Connaught Cup 2008/09

[hoop4life]

judging on all the nuetral posts it sounds like westport were not as hard done by as they claim to have been. they are making no friends for themselves in the way that they are going on just like they did when they won the fai junior cup. if you are beaten on the day, you are beaten. the amount of teams that have been done by refs over the years is huge and you never hear of any other appeals. and westport werent even that hard done by. sour grapes and there is no way that there appeal should be successful and that has nothing to do with me coming from castlebar, its a nuetral post.

[buddyb]

I brought an under 12 team to Mayo few years ago for Conn Cup match , a team which at u13s in the first div won 4 cups , league and Cup, Cork International Cup, Umbro Cup and last 8 of SFAI cup beating both Salthill and Mervue A teams on the way .
That day , we were sent to the wrong pitch , arrived late , played an overage team in long grass, played with a gaelic football, a ref who was utterely biased and lost 1-0 ect. ect.
We all feel aggrieved at times but it balances out and i think we all wrongly feel , that we all , in our own counties have the best refs in Conn.
I know it was in the refs report re West game about the abuse he and the linesmen received from the Westport support and i will pubically state here that i will bet the house that West will keep game.
The sooner West play East next Sun week in the semi final , the better and put all this bitterness in the past . Theres always next year .............




FAHY Forever;To the Galway lads.. I have already posted on this forum that I think criticising the West team for not offering a replay on a neutral venue was wrong, but the post by Murty was just totally out of line and offensive. I notice he´s only 18 and that might account for the immaturity of his post, but the fact that the moderators allow this kind of offensive garbage to stay on the forum (despite their written policy of screening sensitive or offensive posts) is blatantly wrong. Personal insults should be left out of what is already a ´huge can of worms´ as you call it yourselves. Every team has the right to object when they feel it´s justified, but it should be confined to a footballing issue, rather than a Mayo V Galway one.

Fair play to the Galway lads who posted here for keeping their posts unbiased and not reducing themselves to mindless slurs and insults.


To explain re comments on Galway Forum , i am actually the admin of the site for my sins , but the guy in question is a lot more than 18 and actually informed me he was p... taking to see the reaction from Mayo as he knew it was being visited . I know this guy personally , and has no connection to West and does a lot of business in Mayo .....he is a total messer and a genuine nice guy and threw out the bait to see who would bite???? There are no bad intentions from any of the forum members to any Mayo person. I tend to allow freedom of speech to a certain degree , but have deleted and banned posts and postees in the past . I can assure you i knew in advance the purpose of his p... take . I apologise if it was taken out of context and offended anyone , it was basically as i said "bait".

[hoop4life]

I brought an under 12 team to Mayo few years ago for Conn Cup match , a team which at u13s in the first div won 4 cups , league and Cup, Cork International Cup, Umbro Cup and last 8 of SFAI cup beating both Salthill and Mervue A teams on the way .
That day , we were sent to the wrong pitch , arrived late , played an overage team in long grass, played with a gaelic football, a ref who was utterely biased and lost 1-0 ect. ect.
We all feel aggrieved at times but it balances out and i think we all wrongly feel , that we all , in our own counties have the best refs in Conn.
I know it was in the refs report re West game about the abuse he and the linesmen received from the Westport support and i will pubically state here that i will bet the house that West will keep game.
The sooner West play East next Sun week in the semi final , the better and put all this bitterness in the past . Theres always next year .............
who was it that ye played and who are you involved with?? id say id get who ye played in 2 or 3 guesses

[Northern Gale]

are we still on about this ??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you lost !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!move on. Portest about the state of our health service if you have nothing better to do

[buddyb]

Northern Gale , you wont have to wait long as West will keep match....100% sure.

hoop4life , i was involved with Tuam Celtic and we travelled to F+St.........incidently we lost to the eventual winners in QF of the sfai cup , St Kevins Dublin, and they nicked my best player for u14 season , who at 15 signed for West Brom!!! Not involved in club or management now , but doing a bit of reffing!!!

