McGeeney: Success or Failure?

Lemlin

Stoner wrote: »

In all fairness there was a huge amount of people naming them as top five or six and I never heard the mam himself talking rubbish.

I'd you look at 2011 they were unlucky to not get a draw against Dublin but I'd argue that Boltons goal in that game was a little freaky in the way it skidded in and they were playing 14 men, then they ran Donegal close, these are significant performances only because Dublin and Donegal kicked on and won AIs after that, had either team not done so they would be considered overrated even though things did fall into place for the 2011 and 2012 winners.
I don't think Kildare ever had their day in that period. Looking back 2012 was set up to be a great year for them, the hangover for Dublin kerry not what they were, a poor meath team, underperforming Cork,.
I know I'm sticking up for them I've spent time reminding some of my kildare colleagues that a great record in the qualifiers year after means that you get knocked out of the provincial championship ever year.
But I would have liked to see them win something they were involved in some great games in that time.

I think the valid point I made a while back still counts:

One of the things that Kildare supporters need to drop is this notion of 'well we only lost by...' or 'a bad call caused' or 'we've had bad luck'.

Top teams make their own luck and top teams grind out a result in the end. Kildare have had many chances (Dublin in the Leinster final (in 09 was it), Down in 2010, Donegal in 2011, even Tyrone this year) and they've failed to push on when a game was there for the taking.

McGeeney has brought the county forward IMO but in six years in charge Kildare have not defeated a top level team in the Championship.

Unfortunately my post was ignored due to an overreaction and accusation of bitterness by a poster due to one word.

StupidLikeAFox

Off the field he brought in top class training structures, a professional attitude and approach to the game at senior and underage levels and raised the profile of Kildare GAA inside and outside the county.

On the field he won a Leinster with the U21s and was heavily involved with the teams who won Leinster at U16, minor and junior this year. He brought us to a level where we were just outside the top tier of teams and played some excellent football along the way.

It must also be remembered that whatever about bad decisions etc - the years we were competing in QFs and SFs we had to play with our 3 first choice midfielders. D.Earley was constantly injured which was a huge loss as player and as a presence on the field. But ultimately you get no silverware for hard luck stories or what might have been.

There is no doubt he has been a success. The part Im most worried about is where do we go from here? Nobody was voting on a plan for the future - there was no option of "Keep McGeeney and we'll work to this plan or get rid of him and we will work to this plan" - There is now a danger that all the good work he carried out over the past few years will be lost

Pete_Cavan

The main reasons that have been given for McGeeneys tenure with Kildare being a success seem to be 1. the commitment and respect he got from his players and 2. the number of young players he developed.

On 1. he failed to turn it into success on the pitch and even Meath, who have had big issues with managers, have had more success in his time (two Leinster finals including a win to Kildares one Leinster final defeat).

On 2. apart from Niall Kelly and Paddy Brophy, has anyone else progressed from minor/u21 into the senior team? 2 players in 6 years is hardly great. I saw their Leinster championship winning u21s play Galway earlier this year, they were big fit and athletic but were totally outclassed by a far more skillful Galway team (much like his senior team tend to be). I think his affect here is overstated.

If those are the reasons for his reign being a success, then I would say it he was a failure.

Stoner

Lemlin wrote: »

Unfortunately my post was ignored due to an overreaction and accusation of bitterness by a poster due to one word.

I think the overreaction is on your part tbh, you could consider letting sleeping dogs lie.

Poor_old_gill

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

The main reasons that have been given for McGeeneys tenure with Kildare being a success seem to be 1. the commitment and respect he got from his players and 2. the number of young players he developed.

On 1. he failed to turn it into success on the pitch and even Meath, who have had big issues with managers, have had more success in his time (two Leinster finals including a win to Kildares one Leinster final defeat).

On 2. apart from Niall Kelly and Paddy Brophy, has anyone else progressed from minor/u21 into the senior team? 2 players in 6 years is hardly great. I saw their Leinster championship winning u21s play Galway earlier this year, they were big fit and athletic but were totally outclassed by a far more skillful Galway team (much like his senior team tend to be). I think his affect here is overstated.

If those are the reasons for his reign being a success, then I would say it he was a failure.

That's very similar to my reading of it- physically they have massively improved but skills wise- you could argue that Kildare have gone backwards

StupidLikeAFox

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

On 2. apart from Niall Kelly and Paddy Brophy, has anyone else progressed from minor/u21 into the senior team? 2 players in 6 years is hardly great.

Just on this point, there was also Paul Cribbin, Conor McNally, David Hyland and Daniel Flynn from the U21 panel who all got starts this year. Make no mistake, we were a team in transition this season

Dubliner28

Moneymaker wrote: »

Has to be said though Kildare did suffer some atrocious luck.

Robbed of a draw by a handy free a few years ago vs Dublin. I remember feeling sick for them and i'm a Dub!

Crossbar away from beating Down in 2010.

Then the quarter final vs Donegal, yes they threw the game away but some of Donegal's 'tactics' during that game left a taste in the mouth.

Failure:

As already quoted, he had no Plan B. Relied on the fitness of the team on many occasion to beat a lesser team. When coming up again a Top 4-5 team they didn't perform at all. Twice in his time they were unable to beat a 14 man Dublin team when the game was there for the taking.

Will probably take them a year or two to bed in with a new manager now so hopefully they wont go backwards.