Offaly Minor Football 2024

[SizeFive2024]

When they have a Registration evening for say U8's - about 120 kids will show up and register. Within 6-8 weeks that number will have dwindled to about 30-40. The other 80-90 players are lost to the GAA forever

You have to be making up figures, they are nothing like the reality

[del]

I never said in the catchment area . You said 120 kids were registered at u8 that has never happened without doubt there is more than 120 boys in Tullamore at u 8 in any given year but I don’t think I can make it any clearer Tullamore never had 120 kids between 6–8 yrs . Your claimed 120 registered and within a few weeks 80-90 kids are lost to gaa which is clearly untrue .
Anyway let’s hope the weather improves for the finals tomorrow in the faithful fields

[FlyOnTheWall]

The numbers re Tullamore are completely false . They have never had 120 at u8 . That’s a fact I know what I’m talking about max was 70 which was 6/7 yrs ago

70 players in one year is still insane.

Most rural clubs would do well to get 70 players over a ten year period.

[del]

Agreed it’s great numbers and a lot stayed at it from the u 8 group that had 70 at u15/17 this year Tullamore Fielded 2 teams and the u 17 second team got to an A quarter final so Player retention isn’t too bad in Tullamore. There are always kids lost to gaa to sport in general .for various different reasons. There are also a lot more distractions in towns that pulls kids away from Gaa

[KeshaWantsTimber]

Simple enough solution. If individual clubs have 10 players (boys and girls if needed)then they field at u7,u9 and u11 Go Go Games, focusing on enjoyment, skill development and player retention. If 20/30 players available then field 2/3 teams. Play 7/8/9 aside as suits.

When competitive games start (u13) the picture of who can play alone or amalgamate with 1/2 other clubs should be much clearer.

This model maximises playing numbers in all clubs and gives every player 5/6 years of fun and skill development in their home club jersey.

[jimbob17]

Simple enough solution. If individual clubs have 10 players (boys and girls if needed)then they field at u7,u9 and u11 Go Go Games, focusing on enjoyment, skill development and player retention. If 20/30 players available then field 2/3 teams. Play 7/8/9 aside as suits.

When competitive games start (u13) the picture of who can play alone or amalgamate with 1/2 other clubs should be much clearer.

This model maximises playing numbers in all clubs and gives every player 5/6 years of fun and skill development in their home club jersey.

Couldn't agree more.

[The big hill]

Underage wins from U13 to U17 since 2018: Fairplay to Ferbane for beating a favored Tullamore side

Winners
Tullamore 11
Ferbane 2
Cloghan 2
St Vincents 1
Edenderry 1
K/K 1
Na Fianna 1
Rhode 1
St Broughans 1



Losers
Tullamore 3
St Vincents 3
Edenderry 3
Clara 2
Ferbane 2
Na Fianna 2
Rhode 1
K/K 1
St Broughans 1
St Manchans 1
Cloghan 1
Durrow 1

[Lone Shark]

In fact the GAA population in Tullamore is not all that big despite the size of the town. Within the 15000, there is a high proportion of people that'd never even look at a GAA game never mind play it or be involved.
.....

There is way more wasted talent in some of the super amalgamations than there is in Tullamore. If you look at the numbers in the primary schools, that'll tell you that. And in those areas, they are mostly country kids and don't have non-national families who are way less likely to play GAA in the same numbers.

and....

That point is very relevant and goes for other minorities too. The GAA population of Tullamore is probably 10-15% of the population. That is a fact. The GAA population of rural Ireland demographic is 60-70% id imagine, and that isnt to nullify Tullamore advantage. They do have that advantage but I guarantee you that more boys could play for Na Fianna or St Vincents at GoGames level than could for Tullamore.

I will come back to this topic properly next week when I'm not covering live games, but I do want to pick up on this. Aside from the fact that the numbers are clearly false - all school enrolment numbers are freely available and the idea that there are mode kids in school in either Killeigh parish or Daingean parish than there are in the town of Tullamore is daft. (Ref: https://www.schooldays.ie/primary-schoo ... ary-offaly)

However even aside from that, I find the line that I've highlighted to be somewhere between damaging, misleading, and downright racist. Firstly, even if the idea you were hinting at had any basis, then the idea that the right number is 15% is ludicrous. But much more importantly, it's a horseshit concept.

