Cork AUL 2007/08

[rebelrover]

Apologies lads, my last post was incorrect.......DHall do not play in the MSL Junior Cup final this friday, the game was in fact played last friday in TurnersX and they beat Everton 5-2

[Shilts]

I know ye've mentioned it already in a few posts but guys do you not think the lack of giant killers in the cups is indicitive of more serious issues within the aul. I mean it reminds me of the premiership in a way. The top 5 r 6 can put out whatever team they want and they'll still hammer teams from all the other leagues in the cups - even Div 1 sides are being hit for 4 or 5 in every game by the likes of kinsale, grattan and ourselves. Granted, when any AUL top 6 side clicks on their day they should knock in a couple against the lower division teams but it shouldnt be happening every week! I must say I think it reflects very badly on teams outside premier but thats just my opinion.

The reason that there are no giant killers is that apart from 5 or 6 teams, the rest of the AUL is muck. Brutal pub sides that are not fit enough to last 90 mins with the top sides and who give up after an hour when 6nil down and beg the ref to blow it up early. This is happening every second week.

The reason that there are so few top sides in the AUL is that the MSL has expanded significantly over the past few years, hoovering up a lot of good AUL teams. This has left the AUL with too few competitive teams. If the like of Grattan, Leeside and Kinsale are getting fed up with playing so many useless games (not as valuable as training in many cases) then they will have to look elsewhere for regular competitive games. The lack of competitive games for our top AUL teams will hurt us in the open rounds of the FAI and Munster Junior Cups.

[littleman]

We shant have any of that tom foolerie here(by christ therise you hit a raw nerve there).Therise we are a civilised thread here not like our limerick cousins who name call an get all hot an bothered.T'is not on this rile'in.



On a slighly lighter note therise though your comments were incorrect(but very funny)there was some truth in what you said.The top sides in the Premier through opinions from either themselves or others(us encluded) feel that they would be more than capeable of holding their own in the msl senior league.

To be beaten by a junior side from the msl when you have ideas about yourself ,no matter how great a run their on an no matter how many injuries you have has to go down as a shock result.

If Wilton beat us I wont make excuse's,I'll will be bitterly disapointed yes but just move on to the next game an chin up.No doubt if the unexpected happens to letizz and the kfc gang he will just say their are more important fish to fry and they were never gion to win the Fia junior anyway and look forward to next week.And he would be totally correct in his summing up of the situation.

We as a league/teams can only be considered above the rest if were are proving it year on year on a national or even munster scale,which we are not.None of us.I do belive we could compete with the msl senior sides but only at a local level,as soon as it goes nationwide we seem to lag behind.

Pike from limerick have had or will have to play Wembley , Carew and Fairview Utd just to reach the open rounds of the Mjc and Fai.All by the way would easily challange for the msl premier .If they do it then they have the right to say they have a chance to win either competion and be justified in saying so because they are not only beating their own to get to the open rounds.They are beating teams we would mostlike to avoid if in the open round draws if given the opertuinity.If we as the so called top sides as you say cant even get to the open draw who are we foolin.................

If as you say rebel any of our top side can throw out 11 players and get a result against another junior side then ye did'nt do it.The joys.The Wilton lads coming up to our place Saturday will not really care who plays as such because they will know that whatever 11 takes the field it will be a very strong side an they will have to be at their best to have a chance

[bogwarrior]

Not correct on the Attitude down in Kinsale Littleman. No excuses this wknd. The FAI Junior is the one everyone wants to do well in. People may have one eye on the cup final on fri week but the management and senior players will soon put that right. This cup is what put you fellas on the map and put you ahead of Kinsale in many peoples eyes and that doesnt rest well with us. A bit of luck and Cork teams can do very well in this and why cant we win it? Yourselves got to the quarters last year.. we did it 4 years ago. Never gonna win it? Never gonna win it with an attitude like that.

The likes of Wembley/pike/carrick/fairview are all quality sides but as we have proven and yourselves have proven they can all be beaten on their day. Hopefully there'll be many of these days to come this year.

[rebelrover]

To be beaten by a junior side from the msl when you have ideas about yourself ,no matter how great a run their on an no matter how many injuries you have has to go down as a shock result.

If as you say rebel any of our top side can throw out 11 players and get a result against another junior side then ye did'nt do it.The joys.

would ya listen to yourself littleman, and stop trying to put words in my mouth. Did i say we could beat any other junior sides?? No. I said we could beat all the other muck junior teams from the aul divisions. Big difference. Fact is DHall Premier Junior MSL would be in the top 3/4 of the aul every year. They've better players and train more often than most of the AUL prem teams. As Shilts so pertinently pointed out, a lack of any games of real intensity does not help the top aul sides when they play bettter opposition in the open rounds (including DHall)

So yes, we're disappointed to have lost to them and we'd fancy our chances if we played them again but is it a shock result, the simple answer to that is no. They beat us last year as well. And did I ever say we have ideas about ourselves?? No. We know we are capable of winning the AOH and challenging for the league in the AUL but outside that, do we fancy ourselves?? Nope.

