I've been attending alot of underage football matches over the last 5/6 years. The amount of extremely talented young footballers on display is unreal. I hear alot of negative talk on forums and in the press that Meath football is in a bad state, from what I see at the minute at underage is the complete opposite... Has this being always the case in Meath football and we're just losing players to other sports ?? Is the county board doing enough for these players or are we making it easy for other sports to convince these players to concentrate on other sports.. I'd love to hear other people opinions on this....

royaljackeen (Meath) - Posts: 37 - 17/01/2014 12:53:00    1532964

For kids playing underage i have found through experience that the onus on keeping kids interested in Gaelic games falls on the local club rather than anything specific the county board can or ever has done.
Certainly kids will always veer towards the in vogue sport of the moment, such as rugby for the past 5/6 years. To me there always has been a responsibility for the local club to engage with the youth in the community.

highking12 (Meath) - Posts: 184 - 17/01/2014 15:50:43    1533092

i think a big think has to be done at minor level to keep young lads intersted and focused as i would think this is the biggest drop out age? i think most lads go to colage and start drinking and just forget about football!

theroyal1 (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 17/01/2014 16:27:43    1533117

royaljackeen - who is negative about the county on these forums???
i'd say over the last year i have read nothing but optimistic and positive messages from people regarding the counties progress. (obviously there is the odd miserable sod who has to complain no matter what)

people look at the team now and they see youth and promise! so clearly the underage structure is starting to reap the benefits!

dubsout (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 17/01/2014 18:18:28    1533170

Is this the problem at the minute ?? Are county board doing enough for our underage players ?? As I said in my original post underage football is of a very high grade. Is the school of excellance and development squad system working... Are other sports better organised at this age.

royaljackeen (Meath) - Posts: 37 - 04/03/2014 14:35:01    1554591

Maybe , it has something to do with the way that the dev. managers have started to be changed 1 year before Minor level. Successful dev. Managers/teams have been dropped 1 or 2 years before hitting the Golden grail of Minor level .These dev. Managers have been working with the talent within the county from U12 level up , they have built up a rapport with the players in the squads and then they come to U16/U17 level and they are replaced in the position by persons with names , but no coaching background or rapport with the squads . The whole process starts all over again , teams are broken down , and the rebuilding process starts all over again. When will we stop trying to re-write the book , look at what happens in successful counties ( Tyrone , Dublin, Donegal ) . The successful squads tend to be mentored / coached by a management teams that have walked the path with the players through all the dev. levels . It is a statistical outlier when successful team is managed by New Management team . The norm is that the team and coaches are a cohesive unit from many years of association. This is not happening ion Meath , take a look at what is going on at present.

Chaisleain_Abu (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 04/03/2014 16:30:21    1554730

Suppose there is two ways to look at it Put in a man that appears to have coaching badges comimg out of his ears. but shows in practice that perhaps he is not the right man for the for one reason or another and so needs to be changed. The days of appointing a fellow at U-14 and 4 years later hey presto is the Minor manager this I do not agree with, ok builds up rappore as you say but also can be narrow minded and see only certain quailities or for that matter faults in players and as we all know children develop at differing stages and at times it takes a different eye and a different appraoch to spot that.

If coaches where serious about Underage in Meath and not their own egos and had proved capable they should take say take an u14 squad for a few years and stay at that grade and not automatically move along but hand that squad on each year to another coach at u-15 to take the players on to another stage who in turn would pass them on to another manager at u-16 to futrher develop the players and so on. This would be ideal but seems not to have taken place although I have heard it spoken about

It takes a certain type of coach to take the Meath minors and at times in the past I have wondered at who has been appointed, Stan Gibney I felt was badly treated but others in very recent times have got the job and I have been astonished at the choices

glenny (Meath) - Posts: 1119 - 05/03/2014 12:16:32    1555067

I don't think they are looking after the underage.
If you are involved with the county setup you fare better than your club mate.
It's the club that suffers all the time. Look at last years minor's league fixtures for example, one game in February
one in March One more in April on Easter Monday morning and another in May.
This is div 1 by the way. Then you have championship you don't get any fixtures or told what way the comp is being run crazy stuff,
compare this to other sports i.e soccer you train 2 a week and have A game at the weekend
at a set time and day every week. This I believe is the main reason the GAA loose so many at this age group.
The county board need to look at this and provide more football on a more regular basis.
And in doing so would benefit our county teams in time.

hitmenow (Meath) - Posts: 11 - 06/03/2014 08:33:01    1555447

Just pure coincidence Monday night reading the HERALD I noticed a GEORGIE POYNTON scoring both goals for Ireland u17s.. I'm presuming this is the same Georgie Poynton that plays for Colmcilles !!! Probably one of best underage gaa players in Meath at the minute. Is he still playing gaa, is he with Meath minors ?? If not what a loss to cilles, meath and gaa in general...

royaljackeen (Meath) - Posts: 37 - 06/03/2014 10:41:07    1555516

The last two posts from hitmenow and royaljackeen sum up some of the the worst of the underage set up in Meath GAA.

yes Georgie is the same St colmcilles player now well started on an international soccer career. Fine player.