We all get it that a kid raised in a family where the parents are steeped in the GAA history and tradition needs no cajoling or recruitment, but absolutely everyone who lives in this country is "GAA population", and if I thought for a second that anyone in Tullamore GAA thought along the same lines as this post, then that would be the biggest argument possible for getting another club into the town immediately.

I live in a parish where numbers is a huge problem. My son is one of four boys born in the parish in 2017, albeit that is a bit of an anomaly, there were a lot of girls born that year. The average is 8-10, and we're still fielding teams by ourselves most of the way up along (there's no U-14 team this year for the first time, but again, we have just a handful of boys born in 2010 and 2011, and a couple of those have unique needs and aren't really suitable for football beyond Go Games, so there's only three boys of age, and they're playing and training with the U-16s).

I can assure you, absolutely nobody is outside the GAA population as far as we're concerned. Lads will be brought to training and games, lads will be given special training, people call down to houses to explain what we do to parents that don't understand the culture, we have five schools that are all two or three teacher and we go into every one of them, and that's what clubs should be doing.

I accept that's not necessarily feasible in a bigger town with bigger numbers, but the principles should be the same.



You could very well make the argument that Tullamore are doing a good job in terms of keeping numbers playing, and providing gaelic games for everyone that wants it, and I'm open to that argument. You could argue that relative to clubs in a similar situation (Portlaoise, Naas, Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels) they're doing well, and all of those are legitimate arguments that deserve to be considered, just as much as the counterpoint that most towns that size can sustain two or more healthy clubs in competition.

But if any club, either publicly or behind closed doors, believes that a chunk of the population within their catchment area is not part of their responsibility, then that is truly shocking, and is serious grounds for another club to be brought in to do the job right.

[FlyOnTheWall]

Good win for Ferbane/Belmont in the minor final. The better team throughout and puts a stop to Tullamore’s clean sweep.

[jimbob17]

In fact the GAA population in Tullamore is not all that big despite the size of the town. Within the 15000, there is a high proportion of people that'd never even look at a GAA game never mind play it or be involved.
.....

There is way more wasted talent in some of the super amalgamations than there is in Tullamore. If you look at the numbers in the primary schools, that'll tell you that. And in those areas, they are mostly country kids and don't have non-national families who are way less likely to play GAA in the same numbers.

and....

That point is very relevant and goes for other minorities too. The GAA population of Tullamore is probably 10-15% of the population. That is a fact. The GAA population of rural Ireland demographic is 60-70% id imagine, and that isnt to nullify Tullamore advantage. They do have that advantage but I guarantee you that more boys could play for Na Fianna or St Vincents at GoGames level than could for Tullamore.

I will come back to this topic properly next week when I'm not covering live games, but I do want to pick up on this. Aside from the fact that the numbers are clearly false - all school enrolment numbers are freely available and the idea that there are mode kids in school in either Killeigh parish or Daingean parish than there are in the town of Tullamore is daft. (Ref: https://www.schooldays.ie/primary-schoo ... ary-offaly)

However even aside from that, I find the line that I've highlighted to be somewhere between damaging, misleading, and downright racist. Firstly, even if the idea you were hinting at had any basis, then the idea that the right number is 15% is ludicrous. But much more importantly, it's a horseshit concept.

We all get it that a kid raised in a family where the parents are steeped in the GAA history and tradition needs no cajoling or recruitment, but absolutely everyone who lives in this country is "GAA population", and if I thought for a second that anyone in Tullamore GAA thought along the same lines as this post, then that would be the biggest argument possible for getting another club into the town immediately.

I live in a parish where numbers is a huge problem. My son is one of four boys born in the parish in 2017, albeit that is a bit of an anomaly, there were a lot of girls born that year. The average is 8-10, and we're still fielding teams by ourselves most of the way up along (there's no U-14 team this year for the first time, but again, we have just a handful of boys born in 2010 and 2011, and a couple of those have unique needs and aren't really suitable for football beyond Go Games, so there's only three boys of age, and they're playing and training with the U-16s).

