Coaching officer confident underage base is now in place for Rebels to thrive

“We’re lucky in that we’ve huge numbers. That’s a fantastic base to work from. Starting with U7s, U8s, U9s, and U10s, the blitzes are very well run. Colm Crowley does a very good job organising them and it gets the parents and the kids in a regular set of games. They know their slot and the numbers playing are huge. We have more or less half of the blitzes in Munster at U8s and U9s.”

“You don’t want to overemphasise how big the Forristal tournament is, even when I played it some time ago it was well established, but narrowing down to 48 players at that age is too small. Now we’ve the bones of 240 players involved in hurling and football. Probably next year we’ll have to do a bit more coaching with those U14 squads instead of just focusing on the matches.”

“You need the club link, the school link, the development squads, it all improves the player, in both codes. The Cork U15s and U16s, under Noel Furlong and Jamie Wall and their respective management teams, did superbly.”

“The underage football has given everybody a great lift. We’ve a big enough playing population to thrive in both.”

Imokilly won’t be as strong in 2020 as they lose the Fr O’Neill’s and Cloyne contingents under the revamped club competitions. Aghada native Dwane, who regularly pulled on the red and white of his division, feels the overhaul will energise clubs.
