Kerry GAA discussion thread #2

An Ciarraioch

And Kilmoyley win 0-24 to 0-21, some weekend for Kerry hurling!

Kerrydude1981

Congrats to Kilmoyley, they have battled through every game since the county semi final against Lixnaw, up against the Ulster champions next Banagher of Derry.

awaywithyou

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118446177#Comment_118446177

Congrats to Kilmoyley but isnt it a fairly sad state of affairs that the senior hurling champions of Derry Slaughtneil will be taking on Ballygunner in an all-ireland senior club semi-final and will prob give them a right game of it too... while the senior hurling champions of Kerry will play a semi-final of an intermediate all-ireland against the intermediate champions of Derry...

Kerrydude1981

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118446238#Comment_118446238

Kerry clubs aren't at the level of the strong senior clubs like Ballygunner or Slaughtneil , but its something that we need to build towards, we have to start somewhere and its taken 14/15 years to get a club to win a Munster Intermediate which shows the strength of the competition.

Forge83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118446771#Comment_118446771

I’d slightly disagree here. I think this is the first year in a long time that the Kerry winners actually targeted Munster and gave it a proper go. The last team I remember who targeted it from early in the season were Ballyheigue who came very close at winning a game at senior level but I can’t remember the year. In previous years the Munster quarter final was a week or two after the county final and this did not suit due to the massive importance of winning the county title. With the Kerry final being played so early this year it gave Kilmoyley time to reset and have a proper crack at the Munster Intermediate. I think it should be done like this every year. On their day Kilmoyley would give Slaughtneil a good game, they weren’t even at their best to beat Courcies yesterday in my opinion. I would think they will go in as favourites for the All Ireland semi final against Banagher.

If they managed to pull off the All Ireland win would that mean next years champions would go up to senior or only Kilmoyley if they won again?

An Ciarraioch

There would be a significant gulf in class to Ballygunner, Loughmore-Castleiney and the champions of the other three counties if the Kerry winners did go senior, however.

highball14

The standard of club hurling is hardly that high in Derry, I presume Slaughtneil beat every team well?

Boom__Boom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118446238#Comment_118446238

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118451308#Comment_118451308

Looking at the page below it looks like there are 8 hurling teams in Derry.

County championship is initially 2 groups of 4 all play each other.

1st team in each group plays the 2nd team in the other group.

Winner of this goes into the county final.

Two losers of this go into the intermediate semi-final against the two teams that finish 3rd in each group.

The 4th placed teams play each other in the Junior Final.

Slaughneil's result this year in the Derry Championship.

Slaughtneil 4-26 v 2-13 Ballinascreen - 19 point win

Slaughtneil 3-27 v 0-10 Eoghan Rua - 26 point win

Slaughtneil 4-20 v 1-6 Lavey - 23 point win

Banagher CONC v 0-0 Slaughtneil

Final - Slaughtneil 1-17 v 2-9 Kevin Lynch Hurling Club - 5 point win

Banaghers's result this year in the Derry Championship.

Eoghan Rua 0-13 v 0-21 Banagher

Banagher 1-15 v 1-9 Ballinascreen

Kevin Lynch Hurling Club 1-16 v 1-12 Banagher

Banagher CONC v 0-0 Slaughtneil

Banagher 1-12 v 0-11 Swatragh

Lavey 0-11 v 0-13 Banagher

https://derrygaa.ie/results/adult-hurling/?countyBoardID=7&compGroupID=83745&leagueTable=y&reverseDateOrder=Y&resultsOnly=Y

Banagher's results in Ulster

Middletown Na Fianna [Armagh] (0-10) v (1-11) Banagher

Lisbellaw St Patrick's [Fermanagh] (0-12) v (2-11) Banagher

A pity that Banagher conceded the game to Slaughtneil - would give a bit more of an idea whereabouts they are.

The one side who beat Banagher by 4 points (Kevin Lynch) only lost to Slaughtneil by 5 points in the final.

Strong case to be made that Banagher are the 3rd strongest hurling team in Derry given the results and structure, which given the strength of Slaughtneil is probably nothing to be sniffed at.

