Football in urban areas in need of urgent attention

THE state of Gaelic football in the two urban centres of Dundalk and Drogheda was hotly debated at Monday night’s convention.

Minor Board Chairperson Kevin Gordon revealed that off 44 finals contested between U-12 and minor only two were won by teams from Dundalk or Drogheda.

‘We have a serious issue with urban clubs,’ he stressed. ‘Six club in Dundalk were forced to amalgamate with another club.

‘We really have to support our urban clubs and figure out what’s going wrong.’

St Kevin’s delegate David Rogers has highlighted the urban problem several times at county committee meetings over the last number of years and he agreed with Kevin’s concerns.

‘We have the two the biggest towns in Ireland and nobody is playing gaelic football in them.

‘At under-16 level in Dundalk this year not one club could field on their own - we should be ashamed of ourselves.

‘What we’re doing is clearly not working in towns. People are fed up listening to me on this, but nobody is going to sort it out only ourselves.’

Na Piarsaigh delegate Peter Begley, felt that the Ogsport system doesn’t work for town teams.

‘It suits the large, middle-class clubs fine,’ he said. ‘We had a Cul Camp this year, but we had to subsidise half of the cost ourselves as a club so that the kids could attend.

‘We need collective thinking on this and a collective solution.’

While the situation is not as stark in Drogheda, Oliver Plunketts delegate Mickey Matthews said they cannot be complacent.

‘Drogheda clubs need to watch ourselves too, because St Colmcille’s are creeping in and if we don’t watch ourselves the Wolfe Tones and Nicks will be wiped out.

A number of delegates advocated for a return of the old street leagues and cumanns where clubbs largely just competed against teams in their immediate vicinity.