Kilkenny GAA Thread

Can anyone tell me what has happened to Harry Shine? Big things were expected of him but he always seems to be injured. Just like Billy Drennan looks like another talent lost to the Senior team

NNice Win and to score 5-20 with the amount of missed chances we had is impressive albeit Wexford were very poor. Cian Kenny at centre forward should remain for the remainder of the year, he was excellent. Mossy scored 2-3 and Wexford couldn't handle him. Phelan had a very good day, two good scores and an excellent run for the third goal. Moore is definitely worth sticking with and will improve with experience. Speaking of experience, TJ getting the top scorer record again was a delight. Wasn't necessarily his best performance ever today, missed a few frees that he'd usually score but still 1-8 including a lovely goal is still a good haul.

Corcoran as the holding back worked today and he got on a lot of ball. Full back line was fine today but there's definitely still doubts with Carey and Butler positioning. Bolger had five minutes of madness in the first half where he gave away two scores with some poor decisions but he was solid otherwise. Deegan was good today and the free role suits him.

Will no doubt get out of Leinster but the tests will be the Munster teams later on and Galway.

Back on track and hopefully improve as we go.

Anyone have the number of wides today?

14 apparently.

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Well done lads, ye dominated us in all the parts that require no talent which is the baseline really, Mossy Keoghan from what you read here was struggling for form but he's some bit of stuff in fairness to him.

We were abject, aside from Kevin Foley and Cillian Byrne when he came on got nothing out of our forwards, Carey dominated Chin. Alot of soul searching for ourselves over the next 2 weeks.

I was down in carlow a few months ago for a challenge match against wexford and wrote here the same night id have serious concerns over wexford. They were absolutely useless. They absolutely fell over the line against down and antrim and couldn't beat the clare b team that was already qualified.I know Keith rossitor and you wouldnt meet sounder,lovely fella. He knew it was a big rebuilding job and not many wanted it. Davie had the engine burnt out on alot of the players that were still playing but for his sake like liam dunne he is putting in the hard work now so that these lads will be better in a few years. There was a great buzz in around town since 5 o clock and definitely most wexford supporters smelt kk blood and another famous win was on the cards but what transpired was very different. Kk were incredibly wasteful in the first half,a couple of goal chances and points where they had much more time to plant their feet but confidence from last week was on the floor and has to be taken into consideration.The wexford goal which was a defensive mistake gave a false reading at half time.No one will get carried away but it was a very important win,what a difference a week makes.Since 2017 the record against wexford has being very poor.Scruff to be fair while his reflexes arent near where they were he does loads of talking to defenders something you get with confidence.Tallis will get this but he definitely isnt vocal organizing lads around.He done very well in the first half with a dangerous dropping ball he caught under the cross bar.Ivan bolger got a baptism of fire think about 1-2 came off him but he wasn't really tested that much after that.Wexford did target that side in the second half.Corcoran sat as a traditional 6 so was always back to mop up the breaks off chin.Very good workrate something thats was always a given but didn't see this against gakwayx2 recent times.Some of kk basic short passing is shocking. Basic 30 yard passes. Deegan for wexfords first point all on his own gave a suicide pass which ended up a score. Mikey carey gave away another cheap score with another suicide pass. Whatever about mikey because he is more of athlete deegan is doing this too often,he done numerous silly things today.I know everyone makes mistakes but these are very very basic. The amount of training and video that goes into matches Chin is a pale shadow of the player he once was but mikey done well but most times had help to clean up the breaking ball.These are the small margins that win or lose big matches like the semi final last year.These stick passes arent improving which is worrying. Derek has had 3 years to improve this with 3 different coaches .killian doyle has his fair share of knockers but he put in a good shift.i appreciate he is 3 years on the panel now and has got load of chances and he would want to be stepping up but he done well tonight. Tom phelans didectness was a threat and worked fierce hard. Kenny can do brillant things with ball and mossy back to the threat we know he is but I think he only had around had only 13 possessions which will tell you how starved some of fowards are. I know the game was well over but kk only scored 1-2 in this time so plenty to work on. Butler ran the lenght of the pitch and no one making a run off him. He had 2 wides,Clifford will be disappointed with his wides but he needs to put the head down and start running more at defenders. Stephen donnelly should of goaled that effort. That was weak enough bench this evening but the good news is harry shine and eoghan lyng should make the squad in two weeks.Mullen still a month off.Im not going to kick wexford while on the ground but very soon,fanning,liam ryan,Lee chin,Simon donahoe will be gone and staying in leinster will probably be their target. A nice crowd today and even a few kk supporters showed up. Lots of kk and wexford people looking at the paintings but not one of them can understand how the walls are so black and desperately over due a clean and before adding the artwork was the best time to do it.Surely to god they can see this looks fierce dirty and is years over due infact its scandalous and like the refusal to take the scoreboard it has to be a financial issue. One kk lad said to a wexford man if you think thats bad you should see the dump. Its shocking he said.its supposed to be a center of excellence you wouldnt put goats on it. It's so bad a few weeks ago the hurlers drank the water and thomastown footballers not knowing drank it aswell and they all got the scutters and going around like slurry tankers.this man was a former kk player and now works on the road he said a long road will have to be traveled to find worse than the dump. Without doubt the worst in the country. Look at the set up danesfort have now obviously very lucky to have a guy like Terry involved but I just couldn't envisage pj kenny with a portfolio under the arm speaking off the cuff to really sell the kk brand. As soon as they see half the shirt left open and the trousers hanging off him he would be off to a bad start. Andy rightly said more or less pj needs a huge kick in hole. But like the outside of the park not getting cleaned this goes back to the county board and appointments because Jimmy walsh was also useless. Sooner the better a big shake happens the better but its like the government its just moving chairs around. No one wants to rock the boat so it's important to appointing yes men and re appoint managers like after the u17 final and two years u20 couldn't get out of leinster and after inheriting a year very rare u20 all ireland.

