Kilkenny GAA Thread

I wouldnt be certain of all lads in college or who might have what injury. I know eoghan lyng was out for 6 weeks and that was nearly 6 weeks ago. It's still a very large squad and its a pity theres no intermediate type competition that could help improve players as the year goes on. Lads like John donnelly,Mikey butler,cian kenny have a lot of hurling done the last few years. Something like the team I'd like to see against wexford. Dirmuid galway,niall rowe,carey,mcmahon,brian staunton,corcoran,shane murphy,molloy,mackenssy,Connellan,moore,clifford,geroid dunne,luke hogan,ian byrne.

It will be interesting to see how the likes of killian Doyle, Ivan Bolger, Cathal Beirne go against top class opposition. Hopefully they get a few games at the very least to show what they can do.

On Peter Mcdonald, I was also told he dropped himself off the panel a while ago, so maybe he did and had a change of heart.

I think DCU and NUI Maynooth are playing tonight in the Fitzgibbon cup, these seem to be the teams with the highest number of Kilkenny players involved so you'd imagine, and with another shield game on Sunday, that maybe more of the older established players might get a run out against Wexford tonight. Of the older newer lads I'd be interested to see how Brian Staunton would go, he's been impressive the last few years with Thomastown and is someone I think could offer a lot. Does anyone know if Padriag Moylan is back from injury? Hopefully he'll get a run over the league aswell.

Anyone watch good counsel Coláiste Mhuire today? Fairly poor game tbh and good counsel won to play kieran's next.

Main talking point was a massive bust up near the end, fairly tetchy throughout, then think a johnstown player had a wild pull across the legs of a counsel player and all hell broke loose. A johnstown player seemed to get a bad slap and had to be helped off. Very unpleasant in all. Think counsel got 2 red cards and johnstown 1.

Who were the subs that were brought on?

Wexford were desperate and they could very easily slip out of leinster if they aren't careful. Shortall I agree was dangerous and definitely deserve a good look at. Plenty of subs came on some I wasnt certain off altho between myself and the lads beside me we worked it out. I forget most of them now.shane murphy came at 6 at halftime. Killian doyle came on midfield. John donnelly 11 for stephen and got 3 nice points from play and drove a few wides.the fowards mostly stayed on with donnelly swapping the only change of 2nd half. Ed macdermot and croke didn't do their chances any harm. The opposition was very poor but corcoran and barcoe were very solid. Two big chaps.Still carrying a big panel. It has to be cut soon.

Who was the other corner back along with Rowe?

Just watched the scrap. That No. 11 for Johnstown who got a bad slap and had to go off gave a very dirty belt himself and deserved a red. I dont mind a bit of a scrap but plenty of lads were using the hurl in that on both sides which is not on. Don't envy the ref or umpires in that scenario with the amount of lads involved.

Maybe you are right about galway. I thought it was tallis but was a good bit away. Killian dole had his yellow helmet on. Sean Moore came on corner back for Mikey who looked sharp to be fair. He knows he hadn't the best year last year and the defense is going to get surgery. Garret and bolger competing for a spot.Competition will be good for places. Derek will have to be brave. I said it here last year Ed and Patrick lacey are 2 that could really improve from being around the set up but patrick isnt in yet. He will have plenty of time.Corcoran,barcoe,macdermot 3 big chaps.kk had a good win over waterford last wknd u20.

How are the u20s shaping up? Are they carrying a big squad too? Should be a good team on the back of 2 strong minor teams.

I think we could have a new goalie, new full back, new centre back.

Molloy & Kenny midfielders (they destroyed Tipps midfielders in the semi final) , I’d play Deegan or Ritchie wing back but only one can start, not both.

Cody at 11 and possibly a new full forward come championship.

Lyng has a huge year ahead of him in regards to making the big decisions.

He definitely has some big decisions to make, if he's brave and tries to freshen things up I think in general most fans will gie him the benefit of the doubt. Even though we've lost Huw and Billy the core of our team probably won't change dramatically and it may be more cosmetic changes that amputation! I was speaking to someone who was involved with Tipperary last year and from the analysis they did of Kilkenny they were shocked (and delighted) that we didn't start Stephen Donnelly, apparently from what they had looked at of the Kilkenny forwards he won almost every ball that came his way and when he got the ball it almost always led to a score either from him or another Kilkenny forward either through him being fouled or laying off to someone else. By all accounts Carey and Corcoran seem to be the ones management want to try at 3 and 6, if this is the case they both have to be given every league game there and even if things aren't going right for them in a game they need to be persisted with, the last thing we'd need is chopping and changing at 3 and 6.

I'd like to see us go with a team along the lines of:

Tallis,

Bolger, Carey, Butler

Blanchfield, Corcoran, S Murphy

Kenny, Molloy

J Donnelly, Cody, Mullen

S Donnelly, Mossy, AN Other

The last spot in the forward could be up for grabs, obviously TJ would be favourite for it but I do think he might be a better option coming on with 20 minutes to go and giving the whole team and fans a lift when he comes on. I think we have a few different different type of options for that spot, you'd have the option of going with big powerful players like Luke Hogan, Marty Murphy, Liam Moore or Gearoid Dunne but personally I'd like to see something different like a Cillian Hackett/Rory Glynn type of player in there who will move a corner back around and create space for Mossy or Cody close to goal. I think our forwards recently have been easy to mark as there isn't a massive amount of pace or movement, I think we have to start making it uncomfortable for the teams we play. We did it for 15/20 minutes against Tipp in the semi final last year but once we conceded the goals we went went back in our shell and didn't have the confidence to keep playing the way we had started. That seems to be one of our biggest problems, once the pressure comes on and things start going against us our confidence goes and we revert to just lumping it long.

How can you go back to Deegan, i see the argument about Reid. We would have won an All Ireland or 2 over last 7/8 years if we did not have Deegan, i can easily name 6/7 big knock out matches where he had an absolute nightmare

He has been continually played out of position.

Paddy gives it everything, one of our great warriors but he is being held back.

Deegan would be best played at ½ forward, it would have made life alot easier for TJ over the past few years as well. But, I'm quite happy to see him in the wrong position for the next few years.