Under age amalgamation

[Ballyroan Abbey]

Maybe so badly is an overstatement but up to around 5 years ago they were putting out teams by themselves that were very competitive in the A championship, the last few years they have failed to win B championships with ballypickas and ballacolla and have not been able to produce teams by themselves, and it isnt an issue of there being a lack of numbers in the parish

[clonadmad]

You seem to know the details of the agreement then,Keyser

Share it with us

No nothing about it.
But if all juvenile teams in a combined Clonad/Colt/Shanahoe arrangement wear Clonad jerseys in 2017 I'll stand outside Eamon Duff's for the night dressed in a feather boa and chewing on my own mickey!

That's a hostage to fortune post if I ever saw one 

We have formally  informed Park/Ratheniska that our amalgamation with them is at an end,We had wanted a full amalgamation from u6 up with them,while they were only willing to give us an u14 and u 16 amalgamation.

Talks are progressing well between ourselves Colt/Shanahoe and Ballypickas with a view to including all juvenile age grades,we would expect that all teams will be hurling in Division 1 or the A grade.

[Keyser Söze]

You seem to know the details of the agreement then,Keyser

Share it with us

No nothing about it.
But if all juvenile teams in a combined Clonad/Colt/Shanahoe arrangement wear Clonad jerseys in 2017 I'll stand outside Eamon Duff's for the night dressed in a feather boa and chewing on my own mickey!

That's a hostage to fortune post if I ever saw one 

We have formally  informed Park/Ratheniska that our amalgamation with them is at an end,We had wanted a full amalgamation from u6 up with them,while they were only willing to give us an u14 and u 16 amalgamation.

Talks are progressing well between ourselves Colt/Shanahoe and Ballypickas with a view to including all juvenile age grades,we would expect that all teams will be hurling in Division 1 or the A grade.

That is probably a constructive arrangement for all involved.
Would that see players from the parishes of Mountrath, Raheen, Abbeyleix and Portlaoise involved?!

[clonadmad]

It would and given our existing player base,probably some from Stradbally/Timahoe also

[Keyser Söze]

It would and given our existing player base,probably some from Stradbally/Timahoe also

Jaysus! Never mind playing in 'A'- I think there should be immediate calls for a split into North Clonad and South Clonad*!

*I'm sure both teams will sport green jerseys with a yellow sash!

[Ballyroan Abbey]

Why ballypickas cannot go with ballinakill i will never fathom, abbeyleix dont want them, and considering the success they have had its understandable, ratheniska/timahoe is another obvious one and has been done before, although if the pickas/timahoe amalgamation goes through you'd imagine that would include juveniles too

[Don Draper]

It would and given our existing player base,probably some from Stradbally/Timahoe also

Jaysus! Never mind playing in 'A'- I think there should be immediate calls for a split into North Clonad and South Clonad*!

*I'm sure both teams will sport green jerseys with a yellow sash!

Can't forget The Heath as well

[oneflewoverthecuckoonest]

joining more and more together to form a stronger outfit is no long term solution, you may get short term gains at the cost of longer term existence. You can see many fringe underage players giving up  the game and an already decreasing pool of club players due to amalgams become even smaller.

I would like to ask a serious question....and this is not a criticism rather a clear fact....

take clonad, shanahoe, colt.....add in park, ballyfin, trumera and mountrath....all hurling areas in the central plains of laois.......in the last 25 years, how many regular starters have these clubs supplied to the county senior hurling team?
by my estimate, only Andy Bergin(when with Clonad), could fit that category.........which is a dreadful statistic.

why?.....is the club structures not working?  is the coaching dreadful, 25 years of failure is an indictment?

a small county like laois cannot afford to have a large portion of its hurling area being barren producers for the county.....why in 25 years has nothing changed?

[Downtheroad]

joining more and more together to form a stronger outfit is no long term solution, you may get short term gains at the cost of longer term existence. You can see many fringe underage players giving up  the game and an already decreasing pool of club players due to amalgams become even smaller.