Well lads , that was definitely a step in the right direction last night even if it wasn’t perfect . We started with a much better attitude and a lot more energy than last week which was so important after such a heavy defeat. You could still see some nerves early on though, especially in front of goal and a lot of chances went to waste that you’d have to be taking against better opposition. I know the tricky wind was a factor but even so it took us too long to figure it out.

I thought Eoin Murphy’s leadership in goal really stood out, he looked composed throughout and used all his experience and you could hear him talking to his defenders (especially Carey and Corcoran) . I understand why people would prefer Tallis in the goal but I think Murphs presence is massive especially with a novice full back and when confidence in the team is a bit low. I’m not sure if we can afford to leave that kind of experience and leadership out of the team right now and young Tallis time will come.

Killian Doyle really impressed me as well . He’s very good to get on ball, has an excellent first touch , uses it well and is one of the few on our team that looks up to speed with the modern game. He looks a starter for me now going forward.

Corcoran and Carey had strong games too and after a shaky start they looked far more comfortable in roles that wouldn’t be their most natural positions. Let’s hope they can keep improving there.

Eoin Cody looks to me like someone thats trying too hard to do something brilliant on his own at times and he might be better off to get back to basics and keep it simple instead of over complicating it. His talent will come through if he lets it happen instead of forcing it.

Mossy was obviously brilliant and showed he’s a huge threat if he gets the right ball and he has to stay on the inside line for me where he’s most dangerous. Young Moore caught the eye for me again, he has something about him and is such a willing team player…. he put in a lot of big important hits last night and that can go unnoticed at times.. He could have had three goals and in truth Mossy arguably should have slipped him in for two of the chances that he finished himself , but Moore being in those positions isn’t luck and he’s obviously reading the game very well.

TJ was very good again, hadn’t his best day on the placed balls but so much of what we do well in attack comes through his movement, vision and ability to create scores. He frightens the life out of a full back line and congratulations to him on becoming the championship’s highest scorer, what an incredible achievement.

And finally Cian Kenny, for me he’s probably our most naturally talented player on the team at the moment, he make some very difficult plays and scores look much easier that they are and if he can keep developing and really wants it he could be a real leader for this team for years . When he’s going well we’re a different team.

Overall I would say it was the kind of performance that might put a bit of confidence back into a few lads that were a bit unsure of themselves ( Blanchfield springs to mind here among others). I know it wasn’t the strongest Wexford team we ever faced but the intent and work rate were there from the throw in and hopefully we can build on this now. There’s still loads to work on but the signs were so much more positive.

Great to get 2 points on the board, and it’s the type of win in the end that could spark us back into life. You could literally see the confidence increasing the longer the match went on which to me was severely lacking for the majority of the first half.

We should have really been 10+ points up at HT, wasteful shooting, butchered goal chances and a sloppy enough concession of a goal kept Wexford in it. In truth the first half looked like two poor enough teams trying to find their feet.

I did feel that Wexford played into our hands massively, their movement in the forwards was poor which allowed our 6 backs to stay in their positions and hurl away, all the backs looked far more comfortable in this environment especially Corcoran who got on a lot of ball. Carey did well on Chin, it’s the type of lad that Carey looks to be far more comfortable marking where he can feel and see his opponent. The issues start to arise when he’s dragged around and he can’t get a hand on his opponent and use his physicality.

Defensively, the concession of the goal was poor, more so the timing of it after Mossy scoring as good a goal as you’ll see moments before. It was avoidable, we did have ball in hand and got turned over but the worrying aspect defensively for me was straight after the Liam Moore goal…. The Wexford chap ran at the heart of our defence, and should have really gone for goal. He absolutely has to be stopped between the 45-21, and then when he gets to the 21 I think it was Carey who seemed in two minds whether to go out to him or not… in the context of the game he absolutely has to go out and stand the player up and force him around you or slow him up. This is where we are struggling massively with runners straight through the middle… and it will need to be addressed if we are to progress this year.

In all it was great to see the confidence start to come back towards the end and hopefully we can keep building ontop of that now for the rest of the year. Privileged to be there to see TJ break the Top Scorer record, one of the greatest of all time.

Everyone saying Murphy needs to stay in goal but is that just putting off the inevitable and eroding Tallis confidence at the same time. Eoin is 35/36 now so will be retired in a year or 2 anyway. Hopefully Tallis gets the offaly match to put himself back in the frame.

Yeah I thought Paddy was very good and had his best game for a while. His confidence has been low of late and while he doesn’t always go well he has the heart of a Lion, always tries his best, always makes himself available for a pass from a man under pressure and will never shy away from a challenge. The fact that I didn’t mention him probably shows how much I (we all) take him for granted.

I was impressed with how hard he worked off the ball, on multiple occasions he sprinted distances to pressurise Wexford backs into poor deliveries/mistakes