Ah well, at least you’ve managed to admit you were wrong. That’s enough for me today.
Taz, WRT to Bonnar - I wouldn’t even use blooding young fellas as an excuse. In any of the matches I saw, there wasn’t even a semblance of a gameplan other than lumping high balls into small forwards. I posted this on the Wexford site - our record in the past 12 months in competitive games under him is as follows
Galway - hammered us twice Championship and League
Tipp - most embarrassing championship display I have ever seen
Laois - beat us by a goal in Walsh Cup, “ah sure it’s early in the season”
Waterford - completely dominated us for large parts of the game hitting wide after wide but we had a “spirited” defeat despite no gameplan
Kilkenny - hammered the shite out of us and stopped playing at half time. Our “spirited” comeback in the 2nd half was regarded as our best display in months. What happens in the next game?
Dublin - Are now officially a class above us with a better touch and could have beaten us by more
Players don’t want to play for him. Supporters have no confidence in him. Opposition have absolutely no fear of us anymore. He has managed to win 1 championship match in 2 years in charge, the same amount as Carlow and Laois. Antrim have managed 3 wins in the same 2 years.
While he got us out of division 2 (at the second attempt) he also presided over the famous defeat against Carlow and I think Antrim beat us the year before.
That was last week. He’s now lost a critical league game against Offaly (for the second time) and defeat against Cork and Tipp beckons.
Why a county board has sat back and given this management team a third year this year is a mystery to me. I can’t take a single positive out of their reign and they’ve managed to drive more players away from the county team than I care to think about. While John Meyler hadn’t a tactical braincell in his head he seemed to always try to get the most out of his players.
Another spell in Division 2 will kill hurling in Wexford for the next 5 years and it’s no-ones fault only our own. No young lads will have any interest in playing when they see U21 footballers getting to a Leinster final and senior footballers (hopefully) performing consistently in both league and championship. Maybe some of the other Wexford lads might be able to offer some suggestions as to how the hell this should be fixed (our own structure, not the league structure) but I can’t remember a darker time to follow Wexford hurling. Even the last minute defeats against Kilkenny in the early 90’s were easier to take than this.
Are you not over stating that a bit. I really don’t think young lads think like that. Ok, the odd lad will be a dual star and asked to make a call. But if ye got the underage together and brought through a decent team then it wouldn’t matter.
[quote=“Mac, post: 557300”]That was last week. He’s now lost a critical league game against Offaly (for the second time) and defeat against Cork and Tipp beckons.
Why a county board has sat back and given this management team a third year this year is a mystery to me. I can’t take a single positive out of their reign and they’ve managed to drive more players away from the county team than I care to think about. While John Meyler hadn’t a tactical braincell in his head he seemed to always try to get the most out of his players.
Another spell in Division 2 will kill hurling in Wexford for the next 5 years and it’s no-ones fault only our own. No young lads will have any interest in playing when they see U21 footballers getting to a Leinster final and senior footballers (hopefully) performing consistently in both league and championship. Maybe some of the other Wexford lads might be able to offer some suggestions as to how the hell this should be fixed (our own structure, not the league structure) but I can’t remember a darker time to follow Wexford hurling. Even the last minute defeats against Kilkenny in the early 90’s were easier to take than this.[/quote]
yeah at least then we were competetive, and it was a case of ‘our time will come’. now, there doesnt seem to be any hope. Even going to games in the early part of this decade when the slump started, you would always be thinking, ‘you never know, we might just pull it off today’. And sometimes we did. Kilkenny in 04 etc. but now, going to games and to be honest, I’m only going to games just to see them and watch a bit of hurling, and even at that, I’m not overly bothered. I dont expect us to win any game. Its a horrible situation to be in. Even in at the waterford game, it was there for the taking, but I never once thought we would win it. the players talk about negativity around the county, and I can certainly empathise with them. It must be terrible for them to see supporters going to games like that. and it is all over. people in at the ground giving out, and complaining and moaning. its hard not to, the skill levels shown at times are horrendous. even simple things.
I’ve always said our club fixtures need to change for us to have any improvement. we dont play enough of games in the early season. our club games only kick into gear when we are out of everything, so how can management look at players and make sure match fitness is kept up. they want to wrap players in cotton wool for fear of being injured, but we have had more injuries at county level in training than in club games.