I can assure you, absolutely nobody is outside the GAA population as far as we're concerned. Lads will be brought to training and games, lads will be given special training, people call down to houses to explain what we do to parents that don't understand the culture, we have five schools that are all two or three teacher and we go into every one of them, and that's what clubs should be doing.

I accept that's not necessarily feasible in a bigger town with bigger numbers, but the principles should be the same.



You could very well make the argument that Tullamore are doing a good job in terms of keeping numbers playing, and providing gaelic games for everyone that wants it, and I'm open to that argument. You could argue that relative to clubs in a similar situation (Portlaoise, Naas, Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels) they're doing well, and all of those are legitimate arguments that deserve to be considered, just as much as the counterpoint that most towns that size can sustain two or more healthy clubs in competition.

But if any club, either publicly or behind closed doors, believes that a chunk of the population within their catchment area is not part of their responsibility, then that is truly shocking, and is serious grounds for another club to be brought in to do the job right.

The accusation of 'downright racism' should be taken back. Nowhere was it suggested that there is a GAA population that is exclusive to Irish nationals and their children. The fact is that there is a much higher chance that those from non national parents are more likely to engage with other sports including soccer and rugby over GAA - that is a fact. I am all for children on non national heritage playing our games and actively promote that but the fact is that they have been shown to be less likely to either start it or stay with it, particularly in more urban areas where other sports have traction.

It is easier in more rural areas to get them engaged in GAA because there is often no other sports in the area.

According to your research there are approx 315 boys in the 4 Killeigh parish schools. This would not include a small chunk of kids from the parish who go to school in Tullamore as their parents work in Tullamore.

There are approx 570 boys in primary in Tullamore. The point is simply this, Charleville National School will provide very few to GAA. Neither will the Educate Together school and they have approx 170 boys between them. That maybe isnt for the want of trying, I don't know what Tullamore do to recruit kids.

The principals of getting kids engaged can be all the same for all you want, but real life in an urban town just does not work like that. If a parent has little or no value or interest in GAA, then they are not going to invest in bringing their kids there. As much as they are welcome, and they are, and as much as the GAA would love to have the best athletic talent in their sport, they wont always choose GAA and are much less likely to choose GAA than they are to choose other sports that their parents involve them in at early age. I accept that in rural depopulated areas, clubs will go to extra lengths and they'll do it because they have to.

The argument is simple. A higher proportion of that Killeigh parish number will start in GAA than there will be in Tullamore. So if you get 50% of that 570 boys in Tullamore to start at underage, that'll be 275. Divide that by the 8 school years and you are looking at a cohort of approx 35 starting at U6 or U7 in a given year. It may be higher or lower than that, I don't know.

Now in Killeigh you are looking at a much higher starting rate than 50% of 315. I'd be fairly sure that generally speaking, they have a much higher rate of 6 or 7 year olds starting GAA than there is in Tullamore and will account for their huge numbers at underage levels - initially at least. That is not being racist. That is just a fact. Of the ones that do start in Killeigh, because of culture, and lower volume of other sports, that higher rate are more likely to stay in GAA up through the Go Games levels than there is in Tullamore where there are many other sporting options. Again, that is a fact. So if at age 10, Tullamore have 30 or so players in a given year, Killeigh parish will have more.

By your argument, Dublin should be dominating Leinster hurling which they are not, because culturally, there is a smaller proportion of kids in Dublin that will hurl than there is in Kilkenny. That isn't racist either. It is a demographical fact.

[hamstrings]

In fact the GAA population in Tullamore is not all that big despite the size of the town. Within the 15000, there is a high proportion of people that'd never even look at a GAA game never mind play it or be involved.
.....

There is way more wasted talent in some of the super amalgamations than there is in Tullamore. If you look at the numbers in the primary schools, that'll tell you that. And in those areas, they are mostly country kids and don't have non-national families who are way less likely to play GAA in the same numbers.

and....

