CILL DARA ABU

DARK-KNIGHT

a great start to our charge towards a long awaited leinster title!! offaly were never going to be a walkover as local derby game etc!!

well done lads now bring on wexford!

i have so much belief in this group of players they click when playing together which is exciting as its a long time since a kildare squad worked as a solid unit!

McGeeney thank you!!!

zenmonk

ermm...tumbleweed, creaky door

dcr22B

raycaulwell wrote: »

a great start to our charge towards a long awaited leinster title!!

Hahaha, wait until you meet us in the Leinster final and we'll send you crying all the way back down the M4 and M7! :P

Only kidding, Offaly were awful on Sunday so I really would've expected you to have beaten them by more.

However, I genuinely feel you are our greatest threat in Leinster and it'll be a close run thing but I reckon 5-in-a-row is ours for the taking!

Declan30

I hope kildare win Lenister as i backed them at 11/2 to win it.

Pride Fighter

Kildare have a great chance to win Leinster and I have tipped them to win it.

Good luck to Kildare but the AI is the greater prize.

cruiserweight

Kildare seem to be making real progress. A good run in the qualifiers last year, which was backed up by a solid league campaign. They also won last years Leinster U-21 championship, which bodes well for the future. However, I just do not think this will be there year in Leinster. I do think that whoever wins the game on June 13th will be favourites to make the final

redarmy

raycaulwell wrote: »

a great start to our charge towards a long awaited leinster title!! offaly were never going to be a walkover as local derby game etc!!

well done lads now bring on wexford!

i have so much belief in this group of players they click when playing together which is exciting as its a long time since a kildare squad worked as a solid unit!

McGeeney thank you!!!

+1

robo

Well we had a woeful start last year against Wicklow, so I hope that with the opposite happening this year, we actually keep our feet on the ground and get to the Leinster final!! As much as I like the back door when my team can creep back in, there is nothing like a provincial final!! And I love when we play Dublin - it is always a cracker of a match in Croker! But we still have a bit more to go, but McGeeney is definitely doing something right.

DARK-KNIGHT

dcr22B wrote: »

Hahaha, wait until you meet us in the Leinster final and we'll send you crying all the way back down the M4 and M7! :P

Only kidding, Offaly were awful on Sunday so I really would've expected you to have beaten them by more.

However, I genuinely feel you are our greatest threat in Leinster and it'll be a close run thing but I reckon 5-in-a-row is ours for the taking!

i married a dub so the slagging is on lol good luck though the only team noone wants is meath as they just break up your better players!!:eek:

DARK-KNIGHT

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Kildare have a great chance to win Leinster and I have tipped them to win it.

Good luck to Kildare but the AI is the greater prize.

aah the all ireland!

many a tear i shed in 98 and 2001, god damn you galway!

DARK-KNIGHT

zenmonk wrote: »

ermm...tumbleweed, creaky door

tumbleweed?????

ah ennis i see, no talk of clare winning anything this year? SMARTYPANTS? lol

Shan75

raycaulwell wrote: »

tumbleweed?????

ah ennis i see, no talk of clare winning anything this year? SMARTYPANTS? lol

Correct there is no talk of Clare winning anything.Still though no matter how much talking is done it cannot make Kildare win the Leinster title never mind the All Ireland against the real big boys.:)

lucky_al

Cill Dara Abu

room18

I dont no what a Clare man is doing having a laugh at Kildare, ye should stick to your hurling but sure your in no shout for a munster title anyway. Back to the point, Kildare have a great chance to get to a Leinster but I cant see ye beating Dublin. McGeeney has done a brilliant job down there.

blackbelt

We always knew Kildare were going to beat Offaly but I think it is so close to call when they'll meet Wexford.If we are to judge these two teams by league performances,Kildare will be overwhelmingly favourites but the striking partnership of Forde,Lyng,Barry and Banville is still there and still a real threat.

