I really enjoyed helping out with the Bishopstown minor footballers this year, alongside Brian and Pat Cuthbert. After years of having the pub on my plate, it’s nice to have the time to get back involved and to give back.
The group of U17s we had this year are a good bunch. But I’m worried for them and their development going forward.
I’m worried about what they do now. Where do they go next year? Where can they go next year?
When is the next time they will play in a meaningful competition, as they did this year? Without meaningful competition, how can they continue to develop? Without meaningful competition, what’s to stop them drifting away from the club here in Bishopstown and into the welcome embrace of other sports.
The void these players are about to step into is concerning. It’s one that must be urgently rectified.
We’ll deal further down with the star minor and the small group of 17-year-olds he is part of who are capable of stepping straight into the adult scene when they leave minor as it is set now. Far more pressing is that large bracket of stranded 17-year-olds who are not physically ready to play senior or intermediate in their first year out of minor.
There is no U18 competition for them next year. The U19 competition introduced this year in Cork did not catch on, did not fill the developmental void between juvenile and adult fare, and did not offer meaningful competition.
First things first: Cork need to run an U18 championship in 2023. We cannot afford to allow another year to pass where there is no competition at that age-grade. It’s a no-brainer.
I know of another county that already has an U18 championship organized for next year. They are not waiting on Croke Park or Congress. They see there is a problem and are doing what they feel is best for their players. Cork must do likewise.
From the time spent at the club this year, the evidence is there that players who came out of minors in the last two years are now playing other sports. They’re playing rugby. They’re playing soccer. They’re not playing for Bishopstown. They’re gone from the GAA. And that’s down to the void created by being a minor at U17 and the absence of a meaningful competition to bridge the gap from there to adult level.
On the age grade debate raging at present, you’ve probably guessed my preference by now. We simply have to go back to minor at U18.
That extra year makes a hell of a difference in terms of their development. It just boggles the mind that there is a gap there where players are finding themselves lost after they finish U17.
Go back to the Bishopstown minors. What do they do? They are not strong enough or physically developed enough to go forward to represent Bishopstown at Senior A level in 2023.
They are then put with the juniors. But in many clubs, the second team, while I am not saying it isn’t taken seriously, it seems to be a comedown from being involved in the top team. That’s not the right developmental platform for these 17-year-olds.
There are and will be 17-year-olds who don’t want to line out at the junior level, who don’t feel ready to jump straight into an adult team. It’s so wrong that there is no competition for them at their own age.
These guys are doing the Leaving Cert. They’re heading off to college. It is a massive two years in relation to their development and do they stay involved. It is very real that players are not continuing to play hurling or football because there is no age-grade competition that caters for their needs.
For overall development and to nurture players properly so as to give them every chance going forward, it makes basic sense to be 18 coming out of minor. They will also have another year of strength and conditioning done and so are better physically prepared too.
For the U18 who is good enough to play senior or intermediate for their club, as Ben O’Connor was for the St Finbarr’s hurlers at the weekend, I do not agree with preventing them from doing so.
Decoupling, no thank you.
I don’t see a talented U18 playing at adult level as a reason why an U18 minor competition would be held up. Do we not have an amount of floodlit pitches in this county? Can we not play minor games midweek during the summer and allow those playing adults to do so at the weekend?
As for the interfering senior manager who doesn’t want the star youngster playing midweek with his own age-grade before a senior game at the weekend, it should be clearly spelled out that his interfering won’t be tolerated.
Four and five-day gaps between minor and adult matches is plenty of time to allow the young player to properly recover before going again.
Finally, and turning to inter-county, can we please return the All-Ireland minor (U18) finals to Croke Park as a curtain-raiser to the senior deciders. You get a real spread of counties making the minor final, more so than at senior. For those who did not graduate to senior in the years after, it is the biggest day of their lives to have played in a minor final at Croke Park.
It also creates an atmosphere in the stadium before the senior final, as opposed to the disgraceful situation we had this year where All-Ireland winning teams from 25 years ago were being introduced to an empty stadium. They may as well have been at home in their back garden waving to the neighbors.
Let’s start getting back to the way things were.
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