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

kkclubhurling wrote: »

We're only a day away from the kick off of the club action for this year and It seems like we've a fairly exciting set of fixtures for the first weekend.

Senior kicks off with Clara vs Danesfort tomorrow, you'd expect that Clara should pick up a fairly routine win in this one but it'll perhaps be interesting to see have Danesfort improved from last year, for a number of years now they've been hopeful that a few of their younger lads would make the breakthrough in and around now, Des Dunne and Mullally are probably the best of that crop, will need to settle fast in what is a really tough group for the Fort.

The other two games in the fairly stacked group A are on Sunday, the Bridge play James Stephens in the afternoon and it could be a real interesting battle, they played out a fairly decent draw last year although the Village blew a big lead that day, I'd expect Jackie & Larks are putting in a huge effort with their clubs this year and this could really boost the lads around them, it will be interesting to see if KK minor Niall Brassil gets a run having been very good for CBS where I'm sure Niall Tyrell and Seamus Dwyer kept a watchful eye, the Bridge have lost a few to suspension and retirement for this one but if Lennon, Cleere, Morrissey and Blanchfield are all fit they'll have a strong spine. Both teams will be targeting it as a must win for different reasons so it should be a real battle.

That evening, Ballyhale and the Boro do battle, I think this could be the match of the round, I know its been said for years now but Boro really are a good young team, Ballyhale are a serious outfit still but I believe they are short a few players for this one which sets up nicely, if Ballyhale don't have Henry, Kevin & Darren Mullen and Colin as rumoured it opens this one right up. Ollie Walsh has been brilliant for the club the last few years too so itll be interesting to see if his time with KK has brought him on even more. For Ballyhale it would be exciting to see Adrian Mullen play but there's no rush on the chap either, it's easy forget that they were only a couple of pucks of a ball off OLG last year in the county final without ever really producing anything near their best, this could be a hell of a game between two teams at different stages of development.

In Group A we start off with two Saturday night games between Comer vs the Vat and Carrickshock vs Rower

The Comer game should be a real interesting battle because they are two sides with fairly contrasting styles, Comer have survived in senior in recent years by being generally a very tough team to beat, they're dogged as hell and Fogarty and Conor Delaney are comfortably their two main men, the Vat on the other hand have been a fairly open attacking team the last few years, which has made for very exciting games but questions remain over them on the big occasion, they played out a hum dinger in the championship vs Bridge last year, just got past them in a replay despite playing the second half vs 13 men and then totally flopped against Ballyhale in the quarter. If they can become a more consistent force, they'll be hard stopped though, theyve some great forwards and are solid from 1-9.

The Rower vs Shock is hard to call aswell, Shock will be buoyant having come straight back up after relegation but they're certainly no young team, on the other hand the Rower are on the back of an u21 county victory and in Pat Lyng and Richie Leahy they've two of the best young prospects in the county. This could be a real battle out in Thomastown and is hard to call.

On Sunday then county champs OLG take on Martins, again this could be fairly interesting game, O Loughlins have lost a few from last years team so they might have a relatively new look about them, I think they'll need to mix it up a bit this year two if they want to hold on to their throne. Martins were much better last year after a very tough 2015 and they certainly have a lot of belief out there, the one worry is they've not brought a huge amount through in the last couple of years- bar Brian Coady last year and a few 21/22 year olds they're getting older, that experience should serve them well in what will be a battle vs OLG but it will be interesting to see how they fare over the long year. For OLG it will be interesting to see if any of their younger contingent make a breakthrough, the likes of Jordan Molloy is a serious talent but its hard to see him breaking into the OLG back 6 which barring the retirement of Alan O Brien will probably be unchanged from last year.

In the Intermediate I think Ballycallan vs Fenians and Tullogher vs Tullaroan are two standout ties in terms of seeing what level those teams are at.

brookville wrote: »

Ballyraget must have a home an away agreement I know some teams had that agreement in senior ballyhale and c/shock did anyway.
Clara struggled last year starting off so it's not a major concern for them and conor o shea will strengthen their attack but as a neutral they haven't replaced conor phelan or austin murphy both ball winning forwards I still think they should reach the semi finals
It's good to c most of our injured county lads on the programme for the weekend,richie reid is listed at 6,rob lennon at 3,john power at 12, colin fennelly must have a knock and dissapointed ger aylward isn't on the Glenmore panel. Anyone know how kevin kelly or james maher went last night?