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

brookville wrote: »

I heard an interview with cody and I think he said he won't have padraig next week are maynooth in a final?

Playing IT Tralee in Ryan Cup semi-final on Friday for which they'll be hot favourites and final on Saturday. Paddy Deegan was there last year too but not sure if he is still in College.

I'd love to see tom aylward full back next weekend but I'd say he'll probably go with joey,I was very impressed with the defence today and the subs all done well when introduced.

bamayang wrote: »

Random points:
God Murphy got some battering today. He is a phenomenal talent. As good a keeper as you could ever hope to have.

I would have been crying out for Lester for the last few weeks, but today I realised why he’s not getting chances. He is a never ending trier but the amount of mistakes and poor choices he makes are too high. Bad hand passes, poor clearances to waiting half forwards, aimless balls. He just lacks that tiny bit of composure.

Mossy Keoghan is an immense talent. Himself and Pat Lyng are doing everything right. Working like dogs and taking chances when they come. Pat Lyng is especially impressive as he appears to be aware his strengths ly in assists rather than scores.

Joey has really come on this last few weeks. He has a few little blips in him, but he is really hurling great stuff. Die hard stuff.

Lastly, I don’t know what it is, but I really like Deegan. He’s so oblivious to his sometimes errors, that he’s never short of confidence or playing nervously. He’s always running around looking for ball or playing mad passes to lads that are already marked. He can throw the worst hand pass ever to someone, and 30 seconds later be taking on a shot from 60 yards with his back to goal. Prob doesn’t even check to see if it went over!!

Great win. Great team.

Just on your point about lester. I don't agree. Lester as you say always gives 100% but he has held our midfield together on many occasions. Look at midfield today. He was in there with Conor o shea. It was his 1st start of thhe year and to me he performed better than o shea. O shea, albeit a fine hurler, gave too many sloppy passes.30 seconded after he gave the last poor pass he was called ashore.
On the match itself the full back line gave up a few goal chances but the pitch had a lot to play in judging the movement of the ball today.
Can't say any more about Murphy in the goal than we've said already.
Full back line did ok. Padraig a super flick as shanahan was bound for goal.
Joey and Deegan better today.
Half back line looked solid enough considering Conor was making his 1st start and Morrissey only his 2nd. Promising to say the least.
Thought midfield did ok. Great to see Lester getting game time. O shea did ok but for some poor passing.
Mossy deserving of motm. A super prospect. Likewise lyng did very well. Tj was a serious prescence.
Walter was pulled and dragged all over the place by Coughlan. Did well.
Donnelly did well and took some good scores.
Billy Ryan tried hard but the accuracy left him down today.
Blanchfield was strong when introduced. Worked hard out the field. Maher was also good when introduced.
Overall a positive performance.
The newer guys like Morrissey, delaney, keoghan, Donnelly and lyng are stepping up.
We will be without three or four next Sunday but we are making progress.
We are showing determination and grit which helps when trying all these new faces.
Cody said Richie Hogan is a while away.

mullinr2 wrote: »

I agree about Lester. The amount of over cooked or undercooked handpasses he gives is unreal. His distribution is very poor.

Can be very way word with his shooting and his striking but this time of the year suits him and he can never be faulted for effort always gives his all.
Cody has a dilemma on his hands next week he won't like trying someone else full back but a good performance from someone like tom aylward could be a blessing in disguise.they won't have forde,callinan or john mcgrath and he might as well try someone else he might need backup during the year.

Did anyone get the free count? I thought Waterford got a lot of soft frees and Burca should get an Oscar for the dive before the goal. Overall there were a lot of positives today and all players worked hard on a pitch that looked like the cattle were taken off it this morning before mass.

TommyHilfiger wrote: »

Its a disgrace for a County grounds a club would have more pride wouldn't have a set up like it in this day age they looking to play Cork ,tipperary,, there during the summer the back strand in tramore would be better.

cusack park in ennis the same limited seating and max capacity of 20,000 and very very basic , the pitch looked poor on tv but what pitch is in good nick after all the rain

blackcard wrote: »

I presume if Kilkenny and Cork are the only two teams who end on 4 points, that it is the head to head that counts and not points difference?

if wexford lost there last two games ( 1 against kilkenny ) they would be on 4 points also so if that happens score diffrence would be used to play against what looks like waterford in the playoff

brookville wrote: »

What kinda team would we like to see for the tipp match?there's obviously going to be changes we might see fogarty,leahy and aylward back and we'll be missing delaney,donnelly and Walsh.All eyes will be on the number 3 jersey.

I have a feeling he won't play Tom Aylward there, purely to see if you actually explode as a result! (FTR I'd like to see him tried as well, we need a backup plan if Walsh is injured)

brookville wrote: »

I don't think he'll play him myself I'd say he'll go for joey at 3 and his hurling well and is probably the best of the rest.it should free up a spot in the corner hopefully it's a new face

Good win yesterday Kilkenny fighting and better mobility went along way to winning and TJs & Keoghans excellence.

2 points of note. Waterford are at nothing and Walsh Park is depressing.

Waterford are going to find it hard to finish in the top 3 in Munster Championship.
There backs are not good enough without the sweeper, Coughlan, Connors, Mahoney and Fives are all lacking pace.

