National Forum

Wicklow GAA thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To JohnnyBlaze:  "Graham Geraghty had a piece in his Irish Mirror column yesterday, saying that Dublin should be very worried by their performance against Wicklow. In it he suggests that Dublin should be beating us by 20 points, along with "most teams in Leinster".

Given our record in the Leinster Championship in recent years it is a major insult. Similar to the pundits who have talked all week about Dublin not being on their "A-Game". No mention of the fact they were over ran in Midfield for large parts of the game and our shooting let us down badly at key times (especially frees).

I sincerely hope Geraghtys comments add a bit of fuel to the panel in their TC preparations, similar to the betting odds against Dublin. I have to question the payment of these "experts" who may have been excellent players in there day, but amount to verbal diarrhoea since retirement."
There is bias towards certain counties in Ireland especially in the football championship. RTÉ pundits and pundits in general focus exclusively on a small number of counties to the exclusion of the majority of counties even when those 'so called' less fashionable counties perform well. This bias exists within the GAA hierarchy and is part of the reason why there is a split GAA championship between the All-Ireland series and the Tailteann cup. For one, I don't subscribe to theory that a number of counties such as ourselves should be in a lesser competition. For example, Wicklow beat Westmeath in the Leinster championship last year before losing narrowly and unluckily to Kildare. We beat Longford this year before giving a good account of ourselves last weekend. Graham Geraghty's Meath haven't been at the races in the Leinster championship for about twenty years. I discount their tarnished Leinster title against Louth in 2010. Unfortunately, there are very few quality pundits around Gaelic Games these days. Equally, I don't know why the Sunday Game bothered shown Wicklow vs Dublin and Louth vs Laois last weekend, the highlights of both matches were shown in less than two minutes. Enough said.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2092 - 20/04/2025 19:05:41    2603159

Link

Replying To wicklowsupport:  "There is bias towards certain counties in Ireland especially in the football championship. RTÉ pundits and pundits in general focus exclusively on a small number of counties to the exclusion of the majority of counties even when those 'so called' less fashionable counties perform well. This bias exists within the GAA hierarchy and is part of the reason why there is a split GAA championship between the All-Ireland series and the Tailteann cup. For one, I don't subscribe to theory that a number of counties such as ourselves should be in a lesser competition. For example, Wicklow beat Westmeath in the Leinster championship last year before losing narrowly and unluckily to Kildare. We beat Longford this year before giving a good account of ourselves last weekend. Graham Geraghty's Meath haven't been at the races in the Leinster championship for about twenty years. I discount their tarnished Leinster title against Louth in 2010. Unfortunately, there are very few quality pundits around Gaelic Games these days. Equally, I don't know why the Sunday Game bothered shown Wicklow vs Dublin and Louth vs Laois last weekend, the highlights of both matches were shown in less than two minutes. Enough said."
Well said, totally agree, just look at the troubles Antrim had getting to play their game at home eventhough they got a home draw. Also the dismissive way pundits talk about the Taliteann cup shows a massive ammout of disrespect for division 3 and 4 teams. No Tailtean cup games will be shown on TV until the semi final stage, the Sunday Game will show a two minute package (if lucky) a good case in point are the Joe McDonagh cup and other competitions in hurling. No wonder the gaa is losing out to the soccer and rugby

stringfellohawk (Wicklow) - Posts: 129 - 21/04/2025 12:16:19    2603338

Link

Replying To stringfellohawk:  "Well said, totally agree, just look at the troubles Antrim had getting to play their game at home eventhough they got a home draw. Also the dismissive way pundits talk about the Taliteann cup shows a massive ammout of disrespect for division 3 and 4 teams. No Tailtean cup games will be shown on TV until the semi final stage, the Sunday Game will show a two minute package (if lucky) a good case in point are the Joe McDonagh cup and other competitions in hurling. No wonder the gaa is losing out to the soccer and rugby"
I think you re right to be honest and the Gaa or rte dont seem to care how certain counties get on.Its the same in both codes.

brayballer (Wicklow) - Posts: 33 - 24/04/2025 15:53:44    2604078

Link

Good effort by the hurlers. We are now in with a shout of reaching the final with 2 games to play.

