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Kerry GAA Discussion Thread Mod Warning Post #4167

Mr. Incognito

I was at the game in Tralee over the weekend.

The panel is looking very strong this year. David Moran was excellent in midfield and Aidan O'Shea looks a class act aswell. Going to be a lot of competition for places and Kennelly still has to come back. Nice to see Jack O'Connor get his maiden victory.

Galvin kicked three good points but seemed to tire considerably in the second half. I'm not sure when they started training but they looked sharp, considering Donegal had McKenna Cup games played- looking forward to next weekend against Tyrone.

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windy shepard henderson

probably the game slightly resembled kerry's clashes against longford/sligo/antrim in 09 on the back door route to the all ireland

in truth we would be fairly happy with our performance , we along with tipperary are teams on the up at the moment and we would like to see our selves battle like we did today and not combust like we have done so many times in the past . its no bad to see tipp run cork close last night and clare push ye all the way today

as for kerry going forward its probably the type of game the management wanted today when blooding 5 new comers paul gueney was by far yer best forward and best of the new comers ,

it was a test for kerry today , credit has to be giving to there forwards today i doubt they kicked any more then 5 wide so every score they got they had to work for , and in the second half they picked of some excellent scores from play

the minus's on kerrys part was after they scored the goal to make it 1-02 to 0-2 clare kicked on and domanited the next 10mins scoreing 1-3 without reply, and an even bigger worry for kerry would be the fact that garry brennan had an easier day today in mid field then what he had against waterford two weeks ago in the drawn match

i dont think cork will be as fit as todays clare team and wont try to run the legs of kerry but they will have the better forwards the next day so midfield will be crucial something ye have to work on before the cork game

Boom__Boom

Well Kerry got the result but it wasn't exactly a comfortable performance. Paudie Kissane had the Clare lads as fit as a butchers dog and they showed great endeavour throughout. If they had got another goal I'm not sure that Kerry would have got the result – and they had chances.

Management got it badly wrong on starting David Moran and then compounded it by taking 20 minutes to rectify matters.

Kelly had a great day in goals I thought – caught high balls, made 1 incredible save, kick-out worked well and even stopped a point with a high catch; I thought he got a bit unlucky with the Clare goal and would be assigning any blame as much in the direction of the defence as much as towards him. I'd say Kealy would want to get comfortable on the bench because Kelly's performance was really the type to grab hold of the number 1 jersey.

Enright – very solid performance – still not sure how he didnt manage to score with his goal effort

Marc – was in a lot of bother – have serious concerns here. Was surprised not to see Griffin come in.

Murphy – a goal on his championship debut from corner-back but more importantly really looked the part.

Fionn, Crowley and Killian – have to say was disappointed as I expected more from this line. Fionn best of the three with not much between Crowley and Killian.

Maher – his form seemed to be a bit better that recent appearances against a very decent opponent in Brennan but disappointing that he picked up 2 silly yellows. Should know better.

Moran – clearly not fit and took the management a hell of a long time to rectify this. It was no coincidence that Clare's best period at the start of the match coincided with Moran's presence on the pitch.

Aidan – made a huge difference when he came on ; fair play to the lad could easily have slipped off into retirement but the hunger for battle is still there.

Sheahan – kicked 3 important points from play and 1 free but also turned over some very cheap balls in general play. The 3 points all came when he had time and space which he is not going to get against any sort of top team.

Declan - did a lot of work as usual but looked a bit rusty - 2 points 1 a tap-over free his scoring contribution - played very far away from goals for very long stretches - not sure if he was used tactically in the right way or whether it was a case of "needs must"

Mikey Geaney – was amazed he lasted as long ; he did get a point but overall his performance was miles off where he needed to be

Darran – looked unfit and rusty and no surprise that he had to go off injured again – his body has taken an amount of punishment and Kerry are paying the price

Paul Geaney – a real bright spot – even after he missed the early chances (really thought his goal chance was in) his head didnt drop and he had a massive display and deservedly got MOTM

Stephen O'Brien – a very strong showing on his debut – still have concerns about his physicality but I think the fact that Clare got a black so early helped him – especially as he's the sort of player who defenders would only love to drag down.

Subs :

Walsh – had heard he was struggling with an ankle issue and his contribution was a long way off what we have come to expect off him

Lyne – didnt really have all that much of an impact.

BJK – got a point but didnt exactly make a huge case to be starting in very limited time he got.

