Kilkenny GAA Thread

JJs Left Hand

Let Tipperary be a warning for throwing in a heap of young lads in a short period of time. I don't know if Cahill had a choice or his hand was forced but they looked in a world of trouble today

A lot of teams reaping nothing from successful underage teams

Village87

Donnelly, Keoghan, Kenny, TJ and Lawlor outstanding. Galway are an average team, they lack any pace around the middle. We cleaned them out in the middle third and Kilkenny are much more athletic team. Looking increasingly likely another Kilkenny and Limerick All Ireland final. Very little else out there

usualstripes

Delighted with the improvement in Tom Phelan today. I think a few games will have him flying. Donnelly was outstanding today. As was TJ. Our movement and passing between the 2 45s was good today. Tallis was good apart from the 2nd goal. Tommy seemed lethargic in corner back. Huw and mikey good today. Blanchfield had another good day.

Putting all that aside I think Galway are not improving. Could be Henry's last year with them.

Moosey15

The free against tj was a shocking call , the Galway crowd never cease to amaze me ,it’s always about the ref and this ref did them no harm whatsoever , they spent all game screaming at him for absolutely ridiculous things ,it’s never the players of course.Anyway not too unhappy with today we are definitely showing some good signs ( both last week and today ) in a way it was probably a good thing to see how we’d fare without the two Ballyhale lads ( we will need them at the business end of things though )some players who are routinely slagged on these pages are actually right good lads and most importantly give it all for the cause .Anyone clock Eamon o Shea on the sideline today ? If you were complete stranger to it all you would think he was Galway manager… Liam Sheedy / Juergen Klopp style fist pumping after Galway’s first goal …….

The_Tank

Haven’t watched it back yet but 29 points is a fine score considering the conditions. Kilkenny had control and would have closed it out except the wind meant they couldn’t take on a lot of shots. Without the two lads they performed well, it looked like minds were really focused on giving the ball to the man in best position to maximise our chances without our two best forwards. Add Cody and Wally (sub) and I think the goal threat increases.

Kilkenny ran through Galway and looked more at ease with the short ball running style. Carey would have increased our threat even more. We overdid it s couple of times and got turned over but we mixed the long with the short very well. In contrast I’m not sure what Galways plan was. Other than hit it to Jonnie. ( if that scrabble in the square went in off Glynn then the place would have gone balubas). Maybe they are holding stuff back for later.

Deegan frustrated the life out of me with his distribution. I blamed both goals on him. First one he went on the wing instead of covering the middle and when mikey got in bother we were bunched. Second one he hit a terrible ball straight to the Galway back - who if i recall correctly sent it in. He’s a great lad but he’s one sided and mistake prone. I’m leaning towards Mullen as CB.

Tallis did excellent, despite the paryial mistake for the goal everything else he did was really top class.

And Owen Wall could quickly become a crowd favourite.

mullinr2

Owen Wall should have buried that chance. He hit far too high

Freneys Treasure

Again today, two of the forchange damned stepped up and lead from the front. Keoghan was ultra efficient again and Donnelly was everywhere, blocking, winning dirty ball, setting up scores and scoring from play.

Comerman

Donnelly for me is an unsung hero for Kilkenny, never gives up.

jamesbond2022

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122074701#Comment_122074701

Donnelly was brilliant in the 2nd half today anchoring the half forward line

hogans heroes

Good result overall but we should have won.tommy walsh , should have been hooked by half time.

jamesbond2022

Galway I don’t think are going anywhere with the players they have atm I know it was only a round robin game but apart from 1or 2 backs and whealan they don’t offfer much it says a lot when they have to bring a lad back from America who hasn’t hurled internet county for a few years and he’s making the bench

While the injuries are a hinderance for kk i think it is a great opportunity to get game time into others on the panel in different positions

As others have said the free against Tj at the end was harsh

What was good about today is we had so many scorers from play without Mullen and Cody Reid murphy butler Molloy Kenny mossy etc

By the end of the Leinster championship we should be in a lot better place panel wise and injury wise hopefully

Marrooned

did Brendan Cummins just say yesss when Whelan equalised.