I accept that perhaps it would be a shock result for grattan or particularly kinsale but not against any other aul team. Leeside have shown through the years that they can beat any aul teams on their day but lack consistency, therefore it could not be considered a shock result.

You may have your opinions Littlefella but thats all they are........dont try propagating them onto other people..........im still trying to figure out what u actually know about soccer apart from the secretarial duties..............some of your posts can be analytical and interesting...........others just leave me scratching my head......

[littleman]

ahh not again ,rebel im sorry if I ready our post up the wrong way.No disrespect meant. Bog will ya read it for what it is rather than draggin the anti kfc thing into it.

[therise]

Do i recall Leeside being humbled by a first division side a few weeks back? Douglas hall was it?

Thought that might hit a nerve alright. Apologies if i had the wrong side.

However must disagree with peoples opinions of the strength of the MSL junior prem. We've played Carrigaline, Ringmahon and Corinthians over the last year and must say the standard is much better in Prem A
let alone the Premier. Would imagine that leeside had avery off day to go out to them

As for the weekend, Littleman, really looking forward to our visit to O'Neill Park.

[Billynose]

With whom do you play therise?

[littleman]

rebel this is an open forum for those who have different opinions to voice those opinions and hopefully have them respected for what they are.

What or how I do anything for Grattan is neither here nor their and comes across as only a cheap throw away comment.Am I to feel guilty because we have a good side.Yourself,letizz bog or anyone else on this site could hold any position with your own clubs and it dosent effect my understanding of your posts.I offer all on this thread equal measure of respect and will only pass comment on what is posted by others..

I post my opinions here on Aul matters,all Aul matters.Within the confinds of that I pass on Grattan scores or get envolved in discussions as to who has better players /news/match reports ect,ect.I am open to all views form all clubs and as stated in the past Idont consider myself to have rosy glass's.Sometimes when it may be perceived that their may be comments of a negative nature towards a club is our answer to say an individual is lookin through rose tinted glass'es.Then rebel we are all guilty of that at some time.....................

You yourself clearly stated that the competition was not their for the top sides in the Aul and that would or could explain why they might leave.But if you were to go Msl you would go into the Msl 1st or 2nd division and then Doughlas would be another division beneath you(junior).It would still be contrived as a shock result,a hypothetical senior side beaten by a junior side.

Surely you must see my point that if we are truely to challange the Msl or at least think we as a league are improving we have to become the best at junior level first.Your point about being beatin by a top Msl junior side mearly widens the gap between us and the Msl senior because now we apperntly have to be better than their junior sides first before we can maybe hope to be able to hold our own in the MSL Senior.

I can understand your dissapointment at loosing but your club has done much to get to where it is and achiving what it has and by stating that Doughlas were on a roll simply seems as a fob off.Ye played us at the start of the season and probably ran us closer to a beatin than anyone in the league last year9except Park) if I was being perfectly honest.That is why I tipped ye to beat Doughlas hall.We beat them twice last year but at home I still fancied ye,thats why I would consider it a shock.

[littleman]

Lookin forward to havin ye thrise.O'Neill Park should be in top form and we are lookin forward to havin a ggod game from ye.Hopefully a cracker with us edgin it haha.After the game win,loose or draw we can head to the Anglers for a pint.

[Billynose]

Ah I now realise therise plays with wilton. Carrigaline had a very off day the day you played against us. I would however say that wilton seemed to be a class above some of AUL premier teams i have played against which are quite poor. Corinthians have gone to the absolute dogs at all adult levels so I wouldn't read too much into anything playing them and i can't say much about ringmahon as i've never played the same ringmahon team twice in a row.

Like i've said before the top aul sides (grattan,kinsale, leeside, ballyphehane) are good sides but there is an awful lot of muck teams in the AUL and I think a lot of people judge the AUL as a whole on these teams.

P.S. What Shilts said about a lack of competition is in my opinion spot on.

[bogwarrior]

ahh not again ,rebel im sorry if I ready our post up the wrong way.No disrespect meant. Bog will ya read it for what it is rather than draggin the anti kfc thing into it.

Littleman i read it and re read it but all i did is correct you where you're wrong! We dont go in with the attitude that we were never going to win it- i would hope not anyway. Dont get shirty and bring the supposed anti kinsale thing in coz that was the last thing on my mind. I for one love the long away trips in the open round and especially the bus trip on the way home It's great to pit yourselves agains new faces.

