Kilkenny GAA Thread

Pity, fair play to all involved against a good Galway team and written off all year. All Ireland QF not a bad consolation

Minor match was great. Two fine teams. Nothing between them. I'm sure they will be disappointed but all did themselves proud.

great game.. presume they get Munster losers now, Tipp?

I believe they play the winners of the Leinster losing semi finalists v 3rd and 4th Munster placed teams .

Wexford

Dublin

Clare

Cork

Potentially Tipp in semi final

Kilkenny well outscored Galway in the first 20 minutes with the wind, 11 pts up at one stage that was their purple patch.

Galway had theirs with the wind in the last 12 minutes of ordinary time. That's the ebb and flow.

These are just boys, 15, 16, 17. They did themselves, their families, clubs and county proud. They gave everything.

They have come on no end since the group games v Westmeath, Galway and Wexford. They're as good as any team in it.

Often a minor team that loses a final produces more adult county players than a winning one, losses put a bit of desire in them.

Fellas calling it a disaster, nah, going out, never turning up and being beaten by 20 points would be much, much worse.

Unlucky to lose. There was driving rain and it was cold so mistakes were made. Nothing between the teams, very unlucky not to score a couple of goals in extra time. Ref should have given KK a free late on but that is the way it goes. Bit naive not to have an extra back late on in the 60 minutes as Galway need a goal. Still a few promising players for the future

dead right Willie, they should never have lost that 12 point lead but there were four calls at the end of extra time which the ref didn’t give us, he had no such problem giving them a soft free to draw the match in normal time.

Look there was nothing expected from this side and on the way up tonight I would have been happy enough with a point loss. Hopefully they will learn and have been improving all through the campaign. The rain was brutal at one stage and as Willie mentioned wintry conditions.We should be proud of these lads.

Very unfortunate to not win that and you can point to lots of things that might have gone another way but they'll learn big time from this about ruthlessness: no lead is guaranteed until the final whistle. But yeah I doubt anyone at the start of the year thought this team was going to be toe to toe with Galway let alone looking like they were doing to hammer them. You'd have major questions about some of the decision making, on the field (some of the backs tending to bat ball down into the lap of incoming forwards, a few of our forwards taking very low percentage shots instead of picking a pass, or going in for goal when a handy point would have probably sealed it) and on the sideline (substitutions mentioned above by Chaz I think it was), but it's still a day you'd take more positives from than negatives. If they can bottle the frustration now and channel it properly they'll surprise some teams yet. Galway minor teams are always savage, always. There's no easy result to get from them, and there never was in all my years watching.

don’t agree with the first paragraph ref was brutal for us as I mentioned in my last post. I agree with the second paragraph entirely.

Jaysus Chaz I’m surprised at you. As stated before this team wasn’t rated at all going into this competition and I personally thought they did very well and have improved every match.Westmeath had high hopes which didn’t materialise but bet Dublin on there way, we should have won against Wexford and bet Dublin in Parnell park. Galway also bet us in Nowlan and I think they have improved from that and that’s what needed. Someone said we have to meet the winners of Wexford and Cork,and then we will see what happens. I agree they made a balls of it last night but that happens and hopefully they will learn from this.as I said conditions were dreadful and if you weren’t there you wouldn’t realise this. No sleight if you weren’t there just saying.

Fair play to both teams last night in horrible conditions. It was a cracking match and typical of what you expect at this grade. Yes there were mistakes and poor decision making but you expect that. But it was great to watch two teams go at it with everything they had and there was some fantastic hurling on show. I disagree with the poster who said the standard of hurling is lower than normal, I saw some real quality hurling last night which, given the conditions, is a credit to the lads and also to the coaches who appear to be doing good work in the development of these lads. I would agree on the batting down issue, we conceded some needless scores from positions where it was an easy catch but we batted it down to a Galway lad.

I thought the two boys in midfield were great, especially Bolger who really stood out for me. Corcoran at corner back looks a nice tidy player as well and young Power is a really exciting talent, the flick back over the head was something you just can't coach. No doubt it's a game they should have won, but that hunger should fuel them to try harder so hopefully they can use that to drive on. The Galway 15 looks a heck of a player as well it has to be said.

Surprised at what Marooned? Not sure anything I said was harsh in any way there? Mildly critical of a couple of the decisions on substitutions in normal time, and also on game management giving up a 12 point lead with less than 15 left. Not critical of young lads at all. Their attitude and effort was excellent all through.

It's always difficult to gauge but there was a general perception that this team wasn't the strongest, most likely due to the fact that very few were 2 year minors, but sometimes that doesn't mean much at all and can be just down to selection. There's plenty of those lads that look like they should have been on the panel last year but weren't picked by previous manager. I've watched all our games and a few of the Munster matches, and from what I've seen so far we are plenty good enough to be competitive with almost all teams left, with the possible exception of Tipp.

If you're saying you have an issue with me suggesting that any Kilkenny team that potentially plays 6 games in a year and wins just 2, (including one against Westmeath) is not a successful year, then we may close the gates altogether.

Unfortunately this is how teams are being coached and young lads are being told to bat the ball back and the players in front of them are to pick up the loose ball but that does not happen. Too many players also being told to use the hurl to control the ball also. They should be catching the ball all the time.

Agree with most of the above. For me 10 mins before half time,t no score with the wind and several wides cost us. The hurling produced against the wind in 3rd quarter particularly from our inside line was brilliant. With Shine back with seniors lacey firing with the 20s and Joe Dowling, Brian Walsh and Ruairi Power lighting it up at minor our attacking prospects going forward are more promising than for a good while. We could have had at least three more goals. Jack Bolger like Kevin Buggy is a brilliant link it up midfielder. Paddy Grace was withdrawn I would imagine because he was on yellow and had been given a final warning by the ref. Pembroke O'Neill came in for a lot of heavy punishment and his race was run, he had given his all. All in all this group have been a good representation of the work being done in clubs, schools, and development squads. The structure of minor lends itself towards development and this team have certainly benefitted and progressed. To be fair, their biggest challenge faces them now, trying to come back from losing a final in such heartbreaking circumstances. I don't doubt they will rise to it. Well done to both teams for a wonderful exhibition of hurling in desperate conditions.