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Kilkenny GAA Thread Part 3 **MOD NOTE POST 1***
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What do you suggest he should do or should have done?
For a start he could not repeat the same tactic that has failed miserably for the last 4 years of setting his team up to launch clearances from defence to a static, isolated forward against a multiple of defenders and expect him to win his own ball because it is "traditional"
Perhaps he should embrace change. Maybe change up his backroom team and look for somebody with fresh and innovative ideas.
Also he could learn from his mistakes and stop playing clearly unfit players0 -
Pigeon Chaser wrote: »For a start he could not repeat the same tactic that has failed miserably for the last 4 years of setting his team up to launch clearances from defence to a static, isolated forward against a multiple of defenders and expect him to win his own ball because it is "traditional"
Perhaps he should embrace change. Maybe change up his backroom team and look for somebody with fresh and innovative ideas.
Also he could learn from his mistakes and stop playing clearly unfit players
And perhaps he should accept responsibility for all the injuries suffered over the past three seasons and accept responsibility for the lack of minor and under 21 success over the past 10 seasons and accept the standard of club hurling has generally declined all because of his previous success and above accept responsibility that Santa Clause does not exist.0 -
savannahkat wrote: »And perhaps he should accept responsibility for all the injuries suffered over the past three seasons and accept responsibility for the lack of minor and under 21 success over the past 10 seasons and accept the standard of club hurling has generally declined all because of his previous success and above accept responsibility that Santa Clause does not exist.
Grow up.0 -
The best of luck to our under 20 team Thursday night.0
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Best of luck to the u20s on Thursday. Like all underage Galway teams it will be a tough physical battle. Surprised not to see Jim Ryan, Rower or Darrafh Walsh, piltown not making the 24 - Assume they injured. Very important to win this one as no 2nd chance here.0
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savannahkat wrote: »And perhaps he should accept responsibility for all the injuries suffered over the past three seasons and accept responsibility for the lack of minor and under 21 success over the past 10 seasons and accept the standard of club hurling has generally declined all because of his previous success and above accept responsibility that Santa Clause does not exist.
What an idiotic post.0 -
Pigeon Chaser wrote: »For a start he could not repeat the same tactic that has failed miserably for the last 4 years of setting his team up to launch clearances from defence to a static, isolated forward against a multiple of defenders and expect him to win his own ball because it is "traditional"
Perhaps he should embrace change. Maybe change up his backroom team and look for somebody with fresh and innovative ideas.
Also he could learn from his mistakes and stop playing clearly unfit players
Nice of you to offer an opinion, but you should read the initial statement from mullinr2 and subsequent question carefully before quoting. It does change the context and creates a tangent which I won't contribute to at this point.0 -
"Santa Claus does not exist"!!!!!savannahkat wrote: »And perhaps he should accept responsibility for all the injuries suffered over the past three seasons and accept responsibility for the lack of minor and under 21 success over the past 10 seasons and accept the standard of club hurling has generally declined all because of his previous success and above accept responsibility that Santa Clause does not exist.
Who has being refereeing all the Kilkenny games so?0 -
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IMO there is a multiple of issues most of which have been mentioned in previous posts.
The biggest issue is the players we have at our disposal are not of the same standard and everyone knew this would happen eventually. Our underage success has dropped off but we are competitive but just not getting over the line.
We lost too many players around the same time with no replacements.
Injuries to key players have not helped us either. This happens to every county but we seem to be getting injuries to key players mainly at the wrong time.
Cody chopping and changing. Its like he doesn't know what to do or how to get a settled team. It started in 2017 and continued in 2018 when he moved P Walsh to FB. It worked for him with JJ but didn't this time and it took him 2 seasons to realise it. I have not seen a settled team in years. Players getting called in for big games that have not being seen all year. The Limerick game last year. I dread what will happen for the Cork game. This naming one team on a Friday and a different one starting is getting embarrassing as it seems everyone knows the team that is going to start. What is it saying to players.
Tactics and style. We are trying to play the same way as 10 years ago but the players are not the same. The game has moved on but we have not. Its easy for teams to set up against us. We always revert to type A lump the ball down on our static forwards. Match ups have been poor. Management very slow to respond or cant see whats going on. P Murphy v Galway was so obvious.
