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It wasn't though. Even with 10-15 minutes to go in both you could say a goal could change things. If Limerick had got a goal, who knows with they way they can blow teams away in a purple patch. ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1128 - 26/03/2024 11:13:56 2533827 Link 0 |
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I watched both games. From a long way out it was pretty obvious who was going to win them. If anything the only surprise in both was that the winning margins weren't wider.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 26/03/2024 14:21:51 2533887 Link 0 |
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Do we know any particular details of the U20s recent performances and results (Which I'm guessing have mainly been poor performances and losses) other than the Tipperary match?
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 246 - 26/03/2024 19:25:43 2533976 Link 0 |
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That pretty much says it all. They've 2 group games against Kilkenny and Laois to try to get on track. Some key players back from injury though, but some are still out.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 26/03/2024 20:11:19 2533989 Link 0 |
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Its hard to know with challenge matches although i would prefer to be winning them.Form will go out the window when these teams meet at any level.Its a big backroom team involved with the u20s. I think its 13 including management. They will be very familiar with the opposition and alot of last years squad is underage. I wouldn't buy people saying they are going more in hope because kk have being very average underage. There isnt much to fear this year either. I dont buy the kierans thing either because they get the best from the county plus carlow and laois.Last year they were poor and infairness to rossi he went after their half back line which was as slow as a wet week. Offally will be favourites to get out of leinster and galway will always be very strong. Slowandshortsighted (UK) - Posts: 33 - 26/03/2024 22:27:41 2534013 Link 0 |
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TBH after the Westmeath collapse last year I might never take a game for granted.
TerribleFootwork (Wexford) - Posts: 1727 - 26/03/2024 23:06:24 2534020 Link 0 |
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Can never rule out Dublin either. And Westmeath are dark horses this year. They've most of their best players from last years good u20 team still u20 this year. Laois made the minor final in 2022, knocking ourselves and Kilkenny out along the way, and some of those lads will be on their u20 team this year.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 27/03/2024 08:25:41 2534041 Link 0 |
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This is my point. A goal and the crowd getting going, then another goal goes in. I concur with Viking that it was unlikely as neither were playing well but momentum is a funny thing.
ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1128 - 27/03/2024 14:42:05 2534109 Link 0 |
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Westmeath are indeed very strong at Under 20 this year. Offaly are favourites but my sources tell me Galway and Kilkenny have the strongest panels at Under 20 and will be hard beaten. In terms of minor Dublin, Kilkenny, Wexford and Galway are miles ahead of the rest. wexfordwin (Wexford) - Posts: 124 - 27/03/2024 20:40:25 2534181 Link 0 |
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I think if we get lucky with injuries we won't be too far off the top counties in either. Hopefully the u20s have a clean bill of health before the knockouts start. Do you think there might be an advantage to not finishing top of the group at u20? And getting an extra game at QF or even prelim QF level? Especially bearing in mind our u20s have had less time together with management than the other counties? Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 28/03/2024 07:07:17 2534217 Link 0 |
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No!!! Stop trying to be too smart and cute in Wexford. Stop trying to be too clever, go out and win every game, finish top of the group and puff the chest out for whoever the next opponent is. "We finished top of the group, where did you finish". I can already hear the "Sure we didn't need to beat Kilkenny anyway" rhetoric at the weekend. If our U20's have been training since before Christmas, how long do you need to get ready for a match? No other sport has a 4 month pre-season. Our Aussie Rules team has just started back practice in the last month, and games in the next week or so. We had been doing some pre-season work before and we got an individual S&C schedule for 6 weeks before the practice started. I think the GAA has completely lost the run of itself when it comes to the length of the season and the amount of training that is done relative to the benefit gained from that training. It suits the manager who is being paid per night, but is there science to back up the need for 4 months of training before a competitive match? I had a look back at my Strava logs, bleep tests, etc and I'm fitter now than I ever was when I was playing hurling and football with a reduced but better planned training load. I heard an S&C person say as much as well, but if they too are on the GAA gravy train maybe they tow the line? StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1733 - 28/03/2024 09:33:39 2534238 Link 1 |
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I'm not saying we shouldn't go out to win every game. Unlike you I'm spending my hard earned bringing the 4 lads up to Nowlan Park Saturday. I'm travelling more in hope than expectation. One key player is only back after not really hurling all year, another isn't back yet at all. As regards being together u20 is a strange grade. There are players off 3 different minor teams, and some who never hurled 1st team minor. These lads are from different clubs. Some will never have hurled together at all before being on this panel. Hurling, like AFL, is a team sport. The more lads hurl together in practice and challenge games, and better again competitive games, the better they will play as a team. Its not rocket science, just common sense. Intercounty U20 is not like Junior B AFL. Its not the same bunch of lads getting together every year. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 28/03/2024 10:19:02 2534250 Link 0 |
