The School, College & University Competitions Thread (another thread gone west)

Everyone on that team played under the two course rule

1 Like

They were good yeah but unfortunately i had to put some teams from that era down the list a bit to avoid being called a dinosaur by my fellow TFKā€™ers. WIT are unfortunately collateral damage.

I was one of only 4 (four) spectators watching them play UL in a Waterford Crystal League game in Cashel that January. They gave UL an awful bateing.

Iā€™d question that.

Who?

I was going to question this one but I suppose Tony Kelly and Jason Forde probably did the leaving cert in 2012 (or 2011 if they skipped TY). I think Hego skipped TY so he probably did have the guts of 6 years done in college by the time of that Fitzgibbon success in 2018. Albeit thatā€™s the route he had to take to acquire a business teaching masters*.

Itā€™s not quite comparable to Carlow IT lining out last year with a 27/28 year old Mouse Kavanagh in the team though.

*He could have studied concurrent business teaching in Thurles straight out of LC I suppose.

Kelly did a year or two in LIT before going to UL

Correct. I think he played for LIT against UL in 2014 in that infamous game which caused the fissure between Davy and Brian Lohan. The following year then he won a Fitzgibbon with UL.

I think it takes 6 years in UL to become a Business Teacher.

Youā€™d be a hell of a Business Teacher after going through the ringer like that.

1 Like

Not aware of any dedicated Business teacher training undergrad courses other than the one in Thurles so heā€™d have been a similar length in college anywhere else Iā€™d imagine, including UCD.

How long were Woolly and Jim McGuiness in college?

Woolie won a minor in 96ā€™ but ended up in college at the same time as Alan Brogan who would be about 4 years his junior Iā€™d say.

Interestingly the much acclaimed UCD conspicuous by their absence on the Fitzgibbon winners list of late. No title since 2001 apparently.

Very nearly beat Limerick in the final that year in the Gaelic Grounds.

They hammered UCD after scraping through against a Big Daragh Egan inspired NUIG in the semi after extra time.

1 Like

Thereā€™s no doubt that changing minor to 17s has hindered the quality of Sigerson.

1 Like

And 17 year olds not being allowed play Adult.

The class of 1998 were the last to play adult at 17 in 2015 and its been a steady decline in standards of young players breaking through since.

3 Likes

True that. You havenā€™t seen a 19 year old break out since around then. Lynch in 2013, Gleeson in 2014, Kelly in 13.

Kyle Hayes was 20 in 2018 but thatā€™s one of the very few young breakthroughs I can think of. 23 is very young to be starting these days

Ciaran Joyce.

Thereā€™s still the odd one - Eoin Cody in 2020, Mullen in 2019 were both 20 and Patrick Fitzgerald is 19 this year so interesting to see how he goes.

Off the top of my head, between 2009 and 2015 the following 19 year olds all started Senior Championship games straight out of minor.

Noel McGrath, Liam Rushe, Declan Hannon, Pauric Mahony, Dara Fives, Brian Oā€™Halloran, Tony Kelly, Colm Galvin, Seadna Morey, Shane Dowling, Shane Oā€™Donnell, Austin Gleeson, Conor McDonald, Liam Ryan, Ronan Maher, Stephen Bennett, Cian Lynch, Shane Bennett. Iā€™m probably forgetting a few too.

Iā€™d say Kyle Hayes is the only one to do it since? And its way easier to get a Championship start nowadays thanks to the ridiculous round robin.

3 Likes

I somehow forgot about him - heā€™s a class act in fairness

Aidan McCarthy by a quirk of the change to the underage codes would have started for Clare in 2019 as an 18 year old/ under 19.

He was wing back for the minors in 2017 as an under 17 in what was the last year of it as an under 18 competition

1 Like

Thereā€™s still the very odd one but nowhere near as many as there should be.

Should be 3 or 4 every year.

By that count so, only 2 in the last 7 years. Thereā€™s been more than that in football which by its nature should take longer to break into.