Best LOI Soccer team in Tipperary

Dave Van Ronk

Who is the best League of Ireland soccer team from Tipperary? Most other counties have a recognisable team (Galway United, Waterford etc) but no big Tipp soccer team?

tippspur

Strange question,there is no team from Tipperary playing in the LOI.

Dave Van Ronk

tippspur wrote: »

Strange question,there is no team from Tipperary playing in the LOI.

Ok. Was there ever a Tipp team playing in the LOI?
And who would be the most succesful Tipp soccer club?

bawn79

Dave Van Ronk wrote: »

Ok. Was there ever a Tipp team playing in the LOI?
And who would be the most succesful Tipp soccer club?

Yes Thurles Town played in the LOI for a while (1977 - 1982 according to Wikipedia).

There are two Junior soccer leagues in Tipperary. I would imagine Nenagh Town are the most successful team in the North.
There might be more debate about the most successful in South Tipp with probably Clonmel Town & St Michaels (of Tipperary Town) being in with a shout as both have won FAI Junior Cups. A team from Carrick-on-Suir plays in the Waterford league and have also enjoyed great success. Newport would be another team that play outside the county (Limerick league) and up until a year or two ago a Roscrea based team played in the Leinster leagues but have now rejoined the North Tipp league.

tastyt

At the moment st Michaels are fai junior cup champions so they are the strongest by a distance.

I often wondered if the Tipperary public would support a loi team. Junior soccer is very strong here and I for one would love to see a tipp team give it a shot. Don't know if the gaa heads would let it happen though

tastyt

At the moment st Michaels are fai junior cup champions so they are the strongest by a distance.

I often wondered if the Tipperary public would support a loi team. Junior soccer is very strong here and I for one would love to see a tipp team give it a shot. Don't know if the gaa heads would let it happen though

Clonmel1000

tastyt wrote: »

At the moment st Michaels are fai junior cup champions so they are the strongest by a distance.

I often wondered if the Tipperary public would support a loi team. Junior soccer is very strong here and I for one would love to see a tipp team give it a shot. Don't know if the gaa heads would let it happen though

GAA heads? WTF? Junior soccer is better organised than the LOI which is populated primarily by Dublin teams.

tippspur

tastyt wrote: »

At the moment st Michaels are fai junior cup champions so they are the strongest by a distance.

I often wondered if the Tipperary public would support a loi team. Junior soccer is very strong here and I for one would love to see a tipp team give it a shot. Don't know if the gaa heads would let it happen though

Well the GAA heads couldn't stop a team from the home of hurling playing in the LOI a few years back so I don't think they could stop it happening,I f Waterford utd were going well in the LOI Id'e say they would get good support from South Tipp and the South East in general.

Clonmel1000

GAA heads as you call them couldn't give 2 sh!Ts about a team operating in a Mickey mouse league like the LOI. Had the misfortune of seeing some of their cup final last week a junior C game would be more entertaining. What is a GAA head anyway?

tastyt

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

GAA heads as you call them couldn't give 2 sh!Ts about a team operating in a Mickey mouse league like the LOI. Had the misfortune of seeing some of their cup final last week a junior C game would be more entertaining. What is a GAA head anyway?

You are obviously a gaa head. It's somebody with a chip on their shoulder about soccer and takes every opportunity to put it down as you have proved above. A bit insecure and childish really when the gaa is as big as it is in this country. And chill out a bit before you give yourself a heart attack.

Clonmel1000

tastyt wrote: »

You are obviously a gaa head. It's somebody with a chip on their shoulder about soccer and takes every opportunity to put it down as you have proved above. A bit insecure and childish really when the gaa is as big as it is in this country. And chill out a bit before you give yourself a heart attack.

What did you mean by 'GAA heads wouldn't let it happen' i.e. the formation of a LOI team. Far from it actually I enjoy watching and playing soccer. Are you a 'soccer head' so?

tastyt

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

What did you mean by 'GAA heads wouldn't let it happen' i.e. the formation of a LOI team. Far from it actually I enjoy watching and playing soccer. Are you a 'soccer head' so?

Yes, yes I am.

