Cork AUL 2011/12

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Originally Posted by freddieflinston

Standards???? Off to the MSL with ye - ye elitist snobs :-P

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how you can deduce that fellas who express concerns with the standard of pitches in the aul are elitist snobs and should pack off to the msl is beyond me although not surprising as it seems to be the mantre of the aul to settle for mediocrity instead of incorporating some standards and investing in the local game. Those who express such concerns are in fact loyal aul supporters who want to better the league and changing allegiance to the msl is not an option for them. If only more stood up and were counted then we might see the much needed improvement in standards

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Originally Posted by padre pio

how you can deduce that fellas who express concerns with the standard of pitches in the aul are elitist snobs and should pack off to the msl is beyond me although not surprising as it seems to be the mantre of the aul to settle for mediocrity instead of incorporating some standards and investing in the local game. Those who express such concerns are in fact loyal aul supporters who want to better the league and changing allegiance to the msl is not an option for them. If only more stood up and were counted then we might see the much needed improvement in standards

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are you familiar with the concept of humour??? i was JOKING

fair enough, hands up missed the joke. point still stands though, more needs to be done and its not as if the funds are not there to help a club or two per season out.

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Originally Posted by padre pio

fair enough, hands up missed the joke. point still stands though, more needs to be done and its not as if the funds are not there to help a club or two per season out.

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but the funds AREN'T there. Most clubs struggling to survive let alone improve their facilities and as we all know the AULs money disappeared ;)

Freddie is right. If someone gives me 100grand for a dressing room, I will run up now and dig the hole myself! Greenwood may have had to use Clashduv to play the game - who knows? You can see by their actions that they arent happy with Clashduv either and working hard to improve their facilities. Lets give them a break. For example, we threw 10 times our profit from last season into our dressing rooms this season. Still not a high standard but the point Im making is that the AUL and the teams want to improve their facilities but it isnt as easy as that.

As for our last 3 games, our reputation is built on the fact that no-one gets an easy game from us and thats how it will be for our last 3 games.

Is all well and good talking about improving standards but a lot of clubs don't own their pitchs and are running club year to year . Some clubs don't get land from the council for their pitchs I know a club who built 2 fine new pitch's top class and are meeting a monthly payment of 3400 a month and they have no dressing rooms or astro etc going to take them 15 years to pay for pitchs how can they afford to build dressing rooms etc that's only 1 example I play with prem team and we have our pitch thanks to a local farmer but during summer he takes a cut of silage off it what are we meant to say or do his kind enough to give us a pitch not all clubs can afford land

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Originally Posted by freddieflinston

but the funds AREN'T there. Most clubs struggling to survive let alone improve their facilities and as we all know the AULs money disappeared ;)

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Well Fred the AUL are around long enough and have been promising for years to invest in clubs and help bring up the stancards of clubs but every year they keep accepting clubs with little or no facilities and no the people in the AUL do not go out and look at pictches to see if they are up to any standard, if they did then maybe there would be a better quality of pitch to play on and maybe they might even know what is going on in their league. now maybe I'm missing something but AUL money diappearing that seems like a handy way of getting out of helping clubs with their facilities their books always look healthy at their AGM.

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Originally Posted by The Boar

Well Fred the AUL are around long enough and have been promising for years to invest in clubs and help bring up the stancards of clubs but every year they keep accepting clubs with little or no facilities and no the people in the AUL do not go out and look at pictches to see if they are up to any standard, if they did then maybe there would be a better quality of pitch to play on and maybe they might even know what is going on in their league. now maybe I'm missing something but AUL money diappearing that seems like a handy way of getting out of helping clubs with their facilities their books always look healthy at their AGM.

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Boar, you missed the point. They were false accounts for the last decade. Last years accounts didnt look healthy at all.

Can a Cork side win the FAI Junior Cup?

from barry peelo's piece on the back of the net magazine

How many times have we heard discussions on this one over the years?

