I reckon the biggest challenge facing GAA is rural depopulation.
Itās going to be impossible in Limerick to deal with Monaleen NAP and Mungret in the next decade.
Tradition might keep the Well and Kilmallock around.
NCW up senior b now. Another weight of numbers story.
Clubs in West Limerick or South Kerry and similar in other counties are goosed.
situ is South Kerry is really dire Julio
I would think we have ten years left before there is mergers galore in rural Ireland
Heard Spillane recently on about Templenoe and I think they had half of South Kerry in a merger underage just to field 15. Not good
The best thing any GAA club in rural Ireland could invest their time in isnāt underage coaching itās getting houses built in their village or town.
Sell the second pitch and build an estate
Now we are hurling
Thereās great work being done in planning for people to be underage in the club
That @peddlerscross fella knows sweet damn all about football. Nevertheless, Iām curious to hear his take on Newbridge, Glen and the ulster club championship.
Personally i didnāt give them a hope against Glen. With hindsight this was uncharacteristically shortsighted of me. A hape of brothers, well managed, rakes of very competent half-back/half-forward type footballers. And i think Iām on record as saying glen lack a marquee forwardā¦
Connor Doherty is an out and out absolute machine.
that is correct Julio
100% - thats why its great to see the likes of Feakle win a county senior hurling title as the days of a small rural club winning senior titles may be a thing of the past soon enough. Strict planning laws, cost of building and general governmental disinterest in rural Ireland is going to be a serious problem for the GAA. I suppose its easier to run a country when people live in groups close by - Irelandās urbanisation rate was 63% per 2018 - which is very low compared to other wealthy european countries - UK is 83%, Belgium is 98%! So it looks like rural depopulation is only going to get worse as canāt see the government caring too much - GAA will have to encourage amalgamations. Unless you your rural club is close to a town then youāre goosed (although that mind sound a bit OTT).
On a side re urbanisation - you really do see the difference between Ireland and the UKās rates when you drive between the republic and the north - there are very few houses dotted in the countryside within the six counties compared to the south. Are their many really rural clubs within the six counties thriving apart from Kilcoo and Slaughtneil?
I see the paper of record in Ulster referred to this years renewal as a āGlen-less Ulster Club Championshipā.
An Errigal v Kilcoo Final is probably what the script writers want to see now but i wouldnāt rule out Scotstown or Cargin from spoiling the party.
Those Maghera boys never really fired this year and could do with a rest and reset. I thought the Slaughtneil win would galvanise them but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Mickey Moran has been coaching their Ladies in recent times so i wonder after all these years will he finally manage his own.
Never saw it tbh. Pedantic, a bit fearfulā¦not all that loyal.
Patricia gets about
https://twitter.com/tricia_lynch92/status/1850836310245712075?s=46&t=YOfhVM10W0bcyIiYSLI3Wg
Doon must have spent some money this year
And that is all thatās needed to keep the tap turned on
If you were living in Barraduff what would your club be? Glenflesk?
This is true. Nonetheless, it makes for great entertainment.
yep to the best of my knowledge
On the rural population issueā¦ A lot must be luck as well.
This August, I had two nieces start in St Patrickās NS, Ballyhale. They are in a class of 31: 19 boys and 12 girls. I was also told that there will be 55 boys eligible for Ballyhale Shamrocksā U14 panel in 2026.
Back in 2018, I was told that one North Kilkenny parish had a total of 24 boys in the eight years of its sole national school.