Kilkenny were miles better, full back line still looks shaky. Paddy Deegan could be taken to the cleaners on a team going 15 on 15 on a decent day.
Enda Morrissey excellent, Delaney solid. forwards worked like trojans

Kilienny & Tipp will be intriguing next week considering both teams are missing 4/5 good players.

mullinr2 wrote: »

Watching the first half on tg4. Kilkenny have not been that good at all. Same lump the ball up into the forwards type of stuff. Tipp will wipe the floor with us next week

I must have been at a very different game to the one you were watching. There was a clear plan to try and work the ball out of defence as much as possible, with midfielders dropping very deep at times to get a short puck out and work it up from there. So much so that on a good few occasions there were shouts from the crowd to "Just hit the f**king thing will ya"

Personally I was delighted to see them try something different than resort to the lump it forward tactic that they have persisted with against the sweeper over the last couple of years. The shorter style used yesterday wasn't always conducive to the weather and as a result plenty of mistakes were made with handpasses going awry and so on but it did work more often than not.

It shows an awareness from Cody that we have to change to counteract the sweeper as we just do not have the quality of player that is able to win primary possession from direct ball like we used to. That isn't a slight on our current players just acknowledgement that what previous KK teams/players were able to do was actually astonishing and despite them making it look easy it is far from it.

brookville wrote: »

Forde and mcgrath will be big losses for tipp as both are in great form.they'll still be potent up front noel mcgrath,bonner and breen all have experience don't know if bubbles is back but it should be a good test with a large crowd.
The positives from yesterday apart from the win was the subs all done well id like to see richie reid given a go in defence especially with delaney out but delaney and morrisey both looked confident yesterday and James maher and scanlon both got on the scoresheet.

If you are to take our most recent matches as the first choice 15, Tipperary will also be without Barry Heffernan which kinda balances things out in that both of us will be down three due to Third level commitments.

A couple of thoughts on the team and how they played yesterday. Eoin Murphy was excellent, will take a few chances that other goalkeepers wont due to his hurling ability and will get caught out a few times a year as a result but overall the best goalkeeper in the country in my opinion

Joey Holden played really well, is a good hurler and has an excellent attitude, for me though at the highest level he lacks the physical strength needed to deal with the really top forwards, teams target this a lot as well.

Padraig Walsh is obviously a great hurler but is not comfortable as a full back and will struggle against physical players like Tom Devine

Paddy Deegan looks a decent hurler but doesn't look like a natural defender to me, great on the front foot breaking forward but not so good when he has to defend. So 3 good Hurlers in the full backline in my opinion yet not a solid fullback line and one that would struggle against the better teams in the championship.

Halfback line looked very good, Buckley is one of the few real experienced leaders in the backs and Delaney looks ready to take a starting place, Morrissey looks very tidy, good in the air and good hands, interesting to see how he would get on against a forward with pace on a dry day.

Conor O Shea tried hard but I cant see him playing anywhere other than cornerback at this level, gave a lot of ball away and tired very quickly in the second half.

Lester did some great work coming out of rucks and stopping the Waterford running game but his distribution at times was awful. It seems the more time he has the more likely he will badly mi**** the ball or mess up a hand pass. He is a great man to have on a panel as you know you that he win a lot of ball when he is sent on as a sub and his striking actually improves when a game reaches the final stages but he gives so much ball away at times I dont think Brian trusts him to start

Keoghan and Donnelly looked very impressive, both need to do a bit of work in the gym over the next few years but look like great prospects and have a good attitude. Lyng is a great worker, can't see him scoring a lot and his future may be further out the field, won a minor all ireland at halfback.

Wasn't the ideal day for Billy Ryan to get his first start, showed quite well for the ball though. Walter played well and looks a lot fitter than last year, will always look awkward at times and his striking well let him down on occasion. TJ was rusty but was still the real difference between a battleing win and the relatively easy win it was in the end.

All the subs came on and looked good which was very encouraging given that some of the squad players brought on over the last few years have looked very average.

I was really encouraged by the fact we actually looked like we put some thought into our game plan, working the ball up the field rather than lashing it down blindly on a loose man. Maybe TJ got his meeting afterall!
I'd expect O'Shea back in the corner and Holden who's in good form to take over number 3. Though the interview i heard with Cody he said anyone playing Saturday definitely wouldn't be involved - maybe theres a chance of Padraig lining out as his game is Friday?

blackcard wrote: »

I would still have concerns about our defence. Waterford scored one goal, were awarded a penalty, Eoin Murphy made good saves and the ref called play play back when Waterford looked like they were in on goal. On the other hand, we didn't create many goal chances. I would still like to see Conor Delaney get a shot at full back and Padraig at full back.

The problem is, kk are without the following players for next weekend,
Padraig Walsh
Conor Delaney
Donnelly

So pick a defence now.

Remember we will be without the above three plus,
Fennelly
Aylward
Hogan
Murphy

For next weekend. That’s assuming fogarty is back.

minty81 wrote: »

I was really encouraged by the fact we actually looked like we put some thought into our game plan, working the ball up the field rather than lashing it down blindly on a loose man. Maybe TJ got his meeting afterall!
I'd expect O'Shea back in the corner and Holden who's in good form to take over number 3. Though the interview i heard with Cody he said anyone playing Saturday definitely wouldn't be involved - maybe theres a chance of Padraig lining out as his game is Friday?

Padraig's semi is Friday ( for which they will be favourites) then the final is Saturday, so we can assume he won't be available. Here's the team I would like to see on Sunday.

E Murphy
C O'Shea
J Holden
P Deegan (assuming he's not still in Maynooth)
R Reid
C Buckley
E Morrissey
C Fogarty (if unavailable, J Maher)
L Blanchfield
M Keoghan
TJ Reid
P Lyng
A Murphy
W Walsh
R Leahy (if unavailable, B Sheean)

I've listed Leahy at 15 which would be an unfamiliar position for him but he could be given a freer role similar to the one Eoin Larkin played in his last couple of seasons where he wore 15 but you were as likely to see him pop up in the half back line as the full forward line.

I was at the game last Sunday so didn't see the live (deferred) coverage, was there any mention from the Kilkenny management team as to why Richie Leahy didn't play?