick in the other SF. Limerick beat Cork in the Shield by a point
U16 Hurling Michael Foley Cup
Semi-Final
Wexford vs Tipperary (Looks like Wexford lost here and then lost the 3rd vs 4th playoff)
Kilkenny vs Dublin
U16 Hurling Michael Foley Shield
Semi-Finals
Dublin 2-15 Wexford 2-06
Kildare 4-10 Clare Blue 1-11
Final
Kildare 2-14 Dublin 1-09
3rd/4th place playoff
Clare Blue 0-20 Wexford 1-11
I don't think Wexford won a competitive game at U16 all year because the website says the A's lost to Waterford by 3-24 to 1-12 and drew with Laois 0-17 to 2-11 and the B's lost to Tipperary Gold 6-18 to 0-14, Cork White by 4-31 to 1-11, and Clare Blue by 5-22 to 1-10
U14 results not publicly listed although per Twitter, Wexford Gold were up against Galway White in the Leinster Tier 1 Cup SF with two Kilkenny teams against each other in the other SF and then Wexford Purple were against Dublin Navy in the Leinster Tier 1 Shield Semi-Final with Galway White (Doesn't make sense?) against Dublin Blue in the other SF
See elsewhere that Laois U14 A lost to Galway B, find it all a bit confusing tbh" One of our u14 teams beat Dublin and lost to Galway, while the other lost to Galway and Kilkenny. Ourselves Galway and Dublin played mixed teams.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 16/08/2026 11:45:09
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "The underage competitions are a bit hard to follow but here's what I think is the case, U15 probably the easiest to follow
U15 Arrabawn A Cup
SFs
KK 2-11 Tipp Blue 1-13
Limerick 2-19 Waterford 0-11
Final
Kilkenny beat Limerick
U15 Arrabawn A Shield
SFs
Cork Red 6-21 Dublin 1-09
Laois 3-12 Galway 1-17
Final
Cork Red 7-20 Laois 0-10
U15 Arrabawn A Cup
Final
Wexford 2-16 Tipperary Gold 3-06 (Saw somewhere on Twitter that says Tipp got 3-09)
U15 Arrabawn B Shield
Final
Cork White 6-20 Clare Saffron 1-07
U15 John Doyle A Cup
SFs
Wexford 4-12 Kerry 3-10
Antrim 3-11 Kildare 1-12
As for prior results this year, the U15 A's lost to Cork White by 5-21 to 3-13, Tipperary Blue by 3-25 to 1-17, and Waterford by 4-17 to 3-13 and they then beat Clare Saffron by 6-25 to 0-10 while the U15 B's beat Wicklow 11-21 to 0-05, Carlow by 1-17 to 1-12, and Antrim Saffron by 5-22 to 1-05
U16 a bit more complicated to get my head around and it's harder to find results for these but the old Eugene Carey in Kilworth looked like the main competition, then there was the Michael Foley and some other competition where a Clare team played against Laois and Offaly, Cork also won some sort of competition in Dublin so it's all a bit of a mess
Galway defeated Waterford by a point in the U16 final; Galway had beaten Cork by 1-24 to 0-12 and Waterford had beaten Limerick in the other SF. Limerick beat Cork in the Shield by a point
U16 Hurling Michael Foley Cup
Semi-Final
Wexford vs Tipperary (Looks like Wexford lost here and then lost the 3rd vs 4th playoff)
Kilkenny vs Dublin
U16 Hurling Michael Foley Shield
Semi-Finals
Dublin 2-15 Wexford 2-06
Kildare 4-10 Clare Blue 1-11
Final
Kildare 2-14 Dublin 1-09
3rd/4th place playoff
Clare Blue 0-20 Wexford 1-11
I don't think Wexford won a competitive game at U16 all year because the website says the A's lost to Waterford by 3-24 to 1-12 and drew with Laois 0-17 to 2-11 and the B's lost to Tipperary Gold 6-18 to 0-14, Cork White by 4-31 to 1-11, and Clare Blue by 5-22 to 1-10
U14 results not publicly listed although per Twitter, Wexford Gold were up against Galway White in the Leinster Tier 1 Cup SF with two Kilkenny teams against each other in the other SF and then Wexford Purple were against Dublin Navy in the Leinster Tier 1 Shield Semi-Final with Galway White (Doesn't make sense?) against Dublin Blue in the other SF
See elsewhere that Laois U14 A lost to Galway B, find it all a bit confusing tbh" Our u15As beat Tipp in the Arrabawn Shield final, not the Cup final.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 16/08/2026 11:47:30
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Replying To Formertownie: "All good points viking .
