North Tipp & District League 2007/08

[bawn79]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ears
You make some very good points but as regards standard of the league as a whole but I can assure you that there is talent here and it just needs to be developed . For instance one player on our team had Aston Villa pretty much ready to sign him until O'Leary left and his connections in backroom staff with him , then he was offered a chance to play for Limerick but wasn't impressed with the set up and word is Blackburn are interested at the moment . We had another player who was offered trials at Crystal Palace and never went and another who had a trial at Crewe . This leaves out two more players who were involved in Ireland trials/development things when they were U 15 .
One thing to note is the 5 players I mentioned there are all under 20 .

The problem is what happens to these players , one of those 5 now drinks far too much and smokes and isn't the same player while another two are finished with soccer due to commitments to Tipperary football(minor and U21) .
Unfortunately one of the two players left is now extremely injury prone .

The Youths side we had at Nenagh two years ago beat Clonmel Town and was very unlucky against St.Michaels and Cashel with refereeing decisions costing us both games(we lost both by a single goal in even matches)
That Youth team we had was as good as anyones in the country and might well have one the Premier Division in the Junior League..........however we have lost most of that team to other sports and commitments(work , school)
If there was something to keep these players(like a Tipperary team) their talent could flourish and show off that N.Tipperary does produce talented footballers .

The same year our Youths beat Clonmel Town we beat them in the U17 too , then this year we were beating early in the season by them 2-0 . A good close game which they were edging changed when our centre back(who just happened to be out the night before) let a stupid ball bounce and they scored .The second goal came at the very end when we were chasing the game . This shows that lack of professionalism is a major problem.......a national cup match and a starting centre back was out the night before .
In the end to the season in the Joe Delaney Cup they beat us 5-1 , they might have been a little lucky to get a penalty but in truth they probably deserved to beat us that much . The point of all this is South Tipp players progress and get better due to coaching , facilities and correct attitude , it's not just natural talent that does it because in reality talent wise they are no better to start with(but they certainly are to finish with) .

Players from our Senior team of 10 years ago will tell you of how they used to beat Clonmel Town and St.Michaels as Youths......but god knows what'd happen if we played them today .

Nenagh Celtic reached the Quarter-Finals of the U17 National Cup this year(we reached the last 16 the year before) , although they did have a nice draw on the way up and got hockeyed in that Quarter final they still achieved it . Yet as a senior side they won't achieve anything like that . Btw I believe one of the players on that run was asked to join Wexford Youths .

Killavilla no longer being in North Tipp at Juvenile level is a blow , they usually have quite strong sides and I believe 3 of their young players joined Waterford United at the start of the season .

Again I am just trying to point out that the talent is there in North Tipp but the infrastructure is missing , however a Tipperary FC could avail of talent whic is here and mix that with the infrastructure of South Tipperary aswell as their talent to create something very strong .

Nenagh is a town of about 8,000 nowdays and new business' and infrastructure is coming along by the bucket load despite Proctor and Gamble's departure . With that said A South Tipperary FC would best be put in Clonmel and they would have no problem competing in the A League . I'm merely thinking to the future that an all Tipperary side would be a force to be reckoned with .

DcfcSteve Tipperary has a strong soccer tradition , who here isn't familiar with Clonmel Town or St.Michaels ?...........Thurles Town is something best forgot about , bar remembering the reasons for it failing .

I apologise for bringing this thread off on a bit of a tangent , but I do believe that the A League would benefit from a side in Tipperary . Even if it is only a club such as Clonmel Town .


Not to take things too far off topic Ive opened a thread in the Junior soccer section if you are interested in discussing soccer in North Tipp.

[bawn79]

Big Ears I played for Newtown Celtic when we won the youths league back around 95 against some tough opposition from Nenagh and Blackcastle at the time.
We had two guys that got trials but nothing came of them and we were regulary beating teams from South Tipp and I think we even beat a team from Dublin in a friendly (Marcievz Celtic (sic)).
I think I have to agree with what the other lads said about the step up from Junior to League of Ireland level being very big.

However I do agree with your point that the lads you spoke about that have gone by the wayside would have a much better chance if there was a proper structure in place.
I dont know what the North Tipp board does, I presume they are more about organising a competition than trying to improve the standards.
I think the number one goal of the North Tipp board should be on the development of a "A" league team for North Tipp within 10 years (or whenever we are ready).
However we dont even have an Oscar Traynor team to talk about. When they played about 3 seasons ago they didnt exactly set the world on fire.
So I think someone in charge of long-term development of the league is important.

