‘We need more hurling teams’
Doyle finds signs of hope
‘WE need more teams in hurling,’ was the dominant message from Wicklow GAA’s hurling officer Owen Doyle as he addressed delegates at Monday night’s County Convention in Aughrim.
Doyle’s report in the convention booklet described how there are 11 clubs fielding teams in adult hurling at present: seven in Senior, three in Intermediate and one Junior by way of the Aughrim club.
The Avondale GAA Club man praised the work being done in Aughrim and said that the Granite City side should be able to go from strength to strength given the amount of work being done in the local school and through the Luke O’Toole’s juvenile GAA club of which Aughrim youngsters are a part.
Doyle said that the county needed more teams competing in hurling so as to strengthen up the club game.
‘There was a meeting last Thursday night where we heard Eamonn Scallan outlining his plans for the Senior hurling team and what he felt he needed to get the best out of that team, and for them to compete at inter-county level. And I think that most of the delegates couldn’t really argue with him.
‘Basically, what he was saying – and he was leaving it in the hands of the clubs and the County Board delegates – that there would be no county players involved in the clubs for the first six months of the year.
‘So, that leaves us, the big challenge then, is how do we have hurling for the rest of the club players in the county. Because with so few hurling clubs relative to football, and you take three or four or five or six out of a club and it’s very difficult for teams to continue to field in Wicklow leagues or in Leinster leagues.
‘I have no perfect answer to it, but you take in dual clubs and all of that, it’s a challenge to keep hurling going from that point of view, and for club players to keep matches going. And I think clubs - we’re probably going to have to think outside the box, whether we go to other counties and do something like Carlow have done, going into the Kilkenny league, or something along those lines. I’ve no specific idea for it. But we have to think of something.
‘And I also believe, across football and hurling, they’re training maybe three times a week and getting maybe one match every three or four weeks maybe. Now, I know the fixtures are ran excellently but I think if I was dual player, and I played both sports, I preferred to play twice a week and train only once rather than training three times a week and maybe a match once every three weeks. It’s just something to look at.
‘I’ve been in Ballinakill watching the commitment given by those (Wicklow) players to Eamonn Scallan. It’s unbelievable the commitment they’ve given, and the clubs should be very proud of the players that are representing them on the county panels. I think they are a massive example to the younger players coming through from the development squads.
‘At underage level, which is the main thing that I’m more interested in looking at, there are some great signs in a lot of clubs at nursery level and Go Games level. There’s huge work being done in a lot of clubs.
‘I was at the four major monster blitzes in Ballinakill and I was involved in running them and to see Knockananna with an under-7 and under-9 hurling team, to see Western Gaels at 7, 9 and 11 this year, and wouldn’t it be brilliant to see in the next few years, Western Gaels going up to under-15 level. It would be massive for hurling in Wicklow generally but in particular for west Wicklow and it’s something to look forward to, I think. We’ll help them in every way for them to go down that road.
‘Disappointing things: In under-13 huroling, Avondale, my own club, have no hurling team from under-13 up. Some players went to Glenealy and some were with Avondale Parnells. They are doing a lot of work at 7s, 9s and 11s but it’s disappointing to see a club like Andale with no hurling at that level.
‘Six teams in under-15 hurling only this year. Arklow Rocks Parnells had to pull out because of lack of numbers. I see great work going on in Arklow, great under-13 team and hopefully that will keep building up in the years to come.
‘Six teams in the Minor hurling which turned out to be a great competition. And we talked about development squads, but I believe that one of the reasons that that Minor hurling turned out to be a good competition was to some extent the Celtic Challenge squads.
We had 40 to 50 players involved in that, which you take, six clubs, between under-16 and 17 players, that’s an average of up to eight players from each club, which, again, was a huge commitment from the clubs and the people in the clubs, and I think that one of the big aims from development squads is that we are putting players back into the clubs better and stronger players and improving the club game.
‘But the worrying point is that there were only six teams in under-15 and six teams in Minor.
‘I was at the launch of a document in Portlaoise recently about a review of talent, academy and player development. It’s just a point going forward, but Michael Dempsey who was involved with Brian Cody in Kilkenny, and he gave a figure that from the age of 16 to 22 the GAA lose 56 per cent of players; something for us all to think about.
‘Development squads went very well in Wicklow last year. Call it strength and conditioning that mightn’t the right phrase for younger players, but that programme was provided last year for the 14s, 15s, 16s and 17s hurling development squads and the buy-in was brilliant thanks to some brilliant mentors over some teams. We hope to continue that this year.
‘The support is there are County Board level. As far as I’m concerned, hurling squads and hurling teams are getting the same chance and support from County Board as football teams are and the only way that will continue is if the players and clubs continue to support that.
‘Jonathan Tallon taking a new career path is a big blow to hurling in Wicklow. Brendan (Smyth) has mentioned that Leinster are looking at the GPO group. Some of the major clubs are taking on GPOs and that will help them, but it leaves Philip Campion with a lot on his plate and I would like us to be able to give more support to certain clubs in west Wicklow,’ added Owen Doyle.