Donaghy – looked very rusty when he came on but he was involved in a fair bit in his limited cameo – fumbled the ball 3 time I think in the short time he was on the pitch ; not sure why it took management so long to make the change to bring him on.

Pa Kilkenny – very little impact in very little time on the pitch

On the positive side 4 out of the 5 new guys had good or very good games. Things would be far bleaker if not for the performances of the new lads. However it has to be remembered that they will still be new lads for a while yet (also not to be too harsh but I felt that the 2 Clare corner-backs were limited enough as regards intercounty standard defenders – there will be much tougher opposition ahead for O'Brien and Geaney)

Moran, Darren, Donnacha, Donaghy were all not fully fit to various different degrees yesterday – I have serious concerns about whether Moran and Darren will be properly fit at all this summer.

There was definitely an element of rustiness - both Declan and Darren passed when in good shooting positions early on.

Midfield and the half-forward line are massive issues – not much use having a good full-forward line if you can only feed them scraps.

The juniors had an easy enough win but good to see so many of lads from this year's U21 panel having good games - tougher tests will lie ahead but they are up and running.

ciarriaithuaidh

Having been at the game I ould have to say Boom_boom's account above is spot on.

One thing that regularly annoys me is players who are clearly unfit being started in games, happened again yesterday with David Moran. What is the point of playing a guy when he clearly cannot run properly? It is mind-numbingly stupid and this GAA attitude of "he'll run it off" is one of my pet peeves.

Gavan O'Grady with the juniors, looked a class apart. This guy only turns 22 this year and to me looks like he has the stuff for a higher level.

DDC1990

Yeah, I'd agree with everything Boom Boom said there.

Moran shouldn't have started.

Darran, Declan, Donnacha, Maher all looked rusty.

I felt sorry for the half back line who were run into the ground trying to stop the Clare Midfield and Half Back line who were slicing through us at will, until Mahoney shored things up at the end of the first half.

Bright spots were Murphy, (though himself and Crowley got mixed up as to who was taking Podge Collins which led to the goal going in), Geaney (easily the best player on show), Kelly (dominant under the high ball, but was made look a bit silly for the Clare goal) and Stepehen O'Brien (mixed some sloppy play with some excellent interplay).

Marc looked in all sorts of trouble at Full Back, but played very well at centre back when O'Mahoney was switched in.

None of the other subs made any impact, bar BJK who scored a good point and tracked back well.

Donnacha was anonymous, as was Killian Young in the first half. Crowley was very quiet.

Had the misfortune to be sitting near the grandmother of one of the Clare players grandmothers, who wasn't quite "all there". She screamed and roared abuse at players and fans for the game, without having a clue about the rules and it made the game quite hard to concentrate on when "BLACK CAAAAARD" was being screeched every 2 seconds, and "The Ref is giving us nothing" was repeated over and over. It wound a few Kerry supporters up to the point that there was a bad air between the sets of supporters in that section, something I haven't witnessed at many matches.

Anyway, we survived and we have a Munster final to look forward to, but we need a hell of a lot of work over then next 2 weeks.

homerjay2005

what would be your starting 15 for the final now?

is Donaghy worth a pop at midfield? or if o Donoghue is fit, this would free up Declan Sullivan allowing Sheehan perhaps to head out to midfield. im not convinced with Killian at CB either, wouldnt mind seeing Marc there.

its the most injury ravaged ive ever seen us, it really is threatening our season.

Kelly

Murphy

Aidan

Fionn--
Crowley

Marc

Killian--

Star

Maher

Darran

Sheehan

Declan
O Donoghue---Geany

O'Brien--

keane2097

David Moran was our best midfielder in the league by a distance, not sure I'd be dropping him because he had a poor 15 minutes when he was sent out to play injured.

Maher hasn't played well since last August realistically, actually for that matter I'm not sure when Darran O'Sullivan last did anything to convince me he should be an automatic starter every time he comes back from injury.

D'Agger

Absolute no from me re: putting Star in midfield - would barely do it for a club game, nevermind against Cork

keane2097

D'Agger wrote: »

Absolute no from me re: putting Star in midfield - would barely do it for a club game, nevermind against Cork

Yeah there's that too

mystic86

Boom__Boom wrote: »

Paudie Kissane had the Clare lads as fit as a butchers dog

So they were overfed and a bit on the fat side then?

jk, Great post Boom Boom

DDC1990

1. Kelly
2. Murphy
3. Griffin
4. Enright
5. Crowley
6. Marc
7. Fionn
8. AOM
9. Maher
10. Sheehan
11. Declan
12. Donnacha
13. SOB
14. Geaney
15. JOD

Obviously totally unorthadox, and dependent on Moran not being fit I'd try something like this.

