Strongest underage setup in the country.

DublinGAA96

What are peoples opinions on this? Who would be the strongest?

Gophur

How can anyone answer this question without knowing the set-up in every county?

An Citeog

In Dublin, it'd have to be Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyboden (hurling) on the southside and Na Fianna on the northside imo.

DublinGAA96

Gophur wrote: »

How can anyone answer this question without knowing the set-up in every county?

Well I was hoping a number of people from different counties with a knowledge of underage hurling could comment and discuss and compare with other counties, that's how.

Yes, Ballyboden and Kilmacud would be by far the strongest. They consistently have teams in division 1 at all age groups. They may not be the strongest at all age groups, but are consistent in having juvenile teams competing at the top level. Yes Na Fianna also, these three clubs have enormous numbers of juveniles comig through the gates. They don't just have massive numbers, they also have lots of quality aswell and would be the kingpins of juvenile hurling and football in my eyes.

ciarriaithuaidh

Nemo Rangers in Cork, have huge quality in football anyway..massive numbers and massive effort put in there too at underage. Some serious prospects coming through there all the time.

DublinGAA96

ciarriaithuaidh wrote: »

Nemo Rangers in Cork, have huge quality in football anyway..massive numbers and massive effort put in there too at underage. Some serious prospects coming through there all the time.

Yes they would be a very strong club in Cork always producing players to wear the Cork jersey. What hurling clubs are there in cork do you know that have strong underage? Would it be Finnbars, Glen Rovers etc.?

andyman

Dicksboro have to be up there in Kilkenny. Always have excellent teams at underage level.

EDIT: At least in the last 8-10 years anyway.

DARK-KNIGHT

Four strongest football clubs in Kildare are sarsfields, moorefield, celbridge and either Laurence's ( athy ) or athy itself

Strongest hurling clubs would be ardclough, clane or eirog corrah coill I think that's the spelling anyways

AGC

For a young club Castleknock have an excellent underage set up, to be able produce some of the players they have over the last coupl eof years, namely Ciaran Kilkenny, with a club the size of Brigids on their doorstep is a testament to the club

DublinGAA96

Kildare underage football is very strong that is true. A Lot of strong clubs. There can be a Lot to be desired for Kildare underage hurling though, I'm afraid. Friends of mine connected with kildare hurling development squads have told me there thinking of scrapping some of the hurling panels because only "3 and 4" people are going to training! This is terrible. Out of 30 fellas only 3 and 4 people are going training and "6 is the record". Not good enough.

On another note, yes in fairness I have to agree Castleknock are quite strong at underage, most Castleknock teams I know are all playing in very competitive divisions which is important for development. Ciaran Kilkenny is a super hurler and footballer, the best dual star I've seen in quite a while. Fair play to him. It's a pity Dublin GAA will miss out on him as he's going down under from what I understand. Hopefully we'll see him wearing a dublin shirt again in the future!

Alaska1

AGC wrote: »

For a young club Castleknock have an excellent underage set up, to be able produce some of the players they have over the last coupl eof years, namely Ciaran Kilkenny, with a club the size of Brigids on their doorstep is a testament to the club

Goes to show what hard work by dedicated induviduals can do, Castleknock only formed in 1998 and have come a long, long way, cumilating thus far in the opening of their pitches in Somerton Park. Club will only get stronger and best of luck to them.

DublinGAA96

Alaska1 wrote: »

AGC wrote: »

For a young club Castleknock have an excellent underage set up, to be able produce some of the players they have over the last coupl eof years, namely Ciaran Kilkenny, with a club the size of Brigids on their doorstep is a testament to the club

Goes to show what hard work by dedicated induviduals can do, Castleknock only formed in 1998 and have come a long, long way, cumilating thus far in the opening of their pitches in Somerton Park. Club will only get stronger and best of luck to them.

Totally agree, it is a perfect example that hard work and dedication pays off. Fair play to them is right, you have to admire the people at the club working so hard.

randd1

Our neighbours and rivals, Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny, I reckon. A highly successful club, they seem to produce great teams every couple of years, they always seem to have a good young lad come through every year as well, and are usually there or there abouts at the top level underage.

And this from a parish with only 1200 people max in it. Incredible really. And it all begins in the Primary school in the village.

