Under20's + facilities

**outspoken** · 28/07/2010, 9:35 PM

So I have to points to raise in this thread first off: I went in to the under 20's game vs Athlone Town tonight which we lost 3-1 and I have to say Athlone were completely the better side and deserved their win and should have scored much more.

this under 20's side was also recently bet 7-0 by Pats so is there any hope for the future of Longford? I doubt it no wonder we have so many players from outside the area. The onl decent prospect I saw tonight was Shane O'Brien who has great control of the ball and is very quick to turn and make space for himself but he is also a very hard tackler and that was his down fall tonight as he was sent off but a hot prospect none the less. A very tall full back number 2 he also looked quite good and with a bit of work could be a very solid player.

Anyway now for my second point........---- THE TOILETS IN FLANCARE PARK ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE. This has been a prblem for years in Flancare and thats why I for so long refused to go to the toilets in Flancare and made sure I waited until I got home. I thought this problem had been cleared up as they seemed to be in decent condition during pre-season and there was even a bit of work done on them but the horrible horrible smell and just general dirtiness is back!!!

this is no joke its an outrage at this day and age people are afraid to go to the bathroom in a sporting arena because it simply isnt fit for a dog....

I went in today during the u-20's game and I could smell the toilets before i even reached the door and once I got in it was truely awful and I was even more shicked to see a piece of toilet paper thrown on the floor with a lump of s*1t stuck to it!!!

This no doubt will keep people away not only from the toilets but from Flancare Park itself and while I know there was alot of vandalism to the toilets stuff like this is just simply wrong and unacceptable.

Maybe Pete Mahon was right when he talked about upgrading grounds with mns's money!!!

**howsyourtouch** · 29/07/2010, 12:47 AM

ok so first off this under 20's team were missing 4 first team starters tonight as they were at a debs in roscommon. now usually debs and stuff are not a problem for this age group but they are this year as this squad is very young. if you knew about this age group you would also know that this gae group is dropping from under 20 to under 19 next season. this is from under 21 two seasons ago. now the reason so many of them are so young is so that they have a year playing at this level before they ahve to go next year and play in the under 19. this extra year is a year experience at a higher level and against more experienced players. this is called building a team.

two of the players missing tonight were owen hoare and brian murtagh, who along with shane o'b were brought into the first team squad 2 seasons ago. a big loss for a game like this, an attacking midfielder and a centre midfielder who is one of the ebst around at this age group and who was asked to go back to the first team set up after his performance against st.pats in the game you mentioned earlier. the first team management were at this game and asked brian to be involved again straight away. the pats manager also commented after that game that brain was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. even though them two are at a roscommon debs doesnt mean they have not played local for most of their underage,just because their not from the town itself doesnt mean they are not local,brian has played underage in longford schoolboy league all his playing days and owen has played for the town since he was 15.you do know mullingar athletic have a team in the longford schoolboy league aswell as a team from castlepollard,which is in westmeath!now if any of these players play are they not local no??seeing as they have come through the LONGFORD schoolboy league?you really know feck all about this and your view points seem more damaging than anything else.

the tall lad you mentioned would be dean clarke who is also in the first team squad for the last 2 seasons. the pats game the first 3 goals were disasters, first one was an og from clarke,thje second the keeper dropped the ball into his own net and the third clarke kicked the ball off a pats player and into his own net. you failed to mention the shels game last thurs which was drawn 2-2 only after clarke scored another og in that game!

you really dont seem to know what your talking about regards this age group and are making sensationalist statements saying there is no hope for the future!?/ you seem to forget that michael lee played under 16 for a year and then two seasons at under 18 and also for a few years at under 20! also a few players who have played against us and scored against us this season have come from the under age in the last few years i.e evan connolly who scored for mervue and scored against us this season.he played under 16 and under 18 and under 21 for us but only left because he got a scholarship to UCD.

i know alot of these lads personally from playing with them for a good few years from when they played under 20's and 21's. they were always 1 or two years younger than me but their attitude to the game should not be questioned.