That point is very relevant and goes for other minorities too. The GAA population of Tullamore is probably 10-15% of the population. That is a fact. The GAA population of rural Ireland demographic is 60-70% id imagine, and that isnt to nullify Tullamore advantage. They do have that advantage but I guarantee you that more boys could play for Na Fianna or St Vincents at GoGames level than could for Tullamore.

I will come back to this topic properly next week when I'm not covering live games, but I do want to pick up on this. Aside from the fact that the numbers are clearly false - all school enrolment numbers are freely available and the idea that there are mode kids in school in either Killeigh parish or Daingean parish than there are in the town of Tullamore is daft. (Ref: https://www.schooldays.ie/primary-schoo ... ary-offaly)

However even aside from that, I find the line that I've highlighted to be somewhere between damaging, misleading, and downright racist. Firstly, even if the idea you were hinting at had any basis, then the idea that the right number is 15% is ludicrous. But much more importantly, it's a horseshit concept.

We all get it that a kid raised in a family where the parents are steeped in the GAA history and tradition needs no cajoling or recruitment, but absolutely everyone who lives in this country is "GAA population", and if I thought for a second that anyone in Tullamore GAA thought along the same lines as this post, then that would be the biggest argument possible for getting another club into the town immediately.

I live in a parish where numbers is a huge problem. My son is one of four boys born in the parish in 2017, albeit that is a bit of an anomaly, there were a lot of girls born that year. The average is 8-10, and we're still fielding teams by ourselves most of the way up along (there's no U-14 team this year for the first time, but again, we have just a handful of boys born in 2010 and 2011, and a couple of those have unique needs and aren't really suitable for football beyond Go Games, so there's only three boys of age, and they're playing and training with the U-16s).

I can assure you, absolutely nobody is outside the GAA population as far as we're concerned. Lads will be brought to training and games, lads will be given special training, people call down to houses to explain what we do to parents that don't understand the culture, we have five schools that are all two or three teacher and we go into every one of them, and that's what clubs should be doing.

I accept that's not necessarily feasible in a bigger town with bigger numbers, but the principles should be the same.



You could very well make the argument that Tullamore are doing a good job in terms of keeping numbers playing, and providing gaelic games for everyone that wants it, and I'm open to that argument. You could argue that relative to clubs in a similar situation (Portlaoise, Naas, Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels) they're doing well, and all of those are legitimate arguments that deserve to be considered, just as much as the counterpoint that most towns that size can sustain two or more healthy clubs in competition.

But if any club, either publicly or behind closed doors, believes that a chunk of the population within their catchment area is not part of their responsibility, then that is truly shocking, and is serious grounds for another club to be brought in to do the job right.

The accusation of 'downright racism' should be taken back. Nowhere was it suggested that there is a GAA population that is exclusive to Irish nationals and their children. The fact is that there is a much higher chance that those from non national parents are more likely to engage with other sports including soccer and rugby over GAA - that is a fact. I am all for children on non national heritage playing our games and actively promote that but the fact is that they have been shown to be less likely to either start it or stay with it, particularly in more urban areas where other sports have traction.

It is easier in more rural areas to get them engaged in GAA because there is often no other sports in the area.

According to your research there are approx 315 boys in the 4 Killeigh parish schools. This would not include a small chunk of kids from the parish who go to school in Tullamore as their parents work in Tullamore.

There are approx 570 boys in primary in Tullamore. The point is simply this, Charleville National School will provide very few to GAA. Neither will the Educate Together school and they have approx 170 boys between them. That maybe isnt for the want of trying, I don't know what Tullamore do to recruit kids.

The principals of getting kids engaged can be all the same for all you want, but real life in an urban town just does not work like that. If a parent has little or no value or interest in GAA, then they are not going to invest in bringing their kids there. As much as they are welcome, and they are, and as much as the GAA would love to have the best athletic talent in their sport, they wont always choose GAA and are much less likely to choose GAA than they are to choose other sports that their parents involve them in at early age. I accept that in rural depopulated areas, clubs will go to extra lengths and they'll do it because they have to.

