Tulamore Intermediates

[Archangel]

Maybe it's the Townie V Country Lad attitude. They are always struggling it seems to field teams. We blame the Club , maybe a lot of it should fall on the players of Tullamore. They call Clara shapers, well at least you can count on Clara turning up for a match!
Hopefully it's a one-off, and gives a wake-up-call to other clubs.

[Lone Shark]

It is unlikely that their Junior management, nor the players, would agree to Junior players being used as to plug the gaps for one game thereby making them ineligible for their 'own' grade - and possibly depriving them of any further championship football this year.

If this was the problem, surely the issue was the senior team used a plethora of players who would normally be classed as intermediate? By that logic, it should have been the Tullamore senior team that gave the walkover, not the intermediates. I'm not saying that's what should have been done, merely that there is a flaw in that reasoning. So what if a few juniors get promoted - all that means is that they get a game or two at intermediate level, while a couple of lads at the bottom end of the scale get a run out at junior instead of warming the bench, or as is more likely, giving up entirely. Would that be so bad?

It does say a lot though that you have areas like Daingean parish fielding seven teams, Rhode and Ballycumber parishes fielding six teams and Tullamore can't muster up three. It makes a strong case for a second club in Tullamore town.

[bula bula]

It does say a lot though that you have areas like Daingean parish fielding seven teams, Rhode and Ballycumber parishes fielding six teams and Tullamore can't muster up three. It makes a strong case for a second club in Tullamore town.

LS, do you think that another club would get more from the resources in the town? Are you laying all the blame at the door of the club?

[OffalyDub]

Rule 120 - Disqualification
The Penalties for a Club/Unit failing to fulfil a
Championship Game shall be as follows:-
(a) In a ‘Knock-Out’ Game - the Club shall be
Disqualified from the Championship and the
Game Awarded to the Opposing Team.
(b) In a ‘League Stage’ of a Championship –
(i) For a First Failure - the Game shall be
Awarded to the Opposing Team, but without
Disqualification, subject to the condition
below.
If in the opinion of the Committee-in-Charge,
the failure to field was for an ulterior purpose,
affecting the position(s) of other Club(s), the
defaulting Club may, at the discretion of the
Committee, be disqualified from the
Championship.
(ii) For a Second Failure – a Club shall be
Disqualified from the Championship and the
Game shall be Awarded to the Opposing
Team.

Does this mean that Shamrocks are out of Junior B Championship now having conceded 2 group matches? If so, does the third team in the group get points as well? I hope we don't see anymore of this in the various championships. I know sometimes it's unavoidable but you'd think clubs would have an idea of player numbers when entering championships. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here.

With regard to Tullamore posters feeling aggrieved by comments after they conceded a match.... ye have to realize that a club like Tullamore will always garner attention. It's a big club and big clubs will always attract the headlines. I'm not anti Tullamore in anyway, but I think it's shocking that ye couldn't field a team the last day.

[Lone Shark]

It does say a lot though that you have areas like Daingean parish fielding seven teams, Rhode and Ballycumber parishes fielding six teams and Tullamore can't muster up three. It makes a strong case for a second club in Tullamore town.

LS, do you think that another club would get more from the resources in the town? Are you laying all the blame at the door of the club?

I'm not blaming the club entirely, but the simple fact of the matter is that there is a huge catchment area there and yet Tullamore can't field three teams when clubs like Shamrocks, Rhode, Ferbane and Clara are all managing to, with plenty to spare in a couple of cases. Maybe another club with a different identity, with none of the baggage and perhaps with less pressure to perform at a high level might get a few lads out playing that otherwise don't feel comfortable going down to O'Brien Park. Different things work for different towns - if we look at the other main provincial towns in Leinster, Mullingar, Carlow, Newbridge and Navan all have at least two clubs, while Portlaoise is an exception but equally Portlaoise is one of the most successful clubs in Ireland. Maybe the Tullamore blueprint isn't the best answer?

[bula bula]

It does say a lot though that you have areas like Daingean parish fielding seven teams, Rhode and Ballycumber parishes fielding six teams and Tullamore can't muster up three. It makes a strong case for a second club in Tullamore town.

LS, do you think that another club would get more from the resources in the town? Are you laying all the blame at the door of the club?

I'm not blaming the club entirely, but the simple fact of the matter is that there is a huge catchment area there and yet Tullamore can't field three teams when clubs like Shamrocks, Rhode, Ferbane and Clara are all managing to, with plenty to spare in a couple of cases. Maybe another club with a different identity, with none of the baggage and perhaps with less pressure to perform at a high level might get a few lads out playing that otherwise don't feel comfortable going down to O'Brien Park. Different things work for different towns - if we look at the other main provincial towns in Leinster, Mullingar, Carlow, Newbridge and Navan all have at least two clubs, while Portlaoise is an exception but equally Portlaoise is one of the most successful clubs in Ireland. Maybe the Tullamore blueprint isn't the best answer?

