Last Player from unfashionable clubs to play Senior Championship for Mayo?

[REDCOL]

Garrymore unfahionable U21 B Champions. Beat Claremorris out the gate in the championship,3 points behind Ballintubber with 10mins to go before a harsh sending off. Destroyed by Cross, but on the way up again still can gain promotion to Div 1 with one game left albeit against Catlebar .

A plethora of young players coming through with intercounty experience.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Garrymore unfahionable U21 B Champions. Beat Claremorris out the gate in the championship,3 points behind Ballintubber with 10mins to go before a harsh sending off. Destroyed by Cross, but on the way up again still can gain promotion to Div 1 with one game left albeit against Catlebar .

A plethora of young players coming through with intercounty experience.

Ah yeah but it's the hardest pitch to find in Mayo, that can't be fashionable.

[moysider]

Míchael Gardiner played senior championship in the 96 campaign. Based in Dublin management didn't know what a gem they had. Awful waste.

He played his first championship game against London in 96  ...... you'd spend a long time guessing who else ws in the half forward line that day with him ...... Pat Fallon and Noel Connelly ! He played with Ballyboden after leaving Ballycastle and was picked on the Dubling 'blue star' team in the late 90's. I remember him pretty much single handedly almost dragging Ballycastle U-21's to a win in county U-21 A semi final against a Knockmore U-21 team that featured Ray Dempsey, Peter Butler, Kevin Staunton, etc  .... until he went off in the second half having broken his leg ! ((That could have been such a break-through for the club as 5 or 6 of that team moved to Dublin clubs in following year or 2)).

His brother Padraic played a couple of FBD games about 10 years ago (played all his football with Ballycastle) while the real gem - Andrew - who also played with Ballyboden never got a chance at all. He made the Dublin 'blue star' team twice if not 3 times and never got as much as a minutes action in the red and green. A different breed of played to Padraic and Michael who were both wing forwards but as tough as nails - centre back or corner back mostly.

Why i am saying all this is that if all these 3 lads had been given opportunities in their late teens or early 20's and were allowed to develop for a year or 2 in a development panel then they would have been stalwarts in the county jersey for years - i am certain of this. For Michael and Padraic their chances came in their mid 20's and it was too late to mould them at that stage. They did not have had the confidence/experience etc when they went for minor or U21 trials and in playing for a junior club were never given the chances after that. How many other similar type gems are their in junior clubs throughout the county ...........

Spot on. Those boys were as good as footballers as you could hope to get anywhere. Michael was the best as regards pace and class. One of JM s worst errors was not picking him in 96 after the London game where everybody was crap but the established guys hung on. In a team with few forwards and nobody with his team ethic, pace and power, his omission was as bad as any of the other Fallon, Butler and O Neill stuff. I remember him playing in Portlaoise in the league after 96 AI and he was flying - if anything trying too hard but his quality was obvious. When I think about it I m glad JM wont be getting the gig this time.
Andrew was different as you say but like the rest had quality as well as being rugged. I liked him at 6. Padraig again was class. Ideally a wing forward he spent his time playing junior midfield from a young age. Oldest brother Joe wasn't bad either. Seriously lost footballers

[moysider]

Hard imagine ballycastle were in an u21 A semi

May memory is a bit hazy ..... but it was around '89 or '90 and it was against what was a star studded Knockmore team. Initially when i was thinking about it i thought it was a North Mayo final but i'm pretty sure it was a county semi (in Ardnaree) with no divisional competitions that year. As i said the club lost a few of the better players on that team but still managed to get to a county junior final in '93 losing to Kilmeena after a replay. Had we won the U-21 a few years before then those players would have stayed on and would have see us move up to intermediate and who knows from there.... club is a lot more progressive now that it used to be but unfortunately the numbers and quality ain't what they were - with a few notable exceptions, e.g.: Michael Forde who played midfield with minors this year ...... and had he not been in UCG last year then he would have been passed over..... and no doubt there are dozens like him that didn't were passed over cos they didn't have the extra chance to develop in a colleges environment.

Yeah, 89 and 90 there would have been Breslins, Dohertys, Thomases? and likes of Robert Tighe who were capable of playing at any level.

[moysider]

Have to admit I was very impressed with Michael Forde, he has the makings of a real gem. It was unusual this year to see so many Junior clubs represented for Mayo - Forde from Ballycastle, Conor Walsh from Balla, Darren Durkan from Parke and Adrian Leonard from Lahardane. It seems that the management may have done a proper scouting of the county. Things like the West Mayo set-up this year might help too to bring guys like Ollie and Vinny Feeney and Simon Cloherty into contention. That wouldn't have happened if they were just relying on Junior.

Forde featured as prominently as he did cos he had a years fresher football in NUIG under his belt. If he hadn't this and was only going to college this year i doubt he would have been such an influence .....  how many potential minors that didn't have the experience of a years fresher football missed out cos they weren't considered good enough after a few trials ?
This is not to in any way dismiss the efforts of the minor selectors in scouring the county but investment by the county board in divisonal structures will lead to more players like Forde coming through from the 'unfashionable clubs' (what would we call them then ?!)  ... the polishing of the raw diamonds.
An investment of say 15K a year in the North Mayo division (say at U-16, U-18, U-21 and senior grades) where all the junior clubs merge as per the temporary effort of 7 or 8 years ago would in time see a better balance of players coming from these smaller clubs a la Cork. But that 15K a year is now needed to service the debt on the big slatted house in Castlebar.