DublinGAA96

randd1 wrote: »

Our neighbours and rivals, Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny, I reckon. A highly successful club, they seem to produce great teams every couple of years, they always seem to have a good young lad come through every year as well, and are usually there or there abouts at the top level underage.

And this from a parish with only 1200 people max in it. Incredible really. And it all begins in the Primary school in the village.

Yeah, what a super club Ballyhale are. Have produced some of the best hurlers around. Would they be good at underage? I would imagine they just have underage teams every second year. Yeah a very small parish, I mean you've drove through the village before you even know you're in it! Amazing really how successful such a small community can be. Yes I'd say the primary school is where it all begins.

DARK-KNIGHT

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

Yeah, what a super club Ballyhale are. Have produced some of the best hurlers around. Would they be good at underage? I would imagine they just have underage teams every second year. Yeah a very small parish, I mean you've drove through the village before you even know you're in it! Amazing really how successful such a small community can be. Yes I'd say the primary school is where it all begins.

obviously primary school is where any development happens.. do HFCS rathcool ntional school or the irish school not develop the kids?

Sham Courtney

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

Yes they would be a very strong club in Cork always producing players to wear the Cork jersey. What hurling clubs are there in cork do you know that have strong underage? Would it be Finnbars, Glen Rovers etc.?

Middleton will be very strong in the next few years.

DublinGAA96

Sham Courtney wrote: »

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

Yes they would be a very strong club in Cork always producing players to wear the Cork jersey. What hurling clubs are there in cork do you know that have strong underage? Would it be Finnbars, Glen Rovers etc.?

Middleton will be very strong in the next few years.

Will they? How do you know?

Local_Chap

randd1 wrote: »

Our neighbours and rivals, Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny, I reckon. A highly successful club, they seem to produce great teams every couple of years, they always seem to have a good young lad come through every year as well, and are usually there or there abouts at the top level underage.

And this from a parish with only 1200 people max in it. Incredible really. And it all begins in the Primary school in the village.

Although they have a very good Senior team,underage they arent as strong. I dont think they are competing in 'A' in U-14,U-16 or minor.

Dicksboro definetly have the best underage set up with the last 7-8 years in Kilkenny. Always without a shout of winning the county final.

The last few years alot of the 'smaller' clubs in kilkenny have been stong. Minor final was competed by Bennetsbridge and Thomastown,two Junior clubs. Kilmacow who are also junior have been making great strides recently also.

Also Ballyragget are strong,they lost the minor B final, won under 21 A and won Junior in Kilkenny aswel as the All Ireland Junior Final.

In Waterford,Ballygunner would probably have the best underage set-up at the moment

Mountainlad

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

Will they? How do you know?

With young players like James Nagle, Luke O'Farrell, Conor Lehane and Brian Hartnett who's transferring over there, they will be a very strong team soon.

Ballygunner have the best underage setup in Waterford, but it's all relative. They've an enormous pick and the support the club has is huge, makes it hard for the Country teams to compete but at Senior level their not that far ahead of Fourmilewater and Lismore (who won the minor A last year), in my opinion (though the gap will widen signifigantly in a few years probably). De La Salle would also be a team producing young talent of late.

DublinGAA96

All this feedback is very interesting. I would never of thought that Dicksboro would arguably be the strongest underage in Kilkenny, I would of imagined a club like O'loughlin Gaels to be dominating. Would Dicksboro have a lot of youngsters to choose from? Yes I wouldn't say Ballyhale underage teams are as strong as the senior. I'm not sure bout other age groups but I'm fairly sure their u16's are in "C". And Ballygunner would be the strongest in Waterford? I would probably agree with that. I wouldn't say they are the best club at every age group, but are consistenly there or there abouts i would imagine. I was also told Dungarvan and Lismore are very strong (at u16 anyway). What other clubs in Waterford are very strong like De La Salle, Roanmore, Mount Sion etc.?

DublinGAA96

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

obviously primary school is where any development happens.. do HFCS rathcool ntional school or the irish school not develop the kids?

Of course they do. Both schools have had great hurlers and footballers come through the gates in the last few years and even further back. The irish school had a team in the Cumann Na mBunscoile Hurling Final in my time a few years back(we were beaten unfortunately:(), and the HFCS school got into the Football final(beaten again). There is also a full time hurling coach coming to the schools which is also great.

