Standard of NI soccer .

Donegal v Antrim was hardly watchable from the Ulster championship a few weeks ago Kelly.

Anyway the thing is the North are poor but to be fair that's just about a reserve 11 that played Ireland and especially Wales,so they are better than that. They were just totally outclassed, you had 4 Crusaders lads on the pitch at the end (I think) they were runners up in the part time Irish league. When were Wales ever as short as 1/2 away from home? I think it is fair to say opinions are better formed watching teams when they play competitive games, the North's fans did not travel so it tells you they could not bear watch it either.

Not talking about gaelic vs soccer as games , Rocketfingers . The difference I see is that the young kids ( and girls , a lot of them ) seem to be enjoying themselves learning the gaelic  game .  So are the people coaching them . Unfortunately the same cannot be said for those on the other pitches by their side , they all seem to spend their time roaring advice .

A relation has a son who is a quite good footballer , both soccer and gaelic . On the soccer front he is a star , relatively speaking , has travelled to Spain last year ( at age 11 ) to play against youth teams like Real Madrid etc . Money is no object it seems for the Irish League club he is associated with .

He also plays local club gaelic and schools gaelic , at a comparable  level as far as I can see , but he is not a "star " , just one of about 4 above average players in that scene . This inclines me to the view that the standard of players involved in gaelic is a lot higher than those playing soccer in this instance .

I realise you cant extrapolate cases like this to a general conclusion , but I cant help feeling that my gut instincts are correct .  I think soccer has lost its way locally either through poor material or poor systems , and the product is no longer there like it was when I was growing up .

Reference Donegal and Antrim , Donegal has suffered incredibly in financial and personnell terms from economic considerations , and will take a long time to recover as a lot of the economy is based on visitors . Antrim traditionally just dont win anything despite the abundance of clubs and players throughout the county . Promising young players just disappear after age 15 or so , its a culture thing I reckon .

My own county do persevere with their younger players mainly , so seen on our record from a much smaller pool than Antrim . But there is not the same competition from soccer and rugby for the "affections " of the young players as in Antrim .

One of reasons for boycott by fans was in protest at constant and nakedly sectarian pursuit by F.A.I of young players from underage Northern Ireland teams,shouldnt be playing Republic until that ceases...but you can keep Darron Gibson.

kelly , re your observations of youngsters playing soccer and the people who coach them....a friend of mine with a little time on his hands stood watching a game in his local park ..he was amazed to watch the coach run up and down the line shouting at the kids and giving all sorts of instructions ....as the game progressed he became more heated in his urgings to the team ,finally to the amazement of my friend he blunted out ....ffs lads you're playing like a load of beginners ......they were under 8s....

Kabcast you need help!...you are caught in a time warp..everyone else has moved on...

Kabcast...........The N.I. fans will drive more talent down south........I think we know the main reason why fans didn't travel down.

I went to see Sligo v Leitrim last weekend Kelly, got there very early, anyway beautiful luxury coach rolls in, then massive brand new spanking van pulls up right behind it with "Kit Van" written on it who hops out of it but the Sligo team? WTF a luxury coach hired to travel about a half mile and a brand new kit van? Leitrim no frills rolled in a coach bags in the luggage holders nothing like this spoiled inter county stuff we see with most teams. They're probably the hardest hit county in Ireland economically played Sligo off the pitch with some decent football, Sligo a team training 4 times a week trying to hand pass it around the place a total joke, so i don't think you're excuse for Donegal washes when you see Leitirm.

Both Sligo and Leitrim had a fair amount of failed players who tried first to make a career of it in the LOI with my club when we were in the first division, hardly  great sign for their standard of football that they could not make it with us then?


As far as shouting at kids having coached myself in both codes i've seen it loads of times, actually parents are the biggest problem although you do get lunatics of coaches from time to time but they are the exception not the norm.

@Kabcast keep sending them bullets i'm sure they'll all get the hint sooner or later.

Out of interest rocketfingers what players from Sligo and Leitrin didn't make the grade.

Mulligan, Quinn, Kelly, Davey last 2 not involved last weeekend because of injury. There a few more on the panel and there's a few more that as far as i know have just gone off the panel. Actually fair few on the Roscommon team as well, 3 of those that won the Connacht title last season failed to make it with us.

Do many locals make it.

nakedly sectarian pursuit by F.A.I of young players from underage Northern Ireland teams

No we would take players based on ability not religion.

Get yourself an Irish passport, granny or grandad and you are nearly there........It's the only way we can compete.

Giant a few but you must remember Sligo is only a fairly small place. Mark Rossiter that plays for you is from the town, Ciaran Martyn, Alan Cawley, Conor O'Grady, Cretaro, Gary Curran, Steve Feeney and young lad named McGoldrick coming through, they all play LOI or IL although i think Cawley retired this month, Mark's brother Ian was with Harps until recently. I seen O'Grady play minor for Sligo, McGoldrick i never seen but meant to be a very good gaelic player and Cretaro and Curran both played i think Curran and maybe Martyn may have been minor as well. GAA pushed very hard to get O'Grady to commit years ago but he chose not to.

You are spot on it depends on the county........impossible to play both and lads have to think of secure employment in this climate.