[sprah1]

Northern Gale , you wont have to wait long as West will keep match....100% sure.

hoop4life , i was involved with Tuam Celtic and we travelled to F+St.........incidently we lost to the eventual winners in QF of the sfai cup , St Kevins Dublin, and they nicked my best player for u14 season , who at 15 signed for West Brom!!! Not involved in club or management now , but doing a bit of reffing!!!


year 2004????

[buddyb]

No 05/06 season ..

[murty]

Just had a look at that Galway website. Some of the remarks on it are a disgrace. Some utter moron called Murty had this to say:

Let all those whinging Mayo f**kers remember they wouldn't have a bob to their names only for all their illegal relations that have moved up here and taken all the jobs .They are worse han the Mexicans in the States , ye can tell them all by their wooly haircuts and tan brogue shoes . Their always asking bands and deejays to play the green and red of mayo and are usually louder than a bus load of spanish kids during the summer. I mean to say Westport , for feck sake , their most famous citizens are the fecking monkeys in the House . Better pitchs , sure ya , but at least , bad an all as things are we have hospitals , university ,and a decent place to live , ye hairy legs in Westport have got the whole thing wrong , get the basics first then get your nice pitch .By the way Westport clowns , here we also have Sportsground , Terryland , Mervues complex , Drom , NUI,G pitchs , Rangers pitchs , Knocknacarra , Millers lane , Pearse stadium etc etc , the fact ye lost to a team that used HOME ADVANTAGE to its ADVANTAGE is brilliant , fecking brilliant ....na na, na na na . Up yers , by the way , has it dawned .......ye are out of the Connacht cup , a competition no matter what type of grass ye think ye float on ,is a competition recently dominated by Galway clubs .......... thats right , come on east and west , pity ye couldnt grace the final ! By the way Westport Zoo fc , a third division side in Galway went further than ye !

... So it´s good to see the voice of reason alive and kicking in Galway. Absolute disgrace that moderators would allow that kind of neaderthalic sentiment to stay on their pages. Totally sickening. Please God Castlebar win it now...

To all the people of Mayo including myself , my parents and all my relatives , the teams and players I have trained in Mayo , I am not apologising , the fact that Mr Fahy cannot see a mickey take when it is staring him inthe face is not my problem , and if he is offended by it , why then did he bring it to everyones attention ? I love the publicity by the way !!!! I even went out of my way to use Fr Jack language rather than anything worse , God forbid , I don't want to give that poor elderly man a heart attack . Lot of things in Galway he is not happy with , refs , pitchs , teams etc ..not up to Mayo standard as was said on one post .
Well Mr Fahy & co while you were browsing through the Galway websites , did you see the request from the Galway admin to clubs , asking for all the local and Connacht trophies to be returned to him asap , now here is where the real standards come in to place , 80%+ of all Connacht cups and shields are in the hands of Galway clubs ......how about an objection to that ? Oh the green and red of Mayo .......incidently thats sung by a Galway band , lets all round on the Leitrim people for a while .
When the above post went in initially , I was full sure the protest over the West game was a big slag ! Any way anyone want a bet West Utd V East utd next week in the semi final , any one take €1,000 I will give them 5/1 .

[hoop4life]

lads, westports appeal is bad, but just after hearing worse.

our u18s beat corrib celtic 4nil in the connaught cup semi final last week. we used 4 u16s in that game (we have six u16 players in the squad) and corrib celtic said that they are going to appeal that we had too many underage players playing.
what ye think of that?? bad or what?? seems to be a trend now. if you are beaten fair and square, sure make an appeal anyway. poor form

[kingkong]

lads, westports appeal is bad, but just after hearing worse.

our u18s beat corrib celtic 4nil in the connaught cup semi final last week. we used 4 u16s in that game (we have six u16 players in the squad) and corrib celtic said that they are going to appeal that we had too many underage players playing.
what ye think of that?? bad or what?? seems to be a trend now. if you are beaten fair and square, sure make an appeal anyway. poor form


Thats a complete joke,if anything thats a good thing for corrib that ye where playing so many young players.