Duiske

I'd have to agree with Dicksboro in the underage groups. Has not translated into the seniors yet, but given the youth setup for the past few years, hopefully that won't be far away. Actually, the senior team were pretty dire last year. A 1st round draw and narrow replay win over the ultimately relegated Clara were the highlight.

Mount Leinster Rangers (Carlow) also have a brilliant setup.

Mountainlad

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

And Ballygunner would be the strongest in Waterford? I would probably agree with that. I wouldn't say they are the best club at every age group, but are consistenly there or there abouts i would imagine. I was also told Dungarvan and Lismore are very strong (at u16 anyway). What other clubs in Waterford are very strong like De La Salle, Roanmore, Mount Sion etc.?

Roanmore and Mount Sion regularly have teams in Division 1 but they haven't won anything in quite a while.

Dungarvan are very good underage, hasn't translated into Senior for them though as yet. Lismore would also be pretty good underage and De La Salle have been competing in recent years though I don't think they've one very much.

bcb1

What do you classify as "strong under age set up"? Is it important that a club wins at underage? Is it important what level they play at? Is it important that they produce 2-3 senior players every year or is it more important that they nurture the "star" team through to senior level to make them into a great team? In Cross we win the odd minor(4 in the last 30 years) and more regulalry the u21(8 in the last 30 years with a 4 in a row with basically the same group of players) but our underage structure is lauded as being one of the best around. There are at least 2-3 minors every year breaking into the senior squad and staying there and every 5-6 years we always seem to bring a "super" team through. The like of Armagh Harps and Pearse Ogs have had greater underage sucess in the same period but never translated consistently to senior level. Pearse Ogs in particular still have a lot of the players that won 4 minors in a row but they never could make the step up. Great underage doesn't always translate to great senior.

mickmcl09

In the 80's in Clare. Shannon put hugh efforts into their underage set up.
3 Feile na Gaels in a row I think 86-88. They had a minimum of 2 teams in each age group from 12's to Minors. And it gets better.

At least 1 if not 2 years they won every 'A' division in all the age groups from 12 to minor in hurling and football! A few u21 championships to show for it. Got knocked out at All Ireland semi stage of senior club hurling championship around 94 or 95 and that's as good as it got. But in the 80's they were light years ahead of everyone else at underage. Alot of their underage hurling success seemed to be down to a Cuningham guy who hurled with Clare in the eighties. A great underage coach, but they had the material as well.

I've never heard of any club dominate an entire underage scene in both hurling and football in all the age groups as the same time and for so long before or since in any county.

DublinGAA96

Have to say lads I'm surprised about all the feedback I'm getting about Dicksboro. I never realized how strong they must be, so they usually have players on the minor panel? Fair play to them. What is the standard of division 1 u16/minor in Waterford like does anybody know?

One of you's asked is it important to win at underage and what standard youngsters play at. In my opinion these two things are very important. In u15/16/minor it's all about winning. I have heard players say this aswell. Winning counts for so much. Also, it's so important to be playing at a high and competitive level. I mean if a minor team coming through are competing in div 3 or 4, what would that do to an adult team that are starved of fresh players and youth and are waiting on next generation? It would do nothing. If that minor team was playing at the top level then the adult team would be flying I would imagine.

On another note, yes Mount Leinster Rangers are very strong. An underage team I knew played one of their teams and The Carlow youngsters destroyed them.

The blue blaa

In waterford i would say the best underage teams would be Ballygunner and De La Salle both city clubs so they have big numbers and contest nearly all underage east division 1 finals in hurling and in west waterford you would have Abbeyside and Lismore.

castletownman

In Wexford the strongest under-age set up in football would be Shelmaliers. They've won five Jim Byrne Cup (Premier minor league) titles in a row and play in the top division in all grades. They compete very prominently in the hurling as well, although Rapparees probably hold the sway at under-age hurling in Wexford.

Other prominent under-age set-ups in the county include Fethard (they had five minors on their senior team that got beat by eventual champions Horeswood in the county semi-final last year), St.Martins, HWH Bunclody and Naomh Eanna.

Royal Legend

andyman wrote: »

Dicksboro have to be up there in Kilkenny. Always have excellent teams at underage level.

EDIT: At least in the last 8-10 years anyway.

I would have said James Stephens and Thomastown, Clara always punch above their weight and have a great primary schools record.