Personally in the last few years I saw the level of interest in the Junior league in North Tipp really wane. We could hardly get 11 players for a game and were in the top division.
I remember writing on this board saying that we played with 8 players once in a game and a guy from south tipp said that they would be throw out of the league for doing that.
Outside of Nenagh, Rearcross and maybe Clodaigh who are working on developing facilities it is pretty much pub soccer. Even Blackcastle seem to be falling back in terms of development.

What Id like to see happen is with a lot of hard work and a bit of foresight by a central body North Tipp could have some chance of progressing.
But I dont think generally the will is there for this or the training to progress the development of players. So lads will get naturally drift to other sports and to the drinking culture.


I think a reduction in the amount of clubs to a sustainable level is very important, every country club has about 5-6 dedicated players but the rest are hurlers, clubs need to join up to counter this. Id say North Tipp can sustain about 10 proper clubs. Maybe 12 depending on the split.

Nenagh 2
Templemore 1
Portroe / Newtown / Ballina / Killaloe 1
Toomevara / Moneygall 1
Borrisoleigh / Cormackstown / Clodaigh (Thurles rural) 1
Thurles 1 (A strong team)
Cloughjordan / Borrisokane / Kildangan 1
Kilcommon / Rearcross / Silvermines / Newport 1
Roscrea 1

[Big Ears]

The North Tipp Board just run a competition , that's all they care about . I was our captain for the Youths this year and when I was handed the trophy after we won the league guess what ?...........they had given me the Youths Cup instead of the League trophy :eek: . We decided to keep it anyway , what was the league trophy was broken and I believe Blackcastle got a new trophy when they won the cup .

The guy from South Tipp who said that was absolutely right about what they'd do down South and in pretty much any of the better leagues . We've been looking for North Tipp to put in tougher restrictions and punishments for things like not having a full team but their not interested in the slightest . They feel if they made restrictions tougher less teams could enter and thus they'd get less money . Arra Rovers pitch is a disgrace and the thought that they're allowed play in the league at all never mind premier division is shocking .

I think tougher penalties and more restrictions would force smaller clubs into amalgamating and creating some decent sides . I think cutting it down to anywhere between 12-16 clubs would be reasonable but last season there was 39 clubs and that would be a lot less players playing . So I believe a reserve league should be set up to cater for the excess amount of players .

In the Joe Delaney Cup this year(an all-Tipp youth competition) it was shown that the gap between North and South still isn't too big up to youth level .

Clonmel Town v Borrisoleigh-Borrisoleigh who finished second in N.Tipp withdraw due to lack of players as GAA had started up again .

St.Michaels 3-1 Blackcastle- 1-1 in Templemore and 2 late goals in Tipp Town sees Michaels threw .

Clonmel Celtic 3-3 Nenagh Celtic-Clonmel go through on penalties , 3-2 Nenagh.C in Nenagh and 1-0 Clonmel Celtic in Clonmel .

Nenagh AFC 8-2 Moyglass- 4-2 in Nenagh , 4-0 in Moyglass and should have been more .

Nenagh AFC 2-1 Clonmel Celtic- 2-1 to Nenagh in Clonmel and Celtic fail to turn up for second leg due to lack of players . Possibly due to 2 of their players being sent off in the first leg for violent conduct(throwing and connecting with punches) .

Clonmel Town v St.Michaels- something like 6-1 to Clonmel I think , it was 1-1 after the first leg and then Clonmel destroyed them in the second .

Clonmel Town 5-1 Nenagh AFC- we were **** , they were spectacular , end result was that scoreline . Embarrassing seeing as we beat them in the U17 national cup the year before .

That shows at youth level the standard isn't that different and that it's just Clonmel Town who are head and shoulders above the rest .

It's worth noting that I felt Moyglass(who were their first division champions as there is only 3 teams in their premier) were weaker than any of the North Tipperary youth sides and that Clonmore , Arra(before they pulled out due to not being able to field a team) Rearcross and the North Tipp sides in this comp would have beaten them .

Borrisoleigh beat Moyglass in either the Munster/FAI and we beat 2 mile Borris 11-0 in the FAI .

But yet again when all is said and done by the time all of us players are at Junior level it will be the South sides who have developed much further(well at least the bigger ones anyway) and us in the North will be left behind .

My final piece of evidence to the talent is there but the infrastructure isn't is in schools football . I go to Borrisokane CC myself and we reached the semi-final of the Munster Senior Cup , losing to eventual Munster and All-Ireland winner Sexton Street CBS 1-0 .
They had 3 Irish youth internationals and 1 Irish u16 international and most of the rest of their team was made up of Wembley Rovers players(who as you probably know are always winning U17 and U18 national cups) .
Our starting line up comprised of 4 players who don't play for any club(one player never has) 2 Nenagh AFC players and 5 Cloughjordan FC players(they don't even have a youth team) .
Despite this the game was completely even , they had their spells we had ours , we hit the woodwork had several shots cleared off the line and for long periods of the game we outplayed them by knocking the ball around and outfought them for possession , it took an Irish youth international to get the only goal for them . Pretty much the whole game other than that moment he was in the pocket of our centre half who guess what , was the one player who has never played club football .


