Underage Hurling and Football 2025

[greenairfield]

Birr take the u16 title by 4 pts looked the stronger team tullamore didnt give up though.

In the short term underage titles seems to be contested by KK Birr and mix of B/D Tullamore and DSk.

[del]

Birr deserving winners in the under 16 final . Some really talented hurlers on the Birr team. Tullamore battled hard and gave it a good go as they have done in the last few yrs in the finals they have been in just can’t seem to get over the line in Hurling finals.
Birr pitch was in really good Nic particularly for this time of year .

[Plain of the Herbs]

Have to salute everyone involved in getting all underage championships completed by 18th October.

[Offaly Hero]

Have to salute everyone involved in getting all underage championships completed by 18th October.

The U-20 club football championship has yet to commence.

[Plain of the Herbs]

U20 is technically Adult.

Have to salute everyone involved in getting all underage championships completed by 18th October.

The U-20 club football championship has yet to commence.

[classof81]

What a great game we had for the minor football final on Saturday, ferbane probably deserving winners but Rhode put up a great battle. Eamon maher was very good, woods was lively as was young waldron. That's 2 in a row for ferbane, a great crop coming through in the last few year.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Hardly 2 in a row as is really the same team as last year? Last year U17 v U18 this year?

[wonka]

Hardly 2 in a row as is really the same team as last year? Last year U17 v U18 this year?

The roll of honour will show the same club appearing in successive years.
If that isn't a 2 in a row, then what is it exactly?

Beat 2 different teams in either final with slight tweaks to the team

[The big hill]

Baffled by the Offaly schools team losing to Mullingar CBS today. Practically the Offaly U19 team losing to a team on the football side of Westmeath.

[Faithfully]

Baffled by the Offaly schools team losing to Mullingar CBS today. Practically the Offaly U19 team losing to a team on the football side of Westmeath.

Seems a disappointing result.

Would argue the point on the football side of Westmeath however. You're within a 15-20 minute radius of the heavy hitters on the hurling scene in Westmeath. It's where a lot of them would go to school.

Plunketts, Lough Lene Gaels, Raharney, Clonkill, Brownstown, Turin, Cullion, Crookedwood, Ringtown etc all would have lads involved.

[Snotser123]

Is it really baffling when you seen what laois done to Brian carrolls minor team last year....they beat them out the gate ...put up a massive score from what I remember

[Plain of the Herbs]

Couple of things.

I expected more from that Offaly team. Good on paper, finished it out well against South Dublin last day out.

I managed to see the second and third quarters on the stream. That was a seriously good Mullingar team. Great touch, totally dominated around the middle, had forwards too. They're good enough to give it a real go against Kilkenny CBS.

Faithfully is correct on the Westmeath hurling area centering around Mullingar.

And remember the Birr lads had a hurling match the day before. Had a fine win over Gorey to reach the B semi-final. (And I think Birr have made at least the B semi-final every year since 2020.) Coláiste Choilm had a hurling match on Tuesday. While the Ferbane lads had a hurling match on Monday and a football match yesterday. All in testing conditions.

[Tmacmahon]

The pick of offaly loosing to one westmeath school is a hard pill to swallow regardless of circumstances and context . there is loads of coaching workshops that tick boxes and look good and bring in all these "big names" I find it all a social media PR stunt . We need substance. Excellent coaches in PRIMARY SCHOOLS, not fluffy stuff at second level. I vould be way off , Apologies

[greenairfield]

I think the one school thing is misleading as mullingar have all or most of the main players from westmeath playing.
Please also note we will be even weaker next year based on Laois victory last year over us at minor level which would allign with our age category.

I know we cant keep looking back but demographics change and traditons also but when the Birr school were competing in A schools we seemed to be more consistent overall. Its a shame they are now in B but thats where they are.

[Lone Shark]

First of all, I was at the game yesterday and Coláiste Mhuire were full value for the win, they were quite clearly the better team on the day. Some of the Offaly management made their unhappiness known to the referee and the CM management after, and to be honest, I couldn't see where that came from. And even if there was some basis for it, it was not gracious and didn't look good.

There were a couple of small, marginal decisions that went either way, but I'd have said that neither CM nor Offaly got any great boost or hit overall from the referee. CM were vastly superior in the first half and probably deserved to lead by a lot more than six. The second half was more competitive but you also have to factor in that instinctively, a team on the cusp of one of the biggest wins in that school's history is always going to be a bit conservative.

Secondly, in my prep for commentary, I was asked which of the CM players were on Westmeath minor and U-20 panels, and I was just told "they all have been" - I'd say you could count on one hand the number of players from the rest of the county who would get on this team. This is a right good side, and they'll give Kilkenny CBS plenty of it.

Thirdly, we saw some positives for this experiment when Offaly won it a few years ago, but I think we saw all the negatives in full view yesterday. The bulk of the team had already played championship for their school this week, and you can't tell me that this doesn't impinge on those schools' chances of winning their own individual titles. It's a distraction when these lads are training with Offaly Schools, and then you have the risk of injury. Rory Dunican went off with a shoulder injury yesterday, so presumably Gallen will now be without him for their North Leinster finals in both football and hurling. That's not serving Offaly GAA particularly well.

The facts don't matter as much, in the modern world, so people will still use that stick to beat Offaly - one school beat your whole county - and I guarantee you that a lot of these players, from the Westmeath side and the Offaly side, will see it that way. It's a three-point head start for Westmeath if the counties meet at U-20 in the next year or two.

We don't have so many schools, nor do we have schools that are so ridiculously small, that it shouldn't be possible to work with them on an individual basis to try and get them that bit better across the board, and then raise everyone's standards - not just the hothoused "elite".

As an aside, I have no idea why Schools GAA facilitates this stuff. I can understand why Offaly GAA would want to put this team in place, albeit it's an argument with pros and cons on both sides, but I can't for the life of me why an organisation whose responsibility is the promotion of gaelic games in schools would want to let this happen.