I think if you look at the Waterford team for Sunday that the huge work done with juvenile hurling in Waterford is starting to come to fruition, with a number of players under the age of 20 making the starting 15, early days, but Gavin O'Brien, Paudie O'mahoney, Martin O'Neill and Paudie Prendergast will imo become big stars in the future and with the likes of Jake Dillon, Cormac Curran and a good few more still to come

DublinGAA96

Royal Legend wrote: »

andyman wrote: »

Dicksboro have to be up there in Kilkenny. Always have excellent teams at underage level.

EDIT: At least in the last 8-10 years anyway.

I would have said James Stephens and Thomastown, Clara always punch above their weight and have a great primary schools record.

I think if you look at the Waterford team for Sunday that the huge work done with juvenile hurling in Waterford is starting to come to fruition, with a number of players under the age of 20 making the starting 15, early days, but Gavin O'Brien, Paudie O'mahoney, Martin O'Neill and Paudie Prendergast will imo become big stars in the future and with the likes of Jake Dillon, Cormac Curran and a good few more still to come

Yes that's true, there's a lot of young prospects starting for Waterford, fair play to them. Will be very interesting to see how they perform.

qwerty93

In Kildare it has to be Celbridge followed by Naas( A considerable gap) In 2011 they won the Minor hurling and football double in league and championship, a spectacular feat. At the younger grades Im not too sure what level theyre at by im confident they have 2 teams at most levels in football. Considering the sucess of soccer teams in the area its a testament to the GAA that they are so sucessful. In ladies GAA, I would go for Johnstownbridge/Balyna, most players on the camogie team (JTB) are dual players with the amalgation club Balyna and have enjoyed senior sucess in recent years. With the population of the area perhaps this is a greater achievement than in Celbridge..

Royal Legend

DublinGAA96 wrote: »

All this feedback is very interesting. I would never of thought that Dicksboro would arguably be the strongest underage in Kilkenny, I would of imagined a club like O'loughlin Gaels to be dominating. Would Dicksboro have a lot of youngsters to choose from? Yes I wouldn't say Ballyhale underage teams are as strong as the senior. I'm not sure bout other age groups but I'm fairly sure their u16's are in "C". And Ballygunner would be the strongest in Waterford? I would probably agree with that. I wouldn't say they are the best club at every age group, but are consistenly there or there abouts i would imagine. I was also told Dungarvan and Lismore are very strong (at u16 anyway). What other clubs in Waterford are very strong like De La Salle, Roanmore, Mount Sion etc.?

Lismore in the west, Cappoquin, Ballyduff and Dungarvan. Butlerstown are strong in the east , but they are an amalgamation with Dunhill/Fenor. Ballygunner, De La Salle, Roannmore are strongest in city, Mount Sion now and again, not as strong as they used to be underage, plus the school has next to no hurling pedigree anymore, at colleges level, De La Salle have a pick of De la salle and Ballygunner, St Paul CC are more linked to Roanmore, Mount Sion and Saviours, then you have CnaD and Blackwater in the west, the schools setup in Waterford is very strong.

tooler08

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

Four strongest football clubs in Kildare are sarsfields, moorefield, celbridge and either Laurence's ( athy ) or athy itself

Strongest hurling clubs would be ardclough, clane or eirog corrah coill I think that's the spelling anyways

Id say the celbridge underage team and the Naas underage set up far surpass the Ardclough and eire-og teams in nearly all age brackets

DARK-KNIGHT

Maybe the strongest in cel bridge Naas but the reason being is numbers big towns huge picking pot talent wise the best training and development in Kildare would be clane or ardclough IMO anyways

Of cel ridge or Naas werent blessed with underage numbers they would be nowhere

Mountainlad

Royal Legend wrote: »

Lismore in the west, Cappoquin, Ballyduff and Dungarvan. Butlerstown are strong in the east , but they are an amalgamation with Dunhill/Fenor. Ballygunner, De La Salle, Roannmore are strongest in city, Mount Sion now and again, not as strong as they used to be underage, plus the school has next to no hurling pedigree anymore, at colleges level, De La Salle have a pick of De la salle and Ballygunner, St Paul CC are more linked to Roanmore, Mount Sion and Saviours, then you have CnaD and Blackwater in the west, the schools setup in Waterford is very strong.

Ballyduff Upper are not strong underage. Other than that I'd agree.

qwerty93

is it just me or has there been a huge decline in Leixlips underage standard in recemnt years? is it due to Confey and Celbridge taking players or is it general loss of interest?