**fitzpatrick10** · 29/07/2010, 3:48 AM

i was also at he u20s game v athlone and the one last week against shels. i though they played well over all and were unlucky with the og and the missed peno(for some reason the regular peno taker did not take it),, also howsyourtouch is right in saying that this is a young team and most of the players are underage for u20s again next year and some of diseves team also will be able to play for the u18 team this year..

also Kieran "I doubt it no wonder we have so many players from outside the area. The onl decent prospect I saw tonight was Shane O'Brien"

the right back is a local lad who seems to have alot of potential as he started diseve and i think he is still u18 also there was a lad on the bench who came on agains shels in the 2nd half on the right wing who is a local lad and also had great pace and sent in a few good crosses who is young also i have seen the sub goalie another local lad who played for the u16 and u17 and he also is an excellent keeper, so really the talent is out there in longford and im sure if these lads keep playing for the tow they would be a great addition to the senior sqaud. o and im not knockin shane he is a very skillfull player im just making the point that we do have local talent

**outspoken** · 29/07/2010, 11:36 AM

I didnt mean that the lads playing u-20 arnt local im just saying that alot of them wont play for the senior side and thats why we will have to bring in outside help

**Acornvilla** · 29/07/2010, 12:57 PM

i know the young keeper has a hell of a lot of potential

and i think your all getting a little over defensive, i'd love to see these lads come into the 1st team but in all fairness in recent years how many have broken into the team and thrived

i think we should be treating our underage lads a lot more like they treat the girls,

my sisters play for the u16's and they and the u14's train twice a week and they geet very good coaching
whats done with the lads teams, it all seems a bit half arsed, (this is what people playing in the lads teams have told me thru the years)

on the point of the toilets, yeah i never go down that rancid cesspit

**outspoken** · 29/07/2010, 2:10 PM

Originally Posted by Acornvilla

i know the young keeper has a hell of a lot of potential

and i think your all getting a little over defensive, i'd love to see these lads come into the 1st team but in all fairness in recent years how many have broken into the team and thrived

i think we should be treating our underage lads a lot more like they treat the girls,

my sisters play for the u16's and they and the u14's train twice a week and they geet very good coaching
whats done with the lads teams, it all seems a bit half arsed, (this is what people playing in the lads teams have told me thru the years)

The keeper was very dodgey at cathing balls last night but did make 3 or 4 fantastic saves so he defo. has potential.

As for your point on the girls team I agree with you 100% my sister is also on that team and the coaching they receive is top class.

and it is true that very few underage players make the break through but as someone on facebook pointed out to me most of those young lads will go off to college and give up football meaning most will never play for the Town which is a shame really.

**Longfordian** · 29/07/2010, 2:15 PM

The girls coaching is helped by having a dedicated FAI coach in the area, there's no FAI Regional Development Officer for Longford for men's soccer as unlike pretty much every other County Council in the country Longford County Council were unwilling to contribute towards his wages.

**howsyourtouch** · 29/07/2010, 5:15 PM

the coaching these lads recieve is uefa B badge standard, also over the years the coaching i recieved has always been by uefa A or B coach,either by leo devlin,big phil(coffey) or by dessie cawley or peter malone, and thats all since we were 15 years of age. dont know what else the lads who you were talkin to were expecting, even though i will agree with you that the only time we recieved proper coaching in the schoolboy league was for the kennedy cup team, and we finished the highest a longford team has ever finished in finishing 7th. so just goes to show, give the coaching at a younger age and the talent is there, just need the means to bring it out! the RDO when i was 12 or 13 was pauric nickelson and only came to longford once in a blue moon and constantly over looked longford in favour of his home town of athlone in picking players for representive teams and irish under 15 teams, even though we beat ever team we played from athlone at that time while playing for camlin!we also got to the last 8 of the sfai cup one year and last 16 following year and we were being coached by the current under 20's manager pe at that time. this team is just young in lots and lots of areas so i wouldnt be writing them off just yet!its damaging this attitude to the younger players who need all the confidence they can get!

being told your never gona play senior football from the time your 16 because your local and locals are never good enough is unbelieveably damaging and has held players back in the past and will in the future, you would be surprised by the amount of the players who read these forums. lets give them a bit of confidence.

oh and agreed on the girls, wonders has been worked for them,just a pity they have not got recognition from the club in a proper way,even an evening out to get presented with the fai winnig medals but thats a whole other can off worms that im not gona get into at this time!!!

**howsyourtouch** · 29/07/2010, 8:12 PM

another little snippet of information about that athlone team from last night, 7 of that "athlone" team were signed from dublin clubs are travel down for matches from dublin! the town are trying to keep it as local as possible and also trying to get a few of the lads from the first team who are still under age for this age group but the first team management in all their wisdom would rather these players sit on a first team bench than to play regular football!and then wonder why their not sharp enough while the only football they are playing is in training!!