[GoodFootball]

lads, westports appeal is bad, but just after hearing worse.

our u18s beat corrib celtic 4nil in the connaught cup semi final last week. we used 4 u16s in that game (we have six u16 players in the squad) and corrib celtic said that they are going to appeal that we had too many underage players playing.
what ye think of that?? bad or what?? seems to be a trend now. if you are beaten fair and square, sure make an appeal anyway. poor form

Sad, very sad -The fact that u an northern gale are still going on about the appeal westport are making. I put it down to jelousy or lack of respect for a club that have out performed you over the last 5 years.

I haven't seen a post from Westport fan about this topic since the day after the game so my friend it is you that needs to get over it.

[buddyb]

hoop4life , i thought you could play up to and, including 2 yrs above your age , is this not the rule?????
Dont think Corrib have much of a case , more embarassing they were bet by a younger team on the whole!!!

[murty]

Fairly sure the rule is , you cannot play more than two years above your age group .I manage an u 16 team and enquired as to whether I could play an u 14 one week when we were struggling to field and was told no .He could play U 15 but not u 16 . By this rule an u 16 cannot play u 18 not one two three or six of them can play two age groups above this .What is sad here is that this seems to be a genuine mistake on Celtics behalf , the players must be gutted .But rules are rules , so before ye start giving out about Corib Celtic , stop and think for a minute , what would you do in the same situation ?
This rule is used and abused , even swept under the carpet in one instance that I can recall involving a player last year with Corofin Utd , which no doubt buddy b will fill ye in on .A foreign lad looking about 20 , built like a brick outhouse , played everything from u 12 to u 16 !!!!

[hoop4life]

Fairly sure the rule is , you cannot play more than two years above your age group .I manage an u 16 team and enquired as to whether I could play an u 14 one week when we were struggling to field and was told no .He could play U 15 but not u 16 . By this rule an u 16 cannot play u 18 not one two three or six of them can play two age groups above this .What is sad here is that this seems to be a genuine mistake on Celtics behalf , the players must be gutted .But rules are rules , so before ye start giving out about Corib Celtic , stop and think for a minute , what would you do in the same situation ?
This rule is used and abused , even swept under the carpet in one instance that I can recall involving a player last year with Corofin Utd , which no doubt buddy b will fill ye in on .A foreign lad looking about 20 , built like a brick outhouse , played everything from u 12 to u 16 !!!!

lads, there is a rule alright, but it is a rule that ye have in the galway league, it does not count for the mayo league or for connaught cups. it does not apply anywhere else. we have a lad a few years ago that was playing u14, u15, u16, u17 and u18. i never heard of yer rule until corrib brought it up and its one of the daftest rules i ever heard. most u16s are as big and physically developed as 18 year olds so if you are good enough, you are old enough. i even think that corrib didn't bother appealing. they were laughed at when they brought it up. tell me that you wouldnt laugh if someone said they were appealing because you had too many underage players?? its a joke

[hoop4life]

Sad, very sad -The fact that u an northern gale are still going on about the appeal westport are making. I put it down to jelousy or lack of respect for a club that have out performed you over the last 5 years.

