Kilkenny GAA Thread

A dreadful match which wont live long in the memory of neutrals but that womt matter to the shamrocks. Jordon molloy tried hard but looking at paddy deegan up close today the amount of mistakes he makes is very bad. We arent going foward with him on the team next year. Huw hasnt being himself the last few games and there was strong talk that he is definitely going traveling. You would never think luke hogan and owen wall were county men. Im in no doubt derek needs to go back to the drawing board and go after lads who are hurling well for their club. Fair play to henry. They all seem to rate herity very highly. Really slow from kk management not to get him on board. Moving corcoran to 6 and reid to the wing was a shrewd move and bringing cody out to 11 although it seemed obvious it still needed to be done. A very poor wknd for loughlins. Thwy looked clueless at times today. Two finals in a row that they didnt turn up.

A pity about today's final but as has been said the standard in this year's senior championship has been very poor with no stand out match that I can think of,a shame really after what was a brilliant intermidiate final and a very good (but controversial) junior final.

Of the 7 O'Loughlin's players on the County Panel, all bar Jordan Molloy and Mackessy were poor. Luke Hogan and Owen Wall made little impression. For Shamrocks, Richie Reid hoovered up loads of ball and scored 2 points, could have got a second yellow. Darragh Corcoran was my motm. Eoin Cody got on a load of ball but was inaccurate. Still, centre forward is the way to go with him. Adrian Mullen has been a shadow of himself all year. May need a break.

It will be interesting to see how Shamrocks fare in Leinster.

Take away Lawlor and Molloy and none of them OLG players are close to winning Kilkenny an All Ireland, desperate stuff.

A stab of the backs and midfield next year, would love to see this line up. All excellent individuals and also outstanding club campaigns

Tallis

Carey Lawlor K Corcoran

D Blanch D Corcoran D O'Neill

C Kenny J Molloy

Ah he’s not too bad. Probably the best of the local commentators on Clubber.

**** all in the village close to winning anyone an All Ireland next year too to be fair, although I totally accept we will need a fair few of the James Stephens underage players to hurl on over the next few years to get back to where we want to be

The problem with us is I don't think we will get any of them hurling at intercounty level maybe Sean Bergin. None of them have stood out for Kilkenny underage the last 4/5 years. Lahouf had a very poor year, his treatment by club management was nothing but pure arrogance

Eoin Cody & Paddy Deegan said some very nasty stuff to eachother at the end of the row, seemed to a bit of hatred to it.

Do the losing team ever go for a few pints with the winning team the next day in Kilkenny or is it a thing?

They spent a lot of time wrestling mouthing and laughing at each other in the league game earlier on in the year I wouldn’t take much notice of anything that happened today lads might not be all the best of friends but I don’t think that ever comes into things when they pull on a kk jersey unlike maybe some other counties

really today the best performers today were three men in their late thirties TJ,Richie Reid and Joey Holden. Time to start a root and branch clear out of the county team and see where it takes us Lyng cannot possibly revert back to the old guard as a cushion he has to keep going forward even if he is not getting the results.

as regards our senior hurling championship we will have to judge where we are on our performances in the upcoming coming Leinster club championships against a strong Offaly Kilcormack team and if successful a really good outfit in Dublin in na Fianna.

Watching back the match OLG were lucky they were not bet by 20 points yesterday. Shamrocks missed easily 1-10 in the first half. Paddy Mullen put Deegan on his arse for a perfect legitimate goal that was ruled a free. They were completely destroyed

The funny thing is that Ronan Maher didn’t hurl at centre back for Tipp in the AI SF and final given he picked up TJ and Brian Hayes. Craig Morgan played at centre back in the AI final.