Paddico

I think I will put the GAA thing to bed.
The GAA have absolutely no say on whether a Tipp team joins league of Ireland or not.

I would imagine St Micheals , Clonmel town or none of the other teams would have any interest in putting a team into the LOI first divison. It would be all down to money. I forget the exact figure but I think for coming last in the first division a team gets £1000. To enter a team into the league, it cost 20K entrance fee. Add to that the 70% protocol where where 70% of staff wages needs to come from club turnover, grounds need to be upgraded to a certain standard, it just wont make financial sense to do this. Add to the fact that a Tipp league of Ireland team would only be allowed budget for attendance of 100 average in their first season, sadly I could never see it happening.

Unless of course some sugar daddy or Arib sheik has big plans to bring champions league football to Tipp, Bansha, Thurles or Clonmel town 

Looking at some of the players who have plyed or are currently plying their trade in the LOI.

Shane Long (Gortnahoe) being the most famous
Michael Rafter (Glengoole) currently there along with Daryl Kavanagh (Carrick). Formerly you had two Clonmel men in Ollie Cahill and Stephen Napier (Clonmel).

Thats all i can think of in recent years.

EDIT: Add All Ireland minor football winners Colman Kennedy and Greg Henry to the Cork City youth team although im not sure if either persisted with soccer.

Clonmel1000

Kevin Waters, Paul Scully, Adam McSherry, Aaron Moroney of all played LOI in recent years. The GAA couldent or wouldent stop a LOI team from entering.

Blatter

Deleted User wrote: »

Looking at some of the players who have plyed or are currently plying their trade in the LOI.

Shane Long (Gortnahoe) being the most famous
Michael Rafter (Glengoole) currently there along with Daryl Kavanagh (Carrick). Formerly you had two Clonmel men in Ollie Cahill and Stephen Napier (Clonmel).

Thats all i can think of in recent years.

Fred Murray was another one.

padohaodha

The gaa heads thing is long gone.im a gaelic manager and like most people i have a wide interest in all sports.i think its great the lads keep fit over the winter playing soccer.its pretty much the same fellas playing all the sports especially in country areas.time for the 'soccer head' to move on and lose the poor relation attitude.cos i for one would welcome any new sport into the area.and im a 'gaa head'.

padohaodha

padohaodha wrote: »

The gaa heads thing is long gone.im a gaelic manager and like most people i have a wide interest in all sports.i think its great the lads keep fit over the winter playing soccer.its pretty much the same fellas playing all the sports especially in country areas.time for the 'soccer head' to move on and lose the poor relation attitude.cos i for one would welcome any new sport into the area.and im a 'gaa head'.

Too true. If it keeps youngsters off the streets sure what harm. Id say Rugby is a bigger threat in terms of what it can offer these times. Sure you could be a professional international standard athlete on your doorstep in Ireland with rugby and the thing with rugby is it lads who were never good at other sports can adapt to it. An english cousin of mine was never good at soccer but took to rugby like water to a duck.

Paddico

Deleted User wrote: »

Looking at some of the players who have plyed or are currently plying their trade in the LOI.

Shane Long (Gortnahoe) being the most famous
Michael Rafter (Glengoole) currently there along with Daryl Kavanagh (Carrick). Formerly you had two Clonmel men in Ollie Cahill and Stephen Napier (Clonmel).

Thats all i can think of in recent years.

EDIT: Add All Ireland minor football winners Colman Kennedy and Greg Henry to the Cork City youth team although im not sure if either persisted with soccer.

Kelvin Flannigan.
The FAI have been offering invitations to join the First Division for a while with Tralee Dynamos and the Mayo League been mentioned, (only 9 teams now AFAIK, and Shamrock Rovers with a B team)
No club wants to take up the offer, way too much cost involved.

Oops!

Deleted User wrote: »

Looking at some of the players who have plyed or are currently plying their trade in the LOI.

Shane Long (Gortnahoe) being the most famous
Michael Rafter (Glengoole) currently there along with Daryl Kavanagh (Carrick). Formerly you had two Clonmel men in Ollie Cahill and Stephen Napier (Clonmel).

Thats all i can think of in recent years.

EDIT: Add All Ireland minor football winners Colman Kennedy and Greg Henry to the Cork City youth team although im not sure if either persisted with soccer.

