It's a Bit Irish

**hooperlooper** · 27/12/2006, 6:42 PM

its a bit boring reading all about how good the tipp,waterford and limerick teams are in the fai and munster junior cup.to call a spade a spade the leagues in those counties should be senior leagues and not junior.i dont mean to seem picky but in cork its only junior sides in those competions and our senior league teams in the MSL do the job in the intermediate cup,and the fai senior cup when the can.those leagues outside of cork have very good teams,no question about that but there playin competions like the fai and mjc against mostly proper junior teams,is it because those leagues know that the step up to the senior/intermediate standard competions would mean less of a chance of success,Avondale from cork won the FAI Intermediate cup last year,imagine if they were put in for the junior competion this year, or the rest of the big clubs from cork and dublin,if your good enough to be a senior team its only foolin yourself to play in junior competitions,theres teams in waterford,limerick and tipp with facilities and teams good enough to play senior,some with better facilities than some league of ireland clubs,as i stated there are very good sides in those leagues,no question about that but its a case of big fish in a small barrel

**Limeref** · 27/12/2006, 8:57 PM

The difference between intermediate and junior is what? To gain Intermediate status your facilities must be decent with a private ground. In the areas you mention there are some clubs with facilities that would meet and exceed the minimum standard, but there are some that would not.

For example Carew Park in Limerick have no ground therefore would not be eligible for entry into intermediate competition and Star Rovers have no clubhouse. Straight away there are two clubs from Limerick’s top division that do not meet the minimum standard. If you go below this league, it gets progressively worse.

In Dublin, with a population of over 1 million only 4 divisions are intermediate standard all in the Lenister Senior League (LSL). The top junior sides in Dublin, Killester, St Kevins, Portmarnock etc would compete comfortably in the ranks of intermediate football but chose not to. The FAI junior cup is harder to win that the intermediate cup (although I am aware the intermediate cup holds more prestige).

Only three counties have intermediate competition, Dublin, Cork and Donegal. I wonder why? Could it be that if other leagues ran intermediate competitions, it would be to the detriment of their Junior status, without gaining any thing by having a league with intermediate status.

Incidentally, if you put Avondale in the FAI Junior cup, there is no guarantee that they would win it. In fact if you look at last years FAI senior cup Killester (one of Dublins’ top Junior sides) beat both St. Mochtas and Wayside Celtic both LSL intermediate clubs. Wayside Celtic are the current LSL champions (although they made an early exit from the intermediate cup to Skerries Town therefore won’t be in next years senior cup)

Also in the 1st Round of the Senior cup Castlebar Celtic (Jnr) hammered Fairview CYM (intermediate LSL 1B) and Waterford Crystal (Jnr) hammered Garda (intermediate – LSL 1A) while Bangor Celtic (LSL Senior) knocked out Athenry (Jnr), thus proving there is no difference in the standard between the grades.

The way to go is a two-tier system, Professional – sides with league status and Amateur – the rest, removing any stigma that exists between Junior and Intermediate clubs.

**hooperlooper** · 27/12/2006, 9:20 PM

with all due respect to your excelent knowledge of junior teams,that was not my point,individual results will always turn up,results that go against the grain so to speak,but the bear facts state that the best junior teams in munster are in limerick,waterford and tipp,i accept that,but would it not better those leagues if they had senior leagues,the fai junior cup is for grass roots football,a chance for those teams that havent got the money or the facilities or the players to play senior league that they be given the chance for a bit of glory.in Cork there are nearly 220 teams that enter the fai junior cup,so imagine when we do manage to get out of our own individual qualifying rounds that we could be drawn against teams that hide themselves under the cloak of so called junior football,they dont worry about how much its going to cost to play an away game,or the fact that you are praying for a home game to keep down the cost,to win the fai you have to beat the best junior teams in the country, thats understood,but the fai junior cup is the lightweight belt of irish junior football and theres heavyweights out there that are just lookin for an easy win every year................

**Thunderblaster** · 29/12/2006, 10:04 AM

There is currently no Intermediate league in Connacht. There was the Connacht Senior League and in them days, you had Ballina Town, Castlebar Celtic, Manulla, Straide and Foxford United and Westport United from Mayo. There were Galway United reserves, Salthill Devon, Mervue United, UCG and Tuam Celtic from Galway. In Roscommon, you had Ballinasloe Town and in Sligo there were Sligo Rovers reserves. There were Longford Town reserves and St. Peters and Gentex FC from Athlone. We need an intermediate league in the province to give our footballers something to aim for. After winning the FAI Junior Cup, Westport United only have the Connacht Cup to aim for and after that, they have done everything they could have done at junior level, so they need to step up to intermediate football to keep their competitiveness going.

One person that will certainly give his speak on this in Westport is the legendary Ronnie Ring!!!

**galwayhoop** · 30/12/2006, 5:24 PM

heard a rumour that the Connacht Senior League will start up again next season - about time i think. the list of teams above would provide a good standard of football.

**renovater** · 13/01/2007, 8:12 PM

My understanding is that The conn Senior League will be dress up under the New Eircom league 2007. this will cater for u-20 only
But the points made are right.