Offaly Under 12 Hurling Championship

[Kevin]

Would anyone out there know what teams won the U12 Hurling Championship in Offaly in 2011, 2012 and 2013?

Many thanks in advance.

[Plain of the Herbs]

How're ya doing, Kevin?

The U12 championship was discontinued following 2010. In its place is run a series of games, competitions and blitzes under the 'Go Games' concept which concentrate on the participation element as opposed to the competition element of the games.

If I recall correctly the clubs had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards the 'Go Games' concept too. Well, some had. Some thought their club's U12s should be taught how to die for the parish at that age. Because GAA is all about pain, torture and suffering, right? Wrong.

[Kevin]

Hi POTH,

All is well here, hoping the same for you.

Many thanks for your informative and entertaining response!!

[stand back]

Even u14 there are a lot of blitz type matches. Last fri in skenagh we held a lift and strike competition ( no rising allowed). As a juvenile trainer i notice that when you have non-competitive blitzes you can focus on learning rather than winning. in bk we're back in the training business. Before that we had none of our own teams for 8years. There's an 8year gap between our u16 team and the youngest on our adult teams. We're only coaching 4 years we were joined up at juvenile 2 years before we did at adult level. So our u16s and u14s 12s 10s and 8s all have four years practice. So its hard for the older lads u16s getting destroyed when their younger siblings are flying u8 and u10.

[manfromdelmonte]

When you are training kids, try and spend as much time playing games. 4 v4 or 5 v 5 is ideal.
Or skills in games format.
You want to increase the touches, time on the ball, decision making and outcomes

Here's something interesting I recently read...

Compared to an 8v8 game the data was as follows for 4v4 games:

Number of passes – increase of 135%
Scoring attempts – increase of 260%
Number of goals scored – increase of 500%
Number of 1v1 encounters – increase of 225%
Number of dribbling skills (tricks) – increase of 280%

In my opinion, under 12 games should be 7/8 a side (field 2/3 teams), under 10 6 a side and under 8 5 a side.

[townman]

was talking to a man from north offaly after the kilkenny game Edenderry his from and he was over an underage teams in his club and he was telling me every time they had a game again a team from south offaly at home they would always get a walk over as clubs don't bother traveing , he said Gracefield under 12's had the same problem getting walk over's as clubs don't turn up, there a rot in offaly hurling and its from under 10's or 12's to senior and its getting worse and yet there will be nothing done i just wonder where the money the county got will go, O'Connor park i would say to pay for that white Elephant

[manfromdelmonte]

ridiculous that they are still playing stand alone games at under 12. no wonder clubs don't travel.
get 4 clubs to one venue, the players get at least 3 games.

[SearingDrive]

was talking to a man from north offaly after the kilkenny game Edenderry his from and he was over an underage teams in his club and he was telling me every time they had a game again a team from south offaly at home they would always get a walk over as clubs don't bother traveing , he said Gracefield under 12's had the same problem getting walk over's as clubs don't turn up, there a rot in offaly hurling and its from under 10's or 12's to senior and its getting worse and yet there will be nothing done i just wonder where the money the county got will go, O'Connor park i would say to pay for that white Elephant

How can you call O'connor Park a white elephant. It was packed today, and is a fine ground. It's the spectators who pay in to county games who are entitled to decent facilities, as are the players from offaly and other counties. Visitors from other counties, and media have praised OCP, but you can't find it in your mind to appreciate it. I doubt if you even travelled up from South Offaly or wherever you hail from to Tullamore for games.
In your thinking it's back to concrete terraces, barbed wire, and primitive toilets. There is no guarantee that without a revamped O'Connor Park, Offaly teams would do any better. The impovement in Offaly teams will come from finding better players, and more resources to developing underage panels.
I'm tired of reading what passes for comment from you.

[dubbiff]

Manfromdelmonte it is not just at U12 that there is a problem. Talking to a hurling mentor from Gracefield I heard that they had problems at U14 level where they fulfilled their fixtures in the league but two South Offaly teams failed to make the return journey. What kind of message is this sending to North Offaly clubs? That hurling above a certain line is unimportant? What about the next Cillian Farrell or Kevin Martin who may be waiting to be discovered? Personally I think there should be a window of a week either side of underage games and if one club cannot field a team in that time frame then sanctions should be imposed-loss of points, fines, expulsion or whatever. I know the Edenderry hurlers feel completely cut off from the hurling community. These clubs need every encouragement from the CB and also from the established hurling clubs