Both Shane Long and Michael Rafter started out with Two-Mile-Borris/St Kevin's FC as schoolboys in the Tipp southern and district league.

Big Ears

While Junior soccer is very strong in the County, I can't see any of the teams having even the potential catchment area to have enough supporters to run a LOI team.
There would be very little support from other Junior teams, or other towns if a Junior soccer club was to try the venture alone.
The only realistic way it happens is in the very unrealistic scenario of the Tipperary Venue being built some day.

I would however like to see the top divisions of the North Tipp & South Tipp soccer leagues come together to form an 8 or 10 team (All) Tipperary Premier league. All leagues below would still run on a North/South basis.
It would strengthen the opposition for teams in both leagues (particularly the North), and Champions of the whole County is obviously more prestigious.

Also I'd like to see the FAI get their finger out and fix the problem of Intermediate football being restricted to Cork teams in the province. Every team in the Munster Senior League (which is actually an intermediate league) is from Cork and therefore no team outside Cork will ever join it because all away games would be a ridiculous distance away.
There are plenty of teams from Tipp, Limerick, Kerry and Waterford (sorry Clare) who would be capable of playing at that standard and should be pushed towards playing at that standard, but never will under the current circumstances.
IMO it's part of the overall problem we have with soccer in this country.

jkmanc1974

Excellent last post. Was in the RSC couple of times this year and the crowds that Waterford get are shocking lately..

Paddico

Big Ears wrote: »

While Junior soccer is very strong in the County, I can't see any of the teams having even the potential catchment area to have enough supporters to run a LOI team.
There would be very little support from other Junior teams, or other towns if a Junior soccer club was to try the venture alone.
The only realistic way it happens is in the very unrealistic scenario of the Tipperary Venue being built some day.

I don’t think the ‘built it and they will come’ theory would work despite the FAI bouncing this idea around for a long time. The bottom line is that there needs to be a population base that historically supports local football in the area and in Tipp there isn’t one right now. St Micheals and Carrick have an ok community support but to have one club represented in the LOI, as say Tipperary FC won’t work IMHO.

Even if there is some serous moneybags behind the idea, the crowds wouldn't be long dropping off once the novelty wore off. I’ve been following LOI for years and the appetite for it right now is very low. In cities like Limerick, Cork, Derry etc however, there is potential here because there has been a historic local soccer support base in that area for years.

tastyt

Paddico wrote: »

I don’t think the ‘built it and they will come’ theory would work despite the FAI bouncing this idea around for a long time. The bottom line is that there needs to be a population base that historically supports local football in the area and in Tipp there isn’t one right now. St Micheals and Carrick have an ok community support but to have one club represented in the LOI, as say Tipperary FC won’t work IMHO.

Even if there is some serous moneybags behind the idea, the crowds wouldn't be long dropping off once the novelty wore off. I’ve been following LOI for years and the appetite for it right now is very low. In cities like Limerick, Cork, Derry etc however, there is potential here because there has been a historic local soccer support base in that area for years.

Ya, good point, I don't think there is a strong enough football culture in tipp for a league side to be honest.

Best way I can see is if there was a route to the top for teams like st Michaels. Maybe if you win the fai junior cup you should get free entry into division one foe a year and see how it goes, providing your club meets certain criteria

Big Ears

tastyt wrote: »

Ya, good point, I don't think there is a strong enough football culture in tipp for a league side to be honest.

Best way I can see is if there was a route to the top for teams like st Michaels. Maybe if you win the fai junior cup you should get free entry into division one foe a year and see how it goes, providing your club meets certain criteria

St Michaels are a fantastic Junior side, but they'd be eaten alive at their current standard trying to play LOI 1st division, and on top of this Tipp town is not big enough to sustain a LOI team. Also to compound matters they are not the only Junior soccer side in the town, and while Tipp Town FC might not be around long enough to have established a proper rivalry I doubt their supporters would be falling over themselves to watch Michaels play Shamrock Rovers B, or UCD or Cobh Ramblers....