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I'm not saying we shouldn't go out to win every game. Unlike you I'm spending my hard earned bringing the 4 lads up to Nowlan Park Saturday. I'm travelling more in hope than expectation. One key player is only back after not really hurling all year, another isn't back yet at all. As regards being together u20 is a strange grade. There are players off 3 different minor teams, and some who never hurled 1st team minor. These lads are from different clubs. Some will never have hurled together at all before being on this panel. Hurling, like AFL, is a team sport. The more lads hurl together in practice and challenge games, and better again competitive games, the better they will play as a team. Its not rocket science, just common sense. Intercounty U20 is not like Junior B AFL. Its not the same bunch of lads getting together every year. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 28/03/2024 10:21:22 2534252 Link 0 |
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I'm guessing that the point he is making is more relating to the ratio of training to matches. It is way out of kilter in GAA and while I agree you can't just turn up on the day and expect lads who have not hurled together to be a team, I also see the point of why do they need to train for 4 (and if they first met in November, 5) months before a match? Sure even in the biggest league in the world - the English Premier League - the pre season is about 6-7 weeks and regardless of them being full time, the number of hours for GAA players is comparable. There is excessive training being done across the board and some year, some team is going to try something different and win an All-Ireland by taking a different approach to it. I'm not advocating for players having a beer gut the opening round of the hurling league but I bet if you compare the fitness of a county who trained hard for 6-7 weeks versus that who train for 5 months, the actual difference would be scant. As regards first touch, etc I also think top end hurling is all done in the summer so being able to pick up a mucky ball in winter has no relevance to what happens on a summers day. Its a different game. ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1128 - 28/03/2024 12:08:06 2534276 Link 0 |
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I agree Exiledinwex. The way I see it is that overtraining leads to more injuries. Our lads are proof of that and other county teams as well. Stamina and fitness are of course necessary but the way it is these days lads will retire before they reach 28. So it's actually counter productive. Players have young families and need to spend time with them. They need to do the ordinary things in life. To train for 4 or 5 months before a game is madness in the extreme. Diet and a decent level of fitness is important but practicing skills is really what matters. The Tyrone team that won an all Ireland trained no more than twice a week in the first half of that season and increased it to 3 nights as the championship advanced. So it can be done without driving players into the ground. Rest is essential between training sessions. The body needs time to recover. If not injuries will definately occur and shorten players careres by many years. Magpie2 (Wexford) - Posts: 272 - 28/03/2024 13:18:54 2534292 Link 0 |
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Agree its a different game come summer. And agree to a point about Senior panels where probably 3/4s or more were playing the previous year or years with eachother. But you have to bear in mind that Senior panels only have 5 weeks together before the start of the Walsh Cup, with every panel also having club players still playing club provincials and AIs, lads away playing Fitzgibbon, and older players just being given a break. So to say they have 5 months together before playing a game is just plain old fashioned exaggeration, or talking ##### to put it more bluntly. U20 panels by their very nature usually have at least 50% turnover every year, if not more, and also don't meet up 4 or 5 times a week either, as most lads have school, college, apprenticeships, work etc. So to build team patterns of play, or for players to get to know each others style of play, and subconscious cues as to what their teammates are likely to do next, is very, very hard in such a short time period. By that I mean a lad might drop his left shoulder before breaking right when making a run, or might take a shorter step, things like that which the player himself doesn't even know he's doing, but things that his teammates might subconsciously recognize after playing a year or more with him repeatedly. It's not telepathy as some commentators call it, or magic as others say, its just how the brain works. It's no coincidence that the top soccer teams in the 1st division/premiership have largely been the ones with the most stability, and the least player turnover. If you bring in 2 or 3 lads it's much easier to integrate them into a team than if you bring in 6, 7, or 8 in a short period of time, no matter how good those players are. Just look at United and Chelsea the last few years compared to City and Liverpool. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 28/03/2024 13:59:50 2534310 Link 0 |
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I see our games v Galway in u17 and senior will be double header on May 4th, u17 at 1.30 and senior at 4. TerribleFootwork (Wexford) - Posts: 1727 - 28/03/2024 21:29:34 2534388 Link 0 |
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Sensible move
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 29/03/2024 06:53:19 2534407 Link 0 |
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U20 team named. Some strange positional selections, O'Connor seems to be basing the team on where lads played minor for him disregarding where they have shined since, and odd that Farrell isn't starting. Good luck to the lads and management hopefully they can get the win! Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11876 - 29/03/2024 13:57:27 2534464 Link 0 |
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Surprised Dylan Purcell isn't starting too unless Farrell and him are carrying knocks, we had 5 starters on the DCU freshers that got to the final and 3 of them named on the bench.
TerribleFootwork (Wexford) - Posts: 1727 - 29/03/2024 14:13:03 2534468 Link 0 |