Kilkenny GAA Thread

Don't think people believe Kierans are the reason for Kilkenny's decline but asking the question has their success benefited Kilkenny as a whole when you look at Kilkenny's underage record is surely valid. Also must be remembered you've clearly a vested interest on this topic.

I do think the pressure is definitely increasing on them and this is there way of trying to decrease the pressure. With regards openness I suppose it's the county board delegates job to go back to clubs and let them know what is happening and being said at the meetings. John Knox used to attend the meetings in his time with the People and report what was being said, I hadn't seen any reporter from any local media outlet there after he retired. One thing I did notice though was that in the KCLR Hurling Podcast last week when discussing Derek stepping aside, Adrian Ronan and Taggy spoke about the picking if a new manager they should put it out to the clubs and then a couple of days later thats what happened, could be coincidental but I do think that kind of talk does have an influence ont hem, especially when they are under pressure.

From a Wexford POV, I think the biggest issue is culture, you don’t see lads going around with hurls like you would in KK/Cork/Tipp

Suppose Kieran’s were always the best example of this, you’d see pictures of lads bringing their hurls to the school Mass, hurling culture like that hasn’t existed in Wexford for a long time outside of maybe Peter’s or Good Counsel (Who would have a very strong KK influence). If you’ve lads who are hurling the whole time outside of training from a very young age, then enough of them will make into good hurlers, it’s simple enough, all the work at home is as good as a training session in terms of ball-work, that’s Wexford’s biggest problem because Wexford’s population is not that small and football is not big enough to properly hurt hurling (Although it maybe does hurt Wexford hurling somewhat)

I think the facts you brought up are true and Wexford clubs would also have good infrastructure. From an outside perspective, KK still has very good culture but the structures seem a bit archaic and the infrastructure might be even worse

You go to the Munster counties now and they’ve always had good culture, maybe not as strong as KK but strong enough. Big difference right now is that their structures are very good and that’s where they’ve got a head-start on the Leinster counties

I’m glad we agree on that Ned strange days ahead methinks

Depending on results in San Fran as the competition is played on a series basis (best out of 5) they could be home as earlier as the end of July. That is if they win three games straight which is highly possible with the talent headed to Tipperary SF this summer. Also the tournament in Chicago which hosts teams from all over the country is cancelled so this could move forward the timeline.

I'm a former kierans student myself and so I'm a bit biased and will defend the school a bit, but I'd like to think that I can generally be impartial.

I think that kierans domination is an issue, but not as big an issue as some would have you believe. As someone mentioned, if there's 100 students that want to play hurling going to kierans and only 30 are making it, what good is that when some of these other lads could be progressing in other schools? We're losing young lads and add to that we have lads thinking that they are gods gift to hurling when they're number 35 on an all Ireland winning panel.

However, the other side of it is that Kierans have the facilities, the coaches (lots of former and current kilkenny hurlers, and a manager currently being tipped for the big job) and a hurling culture that will entice every young lad in the world. It's the perfect breeding ground for hurlers if we got it right. I hope that CBS can improve and I'd also love to see investment in the other schools and find a way to bring them up a few levels (regional school teams etc).

As I've mentioned previously, the issue is not with Kierans, because while the players are there they are getting as good a hurling (and non-hurling) education as anywhere else, the issue has been the age 18-20 gap and what's happening with players for that period of time. We desperately need to sort out that age group.

I personally like the idea of 4 or 5 regional u19 teams that play in a round robin league. North-North (draw a line across from emeralds, freshford, conahy and st martins), City, centre east (barrow rangers down to Thomastown), centre west (tullaroan down to dunnamaggin), south-south (Windgap, Carrickshock, Ballyhale, Rower Inistioge and everything further down).

If we can figure that age group out, we might see more success by the time we reach u20.