Butterbeans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122075176#Comment_122075176

Don't know about that, but Marty and Cummins seemed disappointed when Kilkenny came into the game after Galways good start

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122074849#Comment_122074849

Galway are very poor, Henry is at nothing there. When they get to Croke Park there lack of pace will be exposed. Like a club team throwing on Cooney and Glynn near the end, neither look fit

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122075194#Comment_122075194

Thought they seemed very pro-Galway today for some reason. Maybe it was my own bias that made it feel like that.

conor05

it says it all when Henry needs to fly a 31 year old over and back from America to play for Galway who has spent the last few years with the New York footballers.

David Burke & Cooney were finished at county level years ago, legs are gone.

Kilkenny are building nicely with a few to come back into contention yet.

It was very sad to see Peter Casey in so much pain today, horrific injury.

He will be a huge loss to Limerick, he was their catalyst to getting a run on Kilkenny in the second half of All Ireland final last year.

Butterbeans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122075327#Comment_122075327

They were all about Galway today

MfMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122075244#Comment_122075244

Congrats on your win today.

biglad40

you make it sound lad like there is only 2. Tyson Holyfield. Federer v nadal. Etc. did u see that limerick performance. Will wipe us off the park on top of beating kk last two finals

beating tipp by 15 is things of dreams. Dreams

kk.man

Both are right about Marty (I always follow the winners) and Cummings. As Cody would say Deegan was at fault for that goal not Tallis. It was an awful give away.

jamesbond2022

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122075244#Comment_122075244

Players like j Flynn has never nailed down a place over the years Mcinerney still on the bench he was a starter 6 years ago the two Cooneys blow hot and cold every year fahy moved from forward to the backs

David Burke while a brilliant hurler at club level I don’t think can do it for a full 70mins anymore

For a county that has beat Kilkenny for years at underage level have they got any kind of decent hurler off any of thoose teams apart from gavin Lee maybe

Henry’s a very a good manager but he’s not a magician I just don’t think he has the players to make an impact beyond Leinster

Grats

A very welcome draw in Salthill. Travelled there hoping we'd put up a good show while keeping the scoreline respectable. In the absence of so many players I fully expected Galway to win but great credit to our players who worked their socks off. The newer lads certainly put their hands up and contributed handsomely as did the rest. The panel looks healthier and stronger which is vital over the campaign. Credit to all concerned.

Anyone who thinks Eamonn O'Shea is just helping out in the background with H Shefflin and R O'Neill could plainly see from watching him on the sideline yesterday that that's not the case. He was very vocal shouting in instructions up and down the line. Numerous times he'd have words with Shefflin, sometimes with O''Neill and even called up a third selector for words. He was quieter in the second half, perhaps he had be warned by the officials as he shouldn't be there. Interesting, O'Shea's buddy Liam Sheedy was in the stand taking notes - I wonder could we see them back together again should Shefflin get the sack!

Butson

From a Galway perspective, well done yesterday, missing some top players. Miles the better team.

Your guys look so well drilled and coached I sometimes wonder does it matter who is wearing the jersey on a given day. Strong favourites for Leinster now. Strange stat that KK have never beaten Galway in the Leinster round robin, but do it regularly in Croke Park when it matters.

We looked clueless.

MfMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076579#Comment_122076579

Sideline looked a bit clueless it must be said. How they could continue to look at a well-beaten midfield and not make a change until well into the match is very annoying.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076150#Comment_122076150

I think O'Shea's main work is being done with the forwards, I'd imagine the reason he was quieter was because the forwards were on the opposite side to him. It's hard to see what he's doing with them bar Cathal Mannion they were poor.