CBS won the rest of their games comfortably including the All-Ireland final 4-1 and they will probably have a couple of players who we will be watching on tv in the future . As for our team you'll probably see a couple of them on tv too , playing hurling and Gaelic though(there's a couple of them that have been on Minor hurling and football sides and they look set to make it at senior level) .
Not one member of our team will go on to even play semi-professional and with the players we had it seems like such a waste of talent .

[bawn79]

The North Tipp Board just run a competition , that's all they care about . I was our captain for the Youths this year and when I was handed the trophy after we won the league guess what ?...........they had given me the Youths Cup instead of the League trophy :eek: . We decided to keep it anyway , what was the league trophy was broken and I believe Blackcastle got a new trophy when they won the cup .

The guy from South Tipp who said that was absolutely right about what they'd do down South and in pretty much any of the better leagues . We've been looking for North Tipp to put in tougher restrictions and punishments for things like not having a full team but their not interested in the slightest . They feel if they made restrictions tougher less teams could enter and thus they'd get less money . Arra Rovers pitch is a disgrace and the thought that they're allowed play in the league at all never mind premier division is shocking .

I think tougher penalties and more restrictions would force smaller clubs into amalgamating and creating some decent sides . I think cutting it down to anywhere between 12-16 clubs would be reasonable but last season there was 39 clubs and that would be a lot less players playing . So I believe a reserve league should be set up to cater for the excess amount of players .

In the Joe Delaney Cup this year(an all-Tipp youth competition) it was shown that the gap between North and South still isn't too big up to youth level .

Clonmel Town v Borrisoleigh-Borrisoleigh who finished second in N.Tipp withdraw due to lack of players as GAA had started up again .

St.Michaels 3-1 Blackcastle- 1-1 in Templemore and 2 late goals in Tipp Town sees Michaels threw .

Clonmel Celtic 3-3 Nenagh Celtic-Clonmel go through on penalties , 3-2 Nenagh.C in Nenagh and 1-0 Clonmel Celtic in Clonmel .

Nenagh AFC 8-2 Moyglass- 4-2 in Nenagh , 4-0 in Moyglass and should have been more .

Nenagh AFC 2-1 Clonmel Celtic- 2-1 to Nenagh in Clonmel and Celtic fail to turn up for second leg due to lack of players . Possibly due to 2 of their players being sent off in the first leg for violent conduct(throwing and connecting with punches) .

Clonmel Town v St.Michaels- something like 6-1 to Clonmel I think , it was 1-1 after the first leg and then Clonmel destroyed them in the second .

Clonmel Town 5-1 Nenagh AFC- we were **** , they were spectacular , end result was that scoreline . Embarrassing seeing as we beat them in the U17 national cup the year before .

That shows at youth level the standard isn't that different and that it's just Clonmel Town who are head and shoulders above the rest .

It's worth noting that I felt Moyglass(who were their first division champions as there is only 3 teams in their premier) were weaker than any of the North Tipperary youth sides and that Clonmore , Arra(before they pulled out due to not being able to field a team) Rearcross and the North Tipp sides in this comp would have beaten them .

Borrisoleigh beat Moyglass in either the Munster/FAI and we beat 2 mile Borris 11-0 in the FAI .

But yet again when all is said and done by the time all of us players are at Junior level it will be the South sides who have developed much further(well at least the bigger ones anyway) and us in the North will be left behind .

My final piece of evidence to the talent is there but the infrastructure isn't is in schools football . I go to Borrisokane CC myself and we reached the semi-final of the Munster Senior Cup , losing to eventual Munster and All-Ireland winner Sexton Street CBS 1-0 .
They had 3 Irish youth internationals and 1 Irish u16 international and most of the rest of their team was made up of Wembley Rovers players(who as you probably know are always winning U17 and U18 national cups) .
Our starting line up comprised of 4 players who don't play for any club(one player never has) 2 Nenagh AFC players and 5 Cloughjordan FC players(they don't even have a youth team) .
Despite this the game was completely even , they had their spells we had ours , we hit the woodwork had several shots cleared off the line and for long periods of the game we outplayed them by knocking the ball around and outfought them for possession , it took an Irish youth international to get the only goal for them . Pretty much the whole game other than that moment he was in the pocket of our centre half who guess what , was the one player who has never played club football .


