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

citykat wrote: »

There was an AI won by a Kilkenny team today. Dicksboro won the Hurling Feile defeating Sixmilebridge in the final. The last Kilkenny team to win it was the loughs in 2011. Boro won it previously in 2009. The village of course are the most successful feile club in the country.

What was the outcome of the Craughwell / James Stephens game? Was this a Shield final rather than 'the final proper' ?

Philip82 wrote: »

I hope Brian was looking at the quality of ball the cork lads were feeding the forwards with today and the last day to be fair. Its unbelievable the difference it makes to even the most average of a forward. No hail mary shots from the half back line bombing in with snow on em for da burca to mop up, instead the diagonal ball hopping in front of the running forward, now he suddenly has a 90/10 chance of beating his man by makimg space and shooting or be fouled as he is already moving. Sounds simple yet so many teams (and kk prob the worst offenders) insisist on sledging in high ball to an inside forward line thats overcrowded and incapable of winning high ball. I wrote this because i think Cork are a decent team but no better or worse than our own lads but the technique they have goes back to simple intelligent Hurling.

Corks backs supply a lovely ball to their forwards, they find the right man in the half back line or midfield before they deliver a ball into space for the forwards, comfortable and tidy on the ball can allow this..

Kilkenny cant really do this at the moment, Conor o Shea, Paul Murphy, Conor Fogarty maybe Paddy Deegan are not tidy or comfortable on the ball, leading dropped balls being hooked etc and poor slow ball to the forwards, this was one of the attributes to a poor performance last week, i remember the days when Tommy Hogan Jackie and Mick Kavanagh always looked like they had time to clear a good ball

citykat wrote: »

Aw come on. Nobody takes Mullane seriously. He's a clown pure and simple.

I don't think he will ever get over the hiding him and Waterford took in 2008. That night he was commentating in the WF KK match you could actually here his voice and emotions dwindle as KK came back into the match while he was cloud 9 when Wexford were doing all the hurling. As the dust has settled on the kk defeat, the only real tough draw would be Tipp. Waterford confidence must be low at this stage and they don't seem to have any game plan. The semi final defeat last year was a real blow then physiologically and you'd wonder if that was as far as mc Grath can take them.

citykat wrote: »

Not from the Boro but know the scene/people pretty well. Major factor in their success is St. Canices school. Very popular, oversubscribed. 3 classes per year. Huge no.s. Takes in pupils from all over the city and beyond even as far away as Kells. Lot of these kids tend to gravitate towards the Boro ultimately.

And give up as there is not enough senior, minor or u21 games for them

Kilkenny will be up against either Waterford/Tipperary/Limerick/Laois or Carlow in the 1st Round All-Ireland senior hurling qualifier draw.
The match venues will be determined on a home and away basis but it’s understood that if Tipperary and Kilkenny are pitted together, for example, that may be decided by coin toss.
Pot 1 – Kilkenny/Offaly/Dublin/Westmeath
Pot 2 – Waterford/Tipperary/Limerick/Laois or Carlow.

oconnol1 wrote: »

Kilkenny will play either Waterford/Tipperary/Limerick/Laois or Carlow in the 1st Round All-Ireland senior hurling qualifier draw.

Kind of coming round to agreeing with c MC, I think that we've a decent shot against any of those. Wouldn't be favorites against Waterford or tipp, and I think either could get a nice boost to their season by beating us, but Waterford have no clear gameplan or identity, any more than we do, so no real reason to make them favorites. And if our bad form is identifiable since the league, then we also can take heart that when we are motivated we can still produce a serious performance against tipp.

That optimism is tempered because I was optimistic before Wexford and we were dire, and I'm not saying I think we're just going to turn into a different team than we've shown ourselves to be throughout the year. I'm just not as pessimistic as I was last week!

Feck it, would love to end tipps season again like in 2013, was nearly as good as some of the all Irelands that day!

I am hoping to get the easiest draw possible for the 1st round Laois/Carlow or Limerick at home. After Sunday, I wouldn't fear Waterford but want to avoid Tipp. If we get an easy draw, Cody could give R Hogan, P Walsh etc another weeks rest, they badly need it.

If we have a tough game and have to play a full strength team I'd go with:
Murphy
Murphy Joyce O'Shea/Joey
P Walsh M Fen Buckley
C Fogarty Deegan
Wally/Lester TJ R Hogan
Aylward C Fen JJ Farrell

If M Fen is not 100%, you could move Buckley to CB and Deegan to wing back, or start R Reid there.
Forward options: Bolger, K Kelly, Blanch.

Any idea of U21 team for Wed night ?

oconnol1 wrote: »

Kilkenny will be up against either Waterford/Tipperary/Limerick/Laois or Carlow in the 1st Round All-Ireland senior hurling qualifier draw.
The match venues will be determined on a home and away basis but it’s understood that if Tipperary and Kilkenny are pitted together, for example, that may be decided by coin toss.
Pot 1 – Kilkenny/Offaly/Dublin/Westmeath
Pot 2 – Waterford/Tipperary/Limerick/Laois or Carlow.

Anyone know why if KK-Tipp are drawn together it would be a coin toss?

adrian522 wrote: »

Whats the difference between venues being determined "on a home and away basis " and a coin toss? Seems to amount to the same thing. One team or the other will have home advantage.

Yeah, that one has me stumped as well. But it's a GAA draw so it will probably involve three pots, a coin and maybe even a few live animals!:D

Why it's not an open draw baffles me, these teams are out of their provincial Championships. This is the All Ireland they are competing for now so why should geographic location come into it?!

Village87 wrote: »

Hard to see Mick Fennelly and Richie Hogan being ready, unless your 100% or very close to it, you cant get away with Championship hurling now. Lehane got away with it Sunday as his team mates were all 100% and he was 90 and still lasted 55 mins, limping around the last 10.

