Kilkenny GAA Thread Part 2 **MOD NOTE POST 1***

Relegation is between Danesfort and Johnstown and the Hogans and Murphy should see Danesfort through now they've given Leahy the heave. Johnstown are awful

Very true. Nothing worse than playing Johnstown in Ballyragget. Sticky bastards

mezitozil wrote: »

Who is managing Danesfort now?

James Maher of Freshford as far as I know

When is the final round of games...next week-end?

Wexford or Waterford it is in the semi-final then.

Hopefully all the lads have come through the games ok at the week-end.

Any word on James Maher?

Cornerback1 wrote: »

Wexford or Waterford it is in the semi-final then.

Hopefully all the lads have come through the games ok at the week-end.

Any word on James Maher?

Or Clare!

brookville wrote: »

Afaik we'll play the winners of wexford/waterford

Think they just avoid repeat pairings. So if waterford win you'll get us, if Galway win tipp will get them. If Wexford and clare win it'll be an open draw.

Cornerback1 wrote:

I thought it will be the Cats V Waterford or Wexford and Tipp will play Clare or Galway?

This is correct.

Any word on Buckleys injury?

Cornerback1 wrote: »

Are KK playing on Sun 7th August? I have arranged to stay in Dublin that night!

Yep. Definitely August 7th. See the link in my previous post.

At long last a team has finally figured it out!! It's only taken 17 years but last Sunday I believe we saw Tipperary play the Kilkenny way. They had huge work rate, skill, hunger and supported each other to a massive degree. I thought they were going ok this year but that display (not taking about the scoreline) for me has confirmed them as our biggest (only) rival.

What Cody does is not rocket science but people seem to think that he's not telling the whole truth when he talks about what makes Kilkenny keep on winning. These are things I think that he brings to the team
1. Spirit
2. Drop you like a hot spud
3. Internship
4. Training
5. Rules
6. Conditioning
These are the things that Cody has brought to the Kilkenny set up that I think has made us truly exceptional team over the last decade and a half. He didn't come to it with all this in place and has learned on the job and was definitely lucky in his early years to have a great bunch of players and a patient County Board. Since 2005 loss to Galway however I believe the 6 points are what has made it all tick for us.

1. Spirit - Cody and a lot of the recently retired players always refer to spirit and what I've gleaned from interviews and conversations with a few of the lads is this. They all buy into the same goals (win everything possible) and all realise that they can only do that by working together 100% and helping each other out when a lad is struggling you don't just stand and watch you go and get stuck in and help. I know everyone doesn't believe Kilkenny don't discuss tactics and I genuinely believe they don't but they work very hard for each other and if that means that the half back line needs help then the midfield drop back etc. They definitely do come up with a individual game plan to negate or attack certain opposition players but do they use that every day and it becomes a tactic, no. Maybe you call individual game plans a tactic, I don't. I call the way Waterford and Clare play a tactic.

2. Drop you like a hot spud- Cody started this really with Charlie Carter and McEvoy he wasn't going to let anyone who wasn't living up to the standard get in his way. If your not 100% committed mentally Cody is not interested so your gone. That does not mean your always gone though Cody will bring lads back in if they are working hard enough and showing form look at Mark Bergin this year.

3. Internship- Cody uses dropping lads to test their mental toughness. Cody always says he trusts the lads on the field to deal with whats in front of them. The reason he can do that is that he often gives a young lad a chance and if he fails on any day it will probably be 1,2,3 years before he gets another go. If a lad has the mental toughness to hang around in training and keep putting in 100% after getting dropped and keeps striving to improve Cody knows he can throw him in to the white heat of Championship if need be. All you have to do is look at the stories of Brian Hogan and Ger Aylward two I can think of off the top of my head. Both had poor championship debuts seasons or games neither played again for a few years but seized the opportunity when it arose. Cody is looking for guys to mature mentally as much as anything else and lads who can fight if things go against them. So unlike Waterford last Sunday when the approach you know doesn't work our lads don't fold they fight on, think for themselves and find a way to make it work for them.

4. Training- Their still mythical "What goes on in Nowlan Park is better than some Championship matches" "Cody only blows the whistle twice, once to start and once to finish". I used to go and watch almost every training session from 07 to 12 when they closed the door and some games in training were epic and Cody doesn't whistle, lads can be punching each other on the ground and as long as there are lads still hurling Cody doesn't care follow the play. What really goes on in these sessions is that lads are absolutely hurling out of their skins because Cody does reward those on form in training so a lad knows if he busts a gut in training he can force he's way on to the team and the team sheet is not 100% picked every week. Just look at Eddie Brennan making the AI team in 2011 he had a shocking year but for the 3 weeks up to the final he was destroying lads, he then went on to have a crucial role in R Hogans decisive goal. Now in fairness Cody doesn't often make huge changes to the starting 15 but it's actually rare for the same 15 to take the field 2 days in a row. As a result those who have been playing have to hurl at 100% to keep their place and those trying to get in keep giving it everything they have because they know that it will happen. This makes for incredibly tough and intense training sessions. This is why, when teams come out at us like Galway and Dublin did so far this year we can take it for the 1st half and maintain that intensity or even up it as our lads have played that way in training every night for years at that stage.

