Underage squads 2024

[redsetanta]

You also need a group of talented players. Some fine footballers on show last night for both Louth and Offaly.

[The real town]

IMO it is always far better to have a consistent management team at an age group then one which follows the team up through the ages.
A management team needs to know what it takes to perform at the standard of that age group. To manage a team at say u15, and then step up to u17 with the same group means too big a learning gap for the management. By the time the management figures it out time is up and roulette wheel spins again. Far better to set up long term management teams at each age group (with no parents involved) and have the players move up through the ages with experienced coaches at each level. The same goes for club or county. I don't believe the coaches have to have seen every player since they were kids. A coach who is looking at players and knows what is needed at that level is probably in a better position to judge than the one who still remembers the great goal little Johnny scored at u13 and will be blind to the fact he hasn't progressed since.
From my own observance I have also seen lads who were good enough to be in county squads but who didn't get on for what ever reason with a particular management group and then never went back. While we still rely on parents to manage our county squads, I fear we will never really progress.

i don't think there is a underage team in laois football without a father and son combo.at club level ok not a county.i just wonder is it always the cheapest option in Laois.

[ROCKETMAN1]

IMO it is always far better to have a consistent management team at an age group then one which follows the team up through the ages.
A management team needs to know what it takes to perform at the standard of that age group. To manage a team at say u15, and then step up to u17 with the same group means too big a learning gap for the management. By the time the management figures it out time is up and roulette wheel spins again. Far better to set up long term management teams at each age group (with no parents involved) and have the players move up through the ages with experienced coaches at each level. The same goes for club or county. I don't believe the coaches have to have seen every player since they were kids. A coach who is looking at players and knows what is needed at that level is probably in a better position to judge than the one who still remembers the great goal little Johnny scored at u13 and will be blind to the fact he hasn't progressed since.
From my own observance I have also seen lads who were good enough to be in county squads but who didn't get on for what ever reason with a particular management group and then never went back. While we still rely on parents to manage our county squads, I fear we will never really progress.

I agree and disagree with you. In many cases the only people willing to do the jobs with these underage squads are parents. Is this a lack of ambition by county board in not looking for good exoerienced coaches for these squads. Perhaps. Is this parents trying to better their own sons chances? Perhaps. But having had a son involved on a development squad where there was a parent involved I could have nothing only admiration for the job that both the parent and the rest of the coaches did. I would think that the vast majority of of coaches, parents or not, have the very best interests of Laois hurling and football at heart.

Good groups of players are cyclical, and every few years, Laois will have a good group of players capable of challenging, no matter who the coaches are, a prime example being this year's minor footballers. They lost narrowly to three of the four Leinster semi-finalists, and for this, they ended up in a Tier 3 competition. This group have been close the whole way up and now the challenge is can Laois develop this group so they are challenging at U20 level.

Bridging this gap is crucially important and if it is done it will hopefully ensure we get a better quality senior player from the U20 grade.

[Ogie]

I hate referring to them but we must try and learn from all over,

Offaly have 5 Leinster finals won in the last few years,

What are we not doing ?

We are following the development model encouraged / lead by Croke Park carrying large panels ' as many as possible for as long as possible' like Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipp etc

With dual players on plenty of panels up to 15/16

For us to achieve success as a small county / small playing pool do we need to concentrate all our efforts on the top 30/34 prospects from 13 upwards, and then again this does not equate to adult success in the following years,

Numbers is certainly a big problem but we have to maximise what we have and that seems to be what offaly do,

The structures Duignan & Co put in place are the biggest difference in our county's,
Listen to his interview with Wooly about the 5 pillars the put in place for success in the county

[redsetanta]

Ogie would you have a link to that interview?

[Ogie]

There's a shorter clip on OTB, 90 seconds explaining all

5 Pillars -
1 Sustainable Club Coverage
Grow the Base, each club start their own nursery and field on their own for Go Games

2 Vibrant Games Programme
More Games - U12,13,14,15,16,17,18 games all year round only stopping for a short period in December.

3 High Performance Pathway
Investment & Planning with Academy Squads, look after them as best as possible U13-Minor,

4 Financial Stability

5 Be a Respected Brand - On & Off the field

Correct people in place


Key Words -
Courage, Honesty, Passion, Teamwork, Ambition, Leadership

Everyone from Chairman to the water carrier involved try & fulfill each of the key words every day in their role.