I haven't seen a post from Westport fan about this topic since the day after the game so my friend it is you that needs to get over it.

whats very sad is the fact that every post you seem to make is trying to start an arguement with someone from celtic. yes, i mentioned the westport appeal but did not start making points about it. i was talking about an appeal that was being made about castlebar celtic.
would you ever stop trying to start arguements with celtic people?? its all you do when you post so will you please start talking about something else. its getting boring

[1924]

whats very sad is the fact that every post you seem to make is trying to start an arguement with someone from celtic. yes, i mentioned the westport appeal but did not start making points about it. i was talking about an appeal that was being made about castlebar celtic.
would you ever stop trying to start arguements with celtic people?? its all you do when you post so will you please start talking about something else. its getting boring

Can I just concur what my colleague hoops4life just said

[Northern Gale]

Can I just concur what my colleague hoops4life just said

Same as

[buddyb]

lads, there is a rule alright, but it is a rule that ye have in the galway league, it does not count for the mayo league or for connaught cups. it does not apply anywhere else. we have a lad a few years ago that was playing u14, u15, u16, u17 and u18. i never heard of yer rule until corrib brought it up and its one of the daftest rules i ever heard. most u16s are as big and physically developed as 18 year olds so if you are good enough, you are old enough. i even think that corrib didn't bother appealing. they were laughed at when they brought it up. tell me that you wouldnt laugh if someone said they were appealing because you had too many underage players?? its a joke


Totally agree with ya ,why stop a 16 yr old playing Junior if hes good enough and strong enough???? But i think a 14 yr old playing u18s would be few and far between????

[hoop4life]

Totally agree with ya ,why stop a 16 yr old playing Junior if hes good enough and strong enough???? But i think a 14 yr old playing u18s would be few and far between????

im nearly sure he did. he definetley played u17 though. our youth managers have always brough younger lads along to give them experience, but they have minded them. they wouldnt throw them into a fiery game against a very physical side. the lad in question is now with birmingham city.
do ye allow 16 and 17 year olds play junior football in galway?? its a bit pointless if ye dont and then mervue play a number of 17 year olds in the a league last year which they did!! defeats the purpose

[murty]

I didn't know that rule was exclusive to Galway , mind you that wouldn't surprise me if it were true as no club gets a "rule book " down here .The rules are very "flexible " and seem , at different times , to suit certain situations one week and differnt the following week .Eg West United ,( who as a team of 11 players on the same pitch as Westport beat them ), recently played Corrib Rangers in the premier , it was proven Rangers played two illegal players , who were part and parcel of Rangers winning the game .The outcome Rangers lost the three points , correct decision . West , wait for it , did not get the three points , so they will now have to win the league witha game less than their rivals ! Where else would this happen .Similar situation happened a couple of weeks ago , forget the teams , but think Moyne Villa were the rightfull recipients of a reversal of a game they had originally lost to Loughrea ! So one rule for one team and one for another .Any one able to access the FAI official guidelines on ths one ?

[buddyb]

The Galway FA appear to make up the rules as they go along with two identical match appeals getting two different outcomes .
Heard Westport withdrew their appeal and their money refunded and ironically whilst West play East Utd in Semi final on Sun , Westport will be playing Senior Cup in the pitch beside it .........interesting re comments passing back and forth.
Anyone interested in looking in on the Galway Forum ;
http://galwaysoccer.editboard.com/ (http://galwaysoccer.editboard.com/)

[threefivetwo]

Totally agree with ya ,why stop a 16 yr old playing Junior if hes good enough and strong enough???? But i think a 14 yr old playing u18s would be few and far between????

i remember we were playing in the quigley cup under 18 years ago when we bet westport in the final on penalties and sean mchale came on that day and he was only 14 or just gone 15 at the time!!

[threefivetwo]

To all the people of Mayo including myself , my parents and all my relatives , the teams and players I have trained in Mayo , I am not apologising , the fact that Mr Fahy cannot see a mickey take when it is staring him inthe face is not my problem , and if he is offended by it , why then did he bring it to everyones attention ? I love the publicity by the way !!!! I even went out of my way to use Fr Jack language rather than anything worse , God forbid , I don't want to give that poor elderly man a heart attack . Lot of things in Galway he is not happy with , refs , pitchs , teams etc ..not up to Mayo standard as was said on one post .
Well Mr Fahy & co while you were browsing through the Galway websites , did you see the request from the Galway admin to clubs , asking for all the local and Connacht trophies to be returned to him asap , now here is where the real standards come in to place , 80%+ of all Connacht cups and shields are in the hands of Galway clubs ......how about an objection to that ? Oh the green and red of Mayo .......incidently thats sung by a Galway band , lets all round on the Leitrim people for a while .
When the above post went in initially , I was full sure the protest over the West game was a big slag ! Any way anyone want a bet West Utd V East utd next week in the semi final , any one take €1,000 I will give them 5/1 .