U16 footballers had a good win over Limerick in their competition 2-21 to 1-12.

liam500 (Wicklow) - Posts: 198 - 26/04/2025 17:02:58    2604390

Link

Replying To JohnnyBlaze:  "Graham Geraghty had a piece in his Irish Mirror column yesterday, saying that Dublin should be very worried by their performance against Wicklow. In it he suggests that Dublin should be beating us by 20 points, along with "most teams in Leinster".

Given our record in the Leinster Championship in recent years it is a major insult. Similar to the pundits who have talked all week about Dublin not being on their "A-Game". No mention of the fact they were over ran in Midfield for large parts of the game and our shooting let us down badly at key times (especially frees).

I sincerely hope Geraghtys comments add a bit of fuel to the panel in their TC preparations, similar to the betting odds against Dublin. I have to question the payment of these "experts" who may have been excellent players in there day, but amount to verbal diarrhoea since retirement."
Does anyone take Graham Geraghty seriously ?! He was a pretty decent footballer but after that, who really cares what he thinks.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1600 - 26/04/2025 19:06:06    2604446

Link

Well, perhaps someone will come on and explain how it is that we still can't make the breakthrough with who I regard as the top 4 counties in Leinster at u17 and 20 level ?? We even have trouble in consistently beating the middle tier. It seems as if the u17s, after a great performance up to ordinary time, fell away in extra time. Offaly reports say it was fitness. Our u20s fell to the Dubs. In my book, we are still in the bottom tier - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow and it looks as if Kilkenny might join us there. Next tier, again in my opinion, would be Louth, Westmeath, Longford and Laois and top of the pile, Meath, Dublin, Kildare and Offally. This is where we are at for 20 yrs now and no matter what effort is being put in with schools of excellence etc, that breakthrough seems as far away as ever.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1600 - 28/04/2025 08:18:50    2604867

Link

Replying To Freethinker:  "Well, perhaps someone will come on and explain how it is that we still can't make the breakthrough with who I regard as the top 4 counties in Leinster at u17 and 20 level ?? We even have trouble in consistently beating the middle tier. It seems as if the u17s, after a great performance up to ordinary time, fell away in extra time. Offaly reports say it was fitness. Our u20s fell to the Dubs. In my book, we are still in the bottom tier - Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow and it looks as if Kilkenny might join us there. Next tier, again in my opinion, would be Louth, Westmeath, Longford and Laois and top of the pile, Meath, Dublin, Kildare and Offally. This is where we are at for 20 yrs now and no matter what effort is being put in with schools of excellence etc, that breakthrough seems as far away as ever."
There is no excuse for teams outside Dublin now. Leinster counties are complaining about Dublin and their resources for twenty five years which I always felt was slightly exaggerated. The golden era for Dublin is over, I felt it was over before yesterday. There is nowhere for Leinster counties to hide now. There is a big opportunity for the other counties over the next decade to win a Leinster if they can get their act together. Our intercounty teams lack belief, proper conditioning and a club scene that is mediocre. Once upon a time our clubs were feared in Leinster, now they are making up the numbers. I'd add a lack of proper coaching at secondary school level. We aren't competing in big school competitions which is a huge disadvantage when a player is playing at u17 level. I've no coaching experience but I think from u12 up to senior, there needs to be a plan to develop players to play at intercounty level. Obviously not every club player will play intercounty so players who have the talent and want to be an intercounty player have to be identified early. Some will not make it due to their size, some will pursue other options. Also, Wicklow GAA need to show some ambition and market the games more in Wicklow which is currently non-existent. Youngsters won't just turn up, you need to grab their attention and keep it. Rugby and soccer to a lesser extent are wiping the floor with the GAA presently, both locally and nationally.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2092 - 28/04/2025 13:27:11    2604996

Link