Nor would people from Cahir, or Cashel, or Clonmel, and you can forget about people from North Tipp altogether. It would make far more sense to sort out the footballl pyramid in Ireland, and give Junior sides in Munster (that aren't from Cork) a chance to play in the Munster Senior (Intermediate) league.

In an ideal World there would be a system in place like the AIL, where 4 provincial winners would play-off to win a spot in the LOI First division. But a Connacht Senior (Intermediate) league doesn't even exist, and every team in every division of the Munster Senior League is based in Cork, while every team in the Ulster Senior League is from Donegal (bar Derry City Reserves), the setup of Soccer in this country is a complete mess !

Paddico

tastyt wrote: »

Ya, good point, I don't think there is a strong enough football culture in tipp for a league side to be honest.

Best way I can see is if there was a route to the top for teams like st Michaels. Maybe if you win the fai junior cup you should get free entry into division one foe a year and see how it goes, providing your club meets certain criteria

Also you would have to consider what happens the Intermediate champions in that scenario, not to mention licensing criteria, stadium standards, the elite youths structure etc. nice idea but St Micks would be way off the standard in both finance and standards

Paddico

By the way who are Tipp Town FC and where do they play their home games?

Found this though which is quite funny
http://wiki.hattrick.org/wiki/Tipp_Town

The Lost Sheep

Paddico wrote: »

By the way who are Tipp Town FC and where do they play their home games?

Found this though which is quite funny
http://wiki.hattrick.org/wiki/Tipp_Town

Don't they play somewhere going out towards the Golf club?

digzy

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Dont"]http://wiki.hattrick.org/wiki/Tipp_Town[/URL]

Don't they play somewhere going out towards the Golf club?[/QUOTE]

no

tastyt

Paddico wrote: »

Also you would have to consider what happens the Intermediate champions in that scenario, not to mention licensing criteria, stadium standards, the elite youths structure etc. nice idea but St Micks would be way off the standard in both finance and standards

Absolutely. I'm not suggesting for one minute that st Michaels current team our structure is near the required standards. I was just trying to make the point that there should be a pathway based on promotion up through the ranks rather than on application

Paddico

Big Ears wrote: »

St Michaels are a fantastic Junior side, but they'd be eaten alive at their current standard trying to play LOI 1st division, and on top of this Tipp town is not big enough to sustain a LOI team. Also to compound matters they are not the only Junior soccer side in the town, and while Tipp Town FC might not be around long enough to have established a proper rivalry I doubt their supporters would be falling over themselves to watch Michaels play Shamrock Rovers B, or UCD or Cobh Ramblers....

Nor would people from Cahir, or Cashel, or Clonmel, and you can forget about people from North Tipp altogether. It would make far more sense to sort out the footballl pyramid in Ireland, and give Junior sides in Munster (that aren't from Cork) a chance to play in the Munster Senior (Intermediate) league.

In an ideal World there would be a system in place like the AIL, where 4 provincial winners would play-off to win a spot in the LOI First division. But a Connacht Senior (Intermediate) league doesn't even exist, and every team in every division of the Munster Senior League is based in Cork, while every team in the Ulster Senior League is from Donegal (bar Derry City Reserves), the setup of Soccer in this country is a complete mess !

Just reading through this again. I’m curious to know why there are only Cork based teams in the Munster Senior league. I see the Munster Senior cup is already in progress and apart from Limerick and Waterford United, all the other teams are Cork based.
Are there no other Senior/Intermediate teams in the other 5 counties of Munster that qualify to play in these competitions? Last year St Michaels played in the FAI Senior Cup so is there a reason why they don’t or other don’t play in the Munster Senior Cup?

tippspur

I think Junior and Intermediate clubs were dropped from the MSC a few years back,think Carrick utd were the last junior club to win it,I could be proved wrong though.

Big Ears

tippspur wrote: »

I think Junior and Intermediate clubs were dropped from the MSC a few years back,think Carrick utd were the last junior club to win it,I could be proved wrong though.

You're correct, they were dropped from the Munster Senior Cup and a new competition (The Munster Champions Trophy) was created for Junior sides who had won their league the previous season.

While I'm not against the Munster Champions Trophy as such, I think it's a shame that the top Junior sides don't have a chance to test themselves against Senior sides in competitive games anymore.