John Conlan and Declan Hannon were two of the better centre backs in recent years. Neither one of them are/were the paciest. Ronan Maher wouldn’t be a burner either. It’s more about what protection you put around the centre back. Clare have Cathal Malone, Limerick have Will O’Donoghue. They have acted as human shields to their centre backs and this has been married with tidy hurlers like Darragh O’Donovan/Adam English and TK/Ryan Taylor. Tipp took the approach of dropping Bryan O’Mara into a sweeper at left wing back for the AI final to make the Tipp back’s lives easier.

We don’t have an ideal choice for centre back and in the lads who are on the panel, there are flaws with each of them:

Paddy Deegan - very physical and natural leader but is very one sided and distribution lets him down at times.

Richie Reid - excellent distributor and sweeper but man marking skills have let him down on the biggest days. Notable that the Shamrocks have moved him to left wing back since championship QFs.

Mikey Carey - brings a great physical presence, can mark a man and has great recovery pace but can inexplicably miss the ball at times.

David Blanchfield - he has the physical presence and paw for the position. However, he favours one side too much and drops back too far to influence the game. Plus his lack of recovery pace can be exploited. Notable again that his club play him at right wing back.

Huw Lawlor (if he stayed) - He has the size and paw for the position. Decent distributor and marker. Probably a better full back than centre back as he tends not to know when to drop back and cover and when to mark.

Eoghan Lyng - Loads of skill. Good paw and good distributor. Lack of pace could create problems. Looks to be the centre back for UL’s Fitzgibbon team. However, played in the forwards for the last two seasons for the club. He could be better in a Noel McGrath role at wing forward or midfield than a centre back.

Cian Kenny - Played well at centre back for the Village. Lack of size could mean that teams target him on the puckout. Probably a better midfielder than centre back.

Personally, I’d go with Mikey Carey at centre back. Blanchfield can go to right wing back. Left wing back can be an open competition between the likes of Shane Murphy, Darragh Vereker, Zach Bay and if they are called up Darragh Corcoran, Daire O’Neill, Paddy Langton. Jordan Molloy may be an option there as well if we are looking to bring a bit more size to midfield like Peter McDonald, Killian Doyle or potential callups like Cathal Kearney from Danesfort or Cathal Beirne.

Tony Forristal was hurling very well on TJ yesterday and had won quite a few balls that came their way, including a brilliant catch. Then TJ moved out on Paddy Deegan and won a few frees, actually 2 of them were for blatant and needless jersey pulls and brought Shamrocks right back into the game.

TJ is just class, I love watching his movement and he is such an intelligent player, always bringing others into the game and is the ultimate team player. He will go down as the greatest hurler in Kilkenny and I'm delighted to see him win his 12th county medal, what a record. We really need to enjoy watching him hurl at every opportunity because we never know when that day comes to.…(won't say the word).

Have to admire Eoin Cody too, things not going well for him and still stepped up when need was greatest with a sublime finish. Richie Reid gave an exhibition also, his 2 points were brilliant too and rallied the troops from Ballyhale. Thought Darragh Corcoran was immense too and was physically imposing himself at every opportunity. Actually, was really impressed with Ballyhale's physicality, they were so strong and powerful and won so many rucks. Joey Holden another warrior with a very steady game, such a cute player and used his experience brilliantly.

Shamrocks are some club, talk about getting the very best out of themselves, could not but admire them.

While it wasn't the greatest game yesterday, I still found it intriguing and gripping nevertheless. Hard to know with OLG, the last 2 finals were poor showings. Thomastown and Ballyhale both used the same methods, hit them physically and hammer the hammer.

Will be interested to see the Kilcormac Killoughey game vs Shamrocks. They will come to Nowlan Park with alot of confidence and will be tough to beat. Any team with Adam Screeney will always have a right chance.

Kilkenny have 3 great clubs representing them in Ballyhale, Danesfort and Barrow Rangers. Wishing all 3 every success as they start out on their Leinster quests.

Who was on Eoin Cody in the first half, he got on an incredible amount of possessions and just ran the show. He hit 6 wides and missed a goal but was involved in everything