Well here is my view for what it is worth.
First of all let’s look at the magnitude of this competition.
There are approximately 600 teams that enter this competition each year and I believe generally speaking there are 10 rounds in the competition which believe it or believe it not is
regarded as one of the biggest junior football competitions in the whole of Europe.
Yes! Ask anyone in the football governing bodies and they will tell you the same, I guarantee you that.
So, let’s get the ball rolling.
I know I am going to touch a few nerves here with the next few statements but, that’s the beauty of this column because you can speak your mind.
I don’t think we have anyone in the junior circles (AUL or MSL) right now capable of winning what is the toughest football trophy in Ireland, in fact, without any disrespect to the
top Munster Senior League (senior premier) teams and we have some good ones, I believe they too would find it a huge mountain to climb to go all the way in a competition that I
would regard as a much tougher one to win than the FAI Intermediate Cup.
The top junior teams around the country are as close as you can get to the League of Ireland standards and if you talk to anyone in the AUL or MSL that managed teams who have
reached the fifth and sixth round stages of this competition, they will let you know in no uncertain manner of how excellent sides are that reach these stages of the competition.
I know of course you may get the odd one where you might say “How the hell did they get this far,” but, generally speaking, the class starts to show from around the sixth round on.
Having watched some of these exceptional sides over the years, in my opinion, the big difference apart from the obvious ones is that these sides have no player in any position that
you could call weak.
Every position from back to front is filled with a player that has the necessary quality to represent each position with competence on the park.
It does not give me any pleasure to say that the same does not apply to our top junior sides here in Cork.
That is of course if we want to be brutally honest.
So, am I saying that all is lost down here and that we will never see the day come when one of our junior teams win the FAI Junior Cup?
Well, right now as I said, there is not a hope in hell and here is one of the reasons why I think it will never happen unless some restructuring is done.
To begin with, geographically I believe we have too many junior teams that are currently in operation too close to each other.
There are too many junior teams in the northside and the same can be said about the southside although not to the same degree.
Instead of having three teams within a stone’s throw of each other, why can’t you have just one?
This way you could have an (A) quality team followed by a secondary (B) team and so on.
I understand, it is very difficult for some teams to surrender their identity but, unless something like this happens, we will always have just average junior sides in Cork because
the talent is too spread out and there is no point saying otherwise.
I’ve heard lots of people talking about the lack of facilities, inadequate coaching, fitness levels, commitment and so on as excuses.
And they would certainly be right to point all these things out but, take a look at our top clubs in Cork that have all the necessary facilities.
Have they crack junior sides?
I certainly don’t think so and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Whether you have first class facilities, good facilities or mediocre facilities, if you cannot field 11 quality players, there is no way that any side will succeed on the big stage.
Over the last number of years, I have been keeping track of how junior football is going on in Cork using the Evening Echo pages as Press Officer of the AUL and I can tell
you that with the exception of one or two, the furthest we have gone generally speaking over the last number of years is fifth to sixth round stages.
So, to conclude and to re-iterate what I have said above, I firmly believe that unless we amalgamate some clubs which would strengthen the playing resource of a team, we will
always be “also rans” in the big stage, in my opinion.

Good post!
How many teams would have to join together to get one capable of competing in the FAI Junior Cup???
Would the Cork AUL team be capable of winning this competition??
Not in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Hubba Bubba

i agree shilts i don't think the cork Aul team would do well in fai cup.name the cork Aul strongest 11 i would be struggling to name best keeper in Aul already and that's only one position their is no defintes i could pick..anybody wanna have a go naming best 11 in Aul at moment.

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I could name a team from prem but I could name 3 for each position as their is no real stand out player for anyone place

The problem with junior soccer in Cork is not quantity, it's quality.
All the quality players get drawn to the MSL clubs - I'm thinking Derek Varian, JP O'Sullivan etc.
So even though we get 7 teams into the open draw (Limerick get 3, I think) we don't have the quality to progress much further.

Many leagues (like Limerick, Tipp and Waterford) are in effect the senior leagues in their area.
So we are not competing on a level footing.

It is the top MSL Premier teams who should be competing with the likes of Carrick, Clonmel and Pike and not us.
As long as the present system continues, where "senior leagues" are operating at junior level, Cork AUL teams have 0% chance of ever winning the FAI Junior Cup.

Spot on with your post Shilts, with the luck of the draw a few rounds may be got through but the bulk of teams entering this comp from the AUL are aiming to get "a day out " with a trip away and hope for the best after that. Even a Cork AUL Team would struggle against a lot of these "jUNIOR" sides from around the country. With 3 more of the AULs better clubs ( and their facilities) now going MSL, the task for the next AUL manager is hopeless and the chances of FAI Cup success are zero!

Any thoughts on tonight's game lads,, I have funny feeling it will go extra time and penos,, it's anyones game then !!!

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Originally Posted by Horse24

Boar, you missed the point. They were false accounts for the last decade. Last years accounts didnt look healthy at all.

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sure am missing the point false accounts

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Originally Posted by billythefrog

Any thoughts on tonight's game lads,, I have funny feeling it will go extra time and penos,, it's anyones game then !!!

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I think it will be a good game and a close game a hard one to call, I know some people will favour Park to win but I wouldn't be underestimating Killumney. I'm looking forward to a good game hope the weather stays good.

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Originally Posted by The Boar

I think it will be a good game and a close game a hard one to call, I know some people will favour Park to win but I wouldn't be underestimating Killumney. I'm looking forward to a good game hope the weather stays good.

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No doubt park are favorites , I wouldn't rule out any team though , anything could happen on the big stage I have seen many teams s=%t the pants in the cross, I'm just hoping for a good clean game with good consistent lines men and refs, I went to the cross last.Sunday morning for the under 19 final jaysus the linesman cost ballincollig the game with terrible offside decisions ,, both linemen had to wait for refs call on most throws they were shocking to say the least !!

i think it will be a close one,but i fancy killumney to nick it by the odd goal..

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

i think it will be a close one,but i fancy killumney to nick it by the odd goal..

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I'm sure all the lads out in killumney would be delighted with that result,,,
Its anybody's game tonight depends who can keep a clean underpants and whos need extra detergent in the kit wash !!! Best of luck to both teams anyway both deserve to be there !!!!

Park 0-1 Killumney FT