Clubs asked to consider u19 grade
DELEGATES at the recent county board meeting in Ballinakill were asked to go back to their clubs to gauge the reaction to changing the under-20 football championship to an under-19 competition as proposed by the CCC.
‘We were reflecting back on the under-20 championship from last year and there were some positives but there were also plenty of negatives.
‘And, taking them on board, all the members of the CCC feel that we should be looking at bringing the under-20 championship back to an under-19 championship, said Coolkenno’s Conor Doyle at the recent meeting.
Doyle explained that the thinking behind the proposal was to keep the two-year gap between age groups in place all the way up along from under-7s, 9s, 11s, 13s, 15s, 17s and what would be the new under-19s championship.
The Coolkenno midfielder said that the CCC found that the drop off of players and teams from the Minor level up to the under-20 championship was too high.
‘There were several teams who participated in the under-17 championship back three years previous who weren’t coming forward. There were plenty of players on the back of that as well,’ he added.
Doyle also said that by bringing the age back a year it would help alleviate but not solve the situation where clubs in Leinster club action would be unable to provide players for teams as they would be needed for the provincial campaign. He said that it would be one year less of players required for the underage competition.
One of the main positives suggested would be that the Wicklow under-20 football manager would have a great opportunity to view all the players potentially available for his team the following year.
Doyle informed delegates that Kilkenny and Waterford are two counties with under-19 championships. He also suggested that Laois, Meath and Wexford seem to be moving towards that direction.
County Chairman Martin Fitzgerald said that Kilkenny’s drop off of players drastically reduced when they brought in the under-19 and that they also gained new teams because of the move.
Conor Doyle then broached the subject of how the championship would be organised but he explained that until the CCC could tell how many clubs and teams would be entered that it would be very hard to say how it would be structured.
He said: ‘Hopefully, we will be looking at an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ championship because it’s ultimately to develop players for the adult clubs.
‘There has been two years of this championship but we have to kind of tweak things,’ he said.
When to play the competition was the first query raised from the floor. Conor Doyle said that the time of the year it has been played seems to be most suitable.
A delegate asked if there were any moves to create an under-20 or under-19 hurling championship.
Conor Doyle says that they are open to such a project but that they are wary of a clash.
He said that the CCC are hopeful that hurling clubs to come to the CCC and try and sort out when it could be played.
‘We’re trying to promote hurling equally across the county,’ said Doyle.
A delegate inquired as whether the CCC had followed up with Laois, Meath and Wexford as to why they were changing from under-20 to under-19 given that they were strong football counties unlike Kilkenny and Waterford who would be primarily hurling counties.
Conor Doyle explained that Kilkenny and Waterford are doing it now and that the CCC hadn’t time to contact all counties but that he had been speaking to the Laois football chairman the week previous and he said that they were definitely changing to under-19 for the benefit of their county under-20 team in the long run.
County Chairman Martin Fitzgerald told delegates to go back to their clubs and discuss the matter and a decision would be reached at the next meeting.