I'm with the rise and littleman on the Douglas Hall defeat though. They have won team of the month and did beat Everton the other nite but that was a p*ss poor everton side apparently and the result could of been worse. We beat the same Douglas Hall team last yr down at the fort 4-0 if i recall. Maybe not a 'Shock' but still an upset Rebel. I think u should be setting your sights higher than this- although i think i have shown myself to be a bit of a dreamer lads!!

[Innishvilla]

Hi all, some heated debate going on here this week... I suppose the last few weeks were the calm before the storm

I've played all my AUL career with Innish in the lower divisions and I have to say that I must disagree with the take up that outside the top 4 or 5 the AUL is muck poor... Fair enough this year there have been no upsets in the AOH or other cups but that happens every now and then.

I think it more highlights the absurd open draw from round 1 in the AOH. Before the open draw the top sides used to be meeting a team who really wanted a crack of them, having won a couple of games. Not meeting a team on a bad run of form or a team who aren't interested...

I know the top sides train and play hard, but there are a lot of lesser teams who just don't have the players to compete at that level but do train twice a week, show up early and prepared for games etc. When I started playing (way back when!!!) in the lower divisions if a team trained (properly) they would more then likely win the division with any decent side. Now to win any division or get promoted takes a huge effort. Don't get me wrong I've seen Kinsale train and the intensity there is massive. BUT please don't tar every team with the "AUL muck" brush...

[bogwarrior]

Fair enuff innish but would i be right in saying that last year was the first year ye guys started to take things seriously. With Ger your training was good and ye had a big squad. To be fair urselves and postal were the only two who looked like getting promoted in the division? Can any team come along and get a decent manager for a year and look like getting promotion in the lower leagues?? Has it changed much from the old days when we both first started? I dont think so. Commitment is one thing - fair enough, nobody will ever be knocked for trying, but quality is another. And there does seem to be a lack of it in the lower leagues.. You guys brought in a few players last year and it helped your cause..

[le tizz]

look lads, we've all played bad or with a bad team but i dont think slingin insults will change anything, there is a huge gap between about 10 teams from the prem & prem a and everybody else, this is why there is the same teams competing and winning every year and why some teams are looking to grow and move from the aul.

maymount got to the semi final of the munster junior last year (and went msl), kinsale, grattan, leeside, wilton all did well in the fai & aoh competitions, we had a great run in the senior cup the year before last, losing down in cobh, passage being beaten in last years final, but as a league of players we're still a bit off winning the fai in my opinion, yes we'll be very close on our day but to win the cup you need a decent slice of luck and everybody having a 110% day, then muliply that by 4 or more games and mistakes cannot be made without fellas going home disappointed, i feel that there isnt any team who can boast 16 players who can come & go without disturbing the team, one or two keys players make most teams tick, take them out and we dont stand a chance against the fai last four

dont get me wrong, i'm going out to win it as i am going out to win every game, i hate losing to anybody but there are some days when you have to hold your hands up and say you got beat by a better team, we left both big cups after us last year, conceding a last minute equaliser in the munster junior then going out on pens and coming from 3-0 down to go ahead in extra time only to lose it 10-9 on spotters in the fai

a good team will be there every year and will compete in all cups due to the divide amonst committment & ability, i think having the prem teams in the 1st, 2nd or even 3rd round of the aoh is outrageous (our draw is 1st rnd bt watergrasshill 7-0 60 mins, 2nd rnd away to hillington b, winners home to coachford b i think), there's enuf games to be played already, this causes the league to suffer later in the year when teams should be flying and not trying to make up numbers for midweek games or throwing 9 players on cause of injuries, i've said all this before anyway

littleman you havent had a pop at anyone inna while, spose it was a matter of time, and there's miles to go we havent gotten serious at all yet, spose sat's game is the start of it, should get interesting, good to see people are still looking in on the thread, good luck to both sides at o'neill park on sat, pity its not being televised (any live hook ups possible ??), tom murphy to be sent off the line ... ha ha, how's yer keeper disco ? could be the difference if ye have a good un, what about the hhulk of fergal murray, best pair of tits i ever seen on a man

innish the new setup might bring new talent but a good coach is all important, reckon we've a great combo this year with barry & ger so we're all confident, and we havent played to our full potential yet so there is gas in the tank, marys might get burnt on sat on a good surface, i noticed they are struggling in their league

we'll all be watching results as they pop up on the videprinter, good luck to all, ben ryan with a hat trick, the two dereks to do savage damage

[Innishvilla]

Fair enuff innish but would i be right in saying that last year was the first year ye guys started to take things seriously. With Ger your training was good and ye had a big squad. To be fair urselves and postal were the only two who looked like getting promoted in the division? Can any team come along and get a decent manager for a year and look like getting promotion in the lower leagues?? Has it changed much from the old days when we both first started? I dont think so. Commitment is one thing - fair enough, nobody will ever be knocked for trying, but quality is another. And there does seem to be a lack of it in the lower leagues.. You guys brought in a few players last year and it helped your cause..

