Coleman signs off as chairman
Very thankful for support
OUTGOING County Chairman Martin Coleman began his final address to the Convention by looking back at the performances of the county teams in both hurling and football.
“Our Senior team recorded poor results in all competitions in 2017. The year started with the O’Byrne Cup, losing all three gamesd in this competition. Their fortunes didn’t change in the league, only winning two of the seven games. In championship we lost to Louth, away, and in the qualifiers we lost to Laois in Joule Park. It was a difficult and disappointing year for this team.
“The under-21 footballers lost to Louth in the championship and the Juniors also lost to Louth. The Minor footballers probably produced the best football of the year of our county teams, putting up good performances in the league and losing narrowly Longford and Wexford in the championship.
“The Senior hurlers reached the Kehoe Cup and league final and the Christy Ring semi-final. This group of players have made great progress in 2017 under the stewardship of Seamus Murphy and Michael Neary. I have no doubt that they will show the same commitment for the year ahead and that 2018 will be very good year for this squad.
“The county have entered a team in the Walsh and Kehoe Cups so January will be a busy month for the Senior hurlers of the county.
“The under-21 hurlers reached their second All-Ireland final in three years. This time they lost out to a very strong Kerry outfit. In reaching the final it underlines the amount of young talent available. It was disappointing that we failed to field a Minor team at this level.
“It’s easy at times to criticise teams, players, managers and mentors after poor performances. No player or mentor puts the vast amount of hours in to perform below their standards. I thank the players, the managers and mentors of all our county team who put in many hours preparing for games.
“We have recently appointed John Evans as manager of the Senior football team. It is up to all of us to support John and Seamus and their backroom teams to give hurling and football at county level a lift following on from our club teams’ encouraging performances recently.
“Many clubs are finding it difficult to field teams, particularly second and third teams, due to lack of numbers. We will have to put in place a games programme so that all teams are catered for. This can be achieved by playing 11 or 13-a-side games.
“At last year’s Convention, I said that we would be looking at a twotier inter-county championship, with the Super 8s coming in in 2018, I feel that in the near future we will be heading to a competition that is similar to our hurling championship.
“I acknowledge the tremendous work that our games manager and the games development administrators do for the games in this county. We recently acquired the services of Cormac Noone as a GDA for Wicklow. Leinster Council have recognised the heavy workload of our hurling GDA Jonathan Tallon. I welcome the Council’s offer of an extra GDA for hurling. This will give us a total of seven GDAs and three people on the CE schemes and a games manager involved in coaching and coach education.
“Clubs will have to work alongside our GDAs to get the help that is on offer.
“Our development squads are getting top class coaching from a dedicated group of people. There is now a proper games programme in place. This programme will ensure that the county players of the future will have a good knowledge of inter-county requirements. Lack of coaches might hinder the progress of this development. Again, I ask people to give a little time to help the players of the future to develop their game by extra coaches coming on board so we would be able to have n even greater calendar of events.
“I have major concerns with our under-17 grade in football and hurling and the lack of numbers participating. Discussion should take place urgently to try and address this problem and put groupings in place for 2018. We are losing too many players from under-17 to under-21. Why not play a four-region competition at under-19 to help hold on to this player of the future?
Martin Coleman said that while only a few clubs can win championship honours, the same level of commitment and dedication is required across the board and he thanked all teams for their efforts in 2017. He said that while provincial honours escaped Wicklow this time around, all clubs involved outside of Wicklow did so with honour.
“Rathnew gave the county a great lift with their exploits in their Leinster campaign. Beating the Louth champions in the first round earned them a dream tie against the mighty St Vincent’s in Aughrim. We witnessed one of the top performances from a Wicklow club when they beat a star-studded side to reach the Leinster semi-final against Moorefield where they lost by the narrowest of margins.
“Hollywood lost to a very strong Emo side. It would be remiss of me if I did not congratulate Hollywood on their brilliant hosting of this game in their own grounds.
“Laragh brought a new flair to Junior football, and lost out to the eventual provincial winners Multyfarnham.
“One of the most outstanding performances of the year came from our hurling champions, Glenealy, when they beat the Dublin and Wexford champions to qualify for the Leinster final, a first for a Wicklow club.
“In the final played in Nowlan Park, they lost to the Kilkenny champions after a few late questionable decisions went against them. If proof is needed for 2018, this showed that Wicklow clubs can be as good as any clubs in the county,” he said.
Martin Coleman said he would “beg clubs here tonight” to recruit people from their clubs to become referees as games cannot go ahead without the men in the middle. He congratulated Anthony Nolan and John Keenan who both refereed high-profile games during the season.
Martin Coleman went on to thank the clubs and the delegates for their help and support, he offered his gratitude to the CCC, the officers and staff of Leinster Council and Croke Park, he singled out Andy O’Brien and Pat Doyle for their sterling efforts and wished them well and he paid special tribute to the work of Chris O’Connor.
And lastly, Martin Coleman recognised the sacrifices made by his family and he thanked them sincerely for all their help and support over his five-year term. WICKLOW’S hurling officer Sean Hayes began his address to Convention by thanking the players and mentors from all the clubs for their superb efforts over the course of 2017.
The Avondale man paid special tribute to Wicklow hurling GDA Jonathan Tallon for the work he is doing at the coal face of the Garden County.
“I normally don’t single out people but I have to acknowledge the exceptional work that Jonathan Tallon has done this year with the hurling.
“He really is fighting a major battle there. I know he is probably working himself into the ground but that is testament to the man that he is.
“And, as has been mentioned earlier, we are getting a second GDA to help him and the help with the promotion of hurling next year. I think that’s a huge thing.
“I’d like to thank the Senior manager Seamus Murphy and Michael Neary. They did a great job this year.
“I wasn’t sure how things