CBS won the rest of their games comfortably including the All-Ireland final 4-1 and they will probably have a couple of players who we will be watching on tv in the future . As for our team you'll probably see a couple of them on tv too , playing hurling and Gaelic though(there's a couple of them that have been on Minor hurling and football sides and they look set to make it at senior level) .
Not one member of our team will go on to even play semi-professional and with the players we had it seems like such a waste of talent .


Yip there is no doubt there is talent in North Tipp and if we had fewer clubs it wouldnt be so diluted.
Thinking about it if there are 39 teams thats 429 players probably half of them would put hurling first so lets say 214 players. If you divide that by 12 teams you get 17 per squad. That would be about right.
So basically rather than a board that is set-up to make as much money as it can to run a competition we need a board that also looks at the future good of the game in North Tipp.
I've never been to a North Tipp board meeting (Mainly I work away during the week) so I cant really comment on what is going on but obviously they are not going to do this without being pushed.
Doesnt really leave us any closer to a better standard of football or an "A" league I guess.
If we can look to the clubs that are trying to progress and maybe align ourselves with Limerick 37, for any young talent, who seem to be getting their act together then maybe that is the way to go in the short-term.
Next year I know Newtown Celtic wont have a team or Boher (the Ballina team) so that is two less teams and I can see quiet a few more pulling out as it just doesnt become worth the hassle so maybe the league will find a natural solution to the amount of teams it can sustain.

[Big Ears]

First of all congratulations to our Women's side on winning the FAI UMBRO Women's Junior Cup Final , beating Borris St Kevins 3-1 .

The first silverware for a premier division side went to Toomevara this evening as they beat us on penalties after a 2 all draw .

We were missing no less than 8 players this evening(including myself) but still should have won the game and would have if not for a bizarre call by the linesman that the ball had gone out after we had scored a third goal that looked set to win it .
No Toomevara player had claimed the ball went wide and not even their management protested , the ref would have given the goal had the linesman not signalled and it really seems he was the only one in the ground that thought the ball was out . We should have had a penalty too as the same player who scored the third (non) goal was brought down inside the box but a free was only given outside . Now it might have been hard to see for the ref but the linesman was right there and said nothing and because of his comments to our manager and subs during the game you'd have to question if he had an agenda .

Never the less Toomevara did what was asked of them and it's a great achievement for a newly promoted side .

I'm gonna sound like a paranoid Cork City fan but imo RRS!

[olegunnar]

What we have.....

A small committee (6) that runs the ntdl
A small pool of referees - leading to fri/sat matches
very little coverage in local papers
by and large, poor facilities to play/train/change in


What we don't have.....

An Oscar Traynor team - for all players to aim for
qualified coaches in clubs
poor link between schoolboy section & junior
great support from FAI development officer


IF ONLY.....

We had a Schoolboy set-up, where managers had to have minimum kick-start1 coaching award, the league would work from u8-u16, and feed into a Youth League. The Schoolboys could compete in the Kennedy Cup(so we get them together starting with U10 Academy and work all the way up to U13, to give the players better coaching over a longer period of time.

Our Youth League would have a representative side, which would annually play matches against Limerick 37 & Athlone Town, exposing our players to LOI set-up. Youth Cert required for coaches.

Youth League feeds into Junior League.

Junior League has a representative team,and has an annual trip abroad, to encourage the top players to commit to Football. Coaches at this level should do the Senior Introduction course, subsidised by league.

We should expand on the website, with off-shoot links to club sites, and go from a corner of the guardian, to taking 2-3 pages.


We have one overall Committee, with a Schoolboy Section, Youth Section, Referee section, Ladies section, Junior section. This sounds difficult, but, many people already have positions,just a case of knitting everyone together with a common plan.

Just some ideas, but i'm a 10 year veteran in this League and am painfully aware of the shortcomings.

Is any of this possible???

[bawn79]

First of all congratulations to our Women's side on winning the FAI UMBRO Women's Junior Cup Final , beating Borris St Kevins 3-1 .

The first silverware for a premier division side went to Toomevara this evening as they beat us on penalties after a 2 all draw .

We were missing no less than 8 players this evening(including myself) but still should have won the game and would have if not for a bizarre call by the linesman that the ball had gone out after we had scored a third goal that looked set to win it .
No Toomevara player had claimed the ball went wide and not even their management protested , the ref would have given the goal had the linesman not signalled and it really seems he was the only one in the ground that thought the ball was out . We should have had a penalty too as the same player who scored the third (non) goal was brought down inside the box but a free was only given outside . Now it might have been hard to see for the ref but the linesman was right there and said nothing and because of his comments to our manager and subs during the game you'd have to question if he had an agenda .

Never the less Toomevara did what was asked of them and it's a great achievement for a newly promoted side .

I'm gonna sound like a paranoid Cork City fan but imo RRS!