**Keen2win** · 29/07/2010, 8:13 PM

Originally Posted by fitzpatrick10

i was also at he u20s game v athlone and the one last week against shels. i though they played well over all and were unlucky with the og and the missed peno(for some reason the regular peno taker did not take it),, also howsyourtouch is right in saying that this is a young team and most of the players are underage for u20s again next year and some of diseves team also will be able to play for the u18 team this year..

also Kieran "I doubt it no wonder we have so many players from outside the area. The onl decent prospect I saw tonight was Shane O'Brien"

the right back is a local lad who seems to have alot of potential as he started diseve and i think he is still u18 also there was a lad on the bench who came on agains shels in the 2nd half on the right wing who is a local lad and also had great pace and sent in a few good crosses who is young also i have seen the sub goalie another local lad who played for the u16 and u17 and he also is an excellent keeper, so really the talent is out there in longford and im sure if these lads keep playing for the tow they would be a great addition to the senior sqaud. o and im not knockin shane he is a very skillfull player im just making the point that we do have local talent

Who is the player you're talking about on the right wing?

**Macy** · 30/07/2010, 9:10 AM

Originally Posted by Kieran Burke

Anyway now for my second point........---- THE TOILETS IN FLANCARE PARK ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE. This has been a prblem for years in Flancare and thats why I for so long refused to go to the toilets in Flancare and made sure I waited until I got home. I thought this problem had been cleared up as they seemed to be in decent condition during pre-season and there was even a bit of work done on them but the horrible horrible smell and just general dirtiness is back!!!

this is no joke its an outrage at this day and age people are afraid to go to the bathroom in a sporting arena because it simply isnt fit for a dog....

I went in today during the u-20's game and I could smell the toilets before i even reached the door and once I got in it was truely awful and I was even more shicked to see a piece of toilet paper thrown on the floor with a lump of s*1t stuck to it!!!

This no doubt will keep people away not only from the toilets but from Flancare Park itself and while I know there was alot of vandalism to the toilets stuff like this is just simply wrong and unacceptable.

I'm sure the club would welcome volunteers to help maintain the ground, if it bothers you that much.

**outspoken** · 30/07/2010, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by howsyourtouch

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oh and agreed on the girls, wonders has been worked for them,just a pity they have not got recognition from the club in a proper way,even an evening out to get presented with the fai winnig medals but thats a whole other can off worms that im not gona get into at this time!!!

In fairness they do get quite a good bit of recognition the u-16 girls game in Flancare this weekend has been advertised in the leader and when they win trophy's they usually get presented them at half time during Town matches and the same happened to the 3 girls that got picked for the Ireland squad but the lack of advertising/support the under 20's get seem's a bit unfair. There games use to be always given a mention in the paper but not anymore so that doesn't help them eithier.

**Battery Rover** · 30/07/2010, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Kieran Burke

but the lack of advertising/support the under 20's get seem's a bit unfair. There games use to be always given a mention in the paper but not anymore so that doesn't help them eithier.

Easiest way to improve that is attend the games and write the match reports. I am doing that for our local papers and they appreciate the regular articles.

**howsyourtouch** · 30/07/2010, 3:46 PM

Originally Posted by Kieran Burke

In fairness they do get quite a good bit of recognition the u-16 girls game in Flancare this weekend has been advertised in the leader and when they win trophy's they usually get presented them at half time during Town matches and the same happened to the 3 girls that got picked for the Ireland squad but the lack of advertising/support the under 20's get seem's a bit unfair. There games use to be always given a mention in the paper but not anymore so that doesn't help them eithier.

oh no you seem to have picked that up wrong, im talking about having a presentation night in honour of the girls who have brought nothing but good things to the club and for the club to show how proud they are off their achievements,not just letting them onto the pitch at half time v. salthill or who ever were playing that night. i can assure you that this has been brought up in senior meetings inside the club and has never been anything coming from it.i mean you win the leinster youths cup you get to go to a big night out with medals presented and a meal but the girls win the fai cup at their age group and nothing like this happens,not even a finger was raised to try and help fundraise an idea like this,no wonder the club is removed from the local community.

**outspoken** · 30/07/2010, 4:11 PM

Your probably right there mate my sister was on the Longford girls gaelic team that won leinster for the first time a few years back and they got a massive presentation in the Longford Arms and were treated like God's so I see what your saying