[manfromdelmonte]

considering how much money is being given to Casement Park and Parc Uí Chaoimh, you'd think the GAA could give money to clear the debt on O'Connor Park (considering how much use it gets) so the county board can put money into developing a training centre with loads of pitches and other facilities

[Lone Shark]

considering how much money is being given to Casement Park and Parc Uí Chaoimh, you'd think the GAA could give money to clear the debt on O'Connor Park (considering how much use it gets) so the county board can put money into developing a training centre with loads of pitches and other facilities

This is possibly pulling the thread off topic, but I do think the PUC project is daft. They could easily spend far less on that and build a nice, modern stadium suited to crowds of up to 25,000 - but since they are Cork, this is considered to be a ridiculous idea, apparently they have a divine right to hold Munster hurling finals and the like. There are six counties in Munster and three of them already have stadia that can hold large crowds of over 30,000 - there really is no need for more. In contrast, Connacht has one, Leinster has one and Ulster will have two.

All for what - a Munster football final every second year, and the right to hold Munster hurling finals that could just as easily be played in either Limerick or Thurles? Nonsense.

[azoffaly]

How're ya doing, Kevin?

The U12 championship was discontinued following 2010. In its place is run a series of games, competitions and blitzes under the 'Go Games' concept which concentrate on the participation element as opposed to the competition element of the games.

If I recall correctly the clubs had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards the 'Go Games' concept too. Well, some had. Some thought their club's U12s should be taught how to die for the parish at that age. Because GAA is all about pain, torture and suffering, right? Wrong.

In Tipp the Go Games has been thrown out for U12. Basically they think as you've said. Having said that, they never really got into the concept of the Go Games anyway. I did MC for the 'end games' in North Tipp a couple of years ago, and there was a Cup and Medals presented to the winning team after. That was bad enough, but the cup they received was actually the old U12 Championship Cup, and their names were just added to the list as if it was a continuation of the championship roll of honour.

[Muck Savage]

was talking to a man from north offaly after the kilkenny game Edenderry his from and he was over an underage teams in his club and he was telling me every time they had a game again a team from south offaly at home they would always get a walk over as clubs don't bother traveing , he said Gracefield under 12's had the same problem getting walk over's as clubs don't turn up, there a rot in offaly hurling and its from under 10's or 12's to senior and its getting worse and yet there will be nothing done i just wonder where the money the county got will go, O'Connor park i would say to pay for that white Elephant

How can you call O'connor Park a white elephant. It was packed today, and is a fine ground. It's the spectators who pay in to county games who are entitled to decent facilities, as are the players from offaly and other counties. Visitors from other counties, and media have praised OCP, but you can't find it in your mind to appreciate it. I doubt if you even travelled up from South Offaly or wherever you hail from to Tullamore for games.
In your thinking it's back to concrete terraces, barbed wire, and primitive toilets. There is no guarantee that without a revamped O'Connor Park, Offaly teams would do any better. The impovement in Offaly teams will come from finding better players, and more resources to developing underage panels.
I'm tired of reading what passes for comment from you.

As a matter of interest how much does the county board get for yesterday's game? What is the current debt on OCP?

Things need to get addressed very soon or there will be a generation that won't have seen Offaly win a championship game never mind a Leinster or AI.

[manfromdelmonte]

How're ya doing, Kevin?

The U12 championship was discontinued following 2010. In its place is run a series of games, competitions and blitzes under the 'Go Games' concept which concentrate on the participation element as opposed to the competition element of the games.

If I recall correctly the clubs had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards the 'Go Games' concept too. Well, some had. Some thought their club's U12s should be taught how to die for the parish at that age. Because GAA is all about pain, torture and suffering, right? Wrong.

In Tipp the Go Games has been thrown out for U12. Basically they think as you've said. Having said that, they never really got into the concept of the Go Games anyway. I did MC for the 'end games' in North Tipp a couple of years ago, and there was a Cup and Medals presented to the winning team after. That was bad enough, but the cup they received was actually the old U12 Championship Cup, and their names were just added to the list as if it was a continuation of the championship roll of honour.

Ah yeah.
sure if a smaller county did that they'd probably be dragged over the coals by Croke Park
however, its fine in the likes of Tipp.

[stand back]

Man from delmomte. You are spot on with numbers. Very good point. it annoys me when I see 10 aside at u8s. (But it's great we are getting the numbers). We had football for 15 mins after hurling training last sat morning. Did 5mins of kick and hand passing then picking the ball. Then went in to a match. It was a mess. After 5 mins gave a free, two guys from the same team were fighting over who would take it. Threw up the ball cos they were taking too long. More messing straight after so just blew it up and finished after ten mins of football. They should behave better next time.