Unlucky in the Shield. I had the same persucution complex last year when we were getting relegated. Nothing went for us at all.

In one game against Nenagh Celic we were in possession of the ball and our centre-half was muttering about a bad challenge that one of the Celtic lads put in (studs up but no free). The ref stopped played and gave Celtic a free-kick on the edge of our box (where the centre-half had been standing we were in possession of the ball on the halfway) and they promply scored from it going 2-1 up.
You could go on and on but obviously North Tipp needs more refs. I dont know how the current crop put up with the abuse.

[bawn79]

What we have.....

A small committee (6) that runs the ntdl
A small pool of referees - leading to fri/sat matches
very little coverage in local papers
by and large, poor facilities to play/train/change in


What we don't have.....

An Oscar Traynor team - for all players to aim for
qualified coaches in clubs
poor link between schoolboy section & junior
great support from FAI development officer


IF ONLY.....

We had a Schoolboy set-up, where managers had to have minimum kick-start1 coaching award, the league would work from u8-u16, and feed into a Youth League. The Schoolboys could compete in the Kennedy Cup(so we get them together starting with U10 Academy and work all the way up to U13, to give the players better coaching over a longer period of time.

Our Youth League would have a representative side, which would annually play matches against Limerick 37 & Athlone Town, exposing our players to LOI set-up. Youth Cert required for coaches.

Youth League feeds into Junior League.

Junior League has a representative team,and has an annual trip abroad, to encourage the top players to commit to Football. Coaches at this level should do the Senior Introduction course, subsidised by league.

We should expand on the website, with off-shoot links to club sites, and go from a corner of the guardian, to taking 2-3 pages.


We have one overall Committee, with a Schoolboy Section, Youth Section, Referee section, Ladies section, Junior section. This sounds difficult, but, many people already have positions,just a case of knitting everyone together with a common plan.

Just some ideas, but i'm a 10 year veteran in this League and am painfully aware of the shortcomings.

Is any of this possible???

I agree with a lot of this stuff, its funny I was reading the South Tipp football thread here and they are having trouble getting lads out to play so I guess its not just our league that is in trouble.
However I think after the surge of interest (plus I thought the standard of play was pretty reasonable then) in the mid 90s and none of the above were fixed I think it will be difficult to implement the above.
Ive never been to any delegate meetings of the North Tipp DL so I cant really comment on what goes on there. (I work away from Tipp during the week and am only home on weekends). I dont know if they have the desire to try and improve soccer in North Tipp or if they just organise a competition.
I do think a reduction in the number of clubs is required. As is some kind of rules regarding the state of clubs in the Premier Division. Stuff like they must have dressing-rooms, youth set-ups etc.
Im a 15 year veteran of the league having played in it since I was 13! I have an FAI level 1 badge myself but had to pay for it out of my own pocket.

[mr. man]

"It's Nenagh v Cloughjordan again next week in a battle of top of the table"

It should be a good game.. Tis a pity that we ( clough ) are going to be missing alot of players for sunday. (Junior hurlers are playing a north final ).. But we will give it our best shot anyway, and hopfully give ye lots of it !!
I must say that the pitche (s) ye have are outstanding and it is a pleasure to play on it.. I wish more clubs and including us could have the same standards as ye do...

[stevie11]

I hear there is trouble in the Nenagh Celtic camp this year!!Players goin missing on Sundays n that..Maybe this could mean the winning of the league coming to an end!!But there again,standard aint the best n maybe there is still no team to challenge them..Nenagh Town maybe,heard they were unlucky to be bet by Clonmel Town!!:ball::ball::)

[Big Ears]

Nenagh AFC 4-0 Cloughjordan , Clough may have been missing players but so were we(including myself:p) but to win leagues you need to have strength in depth and I feel that is something we have this season(we certainly didn't last season) .

The B team beat Kilcommon 3-1 so now we have teams top of the Premier and 1st division respectively .

Won 4-2 in the 1st round of the Munster Youths yesterday in our first game of the season , so everythings going great from a Town perspective .

What I'd like to know is what's happened to Blackcastle ? , if they don't get themselves in order soon they'll find themselves in a relegation battle .

[balls]

What I'd like to know is what's happened to Blackcastle ? , if they don't get themselves in order soon they'll find themselves in a relegation battle .[/QUOTE]

they lost a few of there good young players to kilkenny didnt they. just a slow start im sure they will pick it up

[bawn79]

I think there will be a new name on the Premier Division title this year. It was always bound to happen when Nenagh Celtic didnt have any long-term structures in place.
Also great to see a few people joining up here to talk about soccer in North Tipp.
I havent seen too many teams playing this year but I would have to go for Nenagh Town although Arra Rovers and Rearcross are starting to look good.
It should be entertaining anyway can see it going right down to the wire.

