Tonight under floodlights at 8pm in Newcastle, Wexford.
I think I’ll be making my debut attendance out there.
Looking forward to Mick’s Under 18 side parading the All Ireland title they won last weekend before the game. raven and piper you both mentioned adopting a continental approach to underage football in Ireland. Wallace’s teams play 3 at the back with a ‘libero’, 5 in midfield and then split strikers!
His Under 16 side are just back from a tournament in Italy where they also spent time training in the Torino youth academy. The man is a visionary. hi5
Same fo me…me dubut at newcastle tonight,cmon Wexford,need a win after last week,hopefully they can follow in the same path as the under 18 team last Sunday winning their fourth All Ireland title against Galway.
Enjoyed the game tonight - it finished 1-1 out in Newcastle. They were slightly better in the first half and their right back got a belter from 35 yards just on half time after earlier heading against the post. Wexford had switched to 3-5-2 after about half an hour as they weren’t making any great inroads up to then. They came out after the break playing 3-4-3 and really took the game to Shels and got a deserved equaliser. Richie Fitzgerald made it by beating two men, cutting in and fizzing a ball along the 6 yard line that was turned into his own net by the same guy that had earlier scored at the right end. The Youths, The Youths, The Youths were on fire at this stage. There was a good finish then with both sides going for it but a draw was a fair result. There was a raven type attitude from the Shels supporters when the U-18s were parading their trophy with their chants of ‘what the fooking hell is that?’ Well it’s the team that beat the best the Eircom League had to offer you silly c0cks. Good enough atmosphere and excellent organisation and stewarding. I’d definitely go back. Best for Wexford were Anto Russell and Joey Wadding at the back and the combative Patsy Malone in midfield.
Meant to mention earlier that the Wexford Youths FC phenomenon is having an impact on the GAA at home. Wallace’s U-18 side won the All Ireland again last weekend (did I mention that already?) and he carries a big squad with a lot of Wexford town based lads on it. The minor hurling championship at home started much earlier than usual this year. You might remember or be aware of the general outcry for the last few years that the minor championship didn’t begin until after the county team was knocked out of the championship. They made the move this year and because of the U-18 soccer team Faythe Harriers in Wexford town couldn’t field a team and were forced to withdraw from the county championship.
4 or 5 of them. The Harriers would have relied on Lee Walker and Kyle Dempsey a lot. Then they couldn’t go down and field their best U-16 hurlers in minor either because they were out in Italy with Wallace’s U-18 team.
it’s a bad sign because they are really struggling at senior too from what im hearing so if they continue to lose players to soccer at that age they could be in trouble in the next couple of years. thats not good for wexford as hurling needs to be strong in the town.
That any town team could be decimated by the lose of what appears to be “4 or 5” players up to the age is shocking. There are hundreds of boys in the 17-18 age bracket in Wexford town. What the fook is going on Bandage? How could such a small number mean they have no team.
Those coonts should have 2 or 3 minor teams. Stop blaming outside influences and have a long hard look at yourselves.
Had this discussion with you before, Appendage. You always mention population and how rural clubs still manage to field teams. But equally with a greater poulation base comes more infrastructure, facilities and choices for youngsters in towns and cities. If you purely cite population then Dublin would win everything in GAA, China would win every sport internationally and so on.