Backroom and squad is stale. I wont criticise Cody but i will question the decision not to freshen up the backroom. We need new ideas and more modern thinking methods. Sometimes players or people in general switch off when they keep hearing the same thing. We are bit like groundhog day for the last few seasons.
County Board need to do a complete review of the whole set from underage to senior level. No rubber stamping any appointments including Cody.
Now for some positives. I think we have found 2 new players in Key areas in Lawlor and Mullen and if Delaney had stayed fit i think we would be adding him to the list.0 -
Nickindublin wrote: »IMO there is a multiple of issues most of which have been mentioned in previous posts.
The biggest issue is the players we have at our disposal are not of the same standard and everyone knew this would happen eventually. Our underage success has dropped off but we are competitive but just not getting over the line.
We lost too many players around the same time with no replacements.
Injuries to key players have not helped us either. This happens to every county but we seem to be getting injuries to key players mainly at the wrong time.
Cody chopping and changing. Its like he doesn't know what to do or how to get a settled team. It started in 2017 and continued in 2018 when he moved P Walsh to FB. It worked for him with JJ but didn't this time and it took him 2 seasons to realise it. I have not seen a settled team in years. Players getting called in for big games that have not being seen all year. The Limerick game last year. I dread what will happen for the Cork game. This naming one team on a Friday and a different one starting is getting embarrassing as it seems everyone knows the team that is going to start. What is it saying to players.
Tactics and style. We are trying to play the same way as 10 years ago but the players are not the same. The game has moved on but we have not. Its easy for teams to set up against us. We always revert to type A lump the ball down on our static forwards. Match ups have been poor. Management very slow to respond or cant see whats going on. P Murphy v Galway was so obvious.
Backroom and squad is stale. I wont criticise Cody but i will question the decision not to freshen up the backroom. We need new ideas and more modern thinking methods. Sometimes players or people in general switch off when they keep hearing the same thing. We are bit like groundhog day for the last few seasons.
County Board need to do a complete review of the whole set from underage to senior level. No rubber stamping any appointments including Cody.
Now for some positives. I think we have found 2 new players in Key areas in Lawlor and Mullen and if Delaney had stayed fit i think we would be adding him to the list.
Absolutely nail on the head there as far as I am concerned. We have not moved with the times regarding tactics and coaching. Brian Cody is a legend of a manager but he seems unable or unwilling to change the template for the way his teams play hurling. Someone mentioned above that the way ballyhale hurled in the all Ireland club series should be the blueprint for our county teams. I couldn't agree more. It was hurling played smart with players running in to space and good use of the ball. Henry will hopefully take over the kilkenny job in the future. He knows how to play the modern game. We won't win an all Ireland for a few years either way but a change in our approach and our style of play would be nice to see. A review of our backroom team and our coaching methods would be no harm at all.0 -
briancoolcat wrote: »Absolutely nail on the head there as far as I am concerned. We have not moved with the times regarding tactics and coaching. Brian Cody is a legend of a manager but he seems unable or unwilling to change the template for the way his teams play hurling. Someone mentioned above that the way ballyhale hurled in the all Ireland club series should be the blueprint for our county teams. I couldn't agree more. It was hurling played smart with players running in to space and good use of the ball. Henry will hopefully take over the kilkenny job in the future. He knows how to play the modern game. We won't win an all Ireland for a few years either way but a change in our approach and our style of play would be nice to see. A review of our backroom team and our coaching methods would be no harm at all.
Your spot on about the way the Shamrocks play. It was refreshing to see. TBH i cant remember a Kilkenny Senior playing like that in years. Prob 2014 even though we won the AI in 2015. We are now too predictable. I wouldnt predict when we will win another ALL Ireland but i will say we can be very competitive and with TJ there you never know. But if we keep playing the way we are we wont win any.0 -
savannahkat wrote: »And perhaps he should accept responsibility for all the injuries suffered over the past three seasons and accept responsibility for the lack of minor and under 21 success over the past 10 seasons and accept the standard of club hurling has generally declined all because of his previous success and above accept responsibility that Santa Clause does not exist.