[Big Ears]

Nenagh AFC 2-1 Moneygall , Town were pretty poor tbh and although we controlled most of the game and should have got a few more we could have suffered right at the death as Moneygall hit the post and then shot wide from the rebound .

Nenagh Celtic 4-0 Rearcross , Celtic won easily after putting it up to Rockmount(losing 1-0) last week and determined not to relinquish their title .

The record for the most amount of consecutive titles is 4 , originally done by Town and equalled by Celtic last year . That's added an extra incentive to the league this year as Celtic are determined to make a new record and we're determined to not only stop them but to do it while bringing the league back across the town .

The other games today were Balingarry v Blackcastle and Clodiagh v Clough .

I expect Clough will have beaten Clodiagh and put a few goals past a club who seemed destined for the drop . As far as I know they've lost a lot of players and from what I've seen of them this year huge improvement will be needed to stay up .

Balingarry v Blackcastle is a big game to both sides as Balingarry need to start getting points if they are gonna try and avoid the drop and winning or losing today could be the difference between Blackcastle being towards the top end of the table come the end of the season or getting bogged down in a relegation fight themselves . I reckon Blackcastle will have edged that one .

[Squadie]

A very good win for Celtic today on the back of a good performance last week. We made Rearcross look very ordinary today and finally look to getting some form together. Also the return of some keys players from injury and commitments to GAA will strengthen our team for the rest of the season and we will be gunning for our 5 in a row.

[daz22]

ya,was at that celtic game and the game finished 5-0 and it could have being more although when the game was at 1-0 rearcross did have their chances.Celtic blew them away in the second half.ive being told it has being celtic worst start to a season in many a year but they looked to have finally found form even though as "Squadie" said above they were missing players and with Nenagh losing the hurling yesterday expect atleast 2 players back from there and 3 more when the minors finish in 2 weeks.watch them get stronger in the next few weeks but i think Nenagh town will push them all the way this year!!i also expect Arra rovers to have their best season in a few years.can anyone tell me what has happened to clodaigh Rangers?

[bawn79]

Big-Ears / All,
Im curious how the astro-turf is going in Nenagh, is it fully booked up at the moment?
Also does anyone know the cost / availablity of the all weather pitch in the Tech?

[daz22]

am the all weather pitch is not in use at the moment as it is currently going through the process of being handed over to new management.


dont know bout brickfields.

[whitestripe]

Why not try put some of the better teams in the Limerick League?

[mr. man]

The other games today were Balingarry v Blackcastle and Clodiagh v Clough .

I expect Clough will have beaten Clodiagh and put a few goals past a club who seemed destined for the drop . As far as I know they've lost a lot of players and from what I've seen of them this year huge improvement will be needed to stay up .

Clodiagh 1 Cloughjordan 6

Yea clodiagh looks destined for the drop all right.. Pity cos they have a good setup there but they dont seem to have the players at their disposal at the moment..
We were 5 Nil up at half time and the game was well and truly over after nearly 15 minutes..
We are playing Ballingarry A ( south tipp ) away in the Fai Junior Cup the weekend.. Dont know much bout them, only that they are top of their First Division league so they cant be too bad..

As far as putting the better teams in the Limerick League???
Sure we would not have a league here in North Tipp then so what would be the point.. If you take the goos teams out of it then you can forget bout running a league..
Anyway there is enough teams in the Limerick league

[daz22]

teams in limerick,that was tried by the nenagh teams in the 70s and 80s,even before that .it did not work out and to be honest like every other junior league there is only 3 to 5 good teams and the rest are average or worse!!

[Big Ears]

I don't know about the availability of the astro-turf in Brickfields but it's open 6 days a week(at least) from around 17:00-22:30 .

I know us youths gave up an hour slot on a thursday recently to go train in Islandbawn .We had been training on the pitches and then heading into the astro-turf but since it's getting dark early now and brickfields doesn't have light for the pitches at the moment we had to move to Islandbawn .

Blackcastle beat Ballingarry 2-1 , from what I've heard after the poor start Ballingarry are starting to lose players and at the moment I can't really see past them and Clodiagh going down .

Despite the league doing fairly poorly in the FAi this year I have to say I think the standard has gone up this year from most clubs .

As far as North Tipp sides going to Limerick.......not going to happen , and it shouldn't either . However there being an all-Tipp Premier division in the future(with lower divisions being regionalised to North and South Tipp) is a possibility that may happen .

Currently at Youth level they have the Joe Delaney(All-Tipperary) Cup , with was a success last year and if it continues to be so it will most likely be implemented into Junior level .
For those not familiar with it , the competition takes the top 4 sides from North and South once the league has those places cemented(the league doesn't have to be over and it doesn't matter if any of the top four change position between them once no other team can break into that top 4) .

