Clare Junior Soccer

[Clifford]

A few years back the premier division (or first as it was back then) was made up of roughly half Ennis teams and half non Ennis teams. Every Ennis club had a team in the top flight and they were the ones to be feared. Nowadays, you have Avenue and this season, Lifford/Oldtown a recent analgamation of two clubs that were up to then struggling. Back them the thought of Hermitage being in the bottom division (as they were last season) and Turnpike struggling in the second (last season also) would have the boys throwing on the white coats. All through that time, there have been strong underage clubs in Ennis but there it seems to stop. For me, there seems to be a few reasons. You no longer have "country boys" going in to town to play for the strong Ennis teams as used to be the case and the Ennis clubs no longer have the facilities within the town bounds - (Tiermaclane, Ruan and a number of teams sharing the fairgreen ... I rest my case.) The rise in the number of clubs outside Ennis has meant that the townies no longer have the dominance they once enjoyed (this also applies to Newmarket) so the same level of interest does not exist.

can u name those 10 town teams (half teams)??????????????????????????? the good ennis teams of the past never had many country boys on them???? avenue were made up of the boys from the marrian avenue purtills caseys connellans mounseys etc backboned the team up to the nineties. then it was backboned by the 1990 youths team who where all from town (bar 1 or 2) the current team also have 1 or 2. the pike were backboned by clarecastle players (hardly country boys) now the pike team are very young. tage would rattle most premier teams. they keep disbanding so have to start in the lower divisions. Rock rovers have a lot of town players on it????
what facilitites do they no longer have in the town bounds.?????? how many players from ruan/tiermaclane play with town teams?????????

[Clifford]

Anyone know the result of Cratloe vs Moher last night?????

cratloe won 1 nil moher had 3 sent off.
they play again monday night. (its skys monday fight game live)

[Nibzer]

More then a few strange goings on with the premier league fixtures in clare...
Newtown havin played 3 matches in 5 days now play next sunday and tuesday again.
Were playin the bridge on tuesday yet we havent even played moher OR lifford/oldtown at all this season.

Moher are not only behind in league matches but appear to have their fixtures set for friday nights and monday nights only,meaning clubs have to travel to lahinch on a crazy traffic and time schedule.

Avenue vs Bridge was definately a stroke pulled by avenue confirmed from a VERY reliable source!!
Between players being injured and players gone to the rugby match!

[Clifford]

cup weekend lads predicitions

corofin v newmarket. shock on the cards here if corofin keep there heads. need to score first. newmarket have 5 clean sheets in the last 7 games. blip verses avenue 5-1 but missed a pen at 1 down. 2-1 in extra time

bridge v moher (next friday week) moher strong and with johnny daly back can score as well. not going well at the moment but mountshannon were in the same boat last year. bridge will not have it there own way and to progress need to concentrate on football.

avenue a versus newtown.
saw league game between them avenue won 2-0 but thought newtown were better team in first half. avenue have that fight back which won them games before that were tight. pens might be needed.

olympic v avenue b
sorry dont know much on olympic ( only ye're previous threads) but i did hear they have 2 brillant midfielders, super striker and rest are good combo to balance the team. oh and there fit. avenue b team round long time jp mannix sca fonzo ryano, micky byrnes etc but they haven't been scoring as much as last year. i also know they dont train, might be a big factor plus they have lost 2 games in a row??????? 1-0 could win this for either team

[Clifford]

More then a few strange goings on with the premier league fixtures in clare...
Newtown havin played 3 matches in 5 days now play next sunday and tuesday again.
Were playin the bridge on tuesday yet we havent even played moher OR lifford/oldtown at all this season.

Moher despite being knocked out of all cup competitions long ago are not only behind in league matches but appear to have their fixtures set for friday nights and monday nights only,meaning clubs have to travel to lahinch on a crazy traffic and time schedule.

