Woodlock to scour the county for minor talent

By Shane Brophy

New Tipperary minor hurling manager James Woodlock will return to the old-style trials as he puts his panel together for this year’s championship.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, development squads at under 15 and 16 were unable to meet properly in 2020 while schools’ competitions which are a key monitoring tool were unable to be held so the Drom & Inch clubman will have to revert to trials around the county to put his first panel in place.

“There was no under 15 and under 16 development to go off of. I have had no club games or school games so it will be going back to the old traditional trialling period,” he said, speaking to the Guardian this week.

However, James feels this is no bad thing.

“Most of the minor panels come through under 14 & 15, but with young lads’ development, you might make an under 14 panel and not make and under 15 panel, and then you might have not been on either of those two panels and make an under 16 panel.

“I was over the under 16 development squad (2019) and there were two or three players there that hadn’t made county and they ended up being three starting county minors last year,” he added.

Woodlock, along with his selectors Conor O’Brien, Damien Ryan, Cormac McGrath, and Brendan Ferris will have to put together an almost completely new panel for 2021, with only four survivors from last years minor squad, only one of which, Philly Hayes, played in the championship. So, he will be leaning not only on his selectors from each division, but also on clubs to put players forward they feel are worthy of a trial, possibly going onto wear the blue and gold jersey.

“I’m just putting names together at the moment,” he added.

“It is going to be difficult as there is no precedent for a group of players coming forward to you where there was no development last year.”

“I am looking forward to it and I want every young lad who wants to play county minor this year or next year know that I am going in with an absolute blank canvass. The county will be searched for these players and I am willing to take phone-calls from any club to put names forward and if they deserve a trial, they’ll be given a trial.”

James Woodlock succeeds his Drom & Inch clubmate Paul Collins as minor manager, who enjoyed a mixed two years at the helm, struggling with what was a relatively young panel in 2019, but last year with a core of players up to the age, they reached a Munster Final where they were unlucky to lose, after extra time, to Limerick. And the Woodlock feels that having a strong group of players up to the age is important in moulding a competitive team.

“The best players are going to be picked but my thinking is if you are up to the age, having watched the minor for the last couple of years, you need that bit of strength and power because you are an extra year developed,” he said.

The first major issue for Woodlock, however, is when they can begin their search for players as they await the go-ahead for GAA facilities to reopen from where the trialling process can begin. Initially, it was supposed to be at the start of February for a mid-March championship start but that hasn’t happened and there is still the fact that the 2020 All-Ireland minor championship has to be completed with Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, and Offaly still in the hunt for the Irish Press Cup.

While the inter-county season is due to resume before club, Woodlock feels inter-county minor could be put back to the end of the year to allow players to start back with their clubs and get up to speed before focusing on getting on a county panel.

“Training was supposed to begin the first week in February and that has gone. I think it could go back six weeks or even more,” Woodlock added.

“It could be a very short window to try and trial probably 130 players and then cut it down to 30-35 and then do a small bit of training and get them on the field as quickly as we can, that is how short it could be when this season opens up.

“Could they put the minor back completely to the end of the year and give the sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds and opportunity to go back into their clubs, play some hurling, get some enjoyment from playing and then become county minors at the end of the club season. That should be on the table as well as playing it early would mean running into the junior cert but I’m expecting it to be a short season one way or another.”

One thing James Woodlock has definitely ruled out is accommodating dual players, not that he is against the principle, but because the minor hurling and football championships run concurrent to one another, highlighted last year when the Tipperary minor hurlers and footballers played Munster championship games on the same day, four hours apart in Cork and Thurles.

“If it was split season with minor hurling and football scheduled at different times of the year, it could be done but it’s not,” Woodlock said of accommodating dual players.

“I was extremely proud of the footballers and what they achieved last year, and I think the development is there for both hurling and football in Tipperary and should be. Any young boy that wants to play hurling and football should not be deterred but at minor level the window isn’t there anymore to do both as, to be fair, minor is a development level for the adult grade and it is my responsibility to develop these players, to instil the proper culture and values as they step into senior adult and open their eyes as to what is in front of them. But is it impossible to do that if you are missing so many players from every session, it just can’t be done.”