[John1]

IMO it is always far better to have a consistent management team at an age group then one which follows the team up through the ages.
A management team needs to know what it takes to perform at the standard of that age group. To manage a team at say u15, and then step up to u17 with the same group means too big a learning gap for the management. By the time the management figures it out time is up and roulette wheel spins again. Far better to set up long term management teams at each age group (with no parents involved) and have the players move up through the ages with experienced coaches at each level. The same goes for club or county. I don't believe the coaches have to have seen every player since they were kids. A coach who is looking at players and knows what is needed at that level is probably in a better position to judge than the one who still remembers the great goal little Johnny scored at u13 and will be blind to the fact he hasn't progressed since.
From my own observance I have also seen lads who were good enough to be in county squads but who didn't get on for what ever reason with a particular management group and then never went back. While we still rely on parents to manage our county squads, I fear we will never really progress.

I agree and disagree with you. In many cases the only people willing to do the jobs with these underage squads are parents. Is this a lack of ambition by county board in not looking for good exoerienced coaches for these squads. Perhaps. Is this parents trying to better their own sons chances? Perhaps. But having had a son involved on a development squad where there was a parent involved I could have nothing only admiration for the job that both the parent and the rest of the coaches did. I would think that the vast majority of of coaches, parents or not, have the very best interests of Laois hurling and football at heart.

Good groups of players are cyclical, and every few years, Laois will have a good group of players capable of challenging, no matter who the coaches are, a prime example being this year's minor footballers. They lost narrowly to three of the four Leinster semi-finalists, and for this, they ended up in a Tier 3 competition. This group have been close the whole way up and now the challenge is can Laois develop this group so they are challenging at U20 level.

Bridging this gap is crucially important and if it is done it will hopefully ensure we get a better quality senior player from the U20 grade.

well said, completely agree, ambitious county boards surely would have plans in place at maintaining them groups or suffer allowing another group regress as a result
build an environment that they all want to be apart of where they will thrive and kick on becoming better players for both their clubs and county

[Verbal]

What level/division is the Celtic Challenge we won?
Are many of them eligible for minor next year?

[Leixman]

What level/division is the Celtic Challenge we won?
Are many of them eligible for minor next year?

It's a low standard and don't let anyone tell you any different.

[Verbal]

Ye but surely there is a ranking of competitions.

Is it 1,2,3,4,5?

[on the hop]

We were group 5 this year , with Offaly, wicklow and Kerry. We played one of the Kildare teams, Roscommon and then Meath.

[Verbal]

Its very difficult to work out from that what standard we are actually playing at.

[Target Man]

Its very difficult to work out from that what standard we are actually playing at.

It was division 3
Saw a couple of the games, they probably would have been better off a division up, won most of their games comfortably

[Verbal]

Why did they stay Division 3 if they won it last year? Or was this out of their hands & graded after the initial games.

Would you know who was in the Division 2 final?

Dublin beat Clare
Cork White beat Tipp Gold

I presume these were the top two divisions.
Kildare lost to Armagh as an aside.

[on the hop]

Here are the groups for the competition , some counties had a few teams, that Kildare team that lost to Armagh was the second team

Celtic Challenge Group 1
West Cork   
Cork White   
limerick
Clare

Celtic Challenge Group 2
Cork Red
East Cork
Waterford
Clare   
Wexford

Celtic Challenge Group 3
Kilkenny   
Tipperary Blue   
Antrim   
Down
   
Celtic Challenge Group 4
Galway
Tipperary Gold
Dublin
Derry

Celtic Challenge Group 5
Laois   
Offaly   
Wicklow   
Kerry   

Celtic Challenge Group 6
Westmeath
Meath   
Armagh   
Kildare   

Celtic Challenge Group 7
Roscommon   
Mayo   
Donegal   
Sligo   

Celtic Challenge Group 8
Tyrone   
Kildare   
Meath   
Derry   
Carlow

Celtic Challenge Group 9
Longford   
Fermanagh
Cavan
Louth
Monaghan
Leitrim