But there is an atmosphere of acceptability of our position imo at prsent which is understandable in current position
My fear is it could get a whole lot worse before it gets any better .
The love for hurling is just dwindling its sad to see .
Young lads are just not picking hurling as their first love .
The time has come to do something completely radical . We are just going to have to think outside the box .
I know a few people involved at u16 div 1 level and they think the level is very low this year in particular which probably reflects the results at intercounty level hearing lads that stood out at u14 last year and the year before have stopped playing. I ve no idea why .
But thats alarming to say the least .
We can have all the reports from whoever but I keep saying this if the kids dont have the love for the game nothing will instill that into them .
How do we entice small kids to pick up the hurl I m not sure but maybe our obsession with winning even at u10 could be part of our downfall . I ll admit when I started coaching I may have been that coach too .
Only as years went by a tournament win in any age neans little its important but not critical .
I actually think being competive and losing gives them that bit between their teeth to improve .
Winning everything gives u an air of entitlement as u go up through ranks then its hard to accept defeat and possibly a reason to step away when going gets tough we ve all seen it . Where as a middle of road team or player might just get the bug and have best attitude to improve as ge has no other option if he wants to succeed.
Again in this age regardless of medals for everyone .
If u lose u are prob more lambasted than ever before .
The foundations of any successful.team is their love for what they do . It's remarkable if u ask players how many dont actually enjoy it as much as they should why .
Pressure , workload , time, no life outside hurling,
My main point is we as a county need to make our game more attractive and somewhere kids want to be .I
Is it time to readjust and make our county championships the pinnacle. And not judge success by how our county teams are doing and their success .
Build from the bottom up . This has all been said before . But we cant compare ourselves to other counties at present if our fundamentals are nt right .
We ve got to find a model that suits where we are at and we cant fast track it .
Let's start by having a county wide forum where each club has to come up with something by way of a different approach to entice more are continued participation.
Maybe one such idea would be a hurling wall in all towns villages where kids can go at any stage to practice and at times have competitionss on wall ball skills . .
Surely wexford park could find a space that could be used on its grounds to set the ball rolling so to speak . Floodlit of course in winter/spring/autumn time. .
I know most clubs have hurling walls but are nt always close enough to hand" Thats a very positive post too Formertownie
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 16/08/2026 13:20:50
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Replying To Viking66: "Our u15As beat Tipp in the Arrabawn Shield final, not the Cup final." Yeah, apologies, that was a typo on my part
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1500 - 16/08/2026 17:20:57
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We probably say the same things over and over again tbh but here goes....
If you are talking about any interaction someone can get with the GAA at underage level, it usually comes through the following: clubs, primary school, secondary schools, development squads, and parents. Not all of them are as important as each other but they do all play a part (Even if said part influences things at the margin rather than being the main driver of progress)
We have not been good enough for a long time and underage results taken at face value suggest that that trend won't be broken anytime soon. Now this is not to say things can't change quickly; I don't like looking at players and thinking "this is what they're like now, they can only be so much better going forward" and if you mentally limit yourself, then you'll only go so far as the limit you set for yourself
The goal for any player should be to focus on the next ball that's coming their way and to win it, have to play the hand your dealt and try to play it as well as you can, the same goes for any management team, it's about improving players. If you take a group of players who were 9th in the country and the next year, they're 5th or 6th in the country, then that's progress, doesn't mean we will win anything or that it should be celebrated but that's what the goal has to be, you have the players you have and it's your job to get the best out of them and to develop them and close the gap on the other counties
It should be obvious now that we are well behind the curve in terms of primary schools, secondary schools, clubs, development squads, and parents. Now maybe one of the drivers is up to scratch but most of them have to be below the necessary standard looking at our past results
There are other ways to look at it: population, the share of the population playing GAA, the share of the GAA population playing hurling etc but I'll overlook those as Wexford GAA cannot impact Wexford's population and the share of people playing GAA (And the share of the GAA players who play hurling) are really functions of the strength of clubs, schools, squads, and parents
You win (or lose) because of structures and/or culture (or lack thereof). We have a decent hurling culture although we aren't anywhere near the likes of KK and Tipp in terms of culture; if anything, our hurling culture seems decent in the grand scheme of things because of how few counties actually take hurling seriously
Culture and structures impact clubs, squads, parents, and schools. Yes, the County Board and club committees can put good structures in place but at the same time, you can't really force someone to volunteer. KK showcase the importance of culture. They've had so much success over the years that they have people who have been there, done that. They've also had so much success that they see what happened this year as an absolute disaster and something that needs to be put right. It's much easier to get volunteers when you have a strong culture; we on the other hand have been mediocre for a long time and a lot of people in the county unfortunately are quite happy to not enforce high standards