Kerrydude1981

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118451433#Comment_118451433

Its a good way of running the championship, all teams have something to play for with the carrot of playing in the Ulster Championship at one of the three grades for the three eventual winners

An Ciarraioch

Finishes 1-23 to 0-5 - Keith Ricken has been the bane of our underage teams in recent years, so you would imagine he'll have Cork a lot more competitive than they were in the Munster final last season.

dobman88

Not happy with Jack dragging Brosnan and Savage all the way to Tipp after they played Siegerson in Tralee earlier today. 2 games in 6 hours, wheres the player welfare there?

Its January and allowances should be made for lads playing college football.

Forge83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118464607#Comment_118464607

Madness. Brosnan even went off injured and came back on in the Sigerson game. Asking for injuries. Everyone knows Jack O Connor is stubborn so I can imagine any discussions that were had. Surely the team doctor, physios and S&C coach advised against it and Jack overruled them. If they didn’t advise against it I’d be even more concerned.

An Ciarraioch

Literally a huge win for Gneeveguilla, 4-18 to 1-6.

washman3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480431#Comment_118480431

Complete joke. The Tipp champions are a decent junior side and reached the final totally on merit. Granted they were missing a key player which may have closed the gap a little. But how on earth are a team playing Div.1 football in Kerry next year competing in a junior competition this year.? This kind of result benefits nobody. What competition do the teams of Div 3 & 4 in Kerry play. Having Gneeveguilla playing the Tipp junior champs would be the equivalent of Kenmare junior hurlers playing Loughmore/Castleiney. Time to level the playing pitch.

dobman88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481128#Comment_118481128

Gneeveguilla were decimated by emigration about 10 years ago and dropped from division 1 to division 4 and from a senior club to a junior club. They put the emphasis on the league and are now reaping the rewards of that with 3 promotions in a row.

It's taken a little longer with winning a championship due to Na Gaeil and Ballydonoghue winning recent championships. Na Gaeil now being a senior team next year having won intermediate this year. Junior in Kerry is a very tough grade to get out of but they've done it the right way by prioritising league to experience playing better teams.

I would be interested to read how you want to level the playing pitch? Bar kicking Kerry teams out of the competition, what can be done?

mitchelsontour

Also there is no connection between league and championship in Kerry as there is in other counties.

You could be a junior/intermediate club playing Div.1 but you need to win your championship to go up the grades, not an easy thing to do.

Fr Tod Umptious

What also helps the Kerry junior and intermediate clubs in the provincial championships is the "board" teams playing in the senior championship.

How many Na Gaeil players played senior with St Brendan's, who actually got as far as the senior semi final this year ?

How many Gneeveguilla players played senior with East Kerry ?

In most other counties players just play junior or just play intermediate.

That's obviously not the Kerry players or clubs fault, nor is it their job to fix it, but it's a huge advantage.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481319#Comment_118481319

There is no link between championship and league in Limerick either. It's similar in other counties.

It can be very hard to get out of junior in any county especially with younger players. These teams can be very strong in the league. During the league other teams can be missing county players at different age levels can be missing from higher grade teams.

davegilly

Only 8 senior clubs also helps as most other countries have 12 or so. This means in the intermediate championship the 9th worst team in Kerry is playing the 13th worst team in another county.

This flows down to Junior level as well. That's a big advantage in itself.

dobman88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483425#Comment_118483425

And that creates a hugely competitive club championship in Kerry across all grades, which is a good thing for the county. Along with lads playing senior championship with district sides. Kerry have probably the best club structure in the country.

Should Kerry GAA amend their structure to "level the playing field" for other counties?

Boom__Boom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481128#Comment_118481128

Last year the the Tipperary Senior Football Championship had 16 teams, the Tipperary Intermediate Football Championship had 15 teams [16 team in the draw but one team seemed to drop out], the Tipperary Junior A Football Championship had 4 teams and the Junior B Football Championship had 4 teams.

This means that Tipperay put forward their 32nd best football team out of a total of 39 football teams that played in their various county championships this year to play in the Munster Junior Championship.

Given Tipperary's results in both the Munster Intermediate Football Championship and the Munster Junior Football Championship over the years it's clear that the biggest part of the problem is the structures of the Tipperary football championship.

Also from what I found on various websites [the Ballina website and the Tipperary GAA website] - Ballina adult footballers played a total of 4 games in 2021 in Tipperary competitions. Ballina won 2 games in Tipperary to win the Junior A Championship. They played in the North Tipp Final for 2021 and 2020. They played no league football whatsoever this year from what I can see.

The complete joke is the way that Tipperary have their football strutures.

