THE POST-MORTEM
Club delegates discuss inter-county performances
COUNTY Chairman Martin Fitzgerald began a discussion on county teams at Monday night’s County Board meeting by recounting the dismal list of inter-county results recorded by Wicklow teams in 2018.
‘Our footballers beat Offaly, beaten by Dublin and beaten by Cavan. Our Senior hurlers got to the semi-final of the Christy Ring. Our under-20 footballers won no game, our under-21 hurlers are out on July 7 in Arklow against Kildare and our Minor footballers are doing reasonably well and out on Wednesday night (tonight) and the following Tuesday and they have to win at least one of those games, hopefully beating Dublin.
‘Does anybody have an opinion on the Senior teams?’
Rathnew delegate Bobby Dignam said that everybody has an opinion on the Senior teams but from his point of view it was a ‘disaster’.
‘I never seen a team set up in such a way in my life. 15 men behind the ball and we still conceded 2-16. I’ve supported John Evans, I think he’s a good man, but he got it all wrong that day (against Cavan,’ he added.
Avondale’s Victor O’Shaughnessy wondered if there was any plan for an inquest across the board of county teams.
‘Will there be any inquest from anyone on the County Board to see what can be done. Because, as Bobby says, Cavan walked over us. Even the Cavan people were surprised,’ he added.
‘Very disappointing,’ agreed Martin Fitzgerald. ‘I’ve asked John Evans to attend a County Board meeting, maybe the next one or the one after, before October, to address a County Board meeting and I hope Seamus Murphy will do the same,’ he added.
One club delegate said that John Evans needs time to put a plan in place, to put structures in place and that there were positive signs in relation to leaning towards the young players more.
Eddie Leonard of St Pat’s decried the state of the club competitions in Wicklow, especially the leagues and said status should be returned to the league to make the games more competitive because, as he said, ‘the present situation is not working’.
‘When we took away the status of the leagues we took away some of the competitiveness of the leagues,’ he said, before adding that John Evans needs help from the clubs.
Martin Fitzgerald said that he hoped to set up a meeting between the CCC and the clubs to see where we are going with things.
Eddie Leonard said that some clubs were not encouraging players to go play with the county and that needed to be addressed.
AGB’s John Murphy complained that clubs were getting frustrated and that until the club and county structures get sorted out Wicklow are going nowhere.
‘Clubs are getting frustrated when they are presenting players to the county, but the club is being pushed aside. I’ve been listening to some clubs and they’re not pushing their good players forward because they reckon they’re club is being hammered by it.
‘Unless we get a balance in between it I can see it, there’s some fantastic players in clubs around the county this year that haven’t been near that county panel and that’s at Senior, under-20s and Minor. You can see the drop off over the last few years and that’s because clubs feel that when they are pushing their players towards county the club is being pushed aside, and that’s the way it looks at the moment.
‘It is a nightmare when you add in fixtures as well. It’s all county and the club seems to have been forgotten about,’ he added.
Wicklow GAA’s Colm Finnegan said there was a disconnect between club and county and he said that he had watched some of the club championship with John Evans in 2017 upstairs in Joule Park Aughrim and he said that the Wicklow manager had expressed surprise at the ‘poor quality’ of the club championship.
‘You can’t point the finger of blame at any specific direction, it’s a general malaise, and I think that everyone has a part to play in bringing that forward again,’ he said.
John Murphy highlighted the fact that clubs were being asked to play in key competitions without their county players, competitions that involved promotion or relegation from the leagues.
Con Murphy from Baltinglass GAA Club asked if John Evans was staying on as Wicklow Senior football manager.
‘You said Mr Chairman that you asked him to attend a meeting later on (in the year), so he intends staying on?’
‘He is intending to stay on, yes,’ said Martin Fitzgerald.
Con Murphy wondered what would be achieved by the proposed meeting between club delegates and John Evans.
‘Well, it’s up to delegates to ask him questions about what’s wrong and what we can do in the future or what we can do to help or what the clubs can do to help,’ replied Fitzgerald.