Meath Forum

U21 club amalgamations

(Oldest Posts First)

I can't help but notice the number of amalgamations for the U21 competitions this year. I'm afraid the signs are worring for the future of a number of clubs in Meath and here may lie a long term problem for Meath football. While there are some positives with the likes of Kilbride on the rise the general outlook does not look good. I can't fully buy into the fact that numbers have dropped so significantly that a club cannot field a team of players from 18 to 21 years of age. Unfortunately I think overall interest has dropped in the county. I would hope clubs are not agreeing to these amalgamations for the sake of it where more players are being lost as a result.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 237 - 06/11/2017 22:12:12    2060881

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Replying To winatallcost:  "I can't help but notice the number of amalgamations for the U21 competitions this year. I'm afraid the signs are worring for the future of a number of clubs in Meath and here may lie a long term problem for Meath football. While there are some positives with the likes of Kilbride on the rise the general outlook does not look good. I can't fully buy into the fact that numbers have dropped so significantly that a club cannot field a team of players from 18 to 21 years of age. Unfortunately I think overall interest has dropped in the county. I would hope clubs are not agreeing to these amalgamations for the sake of it where more players are being lost as a result."
I don't think there is many more amalgamations that other years. Carnaross/Moynalty is new but Carnaross where with Cortown last year and just moved to a more traditional the old st Ciaran's combination. Cortown meanwhile found a new home with kilmainham/drumbaragh. Nobber have a few kilmainhamwood lads but that was in place last year also.
I remember back in the 80s walterstown/ seneschalstown playing Castletown/rathkenny in an u21 final so it seems as this has always been a factor.

numberedjerseys (USA) - Posts: 347 - 07/11/2017 08:43:49    2060920

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It's a sad reality the county faces and the playing population is dropping off rapidly.
Great underage numbers until kids go to secondary school and then a lot are no longer playing.
A lot of clubs in Meath are going to struggle over the next few years and the big population clubs and town teams will only get stronger.

Royal_Gunner (Meath) - Posts: 534 - 07/11/2017 09:36:20    2060926

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Replying To Royal_Gunner:  "It's a sad reality the county faces and the playing population is dropping off rapidly.
Great underage numbers until kids go to secondary school and then a lot are no longer playing.
A lot of clubs in Meath are going to struggle over the next few years and the big population clubs and town teams will only get stronger."
Yep - you are right - I don't think it is just Meath. The way things are going the small parish teams will struggle to field teams. (Soccer has the advantage of only needing 11 players a team plus the transfer situation is much looser!) The larger towns are going to get stronger and stronger unless there are some regional amalgamations. Haven't they been doing that thoiugh in Kerry for years?

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 284 - 07/11/2017 10:13:28    2060934

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no problem with teams joining up but been allowed play in the 4th tier is a joke

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 856 - 07/11/2017 16:54:44    2061038

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NUMBEREDJERSEYS. Your not totally correct. In 83 the U21 championship was all amalgamated teams. Wolfetone/st Michaels. Oldcastle/ Moylough. We're 2 more that year. In 84 it reverted back to single clubs. But in recent years there is definately more amalgamated teams at this grade

latouche25 (Meath) - Posts: 325 - 07/11/2017 23:57:06    2061110

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In Louth there is just one grade so nearly all clubs outside the few big ones join up each year.

On a quick count there where 40 teams in meath this year. St Vincent's and paiuls not involved so it's seems 10 clubs amalgated. Really that's not a big number and a few more could not field pats boardsmill and longwood/clonard so maybe there should have been a few more amalgamations
The amalgations where from looking at draws
St Olivers killary drumconrath/Meath hill, carnaross/moynalty, bective/dunsany St Marys/slane, drumbaragh/kilmainham
and longwood/clonard all these are small mostly junior clubs that join up at ages

Brownepat (Meath) - Posts: 463 - 08/11/2017 08:48:13    2061131

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Replying To numberedjerseys:  "I don't think there is many more amalgamations that other years. Carnaross/Moynalty is new but Carnaross where with Cortown last year and just moved to a more traditional the old st Ciaran's combination. Cortown meanwhile found a new home with kilmainham/drumbaragh. Nobber have a few kilmainhamwood lads but that was in place last year also.
I remember back in the 80s walterstown/ seneschalstown playing Castletown/rathkenny in an u21 final so it seems as this has always been a factor."
In 83 there were amalgamations pushed on clubs by the County Board. Some were required , others were not but they did have them .Castletown/rathkenny joined at Minor level as the parnells because they did not have numbers to field teams . That happened in 1983 , however Walterstown / Senechalstown were able to field , on their own but they chose the to amalgamate when they got he opportunity . Other clubs went it on their own , Slane , O Mahoneys , Oldcastle .
Rural teams do have issues fielding on their own , Town teams tend not to . And unfortunately that appears to be getting worse .

