Underage players playing outside home county

cantwbr1

Over the weekend I was listening to the club championship updates on the radio. What caught my attention in the Meath final was that Michael Deegan (son of Mick Deegan) was playing for Donaghmore-Ashbourne is a Dublin U21 player. While he may have transferred from a Dublin club to Donaghmore-Ashbourne, this seems unlikely to me.

It reminded me of Niall Quins son who is from Two Mile House (Kildare) but is a Dublin minor.

In my opinion the two situations go against what I would consider one of the key principles of the GAA – you play for where you come from.

What are peoples opinion on this or do they have any other information that make the two situations clearer

RealJohn

It might be one of the key principles of the GAA but it's also the reason I never played past the age of 14. My brother and I had been playing for over a year with one parish (and my da was coaching a team and everything) and the GAA told us we were on the wrong side of a border and had to switch to the next club over. We didn't fit in at the new club and that was the end of my 'career' in the GAA.

Hammer Archer

There's quite a few instances of this happening in the commuter belt counties. You're allowed play for your parents' club(s) and/or county.
Ballyboden's Shane Clayton (who won a Leinster minor championship with Dublin) was originally from Ratoath (as was another of that Dublin Leinster winning team). Think Darren Daly also lives in Ratoath (at least he did until recently).


It does slip people's minds when they talk about the boom in population of the likes of Meath and Kildare. Lots of the younger players wouldn't be caught dead in anything other than a Dublin jersey and as a result have no interest in playing for their home county. Also, for older people moving to the area from Dublin, they are often (in the case of the likes of Ratoath/Dunboyne/Ashbourne in Meath at least) close enough to their previous club to keep playing with them.

RealJohn wrote: »

It might be one of the key principles of the GAA but it's also the reason I never played past the age of 14. My brother and I had been playing for over a year with one parish (and my da was coaching a team and everything) and the GAA told us we were on the wrong side of a border and had to switch to the next club over. We didn't fit in at the new club and that was the end of my 'career' in the GAA.

Did you (or your parents) seek a transfer back to your original club?

cantwbr1

Hammer Archer wrote: »

It does slip people's minds when they talk about the boom in population of the likes of Meath and Kildare. Lots of the younger players wouldn't be caught dead in anything other than a Dublin jersey and as a result have no interest in playing for their home county.


This is something that I'm very conscious. I live in Cork but am originally from north Kildare. It scalds my soul when I go home over the summer and see the amount of Dublin flags being flown.

I'd forgotten about the parentage rule but also thought that it was to help the weak, not make the strong stronger

Faugheen

Arent the Rock family from Ashbourne? Pretty sure Barney is anyway

klairondavis

cantwbr1 wrote: »

It reminded me of Niall Quins son who is from Two Mile House (Kildare) but is a Dublin minor.

He plays with Eadestown not Two Mile House. Was on the Dublin u21 panel for 2016.

Hammer Archer

cantwbr1 wrote: »

This is something that I'm very conscious. I live in Cork but am originally from north Kildare. It scalds my soul when I go home over the summer and see the amount of Dublin flags being flown.

I'd forgotten about the parentage rule but also thought that it was to help the weak, not make the strong stronger

I think originally it was brought in to help rural clubs/counties but now seems to have come full circle. What can you do though? No one's breaking any rules.

Stoner

No Barney is from Glasnevin played his football there too, played with some family members of mine through school, I regularly have to listen to repetitive stories about same.

The Deegan lad is from Dublin, nothing to do with his father although I've seen that offered as a reason for him playing for Dublin before, his first club was in Dublin, he moved to Meath in his teens and was involved with the Dublin set up at that stage. So regardless of where his parents are from he can play for Dublin.

Stoner

I've a godchild from Dublin but moved to navan. Now on the Meath development squad.
Considers themselves to be a Dub /Meath mix, Gets a hard time at the club if the Dubs are mentioned. And I mean a hard time. Father refs and helps out at the club and has noted that any Jersey bar Dublin's is welcomed there.
I tell my godchild that as the training and development is all being carried out by the Meath club that they are part of the Meath set up and just go with it. I can't help thinking though that some of the negativity will drive them away. This kid has one foot in and one foot out of the Meath camp, not being embraced i think if they did it would do the trick.

Regarding flags I grew up with Kilkenny , mayo and Kerry neighbours in Dublin I had to look at their flags

We had a Clare man and a Cork man on our senior team and they were great club member but not Dubs. Fully accepted they worked here and wanted to play.

You can't make people play for a team or identify with a place that they don't. It doesn't mean they won't be great for your club.

cantwbr1

Stoner wrote: »

The Deegan lad is from Dublin, nothing to do with his father although I've seen that offered as a reason for him playing for Dublin before, his first club was in Dublin, he moved to Meath in his teens and was involved with the Dublin set up at that stage. So regardless of where his parents are from he can play for Dublin.