For Kildare you have Callaghan and Doyle while Earley is having a good season and is becoming more of an attacking midfielder.Kildare were shocked by Wicklow last year and made the quarter final only to lose out to a lacklustre Cork side.Wexford got an almighty trouncing at the hands of Dublin and came back to get to the semi-final an give Tyrone a good game.

On the balance of last year and this year,I will go for Kildare to beat Wexford.Taking into account also the gap between the teams.In 2008 Kildare were knocked out of Division 1 while Wexford were promoted from Division 3.This year they were at opposite ends of Division 2 and Kildare beat them well.

ronaneire

Com'n Kildare!! It will be very interesting to see how the other teams in Leinster got on. No matter what June 7th will be a good game to watch.

ibuprofen

Declan30 wrote: »

I hope kildare win Lenister as i backed them at 11/2 to win it.

Not bad odds at all, Kildare are looking good this year

ibuprofen

raycaulwell wrote: »

a great start to our charge towards a long awaited leinster title!! offaly were never going to be a walkover as local derby game etc!!

well done lads now bring on wexford!

i have so much belief in this group of players they click when playing together which is exciting as its a long time since a kildare squad worked as a solid unit!

McGeeney thank you!!!

Big expectations for Kildare this year. As a dublin supporter I'm a bit nervous about meeting them . Should be a great match.
Might put a few quid on kildare incase the unthinkable happens....... It might ease the pain a bit.

cruiserweight

ibuprofen wrote: »

Big expectations for Kildare this year. As a dublin supporter I'm a bit nervous about meeting them . Should be a great match.
Might put a few quid on kildare incase the unthinkable happens....... It might ease the pain a bit.

Could happen, but getting a bit ahead of yourself there aren't you

robo

Yep let's wait and see how Dublin & Meath fair tomorrow. Nothing is a dead ringer with football in Leinster!

df1985

a kildare man myself, i have great hopes for winning leinster this year. the first 20 minutes of the offaly game was amazing football.game was over at that stage.

as for wexford,matty forde is out injured for the next few weeks, we should beat them well i think.

as for dublin, yee have to beat meath first, a lot of the usual dublin players are on the bench.new inexperienced players getting a chance-id be nervous to be honest.as always the case dublin arent as good as they think they are.

on a personal note id love to beat dublin, living in leixlip on the dublin/kildare border we get a lot of wannabes.lads i went to school with,parents from connacht/munster, with no connection to dublin going round with dub accents and jerseys-does my head in!

ibuprofen

cruiserweight wrote: »

Could happen, but getting a bit ahead of yourself there aren't you

Was thinking that myself just after posting...Of course a big match tomorrow

On the RTE website they're predicting a draw

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2009/0605/dublin_meath.html

cruiserweight

df1985 wrote: »

as for wexford,matty forde is out injured for the next few weeks, we should beat them well i think.

That is exactly the sort of thing that I want to hear Hopefully that sort of attitude exists in the Kildare camp.

Wexford did not make the All-Ireland semi finals on the back of the performances of one player or through luck. The teams has been built up over a number of years and have quality forwards in Ciaran Lyng, Ciaran Deeley, Diarmuid Kinsella, Redmond Barry etc. So Forde not playing will not be that big of a loss.

Kildare are favourites and rightly so off of the back of a much better league than Wexford, however I always take the league performance of any team with a pinch of salt. As for beating them well we will wait and see

robo

Earley and Cadogan win GPA monthly awards

Dermot Earley and Eoin Cadogan have been named as the GPA Players of the Month for May.

Earley played a pivotal role in the Kildare footballers' Leinster Championship win over Offaly in Portlaoise.

Cadogan, meanwhile, delivered a man-of-the-match display for the Cork hurlers despite their defeat to Tipperary in the Munster Championship.

Well done to Earley - I really hope that this doesn't go to Kildare's head and they keep themselves grounded and work hard towards the Wexford game this weekend.

phil

Those GPA awards are meaningless at this time of season. Players are training and playing themselves and get to see probably less of the action than anyone with a large interest in football (who can watch matches live, attend matches etc.). They're biased towards bigger names as players will naturally favour names they have heard of. The three candidates nominated every month are obviously on form, but winning it or not, it's a media piece reallly, nothing else.

