Kilkenny GAA Thread

Could never see Kilkenny getting Davy. It'll be a pretty strange day when our of the traditional "Big 3" go outside their own county for a manager.

Anyways, Davy is "yesterday's man". Not sure what county would go for him, tbh. I'm always glad that we in Galway didn't get him just before Shefflin got the job.

Thank you Derek and your family for the last 6+ years of service to Kilkenny underage and senior hurling development. You demonstrated many fine qualities during your tenure: never angry or moody; very reasonable and honest with the media even after very disappointing results and performances; caring for young talent and their whole development as a person; waiting for them to choose the now very demanding hurling life and making sure they had the s&c done before playing them. Thank you for recognizing that late developers with the appetite for the fray like Jordan Molloy, Liam Moore and Shane Murphy are a smart choice. I'm sure you've observed why the superb Billy Drennan has dropped out of the scene FOR NOW.

The panel did not play as a team this year and unlike previous years you and the back room couldn't solve the complex dynamics in time for the Offaly and Diblin games. Perhaps TJ as captain leader and influencer joined the panel too late. I trust you will share your thoughts and recommendations with the incoming team.

I have been researching the successful Cork, Limerick, Clare, Galway and Dublin (football) Teams and realize they have a huge advantage over non- Dublin Leinster teams. The vast majority of their panel are training together at the same local 3rd level colleges. Lk & Clare at UL; Cork at UCC; Galway (Niland and Rabitte) at UCG; All Dublin at UCD, DCU or DIT. I note that you are an assoc prof at UCC where O Hailpin, Tom Kenny, Kingston and others are / were full time coaches. In contrast Kilkenny players are scattered across multiple colleges. Practicing interplay helps if you train every day with your colleagues.

I would remind you and Brian C that the best Kilkenny skills coach that I saw was Dermot Healy who Tommy Maher placed at coach of Kierans in my time there (67-72). The 71-72 team including BC (my classmates) played the most beautiful hurling I have ever seen. That 16 year olds beat a fabulous Farrenferris team w JBM before their senior year speaks volumes. I had and misfortune and pleasure to play against them 2 weeks after their senior AI win in a Leinster Junior colleges final. They toyed with us for 20 mins; identified our weaknesses and in true Kierans fashion scored 6 goals in 10 mins before HT. One moment stands out for me. 3 Gormo lads (6 ic minors) including me surrounded a player with ball in hand chest high; a player flew by and called out; he dropped the ball to beliw waist and handpassed it thru us; goal. Dermot was key in developing the great Offaly team. So who is demonstrating that underage coaching ability today?

To get ahead, I suggest studying sports skill and development practices in other sports; say France in Rugby; Spain or Brazil in soccer; baseball (incredibly fast), Am football (most strategic), baseball (interplay, decoys and deceiving passes), ice hockey (equally fast and skillful). There are more.

Think we need to ban anyone who even mentions Davy as a possible option.

Damn it. Now I`m going to spend the day trying to cough up corn flakes.

thanks for the lovely post Dermot

Sorry, I'd reply to you but I'm struggling to understand the post

good morning John, I don’t think Huw, Billy or Mikey Carey will return to intercounty hurling

well KK it’s about the woman you mentioned?

The candidate field is fairly narrow but it seems so open within that few. I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie, Henry, or Brian Dowling got it. I would be surprised if they went for Tom Mullally, even if it was the right choice, as the other 3 would seem safer and more popular options to the Co Board.
Id say zero chance of outside manager and definitely no hope for Davy Fitz.

Timeline will be interesting. You'd ideally want someone in place before the 1st round of club Championship.

100% agree with this. The fact he stepped down so early after being knocked out and with a year still left on his deal shows he always put Kilkenny hurling first and never himself.

A true mark of the man.

Fist thing that should happen is for the CB to do a massive inquiry into what went wrong this year. Start with Lyng and the players. Get the insight. Something clearly was not right all year and they need to get to the bottom of it. People are saying we need to get the person appointed ASAP but i think there is a much larger picture here. We have had very limited success and whoever comes in has an even bigger job than Derek did. IMO the eperson that comes in has 2 big tasks on their plate first is to keep us competitive by League 1A status and winning Leinster and the second which will possibly make the first task harder is build a new team with a style of hurling thats effective and suits the players available.

IMO i think the plan was for Shefflin to take over from Lyng after next season. He would have had 2 years with the U20s and would have had a good knowledge of players coming through. Now thats out the window and will he want the job with a new business started etc. Would he have the time to commit to the senior job? I do think if he wants the job he will get it. After Shefflin I would think Brian Dowling is probably the next obvious contender. He has done well whereever he has gone and as other posters have said he know the underage scene in KK. I would not want to see Brennan get it after the disaster of this year. Mullaly like Dowling has done well wherever he has gone but as other posters have said he is not flavour of the month with the CB. Will the CB bring in someone else that hasnt being mentioned here?

"The Superb Billy Drennan" 😂😂😂

I think I would leave Henry with the U20's for the moment. He won with Ballyhale and didn't have success with Thomastown, Galway or the U20's. Thought the u20's went out tamely

For me, it is a straight fight between Tom Mullally and Brian Dowling. Brian would be my preference but I would be happy with either. I think they should bring in their supporting team with them. If someone like Eamon O'Shea was available as a forwards coach, I would snap them up. Dan Shanahan was very popular when coaching the Bridge. The County Board need to push out the boat to get the best available, they need additional sponsorship.

If Davy comes in, I won't be going to any county matches

If carey and lawlor won't be hurling next year the new management team will have to keep an eye out for a full back possibly could see darragh Corcoran going to full back next year and find someone else for 6 but this person isn't going to come from nowhere

What About Henry with Brian Dowling and obviously Tommy Shefflin as coach woukd have worked with both of them.?