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

Does a win for Kilkenny on Saturday night mean the 5th round of club games will be pushed back til after the All Ireland?

JJs Left Hand wrote: »

The rating for Murphy is too high. Badly wasted 2 long range frees and a hospital pass to Buckley for the 3rd one

Yeah I actually meant to downgrade that for the missed long range frees and the other post about coming out on Joey and the Waterford attacker was criminal he should have learned his lesson v Clare I'd have him a 6.5 as a result

Nedflanders02 wrote: »

It'll be interesting to see what Cody does for the replay, will he delay naming the team until just before throw in like he did in the replay against Galway in 2014?

The rule now is he has to give some kind of team in advance. He can still make changes before the game but he can't delay a la 2014.

mountgomery burns wrote: »

I had the best seat I've ever had anywhere yesterday. Waterford had two men in the full forward line, not three.

Waterford definitely started with three full forwards, which surprised me, but then withdrew the right corner forward, leaving Shane Prendergast the free man. I was on Hill 16. After that the other full-backs followed their men for a while.

It will be interesting to see if Waterford go for the same game plan which worked (almost) for them yesterday or revert to their previous cautious approach. Perhaps between 2 stools they may fall, and that happens too.

Whatever approach they take, Kilkenny have been forewarned, and cody will be looking at ways to counteract whatever tactics Waterford bring, and, as usual, and necessarily, expect a rejigging of the Kilkenny forwards and one or two changes.

By the way, who got Man-of-the-match - Hogan or Gleeson?

Just want to say it is brillant to follow this never say die kilkenny team.yes some players were poor yesterday yes everything waterford hit up until the last 15 went over.but they kept going right to the end.see alot of posters on other sites are righting mick fennelly off(foolish in the extreme)woyld like blanchfield to take alook at gleeson because I feel he has the same ability as gleeson but he hss to go and show it.blanchfield bolger or walsh for me should start ahead of john power.

Any surprises on the team for Saturday do yous think?
Full back line as a unit was ok. Waterford had a couple of half goal chances but the were closed down and were put under pressure. Eoin Murphy was ok but he was a bit rash with a couple of long distance frees.

Half back line were dominated for the most part. Waterford dominated the high ball and went after our strongest line. A good ploy by Waterford. ''Hammer the Hammer'' as Tom s O'S would say!! Cillian and Padraig were put under serious pressure and were constantly on the back foot. Kieran was struggling through the game and Cody had to do something before the game finally got away from us. Will Conor Fogarty start at 6 on Saturday or do we need a bigger physical presence in there. Waterford's intensity was unreal but will they dominate this line again? - hard to know! I can't see us being 'bullied' out of it again in the middle third.

Midfield was overpowered with lads running at them at pace and power, breaking the first tackle. To their credit, the 2 lads scored 3 crucial points between them which was a decent return. Mick seemed to be off the pace but when you look at the high standards he sets, that's understandable.

The forwards worked hard but were 'outworked' by the D ise. I think it was a case of the Waterford lads working harder than they have ever worked before and for once, outfought us. TJ wasn't in the game really in open play but his free taking etc. was unreal, as usual. Walter was in and out of the game but got the crucial goal when it mattered at the death. I thought Colin was hit and miss but hung in there - got a good point but sometimes, I'm expecting a total performance form him as he has the talent. In fairness to JJ, not much ball went into his corner and like an U12B game, the first sub is always the corner forward. Larks did well when he can in and showed a bit of bite which was required at that time of the game. John Power, apart from a catch, in front of me on the Cusack side was poor. He never got on the ball at all. Richie Hogan in fairness, like the Galway game, kept us in it from play in the first half. Such a magician with sliotar in hand.

So where does that leave us know? Another day out obviously!! I can't see us being out fought again. In every ruck, a Waterford man came out with the ball. They battled hard for it and wanted it. We seemed to wait to seem what was happening. If the hunger is better in any way, we'll break even in this department next Saturday and it'll make a huge difference.


