Waterford GAA Discussion Thread 2009-2011

tonc76 wrote: »

Interesting proposal from Tim O' Keeffe - does this have county board backing or is it a solo run?

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/call-from-waterford-to-cut-sam-maguire-contenders-by-half-2670078.html

A call to halve the number of counties who compete for the Sam Maguire Cup has emerged from Waterford.
It comes in the week after the Deise footballers lost to All-Ireland champions Cork by 17 points, but county secretary Tim O'Keeffe insists his proposal has nothing to do with one big defeat.
"The system has always been flawed. Is there any other sport in the world where the strongest and weakest are thrown in together? If it hasn't worked in the 127-year history of the GAA, it's unlikely to start working now," he said.
O'Keeffe believes it's illogical to have 33 teams competing for the All-Ireland championship when the vast majority are out of their depth.
"It doesn't happen in hurling or at club level either," he said. "Donegal won the Lory Meagher Cup but nobody would dream of putting them in against Tipperary next year. No county puts a weak junior club team in against the senior county champions either."
O'Keeffe advocates a system where 16 to 18 counties compete for the Sam Maguire Cup, with the remainder having their own championship.
The top 16 to 18 would be decided on league placings for the first season, after which relegation/promotion would apply between the first and second tiers.
He believes it serves no purpose to have counties competing at a level where they are unlikely to achieve anything.
"Waterford's first game in the championship was against Cork, the All-Ireland and league winners, so what chance had we?" said O'Keeffe.
"If we were playing someone from the bottom two divisions we'd be in with a decent chance of making progress.
"Division 3 and 4 counties should be in a competition they have a chance of winning and, after that, they could take their chance at Sam Maguire level."
Allowing the top 16/18 only to compete for Sam Maguire would mean the end of the provincial championship as part of the All-Ireland scene, but O'Keeffe argues that the current system isn't serving weaker counties anyway.
"The strong counties are happy with it because it gives them a chance to have an easy game or two to get ready for the bigger tests ahead," he said.
"We have to think about what's good for the promotion of football and, as far as I'm concerned, the current system is not working.
"Hurling is much fairer as there's a tier for every county where they have a chance of doing well."

Excellent idea. Timmy has brought up a few ideas while he has been secretary and has been behind some of the other things tried in the county before that, but few listen to him. The idea for example last year about using someplace like Nolan Park for home games in the Munster Championship was a very good one, but there was a few people, mostly around the city area i expect could not see past their nose.

for a few years, the G.A.A. ran the Tommy Murphy Cup and got rid of it almost as quickly as they introduced it. Was it Sean Kelly that brought it in and Nicky Brennan that got rid of it. Maybe if he had a few people in Croke Park with a bit of fore-sight to run the competition right, it could well have been a very good competition.

One of the winners (i think, if they did not win it they were in a final) of the competition was Tipperary. Look what has happened since they have won it. Things are starting to turn for them in football. They put together back to back promotions in the National League. Ok they have dropped back down a division since. They beat Kerry last year in the under 21 football championship and this year beat them in the football championship. Who would have said that this would happen a few years back. Success in the Tommy Murphy Cup encouraged players to keep playing football.

Imagine what could happen if the Competition was still there for Waterford. I know there is two sides to every coin. John Kiely was correct in what he said on the radio on Sunday, when he said its in games like against Cork that players from counties like Waterford want to test themselves. But you have to ask what was got out of a beating like the seniors got on Sunday last. It may have done more damage than good, maybe not right now but in the long term. When a young lad of ten, eleven or twelve sees Waterford getting beatings like that he will ask himself do i want to play football and get beatings like that if i get to play for Waterford in the future. And it is not just at senior that this is happening.

For Waterford to play the likes of Clare, Leitrim, Longford, Wicklow, Carlow etc where they would have a chance of winning something is far more beneficial in the long term than playing the likes of Cork and Kerry and getting a hammering. You have to think of the players coming through just as much as the players playing right now.