Perhaps there just isnt the interest in the GAA in Tullamore town. Another club within the town would struggle to get lads involved too IMO. It would be interesting to see if there was a club started would it get as much bad feeling towards it as Tullamore presently does.

[Lone Shark]

Perhaps there just isnt the interest in the GAA in Tullamore town. Another club within the town would struggle to get lads involved too IMO. It would be interesting to see if there was a club started would it get as much bad feeling towards it as Tullamore presently does.

I admire your willingness to try and serve your club's cause by creating this "world is agin' us" notion, but it simply doesn't wash. I'm one of the many people who have been accused of anti-Tullamore bias on this site, and yet I was one of several non-townies who was in Carlow supporting ye when ye played Éire Óg in 2007, just as I was there when ye played the Louth champions in 2003, though who that was at the time escapes me right now and I can't be bothered to google it. The simple fact is that it's Tullamore people who argue that there should be more Tullamore lads on the county panel, despite the fact that most of ye're best players aren't interested in playing county football for a variety of reasons, while it's Tullamore people who have been known to make excuses when the team loses a game rather than simply accepting defeat, not that we'll go dredging up those old wounds at this particular time!

I simply can't buy into the notion that Tullamore couldn't rustle up fifteen footballers to play Walsh island, even if a few juniors were needed, and it's not the first time this has happened this year either - the Under 21 hurling championship being a case in point. It's only natural that people would ask the question how hard are Tullamore really trying to fill those jerseys, or are they simply not interested if the player that fills the jersey isn't perceived to be up to their own standards? That's not anti-Tullamore bias, that's simply judging Tullamore by the same standards we would any other club.

[True Red]

I think it was newtown blues that they played and were beaten by in 2003?

[The Magpie]

I think it was newtown blues that they played and were beaten by in 2003?

I think so. But I think it was 2002 - at least, that's when they won the Championship.

[Lone Shark]

I think it was newtown blues that they played and were beaten by in 2003?

I think so. But I think it was 2002 - at least, that's when they won the Championship.

Stands to reason that a Clara man would pick up on that! I should have googled after all...the ould memory isn't what it once was!

[Lone Shark]

I see an interesting knock on effect of this is materialising at the moment in that Tullamore junior B's are sailing through the championship, with one away draw and five wins - by an average margin of over ten points. Now I understand that by even bringing this up I'll be accused of anti-tullamore bias all over again, but this isn't about one club. This is about the fact that in order to field in an intermediate championship game (where they would have been huge underdogs anyway) Tullamore would have had to promote some of their juniors. Rather than doing this, they gave a walkover and thus kept their junior team intact. That junior team is now looking good to win a championship while their intermediates have been relegated.

It's all entirely within the rules and I've no doubt there are several instances down the years of clubs doing different things to protect their players from being upgraded, but I can't help but feel that there's something not quite right here either. I can't help but feel that if a Junior B team is good enough to cruise through a championship like this, there must have been some of their players who would have been well fit to play intermediate championship against Walsh Island. My gut feeling is that the club should have fielded here.

What's the general feeling?

[bula bula]

I can see your point in linking the fact that Tullamore are doing well in the junior B and that there might have been lads good enough to be promoted but I still feel that if it was not Tullamore then it would not be even brought up. I am sure you will argue that there is no anti-bias involved but I believe thats the basis for it. We are never going to agree on that but thats just life and club honour for ya.

As for the Leinster game, my memory is not great either but I was sure it was Mattock Rangers we played in Drogheda and not Newtown Blues. Unlucky to come up against a fairly good outfit who were extremely fit and hungry and were unlucky not to win Leinster that year.

[As Such Ger]

At the time of the first round of the Intermediate there wasn't exactly a Junior team in the final stages of preparation for an all out onslaught on the Junior B . So, it wasn't a case of deliberately holding back particular players with an eye on winning the Junior B. The junior B team scraped together 16 lads for the first round, and managed to put out teams consisting of whoever was free for the first couple of rounds.

Tullamore did play 4 Intermediate matches this year after the first round, using players who could have played Junior alternatively, and didn't pull out of the Championship, unlike some other clubs.

[On the Ditch]

Was at the Daingean v Tullamore Junior B game last night, a couple points of interest. Seemingly it took Tullamore 5 games to reach this stage, whereas Daingean only played 2. The Tullamore team was a real mixture of youth and experience, mainly youth, most of whom I believe are this years minors. From what I gather it was pure lack of organisation by the Tullamore club that resulted in the non-fielding of an Intermediate team, not as LS suggests a holding back of players for Junior B.

[Archangel]

Was at the game last night too, Phil O'Reilly & Paul Rouse looking for more medals? Strange that Philo jacked in the senior managers job yet continues to play with the B's!
That was a poor Daingean effort, so hard to tell how good Tullamore were.