The options for many players is to quit GAA completely or train train and train for ONE underage fixture per month which can appear out of the blue at very short notice. The new Meath website this year has helped with results notification etc so far. but before that...God help us..a disgrace.
When individuals in clubs really try to keep club players interested in older underage football in Meath it is pitiful and embarassing to promise them ONE ******* fixture per month at some unknown future date.
Is it any wonder many players are lost to GAA in Meath at this age. There has been a steady flow of players away from GAA for at least the last five years for various reasons easily facilitated by little planning.

spillanesmeat (Meath) - Posts: 103 - 06/03/2014 13:16:05    1555633

I assume it is the same George Poynton. If so he has signed professional with Dundalk so not playing gaelic. He hasn't played a game in a while. Haven't seen him too much to be honest but I have to say he never stood out for me when I did. Cilles have lots of good lads who I would rate higher - James Conlon, their young goalie (brown I think?), Danny McMahon, a McElarney and Lynch lad and Dara Brodigan spring to mind. The current Cilles senior manager has done super job nurturing all these lads at underage. He is a great manager and has been approached by Monaghan many times. Hopefully can help us at adult level

seasiderblues (Meath) - Posts: 353 - 06/03/2014 14:16:07    1555685

Seen georgi playing twice and i can honestly say that not since Cian ward was 16/17 have i seen such a talent, some loss if he is gone

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1508 - 06/03/2014 15:44:09    1555742

Have to agree, Poynton is the best young footballer I've ever seen. But I have seen the other lads mentioned play as well, I think they maybe a year younger than Georgie, but are fine footballers as well. But cilles have a hugh amount of talented young footballers throughout all the age groups and if they can hold on to these kids they will be a force going forward. Are there many other players that other clubs have lost to other sports ??

royaljackeen (Meath) - Posts: 37 - 06/03/2014 16:12:14    1555763

If we don't clam down here we'll sound like Ratoath. Niall Ronan one of many lost by us to other sports. Other clubs the same am sure

seasiderblues (Meath) - Posts: 353 - 06/03/2014 16:53:47    1555786

In reference to retention of players a huge effort goes in to keep these type players , but tradition is a huge matter with clubs don't mind the county, and we ain't got this as a lot of people are new in the area. In the Cilles it appears that we are hampered by other codes, but not being critical ,a lot of it can be blamed towards the county board but I guess clubs have to look within themselves before looking over the hedge looking for a fall guy!

cilles man (Meath) - Posts: 142 - 06/03/2014 18:31:46    1555833

On meath website full list of underage games hurling and football u12 to minor from february to November ... Seems fairly comprehensive to read

Havoc (Meath) - Posts: 296 - 06/03/2014 19:15:47    1555848

@HOVAC
Yes there are fixtures but no dates with most of them,
Can you tell me when the Minor championship starts?
Will there be a Minor summer league this year?

hitmenow (Meath) - Posts: 11 - 07/03/2014 10:02:33    1556019

^^^^ Sorry "@Havoc"

hitmenow (Meath) - Posts: 11 - 07/03/2014 10:35:34    1556039

Guys , I don't know what glenny is on , but talking about putting men in with coaching badges , and then removing them later is a mystery to me , as I don't see too many coach's getting the Dev gigs nowadays that have too any badges ......( glenny will probably change this to experience , but experience of what ) If they're not coaching at Juv level then where do they get the experience of coaching at this level from ? . what's the point in talking about building ,Developing the players potential ( using glennys way ) if all the coaches arn't singing off the same hymn sheet . better get the coaches all doing the same , and striving for the same but advocating the change them every year or two approach . Treat development like a business , build them up in on area this year , and continue to build them up, improving all along ( Measure the improvement) ( If you don't measure how do you know they are improving ) as you go , year to year . but don't build them up , ( Under one Manager) for that progress to be broken down again by the next mentor who gets them , causing stagnation....... Move on

Chaisleain_Abu (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 07/03/2014 11:29:06    1556081

Had a look at it there and you right no dates for minor championship I expect that depends on county minor team progress. But there are dates for everything else. It looks likes u17 has taken over from minor summer league and that could be good it runs to early august some I reckon minor championship will kick in then

Havoc (Meath) - Posts: 296 - 07/03/2014 14:37:01    1556237