The argument is simple. A higher proportion of that Killeigh parish number will start in GAA than there will be in Tullamore. So if you get 50% of that 570 boys in Tullamore to start at underage, that'll be 275. Divide that by the 8 school years and you are looking at a cohort of approx 35 starting at U6 or U7 in a given year. It may be higher or lower than that, I don't know.

Now in Killeigh you are looking at a much higher starting rate than 50% of 315. I'd be fairly sure that generally speaking, they have a much higher rate of 6 or 7 year olds starting GAA than there is in Tullamore and will account for their huge numbers at underage levels - initially at least. That is not being racist. That is just a fact. Of the ones that do start in Killeigh, because of culture, and lower volume of other sports, that higher rate are more likely to stay in GAA up through the Go Games levels than there is in Tullamore where there are many other sporting options. Again, that is a fact. So if at age 10, Tullamore have 30 or so players in a given year, Killeigh parish will have more.

By your argument, Dublin should be dominating Leinster hurling which they are not, because culturally, there is a smaller proportion of kids in Dublin that will hurl than there is in Kilkenny. That isn't racist either. It is a demographical fact.

As Dublin city cllr gavin pepper says misinformation disinformation

[FlyOnTheWall]

In fact the GAA population in Tullamore is not all that big despite the size of the town. Within the 15000, there is a high proportion of people that'd never even look at a GAA game never mind play it or be involved.
.....

There is way more wasted talent in some of the super amalgamations than there is in Tullamore. If you look at the numbers in the primary schools, that'll tell you that. And in those areas, they are mostly country kids and don't have non-national families who are way less likely to play GAA in the same numbers.

and....

That point is very relevant and goes for other minorities too. The GAA population of Tullamore is probably 10-15% of the population. That is a fact. The GAA population of rural Ireland demographic is 60-70% id imagine, and that isnt to nullify Tullamore advantage. They do have that advantage but I guarantee you that more boys could play for Na Fianna or St Vincents at GoGames level than could for Tullamore.

I will come back to this topic properly next week when I'm not covering live games, but I do want to pick up on this. Aside from the fact that the numbers are clearly false - all school enrolment numbers are freely available and the idea that there are mode kids in school in either Killeigh parish or Daingean parish than there are in the town of Tullamore is daft. (Ref: https://www.schooldays.ie/primary-schoo ... ary-offaly)

However even aside from that, I find the line that I've highlighted to be somewhere between damaging, misleading, and downright racist. Firstly, even if the idea you were hinting at had any basis, then the idea that the right number is 15% is ludicrous. But much more importantly, it's a horseshit concept.

We all get it that a kid raised in a family where the parents are steeped in the GAA history and tradition needs no cajoling or recruitment, but absolutely everyone who lives in this country is "GAA population", and if I thought for a second that anyone in Tullamore GAA thought along the same lines as this post, then that would be the biggest argument possible for getting another club into the town immediately.

I live in a parish where numbers is a huge problem. My son is one of four boys born in the parish in 2017, albeit that is a bit of an anomaly, there were a lot of girls born that year. The average is 8-10, and we're still fielding teams by ourselves most of the way up along (there's no U-14 team this year for the first time, but again, we have just a handful of boys born in 2010 and 2011, and a couple of those have unique needs and aren't really suitable for football beyond Go Games, so there's only three boys of age, and they're playing and training with the U-16s).

I can assure you, absolutely nobody is outside the GAA population as far as we're concerned. Lads will be brought to training and games, lads will be given special training, people call down to houses to explain what we do to parents that don't understand the culture, we have five schools that are all two or three teacher and we go into every one of them, and that's what clubs should be doing.

I accept that's not necessarily feasible in a bigger town with bigger numbers, but the principles should be the same.



You could very well make the argument that Tullamore are doing a good job in terms of keeping numbers playing, and providing gaelic games for everyone that wants it, and I'm open to that argument. You could argue that relative to clubs in a similar situation (Portlaoise, Naas, Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels) they're doing well, and all of those are legitimate arguments that deserve to be considered, just as much as the counterpoint that most towns that size can sustain two or more healthy clubs in competition.

