Monaghan U14 Development Squad

Monaghan U14 development Squad Inter-county blitz

Cloghan hosted an Inter-county blitz for U14 development squads on Saturday 2 July. This featured teams from Down, Meath and Westmeath, playing matching with some modified rules so that the focus remains on developing the skills and abilities of these players

Each county brought two squads of players, with each squad split into two equal teams. This maximizes the amount of game time and experience for each of the players involved in the squads. In an effort to develop scoring power, scoring zones were marked out on all pitches and each point scored from outside the zone counted double. And in the first half of each match players could only take two touches, encouraging them to look up and develop the vision required to compete successfully at inter-county level.

All in all, it proved to be a very worthwhile experience. While the emphasis is on performance and learning to do the right thing more so than focusing purely on results, both teams competed very well in marvellous conditions. After a slow start which allowed Westmeath to shade things in the first round of matches, Monaghan’s second team found their stride, amassing good scores again both Meath and Down. And after team1lost our narrowly in the final seconds to Meath, they regrouped to overcome a strong Down team by finishing stronger in the second half.

These activities form part of the development programme which has been in place since the beginning of the year for this group. After a series of trials to be selected for Monaghan’s U14 squad in February, the players and management have been getting together on a fortnightly basis since then under the management first of all of Eddie Murphy, then more recently Paddy Hughes. They have also been assisted in the coaching department by Darren Duffy from Drumhowan and goalkeeping coach Liam Swift from Clontibret. In addition to playing a number of matches, they have also started a Strength and conditioning programme, led by Martin Corey.

The next task for this group is a visit to Carlow on Saturday 16 July for another blitz featuring Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow.

U14 DEVELOPMENT SQUAD BLITZ

TEAM

Westmeath (1)

Westmeath (2)

Meath (1)

Meath (2)

Down (1)

Down (2)

Monaghan (1)

Monaghan (2)

GAME	TEAM
2-6	Monaghan (1) v Westmeath (1)	1-10
2-12	Down (1) v Meath (1)	3-6
1-5	Monaghan (2) v Westmeath (2)	2-3
1-3	Down (2) v Meath (2)	2-2

3-4	Monaghan (1) v Meath (1)	4-3
2-1	Down (1) v Westmeath (1)	3-8
2-15	Monaghan (2) v Meath (2)	2-3
	Down (2) v Westmeath (2)

2-3	Monaghan (1) v Down (1)	1-5
2-8	Westmeath (1) v Meath (1)	1-6
0-12	Monaghan (2) v Westmeath (2)	0-4