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

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

All-boro midfield. Can't lose.

The two lads have a great understanding with each other and played as the county midfield pair at underage up along until U21. Anytime they play together in midfield for the club they are almost unstoppable. Hopefully they can work well on Sunday.

tbiggertycome wrote: »

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

All-boro midfield. Can't lose.

The two lads have a great understanding with each other and played as the county midfield pair at underage up along until U21. Anytime they play together in midfield for the club they are almost unstoppable. Hopefully they can work well on Sunday.

That's a valid point. Should have a decent understanding forged over playing together in midfield for a few years within a club context. It should help on Sunday.

brookville wrote: »

I'm happy to see oillie walsh starting he deserves another chance.pity cody didn't trust delaney at 4 but Shane has done ok at 7 but it's interesting that he prefers to move Shane back to 4 than replace him with someone new.Shane has being tried and tested at this level and his only ok I'd much prefer a young tigerish inexperienced corner back than a lad 31 years of age who probably won't get much better.even joyce I feel a better option
Good to see joe lyng back but dissapointed not to see bolger,alyward or walsh on panel

Agree re corner back. Would like to see delaney in there.
Aylward is not right yet. Another week will see him near filly recovered from torn hamstring.
Can't see john walsh or bolger being added to panel at this stage.

Kevin kelly and Richie leahy struggling with hamstring injurys . Kelly has been plagued with hamstring trouble since last year's all ireland hopefully it's something he can over come . He was one of a number of players in the frame for available positions in the full forward line .

Can't beat Wexford at home now. Ah for feck sake lads. Fair play to Wexford

I cannot believe how stupid we are. For years we've been playing against teams with a sweeper and still we produce that. Granted Wexford swamped their half but to react to it by lumping more forwards in on top of an already packed half is ridiculous and a complete failure by the management.

We should have held players out and picked scores from out the field but no ball after ball after ball lumped in. Even against the wind 65 yards is achievable. All it did was leave us completely exposed for runners from the back again.

Brain dead. Line completely out thought by Davy. Again.

Wexford fully deserved that win, a 12 point winning margin would not have flattered them. Kilkenny lost all shape, not able to cope with a sweeper or players running from deep. Championship match in Wexford Park will be an extremely challenging hurdle.

I think most people could see today coming a mile off, it's better that we lose to them now though instead of next June, the lads will learn a lot from today.

Blanchfield got 3 points and set up a couple more. Martin was quiet.

DAVY FITZGERALD LED Wexford to a first win against Kilkenny at Nowlan Park in 60 years

I suppose if you play into your opposition's hands you deserve to be beaten. I don't know what instructions the lads got going out today but this is my take on it.

1) We knew from the start how wexford were going to line out from the start and did nothing to counter this.
2) Wexfords extra man dominated and they used the ball very wisely in the main picking out their players with decent supply.
3) In the main with some exceptions our spare man was by passed their deliveries. Their forwards were able to field in front of our backs and take their scores far too easily.
4) When our short puck outs were played to our spare man we just landed it up in hope of our forwards getting possession which just didn't happen. How many times did we just drive the ball 70 yards for it to come straight back at us.
5) We never seemed to want to give low fast ball to midfielders or forwards.

Eoin Murphy: Excellent again today and brought off three unbelievable saves. Would be in awful trouble without him.
Paul Murphy: Started free and played well in the 1st 15 mins but got pulled all over the place.
Padraig Walsh: Hurled well enough and in fairness to him tried hard to stem the forward play from wexford.
Shane Prendergast: Didn't have his best game and is not up to it in the full back line.
Paddy deegan: Aside from Murphy I thought was one of our best players today. Worked well half back.
Jason Cleere: Hurled ok but needs to get the ball away quicker and to have better delivery to our midfielders and forwards.
Lester Ryan: Tried hard but was dragged all over the field.
Cillian Buckley: Poor today and like lester was dragged everywhere. Didn't control midfield at all.
Ollie walsh: Hurled ok and made a few telling runs but there was a big hole in the middle and midfield was bypassed am awful lot.
Tj: Got a lot of hardship but wasn't allowed to control the game.
Walter: Poor today. Needs to be a lot stronger and field a lot better.
Colin fennelly: A few runs but just like most of our forwards got swamped in possession and had no support.
Richie hogan: Poor again today. Improved ed hen he came out but delivery to inside forward line not good.
Blanchfield: Our best forward today but had no support.
Conor martin: Tried hard but needs low ball.
John joe: Didn't make any impression but didn't get decent supply either.

