'There is a mass exodus': Kerry clubs vote overwhelmingly to change minor age back to U18

CHAMPIONS: St Kieran's won the Kerry MFC title this year for U17s The championship will revert to U18s in 2025, giving them a chance of a repeat.

Kerry GAA clubs have voted overwhelmingly to revert the minor age grade in the county to Under 18 as. County Bord meeting heard of a 'mass exodus' of young players after U17.

Legion's Donal Culloty told the meeting: "We would like to see the minor age go from under-17 to under-18, and we think decoupling (allow also to play at adult level) should be allowed. We think when it comes to fixtures, if there’s a conflict between a minor player and a senior player that a senior competition can’t be held up - because the minor should actually play with the minors.

“I’ve been in charge of the Legion minors, and I’ve been coaching teams for the last ten years, we said we’d take a look last year and see what happened at under-17 and under-18 level.

“I would ask every single person here to look at their minor team from last year, and see how many of those are playing seniors. In our club, we’ve been Division One for the last two years, and out of 30 (ex-minor) players, there are only four playing senior.

“There is a mass exodus; there are loads of players not playing. They’re going to other codes, because the gap between under-17 and senior is too big. We need to go back to under-18. Out of the 32 counties in Ireland, I think there are only ten now that are actually at under-17 level. There is lot of them doing dual, some are doing under-17s, and some are doing under-18.

“It’s not working, we are over-emphasising the elite players. Every time I come into a meeting I hear about loading and elite players. The ordinary club players, we are losing those at 18 years of age, that might become fabulous players at 21 or 22.

“If you look at Galway, they have U17, U18, U19 and U20, in both codes. There was a survey done in Galway where they have 20 per cent more participation, at senior level, by the way they’re running their business.

“I’m concerned that the number of young fellas that are playing football, that are going to other codes, especially at that age group, that are dropping off, because they just can’t make the jump,” Culloty told delegates.

Joe Costello, speaking on behalf of the Kerry Coaching and Games group opposed the move. He said: “We, in Kerry coaching and games, were of the view that the best option for Kerry was under-18 with decoupling. We have tried in Kerry on a number of occasions, at CCC level, to play an age grade competition above under-17, and it is has failed, and it’s failed because it hasn’t been supported by the clubs.

“A lot of clubs have used the senior county league in the way of the B teams to provide a games programme for their underage players. I would say, for the most part, it has worked for the clubs that have used that particular team as the avenue to bring their minors out of minor straight through to senior.

“You potentially have a situation where clubs might need some under-18 players to play with their minors, and play with their seniors."

Addressing Culloty, he added: “Donal, you did refer to the burn-out and the elite under-18 players, and I still stand to that. I just took three players that were Kerry minors in 2023. They all played with their senior team, at a fairly high level, in 2024.

“If this motion, that Legion are proposing, was passed last year, there is a possibility that one of those players would have had the potential to play up to 45 games.

“District league and championship, at minor and senior level, Central Region minor, Minor and Intermediate club championship, Minor and U21 county championship, Minor and Senior county league. That would also exclude post-primary schools.

“There were two other players, and the difference between them and the first player was that they were part of the Under-20 inter-county team, so that actually freed them up from about six senior county league games. You’re still looking at mid-30s number of games for those two lads.

“They also went all the way to the Hogan Cup final. The elite players are a huge issue. What would happen, if the motion is passed, is that there would be responsibility on the CCC to make sure that the minor games programme is, potentially, played midweek to avoid close proximity with the senior activity at the weekend.” 

Several other delegates spoke on the motion and were in favour and when put to the floor the motion was carried by 52 votes to 7 votes.

*Former Clarew manager Mark Fitzgerald has been ratified as a selector with the Kerry U-20’s replacing Bryan Sheehan.