Interesting questions. Firstly I don’t subscribe to the poor standard of club hurling. Shamrocks we’re lucky to get through Kilkenny last year. Comer and the Bridge could’ve beaten them on the day.
On the U21 success. After last years defeat to Galway, word was that DJ had little to no access to the U20s on the senior panel for training or challenge games.0 -
Does anyone know if mentors on the development squad in KK move up through the age groups with a team or do they stay in the same age groups. I know Kilkenny started the development squad system but I wonder if it needs a bit of an overhaul given that so many on here are talking about the lack of success underage. This is by no means a criticism of anyone involved just wondering if a bit of a fresh approach could help.0
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Kilkenny U20 v Galway
1. Dean Mason (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
2. Tommy Ronan (Graigue-Ballycallan)
3. Conor Flynn (Graigue-Ballycallan)
4. Mikey Butler (O’Loughlin Gaels)
5. Conor Heary (O’Loughlin Gaels)
6. Michael Carey (Young Irelands)
7. David Blanchfield (Bennettsbridge)
8. John Dowd (Erin’s Own)
9. Evan Shefflin (Ballyhale Shamrocks – captain)
10. Eoin O’Shea (O’Loughlin Gaels)
11. Niall Brassil (James Stephens)
12. James Bergin (Clara)
13. Stephen Donnelly (Thomastown)
14. Adrian Mullen (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
15. Eoin Cody (Ballyhale Shamrocks)0 -
corner back 2 wrote: »Does anyone know if mentors on the development squad in KK move up through the age groups with a team or do they stay in the same age groups. I know Kilkenny started the development squad system but I wonder if it needs a bit of an overhaul given that so many on here are talking about the lack of success underage. This is by no means a criticism of anyone involved just wondering if a bit of a fresh approach could help.
Hasn't the big problem been the time period between 18 and 21 though? We have won 2 minor all Irelands this decade, made the final beating both Munster finalists last year and been narrowly beaten by the eventual winners on at least two occasions, apart from 2011 and 2012 we have been competitive at minor level, its fallen off a cliff at under 21 level apart from 2 years where we got to the final but were well beaten.0 -
tbiggertycome wrote: »Kilkenny U20 v Galway
1. Dean Mason (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
2. Tommy Ronan (Graigue-Ballycallan)
3. Conor Flynn (Graigue-Ballycallan)
4. Mikey Butler (O’Loughlin Gaels)
5. Conor Heary (O’Loughlin Gaels)
6. Michael Carey (Young Irelands)
7. David Blanchfield (Bennettsbridge)
8. John Dowd (Erin’s Own)
9. Evan Shefflin (Ballyhale Shamrocks – captain)
10. Eoin O’Shea (O’Loughlin Gaels)
11. Niall Brassil (James Stephens)
12. James Bergin (Clara)
13. Stephen Donnelly (Thomastown)
14. Adrian Mullen (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
15. Eoin Cody (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
I genuinely hope I'm proven wrong but on the evidence of the match against Laois last week those backs will struggle against Galway. I fully expected changes this week. We'll need a big score from the forwards to get over the line.0 -
dastardly00 wrote: »What an idiotic post.
A lot less idiotic than those proposing Brian Cody has his head in the sand,knows noting about "modern Coaching" and whose only coaching attribute is to lump the ball up and down the pitch.0 -
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They're very slow to bite today. Must be the wrong bait!greenspurs wrote: »still fishing ?? :rolleyes: :cool:0 -
Serious problems in underage hurling in Kilkenny.
(1) From 17 to 20 or 18 to 21, Kilkenny are way behind all the other counties when it comes to S & C and this is having a knock on effect to the senior team.
Brian Cody controls everything hurling wise and this needs to be called out as he is not moving with the times.
(2) The Tony Forristal and Sonny Knowles(whatever its called) squads have 60 players training every year for the (past 10 years or more. This is stifling development of these players and the other players not in these squads as they have no matches for 2/3 months in the summer.
Last week the Tony Forristal team played Tipperary and they could not keep the ball pucked out quick enough as Tipp were too strong.