That's not to detract from what Earley has done this year, he's getting on in years and still dominating in midfield, which is a very difficult task as you get older. Congrats, but don't put much stock in those GPA awards

ibuprofen

df1985 wrote: »

a kildare man myself, i have great hopes for winning leinster this year. the first 20 minutes of the offaly game was amazing football.game was over at that stage.

as for wexford,matty forde is out injured for the next few weeks, we should beat them well i think.

as for dublin, yee have to beat meath first, a lot of the usual dublin players are on the bench.new inexperienced players getting a chance-id be nervous to be honest.as always the case dublin arent as good as they think they are.

on a personal note id love to beat dublin, living in leixlip on the dublin/kildare border we get a lot of wannabes.lads i went to school with,parents from connacht/munster, with no connection to dublin going round with dub accents and jerseys-does my head in!

Done and dusted ..... Meath's out of the way .... not long now.... only one match seperates us ....

seriously though ...looking forward to the final ... hope we both make it...

twenty8

Kildare look really good this year. I was at the game in Portlaoise and I was really surprised with the size of them. Really big and muscular - McGeeney must of had them in the gym all winter. They were faster and stronger all over the pitch, winning the 50:50 ball and actually playing some very clever and tactical football. You could see some of the training pitch moves actually working. Some really really clever stuff.

Also noticed something that I have not noticed a Kildare team doing before - actually getting on with each other. When players scored points they were high fiving each other and congratulating each other. They actually seemed to like each other. So what says you - this makes a big difference to a team. They will want to play for and support each other.

Actually getting excited -but trying to temper my eagerness. 1 game at a time. I will be very happy to get by Wexford first. And people should not forget that the winner of Laois / Louth will look forward to playing the winner.

Can't believe that it is 11 years since the All Ireland final. It has been too long. Won't be there this year - but continue this and you never know what will happen next year!!

DDC1990

Have Kildare backed for Leinster 10-1....go on ye good things!!!

ronaneire

DDC1990 wrote: »

Have Kildare backed for Leinster 10-1....go on ye good things!!!

Good price, 10-3 now.

twenty8

Brother just met the Geeser a few minutes ago in the street. He thinks that it is going to be a very tough game and that Wexford are far better than their league form suggests. The have 6 players back that didn't feature in the league.

He also feels that there is the makings of a very very good team in the future years. Lot of young guys who are very skillful.....

"Walking in a lilly wonderland"

cruiserweight

twenty8 wrote: »

Brother just met the Geeser a few minutes ago in the street. He thinks that it is going to be a very tough game and that Wexford are far better than their league form suggests. The have 6 players back that didn't feature in the league.

Anybody who believes that Wexford will be an easy game is deluding themselves I will be backing Wexford to win the game at 7/2

bricky10

df1985 wrote: »

a kildare man myself, i have great hopes for winning leinster this year. the first 20 minutes of the offaly game was amazing football.game was over at that stage.

as for wexford,matty forde is out injured for the next few weeks, we should beat them well i think.

as for dublin, yee have to beat meath first, a lot of the usual dublin players are on the bench.new inexperienced players getting a chance-id be nervous to be honest.as always the case dublin arent as good as they think they are.

on a personal note id love to beat dublin, living in leixlip on the dublin/kildare border we get a lot of wannabes.lads i went to school with,parents from connacht/munster, with no connection to dublin going round with dub accents and jerseys-does my head in!

As a Leixlip man aswell, I know what your talking about!

ronaneire

cruiserweight wrote: »

Anybody who believes that Wexford will be an easy game is deluding themselves I will be backing Wexford to win the game at 7/2

Nobody said it was easy but Kildare held form

blackbelt

2-12 from play.

Just says a lot about the Wexford full back line and the form of the Kildare forwards.Laois will be a different prospect although I expect a Kildare win.