You get this with teachers as well. I know the Croke Park Agreement is an issue but that's an issue for all counties. That said, if the likes of KK and Tipp have a stronger hurling culture than us, it's also more likely that KK and Tipp teachers will have an interest in hurling than Wexford teachers. It's a bit of a flywheel effect; success begets success and this is all down to culture
The rot set in a long time ago and there's a big job of work that needs to be done. Problem is that we can't magically create a stronger culture overnight, strong culture is something that only emerges after decades, it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem
So we have to implement better structures then. The County Board cannot control clubs, parents, primary schools, and secondary schools although they can employ coaches and development squads would come under the County Board's remit. One way or another, we need to more lads hurling, both in terms of the overall number of lads hurling and the time each lad spends hurling. The structures we put in place must address this and it's why I think it's necessary that we expand the size and scope of the ASH programme. If we don't really change anything in terms of our structures (And such change may need to be radical at this stage), the rot will only get worse
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1500 - 16/08/2026 17:52:14
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "We probably say the same things over and over again tbh but here goes....
If you are talking about any interaction someone can get with the GAA at underage level, it usually comes through the following: clubs, primary school, secondary schools, development squads, and parents. Not all of them are as important as each other but they do all play a part (Even if said part influences things at the margin rather than being the main driver of progress)
We have not been good enough for a long time and underage results taken at face value suggest that that trend won't be broken anytime soon. Now this is not to say things can't change quickly; I don't like looking at players and thinking "this is what they're like now, they can only be so much better going forward" and if you mentally limit yourself, then you'll only go so far as the limit you set for yourself
The goal for any player should be to focus on the next ball that's coming their way and to win it, have to play the hand your dealt and try to play it as well as you can, the same goes for any management team, it's about improving players. If you take a group of players who were 9th in the country and the next year, they're 5th or 6th in the country, then that's progress, doesn't mean we will win anything or that it should be celebrated but that's what the goal has to be, you have the players you have and it's your job to get the best out of them and to develop them and close the gap on the other counties
It should be obvious now that we are well behind the curve in terms of primary schools, secondary schools, clubs, development squads, and parents. Now maybe one of the drivers is up to scratch but most of them have to be below the necessary standard looking at our past results
There are other ways to look at it: population, the share of the population playing GAA, the share of the GAA population playing hurling etc but I'll overlook those as Wexford GAA cannot impact Wexford's population and the share of people playing GAA (And the share of the GAA players who play hurling) are really functions of the strength of clubs, schools, squads, and parents
You win (or lose) because of structures and/or culture (or lack thereof). We have a decent hurling culture although we aren't anywhere near the likes of KK and Tipp in terms of culture; if anything, our hurling culture seems decent in the grand scheme of things because of how few counties actually take hurling seriously
Culture and structures impact clubs, squads, parents, and schools. Yes, the County Board and club committees can put good structures in place but at the same time, you can't really force someone to volunteer. KK showcase the importance of culture. They've had so much success over the years that they have people who have been there, done that. They've also had so much success that they see what happened this year as an absolute disaster and something that needs to be put right. It's much easier to get volunteers when you have a strong culture; we on the other hand have been mediocre for a long time and a lot of people in the county unfortunately are quite happy to not enforce high standards
You get this with teachers as well. I know the Croke Park Agreement is an issue but that's an issue for all counties. That said, if the likes of KK and Tipp have a stronger hurling culture than us, it's also more likely that KK and Tipp teachers will have an interest in hurling than Wexford teachers. It's a bit of a flywheel effect; success begets success and this is all down to culture
The rot set in a long time ago and there's a big job of work that needs to be done. Problem is that we can't magically create a stronger culture overnight, strong culture is something that only emerges after decades, it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem
So we have to implement better structures then. The County Board cannot control clubs, parents, primary schools, and secondary schools although they can employ coaches and development squads would come under the County Board's remit. One way or another, we need to more lads hurling, both in terms of the overall number of lads hurling and the time each lad spends hurling. The structures we put in place must address this and it's why I think it's necessary that we expand the size and scope of the ASH programme. If we don't really change anything in terms of our structures (And such change may need to be radical at this stage), the rot will only get worse" I dont think its all that important to win anything at u14, u15, or u16 tbh. And I dont think the Tipp u16As or Dublin u16As were technically any better than our lads either. They did both have some taller lads though. Which is maybe something for us to consider more at u14 when lads are coming into the system.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 16/08/2026 19:22:38
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Interesting report on Kilkenny's performance in these tournaments.