(3) Not enough games for players - Take the U-13 leagues this year. There are 5 teams in the A League and Championship. These players will get minimum 4 league games and a fifth if they finish in the top 2. In the championship the minimum will be one game and maximum three games if they are drawn in the preliminary round and get to a final. So the most games U-13 players will play will be 8 and the least will be five. The B & C is not much better with some teams in the wrong division.
I am not looking for Kilkenny to win everything but we need to be competitive and to be giving every player a proper structure in hurling in Kilkenny. This is not happening and if anyone comes on here and says all is great then maybe they should go and listen listen to a few Sonny Knowles albums.0 -
Galway will target Tommy Ronan as he is not big enough. I thought they would start Conor Murphy.0
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I'm one of the biggest critics of the set up in Kilkenny in terms of games provided for underage teams. I'm on record in here of saying it but to address some of your points:
(1) This used to be the case however I don't believe it is anymore. At 14/15/16/17 they're all put through rigorous movement and mobility tests at development squads and there are loads of courses for club coaches to bring it back to their own players. They're only allowed lift weights when they've displayed an aptitude to doing it correctly which is the right way of doing it. They also brought in Eoin Everard to do lessons on how to improve an individuals speed this year although realistically speed comes down to breeding and improvement of same will be marginal only. Nobody could look at our U20s this year and say they're in poor shape. They're all in incredible nick.
(2) I don't know about the U14s but our U15 squads are very strong. Some incredible talent there. Harry Shine, Michael Raggett, Padraig Naddy, Gearoid Dunne, Darragh Queally, Kieran Cleere, Alex Burke, Danny Glennon plus more are all incredibly talented and you'll see plenty of them at minor next year as next years minors are weak enough. I can't stress enough how good that group of players could be.
The competition structures in Kilkenny are a joke though.0 -
Cody cant be blamed about 14s to 20s .what he and his management team can be blamed for is wrong selectiobs and not changing morrrssey off o connor.management like players have off days.whwn you have more off than on then you need to look at yourself.I believe if management get selection right we can still win this.0
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JohnCougar wrote: »Galway will target Tommy Ronan as he is not big enough. I thought they would start Conor Murphy.
Tommy Walsh has proven size does not matter if you are good enough0 -
I don't know where to start this post really, there's so much I think needs to be addressed. Firstly I'm not going to reference Wexford much and fair dues to them for a great win and team performance and as always the huge vocal support, I can't say i enjoyed that though but neutrals just love it. For me the major difference between the teams on Sunday was, Wexford were a team and knew what they were doing and what style and method of play they were using and how it would work and what they could do when it broke down. We on the other hand were a complete mess. I haven't posted until now as I haven't been this p***ed off since 2016 AI and not with the players but with the management. I've been one of Cody's biggest defenders on here and I've believed in his method and way of developing players but I think Cody doesn't realise (or want acknowledge) how much things have changed. This is not to say he is stupid or to denegrate him but he is a very stubborn man by all accounts (he was very nice the few times I've met him) and it's Brians way or the high way and this worked when we had natural winners and leaders. Brian definitely cultivated and moulded these players by his actions (or inaction) into the legends they have become. While it's as plain as the nose on anyones face that most of the current players aren't up to that level yet however I don't feel management have given these players the type of enviroment they can thrive in.
I have spent a small bit of time in the company of some of the backroom team over the years and when you hear of team selection meetings going on until 2am and all just to pick the team Cody already had picked, you realise how little influence the selector's have. What I've heard in the last few days is disturbing but not surprising and to me demonstrates that Cody needs to step away at the end of the year. I take no joy in saying that, in fact I hate saying it because he has been amazing for us and I firmly believe we would not have had the success we've had over the last 20 years only for him. He united the clubs and county board so that everyone focused and pulled in the one direction. He moulded our players into one of the best teams ever to play the game. Yet on the evidence we've seen since those players have retired he does not know his best team and has made a lot of very questionable decisions particularly in player selection and he has never improved his in-match management, yet doesn't seem capable of taking his selectors advise. I know Derek Lyng had Jackie warming up in '16 with about 10mins to go telling him he was needed to go in a shore up the defence (and he was). However Jackie apparently knew when he looked at Cody that he was in a daze and he wouldn't be brought on that day. I think Sunday was another one of those days.