I would like to ask a serious question....and this is not a criticism rather a clear fact....

take clonad, shanahoe, colt.....add in park, ballyfin, trumera and mountrath....all hurling areas in the central plains of laois.......in the last 25 years, how many regular starters have these clubs supplied to the county senior hurling team?
by my estimate, only Andy Bergin(when with Clonad), could fit that category.........which is a dreadful statistic.

why?.....is the club structures not working?  is the coaching dreadful, 25 years of failure is an indictment?

a small county like laois cannot afford to have a large portion of its hurling area being barren producers for the county.....why in 25 years has nothing changed?

Most of the club's above have a shocking "B" mentality which means that chaps haven't played the right standard from the outset. The result is that they never catch up. It's not a coincidence that none of the above  named clubs are playing in the main Senior championship.

[Don Draper]

joining more and more together to form a stronger outfit is no long term solution, you may get short term gains at the cost of longer term existence. You can see many fringe underage players giving up  the game and an already decreasing pool of club players due to amalgams become even smaller.

I would like to ask a serious question....and this is not a criticism rather a clear fact....

take clonad, shanahoe, colt.....add in park, ballyfin, trumera and mountrath....all hurling areas in the central plains of laois.......in the last 25 years, how many regular starters have these clubs supplied to the county senior hurling team?
by my estimate, only Andy Bergin(when with Clonad), could fit that category.........which is a dreadful statistic.

why?.....is the club structures not working?  is the coaching dreadful, 25 years of failure is an indictment?

a small county like laois cannot afford to have a large portion of its hurling area being barren producers for the county.....why in 25 years has nothing changed?

Most of the club's above have a shocking "B" mentality which means that chaps haven't played the right standard from the outset. The result is that they never catch up. It's not a coincidence that none of the above  named clubs are playing in the main Senior championship.

You're pretty harsh on Ballyfin who have at least graced the senior and continue to challenge for it. They've also had a few senior hurlers in recent years.  Quite a few named are dual clubs, and I would suggest there's only about 4 Clubs in Laois who have been senior dual at the same time in the past 30 years and two of them are mentioned above.

Still, this Raheen amalgamation seems extreme and could be very difficult to govern. Time will tell.

[Helix]

B hurling has where Clonad is now along with another few reasons. The amalgamation with Raheen is aimed at putting teams in A competition all the way through. That is the vision anyways. At least with Raheen there will be less distractions with football and hurling will take precedence (we hope).

[/quote] Still, this Raheen amalgamation seems extreme and could be very difficult to govern. Time will tell. [/quote]
We all want the same thing; to have lads hurling at highest level possible.

[Don Draper]

A noble ambition, and best of luck to all involved.

4 adult clubs looking to feed off the same juvenile set up just seems very ambitious and wide open to seepage. Portlaoise can afford to lose plenty off each team, but 4 clubs need practically every single hurler to come through and hurl at adult level. Its well and good saying the amalgamation wants to hurl at 'A' level, but it will also need to provide hurling at 'B' grades also to ensure that each club picks up a few hurlers each year.

Its a huge undertaking.

[clonadmad]

The aspiration is to hurl at the highest level in the amalgamation,that said there is an awareness that every chap regardless of ability needs to be brought along.
There is nothing to stop us entering more than 1 team in each underage grade.We did this before now in our amalgamation with Ratheniska.

And who's to say in time there will be 4 adult club  teams if this is is successful,maybe a strong Raheen parish team in junior/intermediate/senior might be a runner......in time.

[Don Draper]

Nothing to stop it? Its vital that they do it surely or at least try? In that catchment area, there would have to be enough for two teams you'd imagine, especially if it could be done between Clonad and Ratheniska as you said. I don't remember them fielding 2 teams though, can anyone confirm?

Huge to think that the 4 clubs are countenancing joining entirely at adult level as well, that would be massive.

[clonadmad]

I didn't say that they were even considering this at senior level,I said maybe in time it might be a possibility.

We put out 2 u12 hurling teams with Ratheniska up until 2016.