Avenue vs Bridge was definately a stroke pulled by avenue confirmed from a VERY reliable source!!
Between players being injured and players gone to the rugby match!

from a better source they had a training session in the new lees road and had 18 players at it. can also confirm there was no avenue player at rugby (can u name him?????????????????????) also found out that at least 8 of the squad are in college so it suits to play games on the sunday. mid week games means getting the players down from college ( which they have done) but exams coming up so need to get there games played. i was told paddy cullen walked it saturday and pulled the games. this is fact because i was at track field watching underage game

[oldspice]

can u name those 10 town teams (half teams)??????????????????????????? the good ennis teams of the past never had many country boys on them???? avenue were made up of the boys from the marrian avenue purtills caseys connellans mounseys etc backboned the team up to the nineties. then it was backboned by the 1990 youths team who where all from town (bar 1 or 2) the current team also have 1 or 2. the pike were backboned by clarecastle players (hardly country boys) now the pike team are very young. tage would rattle most premier teams. they keep disbanding so have to start in the lower divisions. Rock rovers have a lot of town players on it????
what facilitites do they no longer have in the town bounds.?????? how many players from ruan/tiermaclane play with town teams?????????

When was the top division in Clare made up of 20 teams??? This site is meant for discussion on soccer - not an english lesson. I have spotted many grammatical, punctuation, errors here and let them slide. There's no need to be pedantic, I really think you knew what I meant. If you want to argue out some of your points, try telling anyone from Clarecastel he's a townie or from Ennis and then duck if you want to see rather than feel the reaction. I have known many players down the years who have played for Ennis teams, simply because there was no team in their locality. Hell, I was approached myself by three town teams when I was younger and a few of my current team have played for or been approached by same. I would consider the current Rock team a town team with a few non-townies on it. As for the Ruan/Tiermaclane issue, my point was that they are facilities outside of town which are used by town teams and that few enough lads from town are willing to be involved in such set-ups. How many decent pitches or soccer set-ups are there within the town bounds as compared to Shannon for instance which has a much smaller population??????????????? These are some of the reasons I was citing for the perceived decline in soccer within Ennis.

[CousinSylDolan]

tage would rattle most premier teams.

Not sure if this is true as they played Newmarket a few weeks back in the cup and Newmarket won it 3-0.

As for the cup predictions.

Harps vs Newmarket... From what I saw of the Harps last Sunday they need a lot of improvment to even compete against Newmarket. Cant see where their goals will come from unless Dinan starts. Def fancy Newmarket here.

Bridge vs Moher...Good point earlier about Moher having a similar season to Mntshn last year but home advantage should see Bridge Utd thru.

Specials vs Avenue B... Will be a tough physical test for Olympic but I fancy JAJ strikeforce to be too much for Avenue.

Avenue vs Newtown... Too hard to call I'm afraid as Avenue have won 9 on the trot and Newtown have been unbeaten since the lg game vs Avenue... Sittin on the fence here...

[oldspice]

Not sure if this is true as they played Newmarket a few weeks back in the cup and Newmarket won it 3-0.

As for the cup predictions.

Harps vs Newmarket... From what I saw of the Harps last Sunday they need a lot of improvment to even compete against Newmarket. Cant see where their goals will come from unless Dinan starts. Def fancy Newmarket here.

Bridge vs Moher...Good point earlier about Moher having a similar season to Mntshn last year but home advantage should see Bridge Utd thru.

Specials vs Avenue B... Will be a tough physical test for Olympic but I fancy JAJ strikeforce to be too much for Avenue.

Avenue vs Newtown... Too hard to call I'm afraid as Avenue have won 9 on the trot and Newtown have been unbeaten since the lg game vs Avenue... Sittin on the fence here...

By and large I'd agree with you cousinsyl but I'm not sure that Olympic's heart will be in it. They're coming under a bit of pressure in the league and I've no doubt that'll be their priority. Don't expect tomorrow night's result to change that outlook either. Either way, they're still very much in the hunt and with Mountshannon having points in the bag, they have to keep league slip-ups to a minimum. Avenue B, on the other hand, have the prospect of a possible cup semi or final against their a team and while the second division title may have slipped past them last Thursday, they are almost guranteed promotion unless Burren can pull off a big one. I think they may be more focussed than Olympic and could make it through.