AOM isn't a midfielder, but I'd have him around the middle, to stop the likes of Aidan Walsh bursting through the middle, in the mould of and old style CB. When it comes to Cork we're most likely going to go man-to-man in the backs, so numbers don't mean a whole lot. Would have Marc further out the field, looked really vulnerable when 1 on 1 inside. Much more comfortable further out the field.

Donnacha showed nothing the last day, so picking him is a bit unusual but he's a workhorse and will track back, which against Corks half back line would be important.

Declan looked a bit lost at FF on Sunday. He took for too much out of the ball, and his passing was shocking. He looked more at home with a bit of space in front of him at 11, and even chipped in at Centre Back and Corner back in the closing stages when Maher was sent off. I think his physicality around the haf forward line could be important.

I have Sheehan with number 10, but i'd play him at midfield with AOM and Maher (who's lucky there is no alternative, if Moran is fit, I'd have Moran ahead of him).

Griffin is still our most natural looking FB IMO, and Enright shades it over Killian for the #4 jersey.

Obviously this is fantasy stuff, and won't be near the team on the day, but we have a gaping whole through the middle, and out Half forwards struggled massively to get on the ball. I think with the big bodies of AOM, Sheehan, Declan and Maher around we'd match Cork for physicality in that area. We're still short of pace though. Darren isn't an option for me at the moment. He's good for 3 runs a game and then is out of it. He doesn't seem to be durable at the moment.

ciarriaithuaidh

On the team for Cork, I would say the following:

- Kelly looks to be no.1 goalie now and I totally agree with it. His kickouts were very smart yesterday.
- Defence as a whole need to get tighter, but were better in second half in fairness. Sick of saying it, but Young is NOT a centre back, he is a very good left half back. Murphy had a whirlwind start and then struggled a bit but regained his composure and was solid. Has to start now. Enright was good and usually does well against Cork anyway. Marc is worrying a little..didn't look as comfortable as normal.
- Midfield. From being an area where we thought we had well covered..this is now a worry. Moran shouldn't have been on the field and must be at least a doubt for Cork. Maher hasn't been in form and Buckley is injured. Good thing Cork have problems of their own, but we need Moran fit and Maher is still going to be along side him for now.
- I hate being an armchair critic and being too harsh on players, but Mikey Geaney is just not up to this level of football. Donnacha Walsh, again..why was he brought on when he is struggling to shake off injury? BJK came on and looked lively enough. Main positives from game yesterday were showings of O'Brien and especially Geaney. Paul was a quality minor and struggled for a couple of years with hamstring trouble. Since getting that totally sorted he has looked back to where I imagined he would be. Was outstanding with UCC Sigerson team this year and form continued yesterday. O'Brien is unbelievably evasive at times. Elluded 3 Clare men (who were in very close proximity) for the goal yesterday before popping a lovely pass to Murphy. He is a decent scorer and is young and improving all the time.
- Bryan Sheehan, Declan and Darran were all rusty enough yesterday. Darran just recovered from hammy tear so once he is ok I'm not worried. Declan and Bryan upped their game in second half, but neither looked anywhere near peak fitness and it's no surprise given the last few months. Hopefully the freshness means they will both be flying sooner rather than later.
- Donaghy looked awful when he came on yesterday and to me, again, is not an option at the moment. His dropped ball near the end which almost lead to a Clare goal was terrible. Aidan looked fairly decent which was a plus and he certainly looks far from finished yet. Jonathan Lyne is not related to a forward, so again, no idea why he is being brought on there. Kilkenny, not on for long. Shame he was injured during the league as he was in decent nick and potentially a candidate for a spot at the back.

