Kilkenny GAA Thread

I’m going to Wexford after for a look,report back later.

Comer man Josh Dowling played Ice hockey for Kilkenny and Ireland up till the age of 11, he then joined the boro club when he was nearly 12 and hurled for 2 years with them, he then moved out to comer where the family is from. He has hurled longer and more for comer than he has for the boro. This discussion is getting old give the chap a chance, concentrate on the hurling! Very proud of the minor team great job done.

I’m talking about josh being called a boro man, he was on the boro team for two years and it seems to be an ongoing thing in commentary on the radio. He’s a Kilkenny man, hes a comer man and we are all very proud of him as a family member.

This is fairly pathetic stuff

is it as bad as drawing with Carlow or worse?

How did Mullen go at 6?

Disappointing but hardly surprising for me given the team that was picked, was alway going to be tough if Wexford showed up with the right attitude, there is a big fall off in the quality of hurler on the panel when you get past the first 20, some of it due to lack of experience and some of it just due to lack of the required talent at that level, wasn't helped by some first choice subs such as Shane Murphy, Harry Shine and Luke Hogan being injured, trying Adrian Mullen out at centre back may make sense but not when he isn't fully fit, needs to be kept in mind that in any era a Kilkenny team starting 5 first choice players with nothing on the line for them would struggle against a motivated Wexford team in a game played in Wexford Park.

Wexford have some hex on kilkenny in fairness. Must be very infuriating as wexford supporter and strange as a kilkenny supporter given how bad wexford are

Tis grand Marooned 👌 what's your synopsis from today??

The result today didn't matter and you could feel that in the atmosphere on and off the pitch but our performance was poor for large chunks of the match and very few players did themselves favours of challenging the starting line-up for the Final.

Eoin Murphy's puck outs were weird today. He went long more against the wind than I thought he would and then much shorter in the 2nd half than we usually would with the wind. Some of them were very poor, he drove one straight out of play and his shorter aimed ones weren't to hand most of the time and put the receiver under pressure. With all the changes we made and with the result inconsequential he shouldn't have started and we should have seen Tallis instead.

Peter Connellan was done by Rory O'Connor for Wexford's 1st goal but had a reasonable enough game apart from that. Same with Moylan and Tommy Walsh, both did well and kept the Wexford full forward line quiet for most of the match.

In the Half Back line, Blanchfield was infuriating, he gets on loads of ball but wastes too much of it. He hit one perfect pass to Cian Kenny in the 1st half which we scored from but there was a ridiculous number of aimless passes into the corners which Wexford swept up. He's too loose at times also which doesn't help. He has the potential to be great but he really needs to start putting in together. Mullen at center back didn't really work as he ended up playing the free man role. He was OK at that but no better than Richie Reid is and taking him out of the forwards reduces both our goal threat and one of our best long range shooters. To me he's either a regular half forward or a third midfielder. Hammond is a superb athlete but is awful on the ball and that's a big problem. Too often he either failed to rise the ball quickly enough and the Wexford players got back to knick it back off him or he just ran into the opposition and lost the ball. He's lightening quick but you need more than that, he was also taken to the cleaners a bit by Chin under the high ball but he wouldn't be the 1st player to struggle in that scenario.

Mcdonald was awful in midfield and he was correctly taken off first. He's struggled badly anytime he's started for us. Doyle showed flashes of good play but needs to do a hell of a lot of work to cope with the physical nature of Senior Intercounty, he was brushed off by Hearne too much and was too easily passed by players running at him. He's useful on the ball however and he did hit a nice score towards the end.

Luke Connellan was awful for the first 20 minutes but grew into the game, made some good clean catches and hit two nice points. Would be happy enough with his performance. Cian Kenny was both our best player with three points from play but also one of our most infuriating with some of the bad wides he hit. Considering he went off injured last week I'm surprised he not only started but also played the full match. I prefer him as a midfielder but he can play center forward if we're stuck. Mackessy on another day could easily have had 2-1 instead of the solitary point he did score, he's inconsistent but he's capable of hitting some fine long range scores plus he's definitely capable of playing the running game.

Drennan hit a good score right at the start and set up one of Connellan's at the end of the 1st half but was anonymous aside from that. TJ had a shocker from play today, admittedly the ball into him wasn't ideal always but he rarely won it and wasn't in the right position to win it a lot of the time. He's looking very slow and ponderous on the pitch and at this stage I'd question whether we should be starting him or definitely keeping him on for the full 70 minutes bar for the fact that I'm not entirely sure who else is there for frees. Wall wasn't in the game at all bar one great recover run. Again like TJ the ball into the full forwards wasn't great but he didn't exactly get onto anything that did come his way either.

Subs were a mixed bag also. Dunne didn't feature at all, Stephen Donnelly hit a fine point when he came on and did little else. Richie Reid came on and did exactly the same as Mullen was doing. Shortall set up the goal with a good run and probably did the best in his short cameo. Staunton won one duel and lost another but you can't judge him on the few minutes he had.

Galway impoved and scoring efficient today but Dublin looked tired and not as energetic, lively or alert as last week. They were much better against Kilkenny for the full 70 mins; probably expended too much and suffered in today's performance.

Galway can improve and Conor Cooney may yet find his form. The Leinster Final could go either way. Kilkenny usually up a couple of gears for the LF; Cian Kenny, Blanchfield and Mullen will hopefully find their best form. Giving Mullen the responsibility of the CB position today was smart and will help him. I expect Ritchie Reid at CB tho. Blanchfield may lose his place for the LF if Tommy Walsh plays and Deegan moves to HB.

Overall, i am hopeful for a Kilkenny LF and semi-final win.They know that Limerick, Cork or Tipp could be semi-final opponents and they need to be ready to beat them. I am seeing much improved performances and energy this year from players like Mikey Butler (22-23 form) Tommy Walsh, Mikey Carey, Billy Ryan and Mossy Keoghan plus Jordan Molloy and Stephen Donnelly have broken thru to the 15. Mackessy was excelkent v Galway and his athleticism and work rate in the middle third is top class; a great sub for Croke Park. John Donnelly, TJ and Cody can improve a lot. Looking forward to s great performance and in the LF.

Lack of pace is a big concern. Take away Billy Ryan and we have very little pace. I have no idea where Kilkenny are at, as a panel it did not sound promising today. Saying that Galway are a poor team. Kilkenny will have no problems beating Galway this year as they have gone backward the last 2 years

Talking about pace we have billy ryan and eoin cody but if owen wall was to get another chance i think he could be a handful. I also think shortall could yet make an impression if he gets game time. Luke hogan looked dangerous last week v dublin until forced off. Not sure how long he will be out. Shane Murphy and eoin Cody haven't much time to get themselves ready either.

Well you can't just pick from 18 players, so along with the 3 you have mentioned as part of the 18, as you have said without the injured players it will be Doyle and Lyng plus Moylan and despite him not starting today I think they will go with Gearoid Dunne as a next best forward option. Paddy Deegan will be used as an option in midfield to allow Cian Kenny to be used in the forwards if necessary. Walsh, Buckley, Fogarty, Phelan and Corcoran were probably the first choice subs over the last few years, their unavailability has left a bit of a hole in the panel.

What kind of injuries do hogan and shine have? Are they long or short term?