Bass Reeves

A good few counties pay championship in the firm if you one one of your first two matches you play in the championship if you lose both you are in relegation. Then if you win in relegation section or lose in championship section your season is over.

You are then depending on the league for games. Limerick has grades of 12 teams split into two sizes. During COVID it was reduce to 4X3 groups. However normally you have a minimum of six championship games except if you finish 4 or 5 in your group whereby you are neither in relegation final or championship quarter/ semi final stage.

Disadvantage is you have a lot of games played by end of champions especially if a dual club

DDC1990

Na Gaeil are Munster Intermediate Champions!

Scoreline is very harsh on Corofin. They were very competitive bar a disastrous 10 min spell at the start of the 2nd half.

Forge83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118485903#Comment_118485903

Well done to Na Gaeil. They scored some great scores. Jack Sheehan looks a decent forward for a young lad. They look good enough to go all the way. From a Kerry perspective Okonbur was only ok, doesn’t look to have the footballing skills required for a higher level, hopefully I’m wrong on this. On a positive note Diarmuid O Connor looked very good even though he was played in the forwards.

DDC1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489397#Comment_118489397

Stefan made 2 or 3 errors but apart from that I felt he played fantastic. His reading of the game defensively was very good and his tackling is excellent. His workrate was unparalleled. He broke a lot of ball in the first half but Corofin were hungrier around the middle and picked up a lot of breaks. Stefan's crossfield kicks that went awry will kill you at intercounty level so he won't be happy with those but him switching onto Jamie Malone worked a treat in the second half. I don't think he starts for Kerry this year but he will play some Championshio football I feel and there is certainly a role for him. He won't be the Fullback that we are crying out for but will be an asset as a halfback or 3rd midfielder.

Jack Barry had his best game in a long time as well I felt. Did a bit of everything at midfield.

Of the county panelists only Andrew Barry didn't really stand out, but he has been struggling with a hamstring injury so I'd forgive him that.

They face Steelstown of Derry in the Semi Final who by all accounts are a tough defensive team. They are the sort of team that Kerry clubs at this level have struggled against traditionally.

Kerrydude1981

Massive weekend for Kilmoyley

https://www.the42.ie/all-ireland-hurling-club-kilmoyley-naas-tooreen-banagher-5660183-Jan2022/

jimmytwotimes 2013

Full House for Dubs match, be good to get back to that big match atmosphere

Forge83

Always nice to get an easy win against Cork today. Very impressed with Paudie Clifford’s defensive game today as well as his normal attacking brilliance. He robbed a lot of ball today. Very happy with Dan O Donoghue as a safe corner back who actually defends. Paul Geaney was excellent today but still have reservations about his championship pace against the big teams. Sean O Shea looking like he is going to be one of the starting midfielders, he has it all for that position in the modern game. He won’t field massive kick outs but they are few and far between these days. Adrian Spillane is a good work horse as a second midfielder but just lacking that small bit of quality football. Hoping to see O Shea and Diarmuid O Connor at some stage in the league as that’s an exciting pairing. Paul O Shea was also excellent when he came on.

Any word on O Brien injury from anyone? Hopefully nothing serious. Paul Murphy was poor in general again today and gave up a few easy possessions. Shane Murphy was excellent in the first half but had a few misplaced kicks in the second half. It will be interesting to see if Jack will keep rotating them or if he has a preference and will give one of them a run of games in the league. Tony Brosnan was poor. Jack Savage took a while to get into the game but when he did he played well, however I think he will struggle with championship physicality and pace. Tadgh Morley is a conundrum, looked fantastic today even though we all know that’s never the case by championship. He’s another Mark Griffin, a guy who looks to have a lot of the attributes of a top defender but come crunch time doesn’t. Maybe I am being too harsh… Lastly David Clifford being brought on with 20 mins to go when the game is over and Cork have most of their subs on, very very strange call. Jack does strange things at times.

mystic86

Did Stacks nominate Sean O'Shea as captain this year? Didn't hear anything on it but he collected the trophy today

dobman88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519286#Comment_118519286

Just for the day I'd say. Although I'm not sure they've nominated anyone yet. David Clifford was captain for the Limerick game.

A meaningless role anyway the way we have it in Kerry with the county champions able to nominate. A silly outdated rule. But Seanie seems to have been a popular choice from what I've seen online and I'm sure it's a proud moment for him