At half time there was a major arguement in the Kilkenny dressing room with several leading players standing up to Cody. Cody was very animated and was shouting and screaming at everone on the Kilkenny line all through the second half. He roared at Wally, "I told you what to do, and you didn't do it, now GET OFF!" Wally was subbed immediately. When Colin got injured Richie Hogan was called down and they tried to get the paperwork ready and Lyng was trying to instruct him. Cody roared at him to get on the pitch NOW, the county board will pick up a fine for an improper substitution (not that thats the biggest deal). Hogan went on with Lyng running beside him trying to explain what he wanted and Hogan couldn't hear him, a total mess!!
One of our strengths going up on Sunday was we had a strong bench with Buckley, Cleere and T Walsh if defenders were struggling and loads of forwards to bring in if we were stuck Hogan, Aylward, Ryan, Donnelly, Blanchfield, Sheehan! He only threw in Aylward after he had been in for the blood sub for Mullen and had a nice touch. Billy Ryan for Walter which now seems like Cody was just angry with him (probably because he was closest to him on that side in the second half). As an ex-manager friend said to me (a guy who studied sports management a lot) "the bench is for young lads". What he mean't was, if Richie Hogan and Cillian Buckley are fit enough they should start. If their not fit enough or if their not up to the standard they shouldn't be on the match day squad. If there wasn't 20 minutes in Buckley or Hogan they shouldn't be on the bench. If they had 20 minutes in them why weren't they used? Don't anyone tell me Richie Hogan isn't fit enough he was wrapping his feet up around his ears warming up on the sideline in the first half his back wasn't an issue on Sunday and it was a game crying out for an experienced head to pick out a few smart passes. In fact Hogan did pick out a one nice pass in the few seconds he was on but the chance was butchered. Buckley apparently knew he wouldn't be playing because Cody hadn't talked to him all week. What kind of childish behaviour is that from a veteran manager (but it's nothing new it's how he treats them all when their not playing) Richie Hogan has told friends he doesn't expect to start again for Kilkenny as long as Cody is the manager, so he could retire at the end of this year.
Picking Alan Murphy may have made a tiny bit of sense if he was going to play as a third midfielder but he didn't. Why any of the other forwards weren't put in after 20mins is beyond me. I like Morrissey but he wasn't coping with O'Connor well. Now O'Connor is a great talent but we again played into Wexfords hands by allowing our half back line to be dragged up the field instead of keeping a tight back six like we did in Wexford Park. The other really dissapointing nugget I've picked up in the last few days is that Conor Delaney and Darren Mullen are absolutely flying in training yet they can't even make the bench????? It just makes no sense why they're not being given a go. Another thing for the last 15 minutes the time you would normally bring on a sub we had no one warming up from then to the final whistle.
Their all small things but they all add up to an absolute disaster of a day from the management. I genuinely don't see there being a change coming from the management. A while ago I talked to one of our backroom team and he asked about some of our club players who were just new in with the panel. I pointed out the players strengths but also a few areas they could improve on to take them to the next level. His response surprised me at first but then I though about it and it makes sense as to why we're struggling with this young team. When I told him the players weaknesses he immediately came back to me and said thats for your management to sort out. So I was telling him how he could improve one of his players too and he thought it was a club issue nothing for them to deal with. Now in a lot of ways I agree an intercounty panel is not a creche but also if you know how a lad can improve on some aspect of his game, would you not take him aside for a minute explain it to him and let him go off and work on it. I agree the club does need to sort it too but I was really surprised by the attitude that it was only the club managements responsibility to help improve the player. To me this shows that our young players are getting no real coaching on how they are to play what they can do to improve. This is not surprising I suppose if you've listened to any interviews or read anything from our ex players. They all tell you that they had to figure it out themselves (many didn't and were never seen in Black and Amber again) be it things to improve on or a game plan. It was the players who got together and said if Tipp are going to do such and such how do we stop it. This is great when you have experienced players, lads there a good while and few new lads but we now have veterans and new lads we have very little in between. Cody's way can work again as long as we have no ambition of winning anything in the next 5 to 6 years. When they do come good these players will be mentally the strongest around they'll have fought through their own demons and other teams tactics and eventually there will be enough leaders to start winning big matches again. They will be able to figure things out on the pitch for themselves blaa blaa blaa. This has been by arguement and defence of Cody for the last few years (I've been a main proponent of it) but I foolishly thought they would actually do a bit of work with the young lads coming in, to try and help them up to the level, this does not seem to be in the Cody handbook, even when you have a hugely inexperienced side.
