Kilkenny GAA Thread

Not the greatest 1st half ever between Mullinavat and OLG. Lots of heavy first touches and misplaced passes. OLG's shooting has been good for the most part while Mullinavat have hit a few too many wides for the amount of chances they've had. Owen Wall and Mark Bergin have been the standout forwards for OLG while Luke Hogan has been well marshalled. Mullinavat attacked the far end to where I am so havent seen as much of their forwards.

Draw at halftime in the 2nd half. Flat atmosphere in the stand but that's not that uncommon with double headers where the first match had an exciting ending and will pick up in the 2nd half if it stays close.

Both teams have had good spells and also some poor ones. Dicksboro started well and had 5 points scored very quickly although Ballyhale butchered at least two goal chances in that spell, then Ballyhale took over and went a point up. Dicksboro got a good goal from Liam Moore and were two points up. Paddy Mullen gets sent off and Ballyhale are down to 14 but Dicksboro hit some bad wides and two points for Ballyhale means it's level at the break.

Cillian Hackett hit three fine points from play and has probably been the pick of the Boro forwards. Liam Moore took his goal well and Stapleton started well on frees but lost his way towards the end of the half. Padraig Moylan unfortunately went off early with an arm injury. For Ballyhale Eoin Cody hit two points in the last 10 minutes but wasn't in the match before that. Adrian Mullen hit one point but otherwise not in the match. TJ has been average enough by his very high standards, he also played one of the most ambitious but stupid passes to try and create a goal chance that was never on when a shot at a point would have been by far the best option. Darragh Corcoran has been good and I thought Shortall has been one of their better players so far although he should have scored a goal.

You will not see a better save than what Dean Mason just pulled off!

Great ending and Dean Mason's double save at the end was fantastic. Dicksboro took too long to change in the 2nd half and that cost them.

I'd call it a miss. Those chances have to be put away.

Young lacey should have been on sooner.

Shamrocks are so clever when they need to be. Mullens catch and score near the end showed real leadership when needed.

I’d agree with all the above comments on the Boro Ballyhale game.

Ned Buggy has passed away. Great GAA man. May he rest in peace.

Why do you think that ?

Can't recall a good game in the knockouts. Early rounds of the league had a few decent games but it's been fairly poor standard across the board. The best hurling is being produced by Ballyhale and that's only in snippets. Today, all credit to them, after the sending off they realised they just had to bite down and get it done. Two years in a row the Boro have gotten a massive opportunity and showed an inability to figure it out on the field. Buckley has to stick that last chance. It's a good save but inexplicable that he hit it straight at him at that height

Loughlins Just look really poor going forward and trying to create scores. The fact that Mark Bergin is back in there again is not exactly a ringing endorsement. I'd also question their midfield. Coming out of Thomastown for the league game I didn't think there was any way Shamrocks would beat them with the job the Loughlins backs did on their half forward line in particular but after today I'm wondering where the scores come from

He was my mams first cousin, so she's been up in Friary Street all day with Neds sister. Very sad, he was a great boro man and was a great pro for the county.

I was sorry to hear about the passing of Ned Buggy R.I.P. a great Boro man and a good administrator in the county board.

RIP to Ned, as already said here an excellent administrator for the county, he went about his job in a quiet, unassuming but very professional manner. A great servant to Kilkenny GAA and to Dicksboro and an absolute gentleman behind it all.

I think that's slightly harsh on Mark Bergin who has always been an excellent club hurler for OLG and who I thought did well yesterday but I would agree that the OLG forwards wouldn't give you sleepless nights. It was worrying that Greg Kelly was left on the bench for 58/59 minutes yesterday I thought he would have fought his way onto the team by now. I thought Wall and Hogan were quiet enough after starting the game well. Mackessey is a bit of an enigma, he pops up with some important scores when OLG are under pressure but in general play during the game he wasn't really in the game and didn't do much but the 2 points he got in the second half were vital to OLG's win. I'd agree with you on their midfield too, both Nolan and O'Shea worked hard and tried to get stuck in but they coud never really get into the game, when you look at the influence Ronan Corcoran had when he came on for Shamrocks, this is an area I'm sure Henry will try and target. OLG will be worried that Paddy Deegan and don't appear to be playing as well and look out of form, that being said they will defintely raise their game for the Shamrocks.

I assume the senior final will be on in two weeks time? As it happens, I am in KK that weekend and have never been to a county final outside of Wexford