Where are they now?

thesultan

A few questions on underage players and their progression.

Declan McCrossan with his tache and mad runs up the field. Thought he would have played senior...

Gael85

thesultan wrote: »

A few questions on underage players and their progression.

Declan McCrossan with his tache and mad runs up the field. Thought he would have played senior...

Think McCrossan was nominated for All Star around 01/02.Was very good going forward going but not best defensively. Philip Jordan was some replacement for him.

jr86

Kyle Coney.

fair enough not a bad career by most standards but watching him in both minor finals in 2008 I really thought we were witnessing one of the future greats. Himself and Shane nally were the best two players on the pitch those days - amazing how things turn out, goes to show you can never be fully sure of younger lads

LoughNeagh2017

Where to start with Derry?

dobman88

LoughNeagh2017 wrote: »

Where to start with Derry?

Australia

threeball

jr86 wrote: »

Kyle Coney.

fair enough not a bad career by most standards but watching him in both minor finals in 2008 I really thought we were witnessing one of the future greats. Himself and Shane nally were the best two players on the pitch those days - amazing how things turn out, goes to show you can never be fully sure of younger lads

Australia ruined half the lads that went over there. The finest of footballers like Tommy Walsh went over there and came back a shadow of themselves. Even after 2yrs back hes only now looking like hes senior IC material but nowhere near his earlier level and probably never will again.

armaghlad

jr86 wrote: »

Kyle Coney.

fair enough not a bad career by most standards but watching him in both minor finals in 2008 I really thought we were witnessing one of the future greats. Himself and Shane nally were the best two players on the pitch those days - amazing how things turn out, goes to show you can never be fully sure of younger lads

I think Tyronies still talk of him as being fit for the county team, by all accounts he played really well in recent championship game v Coalisland

jr86

armaghlad wrote: »

I think Tyronies still talk of him as being fit for the county team, by all accounts he played really well in recent championship game v Coalisland

Ara I'm sure he's still county standard. And he has played plenty county senior matches

Its just he was quite literally the next big thing a decade ago. I thought we were honestly looking at a future superstar. I'd struggle to recall many players who stood out as much at minor level in recent times

armaghlad

jr86 wrote: »

Ara I'm sure he's still county standard. And he has played plenty county senior matches

Its just he was quite literally the next big thing a decade ago. I thought we were honestly looking at a future superstar. I'd struggle to recall many players who stood out as much at minor level in recent times

To quote one pundit “he was a man when he was a boy”. Some players are freaks of nature at that age

jr86

armaghlad wrote: »

To quote one pundit “he was a man when he was a boy”. Some players are freaks of nature at that age

Yeah - size is a huge asset at underage to be fair

Road-Hog

jr86 wrote: »

Yeah - size is a huge asset at underage to be fair

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

StupidLikeAFox

Road-Hog wrote: »

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

Johnny Doyle - never got the shout for minor level and was a sub on the u21s but never played. He made his senior debut the year after u21s and started in every single championship game for the next 13 years

thesultan

Road-Hog wrote: »

jr86 wrote: »

Yeah - size is a huge asset at underage to be fair

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

Mullane played plenty of underage. 3 years 21

dobman88

Road-Hog wrote: »

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

Paul Murphy for Kerry. Was told he was too small at Minor and U21. Got man of the match all Ireland final 2014 after marking Ryan McHugh out of it in his first year playing county.

cms88

dobman88 wrote: »

Paul Murphy for Kerry. Was told he was too small at Minor and U21. Got man of the match all Ireland final 2014 after marking Ryan McHugh out of it in his first year playing county.

He played with the Kerry U21's in 2012

cms88

Two players i sometimes wonder about are Beano McDonald and Donie Brennan. When did they actualy stop playing with Laois? Brennan must have been only 24/25

Gael85

cms88 wrote: »

Two players i sometimes wonder about are Beano McDonald and Donie Brennan. When did they actualy stop playing with Laois? Brennan must have been only 24/25

Both first cousins of Donie Kingston. Beano had a bad leg break around 04 and never the same after that. Prob finished up around 06/07. Brennan had diabetes and only played intercounty for a few years.

dobman88

cms88 wrote: »

He played with the Kerry U21's in 2012

Thanks. Wasnt 100% sure but didnt remember him playing for them. Happy to be corrected on it.

cms88

dobman88 wrote: »

Thanks. Wasnt 100% sure but didnt remember him playing for them. Happy to be corrected on it.

Lost to Cork in the Munster final. He didn't play minor alright

Stationmaster

Road-Hog wrote: »

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

A few of that team would have played in a minor all ireland final in 89.