Paul Murphy & Conor Fogarty hopelessly out of form the last year, Conor o Shea & Joey Holden not good enough, JJ Farrelll cant barely hit the ball.

That team would struggle V Tipp/waterford

Don't know how people have lost faith in JJ Farrell. He scored 2-09 from play in 2 games last year, had a bad game against Waterford and hasn't been seen since. Joey was an all star in his 1st year at FB, hit a bad spell last season and now is completely written off.
One thing Cody has to do is only play lads who are 100% fit.

1984baby wrote: »

Don't know how people have lost faith in JJ Farrell. He scored 2-09 from play in 2 games last year, had a bad game against Waterford and hasn't been seen since. Joey was an all star in his 1st year at FB, hit a bad spell last season and now is completely written off.
One thing Cody has to do is only play lads who are 100% fit.

I haven't lost faith in JJ Farrell he was playing fabulous hurling last year and I think that's why he got his chances. He may not have been able to replicate that enough this year to force his way into the team? We all know he has an awkward style of striking but he's heart and determination can't be questioned and he was very effective in those games last year. If all the others were fit and 100% I would have 6 others ahead of him but I would have given him a run the last day before Richie Reid against Wexford as he always causes trouble for backs.

I completely agree about Joey Holden. I think Cody's experimenting in the League 2016 dented his confidence but he still did ok during the Championship until the AI when the whole team played particularly badly. That day they lined up in defence like we did in the 2014 drawn AI and just followed the men everywhere and we left acres of open space in Croke Park for Tipp to exploit. Which they did and it unfortunately left the FB line looking bad, when in fact the whole team played the wrong way and should have played like the 2014 replayed game. In that game we kept it very tight at the back, by and large held our positions and got plenty of help from midfield and forwards. How anyone can solely blame Paul, Joey and Shane is beyond me, in fact I think their owed an apology from the rest of the team for abandoning them that day. All of the 2016 FB line seem to be struggling with confidence this year. Instead of playing them in a few games in the league together to give them a chance to redeem themselves they were thrown into all sorts of strange positions and I think it only dented their confidence more when it didn't work out for them.

I think most of our lads are struggling for confidence and belief. Their not playing in a cohesive manner and I would wonder what the atmosphere in the camp is like? The one thing Cody prides himself on is the "spirit" of the team, I think its sorely missing. Can he engender that into them in 2 weeks?? I think it'll be very tough without our leaders most are retired and the experienced guys aren't stepping up yet from what I've seen. I think we have the players to win an All Ireland this year but I don't think we will at the minute because of the lack of "spirit" so far.

I think Henry Shefflin saying we have a weak squad is very poor form and he should know himself from his time involved that it's in no way helpful and in my humble opinion not true. For someone of his stature in Kilkenny & hurling to say that in the national media is very disappointing, even if he believes it I think he should keep it to private conversations. He never hear Eddie Keher come out and say Kilkenny didn't have the players in 04 or 05 when Shefflins team were struggling.

Posters constantly slating individual players saying their useless and not good enough is not on personally and very unKilkenny like. These lads are going out to do their very best for themselves, their families, their clubs and then us the fans and Kilkenny. They put their lives on hold for years to do their best for Kilkenny and I think we should all respect that. Do I think they should be above criticism? No, definitely not but there is a time and a place. At the moment the players need our support, particularly when their down. I'm not saying people shouldn't say who they think is good enough or if one player is better than another, players will always be better and worse than others. How can you say a lad is not good enough? If he is trying and is picked he must be doing something right at some stage, it might not work out for him everyday, they're human after all. All the lads in with the county can hurl and anyone who thinks they can't is deluding themselves. If there's a better 35 hurlers out there in the county that should be in there instead, lets hear who they are, if not lets just support the lads we have this year.

I hope they can iron out the problems that have crept into the psyche and belief of some in the camp. I'm not sure 2 weeks is enough time and maybe I'm over reading it but I hope we come out all guns blazing the next day against whoever. If you don't believe attitude makes a difference, look at Cork last year and now this year and listen to what their players are saying is the difference!

tbiggertycome wrote: »

Kilkenny v Westmeath
D Brennan
M Cody, C Delaney, J Burke
C Doheny, J Cleere, T Walsh
L Scanlon, P Lyng
A Murphy, J Donnelly, S Morrissey
S Walsh, L Blanchfield, B Ryan
Subs
L Dunphy
R Bergin
D Mullen
N McMahon
K Crowley
E Kenny
R Leahy
C Hennessy
J Bergin

Is Leahy injured? What about J. Walsh? Good to see that Donnelly is starting.

I doubt the match is being televised, is it? It's a fair trek to Mulligar for a mid week game.

Edit: It is on TG4 actually. Sweet.

v3ttel wrote: »

Is Leahy injured? What about J. Walsh? Good to see that Donnelly is starting.

I doubt the match is being televised, is it? It's a fair trek to Mulligar for a mid week game.

Edit: It is on TG4 actually. Sweet.

Think John Walsh and Huw Lawlor are injured, still a strong team though, Mullen and Leahy are good options off the bench too

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Not much appetite in the existing clubs for it though. Plenty for them to lose and nothing to gain from it, especially if they were to lose recruiting territory. Not sure how a club would get on trying to recruit kids without its own territory either. I'm pretty sure the Boro wouldn't give up on the Sycamores, and all of the other areas around James's Park without a major fight, let alone the fact that it's right beside St Canice's! But given the size of the city and the number of kids playing, the current city clubs are oversized and it's a huge part of the reason for the drop off in playing numbers in successive age groups.[/B] From my own memory of being pretty sh1t, you just weren't valued.

Maybe a good a reason as any for the county board to push for another club - long term for the county!!