All those whingin MAYO f...??? comin from castlebar i don't think that really fair as we weren't whingin.. . if anything we were saying that westport should have just taking the beating!!

[FahyForever]

i remember we were playing in the quigley cup under 18 years ago when we bet westport in the final on penalties and sean mchale came on that day and he was only 14 or just gone 15 at the time!!


Expect an appeal by the end of the week ;)

[threefivetwo]

Expect an appeal by the end of the week ;)

nice one :) :)

[hoop4life]

i remember we were playing in the quigley cup under 18 years ago when we bet westport in the final on penalties and sean mchale came on that day and he was only 14 or just gone 15 at the time!!

danny kirby and nigel naughton both played and started in the quigley cup final last year and i think that they were 15 at the time

[buddyb]

Since i made that remark re u14s playing u18s i have been inundated with pms , recounting past players i.e Willie Grant present West Utd manager played Junior at 14 yrs of age. I believe present Tuam Celtic manager played Junior at 15.
I guess if your good enough and well protected by team-mates, you would be well able.:confused:

[GoodFootball]

Since i made that remark re u14s playing u18s i have been inundated with pms , recounting past players i.e Willie Grant present West Utd manager played Junior at 14 yrs of age. I believe present Tuam Celtic manager played Junior at 15.
I guess if your good enough and well protected by team-mates, you would be well able.:confused:

Darren Creaby played every game in centre mid for Fahy at the age 15, (turned 16 during the year) in our first season at junior level.

Tough position to play at a young age and also getting kicked in division 2b ;)

[murty]

Expect an appeal by the end of the week ;)

By God humour .........I'm shocked , but then again it could be serious , so I may have to slag off everyone again .
Can anyone tell me if the report re the fines issued to Westport and Castlebar Celtic over recent appeals and behaviour etc in todays Examiner are true .It states Westports supporters and the clubs frivelous appeal and general behaviour was disgraceful and went against all the ethos of the associations guidelines on sportsmanship .The referees report cited incidents of verbal abuse , intimidation , threatning behaviour and one attrocious incident where after the game upon inspection of the game the dressing room used by Westport was found to be daubed in excretement , with the words in hand writing , "the refs a wauunker " on the walls . The fine was €2,500 with the club banned from all Connacht and Irish cup competitions for the next five years !
Castlebar Cetic have received a €1,000 fine and all its underage section given a two year ban from Connacht cup games . No messing with the Fai !

[Norm]

By God humour .........I'm shocked , but then again it could be serious , so I may have to slag off everyone again .
Can anyone tell me if the report re the fines issued to Westport and Castlebar Celtic over recent appeals and behaviour etc in todays Examiner are true .It states Westports supporters and the clubs frivelous appeal and general behaviour was disgraceful and went against all the ethos of the associations guidelines on sportsmanship .The referees report cited incidents of verbal abuse , intimidation , threatning behaviour and one attrocious incident where after the game upon inspection of the game the dressing room used by Westport was found to be daubed in excretement , with the words in hand writing , "the refs a wauunker " on the walls . The fine was €2,500 with the club banned from all Connacht and Irish cup competitions for the next five years !
Castlebar Cetic have received a €1,000 fine and all its underage section given a two year ban from Connacht cup games . No messing with the Fai !

1st April 2009

[TheRealMuller]

hey just wondering is there any1 out there that knows where i can get a full list of the Conn Cup results from all the rounds thanks.

ooh, for the day thats in it come on Ireland!!!!