Now because of the success of this competition last year there was an idea put forward of taking the top 4 teams from North Tipp at youth level and putting them into a league with the top 4 teams from South Tipp at youth level . Now the idea didn't come about(for this season anyway) but may be looked at again in the future and seeing as they like to use the youths as a trial for the Juniors anything that works at youth level may eventually be applied to Junior .

If the Joe Delaney Cup is competitive between North and South again this year and goes well I reckon there is a very good chance it'll be implemented into Junior football for the following season .

[daz22]

the 2 Nenagh teams struggled sunday but came away with wins.Pity arra gave blackcastle a walk over

[mr. man]

Clough 2 Ballingarry 2
Very bad result for Clough this weekend in a game they controlled from start to finish.. We missed too many chances in the first half and we could have been 4 nil up at halftime but instead we were 2 nil down.. They scored from their only attack in the game and we conceded another through an unfortunate O.G..
We did get 2 goals back in the second half but these are the types of games we should be winning.. Playing Nenagh Celtic next weekend which will no doubt be a tough game..

[bawn79]

I think Arra had hurling on sunday, thats why they gave the walk over. Kinda shows them up for what they are. A crowd of hurlers!

Has any other team based around dual players won the league in the last 20 years (Besides Arra back in 95ish)?

[daz22]

no not as far as i know,and do not think it will happen again

[mr. man]

Premier Division League Fixtures


Cloughjordan v Nenagh Celtic 2.30pm
Arra Rovers v Ballingarry 11.30
Nenagh AFC v Toomevara 2.30pm.
Rearcross v Clodiagh Rgs. 11.30

[bishbash]

is arra rovers pitch in good condition? do they have dressing rooms?

[Big Ears]

is arra rovers pitch in good condition? do they have dressing rooms?

I think they have 'changing facilities' for the home team but I don't remember ever using a dressing room down there .

Pitch itself , even if it is in good condition(extremely unlikely) is very lopsided and has a bit hill to go with it .

It's the one pitch I question why it's even allowed to be used , I'm sure there must be a nearby field in better condition .

When we were down there last year a rusty tenon saw was found on the pitch during the game(tells you how long the grass was that no one noticed it before-hand and presumely it was there for weeks/years)


Dreadful pitch , possibly the most difficult thing about getting a result down there , although with that said they do have a better team this year .

[bishbash]

with the recent bad weather (heavy rain) will the game go ahead?

[mr. man]

with the recent bad weather (heavy rain) will the game go ahead?

Yep that game will go ahead imo..
We played down there 2 weeks ago and i must agree that the pitch is a lob sided and hilly..
However the surface was pretty ok and alot better than i ever remember it.. We had no dressing rooms to use but i am sure they will organise something for ye.. Tough place to go and get a result.

[bawn79]

Tough pitch to play on, worst thing to do would be to try and out play them on it. Really is a game of two halfs down there.
I have to agree though about it being one of the worst pitches in the league. They have the option to use Newtown Celtics old field but know that they would be destroyed on it because of its size.

[bishbash]

do they ever play on the other pitch you mentioned?

[bawn79]

No not that I know of. There was talk of Nenagh Celtic playing out in Newtown as well but that seems to have come to naught.
To be honest Im kinda out of the loop on what Arra are up to this season. Ive driven by the pitch in Portroe (the hilly one) about two sundays ago and they were playing there so I cant see that changing.

[historynut]

Collect historic data on Junior/Intermediate leagues in Ireland.
Have viewed legue website and note no historic section.
Anyone able to share league history and details of past champions/runners up ?
Thanks

[bawn79]

Why didnt the league call the matches off last Saturday night?
We didnt get word until Sunday morning. It was obvious with the rain that most of the matches would be off.
Its hard enough to get lads to stay in off the beer as it is. If they called them off Saturday it would allow lads to head out and let a bit of steam off without affecting a match weekend.

[mr. man]

Totally agree with ya Bawn.. It is a disgrace.. one of our lads rang some1 from the North Tipp board Sat evening to see willl the matches be on and we were told that they are still on and they will make a decision in the morning.. Do they not look at the weather forecast... And it is not as if there were pitch inspecations on sun cos we got a text a 09:00 to say all matches are off..
I stayed in on Sat Night when i could have gone out on the beer..
Some of our players drove back from a stag in mayo Sun Morning and others drove back from Cork and this is not on or not fair imo..
Are these lads on the north tipp board thick or what..
The season is long enough and it is great when ya get a break on sun and be able to go out Sat night...

[bawn79]

Totally agree, word only came to us at about 10am. I thought it might have been a break down of communication on our side. Obviously just the North Tipp organisers.