Brian Lohan or Seanie McMahon didn't hurl minor for Clare.

kala85

threeball wrote: »

Australia ruined half the lads that went over there. The finest of footballers like Tommy Walsh went over there and came back a shadow of themselves. Even after 2yrs back hes only now looking like hes senior IC material but nowhere near his earlier level and probably never will again.

Why do you think Australia ruined these guys. Over training or too much socialising etc

threeball

kala85 wrote: »

threeball wrote: »

Australia ruined half the lads that went over there. The finest of footballers like Tommy Walsh went over there and came back a shadow of themselves. Even after 2yrs back hes only now looking like hes senior IC material but nowhere near his earlier level and probably never will again.

Why do you think Australia ruined these guys. Over training or too much socialising etc

Took away their wonderful natural footballing instincts and replaced them with constant running, stop start style of that truly horrible game. Huge amount of injuries in Irish players that went over too.

Road-Hog

kala85 wrote: »

Why do you think Australia ruined these guys. Over training or too much socialising etc

Ozzies, is in particular the males version would have to be one of the most macho shauvanistic and arrogant shower on the planet.....would think this could impact the Irish lads who go over there self esteem and confidence also they are into really filthy dirty tactic like ‘fingering’ guys up the bum on the sly etc

Edgware

Road-Hog wrote: »

Ozzies, is in particular the males version would have to be one of the most macho shauvanistic and arrogant shower on the planet.....would think this could impact the Irish lads who go over there self esteem and confidence also they are into really filthy dirty tactic like ‘fingering’ guys up the bum on the sly etc

I thought only Tyrone did that

debok

Road-Hog wrote: »

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

John mullane played from u 14 up and played senior when still u21.

thesultan

Brendan Barry kilkenny. Star player at fitzbgibbon. Had a mighty league one year and vanished

PressRun

Road-Hog wrote: »

What about the opposite, ie those players who blossomed later,.....after showing no great promise at minor or younger level........

John mullane didn’t play or get picked a lot at underage level I am told. There must be more similar examples of mullane sour there...,,,maybe the entire Clare ‘95 team....???

Lee Keegan was one of these. He came to football later than what would be normal for most intercounty players. Didn't play minor and when he started at U21 level, kinda had to be nudged into it, I'm told.
By his own admission, he wasn't even overly interested in GAA as a youth. He had a lot of different sporting interests growing up and was involved with Connacht rugby at underage level. Apparently very nearly went the way of rugby altogether.

James Gill was the opposite then - he was one who showed a lot of promise early on and had plenty of talent but ended up being very inconsistent and a bit unreliable.

jr86

Damien Comer didn't even start for his school in Leaving cert - albeit a strong enough SJC side

have been told he was even in and out of his club side at minor. Got a look at under 21 trials after tearing it up at junior one year apparently - and never looked back.

I think in fairness he was meant to be very small underage, and his physique - which is a huge part of his game - developed hugely by the time he was 18/19

jr86

PressRun wrote: »

Lee Keegan was one of these. He came to football later than what would be normal for most intercounty players. Didn't play minor and when he started at U21 level, kinda had to be nudged into it, I'm told.
By his own admission, he wasn't even overly interested in GAA as a youth. He had a lot of different sporting interests growing up and was involved with Connacht rugby at underage level. Apparently very nearly went the way of rugby altogether.

James Gill was the opposite then - he was one who showed a lot of promise early on and had plenty of talent but ended up being very inconsistent and a bit unreliable.

I imagine Keegan was probably good enough to play minor though? He was a few age groups behind me though, so wouldn't have seen much of him underage. In fairness there is some commitment even with the Connacht underage set up - probably couldn't be playing county football aswell

Rochelle

thesultan wrote: »

Brendan Barry kilkenny. Star player at fitzbgibbon. Had a mighty league one year and vanished

Brian, not Brendan

thesultan

Rochelle wrote: »

thesultan wrote: »

Brendan Barry kilkenny. Star player at fitzbgibbon. Had a mighty league one year and vanished

Brian, not Brendan

Sorry yes brIan. Did he hurl much after?

PressRun

jr86 wrote: »

I imagine Keegan was probably good enough to play minor though? He was a few age groups behind me though, so wouldn't have seen much of him underage. In fairness there is some commitment even with the Connacht underage set up - probably couldn't be playing county football aswell

Hard to know what kind of minor he would have been given his lack of interest in football at that age. Though he was always an impressive athlete even from a young age and probably could have turned his hand to any sport he liked, not sure some would have immediately pegged him as a Gaelic footballer since he wasn't raised with it like others would have been and didn't have the same grá for it that other kids of his age would have had.
He eventually went the way of football after being given an ultimatum when he was 19/20. Played U21 and then O'Mahony didn't fancy him in 2010 and he was dropped.
Horan brought him back into the fold in 2011. There were some interesting stories from the AvB games from that time - Keegan a peripheral player, behind on S&C and not overly fancied by squad or management, apparently he used to target the bigger name players in the in-house games. Soon became a Horan favourite after that.

