Kilkenny GAA Thread

Totally agree that the ref ruined the game today, he was far too nit picky especially considering the conditions, and also gave some baffling decisions. I know we need refs and can't be too choosy about fitness, but surely someone reffing an important final should have some level of condition?

Thought Killian Doyle was good at times, as was Darragh Qeally but both faded particularly Queally. Darragh Hickey was best if their defenders I thought.
Bobby and Michael Brennan were good for Comer, as was the no 5 (Harding?), and James Coogan. The other Coogan chap that came on was very good too, hard to see why he didn't start. Comer backs were good in general.

Hard to see past Boro tomorrow. Graigue BC have done well but bit of a tail to their team and the panel is not deep to say the least. Boro missing some big players but they are spoiled for choice. Assume Kelleher will start? He'll be a huge addition. Would be great to see the underdog prevail but I think Boro will have too much.

That was a huge battle. Boro never got going at all and must have had 10 wides in the first half. They did well to pull it back and bring it to extra time.

GBC in fairness to them were probably the better team, especially in work ethic. No ball was a lost cause for them and they really outfought Boro for most of the game. Hard to pick out anyone as a standout performer for them but their captain, Conor Walton, was immense and picked up a huge amount of ball.

Fair play to both teams for a real slog in tough conditions. The pitch held up fairly well, but the lack of floodlights nearly became an issue in extra time.

ye I’d have to agree with the last three posts, Dicksboro were too complacent and suffered as a result a lot of our big names didn’t perform and Ballycallan were relentless all through and had belief in themselves. Although the Ballycallan goal was a blatant push in the back of Mick Carroll.

"Blatant push" will ya stop.....Outworked, outhurled more passion on Ballycallan side. Unfortunately not the 1st time Boro were summed up this way

Ballycallan were oustanding yesterday and full deserved their win. They had great players all over the field and and I thought Ryan Corcoran was excellent. Aaron McEvoy, Billy O'Neill, Jeff Neary, Eoin Cahill and Conor Walton also played their hearts out along with the other 15/16 players that played. That will will mean so much more to Ballycallan than the Boro.

The Boro were not ready for that match yesterday and as someone said above its not the first time they were not up for a match with all the talent they have. However talent does not win you games and if all the players are looking for the soft ball and dont want to work hard and show some guts you wont win anything. Conor Walton showed yesterday what hard work is and how to apply yourself for your team.

Well done to them.

On a side note if I was Henry Shefflin at that match yesterday he will realise he has a lot of work to do and he will wonder has he picked the right players for his panel based on trial matches. Between yesterday and the semi final The Boro and the Village between them have at least 13/14 players on his U-20 panel that was picked recently. They might all be talented hurlers in their own right but do they have the guts and the hunger when its needed and watching these two games against Ballycallan I dont think they have. Hopefully Henry can get it out of them as there own clubs dont seem to be able to.

I agree with this, the county underage squads are overloaded with James Stephens and Disckboro players. Most of these have been poor for Kilkenny in big championship matches underage, in the u20 All Ireland final last year for example, Lahouf, Mcdermott and Mcphillips were very very poor and this trend followed in big matches for there clubs with James Stephens anyway. A lot of these players in town clubs drop off by the time they are 23/24 so the system of carrying 13/14 players from these clubs on underage squads has not been good for Kilkenny hurling imo.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1ASFuVou1A/

Don't see any foul here

Regarding the U20 squad, Probably worth remembering that the best players for Graigue BC yesterday, Corcoran, McEvoy, Jeff Neary, and Billy O'Neill, were on the U20 panel this year and are overage for next year. 4 others on the team are overage for U21 next year. Those players would have 2 and 3 years over many of the players that will be on the U20 squad.

It's a little unfair to judge other players, many of whom are U18 playing U21 this year, on one game. Likes of Patrick Lacey and Anthony Clifford didn't have their best days yesterday but have been outstanding all year.

I do agree however, with the argument re the over representation of City clubs on inter county underage panels. There are better hurlers in country clubs that aren't getting recognition and some lads that have been part of panels have been nowhere near the standard, and that has been proven in subsequent years.