But if any club, either publicly or behind closed doors, believes that a chunk of the population within their catchment area is not part of their responsibility, then that is truly shocking, and is serious grounds for another club to be brought in to do the job right.

The accusation of 'downright racism' should be taken back. Nowhere was it suggested that there is a GAA population that is exclusive to Irish nationals and their children. The fact is that there is a much higher chance that those from non national parents are more likely to engage with other sports including soccer and rugby over GAA - that is a fact. I am all for children on non national heritage playing our games and actively promote that but the fact is that they have been shown to be less likely to either start it or stay with it, particularly in more urban areas where other sports have traction.

It is easier in more rural areas to get them engaged in GAA because there is often no other sports in the area.

According to your research there are approx 315 boys in the 4 Killeigh parish schools. This would not include a small chunk of kids from the parish who go to school in Tullamore as their parents work in Tullamore.

There are approx 570 boys in primary in Tullamore. The point is simply this, Charleville National School will provide very few to GAA. Neither will the Educate Together school and they have approx 170 boys between them. That maybe isnt for the want of trying, I don't know what Tullamore do to recruit kids.

The principals of getting kids engaged can be all the same for all you want, but real life in an urban town just does not work like that. If a parent has little or no value or interest in GAA, then they are not going to invest in bringing their kids there. As much as they are welcome, and they are, and as much as the GAA would love to have the best athletic talent in their sport, they wont always choose GAA and are much less likely to choose GAA than they are to choose other sports that their parents involve them in at early age. I accept that in rural depopulated areas, clubs will go to extra lengths and they'll do it because they have to.

The argument is simple. A higher proportion of that Killeigh parish number will start in GAA than there will be in Tullamore. So if you get 50% of that 570 boys in Tullamore to start at underage, that'll be 275. Divide that by the 8 school years and you are looking at a cohort of approx 35 starting at U6 or U7 in a given year. It may be higher or lower than that, I don't know.

Now in Killeigh you are looking at a much higher starting rate than 50% of 315. I'd be fairly sure that generally speaking, they have a much higher rate of 6 or 7 year olds starting GAA than there is in Tullamore and will account for their huge numbers at underage levels - initially at least. That is not being racist. That is just a fact. Of the ones that do start in Killeigh, because of culture, and lower volume of other sports, that higher rate are more likely to stay in GAA up through the Go Games levels than there is in Tullamore where there are many other sporting options. Again, that is a fact. So if at age 10, Tullamore have 30 or so players in a given year, Killeigh parish will have more.

By your argument, Dublin should be dominating Leinster hurling which they are not, because culturally, there is a smaller proportion of kids in Dublin that will hurl than there is in Kilkenny. That isn't racist either. It is a demographical fact.

You’re going to unbelievable lengths to massage the figures.

Why is it such an anathema to you to accept that Tullamore have a numbers advantage?

[FlyOnTheWall]

and....



I will come back to this topic properly next week when I'm not covering live games, but I do want to pick up on this. Aside from the fact that the numbers are clearly false - all school enrolment numbers are freely available and the idea that there are mode kids in school in either Killeigh parish or Daingean parish than there are in the town of Tullamore is daft. (Ref: https://www.schooldays.ie/primary-schoo ... ary-offaly)

However even aside from that, I find the line that I've highlighted to be somewhere between damaging, misleading, and downright racist. Firstly, even if the idea you were hinting at had any basis, then the idea that the right number is 15% is ludicrous. But much more importantly, it's a horseshit concept.

We all get it that a kid raised in a family where the parents are steeped in the GAA history and tradition needs no cajoling or recruitment, but absolutely everyone who lives in this country is "GAA population", and if I thought for a second that anyone in Tullamore GAA thought along the same lines as this post, then that would be the biggest argument possible for getting another club into the town immediately.

I live in a parish where numbers is a huge problem. My son is one of four boys born in the parish in 2017, albeit that is a bit of an anomaly, there were a lot of girls born that year. The average is 8-10, and we're still fielding teams by ourselves most of the way up along (there's no U-14 team this year for the first time, but again, we have just a handful of boys born in 2010 and 2011, and a couple of those have unique needs and aren't really suitable for football beyond Go Games, so there's only three boys of age, and they're playing and training with the U-16s).