1984baby

thesultan wrote: »

Sorry yes brIan. Did he hurl much after?

Finished hurling (club + county) altogether in 2005 when he was only 24/25 !!!
He is a doctor now in Australia, I think.

cms88

One of the main ones when this comes up is Karl Wade from Galway. He still playing?

jr86

cms88 wrote: »

One of the main ones when this comes up is Karl Wade from Galway. He still playing?

Where do you even start with Galway hurling unfulfilled talent :pac:

I think Wade is playing junior with Sarsfields these days, won a county senior medal in 2015

cms88

jr86 wrote: »

Where do you even start with Galway hurling unfulfilled talent :pac:

I think Wade is playing junior with Sarsfields these days, won a county senior medal in 2015

Between tham and Laois a topic of it's own!

threeball

cms88 wrote: »

One of the main ones when this comes up is Karl Wade from Galway. He still playing?

Kerril Wade I think is who you are referring to. You could write a compilation of books on footballers and hurlers in Galway that disappeared after minor and U21.

Bonniedog

Lee would be another one of Canning's generation who looked to set the world on fire at one stage.

conor05

Bonniedog wrote: »

Lee would be another one of Canning's generation who looked to set the world on fire at one stage.

I think I read somehere before he was going on to be a doctor and couldn’t combine the study and inter county.

He was a very classy centre back

padd b1975

Gavin Duffy played for Mayo in the 1999 minor final.

He switched to rugby shortly after.

Michael Slingerman gave a great performance in the 2009 final, he switched to soccer but is back around the senior panel now.

wirelessdude01

padd b1975 wrote: »

Gavin Duffy played for Mayo in the 1999 minor final.

He switched to rugby shortly after.

Michael Slingerman gave a great performance in the 2009 final, he switched to soccer but is back around the senior panel now.

Yet Slingerman can't make his club team at the moment.

BandMember

padd b1975 wrote: »

Gavin Duffy played for Mayo in the 1999 minor final.

He switched to rugby shortly after.

Michael Slingerman gave a great performance in the 2009 final, he switched to soccer but is back around the senior panel now.

Mayo could have their own very lengthy thread on this topic! There's been so many that promised so much but never made the breakthrough for one reason or other....

wirelessdude01

What about Keith Kilkenny, Galway minor and I think U21 All Ireland winner with the hurlers. Definitely was captain on the minor team. Did he ever get a run at senior level with Galway?

cms88

Another Loais one is Michael Tierney. What ever came of him? Robbie Tasker from Armagh as well? Was on on the minor winning team in 2009? You could say the same about most of the Rosccomon minor team fron 2006 as well

DuffleBag

Remember watching Aidan Walsh of Mayo (Castlebar Mitchell's) in the 2009 Minor final before the Cork Kerry Senior and thought he was a classy footballer. Freetaker too I believe. Don't think he made the step up? Anyone know anything about him.

westsidestory

DuffleBag wrote: »

Remember watching Aidan Walsh of Mayo (Castlebar Mitchell's) in the 2009 Minor final before the Cork Kerry Senior and thought he was a classy footballer. Freetaker too I believe. Don't think he made the step up? Anyone know anything about him.

Still playing for Mitchell's. Good club player.

North Cork Star

In Cork we lost a few players with massive potential changing over to professional sports.

Setanta O HAilpín changed over to Aussie Rules in 2004 joining club Carlton. He was Young Hurler of the Year in 2003.

Darren Sweetnam played for Cork in 2012, scoring 3 points from midfield against Tipp in the championship. Opted for rugby. Now a Munster regular and has Irish caps under his belt.

There was also a lad in Cork called Pa O Callaghan who had tremendous ability growing up. He looked to be the next Joe Canning, dominating the scoring in every game he played for his club, school and county. When he turned 20, 21 he got a run of injuries but also seemed to have lost interest. A pity as he had great potential.

cms88

This has reminded of a lot of players! It's also made me remember i'm getting old

Thomas Walsh of Carlow and Wicklow. What happened with him? Did he go back to Carlow in the end?

Bonniedog

conor05 wrote: »

I think I read somehere before he was going on to be a doctor and couldn’t combine the study and inter county.

He was a very classy centre back

when they beat us in 2008 (?) 21s final, I thought he was Galway's most effective player, Dublin had some very good forwards, Connolly was on the team, and they got little change that day.

thesultan

A few Kerry boys Declan Quill, Ian twiss ,paddy kelly and padraig Reidy. .

thesultan

A few Kerry boys Declan Quill, Ian twiss ,paddy kelly and padraig Reidy. .