Kilkenny City

I know we're supposed to be the club in the mire at the moment but after my trip to Buckley Farm on Saturday I think Kilkenny must be in real trouble. A crowd of about 80 people watched the game including 30 odd Limerick fans as well as the Vultures McGeough and Noel O'Connor.

But it was actually sad to see such an abysmal tunout on a fine Saturday evening in a ground that has seen some work put into it. Kilkenny City tried to make a breakthrough but on the evidence of the mood there on Saturday it's the Cats and not ourselves who'll be vanishing off the map come the end of the season...

Monaghan United are bad as well, This season when we played them at Century Homes Park there was about 20 Monaghan fans and about 500 Dundalk fans.

It's sad to see Killkenny going that way. They've a tidy wee ground. Better than some in the premier. Suppose the hurling is a preocupation there at this time of year.

Much as it pains me to say it, clubs like Kilkenny and Monaghan are doing nothing for the league. the FAI should do something about teams that are continuously languishing in the depths- they've both had one awful season in the premier and then back to obscurity

Kilkenny are a bottom 2 side in Div 1 anything above that is a success. Only for the FAI giving them underage international matches they would never get money from gates to exist. But must be given credit for their ground and seem to be a well run club. Kildare County are just like Limerick ground wise.

The FAI should bring in new clubs. But only ones where there is no other eL team in the county (eg Mayo, Wexford ect)

But what difference would that make - there are no other eL teams in Kilkenny or Monaghan.... In fact it would only make sense if it were it Dundalk, Cobh or Dublin City (as things stand) up for re-election - as those counties already have league teams....

Kilkenny and Monaghan deserve their places - great work on the grounds. Both grounds are well outside the towns so this can be a problem in attracting fans.

By all means bring in teams from Wexford and Mayo or Kerry or anywhere else. Football has grown hugely in these counties which were once strongholds of bogball and stick fighting.

We don't need to reduce the numbers in the league and even if we did surely Dublin should lose a couple of clubs.

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Originally posted by gspain
We don't need to reduce the numbers in the league and even if we did surely Dublin should lose a couple of clubs.

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I know that the popular view to take but to be fair 6 clubs amnong a million people sounds about right. Dublin has about a 1/4 of the population so for them to have 1/4 of the clubs sounds about right too if people are fair about it.

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Originally posted by gspain
Kilkenny and Monaghan deserve their places - great work on the grounds. Both grounds are well outside the towns so this can be a problem in attracting fans.

By all means bring in teams from Wexford and Mayo or Kerry or anywhere else. Football has grown hugely in these counties which were once strongholds of bogball and stick fighting.

We don't need to reduce the numbers in the league and even if we did surely Dublin should lose a couple of clubs.

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That's complete rubbish-even allowing for SLK's point about population below, the Gaaaaaa is far weaker in Dublin than it is in most other places, most of the strong non-league clubs are from Dublin aswell. Small towns like Monaghan can never hope to have a full-time set up, both grounds are in reality sh1te. And don't give me the ''at least they have one'' nonsense we could have built one of those dumps several times over. Letting in small provincial clubs has been most diasterous of all for the medium sized clubs like Limerick funnily enough.

My preference would be for a National Intermediate Leaguerun like the under 21s, the winners swapping place with whoever finishes bottom of the First.

There's no point having a good ground if there's no-one there for the matches!!!!

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Originally posted by eamo
The FAI should bring in new clubs. But only ones where there is no other eL team in the county (eg Mayo, Wexford ect)

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Don't know about that. Many counties don't have teams for good reasons. No one would go. the league doesn't need more dead end clubs. Mayo for example, many in north mayo are already Sligo Rovers fans and in the south Galway United.

Kilkenny I think can come back. The town is big enough to support a team. Monaghan???????

Longford should be the yard stick for most clubs, took them a while to get going. It must give hope to other clubs. League Cup Champs 2003?

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Originally posted by Rocky
Don't know about that. Many counties don't have teams for good reasons. No one would go. the league doesn't need more dead end clubs. Mayo for example, many in north mayo are already Sligo Rovers fans and in the south Galway United.

Kilkenny I think can come back. The town is big enough to support a team. Monaghan???????

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Dont know about that. All my cosines live in Mayo, and dont support there irish soccer teams. They would support the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool.

I went to see one of teams there (Castlebar Celtic) and they have good pitchs but they only have a club houes no stand. But Rock Celtic in Blackrock (Dundalk Blackrock) they have a good gorund wit a few hundred seater stand.

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Originally posted by eamo
The FAI should bring in new clubs. But only ones where there is no other eL team in the county (eg Mayo, Wexford ect)

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Bottom line with that is that if the clubs don't want to dome into the league, you are going to do more harm than good forcing them in.

Only Kildare and Mullingar wanted to come in the last time, so the demand can't be there.

I honestly think the 22 teams in the league at the moment are the best 22 simply because no-one else wants to come in.

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The FAI should bring in new clubs. But only ones where there is no other eL team in the county (eg Mayo, Wexford ect)

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When Rovers played Mayo League in the league cup their was only about 250/300 at the game and most of them where from Sligo. The gaaaaaaaaa is the main sport in that county their would be no fan base for a mayo club in the EL. The FAI should spend more money on clubs all ready in the EL

Westport is a football town and has potential - castlebar have 2 good pitches (at least) but has a gaa tradition although Ballybofey would be considered a gaa town too.

Another potential football town is Tullamore. Always great support for the national team from these places.

Tipperary Town with St. Michaels is another good option however the impetus must come from these clubs and towns.

There are at least 3 football clubs (United, Celtic and Snugboro) in the area served by Castlebar Mitchells GAA club.

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Originally posted by gspain
Westport is a football town and has potential - castlebar have 2 good pitches (at least) but has a gaa tradition although Ballybofey would be considered a gaa town too.

Another potential football town is Tullamore. Always great support for the national team from these places.

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Westport are a poor club compared with Castlebar's potential.

Tullamore I agree - good location.

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Originally posted by gspain
Tipperary Town with St. Michaels is another good option however the impetus must come from these clubs and towns.

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Tipp Town is far too small - only about 3000 people.

There doesn't seem to be much of a track record for people coming in from neighbouring towns to support a team, although maybe the Kildare/Sligo/Longford etc. lads can prove me wrong?

I am very sorry for the fate of Kilkenny City, and "Summer Soccer" has not been to their benefit. The fact that the county is an overwhelmingly hurling dominated place makes little benefit in having the games during the summer - it was never the premiership that proved to be the main competition here. I mean to say the there isn't even a county gaelic football team, nor has there been since sometime in the eighties.

The other big problem is that over the nearly twenty years that they have been in the league, they have spent at least a half of the time being either Dublin exiles or ex-Blues. Look at their first trip to the premier division - Alfie Hale managed a team with the Arrigans, Paul Cashin, Paschal Keane and a few others who had been there maybe three years previously with the Blues.

It was not off on a good footing, especially seeing as Waterford have the tradition in the area. Many of the better Wexford born players in my day went to the Blues if they didn't get snapped up in England and still wanted to play at the highest level they could. Lots of the better players in South Kilkenny used to do likewise.

This will not change until there is a considerable fan base in the county that would support the team as fervently against Limerick or Monaghan as against Man United. As it is I suspect that a friendly with Man United will only draw out the Red Cats rather than local fans.

It is a shame because a lot of people have put a lot of money into turning a field on the Thurles road into a decent ground. Sadly, they need fans and they don't have them. I'd hate to see them go, but surely if they finish bottom AGAIN, there would be an argument for at least a play off with a team that does want in, like Mullingar.

What is the possibility of a pyramid system taking here?