In summation I would go with the following for Páirc uí Chaíomh:

Kelly

Murphy

Marc

Enright

Fionn Fitz---Crowley

Young

--Moran

Maher

Darran

Sheehan

Walsh

O'Brien

Declan

Geaney

If Moran isn't fit, Sheehan to midfield, BJK or O'Mahony to come in. Griffin could come in depending on issues at the back. Cork's lineup will have a bearing on this also.

ciarriaithuaidh

homerjay2005 wrote: »

what would be your starting 15 for the final now?

is Donaghy worth a pop at midfield? or if o Donoghue is fit, this would free up Declan Sullivan allowing Sheehan perhaps to head out to midfield. im not convinced with Killian at CB either, wouldnt mind seeing Marc there.

its the most injury ravaged ive ever seen us, it really is threatening our season.
Kelly
Murphy
Aidan
Fionn--
Crowley
Marc
Killian--
Star
Maher
Darran
Sheehan
Declan
O Donoghue---Geany
O'Brien--

Dropping Enright after a good game yesterday makes no sense.

Star midfield...not a hope. Never was a midfielder in my view and certainly not good enough now.
JOD is nowhere near fit unfortunately so a cameo is probably the most we can hope for.

Boom__Boom

On the team for the Cork game - it's impossible to know who to pick without knowing the fitness of the squad and how near the various players will be to full fitness come game day.

There's serious question marks about the fitness of the following

Moran
Darran
Walsh
Donaghy - was thinking that the reason he was left so long standing waiting to come on as a sub was because the management really didnt want to risk him at all.
Buckley
JOD

I wouldnt be surprised if there were 1 or 2 more with knocks - Fionn Fitz going off late on could be another one who might be added to the walking wounded list.

Don't envy Fitzmaurice at all with selecting a team for the Cork game.

wonga77

Hearing reports that declans county days are numbered, supposed to be having lots of trouble with his knee and due to go for an op.
Going to be a massive loss, the best ball carrier in the country in his prime

homerjay2005

wonga77 wrote: »

Hearing reports that declans county days are numbered, supposed to be having lots of trouble with his knee and due to go for an op.
Going to be a massive loss, the best ball carrier in the country in his prime

well if its true then we really are having the GAA injury season from hell. its never been this bad before has it?

any news on O Donoghues availability for Sunday?

ciarriaithuaidh

homerjay2005 wrote: »

well if its true then we really are having the GAA injury season from hell. its never been this bad before has it?

any news on O Donoghues availability for Sunday?

Can't be fit and a shoulder injury is pretty much the most high risk in a football game, so if he sees more than a cameo role, it's insanity in my view.

Don't know what the situtation is with Moran either..if only we had a source close to his club or something to inform us..;)

Wouldn't surprise me to see Maher/Sheehan in midfield anyway as David cannot be fully fit either.

keane2097

I wouldn't hold out much hope of either of them playing.

ciarriaithuaidh

keane2097 wrote: »

I wouldn't hold out much hope of either of them playing.

No point taking the huge risk with either. Qualifier, followed hopefully by 1/4 final in next few weeks, if you lose - worst case scenario.

Best case scenario - scrape a win and you have 2/3 weeks to let them recover before 1/4 final.

keane2097

Did anyone ever figure out why Mikey Geaney got picked out of the blue last time out?

DDC1990

Nope, and while he wasn't terrible, he wasn't great either.

Better then Donnacha Walsh though having said that.

I can't imagine a situation where James O'Donaghue won't start, especially with the forwards struggling.

There was word early last week that they were fit and ready.

Buckley would need a miracle to start though IMO.

Boom__Boom

keane2097 wrote: »

Did anyone ever figure out why Mikey Geaney got picked out of the blue last time out?

Heard he did well against Meath in the challenge game.

Also a lack of other options in terms of the role he was supposed to play - Donnacha not properly fit so it was between himself and Lyne and management realise that Lyne isnt actually a forward?

Anyone want to make a guess at the starting 15 ?
- team is being named tomorrow night so not long to wait

1. Brian Kelly
2. Paul Murphy
3. Aidan O'Mahony
4. Shane Enright
5. Fionn Fitzgerald (Captain)
6. Peter Crowley
7. Killian Young
8. Anthony Maher
9. Bryan Sheehan
10. Johnathon Lyne
11. Declan O’Sullivan
12. Donnacha Walsh
13. Stephen O’Brien
14. Barry John Keane
15. Paul Geaney

Marc dropped is probably the big one but you have to ask is he being picked on form or on past performances? Picking a lad who is 35 next birthday when he hasn't been performing for a long while now is a major risk imo.
Midfield is a mine-field ; pretty much the only player I don't expect to see there is David Moran - after that it's a case of needs must - the only thing that might save us here is that Cork's midfield is no great shakes.