[Big Ears]

What's a shame was that Islandbawn was in perfect condition , we had used Brickfields for the FAI youths game against Celtic the day before(we won on penalties) and that was cut to shreds but even if Islandbawn had been used Saturday I suspect it would of been okay Sunday .

It holds up to the weather very well and you can always count on it to be in good condition come this(dreary, muddy, generally ****ty) time of year .

[mr. man]

Tis looking like we will have a free Sunday this weekend again , going by the weather..
I wonder when we will be told... we will prob get the phone call around 10:00 Sunday Morning..
I am going on the beer anyway either way !!!

[bawn79]

League finished up until the 28/29th of December.

[Big Ears]

History was made last night as the first competitive North Tipp game was played under floodlights .

Rearcross 1-2 Nenagh AFC AET , 1-1 after normal time .
That was the 3rd round of the Munster Junior Cup , we now play Burren Utd at home in the 4th round(last 32) with the winners facing Mallow or Rathkeale Utd .

Credit must go to Rearcross for their very good setup , the lights are very good and they have an astro-turf and good club house+ dressing rooms for what could be considered(and no offence meant) a small club .

The only gripe I have about the place is their pitch , but seeing all the other work they're going to and(if I'm right) there not being another pitch to play on down there it would be difficult to re-do the pitch , at least as things are now .

[bawn79]

History was made last night as the first competitive North Tipp game was played under floodlights .

Rearcross 1-2 Nenagh AFC AET , 1-1 after normal time .
That was the 3rd round of the Munster Junior Cup , we now play Burren Utd at home in the 4th round(last 32) with the winners facing Mallow or Rathkeale Utd .

Credit must go to Rearcross for their very good setup , the lights are very good and they have an astro-turf and good club house+ dressing rooms for what could be considered(and no offence meant) a small club .

The only gripe I have about the place is their pitch , but seeing all the other work they're going to and(if I'm right) there not being another pitch to play on down there it would be difficult to re-do the pitch , at least as things are now .


Well done Rearcross, played their B team earlier in the year and I thought the pitch was ok, obviously a lot of rain recently. Also good to see that they actually go out to try and play football with the resources that they have.

Down in Ballymackey we are in planning for dressing rooms and an astro-turf pitch. So it is good to see clubs getting their acts together.

[Big Ears]

Down in Ballymackey we are in planning for dressing rooms and an astro-turf pitch. So it is good to see clubs getting their acts together.

good to hear , if football is to be taken seriously in North Tipp it needs serious facilities . Proper facilities are key in nurturing players and bringing out potential aswell as helping to bring more of a crowd and just be plain comfortable .

Gone are the days of just having a field, turning up on a Sunday and still having a chance at being successful . A more professional outlook from players(as regards diet and training) aswell as coaching , and facilities is proven to lead to success . Clubs that adopt measures like this will progress(such as Rearcross have in recent years) , clubs that don't will get left behind .

The building of the clubhouse has started at Brickfields , not sure how long it will take but it will be very nice when completed and allow for completion of the rest of the grounds(floodlights and possibly dugouts and stand in the future) , I know it is hoped to bring the facilities up to U21 International standard .


With the growing of Nenagh as a town and the sheer amount of young players coming through(5 U10 teams and 4 U12 teams just from Nenagh AFC , I believe Celtic have 2 teams at each grade aswell) it points towards a good future for football in Nenagh .

[bawn79]

good to hear , if football is to be taken seriously in North Tipp it needs serious facilities . Proper facilities are key in nurturing players and bringing out potential aswell as helping to bring more of a crowd and just be plain comfortable .

Gone are the days of just having a field, turning up on a Sunday and still having a chance at being successful . A more professional outlook from players(as regards diet and training) aswell as coaching , and facilities is proven to lead to success . Clubs that adopt measures like this will progress(such as Rearcross have in recent years) , clubs that don't will get left behind .

The building of the clubhouse has started at Brickfields , not sure how long it will take but it will be very nice when completed and allow for completion of the rest of the grounds(floodlights and possibly dugouts and stand in the future) , I know it is hoped to bring the facilities up to U21 International standard .


With the growing of Nenagh as a town and the sheer amount of young players coming through(5 U10 teams and 4 U12 teams just from Nenagh AFC , I believe Celtic have 2 teams at each grade aswell) it points towards a good future for football in Nenagh .

Bump!

[Big Ears]

A 4-0 win over Rearcross today has handed us the league title with two games to go , still in the Munster Junior at the quarter final stages and have the two domestic cups left aswell so all in all things are going well for the club .

[bawn79]

Ya I saw that, congrats.
Unbeaten as well.
Ballymackey won the 2nd Division yesterday so good day for us too.
Best of luck in the Munster Junior.