Tallon calls for support from clubs
WICKLOW hurling GDA Jonathan Tallon provided a startling insight into the state of hurling at the development squad level in the county at last Monday night’s County Board meeting in Ballinakill.
A walkover was conceded by the Wicklow under-17 Celtic Challenge team to Kilkenny last Wednesday night, their second in a number of weeks after a game against Meath was also lost due to lack of players.
Jonathan Tallon described the current state of the development squads to club delegates.
County Chairman Martin Coleman began the discussion by revealing the fact that the Wicklow under-17 team that lost heavily to Dublin’s third string side some weeks ago were forced to give a walkover to Kilkenny 1 last Wednesday night when only 14 players turned up for the trip to face the Cats.
“We have Jonathan here tonight who’s endeavoring to do the best he can, but he can’t do it without all of our help, and when I say that I mean all of our help.
“There’s no point in giving false promises. It’s impossible to get people (to act as mentors or coaches) and now it’s near impossible to get players.
“So, we have to make the decision whether we’re going to continue as we are or will we pull the string straight away.
“So, maybe somebody has some views on it? Is everybody happy that we should go keep going as we’re going? Because we can’t continue,” said Martin Coleman.
Rathnew Chairman Bobby Dignam said he found it peculiar that hurling seemed to be going well at adult level with the county but that the interest didn’t seem to be there at the younger levels.
Martin Coleman said that last year the Wicklow Senior team were fighting relegation in the league and the Christy Ring Cup and that they survived both of them and managed to get to the final of the NHL Division 2B final and the semi-final of the Christy Ring Cup this Saturday in Carlow.
“It doesn’t seem to be following back down and it is an embarrass- ment to everybody that we had only 10 players last Wednesday night and when they went to meet more players in Ashford none turned up with the result that we had to ring Kilkenny to say that we weren’t travelling. To ring a county at 5pm in the evening saying that won’t be travelling, it doesn’t look great,” added Martin Coleman.
Victor O’Shaughnessy asked if the delegates could hear from Jonathan Tallon himself. Martin Coleman said they could as he had invited Jonathan to the meeting for that very reason. He also added that Jonathan had attended the meeting in February to make a plea for help with the county development squads but that plea had fallen on deaf ears.
“There are 54 players getting messages for that under-17 squad, out of which we are only getting about 20 replies,” began Jonathan Tallon. “We know the players are there, especially after the under-16 games last year, Mick Neary was over them and he brought them on and they actually won out the competition in the ‘B’ grade. They were so strong last year and now is the interest gone or what? I don’t know what the story is to be honest? About three and a half months ago we put out the call to all clubs, we texted all the players who had been at the under-16 last year, we put it out as an open trial and I think we got about 12 at the first session. We thought ok, poor start but it might move on but it’s been getting progressively worse.
“To be honest we seem to have exhausted all avenues at this stage, and, as Martin said, we had to give a walkover last week.
“We were in Ashford, half-way on the bus route after collecting the first few stops and the next minute there were four or five lads who never turned up, the bus waiting for 20 minutes, couldn’t get through to them with phone calls, couldn’t get through to clubs, and we had no choice but to ring Kilkenny.
“The onus has to go back on to the players themselves. If they are involved they have to let us know where they are and what the story is but at the same time we need help from the clubs to put pressure on them as well.
“That’s the standard that they are going to be improving at so if you want them to come back as good players to the club you need to be pushing them on to the county. If there’s any questions, fire away,” he added.
Mick Murphy asked Jonathan if it would be easier to get a team out for the weekend instead of a mid-week fixture.
“That’s one thing I’d like to question the Leinster Council on the Celtic Challenge,” said Jonathan, just how it was grouped.
Mick Murphy said that the midweek fixture made it awkward for getting players from school and to a bus in time for a journey to an away fixture.
“The issue has been raised at Leinster,” said Tallon. “We had to start the bust at 3.30pm on a Wednesday which makes absolutely no chance for a chap in fifth or sixth year in school. It’s absolutely ridiculous and we understand that.
“But, at the same time the hunger for positions on the squad is not there and I think that’s one of the main issues.
“There are going to be chaps there in fifth year who will have half-day on a Wednesday, and a lot of schools will do that on a Wednesday, so it’s not the end of the world that they’ll have to go straight from school but that wouldn’t be my main concern.