The one worry is that they will be confident to target the skies again but will they be so dominant. I'm not so sure. They seemed, like the rucks, to gain the majority of balls in the air and break the tackle at pace. I can't see Walsh, Buckley and Joyce or whoever it is in there being dominated in the same way. They will have the fire in the bellies to make sure that this doesn't happen. As an aside to this, will Gleeson play at 11 again or will Mc Grath change it to spring another surprise?

Our forwards need to up the workrate and intensity again to match their intensity. Can they bring the same intensity to the game again? At the final whistle yesterday, a few of the D ise lads were out on their feet - now whether that was through sheer exhaustion or just a collective disappointment that they didn't win is hard to now. Either way, they will have to replicate that intensity for 74 or 75mins next Saturday. Our lads will definitely work a lot harder. I think we need more scores from the forwards - over reliant on Richie. More lads need to produce the goods in scoring terms. 1-21 is good but I think it's be good if a few of the lads chipped in with 3 or 4 points each from play. I know JJ was a regular scorer throughout so far and, as I said, 21 pts is a good return but I'd like the pressure off Richie a bit.

Can Waterford hit the scores that they hit yesterday again in Thurles? Apart from that last 5 mins, everything they hit, form all angles and distances, were unreal in fairness. Serious shooting. Their shot selection was very good for the most part also. Can Mahony be as accurate again?

Only 2 subs used - Lester may come in on Saturday in midfield? He, in my opinion, hasn't done much wrong up to now and would have been disappointed to be on the bench. Eoin Larkin wasn't up to his usual high standard in the past few games but made a good difference when he joined the action yesterday. Will he start in place of John Power/JJ? Outwith that, are there any other changes that could be made upfront? Have we anybody on the bench that could change a game?

It'll be an interesting week, that's for sure. In general terms, that was the game that hurling was crying out for, so fair play to KK and the Cats. A game full of honestly, skill and strength and the chance to do it all over again.

One area we need to improve on is giving away frees.waterford scored more from frees than kilkenny.our full back line were only breached once and padraig got back.we had 2 passengers in power and jj and colins touch was poor.another scoring forward or 2 and we win.surely blanchfield or bolger should get a shot.

As far as TJ is concerned, up to two matches ago in my opinion he was playing the best hurling in the country bar none. Let's hope he gets his mojo back.

As regards puck-outs neither team were very successful at securing good possession from their own puck-outs.

I wouldn't underestimate the effect of being universally written off on Waterford. They really had nothing to lose. Hence the throwing caution to the wind and playing 15 on 15. I also wouldn't underestimate how this also got in on the Kilkenny team. The talk all week was of how much we were going to win by/how were Waterford going to keep the score down. They're only human. It has to have gotten to them, hence the flatness in a lot of our lads. I wouldn't blame the gap between the Leinster final. We've dealt adequately with that many times before.

There's two questions. Can we (as in those who were below their normal high standard) up the performance? I think we can and I'd be expecting a backlash and a big one at that. These guys are multiple AI winners. They want to play in another All Ireland and know they're one game away. They'll know a repeat of last Sunday won't do if they want to be playing the first Sunday in September. I don't subscribe to this 'going to the well too often' rubbish. FFS this was their third championship match this season.
The other question is can Waterford reach the heights of last week. In fairness they out fought us especially up front. This was one of the best Waterford performances in living memory. They still though came up short. In fact Murphy should have put that ball over the bar to win the match. Fogartys strike was more difficult. There were Waterford players collapsing at the final whistle. This game will take a huge physical toll and more importantly a serious psychological toll on them. Given I expect Kilkenny to up their game, Waterford in turn will have to raise theirs. Can they do that?

A change in the forward line will be required just to offer something different, I would go with TJ, Richie Hogan and Lester in half forward line to give us a foothold with Jonjo Farrell, Colin fennelly full and Walter on Noel Connors in the corner. They may switch there match ups but it would make them think. I can't see Cody springing anyone from bench, if Liam Blanchfield was going well in training it might be worth exploring.

Sorry I actually agree with that, think Larkin and Lester will start in place of JJ and John Power.

Its been announced that James Mcgrath will take a 70 minute break from the sunbed to referee the replay

KK won't get too many frees so.