YOUR COUNTY NEEDS YOU
Magic Minors deserve huge support for Leinster replay
IF ever a team deserved the support of Wicklow Gaels, it’s Kevin O’Brien’s Minor footballers who take on Kildare in Joule Park, Aughrim this Friday evening, July 13, at 7pm, five days on from their heroic comeback from the dead in extra-time in St Conleth’s Park.
The huge numbers of Wicklow supporters who made the journey to Newbridge lent their voices to the wonderful cause that is the Minors’ Leinster championship campaign that has seen them lose narrowly to Offaly, draw sensationally with Louth, thump Westmeath, down the mighty Dubs in Parnell Park, pip Meath in Aughrim and now draw with the Lilywhites in Newbridge.
Hundreds upon hundreds of passionate and vocal Wicklow supporters flocked to St Conleth’s Park last Sunday afternoon and they outnumbered their Kildare counterparts significantly.
This band of young warriors need that 16th man in a big way this Friday evening. A victory in the county grounds will see Kevin O’Brien’s charges march on to the provincial final where they would face Meath, a team, albeit significantly redesigned, they have already defeated.
Reaching a provincial final for a county like Wicklow is no small achievement. Enjoying the run these Minors have engineered is no small achievement; the sacrifices made by players, parents, coaches and management have been huge since the start of the year. And that’s why they need your voice. They need your shoulder to the wheel.
If we are ever to break this cycle of underachievement, this culture of failure at inter-county level, this state of being a ‘minnow’ then it must begin somewhere. These Minors have shown that the wheels are in motion, the tide is turning, and a win on Friday evening would reinforce that belief.
But more important even than the result is how we treat our young footballers and hurlers, how we support them. Get down to Joule Park Aughrim on Friday. Pack the place, wear your colours, bring your flags, paint your faces, show that we are a county that wants change, that we are a county that can rise, that we are a county who value our future prospects, who respect our young footballers, who believe in them and will support them to the bitter end.
If they know that taking to the field, you can be sure that this talented group of young men will do as they always do: represent Wicklow with absolute pride.
Wicklow take on Kildare on Friday at 7pm in Joule Park Aughrim.
Nothing will beat being there.