[MadMick]

By and large I'd agree with you cousinsyl but I'm not sure that Olympic's heart will be in it. They're coming under a bit of pressure in the league and I've no doubt that'll be their priority. Don't expect tomorrow night's result to change that outlook either. Either way, they're still very much in the hunt and with Mountshannon having points in the bag, they have to keep league slip-ups to a minimum. Avenue B, on the other hand, have the prospect of a possible cup semi or final against their a team and while the second division title may have slipped past them last Thursday, they are almost guranteed promotion unless Burren can pull off a big one. I think they may be more focussed than Olympic and could make it through.

You must fancy your chances against Rock twice, Mountshannon and the team I cannot mention for fear of causing an outcry! Who else do you have to play?

[MadMick]

Why would you fancy your chances against a team you have lost to twice this season?

I did not say anything about losing to you guys twice???????

[oldspice]

You must fancy your chances against Rock twice, Mountshannon and the team I cannot mention for fear of causing an outcry! Who else do you have to play?

Some weird logic bouncing around there guys. Don't see why we shouldn't fancy our chances against Olympic. We drew with them twice in ordinary time and once they beat us when we were understrength. Then why should we fancy our chances against them when we've lost to BunrattyB, who Olympic beat (by all accounts) quite comfortably last week. Use me in ye're mind games by all accounts, just don't expect me to play ball. The reality is that any yeam in this division is capable of taking points off any other so we'll just take things one game at a time and let other teams worry about themselves. To answer your other question MM, we have Rock twice, Olympic, Mountshannon and Kilrush away, and Bridge Celtic and Bunratty B at home. Don't see any handy games there but at the same time, I don't see any that we're not capable of winning either. I think I'd rather be in Mountshannon's position with points in the bag and others below them scrapping for the right to contest with them.

[oldspice]

Who were ye missing when we beat ye 2-0 in the league?Ye even had brian donnelon that day.I believe olympic were missing players that day though.

Perhaps we had a full team so and I'm just trying to psyche you out. Didn't realise ye were understrength. Were you there???????????????

[Clifford]

When was the top division in Clare made up of 20 teams??? This site is meant for discussion on soccer - not an english lesson. I have spotted many grammatical, punctuation, errors here and let them slide. There's no need to be pedantic, I really think you knew what I meant. If you want to argue out some of your points, try telling anyone from Clarecastel he's a townie or from Ennis and then duck if you want to see rather than feel the reaction. I have known many players down the years who have played for Ennis teams, simply because there was no team in their locality. Hell, I was approached myself by three town teams when I was younger and a few of my current team have played for or been approached by same. I would consider the current Rock team a town team with a few non-townies on it. As for the Ruan/Tiermaclane issue, my point was that they are facilities outside of town which are used by town teams and that few enough lads from town are willing to be involved in such set-ups. How many decent pitches or soccer set-ups are there within the town bounds as compared to Shannon for instance which has a much smaller population??????????????? These are some of the reasons I was citing for the perceived decline in soccer within Ennis.

cannot see where i said 20 teams r pop at english grammar etc. but anyway as u said back to the soccer
most ennis clubs still going, one r two new but i think its the standard that has declined? avenue have lost nearly 2 good teams in the last 3/4 years. as for pitches beggars cannot be choosers? but must be embarrassing down the years playing top teams outside clare and having to tog out in a tayto box in ruan or side of fairgreen.

[Clifford]

Not sure if this is true as they played Newmarket a few weeks back in the cup and Newmarket won it 3-0.

As for the cup predictions.

Harps vs Newmarket... From what I saw of the Harps last Sunday they need a lot of improvment to even compete against Newmarket. Cant see where their goals will come from unless Dinan starts. Def fancy Newmarket here.