https://kilkennygaa.ie/2026/08/2026-hurling-academy-national-games-finals/
wexford2012 (Wexford) - Posts: 145 - 18/08/2026 12:32:36
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Replying To wexford2012: "Interesting report on Kilkenny's performance in these tournaments.
https://kilkennygaa.ie/2026/08/2026-hurling-academy-national-games-finals/" Think Wexford GAA used to post the squads on the website in the last but they don't even do that anymore
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1500 - 18/08/2026 13:09:12
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Replying To Viking66: "I dont think its all that important to win anything at u14, u15, or u16 tbh. And I dont think the Tipp u16As or Dublin u16As were technically any better than our lads either. They did both have some taller lads though. Which is maybe something for us to consider more at u14 when lads are coming into the system." Think this paragraph from Kilkenny GAA possibly sums up how KK see the importance of these squads and doing well in these tournaments:
"Of the six Na Cáit Óga squads in action today in the National Hurling Games competitions, Kilkenny won four titles, shared one and were narrowly beaten by just a single point in the sixth. It is a hugely positive outcome and a fantastic reflection of all the hard work and commitment shown by these young players and their management teams throughout the season."
MyOhMi (Wexford) - Posts: 360 - 18/08/2026 13:11:52
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I know I said this before but the structure of underage competitions bugs me.
There is no point saying "Wexford Purple lost to Tipperary Blue by 3 points" or whatever. This tells us nothing.
We need to put out our best XV on the one team and go to try and win these tournaments. Not some makey uppy farce which doesn't tell us how good or not the hurlers we are producing is. And all counties need to do the same, particularly the Leinster ones who are already way behind the Munster counties at every level.
Or please tell me what I'm mis understanding here?
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 2158 - 18/08/2026 13:43:52
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Also, Clubber fills a fair few dark evenings here at the moment. I watch a lot of matches from Wexford, Tipperary (due to GF family playing) and Kilkenny (college friends playing).
The difference in standard of club hurling, and the intensity of it, between Wexford and the other 2, is literally night and day. Every ball in Kilkenny and Tipp is fought for like a life depended on it. Wexford hurling looks so passive and meek compared to it.
I think this is the root of our problem, right up from underage. We need to instil a never say die attitude in players, when you cross that white line you have to go for every ball at 100mph and not take a step backwards. Michael Verny was saying on Indo Podcast a week or two ago that somebody in Offaly told him "You are a good hurler but too nice". I think you could apply this to over half of the Wexford club hurlers.
We need more nasty, dogged, bullish hurlers across our county who can hurl at a massive intensity. I played against a particular senior player from Barntown who everybody will know a lot of times and lads would be giving out about how he plays, but I always said he gives it and takes it and hurling is a competitive arena not a popularity contest.
I fear we're more likely to ignore the "dog of war" who might not be a refined hurler in a development squad in favour of a more stylish hurler who might be a bit green.
Maybe we just don't have the hurlers in the county and there is only so much coaching you can do, I don't know from here but its what I see.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 2158 - 18/08/2026 13:57:27
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Replying To StoreysTash: "I know I said this before but the structure of underage competitions bugs me.
There is no point saying "Wexford Purple lost to Tipperary Blue by 3 points" or whatever. This tells us nothing.