Meath_True (Meath) - Posts: 285 - 08/11/2017 15:07:31    2061223

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I think the point I was trying to make is that U21 is closest thing to adult football a player can participate in. It is understandable between U14 and minor level to have amalgamations between clubs but above and below, I think it should be avoided where possible. People must remember that players between 18 and 21 are eligible for U21. I believe players aged 17 should also be but that's another issue. I believe now we have a situation where we have many players who are only comfortable playing at their own age level and fail to continue to move onto adult level. We now have players who have played all underage, minor and U21 football with an amalgamated club and fail to play actual adult football for the club they are actually associated with. Just to be clear, from what I see the majority of the team are not junior clubs. They are actually mostly intermediate.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 237 - 08/11/2017 15:52:54    2061235

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Replying To Brownepat:  "In Louth there is just one grade so nearly all clubs outside the few big ones join up each year.

On a quick count there where 40 teams in meath this year. St Vincent's and paiuls not involved so it's seems 10 clubs amalgated. Really that's not a big number and a few more could not field pats boardsmill and longwood/clonard so maybe there should have been a few more amalgamations
The amalgations where from looking at draws
St Olivers killary drumconrath/Meath hill, carnaross/moynalty, bective/dunsany St Marys/slane, drumbaragh/kilmainham
and longwood/clonard all these are small mostly junior clubs that join up at ages"
Wouldn't having 40 teams from 50 clubs mean 20 clubs are after amalgamating?

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1391 - 08/11/2017 16:25:32    2061243

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Overall I don't think its any harm teams joining up and if anything it makes the competition more competitive, but as in all underage competitions you are depending on the grading of teams being correct. Carnaross/Moynalty would be a front runner in the second grade but unfortunately they are operating in the third grade which effectively makes the competition a disaster for everyone else involved, their team contains about 5 or 6 players who played for Meath minors or U-21's so they are capable of playing in a higher grade.

Considering that so many teams are now joined up I think all U-21 divisions should be 15-a-side with perhaps the 'C' grade the only 13-a-side division, this would mean more lads would get games and the games would be more like adult football. Another change that could also be considered is restricting U-21 football to those players who are not eligible to play U-17 or minor football.

I know this would mean even more clubs would have to join but at this time of the year the workload on U-17 and 18 players is already enough without having the burden of U-21 football. I have heard of some young lads who had to play a school match, U-17, U-18 and U-21 in the space of six days, this is a lot of football in a such a short space of time. It would also mean that the fixtures could be run off a lot easier as minor and U-21 games would not have to be held-up because of the involvement of some players in both grades.

Thunderstruck (Meath) - Posts: 449 - 08/11/2017 17:36:26    2061262

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Replying To Thunderstruck:  "Overall I don't think its any harm teams joining up and if anything it makes the competition more competitive, but as in all underage competitions you are depending on the grading of teams being correct. Carnaross/Moynalty would be a front runner in the second grade but unfortunately they are operating in the third grade which effectively makes the competition a disaster for everyone else involved, their team contains about 5 or 6 players who played for Meath minors or U-21's so they are capable of playing in a higher grade.

Considering that so many teams are now joined up I think all U-21 divisions should be 15-a-side with perhaps the 'C' grade the only 13-a-side division, this would mean more lads would get games and the games would be more like adult football. Another change that could also be considered is restricting U-21 football to those players who are not eligible to play U-17 or minor football.

I know this would mean even more clubs would have to join but at this time of the year the workload on U-17 and 18 players is already enough without having the burden of U-21 football. I have heard of some young lads who had to play a school match, U-17, U-18 and U-21 in the space of six days, this is a lot of football in a such a short space of time. It would also mean that the fixtures could be run off a lot easier as minor and U-21 games would not have to be held-up because of the involvement of some players in both grades."
Thunderstruck, I don't believe you are on the same page on this at all. Restricting minors from playing U21 football let alone adult football would have disastrous consequences for smaller clubs. You are obviously part of the modern group in the GAA who see our sport for the elite and forget about the rest . GAA is an amateur sport about participation for family and locality. By more participation, there would be more competition. Decisions you suggest are unlikely to help the future of a number of smaller rural clubs. I understand a minority of players may be overworked at times but these must be managed sensibly. If we have issues for players playing schools, U17 , minor and U21 matches in the one week then the organisation committees need to take a good hard look at themselves. The U21 is a good compitition and is not overly demanding with winning teams possibly only having to play 3 or 4 matches to collect the cup.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 237 - 08/11/2017 20:29:27    2061298

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