5. Rules- I was talking to a journalist who told me he once asked Cody "what kind of rules do you have in place to keep the lads in line and how does you deal with it when they don't keep to the rules?" He's answer was very simple "We don't have rules their all adults, if you don't have rules you don't have to have punishments" Thats not to say that if you go wild every night you'll stay on the Kilkenny panel we all saw what happened John Mulhall after a hard night on John St. For Cody it's very simple your an adult you know what level you have to be at to play for the team and if you want to go out drinking all the time and still get to that level thats up to you but your gonna be some rare lad in fairness.

6. Conditioning- Bringing in and keeping Michael Dempsey is definitely one of Cody's biggest achievements. He's an unhearlded hero of this set up, the levels he gets the lads too is just incredible. In fairness to him he's taken it very seriously and gone off and gotten professional qualifications and is now head of Sports Science in Carlow IT. Instead of going on the team holiday Dempsey often uses the time to go and spend it researching some of the best sports set ups around the world. He's been to observe New Zealand rugby teams, Jamaican athletics team, Cuban boxers and many more I can't remember. A friend was in Killarney last year, the week after our defeat of Wexford and he got talking to Cian O'Neill the Kerry strength and conditioning coach (Now Kildare Football manager) and the man lauded for having Tipp in peak condition for the 2010 AI. He was wondering how Mick Dempsey does it he said he'd never seen a whole team so finely conditioned in all his life. Being this fit, strong and agile has given Kilkenny a great advantage over their opponents particularly in the last 20 mins of games being just 1/2% better at this level can give you a edge over the opposition.



Bring all those together and you get a fantastic output of incredibly tough players both mentally and physically in perfect condition who will absolutely do everything they can for each other on the field. Oh I forgot they're fairly skillful as well but they and they're clubs nurtured that not Cody he's only exploiting it.

How do you beat that? I believe it's a long road but you have to match Kilkenny in all those departments and create better stronger and tougher hurlers than you have now and then you can beat Kilkenny tactics might beat us occasionally but only once, injuries will deplete us at times, The long road will wear us done as it did in 2013 but winning is a drug and it's far easier and more attractive to want to be part of winning set up than a set up ships regular beatings.

unrealtime Sorry but I am not convinced about the merit of Tipps performance the last day. they got a total of 24 scores whereas we get 27 against Galway. Also Waterford scored almost as many wides in the first half as they did get scores in the whole game. Waterford should have been ahead at half time and then whither Tipp. Frankly I saw little difference in Tipps performance to what they have being doing since 2009.

That's fair enough and I'm not saying their at our level yet but there was definitely more drive in them than before. When it comes down to a close game with ten to go and the pressure is applied I can still see them buckling but it was more there attitude which was new for me. They still have not developed enough mental toughness to handle Kilkenny at their peak. Admittedly Waterford were shocking and completely fell apart in the second half after the 3 goal but I still think Tipp laid that foundation through hard graft in the first half and like us can reap the benefits in the second half.

In fairness they beat a harmless Limerick team and a flat footed disorganised Waterford team. TBH I see Galway beating Clare easily unless Clare can find a huge performance from somewhere, and I firmly believe they can take Tipp again in a semi final if Tipp aren't absolutely humming which they have struggled to do with the 5 week break.

It was as good a performance as we've seen so far and as I said I'm not even talking about the scoreline because Waterford gave up for the last 20mins but it was their hard work that allowed them to crush Waterford in that way. Could we have beaten Waterford by much more last Sunday? Maybe by a point or two that we might have got in the first half.

Waterford will always have loads of scoring opportunities with the way they play their system but in reality much more than a 50% score rate is a bonus for them as their shooting from so far out, in condition like Sunday it's always going to be amplified with that wind and rain and when you have no plan B and players that aren't used to being allowed to play in a different way it was never going to end pretty. I predicted Tipp by 10+ on Friday night with friends in fairness I never saw that capitulation coming though.

The Kilkenny intermediate team to play Wexford tonight @7.30 in Wexford is:
Kevin Nolan (Clara);
Evan Cody (Dicksboro), Tom Aylward (Mullinavat), Luke Hickey (James Stephens);
Jason Cleere (Bennettsbridge), Conor Delaney (Erin’s Own), Jack McGrath (James Stephens);
Jack Langton (Clara), Shane Murphy (Glenmore);
Conor Tobin (Fenians), Mark Bergin (O’Loughlin Gaels), Nicky Cleere (Bennettsbridge);
Sean Morrissey (Bennettsbridge), Billy Ryan (Graigue-Ballycallan), John Walsh (Mullinavat).
Subs: Aaron Duggan (Dicksboro),
Enda Malone (Dicksboro),
Jeff Brennan (St Patrick’s),
Luke Harney (Kilmacow),
Richie Leahy (Rower-Inistioge),
Shane Donnelly (St Lachtain’s),
Liam Ryan (Clara),
Paul O’Flynn (Dicksboro),
Rory Hickey (Lisdowney)

Really good team and great to see so many possible seniors playing. Wish them the best