Deccie returned home to set up about five years ago. I would think Jack Wiltshire was keeping him going on his own. A top lad is Deccie in fairness to him.
Bang on
Jp knew the menstrual cycle of all the mams that he had scientifically selected to produce the GOATās that we are currently celebrating
Where did the vision come from though lads? Who decided that creating an academy, independent of the country board, was the way to go? Whoās ultimately responsible for sowing the seeds of success ? KK get around 200k a year from Glanbia, pittance to a company that size but the KK county board, I understand, have been previously approached with multiples of that sum every year but it was politely refused. Now while money in itself doesnāt gaurantee success, itās been proven to be of great assistance when spent wisely and with a long term goal in mind. Our ācentre of excellenceā in Dunmore is a sight to behold and exactly reflects the state of underage hurling in the county, a half hearted tick the box effort.
A fair few have attempted to take credit for it.
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To be fair, the set-up in Rathkeale doesnāt exactly look as fancy as the one in Mallow or the one in Kilcormac/Killoughey. And thereās still no gym there (although I believe that is part of the next phase).
But itās practical.
And weāre also quite lucky to have ULās facilities available, if needed. Although that costs more money again.
Does the academy operate out of Fit100 aswell as the Seniors?
Not 100% sure; there was another place around Ballysimon that the older teams were using during Covid, canāt remember the name.
Matchbox in eastpoint?
I think that was the one, yeah.
Its a direct responce to the nadir year of 2010. Limerick went trhough their long night of the Soul and came out the right side of it and changed everything utterly. The strike proved they were only kidding themselves so they acted with humility and deciseveness and revolutionized their setup completley and a terrible beauty was born.
The complete opposite to Cork who have been fair dogshit since their strike but still go round thinking their Gods gift
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Itāll be very hard for any county to get a set up like mallow. Its some set up
The academy did use the gym in YM for a bit, the under 21s team that Byrnes was on, when they were minor and maybe 21s
Kiely decided to get involved around then too, he worked his way through the structures leaving success after him with everything he touched
Beating Tipperary at Under 21 in 2015 changed the course of history.
That was the single biggest turning point on the journey and Kiely deserves full credit for that.
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I genuinely laughed out loud at that mate.
In fact Iām still laughing
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Lads that are invested enough to back it in Limerick care what their money is spent on. The structures and controls had to be in place. When they werent in place they put tgem in place. That meant getting the best coach they could to oversee everything and facilities. They used UL ( and still do ) as their base. They had a relationship with Dave Mahedy which facilitated that. Joe Mc was set up to oversee everything and Wallis from Midelton was brought into coach. They have made mistakes (Hi Dalo) but it is producing.
There was also recognition that you would lose tallented kids to other sports.
Avonmore couldnt give a shit only to be seeing to be doing it
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I still think losing Jerry Wallis was probably the biggest mistake, if you could call it that. Fooled by the big name of Dalo and getting a significantly inferior coach/academy leader.
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