I'm assuming that Declan & Donnacha will be the two not fully fit lads risked.

If I had a physio's report on the squad I'd be a lot more confident about picking a team.

D'Agger

Is Kieran Leary on the panel? Haven't heard anything of him lately. I'm expecting objections to this but thoughts of trying him on the wing? I can only remember him being used in the corner

He was MOTM there when Kerry won the u21 a few years back and has a strong work ethic, he's fast and good at making space for himself. Could be a better option than Geaney?

Boom__Boom

D'Agger wrote: »

Is Kieran Leary on the panel? Haven't heard anything of him lately. I'm expecting objections to this but thoughts of trying him on the wing? I can only remember him being used in the corner

He was MOTM there when Kerry won the u21 a few years back and has a strong work ethic, he's fast and good at making space for himself. Could be a better option than Geaney?

Still on the panel.

He's not a realistic option for a wing-forward at inter-county level imo ; if anyone from the Crokes is going to be playing in the half-forward line it will be Daithi Casey.

homerjay2005

Juniors in action tomorrow night in the Munster final, with both Minors and Seniors in action on Sunday, all against Cork

Cork i assume are favourties to win the Senior and Junior?

D'Agger

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Juniors in action tomorrow night in the Munster final, with both Minors and Seniors in action on Sunday, all against Cork

Cork i assume are favourties to win the Senior and Junior?

Not Junior I'd say - they won the AI last year so have a new panel, also the fact that it's on in Tralee means it's advantage Kerry imo

Boom__Boom

D'Agger wrote: »

Not Junior I'd say - they won the AI last year so have a new panel, also the fact that it's on in Tralee means it's advantage Kerry imo

Also there are a few lads back on the panel from when Kerry won it in 2012 who were ineligible last year.

D'Agger

I've noticed that Stam isn't on the panel - is he taking a break or is he on the extended panel for the seniors or something?

Alot of names I wouldn't recognise on the Kerry team tbh - anybody in particular look promising for them during their first match?

Oregano_State

Buckley and O'Donoghue in contention for the bench at least.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-o-donoghue-and-johnny-buckley-in-line-to-return-for-munster-final-1.1850683

They’re coming, they’re coming,” says Fitzmaurice. “Johnny was back training last week, and came through it fine. We’re hoping that James will be able to do a bit more this week.
“So we’ll have to wait and see how he is after that. But I’d say they’d be better than 50-50. We’d be hoping they’d be higher. With regard to the injuries themselves, they should be okay but it’s the match sharpness, the football, and they won’t have an awful lot of that under their belt. So that could be a factor.”

Good news.

Boom__Boom

D'Agger wrote: »

I've noticed that Stam isn't on the panel - is he taking a break or is he on the extended panel for the seniors or something?

Alot of names I wouldn't recognise on the Kerry team tbh - anybody in particular look promising for them during their first match?

Taking a break afaik - it's an odd one - he did wreck for East Kerry against Legion a few weeks back - scored 1-8 ; 1-5 from play and he really looked like an inter-county player amongst club players ; meant to ask some Spa lads I know what the situation was.

There's something like 7/8 from this year's U21 team involved so a lot of younger lads.

The full-forward line looked a serious threat every time they got ball the last day - However it's hard to make much of a judgement based on the Clare game - Clare were fairly weak - it was pretty much injury time before Clare got their first score from play.

D'Agger

Boom__Boom wrote: »

Taking a break afaik - it's an odd one - he did wreck for East Kerry against Legion a few weeks back - scored 1-8 ; 1-5 from play and he really looked like an inter-county player amongst club players ; meant to ask some Spa lads I know what the situation was.

There's something like 7/8 from this year's U21 team involved so a lot of younger lads.

The full-forward line looked a serious threat every time they got ball the last day - However it's hard to make much of a judgement based on the Clare game - Clare were fairly weak - it was pretty much injury time before Clare got their first score from play.

Was thinking it would be a break alright. He's been involved with a county team every year for the past ten so he's due a rest.

He's one of the best footballers I've had the pleasure of lining out with and tbqh I think he's getting a shít time of it from the Kerry mgmt. - the guy is probably Kerrys best full forward, yet there he was last year up in Mayo laboring after Keith Higgins on the wing. He's big, strong can kick points of both feet with ease and is a free taking option - I really don't see how he has never been given a shot at 14 for the league