All in all we got hurled out of it and wexford wanted the win so much more.
It was just disappointing to see us try the same thing over and over and nottry a different route.
We have to be better at moving into space in our forwards but this meansour backs and midfielders need to give far better ball in.
If we deliver a 40 yard pass crossfield to a forward out in front of his man it opens spaces but if we just lump it up high into our forwards then what do we expect. We don't have Henry or gorta any more to land it in high every time.
Also we need to be in our opposition's faces far more just like wexford were with us.
With all that said I am still optimistic that we will turn it around for the championship.
2 months of hard work ahead will sort this I believe and have us ready for winning back liam mccarthy.
Conor Fogarty, Richie leahy, ger aylward and michael fennelly all to return to strengthen it up but we need to put the heads down and work and I believe we will.

mullinr2 wrote: »

Very poor league from Kilkenny. Narrowly missed a relegation match against Clare. We would have lost that game.
Poor against Waterford.
Shockingly dreadful against Clare.
Average against Cork.
Good against Tipperary. However relied too much on Reid. Without him and Tipp taken their chances we would have been well beaten.
Dublin-From accounts we were second fiddle for much of this match
First loss to Wexford since 04. Wexford underage success against us was bound to catch us at Senior level.
Verdict- This team as it stands is not good enough to win an All Ireland, now and over the next few years.
Our only hope is that we hopefully have a few good underage teams coming up in the next few years.
Mark my words Tipp will win dominate the next 5 years

Probably not too far away from the truth but in my opinion not the way to look at it.
Of course we weren't great v waterford and did cop out v clare but to suggest that tipp will dominate the next 5 years is way off.
We had to try a lot of new players, much more than recent years and we have had a very unlucky run with injuries.
Give the lads the chance and they will be right come championship. It has been a tough league but look at the positives.
Pat lyng
Richie leahy
Paddy deegan
Blanchfield

Lyng and leahy were very unlucky with injuries
Lester too.
Have faith. These lads deserve our support through the good and bad and let me tell you we are by no means finished.

Wexford where better than us today and wanted it more.with sweepers you must get ahead or at least stay within a point.wind and us pushing up to much left space at the back.first half with the wind we should have launched balls over the sweeper and pushed a man up.what happened with conor fogarty?also very tactical fouling by wexford (no cards from ref)also should their keeper have been sent off.

I dont think 2 months work is going to cure this teams problem......we are a very average outfit now......but it has being coming ...weve got 5 or 6 players at most up to required level , the standard after that is very very weak ...i think people got a little excited with result against tip but it was only there second team...this team wont be anywhere near contesting for all ireland this year or for nxt few years im afraid ....as for walter needing to improve with his fielding good luck with that for his size he must be worst i ever see trying to catch a ball

Topcat32 wrote: »

Eoin Murphy, Padraig Walsh, Cillian Buckley, Paul Murphy, Richie Hogan, TJ Reid, Conor Fogarty, Walter Walsh, Colin Fennelly, Ger Aylward, Michael Fennelly, im counting 11 strong players with promising players like Jason Cleere, Liam Blanchfield, Richie Leahy to add to number, we are nowhere near as strong as a few years ago but id be confident we will be competitive, can you remember back to the 2011 league final, optimistic guys like you were saying the same we are doomed things then as well.

Agree totally.
Don't forget championships are not won in march or April. We should know that at this stage.
By the way tipperary had a very strong team out when we played them. Using the bull**it term 2nd team out that attitude stinks.
Of course we have problems but ta king things to the level we need is not as big a step as dome think.