Michael Jacob if I remember correctly. Surprising to see an underage team without St. Martinās or Naomh Eanna representation in recent times.
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or glynn, they reached the Division 1 final when these lads were u-15
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Minor Hurling: Michael Jacob (Manager) with a backroom team of Roger Ennis, Mick Morris, Richie Kehoe, Noel Carton and Helena Jacob.
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Nobody from Glynn, harriers, shels or Martins in the 24 which Iād imagine is very unusual. Think oulart were strong at this age from u14 up.
Why are the hurling team playing in the football championship?!
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Good win for minor hurlers.
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Seemed to be comfortable until late rally by Dubs.
What way does that minor championship work then lads? We play someone else before semi final or whatās craic?
I belatedly watched Wexford-Waterford this morning and this is my ā¬0.02 worth.
It exposed personnel and structural issues that need fixing, but weāre likely to be limited in doing so by a combination of injuries, lack of squad depth/viable alternatives and time pressure to correct it.
We were actually level at 1-4 to 0-7 after 16 minutes and I thought weād been dominated up to that point. Waterford were fairly wasteful despite dismantling our puck out and they missed a couple of other goal chances and took some poor options from promising positions.
I thought general play was more even for the next spell, yet we conceded 2-5 without reply. Now that included some bad wides on our part and the incorrectly disallowed goal so it could have been a little different. Iām not sure what my point is here - hurling still has a bit of randomness attached to it maybe - but between it all, we deserved to be 8 down at half time.
Re personnel and structure: it seemed to me we lined out
Fanning,
Donohoe, Ryan, OāHanlon,
K Foley, P Foley, Reck
OāKeeffe, Dunbar,
McGovern, Dwyer, McGuckin,
ROC, McDonald, Pepper.
Hutchison won the first 3/4 balls ahead of Donohoe inside the opening 5/6 minutes. He scored a point, forced a save from Fanning, generally created danger and Donohoe couldnāt cope with him. He was switched off him for a while but still struggled and was back on him before half time when Hutchison created a goal for Gleeson and scored one himself.
Heās had plenty of good games for Wexford but can struggle against the top class forwards and seems to be targeted. Shane Reck is a massive loss here, if heās out indefinitely? We could bring Damien Reck back into the full back line and start Connal Flood in the half back line as an alternative. Not sure what other full back line options we have other than Devitt.
I actually OāHanlon had a solid game and was on top in his corner against a few different players. He was completely at fault for the last goal though - out in front of Bennett but completely missing the ball and allowing the latter in to score - so it may have coloured peoplesā views. Ryan wasnāt really a factor, they dragged him around a bit.
But I think we were really exposed in the 5-12 sector and thereās plenty of thinking and realignment needed here. āTeam A are further along than Team Bā is a standard GAA phrase and itās true in this case. Aside from the fact Waterford have better players than us, theyāve built up more understanding and cohesion. They were able to open us up with movement and direct running into space and we didnāt cope with it in that 5-12 area, especially in the first half. Theyāve obviously had a few years to work on these patterns of play and running off the shoulder etc.
Weād a gaping hole in the middle of our defence. We seemed to be trying to man mark and P Foley was dragged out of the middle for the 2 goals late in the first half. OāKeeffe seemed to be dropping back from midfield to try to slot in but we werenāt plugging the gaps effectively enough. K Foley wasnāt comfortable at wing back at all. Reck was a bright spot but I think we struggled from 8-12. Weād 2 or 3 young players in that area alongside OāKeeffe and McGovern, and we were overrun.
I donāt know if Chin damaged his hamstring badly again near the end or not, but we need him back in the half forward line. I think we also should have Jack OāConnor in there somewhere, even though his sending off was dumb and Ollie Baker says it was unforgivable. The opposition wouldnāt find it so easy to play pinpoint balls into their forwards with more physical presence in our half forward line. And we were too standoffish also. A few of them appeared to be quite sluggish and/or overawed. You need to be working your hole off in that middle sector at the top level.
Freetaking remains an issue. ROC missed 3 or 4, including 2 easy ones. I can see what Eganās doing - youāre our main man, take this team on your back and lead us! - but heās just not a reliable freetaker. I donāt know what the solution here is, maybe back to Chin if heās fit. ROC finds it very hard to get penalties at times, even with fuckers hanging out of him. McDonald limped off too. Anyone have a general injury update?
Overall, I dunno. We need to play with a sitting centre back - P Foley can do this despite getting dragged all over the place at the weekend. But we need more presence and better work rate ahead of him. We probably need to make 3 or 4 personnel changes too - getting in the likes of Flood, Chin, JOC and maybe another 1 or 2 like Oisin Foley too. A big job for management to get a response out of them for the home championship double header against Galway and Dublin.
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Thatās a fair summary. Either OāKeeffe or McGovern appeared to play as a sweeper / holding midfielder in the first half though. They didnāt really mark anyone at all and just covered empty space. I wasnāt sure if this was intentional or just a consequence of how Waterford lined up and us defending against the wind in the first half. The wind also completely changed direction in the first half as we started with it in our faces and finished the half with it at our backs
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Davy knew lads, Davy knew*
.
*three sweepers
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Did I hear Eoghan OāGara ex Dublin footballer is transferring to Shels?
Only you can confirm if you heard it or not
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Incorrect. Iām one of at least two other people that can confirm he heard it.
Mwahahaha!
Yes, apparently you did hear it
Been rumours of that for as long as hes been down there. I think he is living in Blackwater and married to a sister of a Shels player. I think, and Iāve an awful memory, but it could be Stephen Banvilles sister. I think she was a Banville anyway.
Ffs, I hear that rumour every year. He lives out that way cause heās married to horsebox Banvilleās sister.
As if Wexford Football couldnāt get any lower, weāre now getting hammered by fuckin Wicklow in minor, and getting bet by Carlow. County board doesnāt give a fuck, rather raise money for the senior hurlers tomorrow with that Anthony Kearns gig.
I dont know. Iām not entirely sure what else the county board can do. I think some of the work they have tried to do has been successful in parts, but in other ways has been detrimental to an overall progression. Theyāve improved areas previously weak in football but in the meantime have let the strong hold areas deteriorate. The minor set up between panel and management was a joke last year. And their loss summed it up. This year has been worse. I dont know enough about the ins and outs of this yearās set up in terms of management or squad or whatever so it could well have been a bad years crop or whatever, but losing to Carlow and Wicklow is as bad as it gets in all honesty.