We need to put out our best XV on the one team and go to try and win these tournaments. Not some makey uppy farce which doesn't tell us how good or not the hurlers we are producing is. And all counties need to do the same, particularly the Leinster ones who are already way behind the Munster counties at every level.
Or please tell me what I'm mis understanding here?" I think those Wexford U15 and U16 teams were A and B though
Regarding mixed teams, I think most counties are A and B at U15 and U16 level, U14 is a different story and may be why Leinster counties no longer compete in the Tony Forristal and Sonny Walsh (Munster counties were more in favour of mixed squads than we were)
And I don't think you can force teams to play A and B
Say the organisers demand A and B; what's to stop a county fielding mixed teams but denoting one A and the other B?
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1500 - 18/08/2026 16:41:51
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Replying To StoreysTash: "Also, Clubber fills a fair few dark evenings here at the moment. I watch a lot of matches from Wexford, Tipperary (due to GF family playing) and Kilkenny (college friends playing).
The difference in standard of club hurling, and the intensity of it, between Wexford and the other 2, is literally night and day. Every ball in Kilkenny and Tipp is fought for like a life depended on it. Wexford hurling looks so passive and meek compared to it.
I think this is the root of our problem, right up from underage. We need to instil a never say die attitude in players, when you cross that white line you have to go for every ball at 100mph and not take a step backwards. Michael Verny was saying on Indo Podcast a week or two ago that somebody in Offaly told him "You are a good hurler but too nice". I think you could apply this to over half of the Wexford club hurlers.
We need more nasty, dogged, bullish hurlers across our county who can hurl at a massive intensity. I played against a particular senior player from Barntown who everybody will know a lot of times and lads would be giving out about how he plays, but I always said he gives it and takes it and hurling is a competitive arena not a popularity contest.
I fear we're more likely to ignore the "dog of war" who might not be a refined hurler in a development squad in favour of a more stylish hurler who might be a bit green.
Maybe we just don't have the hurlers in the county and there is only so much coaching you can do, I don't know from here but its what I see." I think this is cultural tbh, KK and Tipp people have hurling on the brain and every year they don't win an AI is a failure, that mindset starts at the bottom and filters all the way up through the system
It starts at the bottom and filters all the way up for us too unfortunately in the sense that our lack of culture/belief/mentality/standards defines who we play
Problem is changing said culture
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1500 - 18/08/2026 16:44:42
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "I think this is cultural tbh, KK and Tipp people have hurling on the brain and every year they don't win an AI is a failure, that mindset starts at the bottom and filters all the way up through the system
It starts at the bottom and filters all the way up for us too unfortunately in the sense that our lack of culture/belief/mentality/standards defines who we play
Problem is changing said culture" Im not sure you have it totally right there. There are plenty of lads in Wexford who live, breathe eat and ##### hurling. The culture is as strong with these people as any I've met from Galway, Clare, Cork, Tipp, Kilkenny or Limerick.
Problem is theres a higher percentage of these people in most of the other top counties.
We have a higher percentage of people in our county who live, breathe, eat and ##### soccer than they have in most of the other top hurling counties. Tipp with a similar population only have 5 adult soccer leagues while we have 11.
We also have a far higher percentage of dual code gaa clubs than any other county in Ireland.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:07:48
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Replying To MyOhMi: "Think this paragraph from Kilkenny GAA possibly sums up how KK see the importance of these squads and doing well in these tournaments:
"Of the six Na Cáit Óga squads in action today in the National Hurling Games competitions, Kilkenny won four titles, shared one and were narrowly beaten by just a single point in the sixth. It is a hugely positive outcome and a fantastic reflection of all the hard work and commitment shown by these young players and their management teams throughout the season."" Thats called putting a positive spin on things. Their u16As played in the second tier u16 competition, same as ours. They were lucky to beat Dublin in the SF of this. Their u16B team played in a lower grade tournament than ours did. Their u15As were good, their u15As won the Arrabawn Cup, meaning I suppose they were the best u15 team in the country. Our u15As only won the Arrabawn Shield, making us 5th best. Their u15Bs were only in the John Doyle Shield though, while ours only narrowly lost the John Doyle Cup final by 2 points to Antrims u15As. Their 2 u14 teams played at home against a mixed team from here and a mixed team from Galway in an invitational tournament. Hardly worth boasting about winning it, well they didnt win it outright they shared it with Galway after a draw, and I know for a fact that if any of us on here did if we won something similar we would be told we were full of toxic positivity.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:27:29
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Replying To MyOhMi: "Think this paragraph from Kilkenny GAA possibly sums up how KK see the importance of these squads and doing well in these tournaments:
"Of the six Na Cáit Óga squads in action today in the National Hurling Games competitions, Kilkenny won four titles, shared one and were narrowly beaten by just a single point in the sixth. It is a hugely positive outcome and a fantastic reflection of all the hard work and commitment shown by these young players and their management teams throughout the season."" Last year our u16As won the 3rd/4th playoff in the premier u16 competition. We werent even in the 2nd tier competition they won this year. Our u14s beat the Cork side that won the Tony Forristal competition, which was only open to Munster counties, as it was again this year.
