Kilkenny GAA Thread

I am all for freedom of speech and everyone is entitled to express an opinion however, I think it’s time to take a pause! The recent posts referencing mental health and RIP, is not in good taste! This is sport after all. There are enough people in the world suffering from serious setbacks in life… Respect…

Jim Fennelly will be the next CB chairman and there is nothing anyone can do about it, mark my words.

There is plenty that can be done.

oh ffs I don’t know what to make of you at all

I don't buy the 'kilkenny has the hurlers' arguements.

Brazil will always have the footballers. All good until the soccer game became more professionally defensive and other nations got the youth development up to seriously high standards.

Kilkenny will always have hurlers... but it doesn't look like it'll have the hurlers for some time. The game has changed, the DNA is still stuck in 'drive it' , everyone else's house is in order in terms of structure, money, and in some cases bigger populations to harvest from.

Huge overhaul in athletic and hurling development needed. We have hundreds of kids carrying around hurls in Kierans and on the Parade and all is good. Unfortunately 45 year old men can puck around on driveways to the same extent.

You’re missing the point.. we don’t have “the” hurlers because of poor development and years of complacency and neglect.

PM's article on the current poor form of Kilkenny's underage and senior teams is helpful; especially his note re the appointment of Kieran's hurling skills nursery coach, Fr Tommy Maher,  to lead the revival after the barren 1940 and 50s period. That period followed the highly successful 1930s and the mercurial rise and fall of now defunct City club, Eire Og - a precursor to my own OLG.

So, a coach and thought leader from one of the nurseries may make sense to reinvent and reinvigorate Kilkenny's game plan. Kierans have won 8 of the last 12 college AIs. But CBC Kilkenny have been producing beautiful hurlers. Sure, they lost some AIs but their skill and style was lovely to watch. I haven't seen much from castlecomer or Callan CBC but knowing the Fogarty's role 2000-2005 and The Callan bro who mentored Jackie T, they may have good fit for the role. Ballyhale and Carrickshock have produced so many of the best hurlers in the last 30 years that their must be serious underage coaching talent there.

Talking of mentors. One suggestion would be to have a mentor for all chosen panelists on all teams. Someone of the players choice they feel comfortable with , but it would be great if all of the 1990-2020 teams were available. This is going to take a community and county-wide team effort.

Lastly, questions. Why did Cork (1940s & 50s) , Tipp (50s 60s) and Kilkenny (1930s 2000s) all experience barren periods after a prolonged period of dominance? What is holding back the change reeuired. The clubs? The influence of the former greats? Has university hurling passed out the nurseries in skill and strategy? Cork's UCC and Limerick's success suggests yes. What role did Waterford's IT play in our 2000s success?

Good point on influence of universities. It is difficult to over-estimate the strength of the UL hurling club very dedicated and committed personnel, and the profile it is giving the university's teams. Certainly impacting on the fortunes of Limerick and Clare.

Very high standard in the U20 All Ireland final. Great intensity for the age group.

Speaking of population, Clare have been punching a bit above since the 90s. 127,000 population and most of west Clare football, and they haven't done badly in that either. Munster finals and often in Division 2.

Clare are still a bit of a dark horse lurking in the background in senior.

They haven't played well in Munster. But they've a lot of excellent and experienced players. They won't exactly be worn out after Munster either.

The All Ireland is basically a new competition and there's no talk about or pressure on them. All they want is Limerick and Cork to have an intense Munster final, maybe a red or 2 and a few injuries and things can level up.

That 20 win is a great long term, and short term, shot in the arm.

Lets not kid ourselves and think we cant go like Wexford and Offaly in terms of a famine at all age grades. There is something amiss in that axis of Kilkenny/Offaly/Wexford/Waterford compared to Clare/Limerick/Tipperary/Cork and perhaps add Galway. What has that region got on the southeast region?

Tommy Walsh made a good point on off the ball on how the round robin in Munster doesn’t suit a squad like Clare or Tipp whose star players are a little older and find playing a couple of weeks in a row tough going.

But give them a couple or three weeks rest in between games and they become a different animal. Tipos performances in last year’s all Ireland series backs up that point so it will be interesting to see how Clare perform for the remainder of the championship.

I'll never jump on Kilkenny's grave much and all as you are our greatest rivals. We have enough problems of our own in Wexford and I fear the next national title we might win is the Joe McDonagh cup. I will never see Kilkenny slumping to that level.

What alarms me is the results for Leinster counties v Munster counties. Galway today in the U20 being the latest, and I fear for Offaly when they meet the losers of the Munster final. Clare beat Galway pulling up and Galway beat everybody in Leinster even though we had a chance to beat them albeit without Aaron Niland.

I don't see Dublin or Galway being close to beating Cork or Limerick when they meet.

I think hurling in Leinster is an absolute mile off the pace. All of us. Its up to us all to figure this out but looking at the Munster underage counties they all play like their senior teams and they play with intensity that we all cannot compete with.

I have strong feelings that Leinster referees should be refereeing Leinster matches. Colm Lyons, Johnny Murphy, etc all absolutely murdered hurling matches in Leinster this year. Bring back John Keenan, Sean Cleere, Paud O'Dwyer or their successors. We have to allow our matches to be played at the intensity of Munster matches and every one of us need to up our game big time.

Apologies for jumping in but I think we all have to figure this out as a province because we are all drifting further off the pace.