OK Bog, I'll agree and disagree with you on this one:
I disagree that we hadn't taken it seriously as a team and club we had given the 2nd division a good crack a couple of times. But if you look at the teams that have won/got promoted from our division in the last few years it hasn't been the easiest division to get out of:
Knockavilla and Dunbar (both now Prem A)
Ballypheane (Prem)
UCC (They had a very strong side that year)
Dripsey(Actually anyone know what happened to Dripsey they were flying for a while) & Lakewood (MSL)
So we would argue that it was a bloody tough division over the years.

I'll agree that Ger brought a huge amount to the club and with him we attracted a few players, Lyndon, Sean (Ger's son) and in my opinion the best player in the division last year Craig McCarthy. But I'd also wager that Ger would bring that similar boost to any club that has a group of decent players, I don't think it's a coincidence that Kinsale are looking stronger than ever this year after what was for them a dip in form last year...

[rebelrover]

rebel this is an open forum for those who have different opinions to voice those opinions and hopefully have them respected for what they are.

What or how I do anything for Grattan is neither here nor their and comes across as only a cheap throw away comment.Am I to feel guilty because we have a good side.Yourself,letizz bog or anyone else on this site could hold any position with your own clubs and it dosent effect my understanding of your posts.I offer all on this thread equal measure of respect and will only pass comment on what is posted by others..

Surely you must see my point that if we are truely to challange the Msl or at least think we as a league are improving we have to become the best at junior level first.Your point about being beatin by a top Msl junior side mearly widens the gap between us and the Msl senior because now we apperntly have to be better than their junior sides first before we can maybe hope to be able to hold our own in the MSL Senior.

I can understand your dissapointment at loosing but your club has done much to get to where it is and achiving what it has and by stating that Doughlas were on a roll simply seems as a fob off.Ye played us at the start of the season and probably ran us closer to a beatin than anyone in the league last year9except Park) if I was being perfectly honest.That is why I tipped ye to beat Doughlas hall.We beat them twice last year but at home I still fancied ye,thats why I would consider it a shock.

Some points well made Littleman - sorry about the cheapshot.

[littleman]

Confidence is the key, I'd have to agree with you their Innish.3 seasons ago we got relegated from the Premier and had the most difficult season on an off the pitch I've ever come across.Caulfield did me a favour and took control of the first team for the last 5 games even though we were basically relegated he saw enough to see that with a few additions we could go places.How he raised those players from the dumps and got them to where they are today,how is beyond me.But whatever is his way it worked.

Last season I felt that the most important games would be the head to head with Kinsale.As long as we didnt give away points in those games was the key.Down the fort letizz's gang put it up to us big time but we got out of their with a draw and up at home we left a very impressive victory slip,even managers have their off days.Draws are fine against the sides that are challanging,your givin away nothing.What destroyed Kinsale last year was the draws against the lower teams that we were beating. This year it will be harder again because their seems to be no rhyme or reason to the way the results are coming in. Sides are taking good points one week and loosing bad points the next week.Park took a good point away from our place and I'm not goin to deny they deserved more on the day because they did.Probably the worst display from our own I'v seen.Me personlly I think loosing to Castleview in the Mossie an the Park draw was the best kick up the hole for us because we were takin for granted we would win games.You have to win games yourself,their no such thing as a dead cert in football.

Confidence is vital but it has to be the right kind of confidence.Confidence in your own ability and the ability of the players with you.Being overly confident will effect your game because it can blind you from respecting the opposition.Against the best sides it will loose you the game.We have learned already this season that in the league teams are goin up a level against us and if we are are to be successful this season we ourselves will have to step up another level again.

[le tizz]

well said littleman! spot on with everything you said
last year was a kick in the hole for us an all so with the new coaching staff and a few players back things are def fresher this year

that aside, the prem could be the strongest its been in the past few years and there will be lots of competition for all of us, everyone wants a piece of the big teams, 1st goal is all important, nice to have some new teams up which gives everyone a bit of drive, its hard playing against the same teams and same players year in year out but its worse when you're being beaten by the same team year in year out, luckily we've been on the sunny side of that coin for the past few years, the draws against "poorer" teams did cost us last year, thats what you get when you're champs- everyone wants to take a bite, this is the year you need to show you werent just a flash in the pan grattan & ballyphehane and besta luck to ye, a wilton side steeped in history would also be good opposition for the prem teams, how're ye fixed this year for lastability disco / rise

there's a couple of coaching jobs going a begging littleman (fai & engerland) wonder could you take the winning attitude and sort out some of them lovely hairdressers who are part time footballers, i took great enjoyment in seeing a good footballing croatia run rings around a chronic engerland last night- is that wrong ?? you're not signing anymore ..... ha

[studsup]

might be on the wrong league thread here now but anyone know where Everton in cork's pitch is?