[Closed Account]

All the Galway Ones are here (http://www.sportsmanager.ie/t6.php?userid=&report=1&reporttype=mixresults&compid=7956&countyid=63&club_id=&sportid=8)

[TheRealMuller]

I'm full of questions as usual..... but i was just wondering does anyone know the venue for this years final is. i heard that the final was to be played in westport. but today heard the game is going to be played in terryland, can anyone shed some light on this

[threefivetwo]

I'm full of questions as usual..... but i was just wondering does anyone know the venue for this years final is. i heard that the final was to be played in westport. but today heard the game is going to be played in terryland, can anyone shed some light on this

if westport had got to the final it would have been in milebush, their pitch would, well should never have a final on it, very bad pitch. the way it works is whoever gets to the final from that side of the draw the final will be in their county pitch so i'd say terryland was mentioned seein that west probably will be in the final, thats as far as i know, could be wrong, don't think i am though!

[keith.henn]

Since i made that remark re u14s playing u18s i have been inundated with pms , recounting past players i.e Willie Grant present West Utd manager played Junior at 14 yrs of age. I believe present Tuam Celtic manager played Junior at 15.
I guess if your good enough and well protected by team-mates, you would be well able.:confused:


I think Shay Given plyed in the FAI Junior Cup Final aged 14 or 15

[murty]

if westport had got to the final it would have been in milebush, their pitch would, well should never have a final on it, very bad pitch. the way it works is whoever gets to the final from that side of the draw the final will be in their county pitch so i'd say terryland was mentioned seein that west probably will be in the final, thats as far as i know, could be wrong, don't think i am though!

You are almost correct there , yes the final will be a home tie for the winners of the West v East game , Westport were in that side of the draw , so should they have won and progressed , home advantage would have been theirs .
The final does not necessarily have to be played in Terryland ,as far as I know a ground up to league of Ireland standard has to be used , fenced off , facilities and "gate " requirements come into factor here . While Terryland park has been voted the best surface in Ireland for the last three years , Mervue and Salthill Devon now have same requirements , while the semi finals veue Knocknacarras ground and that of NUI,G could also be used .

[murty]

lads, westports appeal is bad, but just after hearing worse.

our u18s beat corrib celtic 4nil in the connaught cup semi final last week. we used 4 u16s in that game (we have six u16 players in the squad) and corrib celtic said that they are going to appeal that we had too many underage players playing.
what ye think of that?? bad or what?? seems to be a trend now. if you are beaten fair and square, sure make an appeal anyway. poor form

Any further updates on this one ? the question re Corribs 'supposed objection was posted on the local web and no one seems to know anything about it ? Again does anyone know the FAI rule re this subject ??
ie playing two years above ones age group .
If the rule isn't there , I would say that maybe there is a need for it in one way , take a very good 16 year old , obviously still in school .....this is more than likly what he will be up against in his average week , training two nights a week , game for u 16 u 18 maybe u 17 , no doubt involved in representative games for his district , the junior manager trying to get his hands upon him .Then their is the small matter of training with his school and probably playing for the senior and second team in the school . This is the reason as far as I can remember why the rule that exists in Galway at least , was brought in .

[TheRealMuller]

Any further updates on this one ? the question re Corribs 'supposed objection was posted on the local web and no one seems to know anything about it ? Again does anyone know the FAI rule re this subject ??
ie playing two years above ones age group .
If the rule isn't there , I would say that maybe there is a need for it in one way , take a very good 16 year old , obviously still in school .....this is more than likly what he will be up against in his average week , training two nights a week , game for u 16 u 18 maybe u 17 , no doubt involved in representative games for his district , the junior manager trying to get his hands upon him .Then their is the small matter of training with his school and probably playing for the senior and second team in the school . This is the reason as far as I can remember why the rule that exists in Galway at least , was brought in .