Bridge vs Moher...Good point earlier about Moher having a similar season to Mntshn last year but home advantage should see Bridge Utd thru.

Specials vs Avenue B... Will be a tough physical test for Olympic but I fancy JAJ strikeforce to be too much for Avenue.

Avenue vs Newtown... Too hard to call I'm afraid as Avenue have won 9 on the trot and Newtown have been unbeaten since the lg game vs Avenue... Sittin on the fence here...

tage lost to newtown last year and newmarket year before that and were unlucky. in the 3-0 game newmarket were 1 up after 3 mins. they fall to pieces and argue with themselves so if they could address that aspect who knows. some very good players in aidan keane, dully, connie, sla. they also been training 2 days a week with up to 20 to 26 a session. they are 3 pts ahead of avenue b but have upset a few teams with their attitude on the way and they still have to play them. will test them mentally?

who is this jaj strikeforce????? and the two boys in the middle. usually the good players are snapped up to play in the limerick league? will they be next ???

[Clifford]

By and large I'd agree with you cousinsyl but I'm not sure that Olympic's heart will be in it. They're coming under a bit of pressure in the league and I've no doubt that'll be their priority. Don't expect tomorrow night's result to change that outlook either. Either way, they're still very much in the hunt and with Mountshannon having points in the bag, they have to keep league slip-ups to a minimum. Avenue B, on the other hand, have the prospect of a possible cup semi or final against their a team and while the second division title may have slipped past them last Thursday, they are almost guranteed promotion unless Burren can pull off a big one. I think they may be more focussed than Olympic and could make it through.

could be also argued that olympic are playing cup finals every game and will have the edge on avenue. training and meeting together with a focused vision on the path ahead. they must have a good defence as they dont let many goals in.

[oldspice]

cannot see where i said 20 teams r pop at english grammar etc. but anyway as u said back to the soccer
most ennis clubs still going, one r two new but i think its the standard that has declined? avenue have lost nearly 2 good teams in the last 3/4 years. as for pitches beggars cannot be choosers? but must be embarrassing down the years playing top teams outside clare and having to tog out in a tayto box in ruan or side of fairgreen.

I was referring to your question asking to name the 10 Ennis teams which would indicate that you either felt (10 being half of 20) there were 20 teams in the premier or that I had termed it incorrectly. Look, we got off on the wrong foot, let's get back to soccer and welcome to the thread. It is refreshing to have an Ennis "voice" to counter the Bunratty v Olympic banter (entertaining and all as it can be at times). I wasn't trying to criticise Ennis clubs either, merely giving my opinion as to why the standard in town has dropped. As for the 'Tage, I do feel that with a season in the first and progressing the way they are, that they will be good enough to play in the premier. As well as the players that you have mentioned, I think they also have one of the best goalies in the league in Squeaky. Probably not up there with Liffords (your club mate I presume) but not too far away either.

[oldspice]

I was there alright but my back was at me so the gaffer mcsherry rested me.It was the best we had played all season!!!!

I thought it was only in the last couple of games that your backs had become a problem!!!!

[CousinSylDolan]

I would have my doubts about a lot of tonights and tomorrow's games. There has been a lot of rain in the last 24 hours.

0-0 between Newmarket and Newtown last night in the premier.

Whats this I hear about Newmarket having a good goal dissallowed for offside even though there was a defender on the line..... Anything to say about this Nibzer???

[oldspice]

Very funny-do you think bridge celtics pitch is playable after all the rain

I actually saw the pitch last Sunday and it was in decent shape. It was early in the day and I don't know whether they've trained on it since or not. I'd say that the pitch as it is is probably playable but it tends to hold water. If it rains much today it could be waterlogged. If not, the game could should go ahead but expect the pitch to cut up badly. Just don't volunteer to wash the jersies!!!!!

[Murphman]

do you think bridge celtics pitch is playable after all the rain

Pitch checked this morning and its ready for the Big game Tonight...