What we should be wondering is why we have gone back a little this year, rather than wondering why Kilkenny GAA are making a big deal of winning lower tier competitions, with the exception of the Arrabawn Cup.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:39:55
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "Think Wexford GAA used to post the squads on the website in the last but they don't even do that anymore" Short staffed?
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:40:36
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Replying To StoreysTash: "I know I said this before but the structure of underage competitions bugs me.
There is no point saying "Wexford Purple lost to Tipperary Blue by 3 points" or whatever. This tells us nothing.
We need to put out our best XV on the one team and go to try and win these tournaments. Not some makey uppy farce which doesn't tell us how good or not the hurlers we are producing is. And all counties need to do the same, particularly the Leinster ones who are already way behind the Munster counties at every level.
Or please tell me what I'm mis understanding here?" Kilkennys u15As won the premier u15A tournament in the country. They werent behind the Munster counties. And they beat Tipp As in the final of the 2nd tier u16A tournament also. We shouldve beaten Tipps u16As in the semifinal too, they werent great and we were 6 points up against them after 20 minutes. Cork, Limerick and Waterford were the other 3 counties apart from Galway in this years premier u16 competition.
Galway were the best county overall across the 3 grades u14, u15 and u16. Their u14s were very impressive this year.
Hard to guage where Clare are at with these as they have a policy of fielding mixed teams all the way up to u16. Which I think we should be doing for development also.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:47:49
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Replying To StoreysTash: "Also, Clubber fills a fair few dark evenings here at the moment. I watch a lot of matches from Wexford, Tipperary (due to GF family playing) and Kilkenny (college friends playing).
The difference in standard of club hurling, and the intensity of it, between Wexford and the other 2, is literally night and day. Every ball in Kilkenny and Tipp is fought for like a life depended on it. Wexford hurling looks so passive and meek compared to it.
I think this is the root of our problem, right up from underage. We need to instil a never say die attitude in players, when you cross that white line you have to go for every ball at 100mph and not take a step backwards. Michael Verny was saying on Indo Podcast a week or two ago that somebody in Offaly told him "You are a good hurler but too nice". I think you could apply this to over half of the Wexford club hurlers.
We need more nasty, dogged, bullish hurlers across our county who can hurl at a massive intensity. I played against a particular senior player from Barntown who everybody will know a lot of times and lads would be giving out about how he plays, but I always said he gives it and takes it and hurling is a competitive arena not a popularity contest.
I fear we're more likely to ignore the "dog of war" who might not be a refined hurler in a development squad in favour of a more stylish hurler who might be a bit green.
Maybe we just don't have the hurlers in the county and there is only so much coaching you can do, I don't know from here but its what I see." "I fear we're more likely to ignore the "dog of war" who might not be a refined hurler in a development squad in favour of a more stylish hurler who might be a bit green."
Absolutely agree with this. We also tend to ignore bigger hurlers who arent knacky hurlers. Knacky hurling is for stickers competitions.
Having been up with our clubs young lads to tournaments in Kilkenny and Tipp last year, refereed by refs from Offaly, Kilkenny, Tipp and Limerick, and like you watched quite a bit of Tipp and Kilkenny hurling on clubbertv, I think its fair to say our referees allow far less contact at every level than referees from every other county with the possible exception of Cork.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20515 - 18/08/2026 17:54:24
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