I understand where your coming from but you have to remember not all areas are blesses with a full group of u18's that are up to standard, so to have any chance of challenging for cups you may need to promote younger players into your squad. this also helps ensure you will have a good squad in the coming years.
i know that the year before the u21 eircom league changed to the u20 league, St Pats brought in alot of 17 years into the squad in order to ensure they had a good foundation for the u20 league.

[Closing Time]

Any further updates on this one ? the question re Corribs 'supposed objection was posted on the local web and no one seems to know anything about it ? Again does anyone know the FAI rule re this subject ??
ie playing two years above ones age group .
If the rule isn't there , I would say that maybe there is a need for it in one way , take a very good 16 year old , obviously still in school .....this is more than likly what he will be up against in his average week , training two nights a week , game for u 16 u 18 maybe u 17 , no doubt involved in representative games for his district , the junior manager trying to get his hands upon him .Then their is the small matter of training with his school and probably playing for the senior and second team in the school . This is the reason as far as I can remember why the rule that exists in Galway at least , was brought in .

Stupid rule. These lads are also playing GAA and Rugby. If your good enough and strong enough your old enough.

[murty]

Again , hello , the question I posted was , does anyone know the rule taht was allegedly broken ?

[murty]

Good news for all Westport supporters , the lads that beat ye West progressed to the final by virtue of an injury time penalty v Galway 3rd Division side ( 4th tier of Galway soccer ). Very poor game , junior standard is slipping at an alarming rate !
Galway v Roscommon final .

[Closing Time]

Celtic lost 3-2.Poor game in a poor pitch,good ground. Bar Celtic sholud have been out of site after 75 minutes but Rea bossed the important part of the game (last 15 min) and got the breaks to win.

[murty]

cant figure this one out ? "poor game in a poor pitch good ground " ?

Can anyone figure out how to improve pub/ junior soccer it is horrendous at the moment in the West Of Ireland . I suppose any one half serious , gone to A league or u 20 ,or content with junior soccers equivalent standard night owls.

[paul_oshea]

well done to castlerea, great result, by all accounts looks like they finished well and were stronger in the end. how is it a poor pitch? its brand new.

[Closing Time]

cant figure this one out ? "poor game in a poor pitch good ground " ?

Can anyone figure out how to improve pub/ junior soccer it is horrendous at the moment in the West Of Ireland . I suppose any one half serious , gone to A league or u 20 ,or content with junior soccers equivalent standard night owls.

Simple, Ground - had good clubhouse, 7 a side astro turf, Stand, wall around pitch, D/outs nealy complete etc. The playing surface was very bumpy. Walked the pitch and after winter football it was very bumpy and if you were at the game neither team played any football and I would put that down to the pitch. I will admitt that in the last 15 minutes the home team did put a number of passages of play together. Just because its a new pitch does not mean it a great surface and if anyone tells me that the Castlerea pitch is a good surface I would hate to see a bad one. Junior football is not that bad, look at Erris Utd, Westport Utd, Carbury, West Utd, Ballinsloe Town, Athenry, etc all good passing teams. What would improve the standard would be a connacht Junior league with two div's and link with the 4 leagues.

[threefivetwo]

we were by far the better team and our keeper even said after he didn't have one save to make. he wasn't near the 3 goals so didn't have 2 make save. we had so so so many chances it was unbelievable. castlerea will prob b the worst team to ever contest a connaught junior final. the ref also told one of our players that the free he scored was direct and after he scored cancelled it out saying it was indirect and then gave a free out....(we wont go appealing though, we take defeat on the chin!!) the pitch was one of the worst i've played on in a long time, no one could play proper football at all. after the game in the pub the castlerea players were buying drinks for the refferee and the linesmen and they were buyin the drinks back for the castlerea players. everybody hates losing but when a team were far better and deserved to win it just hurts!! if west are anyway descent at all they will win the final awful easy!!

