The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

I am not a big fan of underage amalgamations either. They have a place no doubt. For me it comes down to this. If you look at the national schools in your catchment area and you are seeing 10 boys starting each year then you probably need to look for an amalgamation. If you look at your school and see 30 kids yet you are only getting 10 out to train and you decide that you need to amalgamate I think the problem is your club and amalgamation is a quick fix and a wrong thing to do.

But sure do you not think clubs slowly withering away is losing players and people involved anyway? Maghera are already haemorrhaging players to local rivals and have been for years.

I’ve no issue with amalgamations. I just think where they are consistently needed a club need to make a decision. Just amalgamate all together, at senior and underage.

You are misinterpreting my posts if you feel I’ve an issue with them. You’ve also totally ignored all points about Peter Quinn’s report. The fact is there was an extensive study on this and we’ve too many clubs it found.

I’m not blaming the clubs either. Some of them may have some fault but at the end of the day it’s very difficult to combat changing society.

I'm not ignoring Peter Quinns report, how many years was it ago now? It was the biggest waste of money ever spent where do you think it is now, on a shelf in Breffni Park or put through a shredder is my guess.

I will use Drung and Kill as an example and i explained this to you before. They need to amalgamate most years at underage and have a agreement in place going back decades. In a given age group Drung may have 11 players (not enough to field on there own and Kill might have 20 (enough to field on there own but due to the agreement they don't let the other team down). Lately they enter two teams where they can to ensure as many lads as possible get games which is a good thing.

Now if you step up to Senior teams Kill have a currently panel of approximately 35 and Drung have 30 or so. If you were to amalgamate there would be 65 players which would lead to a lot of lads getting very little action and likely quitting.

All a club needs is 3-4 players coming into the Senior panel every year to keep things going. It will likely come to a head at some stage but it's working well for both clubs currently.

Us offering solutions anonymously on boards.ie doesn't strike me as something that is very ballsy to be honest, but sure there you go.

For what it is worth, I think two practical suggestions would be (a) a programme for coach development to invest in coaching structures and ensuring that coaches in each club (and at all levels) are up to a certain standard. Not sure whether that is the case at home, but as part of the Cavan diaspora that is the case where I am. Different numbers and resources, but that is something that could be developed.

Personally, I think that the competitions at adult level could be restructured. 40 teams, 4 divisions in league, and assuming all are fielding teams, 4 competitions come championship (senior, intermediate, junior and junior B) with 10 teams in each. Personally in senior there's a few teams hovering at the bottom that could give intermediate a rattle but aren't doing much other than avoid relegation in senior. That's even more the case for about 6/7 intermediate teams. A reshuffle like that would make things closer and more competitive which is what most clubs, players and supporters would want.

That’s been raised here before but from U14 to minor, they know nothing but playing together. They’ve 65 players between them according to a poster above, those numbers don’t add up for amalgamating at underage for me if they’re correct. Both Drung and Kill play separately up to U12 and then suddenly amalgamate - where are the numbers going? It’s not to get into a higher Division as they are normally in Divisions like 3 and 5.

There seems to be a lot of players from Laragh gone to Australia. They'll likely be in the relegation mix in the Senior championship m

Them and Lavey would probably be a fiery amalgamation.

I see Cian Bannon scored 1-4 last week for Gowna last weekend against Kingscourt. He was in Australia for the last 5 or 6 years. Another good option in the forwards.

Should the county board not look at the Meath league structure of 10 divisions, Relegation and promotion in all and clubs find their level while keeping their senior club status. Also allows proper football for reserve teams from the larger clubs. Teams like Carnaross, Moynalty, Cortown are in division 5 in Meath, The likes of Maghera & Corlough could be the same. Also has more teams winning cups creating more of a buzz in area's. There are teams in Cavan that haven't won a cup of any sort in decades.

Sarcasm, the lowest form of wit, doesn’t really work on message boards.

He is an amaglamation.

Drumlane looked a good side when they won Junior and unlucky to lose the Ulster Junior final. They died push on since and near the bottom in Division 3. A lot of the teams in Division 2 lack consistency bar Killygarry, who would be a good senior team

I know it's oy league football and the real fun starts in a few weeks and I may be biased but Ramor are playing some clinical attacking football night and day to what we seen in the last couple of years.

McEvoy is a generational talent but from what I've heard he may be back stateside for the main event.

A long way off, but I see the Cavan Senior and Intermediate Champions play the Down winners on November 10th in Newry.

Sunday 10th Nov 2024

• Down(---)v(---)Cavan2024 Ulster GAA Football Senior Club Championship Quarter Final 2Páirc Esler, Newry TBCReferee: TBC
• Down(---)v(---)Cavan2024 Ulster GAA Football Intermediate Club Championship Quarter Final 2Páirc Esler, Newry TBCReferee: TBC

Good achievements. They do it differently in the ladies games ,with All Ireland titles at u14 and u16. I don't think would work in the men's game, because players would be blown up before they reach Minor level