To me the above makes the situation more acceptable as you do tend to form your allegiances with your first club.

purpleisafruit

I know at my own club in North East Cork, we have found the only 2 lads from Kerry who are ****e at football to play for us. Due to our proximity to the Limerick border, I know of lads from my home town who played underage but now play for a Limerick club 10 miles out the road.

Stoner

cantwbr1 wrote:

To me the above makes the situation more acceptable as you do tend to form your allegiances with your first club.

True I've no idea about the Quinn lad though

klairondavis

Stoner wrote: »

True I've no idea about the Quinn lad though

Niall Quinn played for Eadestown in 2003 after his retirement from soccer so it's probable that Quinn junior has played with the club all his life. Situations like this stick in the craw a bit after all the justified criticism that Kidare received after Johnston. Kildare GAA commissioned a demographics report recently and the findings were outlined during September's county board meeting. The county has the highest ratio of 0-24 year olds in the state. A sizeable proportion of those 0-24 year olds would have one if not both parents from Dublin. It's possible that we see more Dublin players over the next few decades who play their club football with Naas, Celbridge, Maynooth or whoever.

Stoner

I know a lad from Dublin moved from our area about 6 years ago. Had a big dilemma about Dublin/Kildare .

He's at <best snip>. He was embraced by the club and has since been on various Kildare development squads. His father told me that he had a chat with him about how highly regarded the senior club players were in the town and the school and the son was attracted to that.

It does work both ways though in both those cases their fathers being old Dublin GAA club members are helping out at the new club and the clubs will get the benefit of that, particularly the Meath club as my friend was a decent hurler in his day.

If the clubs embrace these kids they'll do fine and it will be a win win. But if all they get is some sort of closed club mentally where "blowins" aren't welcome well then nobody will win. The kids will play something else.
Let's not forget that these are GAA people that understand about club traditions, but in Dublin and possibly Cork we are use to a blurring between clubs. I've mentioned here before that I can see the nets around the plunketts/ ER goals and Bridget's from the entrance to my estate.

I believe that Deegan lad had a couple of buddies on his team who's parents moved from Dublin earlier than his and they play for Meath but at least one if not two of their parents were associated with Erin's Isle in Finglas

You'll read on the Dublin thread about the fall from grace if this once dominant GAA team that formed part of the backbone of the all Ireland win in 1995 .
I don't think anyone from that team are involved in coaching at the club now.

But two if not three are involved in Meath clubs. That's life and that's the GAA.

Ballymun was a "Culchie" club years ago , now its represented on the senior team by four starters. These things take time to wash through.

Stoner

And while I'm having a rant !!
Niall Quinn. I got his book as a Christmas present years ago. From my memory he has no pictures of him playing for Dublin in it, no mention of his record in CP as a minor that can recall. It starts with some poem or something about Tipp, I think he has a picture of himself in a Tipp Jersey with his father who played for Tipp.
I read how Quinn said he was rated higher than Jim stynes by the Ozzy selectors alright, that was a GAA ref.
I've never seen his son play for Dublin, or at all. However from what I can gather he hopes to follow in his father's footsteps and play soccer in the UK as a professional.
Best of luck to him I hope he achieves his goals, pun noted !!

klairondavis

Stoner wrote: »

It does work both ways though in both those cases their fathers being old Dublin GAA club members are helping out at the new club and the clubs will get the benefit of that, particularly the Meath club as my friend was a decent hurler in his day.

That's true alright. Kildare's new operations manager has been involved with Naas GAA for over 20 years but he is originally a Round Towers Clondalkin clubman. His son was man of the match in the county minor football final.

Stoner wrote: »

If the clubs embrace these kids they'll do fine and it will be a win win. But if all they get is some sort of closed club mentally where "blowins" aren't welcome well then nobody will win. The kids will play something else.

There is a history of this in Kildare already. Large numbers of people from counties in the west and south would have settled in Kildare villages in the 1970s and 1980s as the urbanisation of the county was beginning. Countless Kildare players from the 1990s onwards would have had parents from other counties. Martin Lynch's father is a Kerryman and he is a cousin of Jack O'Shea. The O'Flaherty brothers also had Kerry lineage. Emmet Bolton, Ollie Lyons and Paddy Brophy have Mayo blood. Dermot Earley junior obviously had strong Roscommon links and his mother is from Tipperary. James Kavanagh has Galway roots. Tommy Moolick's father played for Longford. Meath would have a similar history due to the Land Commission.

Since the 1990s most migrants settling in Kildare have been moving out from Dublin. I suppose the fear is that it is easier for the children of these migrants to take the same choice as Mickey Quinn because of Kildare's close proximity to Dublin than it would have been for someone like Earley to choose to play for Roscommon.