Forde was being mentioned in dispatches in 09. Management choose not to pick him. As late as this spring there were reservations. He was repeating major errors, ie. giving away the ball. That s the thing about different levels of football. Junior maybe you can give the ball away soft and not get punished, and you get it back soft again. Undoubtedly the freshers thing brought him along but he improved over the course of the summer as well. Usually Mayo managements take a pasting but this year that team came on in leaps and bounds from the Spring. I saw Forde v Galway. Strong and athletic and able to play. But concentration and positioning were a bit off. In the past young fellas would be rid of for that. In later games he was way ahead of that.  He is a  player that should develop well.
Where did Forde go to Secondary school and what do they play? Coming from a small club is not a problem as long as you get the opportunity to play for one of the bigger schools. Small club/small sciool  is what means a player does not develop. Carrying a team causes awful bad habits. Talented young players need to get into serious schools and county squads as early as possible. Not that the coaches are better but they are playing with and against players of higher ability and games are pacier and decision making is as important as any physical attribute.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Míchael Gardiner played senior championship in the 96 campaign. Based in Dublin management didn't know what a gem they had. Awful waste.

He played his first championship game against London in 96  ...... you'd spend a long time guessing who else ws in the half forward line that day with him ...... Pat Fallon and Noel Connelly ! He played with Ballyboden after leaving Ballycastle and was picked on the Dubling 'blue star' team in the late 90's. I remember him pretty much single handedly almost dragging Ballycastle U-21's to a win in county U-21 A semi final against a Knockmore U-21 team that featured Ray Dempsey, Peter Butler, Kevin Staunton, etc  .... until he went off in the second half having broken his leg ! ((That could have been such a break-through for the club as 5 or 6 of that team moved to Dublin clubs in following year or 2)).

His brother Padraic played a couple of FBD games about 10 years ago (played all his football with Ballycastle) while the real gem - Andrew - who also played with Ballyboden never got a chance at all. He made the Dublin 'blue star' team twice if not 3 times and never got as much as a minutes action in the red and green. A different breed of played to Padraic and Michael who were both wing forwards but as tough as nails - centre back or corner back mostly.

Why i am saying all this is that if all these 3 lads had been given opportunities in their late teens or early 20's and were allowed to develop for a year or 2 in a development panel then they would have been stalwarts in the county jersey for years - i am certain of this. For Michael and Padraic their chances came in their mid 20's and it was too late to mould them at that stage. They did not have had the confidence/experience etc when they went for minor or U21 trials and in playing for a junior club were never given the chances after that. How many other similar type gems are their in junior clubs throughout the county ...........

Spot on. Those boys were as good as footballers as you could hope to get anywhere. Michael was the best as regards pace and class. One of JM s worst errors was not picking him in 96 after the London game where everybody was crap but the established guys hung on. In a team with few forwards and nobody with his team ethic, pace and power, his omission was as bad as any of the other Fallon, Butler and O Neill stuff. I remember him playing in Portlaoise in the league after 96 AI and he was flying - if anything trying too hard but his quality was obvious. When I think about it I m glad JM wont be getting the gig this time.
Andrew was different as you say but like the rest had quality as well as being rugged. I liked him at 6. Padraig again was class. Ideally a wing forward he spent his time playing junior midfield from a young age. Oldest brother Joe wasn't bad either. Seriously lost footballers

I nearly got frostbite on my c**k at that match, took it out for a slash at the bog and it nearly froze on the way out, it was that cold.

[ludermor]

Im sure it would only have caused minor damage

[rosnarun]

many's the time Joe gardiner marked and maimed me in the winter league .
He could well have done a job for mayo .but he was told the wooly hat had to go.
that was the end of  it.

[moysider]

Joe became a farm manager after so he knew he would have to hold on to the woolly hat.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Im sure it would only have caused minor damage

Well it was another 5 years before it go any real workout to be honest.

[ludermor]

Im sure it would only have caused minor damage

Well it was another 5 years before it go any real workout to be honest.

So that would make you 48 now?

[boosabum]

Garrymore unfahionable U21 B Champions. Beat Claremorris out the gate in the championship,3 points behind Ballintubber with 10mins to go before a harsh sending off. Destroyed by Cross, but on the way up again still can gain promotion to Div 1 with one game left albeit against Catlebar .

A plethora of young players coming through with intercounty experience.

Ah yeah but it's the hardest pitch to find in Mayo, that can't be fashionable.

Sure it was very unfasionable for a Mayo club to get to an all ireland club final in the 1980's too

[rosnarun]

didn't some one compile a lisy a while back with every mayo footballer of recent times and their clubs
anyone with a slightly better memory than me ??

but i do remember
garrymore were never fashionable
dirty yes
fashionable no

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Im sure it would only have caused minor damage

Well it was another 5 years before it go any real workout to be honest.

So that would make you 48 now?

What kind of maths is that Ludermor, I was 16 in 1996.

[muppet]

Im sure it would only have caused minor damage

Well it was another 5 years before it go any real workout to be honest.

So that would make you 48 now?

What kind of maths is that Ludermor, I was 16 in 1996.

Yea but you were born on February 29th.