Big day dawns for promising Minors
KEVIN O’BRIEN and his backroom team will be hoping that the hard work and the superb effort from his players is rewarded when they take to the field against Offaly in the opening round of the 2018 Electiric Ireland Minor Football Championship in Joule Park, Aughrim on Monday at 2pm.
A recent trip to watch the Faithful County side beat Laois in a challenge game has left the former Baltinglass and Wicklow star in no doubt as to the challenge that awaits his talented charges, but O’Brien is quietly confident that his side can take on the Offaly men and get a winning start to the campaign under their belts.
A really positive preparatory period has created a strong bond among the wicklow Minor squad. The recent trip to the west for a training weekend and the improvement in the weather has allowed O’Brien and his selectors more time to put the squad through their paces in the county grounds.
“Things have went well. Our preparations for the championship have went very, very well. We haven’t had too many injuries, we’ve got into Aughrim where the match is and it’s great to get into Aughrim, there’s a real feel-good factor around the place and the lads are really looking forward to it.
“It’s the time of the year where we have to make decisions on players and we have to make decisions on players,” said O’Brien.
“The pitch (in Aughrim) is in great nick and it’s a credit to everybody. We brought in a couple of lads from the under-16s and the standby panel to see where they were at. We have been watching those in club matches and they have been brought back in on merit. We wanted a chance to look at them again. It keeps an edge, we don’t want anyone thinking they have a safe place.
“Practice matches went well. The objective of the west trip was to play the likes of Mayo and that was a tough game. We played Leitrim the next day. We do forget they are only 15, 16 and 17 and a long journey like that and lads sleeping in the wrong beds, bit of fun and stuff like that, but they did very well, and we got to see everyone on the panel.
“Then we played Wexford and Wexford came with a style of playing 30 behind the ball and it took us all a while to adjust to that and fair play to the players for adjusting themselves along with a bit of coaching from us. Against Longford, we had a good workout, we won by a point that day. They’re a team who fancy their chances coming out of the other group. I believe the Offaly manager was here looking at us, but I was down there watching them the next morning, so that’s the way it is, that’s our job,” he said.
“Offaly are very talented. I’d say they’re strong favourites going into it. They’re very fast.
“They beat Laois twice and well in two challenge games. They’re fast, very mobile and a running side. It will be hard to conquer but I’m delighted I went to see them.
“They have a style, it’s good and it works for them, they ran Laois into the ground, they’re good footballers. there seems to be a change in Offaly football, it was really organised, really professional, something we’re striving to be.
“I don’t think you can compare what’s going on with the under-17s in Wicklow with the Seniors or under-20s. We have no control over that.
O’Brien has only hugely positive things to say about his charges ahead of their first clash of the 2018 championship.
“We’re Wicklow, we’re not putting Wicklow down, but their attitude has been excellent.
“Their commitment has been excellent, their honesty has been excellent. We set out to pull Wicklow players together as a group. They are really well looked after in the academy.
“There is talent. There’s a balance. There’s a balance of high fielders, a balance of runners, a balance of scorers, hopefully we can get that balance on the night.
“There’s no such thing as clubs in here. We break up into little groups. These guys know each other anyway. They respect each other.
“That was very evident in Mayo. Lads were going around with each other, there were no cliques. They were all in Punchestown yesterday and they all looked really well in their suits and they were well behaved. I was watching in the stand.
The Baltinglass native is calling on Wicklow GAA supporters to get down to Joule Park, Aughrim, and support the Minor fotballers in their quest for what would be a much-needed win for the Garden County.
“It would be brilliant to have a big support.
“They’ve put the effort in. I don’t know how they will deal with these championship matches, but we want them super competitive, that’s our job and you’ll see that. Of course, we want support. A lot of work has gone into these fellas, and they’ve put a lot of work and they deserve it. The parents have been great, in everything we’ve asked. It would be great to have a big crowd, and we’d love to get a victory. We hope to turn Aughrim back into a bit of a fear factor for teams coming here, if we can get that character back like there was when we were playing then that would help us.” he added.