“My main concern is why nobody seems to want to play for Wicklow. We’ve gone through the players at that level and the standard of player at that level is absolutely phenomenal. We were hoping to be able to push for tier three this year but at the moment we’ll be lucky to be able to get a team out,” he added.
Martin Coleman said that other counties were managing to get teams out on a Wednesday and he said that if the games were fixed for a Saturday there would also be a problem with players working and the likes.
“We’re using excuses,” he said, “that’s what we’re doing. We’re using excuses about the non-availability of players to the county team.
Wicklow Vice Chairman Martin Fitzgerald said that he considered the county very lucky to have the services of Jonathan Tallon.
“The amount of work that that chap is doing with every underage team, every team, and I think the hurling clubs are not helping. He’s going with hurling teams himself and nobody with him (to help), certainly earlier in the year anyway.
“If the hurling clubs want hurling in Wicklow, and they’re always talking about it, about it being the poor relation in Wicklow GAA, well, if they want it they’ll have to help themselves as well.
“I see it out there with the training and Johnny is out there training himself with no help from any club.
“A few parents bring the players from here, there and everywhere but the hurling clubs are not helping and until the hurling clubs get up and help Johnny it’s not going to get any better,” said Fitzgerald.
“Just on that point, I’d like to add that there are individuals in clubs who are helping so there is representation from clubs but my issue is that I seem to be getting help from individuals who have connections to the teams which is understandable, you can’t expect a random person to come in and give all their time to the GAA but at the same time it’s individuals from the clubs who are helping out, the clubs aren’t, don’t seem to be giving the support,” added Jonathan Tallon.
Laragh’s Philip Bracken asked if the under-17 league inside the county was up and running and how many teams there were and how it was going?
“Seven. It’s not too bad,” said Martin Fitzgerald, “It’s going every week, most matches played”.
“Is it putting so much pressure that the clubs will play their under-17 league games but they won’t let their players go to the county?” Asked Philip Bracken.
“Well, we can’t say that clubs are not letting their players go,” said Martin Fitzgerald.
Philip Bracken said that for an under-17 player who might be doing his Leaving Certificate, the Celtic Challenge might be putting a lot of pressure on him.
“The Celtic Challenge was designed for players who aren’t involved with exams,” said Jonathan Tallon, “so the majority of the under-16s who did their Junior Cert last year, they won’t be doing exams, they’re the players we’ve contacted,” he added.
Owen Doyle informed the meeting that it is difficult to get numbers out at development squad levels in the football as well as the hurling.
“I think it’s very difficult to travel, there is a difficulty in rounding up 20 players to go play someone like Offaly or Kilkenny. It’s not easy to join up in Wicklow. Also, and we may face up to it, most of the better players in hurling and football are playing soccer and rugby as well. And we may face up to it. And it’s the whole way up along as well. And it’s a battle to get them lads. I don’t think there are easy answers unless we have more people driving it at club level,” he added.
“We can make excuses from start to finish,” said Martin Coleman, “but we are not getting commitment from players or clubs for these fixtures so should we continue to fulfill these fixtures when we’re not getting the backing,” he added.
Jackie Napier told the meeting that the county always needed a “gopher” in every club to bring players.
“Are we getting away from that now, that we have no gopher in each club to bring the players. I’m sorry for calling him a gopher, but type of man, if you understand, is needed in each club,” said Jackie.
Billy Byrne said: “If Lucy Mooney was to stop all fixtures for under-17 hurling, both at club level and Celtic Challenge level, what are clubs going to do with their under-17s. Those under-17s are not eligible for under-17 hurling or football so what will the clubs do with those players?”
Bobby Dignam said that he didn’t hear any hurling clubs joining in the conversation.
The AGB delegate wondered should the county representatives go to each club on a training night and speak to players individually to try and get them to come with the county.
“I have done that personally,” said Jonathan Tallon. “I have taken sessions from under-17s right down to under-13s, that’s how I spend my weeks, in particular with the under-15 age group, a lot of work went into them last year.
“We had people over the other age groups so that meant I was free to look after the under-13/14 group and at that age group at the moment we have 36 names and every one of the 36 you can class as county standard. They are all fighting for positions. When we got that team up and going, the last 14 or 15 months, they haven’t lost a game.