I can assure you, absolutely nobody is outside the GAA population as far as we're concerned. Lads will be brought to training and games, lads will be given special training, people call down to houses to explain what we do to parents that don't understand the culture, we have five schools that are all two or three teacher and we go into every one of them, and that's what clubs should be doing.

I accept that's not necessarily feasible in a bigger town with bigger numbers, but the principles should be the same.



You could very well make the argument that Tullamore are doing a good job in terms of keeping numbers playing, and providing gaelic games for everyone that wants it, and I'm open to that argument. You could argue that relative to clubs in a similar situation (Portlaoise, Naas, Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels) they're doing well, and all of those are legitimate arguments that deserve to be considered, just as much as the counterpoint that most towns that size can sustain two or more healthy clubs in competition.

But if any club, either publicly or behind closed doors, believes that a chunk of the population within their catchment area is not part of their responsibility, then that is truly shocking, and is serious grounds for another club to be brought in to do the job right.

The accusation of 'downright racism' should be taken back. Nowhere was it suggested that there is a GAA population that is exclusive to Irish nationals and their children. The fact is that there is a much higher chance that those from non national parents are more likely to engage with other sports including soccer and rugby over GAA - that is a fact. I am all for children on non national heritage playing our games and actively promote that but the fact is that they have been shown to be less likely to either start it or stay with it, particularly in more urban areas where other sports have traction.

It is easier in more rural areas to get them engaged in GAA because there is often no other sports in the area.

According to your research there are approx 315 boys in the 4 Killeigh parish schools. This would not include a small chunk of kids from the parish who go to school in Tullamore as their parents work in Tullamore.

There are approx 570 boys in primary in Tullamore. The point is simply this, Charleville National School will provide very few to GAA. Neither will the Educate Together school and they have approx 170 boys between them. That maybe isnt for the want of trying, I don't know what Tullamore do to recruit kids.

The principals of getting kids engaged can be all the same for all you want, but real life in an urban town just does not work like that. If a parent has little or no value or interest in GAA, then they are not going to invest in bringing their kids there. As much as they are welcome, and they are, and as much as the GAA would love to have the best athletic talent in their sport, they wont always choose GAA and are much less likely to choose GAA than they are to choose other sports that their parents involve them in at early age. I accept that in rural depopulated areas, clubs will go to extra lengths and they'll do it because they have to.

The argument is simple. A higher proportion of that Killeigh parish number will start in GAA than there will be in Tullamore. So if you get 50% of that 570 boys in Tullamore to start at underage, that'll be 275. Divide that by the 8 school years and you are looking at a cohort of approx 35 starting at U6 or U7 in a given year. It may be higher or lower than that, I don't know.

Now in Killeigh you are looking at a much higher starting rate than 50% of 315. I'd be fairly sure that generally speaking, they have a much higher rate of 6 or 7 year olds starting GAA than there is in Tullamore and will account for their huge numbers at underage levels - initially at least. That is not being racist. That is just a fact. Of the ones that do start in Killeigh, because of culture, and lower volume of other sports, that higher rate are more likely to stay in GAA up through the Go Games levels than there is in Tullamore where there are many other sporting options. Again, that is a fact. So if at age 10, Tullamore have 30 or so players in a given year, Killeigh parish will have more.

By your argument, Dublin should be dominating Leinster hurling which they are not, because culturally, there is a smaller proportion of kids in Dublin that will hurl than there is in Kilkenny. That isn't racist either. It is a demographical fact.

As Dublin city cllr gavin pepper says misinformation disinformation

In an argument about racism, I’m not sure quoting a far-right politician is the best idea.

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Best team won on the day . Well done to Ferbane and their Mgt team

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Procedures in place to appeal all red cards so I'm sure these were followed. Don't think Tullamore can have any complaints on the day. Best team won, tullamore too slow and ponderous when going forward and not willing to take on shots from scorable positions.
Agree young Woods was very good but a lot of Ferbane players stood up on the day.