I don't know if the U21 champions get the U20 Kilkenny Captaincy but like Minor, I assume they do. That might create another issue given it's hard to see GBC having a starter at U20 given their outstanding players are all overage.
That's something that needs to be looked at by Co Board given the age grade differences.

The 2025 U16A champs should get the Minor captaincy (U17) in 2026, and the 2025 Minor A (U18) champs should get the U20 2026 captaincy. Graigue Ballycallans captain yesterday is U22 next year.

I think the change of the age grade from u21 to u20 has been a bit of a disaster for Kilkenny. At the moment those GBC players mentioned and other players on the u20s last year still seem a bit lightweight. One more year of development on an u21 intercounty team would do wonders for these players.

In those days and days further back you would also have more of a mix of clubs by the time players get to u21 as players would be standing out for their club if they were good enough. Nowadays we are really judging them on their careers as minors which leads to us continuing to pick city players.

Looking at the u21 all Ireland of 2010, both teams were full of players that were giants of men with a few younger lads that were good enough and bold enough. I just think Kilkenny have struggled with that change as we haven't found a way bring lads on from u20 whereas previously it was a more natural transition. It's also something that Tipperary struggled with until this year when Liam Cahill decided to clean house and drop a few older stragglers.

On the potential foul for the GBC goal, I also thought it was a foul in person until I saw the replay yesterday evening. It would have been a very tame free and it was just good work from Corcoran who won plenty of ball that he had no right to win.

Lads on Local radio and clubber etc really shouldn't be doing their own club's games.

You haven't singled players out here, thankfully. But in general, you're not seriously suggesting that a player who has produced mostly high quality performances all year, can be judged as a hurler solely on one sub par performance in a match of your choosing, where almost the entire team also under performed? If that's the case we'd be writing players off as soon as they have a bad day in any big match. And there absolutely is a bit of slack to be cut for a chap 4 or 5 years under the age grade, whether he has started his adult club career or not. Another issue is that many of the 2025 U18's in particular are overworked between school, clubs and inter county, and are being pulled in all directions.

I understand that everyone is frustrated with the drop in standards in Kilkenny hurling in the recent past, and the over representation of City clubs, particularly the Boro and the Village, on underage county teams is a genuine problem, but there's no point in throwing the baby out with the bath water either.
I'd also completely agree that the U20 team last year seemed to be picked on reputation and that lads didn't get a proper opportunity (Billy O'Neill is a good example)

I agree too that underage Kilkenny teams seem to have lost that cut and physicality that you need to excel at inter county level. A lot of our better hurlers are too nice and don't put in a proper shift in terms of work rate, on and off the ball. I think there's a bit of a coaching and motivational issue there both in the recent minor and U20 set ups, and you'd hope Henry will address both at U20 level. A re-set in terms of standards is definitely required at underage inter county, and if anyone knows what it takes to be a successful inter county hurler, it's him. Anybody not meeting those standards, whatever their previous reputation is, deserved or not, should be told to shape up or ship out.

I don't know the make up of the current U20 panel but I have heard that many of the starters from the Minor 2023 team, have not made the cut. Easiest thing to do was pick the starting players from that panel and work around it. The fact they haven't would appear to be a positive.

The two under 21 finals were interesting with the A final a lot higher in standard. GBC deserved their win as did 'Comer and both should be well set up for senior in the coming years. I thought Billy O'Neill and Kevin Moore were outstanding yesterday and both have great potential going forward. Hard loss on the Boro, but being fair , it has to be remembered they were missing three of the outstanding players at this grade in the county, Harry Shine, Oisin Henderson and Tom McPhillips.

Would nt agree I think it adds to the excitement if there team wins and also you get a bit more info about the the team when there covering there own team

Ronan or Micky Walsh are probaly kclrs main commentators anyway so if either did the match with there connections I don’t think it would have been a surprise

Do you want everyone to switch off the radio?

I thought ronan was very fair. He always praises other clubs, not just his own. If my club was in a situation like gbc on Sunday I wouldn't be able to put a sentence ence together let alone commentate!!