“They’ve beaten Meath twice, Westmeath twice, they’ve beaten all the Kildare teams, and we have a rule with that squad that 15 come off and 15 come on so we know that there are 15 lads to beat a team and then there’s 15 lads to come and replicate that.
“That’s down to the clubs, the clubs have done the work. It’s about getting them (the players) into the count now. We just need that little bit more of a push to help the county.
“All I’m hearing about is clubs not getting enough game at club level. These games are here. They’re provided for them. If we have two or three county teams we can enter two or three county panels and they’ll all get games at that standard. So, there are games there. We just need to push them on,” said Jonathan.
Martin Fitzgerald returned to the point made by Bobby Dignam regarding the silence from the hurling clubs.
“No one has made any point from the hurling clubs,” said Fitzgerald. “Maybe they’ve nothing to offer,” he added.
Carnew’s James Doran said that at the moment his club are finding it hard to get people to look after their own teams.
“The last couple of years we’ve been banging heads with lads trying to get them go to play with the county teams but we’re just finding it impossible,” he said.
Jonathan Tallon said that that was “completely understandable”
but he asked if Wicklow can support teams in development squads at under-13, 14, 15, 16 and 17?
“Do we need to look at maybe amalgamating under 14 and 15 or under-16 or 17? Do we need to lose a couple of teams? Personally I’d hate to see it happening, it would be an absolute shame, to be honest,” he said.
Victor O’Shaughnessy said that what Jackie Napier said about having a contact in every club was correct and that such a contact was badly needed. He also said that giving walkovers was “embarrassing” on the county.
“We’re letting down the show, that’s what we’re doing,” said Victor. “I’m afraid the only alternative is to pull the team, we can’t be embarrassed like this,” he added.
“We haven’t the support,” said Martin Coleman.
Rathnew’s Laurence Ellis wondered if the players were getting the support and the gear and the encouragment to go with the county.
“I think they are,” began Jonathan Tallon, “all the squads get their gear the same as the football. In terms of the funding we get exactly what we need, what we ask for. From that side of things it’s a myth that the footballers are looked after any better than the hurlers. To be very honest, from what I can see, if the GCA (Garden County Academy), the football committee, the hurling people need to step up and create a committee of their own to support the hurling. The GCA raise funds for themselves, which they’re completely allowed to do, and we wouldn’t expect them to share it with the hurlers, but they do, they do give money across to the hurlers.
“But the hurlers don’t have a committee whereby they can get their own funding, raise their own money.
“We need to replicate that, replicate what the footballers have but the only way that’s going to happen is if the hurling people come together and decide that yes we need to change this. Otherwise we’re going to be here in five years’ time talking about the same craic,” he added.
“The way we’re going, I doubt if we’ll be here in five years’ time discussing hurling, there’ll be no hurling, no inter-county hurling anyway, the way we’re going,” said Martin Coleman.
AGB’s John Murphy said that according to Owen Doyle things were very similar in the football.
“It looks like we’re in the doldrums altogether, something has to drastically change. I’ve been at these meetings for the last six years and it’s a talking shop every year. We’re in Division 4 (NFL) and we’re the worst team in it. We have to start pushing from somewhere. Some clubs mightn’t like it but we have to dig in like.
Laragh’s Philip Bracken said that the responsibility lies with the clubs to send players to the county panel.
Tallon said that at the age of 16 or 17, young hurlers have made up their own mind in terms of whether they want to play with the county.
“What I’m trying to do now is, we have a good core of under-15s and a very good group at 14 and the 13s are getting back going now, can we not start with the 14s, 15s, and 13s and set it right now for them so that when they move forward we’re starting new.
“Sometimes you have to cut your losses and star from fresh but we have a very good chance with that under-15 group.
“In front of everyone here now I’ll say that they will be one of the best teams that the county has seen in a long time, probably back to the time of Diarmuid Masterson’s group that time.
“This group can replicate that but I need support. Not even on the ground coaching, but simple things like sending out a message, organising lads, organising a bus, 20 minutes (help) in a week could save me an hour in a week,” he added.
Martin Coleman wondered if this talented bunch of 15-year-olds might go the same way as the current under-17s who gave the walkover to Kilkenny last Wednesday.
“I’m planning on staying with this group of under-15s,” said Jonathan Tallon. “We are getting a bit of help from the parents and they have a good group atmosphere among them so I’m not going to let that go.
“But where I don’t want to see it going is me putting all my time into one group and then noticing that we have a gap year again.
