Joining Up

[Extra time]

Heard a rumour that Erin Rovers and Doon are in talks about joining up at adult level,i am not liveing in ireland anymore but im from a neighbouring club in westmeath that plays friendly games against them and heard this from friends that know some players!could anyone confirm this ?also love the site its run very well with good topics well done to all involved.

[Doon Massive]

Probably a bit of purple monkey dishwasher about that one.

Haven't heard any mention of it.....

[Extra time]

Kinda glad to hear it,the longer clubs stand on there own the better,besides i think both clubs are strong enough to field good teams!just new they were joined underage so sounded true when i heard it!thanks for the update

[Lone Shark]

I was at the U16 B final last year, Gracefield against DER, and I came away thinking that Erin Rovers are in grand shape, but Doon really could struggle in a few years. If I recall correctly there were 11 Rovers starters and 4 Doon, and based on the match itself, none of the 4 Doon lads stood out. That could of course be the day I happened to see them, but I have heard people tell me that it's the same the whole way down along the line - Erin Rovers are providing a lot more players for all the underage teams, and that their long term future should be fine.

In fairness to Doon, they were a good bit off winning the Intermediate championship this year, but holding your own at intermediate level and being able to field a second team at all is not that bad a place to be. And that's after losing a lot of guys to emigration and the like, much more than the average. I'd say if you were to do up a team of the players not available to them for the match against Rhode and pitched that against the team that played, it would have been a close call.

These mergers only ever work if both clubs want them anyway. I could see Erin Rovers seeing nothing to gain here. They wouldn't gain enough to become championship contenders, but would lose some of their own identity, while Doon would lose their "every hand to the pump" ethos that has served them so well.

[Extra time]

Dont really no that many lads that emigrated from doon,def couldnt be more than 5, maybe im wrong LS but i couldnt name 5 that left.