Kilkenny GAA Thread Part 2 **MOD NOTE POST 1***

mountgomery burns wrote: »

Of success. If this was the Louth GAA thread and they had that result, how many people would be on looking for funding to be cut.

When's the last time Louth were beaten by 70 plus points? In fact whens the last time any team was in either code? Plus over the years Killkenny have regularly be beaten by anything up to and including 30 points at minor and U21.

The fact of the matter is that there is very little interest in football in Kilkenny. I have never ever heard anyone discuss a club football match at work. There is a decent participation at up to u14 level but after that interest dies down. A lot of this is down to the success of hurling, lack of parent interest, lack of people wanting to coach, the perception that football does
not compare as a spectacle to hurling (though this is beginning to change as hurling is becoming more defensive. It is a bit nonsensical to say that because you play hurling, you should play football. Hurling has more in common with cricket or hockey. Soccer would be far more popular than footbalI in Kilkenny but is played off season. With player burnout, it makes sense to chose between hurling and football and Kilkenny has chosen hurling. In West Cork, there may not be a hurling club within sixty miles. There are numerous counties who haven't won a provincial title in either code for over two decades. At least, Kilkenny promotes one code very well

bruschi wrote: »

They did. Problem was that the subs coming on wanted to make an impact and show up well. Plus a lot of the scores were literally handed to them on a plate.

Deflection as to what other counties do with hurling is just that. Football is easy to play and fund. Kilkenny get money by fielding these teams. They clearly do not invest it in fielding these teams.

Football isn't easy to play. The skills are easier to learn but it's more difficult to execute in match situations. If lads are hurling almost exclusively for most of the year they will be destroyed in football matches, as yesterday showed. I live in east cork and see the exact same situation wrt football. We do about 3 weeks football training and people wonder why we get mowed by the proper football clubs

There is just no interest in football. It doesn't compare to hurling as a spectacle. You can't force football on kids who have zero interest in it! And why would they have interest? You'd fall asleep watching it!
What is worrying is what if there was a gifted young footballer in kk? What does he do? He has zero chance of making it or excelling ???
And maybe we don't deserve the Dublin match to be held in Nowlan Park, especially after that result yesterday but you can force football on this county and you never will!

What annoys me is that when people (especially anyone from Cork or Tipp) criticise Kilkenny for this result they will get a reply "Oh ye are just jealous of our success in hurling". It's total BS.

Must do something with Murphy in goal....that's 2 goals caused from him jumping on top of Holden.

And here is another reason why giving them the Leinster championship game is a joke.

Former GAA president Nickey Brennan says Kilkenny GAA would not have been able to transform Nowlan Park into one of the top county grounds in the country if they had a senior football team.

Brennan, who has managed both the Kilkenny hurling and football teams in the past, notes in an interview with the Irish Sun on Sunday how the Cats are saving over €100,000 a year by not fielding a senior football team. He was speaking before Kilkenny's record 71-point defeat to Wexford in yesterday's Leinster MFC opener.

“We do not have to worry about putting money into football. Take Waterford, who are close to the lowest bracket in football, their board would have up to €120,000 spent on the senior footballers every year," he says.

“We do not have to come up with that money and it helps concentrate efforts around Nowlan Park.

“That has been a piecemeal development but has been well-planned too, putting us in a position that we can get games outside Croker because of extra seating. It’s down to astute management. If you look at the Kilkenny accounts, we always made a profit but the board cut their cloth to suit.

“We are lucky we have the same astuteness on and off the [hurling] field.”

What part of "astuteness" is sending 16 and 17 years out to be made a laughing stock of?

I don't care whether Kilkenny play football or not. Hurling is a better game, and Dublin and other counties have arguably paid a price over the years for the dominance of football. So just drop it if that's their attitude.

There is also such a thing as respect for your own players and indeed your opponents.

Johngoose wrote: »

As a neutral Kilkenny were dire. You have to wonder what has gone so wrong for the team. Clare totally outpaced them and were a lot sharper on the ball. I didn't think Kilkenny were that great against Dublin either.

Dubs had a ridiculous amount of wides three weeks ago and were still within a goal of making a close game of it at the end. And Dublin are not great, albeit it was meaningless game for stripey lads.

Johngoose wrote: »

As a neutral Kilkenny were dire. You have to wonder what has gone so wrong for the team.

They had a bad day against a well drilled and fantastically organised team with skillful players on very good form, the tone of this post would suggest KK have been off the pace all year or something. That isn't the case.

I'm not sure how much was actually learned today that wasn't already self-evident. First, when some key players are missing (Paul Murphy and Conor Fogarty in particular, but also obviously Mick Fennelly and Larkin are huge) we lack options to step up from the bench. Second, we lacked a bit of purpose, I couldn't tell what our game plan was. But I find it hard to believe we'll enter the championship in the same way (if we do we'll not go far). Third, Clare are a serious outfit again (that one is a bit of a surprise but it shouldn't have been, probably wasn't to a lot of Clare lads).

Murphy had a nightmare today but he's normally better so I suppose you just have to chalk it down. Would be very worried about our full back line, Paul Murphy has been keeping it a lot more formidable looking than it really is. Wouldn't worry at all about our half back line or midfield once everyone is healthy (never a guarantee). Disappointing that none of the up and coming forwards have been able to prove themselves indispensable. John Power I actually thought was OK today, at least in patches. Not enough for championship and still inconsistent, but sure he is who he is at this point.

On a side note, sad to see Tyrell leaving so early but he had to come off, he was being roasted. It's a shame really but the writing has been on the wall for a while even if he couldn't see it at the same time the likes of Tommy Walsh and Brian Hogan could. Something tells me we've seen the last of Jackie at least as a starter. Which would be a bad way to go if true, but that's sport, not everyone gets the send off they deserve.

We're at nothing starting John Power.

As dedicated and all as he is, he has no appetite for the battle, gets bullied easy, has a poor understanding of what's going on around him, and is hopeless in tight situations where using your physicality is necessary.

An absolute gentleman, but way too timid for inter-county hurling.