“There’s no point in having one or two good years every four years. We have to replicate it. We have to make that conveyor belt keep coming through. If we don’t do that we will stay in the Christy Ring, at worst we might drop below that,” he said.
Martin Coleman said that the county secretary would send out an email to all clubs in the morning asking for every club to give one person for a particular age group.
“Would it be like a lot of emails our secretary sends out?” the County Chairman wondered.
Joe McElron advised that personal contact was key to the process.
Jackie Napier suggested that the hurling people should hold four meetings every year to discuss fixtured and how things were progressing as used to happen in the past.
“There has to be personal contact made with people in clubs to bring along the players,” said the Bray Emmets man.
Martin Coleman said that 20 people turned up at the last special meeting to discuss hurling in the county.
“That’s how many people are interested in the developing hurling in this county,” said Martin Coleman.
The County Chairman said that perhaps a similar committee such as the GCA would be set up for the hurling and he thanked Jonathan Tallon for his attendance at the County Board meeting.
Returning to the discussion a little later on, Baltinglass delegate Seamus Kelly said that there had to be someone who could contact the players and find out why they were committing to the county.
“I’m very concerned about Jonathan’s briefing,” said Seamus Kelly. “Surely somebody somewhere can get a list of those players and go to those people and see what the situation is with them. Otherwise, my God, no matter what kind of committee we set up, it’s not going to work. Somebody somewhere needs to talk to those lads and ask what’s wrong, why won’t they commit,” he said.
Seamus asked if Jonathan Tallon was looking after the whole situation himself.
“He’s looking after all hurling matters anyway,” said Martin Coleman.
“On his own?” Asked Seamus Kelly.
“Well, he’s getting support from the other GDAs in some ways,” replied the County Chairman.
“There’s no communication to those players coming from the hierarchy here?” asked Kelly.
“Not from in here, no,” replied Martin Coleman.
“Have we no hurling officer,” asked a delegate.
“Surely that should be coming from the hurling officer,” said Bobby Dignam.
Wicklow’s hurling officer Sean Hayes spoke up and said that this problem hadn’t just happened in 2017. He explained that he had been working with development panels for the last eight years.
“We’ve asked on three or four occasions for clubs to give us selectors or trainers.
“There’s no one coming back. You have to be very careful with this situation that you don’t all say it’s the clubs’ fault.
“I’m more than aware of what Johnny (Tallon) is doing and he’s doing a huge amount of work and I’ve offered him support in everything that he’s doing.
“He’s coming out with development plans and he’s picking up parents on the day that they’re helping here.
“But what I’m looking at it at the minute is that we are in major trouble with and it’s not just the 16s and 17s it’s the Minors as well and that has been the case for the last three years when I’ve been directly involved. There’s huge difficulties in getting them (players). It’s not important to them.
“It’s very easy to point the fingers and say it’s the players, it’s soccer, it’s rugby, it’s the clubs, it’s the people in the clubs, and that’s the wrong way to go I think. I have to start looking here at the top table and say we have resources, are we focusing our efforts in the right area? Are there clubs out there in difficulty with hurling? Or football? If so, if you’re having difficulty in the clubs, come to us, see if we can use some of our resources and go down. I honestly believe that unless we get the club teams going well we’re not going to have a good county set up.
“I’ll tell you why the players didn’t come along last Wednesday. Because it was Kilkenny. There’s a tradition of hurling down there. When you open the doors in Kilkenny there’s 60 lads waiting to get on that team. When you open the gates in Ballinakill, when you’ve called a session, there’s 10 lads, if you’re lucky. The mentality is there now. It doesn’t matter if we go to training, if we turn up for the match they’re not going to have 15 anyway. It’s way different to the football because there’s numbers in the football.
“Jonathan is dead right, there’s very strong panels at the 14s and 15s. Are we supporting the structures for those players properly, are we providing games for those players, are we doing the best that we can? The 16s and 17s are so far behind with skill development, with stuff like fitness, with stuff like speed, we are so far behind, and I say both codes, it’s not funny.
“If we are going to blame anybody, start with ourselves. I’ll start with me and I’ll ask what have we done? Are we we wasting our resources in the wrong area? Is there a way of approaching the clubs? You see Carnew down there at under-17s and they’re struggling to field a team. There’s something fundamentally going wrong here,” he said.