Every minor team we’ve had for the past 4 odd years has been our “best minor team ever” due to involvement of various lads off the 96 team. Its not just football thats an issue either anymore as Wexford Youths has given lads something to aim for aswell and the underage structures they have far surpass anything the GAA can offer. Wallace isn’t a fan of any of his players playing GAA either and will force many to choose one or the other. On the current senior panel, Darren Stamp, Eoin Quigley and Keith Rossitter all played soccer for him with the first 2 playing very little underage hurling as a result.
Re-read it, you said if we got our underage together we’ll be fine. We currently have a golden age of minor players who’ve won nothing. We’ve won tony forristal and arrabawn tournaments and been told that “this year” is the year the minors will do it. If this is the best crop of minor hurlers we’ve ever produced then we’re fucked!
The bit about the soccer was to give examples (badly) of how youngsters will choose one sport over another, something that does and will continue to happen. The best hurlers will traditionally be good at other sports too and there’s a good chance they’ll be lost to these sports.
If the underage is good enough and well looked after enough, then other sports will not matter. Thats the point.
When Cork was shabby guys picked other sports, in more recent times though potential soccer stars bar 2 have stayed with GAA. Myler & John Egan the only 2 to go, and they both got picked up by Sunderland which is alot different to Cork City. Unless they are really good at the soccer GAA wins out an awful lot of the time. No matter what way they try to portray it, its alot more attractive to be a county hurler than a LOI player. But it is attractive to be a LOI player over being a poorly treated GAA player.
All these fellas go to college these days, they know what goes on elsewhere. If you are not on the ball you are fucked. Its one thing to have talented players, its another to have well prepared talented players. Or maybe they are just well prepared and not as good as ye think? I honestly don’t know. But the competiton is stiff these days, so you have to be really efficent. Its not just Cork, Tipp & KK either, all hurling counties are getting their house in order.
I’m sure you can answer that better than me Appendage. I thought they both missed out on playing minor but maybe they were overage in that year - 2000 I think it was. And I think Quigley was with Bohs for a spell after that wasn’t he? I remember some of the lads on Wallaces team in 2000 weren’t allowed play a minor football game the night before the Youths cup final. At the time the lads were underage there was no Wexford Youths LOI side as there is now. If it existed back then there’s a strong chance that the likes of Quigley and Stamp could have been playing LOI (or the U21 tournament or whatever it is) every week rather than hurling - that’s kinda the point I was trying to make but reading back over it I didn’t really make it at all!
Bandage, jugs & the 2 mentioned above were born in the same year making them over age for minor in 2000.
Bandage famously led his beloved Faythe Harriers to Roinn 2 district glory over a Lyng & Quigley inspired Clonard in 1993. Jugs infamously missed from 5 yards against Stamp’s Oulart in the u 16 final of '97.
Kevin’s point is more relevant, the best organised set up will (nearly)always win out. And the continued emergence of Gaelic football in Wexford will have and is having a far more detrimental impact on hurling than soccer.
Although making comments like that tends to generate irate letters to the local papers!!
From the outside it would appear that the standard of hurler being produced is higher now than previously but it’s frustrating to see them playing football at the end of their underage career. There’s still a long, long way to go though.
The letters in are usually gas. Paud Moriarty has made a mockery of the hurling lads on many occasions! Your last point is very true though with someone like Liam Og McGovern being a good example. Has John Leacy been involved with the seniors yet either out of interest?
Bandage was a Liam Fennelly style leftie, a predator(as he is to this very day) marauding between 11 and 14 with occasional stints in the corner to avoid the better defenders. Top scorer from play in the u-12 Co Final (Division 3) of '93 with 1 point.
Bandage could never have been described as will-o-the-wisp.
Don’t bring me into this, Appendage. And stop telling lies about me too. If you want to talk about childrens’ hurling then the last 3 pages of the Cork GAA thread is where it’s at.
Look it, I said I don’t want to talk about me. But I’ll extend you the courtesy of a brief reply. I switched between left half back and left half forward when playing in grades above me. As Appendage said, I floated between centre and full forward when up on the age. And I got 2 points from play in that U12 final, not 1. Did I ever mention that I actually scored all the points for Faythe Harriers in that victory when you take frees into consideration?