For us, disappointing as it was to not win the game but I'd be happy with the performance. If you'd told us we'd score 0-29 (0-22 from play) without Cody and Mullen we'd have snapped your arm for it. Donnelly was excellent, his work rate was excellent as always but chipping in with 4 points shows the quality he has. He ably assisted by Mossy who, in the first half especially, was excellent and got some great scores and by Tom Phelan and Cian Kenny. If we can get Cody and Mullen back fit and Wally coming onto the bench when fit our forwards are looking a lot stronger. Midfield was a lot better yesterday, Richie Reid had a good second half with Molloy making a real impact off the bench. Most of our troubles were at the back and a lot of them self made with poor clearances leading to scores and we fumbled and were turned over too many times that gave Galway easy scores. Huw, Mikey and Blanch all did well and we seem to have a lot of players coming into form. Tommy Walsh had a tough afternoon, he stood way too far off Mannion in the build up to the first goal and looked way off the pace the whole game, I'm surprised he lasted the full 70 minutes. We've all had our concerns about Deegan at centre back but yesterday highlighted again that he is not the answer to the problem we have at 6. His clearances yesterday were poor but it was his positional play that was most worrying, you could see he was trying to do the right thing and sit and hold the middle but he was way too far out and was leaving an ocean of space in front of the full back line. It looks like Lyng will stick with him there as there are no real other options but against a better team we will be exposed more.

Does anyone know the nature of Carey's injury? I've heard varying reports but didn't hear anything in any of the interviews after the match.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076612#Comment_122076612

Fintan Burke, Daithi Burke, Sean Linnane, Cianan Fahy, Padraig Mannion Ronan Glennon, David Burke, Concannon. To many slow players in crucial areas. Kevin Cooney a loss.

Galway supporters will be desperately disappointed after yesterday. That team is getting worse instead of better.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076693#Comment_122076693

I think a lot of the trouble is that Henry doesn't trust a lot of the players and goes with the ones he knows! Not sure if this is because he's not as familiar with the club scene in Galway or because he's seen them and doesn't think they're good enough. He's brought on very little from those minor winning teams, it's actually ironic that they beat us in so many of those years and we've got as many players off those teams as they have.

MfMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076693#Comment_122076693

I thought Fintan B did quite well on TJ, broke even really, and Mannion, Cianan Fahy (first season in defence) and Daithi B were amongst our better players yesterday. Lack of pace is one thing but Linnane, Glennon just aren't good enough and David B no longer has a full match in him. Concannon (first start of season in fairness) and Conor Cooney are too inconsistent to be relied upon.

Shefflin has the likes of Tiernan Killeen, Ian McGlynn and two Collins brothers available to him, all coming off good Fitzgibbon campaigns, so their quality should be known at this stage. Maybe he's not too familiar with the Galway club scene, though he does attend many of the domestic c'ship matches, but his selectors should know anyway.

deadybai

John Donnelly is definitely the most under rated hurler since he made his breakthrough.
He has that knack of popping up in the right place at the right time. Always has a point or two in him each game. Thought he was excellent yesterday.

on a side note. Where in Kilkenny City is usually a good place to watch the matches on the tele?

brookville

Id say theres a few lads here who had the gun loaded ready to fire when they team was named and with the start galway got against the wind they were giddy. No sign of them when it was a good performance the only negative was we didnt see it out. The final free against tj everyone agrees wasnt a free. Both teams had chances during the match but given what was missing this was a very good performance and if i was henry i would be scratching my head. I dont see improvement in the 3 years, i see the same old faces. we think we're slow to bring through lads galway and cork are slower. We all must remember its not like years ago where lads settled into senior easier. Everything is so professional now its a big jump from underage to senior. Its only the exceptional player that makes the jump successfully.

While the performance was very good we still wont be happy with some of the things. The goals were preventable but galway were intent on goals. We only had one real chance and owen should of done a little better. Tallis is a good keeper and he needs experience. id expect him to get another run out against carlow.

deegan hit alot of ball but some of the balls were woeful and when it comes to the business end i think he will be exposed,i hope i'am wrong. We got a great return from midfield and half foward line. Cian kenny is finally delivering on the potential we all know he has has. The half foward like worked fierce hard and that kind scoring is what we would see from Limerick.We all agree donnelly and mossy are around long enough now to be consistent.Tom phelan was a big addition and great to see him pick up where he left off last year.

I would like us to try to find a inside foward. Someone direct and dangerous and can grab a goal. Not getting one yesterday was a little disappointing because the marking was loose at times.i know we set up to score long range points with the few lads out.I think its probable both teams will meet in the leinster final again and henry simply cant afford to lose that one although they could have a battle on their hands this weekend. Im just not impressed with galway at all. I expected more.