DARK-KNIGHT

blackbelt wrote: »

2-12 from play.

Just says a lot about the Wexford full back line and the form of the Kildare forwards.Laois will be a different prospect although I expect a Kildare win.

i agree laois will be the acid test but i think if kildare can play true to form they will beat laois and hopefully end the dubs reign over leinster!

dont get me wrong and no offense to dublin but leinster championship for the last few years should be no major war cry for the dubs as leinster teams have been poor but please god leinster championship might even out just seems boring without teams being on an even level

blackbelt

raycaulwell wrote: »

i agree laois will be the acid test but i think if kildare can play true to form they will beat laois and hopefully end the dubs reign over leinster!

dont get me wrong and no offense to dublin but leinster championship for the last few years should be no major war cry for the dubs as leinster teams have been poor but please god leinster championship might even out just seems boring without teams being on an even level

I agree to some degree that Leinster hasn't been as competitive as it was say 10-20 years ago but you can't deny that Dublins dominance is due to other teams being weak and the fact that Dublin are better than these teams anyway.

As for Kildare,I wouldn't want to discredit them and their achievements thus far but Offaly are so weak that they are not on the radar and Wexford are obviously suffering from injuries which means that they haven't played together fully this year or found last years form.

I think it is accurate to say that Kildare are where Wexford were last year.If Kildare managed to win Leinster,that would be a huge achievement but I can see Dublin upping their game and teaching Kildare a lesson and the Kildare bubble wil burst and the hype will die down before Kildare take a scalp in the qualifiers.

twenty8

Interesting article in today's Times - but fair play to McGeeney. Great they they are taking action rather than moaning!!!

Roll on Laois - but a disgrace that a Leinster Semi is being played on a Sat night!


KILDARE HAVE moved to address the high free count against them in the Leinster football championship win over Wexford by bringing in the referee from that night to help them keep their tackling within the rules.

Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney was critical of some of Cormac Reilly’s decisions on the night of their Leinster quarter-final victory in Dr Cullen Park.

Having looked at the video subsequently however, McGeeney and selectors Paul Grimley and Niall Carew have accepted the concession of frees is an area they need to tighten up on and so invited the Meath official to take a training game involving the panel on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Carew confirmed Kildare had no injury worries ahead of Saturday night’s Leinster semi-final against Laois in Tullamore.

“We’re in good nick now with a full squad to pick from.

“We’ve had some injuries this year and people have come in and done well.

“Mikey Conway and Kevin O’Neill are both back to full fitness.

“They are good players but the defence has been very strong and it won’t be easy to get into the team after two good wins.”

Cionád

Hey guys, thinking of heading down to Tullamore tomorrow for the match, I've actually not been to a GAA match since I was about 8, getting into the sport for the first time really.

Just wondering whats the story with tickets?, can you get them at the door? - Will it be a sellout?

blackbelt

Cionád wrote: »

Hey guys, thinking of heading down to Tullamore tomorrow for the match, I've actually not been to a GAA match since I was about 8, getting into the sport for the first time really.

Just wondering whats the story with tickets?, can you get them at the door? - Will it be a sellout?

I'd ring your county board and ask or even the Leinster Council.Tickets will more than likely be available at the turnstiles in Tullamore.It is a big stadium but I'd put more money on there being more Kildare supporters than Laois supporters.

O Connor Park is great setup.It is very accessible and well run.Me and Mullet went down for the O Byrne Cup 1st round.Get down early and have a meal and a few pints.Tullamore seems like a great place to be for a championship match.

Cionád

Thanks blackbelt,

I'd be driving so no pints unfortunately. Does the traffic / parking be woeful?

aodh_rua

Cionád wrote: »

Thanks blackbelt,

I'd be driving so no pints unfortunately. Does the traffic / parking be woeful?

What part of Kildare are you travelling from? I think one of the taxi offices in Kildare Town is laying on a bus if you're interested.

Cionád

aodh_rua wrote: »

What part of Kildare are you travelling from? I think one of the taxi offices in Kildare Town is laying on a bus if you're interested.