The other issue is that now days, teams are going out playing tactically which isn't the easiest to spot on the field so you really need help from the sideline/stand to tell you how they're dragging you out of shape or how we can exploit their weakness which has shown up on the day. I don't believe the above Cody model will work again without more support from the management. This manager doesn't want to give that type of support and thats fine, thats his prerogative but as long as he stays, I now believe we will not win another AI. Do we have the players to win one if he goes? Hard to say but we would definitely have the players that could have won that game on Sunday, if we had a bit of plan and played our best players.
The bigger issue is Cody is now bigger than the team and there is no one on the county board who will stand up to him or ask him to leave. The only way he will leave is if he decides himself to go. The more people talk the way I am, the more likely he is to stay and try and prove us wrong and I really don't want him to do that as he will tarnish his amazing achievements by continuing along as he has for the last 3 years. It's actually a sad situation but the scales have fallen from my eyes. I'm not going to be standing out with a placard looking for his head at the end of the season and I will support him and the team but it will take a huge amount to convince me we have and All Ireland in us under Cody. In fact he'd have to just win it as you couldn't convince me any other way.
Another little side note I think our lads trained for the wrong kind of fitness. We were as fit as them and we could run all day with them but the Wexford players were way more explosive over the first 5 yards or so and this allowed them to get ball our players should have had or to get away from a lad who had been doing a decent marking job. I don't think this is the hardest thing to rectify but I think we do need to look at our strength and conditioning approach.0 -
savannahkat wrote: »Tommy Walsh has proven size does not matter if you are good enough
I heard that Tommy Ronan is not starting0 -
I wont quote your post tbiggertycome, but it is an honest and fair appraisal. Its like in most sports, if you have weaker players or less talented, you need to make up for by having a better game plan and team ethic and that is essentially what Wexford did. Man for man, bar TJ, there wouldnt be much between the skill levels or quality of both sides on Sunday. Most match up quite well but the tail end of Kilkenny is getting that bit weaker. To compensate for that, they need to work more on the team play and tactics. When you have a team of all stars, all you need to worry about is winning your 50-50 battle and you will most certainly win. Those days are long gone and teams are gone a long way to figuring out how to play their opponents. As I said earlier, I think Wexford took a lot more from the first day than Kilkenny. Took Padraig Walsh out of the game and rotated McGovern with O'Keefe to bring him into it as a change up in their attacking midfield tactics. Having our most potent and exciting forward on your wekest defender is a classic Cody tactic, but he didnt see it when it was put back on him.
I do know there is and has been a lot of work done in terms of video analysis and tactical awareness within that Kilkenny set up, but how much of gets implemented or taken on board is a whole other story.
Another thing I noticed in the minor game was similar to your last point too, I felt the Wexford players had a much better standing start to acceleration than Kilkenny. The last goal for Wexford really epitomised that when Lawlor ran 60m after catching a Kilkenny puck out and no one could catch him until he was poleaxed. But throughout, they had the better of picking up the ball and getting out into space.0 -
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Decision Making!! Some posters should take their time and think before they make a decision to post, including myself! Anyway this time it was “in play” decision making that was the main reason we are not Leinster Champions. Starting with the player, the majority of people feel is the best player in the country at present, TJ Reid. What was he thinking with that free (to Colin), regardless of the legality, it introduced unnecessary layers of risk, especially when if he wanted to go for goal, he himself is the best striker of the ball in the game. It was uncharacteristic. In fact, as most people pointed out it was a malaise throughout the team and sideline which was uncharacteristic for Kilkenny. There were so many wrong decisions yet we just lost by a penalty puck of the ball. Small Margins. Cost me my prediction!! Sometimes we look too deep for the answer. How do you fix decision making? In coaching that is the hardest thing to fix as games will take on a dynamic that would not be expected. You can only hope that you give your players enough tools to make those correct decisions. Over the years we have, Sunday they seemed to have mislaid the tools.