It was interesting listening to an interview on Sky sports today with Paul Clement… an English football coach working with Brazil at the World Cup under Carlo Ancelotti speaking about how at international level coaches have very little time with players compared to in a club environment. Because of that, training isn't spent teaching basic skills or building fitness from scratch. Instead, the focus is on tactics, patterns of play, understanding relationships on the field and creating an environment where players can perform at their best and also how important it is to ensure its an enjoyable environment.

The expectation is that players arrive already equipped with the fundamentals. A great first touch, the ability to execute skills at pace, physical readiness and the mentality to work hard are all taken for granted.

What also surprised Clement was the intensity and work ethic of the Brazilian players. He admitted he expected a more flamboyant approach, but found a group that trained with incredible focus and commitment. It reinforces a simple truth: every successful team is built on hard work first.

It made me think about the parallels with Kilkenny hurling .Like Brazil in football, Kilkenny's history has been built on sustained success. But no player should arrive into a Kilkenny panel expecting the county setup to teach them the basics or create their work ethic. Those foundations should already be in place.

When a player earns a place in a Kilkenny squad, if underage player development was good they should have excellent skill levels, physical conditioning and most importantly a relentless willingness to work. The county environment should then be about refining performance, building connections within the team, developing game plans and creating a culture where players can thrive.

For me the problem with us at the moment is we have allowed standards to fall in all these areas…. players are coming into panels unable to execute the basic fundamentals first of all … and then the environment doesn’t seem to be right in terms of coaching and tactics or from what you hear…. being part of these panels isn’t an enjoyable experience either.

just say we did set up a regional teams for structure they could be funded by six or eight new sponsors. The players get to keep the jersies and prizes for the winners at least at underage. The public could run their eyes over the top two teams in the finals of each grade time might be a problem, but there is plenty of time at the moment. Plenty of time to write. Don’t whip me for this it’s only a suggestion.

Is byrne just the easy option for the cb though like re ratifying lyng last year although tommy will be great for the players he just has that aura about him if he speaks before a game players will listen

For what it is worth that Mount Sion team had two players from the Waterford minor All Ireland winning that beat Kilkenny that year and one of them players marked Jake Mullen that day and got the better of Mullen.

Also the Ballyhale team would have won that day if they had a former student who was poached by Kierans the previous summer. Not the only young hurler that they tried to poach from smaller schools last summer may I add.

Of course Kierans do great work, but the poaching of hurlers from other schools must stop.

Best of luck to them, should be a decent crop.

But as discussed earlier, we could really do with a move back to 18 and 21.

Most of the Kieran's and CBS lads are in limbo for a year as it is, having a lot of them coming into a minor championship in April 4-6 weeks after finishing the schools,would see a big improvement in our fortunes at minor and I guarantee you we'd stop losing close matches.

I think Gordon has got another year because he did a good job this year and improved the players an awful lot. I know for a fact that he has met with the county board already to debrief this year and told them exactly where he sees the development squads are going wrong and the lack of basic skills that players came into the panel with this year. He did not hold back in giving his views on how things were being done. I think this is a positive sign, we need people in around these teams to be giving back honest and sometimes harsh feedback as it’s the only way things will improve. Hopefully the inclusion of Tommy Walsh will have a big positive impact on things next year also.

Semi retired living in Dublin and not a teacher in Kierans my backside. Yet every time Kierans win a schools match you are on this forum bigging up their students as the next big thing. You are doing the youngsters no favours. I am not naming youngsters on this forum. Billy that chap from Carlow was not the only student poached from another school on that team.

And did the student playing D hurling get the better of Jake Mullen or am I making that up too?

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Imagine being a youngster and reading the likes of this. You do them players absolutely no good. They are playing on a stacked schools team against much weaker teams. If I was 18 reading this said about me id more than likely think I've already made it. Easy look good on them days but many of these players then aren't able to reproduce it on the county scene. I wish you would stop posting on Kierans matches because it helps nobody.

Donagh murphy and Ted dunne werent pulled out to their leaving in kierans.