Leixlip, but will be picking someone up in Mullingar so need the car really.

blackbelt

Cionád wrote: »

Thanks blackbelt,

I'd be driving so no pints unfortunately. Does the traffic / parking be woeful?

If you are driving,I advise you to get down very early.I drove down back in January wondering if there'd be any decent places to park.Not that too many people went to the O Byrne Cup game but there is a carpark directly across the road from the stadium and I didn't have to pay either.For a championship match there may be a huge scramble for parking spots so if you want to eliminate that worry,get down early and soak up the town and the atmosphere.I recommend going for brunch/lunch in the Bridge House.They do a lovely carvery.Walk down the main street and keep on the left hand hand side of the road.

The journey from my house to Tullamore was an hour and a quarter,which was really good going.The new motorway and bypass is dead handy.What part of Kildare are you coming from?

blackbelt

Cionád wrote: »

Leixlip, but will be picking someone up in Mullingar so need the car really.

It takes about 50 minutes to get from Leixlip to Mullingar and then 40 mins to get from Mullingar to Tullamore.As the game is at 7pm,I'd leave Leixlip at about 3pm.You'd be in Tullamore at about 4.45/5pm.

That should leave reasonable time to get a space and and grab a meal and some refreshments.:)

Cionád

Nice one, I'll post my impressions of a GAA match as a newcomer on Sunday if all works out!

redarmy

up the lillys

Het-Field

I was reticent to believe that there was any sort of Kildare revival. However, tonight has proven that they can cut the mustard. Regardless of Laois, a score like that is fairly awesome.


Is it to be the first Dublin v Kildare Final since 2002, and only the thrid since 1992 ? Me hopes so. I think it could be a humdinger. Of course the former will have to overcome Westmeath first

Cionád

Well that was great craic! Was very impressed with the Kildare team once they got going.

Traffic wasn't too bad getting out of the town either, can't wait for the next match!

Watched the minor game - which I didnt even know was gonna be on - beforehand too and thought Offaly were gonna nick it until they capitulated in extra time.

jamsieboy86

Delighted with Kildare's performance, that was some beating to give Laois, can't believe that some journalists went for Laois in today's papers, they struggled to beat Louth, who in turn struggled to beat Carlow, never had a chance against us.

We could've won by even more tonight, it was by no means the perfect performance. We seem to be getting better game by game, if we improve again in the final we will win, regardless of the oppostion.

C'mon the Lillies..

DARK-KNIGHT

believe me when i say that this team would rival the lilies of late 90s early 00s!

who knows if we continue playing as we are, we could dare i say it see croker come september!

BTW lets be havin ya dublin/westmeath feel our roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool:

blackbelt

raycaulwell wrote: »

believe me when i say that this team would rival the lilies of late 90s early 00s!

who knows if we continue playing as we are, we could dare i say it see croker come september!

BTW lets be havin ya dublin/westmeath feel our roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool:

Haha yep have to say it is looking good for you at the moment.3 very impressive outings to date but beware of where you are now.Not to discredit Kildare but Offaly are now probably one of the worst teams in Leinster ahead of the likes of Kilkenny,Longford and Carlow.Wexford are a team struggling with injuries that they haven't all played together this year and Laois were awful yesterday.Once Laois went ahead,the marking in the full back line disappeared.All the Kildare half forwards had to do was kick it over the half backs head and there was a full forward in acres of space ready to pop it in the goal or over the bar.

But 2-18 is really impressive and 2-12 from play against Wexford is phenominal.Its hard to believe this is the same side that took 25 minutes to get a point against Fermanagh last year in the qualifiers.

Have to say I'm very wary of Kildare.I think they are at the same stage Wexford were at last year but Kildare had a less impressive league campaign than Wexford but a more convincing Championship so far.Griffin,Bastic,O Carroll,Brennan and Cahill would have their work cut out for them against Smith,Callaghan,Sweeney and Doyle.