The referee did play a part and despite what other counties think, there is nothing wrong with calling out the decisions so as they are highlighted as long as the rules are there to back you up. I do think at this stage for us to win by a point we have to be 5/6 points better. Our run of dominance is not helping us on the marginal decisions. However, I will only call out a decision that John Keenan got right, but should have huge implications going forward as the punishment surely does not fit the crime. That is the aforementioned TJ Reid free. In my ignorance I thought the distance you must be back from a free when it is struck is 13m but having digested Rule 4.11, it is actually 20m and it applies all around and to your own team mates. This is a huge radius for any free. A lot of frees should be overturned if rule 4.11 is applied consistently. The penalty for breach (technical foul) is a free to the other team 13m more advantageous. So therefore you could have a lad almost decapitated. The free taker (or a team mate) fouls the free and the opposition scores with a free shot for what was originally almost a sending off offence. Crazy justice. It will be interesting to see if this is applied for the rest of the championship, in particular by Keenan. It’s a rule needs reviewing. But unfortunately it doesn’t make TJ’s decision anymore correct.
A lot of talk about how poor the backs were and the modern game. In the modern game where generally scoring is much higher, I would have thought conceding only 26 scoring chances over 70plus minutes was excellent. Only one shot at the goalkeeper (penalty) and several of the scoring chances were taken from midfield, outside the defence which reduced the real number conceded by the defence again. Pretty good figures for any defence in the modern game. This is back to perception and reality. Which is it? Also criticism of Enda Morrissey as wing back. In the modern game it is very hard to define positions once the ball is thrown in, but interestingly Enda was actually our centre back and was actually positioned there for the throw in for the second half. Not sure about first but 100% certain in second half. The point is people are criticising, basing it on the modern game and not understanding the dynamic of the modern game.
Questions over the fitness of players and at the same time saying there are no issues at club level is interesting. Is it not the clubs that are paying huge money to outside physical, S&C trainers? If the players are not fit or strong enough coming into the county scene, is this money well spent or fundraising worth doing so as to drain thousands out of the local parish economy and into the pockets of the mercenaries? Also on fitness the lads given out about Cody playing unfit players were the probably the same lads who were delighted when Cody continued to play Derek Lyng with hip problems, Richie Power with knee problems and the main one of them all, Michael Fennelly with every physical problem. Fickle lot really, Kilkenny supporters. Sometimes you can get away with it, sometimes you can’t. Sometimes, it’s not even science but rather individual mentality.
The Minor. Yes there was a Minor match! This was the biggest concern to me on Sunday, but hardly a mention here. Even Wexford who their first since 1985 are hardly mentioning it even though it is a way more significant milestone than the senior for them. But it’s to be expected with both counties very poorly represented in the stadium for the minor. Those who were there will have seen the way Wexford used the football style movement on the break and particularly from the wing back positions to break quickly and efficiently. They were well worth the victory. How long more before our clubs cop on to the modern game which lads here love talking about and its movement? Or is Cody responsible for these as well? And for those who will inevitably mention the Shamrocks, just remember they are a law on to themselves. No other Kilkenny club is like them but even at that, a full Shamrocks team will not beat a top tier inter county team.
For 2019, Leinster is over and there is a brand new competition starting called the All-Ireland series. As I have said all along it is wide open. We have lost an equal amount of games in the provincial series as the team which is everyone’s favourite to win the All-Ireland and the talk is Leinster was the most competitive this year. Obviously there are things to improve on. It will be a huge challenge for a team that is still developing. But it is only a few months ago people were crying we had nobody coming through and now people are raving about Lawlor and Mullen. Finally, reading the posts and listening to a lot of people reminds of 2016 All-Ireland final and the amount lads who normally travelled up for the final but didn’t that year. We had become complacent in Kilkenny. The pain was needed. It was great for Wexford and they were right to celebrate. It’s a huge boost for hurling in that county. Do I begrudge them? Of course, I do. I’d love to be celebrating again with same enthusiasm. Maybe envy is a better word, but the one thing that has brought them along is the positivity within the county and I’m seeing very little in our county at the moment.0
This discussion has been closed.
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