[Closing Time]

we were by far the better team and our keeper even said after he didn't have one save to make. he wasn't near the 3 goals so didn't have 2 make save. we had so so so many chances it was unbelievable. castlerea will prob b the worst team to ever contest a connaught junior final. the ref also told one of our players that the free he scored was direct and after he scored cancelled it out saying it was indirect and then gave a free out....(we wont go appealing though, we take defeat on the chin!!) the pitch was one of the worst i've played on in a long time, no one could play proper football at all. after the game in the pub the castlerea players were buying drinks for the refferee and the linesmen and they were buyin the drinks back for the castlerea players. everybody hates losing but when a team were far better and deserved to win it just hurts!! if west are anyway descent at all they will win the final awful easy!!

Celtic were the better team for 70-75 mins but couldnt take their chances. The ref was poor for both teams, The home side battled hard and got the breaks. I dont think they would be the worst team to compete in the final but if they play the same way yesterday in the final they will find it very hard to beat West Utd. But then how good are west. Wishing both teams the best of luck

[west awake]

Celtic were the better team for 70-75 mins but couldnt take their chances. The ref was poor for both teams, The home side battled hard and got the breaks. I dont think they would be the worst team to compete in the final but if they play the same way yesterday in the final they will find it very hard to beat West Utd. But then how good are west. Wishing both teams the best of luckwest on there day are as good as any team in the whole country but having watched them lately all though still winning games they appear to be gone off the boil alot from there early season form,they have some absolute quality players but they don't seem to be clicking lately,yesterday west had there opponents pinned back for the whole game and owned the ball but seemed to lack the killer touch that was so evident early on in the campaign,it took a late peno to win it.anyways west will be well up for the final having not won the connacht cup since 1982.

[Leveller]

Good news for all Westport supporters , the lads that beat ye West progressed to the final by virtue of an injury time penalty v Galway 3rd Division side ( 4th tier of Galway soccer ). Very poor game , junior standard is slipping at an alarming rate !
Galway v Roscommon final .


Murty you are pathetic. You know what they say, what goes around comes around.

I have been told the rules are due to be changed, the games will be played on a neutral and playable (not a cow field) pitch, with neutral officials from quarter final stage upwards. This will help all clubs avoid the injustice we were done on the day.

[murty]

Simple, Ground - had good clubhouse, 7 a side astro turf, Stand, wall around pitch, D/outs nealy complete etc. The playing surface was very bumpy. Walked the pitch and after winter football it was very bumpy and if you were at the game neither team played any football and I would put that down to the pitch. I will admitt that in the last 15 minutes the home team did put a number of passages of play together. Just because its a new pitch does not mean it a great surface and if anyone tells me that the Castlerea pitch is a good surface I would hate to see a bad one. Junior football is not that bad, look at Erris Utd, Westport Utd, Carbury, West Utd, Ballinsloe Town, Athenry, etc all good passing teams. What would improve the standard would be a connacht Junior league with two div's and link with the 4 leagues.

The poor pitch / good ground was referring to the Knocknacarra venue for the West / East game . Improving junior soccer , very hard call Connacht junior league is a very good idea , but I think a bona fide senior league would have to be the first step . The Galway league definitly needs to do something about the slipping standard an immediate stop gap measure would be a reduvtion to eight teams in the top divisons , loads of teams do not make a better league , the small pool of talent is watered down and spread out ove 70+ teams . Long term over five years a plan whereby access to the top two to three divisions is subject to underage structures in place and ground club house etc . Look at the situation in Galway premier at the moment West , couldn't host a home Connacht cup semi final at the weekend , there pitch is not favored by their own players , Dynamo Blues no underage , Colga no home pitch as of now , NUIG , let start league when ever they want no underage , Rangers once very good underage section now struggling for survival despite this being the section the club emerged from . This type of scenario is not healthy for junior soccer and unless addressed immediatly will get a lot worse .