What will happen now in the qualifiers. There is already a number of very good teams knocked out of the provincial championships. The Likes of Laois and Meath are in the first round of the qualifiers. What if they avoid each other in the first round of draws. you would expect them both to qualify for round two, where they could play Waterford. What if then Waterford get a beating from one of them like what Cork gave us. Where would that leave us.

Waterford playing in a secondary football competition makes sense. People could do a lot worse than listen to what the Clashmore man suggests and to take time to think out the pro's and cons of what he might be saying.

Jeddah wrote: »

I think Timmy is finally startin to realise that playing football in this county is a waste of time and money. With last weeks result i think the time has come to scrap football in this county altogether or else maybe play it between the months of november and february.

B.S.

Fentdog84 wrote: »

Thats an atrocious attitude. Its not like its Cavan hurling where there is only a few clubs playing. At underage and club level most teams play football and take it seriously. Its the county sides where the problems are. The onus to improve that situation lays with the county board. There has been some improvements in the last few years e.g promotion to division 3 but they are capable of so much more. We should be aiming to compete with the Cork and Kerrys in the long term. There is talent there and it can be done. Just a few years back Waterford won a Munster u21 beating both cork and a Kerry team in the final which included Gooch Cooper. How many of that winning team started last Sunday? One I think.
One of the stars of that team was brick walsh. Also shane walsh who hit the winning goal. The county board should encourage dual players to keep playing football for the county. If Cork can do it with Cadogen etc why cant waterford?
The only real way of improving is commitment from the county board. I agree with the proposal of maybe putting the Munster championship on ice for a few years and doing the 2 tier system and see what progress can be made. And then maybe go back in a few years if we are capable of competing with Cork and kerry. However, I think there would be too much objections from counties in the other provinces for to happen, realistically. Waterford football will remain stuck in limbo for a long time to come I fear, until a number of people are willing to change their ways.

The biggest problem might be those that are put in charge of hurling teams. I have said this in the past and will say it again, I personally saw two underage hurling selectors a few years ago, drive into an underage football training section with two cars, take i think it was five players off the field and drove them to a training session at the other end of the county, the end that they had travelled from.

Was there anything like this set up with the sponsorship deal Waterford have. If not anyone know why. Heard that there is something similar with 3 and Waterford United.

Cork county clubs benefit thanks to their own supporters

Cork, Thursday 9th June, 2011: Cork GAA and O2 are delighted to announce the total generated from O2 Engage, the affinity scheme which gave Cork GAA supporters the opportunity to donate 5% of their monthly mobile phone spend to the club of their choice during the past twelve months. Over €52,000 was generated for clubs throughout the county since launch.

The monies raised will allow clubs such Graham Canty’s Bantry Blues and Shane O’Neill’s Bishopstown support their ongoing needs, all thanks to their own club members and supporters. Thousands of people joined O2 Engage throughout the year which meant that 5% of the cost of their rental, voice and text or top up each month was automatically donated to the club of their choice, at no cost to themselves. Following on from O2’s award winning Be The Difference campaign which allowed rebel fans to give their support to the Cork teams, O2 Engage has shown yet again the passion supporters bring to the GAA in Cork.

Speaking at a function to announce the amount being given to Cork’s clubs, O2’s Marketing Director Jonnie Cahill said: “O2 is delighted to have helped realise these funds for the clubs of Cork. Committed to Cork GAA as a sponsor since 1999, we were keen to support the clubs of the county in a way that directly affects the work being done at grassroots level. Looking at the younger generation already in place in both senior panels this year, this work is thriving, and is a necessary component of Corks’ successes”.

Cork County Board Chairman Jerry O’Sullivan said: “O2 has been a valuable partner of Cumann Luthchleas Gael Corcaigh for a number of years. We are delighted to see the clubs of the county benefit, both from O2 and from their own supporters. The clubs are the lifeblood of everything we do, and these funds will prove useful across the county as we continue through the year.