Thereās nothing to hold lads up there. Thatās the problem. Maybe this surge in remote working will boost their numbers.
Iāve heard good things about Cormac alright. Not heard much about what Shane is like.
Holycross seem to have a few coming through.
I heard there were a rake of clubs looking for him this year.
Thought Holycross would be better by now, had some very good underage teams over the last 10 years
I thought it was Sean alright. Another man whoās doing well on the coachkng front. I wouldnāt be surprised to see one of Johnny or himself involved in the next Galway senior setup.
Shane McGrath started out with Kilruane in 2017 and on face of it had a good year there losing to Sars in Extra time in quarter final.
They got in Cormac McGrath in 2018 then which I thought a bit odd.
Shane went to Clonlara in 2018 and it was a disaster but they are a basket case of a club as @Big_Dan_Campbell will testify.
All good and well having even underage sides but itās all about having dominant club and IC players at the top level.
Two inter county players but after that there would be a big gap to their 3rd best player.
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A top class forward or two makes all the difference
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Talent isnāt there anymore and hadnāt been for a while. Three or four lads tolerated for too long really let a rot set in. Young team these days who will be a solid senior team for the next decade and the underage continually churning out county underage players but hard to see another county title at any point in the future.
Think John Conlon is the only player from the 2007/2008 back to back inter/senior championship panel let alone starting team still playing senior. Considering there was six of them on the 2009 all Ireland under 21 panels it is sad to see.
Heard McGrath was only ok, but again dealing with a bad culture/dressing room doesnāt help. Two county players deciding to go off on a spur of the moment sun holiday on the eve of the championship sums it up
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Itās a long time since ye went to Dubai as āThe best Club under the sunā.
The recession led to the team getting broke up and while there was a lot of county lads they would come back flogged and emptied from the county set up and struggle for form. A serious of poor managerial appointments and subsequent chopping and changing led to a lot of bad blood and split the group, was never able to become a real right knit unit again.
Honans injury woes another problem too? Was some player in late 2000s/early 10s.
He hardly ever did much for Clonlara
The 2009 Semi Final win over the Newmarket Blues must have went to the heads altogether.
Itās been all downhill since.
Losing to Cratloe in that final was a disaster for them, they never recovered. I donāt think they played in a final again until Ballyea beat them in 2016 and it all fell apart again
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His best spell was in the winter if 2007 when he near single handedly turned a number of matches where we looked beaten on our run to the All Ireland intermediate semis. A few months previous he was deemed too young/green to start on our victories run in winning a 21B title and used to come off the bench and destroy some poor jobbing corner backs.
He lost a half yard of pace by the time he was out if 21s and never looked like the same player. Doubt he ever really got a clear run with injuries once out of his teens too. Too much too soon.
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I remember seeing him in a few underage matches and he would absolutely destroy teams in bursts scoring 3 or 4 goals and end the match. He was often rattled himself by handy corner backs at senior level
Made the 2015 and 2016 finals. They made the wrong appointment after Colm Honan stepped down and followed it up with another poor appointment who they then shafted which led to bad blood which was never fully sorted.
The talent wax there but the likes of Cratloe and Crusheen were far tighter units and played for each other.
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Heād have only been 17 then too wouldnāt he? Ye made some contribution to Clare winning the All-Ireland in 2013. Surely the most representation on that team?
Yes, it was his first year minor. He was outstanding at times. Would just hit a spell for 4 or 5 balls in a row and lay waste to teams.