Kilkenny GAA Thread Part 3 **MOD NOTE POST 1***

Shamrocks were clinical and professional about their job.but Thomas's were poor. Daly had a interesting article today about putting Galway champions in Leinster. If they did I don't think they would make a club final for a while.
Talk of young guys going straight into championship teams under Cody just won't happen let them win their u20 if they can.
If Joey gets a grip on the number 3 shirt I don't think he will be moved. The Delaney card could give him that opportunity. He has a allstar for that job.Henry will get a lot of the plaudits for yesterday but His big brother is as good a hurling coach as their is .he has some cv

kilkennyboy wrote: »

Shamrocks were clinical and professional about their job.but Thomas's were poor. Daly had a interesting article today about putting Galway champions in Leinster. If they did I don't think they would make a club final for a while.
Talk of young guys going straight into championship teams under Cody just won't happen let them win their u20 if they can.
If Joey gets a grip on the number 3 shirt I don't think he will be moved. The Delaney card could give him that opportunity. He has a allstar for that job.Henry will get a lot of the plaudits for yesterday but His big brother is as good a hurling coach as their is .he has some cv

He has made an exception for players like Delaney, Walsh, Shefflin and Fitzpatrick, Adrian Mullen may not make the championship team but I think he will be very close to it.

With everyone fit we have a good squad with good options.mullen has more talent than malone and connor martin put together and should be in any matchday squad.for me be is better than mossy.dublin could reach league final or even win it and will make 1st round game a belter.myself and others put leahy and maher together in midfield yet cody never seems to start them together anyone offer a reason why he doesn"t

dubcat51 wrote: »

With everyone fit we have a good squad with good options.mullen has more talent than malone and connor martin put together and should be in any matchday squad.for me be is better than mossy.dublin could reach league final or even win it and will make 1st round game a belter.myself and others put leahy and maher together in midfield yet cody never seems to start them together anyone offer a reason why he doesn"t

Would he think they are two similar type hurlers, attack minded who like to take a score on the run from midfield possible leaving gaps behind them? Leahy more so than Maher.
Don’t get me wrong two very good hurlers, but he seems to like a Conor Fogarty/michael fennelly type hurler in midfield who falls back and hurls in front of the half back line too,

Just my opinion though.

7 weeks until the massive 1st round Leinster v Dublin. Ballyhale players have really put themselves into contention, lads like the 2 Mullen's and Colin Fennelly really playing out of there skin. Very good opportunity for all squad players to put there hands up in training and club matches over the next few weeks.

Very poor league for Kilkenny.

has any player stood up in the league this year?

Eoin Muprhy, Conor Delaney any others?

Forwards very poor, no goal threat all league

Topcat32 wrote: »

Ger Aylward before he got injured, Liam Blanchfield looked good despite limited playing time, Walter Walsh looks in good shape, Huw Lawlor looked promising, nobody really starred to be fair. Lads like Tommy Walsh just about survived with their reputation intact without enhancing it.

How many are on the panel now? Panel for the first time ever looks easier to get on than get off it.

Of course it is easier to get on to the senior panel now, that's really stating the obvious.

There will be 30, or so, players named on the Championship panel soon. Whoever those players are need our support more than ever. There's no point in nit picking at individuals as each one will contribute what ever they can. The day is gone when a starting 15 will finish a game. It's a panel game more than ever before.

Look at Limerick and Galway, All Ireland Finalists, each getting just ONE All Star in the forwards. That reflects the way the game is gone.

I expect the new young players to step up and blossom when a few more experienced players are involved. It's been a tough, learning, experience for the players in the league. That experience will stand to them.

Brasdil has looked sharp.during his cameo appearnces and last saturday wherevhe got some good game time.lawlor looked promising but injured curtailed him.other than lawlor ger loojed very sharp and again he got injured.will be interesting in the coming weeks.

Joe Daly wrote: »

Niall Brasill gave a good account of himself last Saturday , had the vision to pick out players with perfect passes he scored three points himself. It must be very hard for a player when they are dropped after all they put in the hard work graft during the winter it just does not happen.

Was Nial dropped?? Is he still U20?

Joe Daly wrote: »

I find that very hard to understand if he was dropped, he is U20 this year I thought .

He along with Mullen is u20 this year.just the way you said it i thought you heard he was dropped i would of thought he was a little in front of some in the pecking order.id try carry him and get experience into him this year.

Update from Kilkenny People today, says 7 from the Shamrocks will be joining up with the Kilkenny squad TJ & Richie Reid, Colin Fennelly, Joey Holden, Evan Shefflin & Darren & Adrian Mullen.
Brian Cody said he hoped Cillian Buckley, would be able to resume hurling shortly, but there was no deadline.
Padraig Walsh missed the Cork match with a muscle strain, and Ger Aylward is all but ready go after picking up a hamstring injury.
Robert Lennon had surgery on a hip injury, so he will be out of action for a while.

Delighted to see all the Shamrocks lads named in the panel. It would have been no harm to have Eoin Cody in there too, though he's still a bit young. Richie Reid (particularly when he was in midfield) and Adrian Mullen were excellent in the club final, would love both of them to push on now and challenge for a starting spot come championship. There are plenty of jerseys up for grabs.

Great to hear that Buckley isn't far away too. Seems like we're building a good panel, but we really need a few lads to step up out of the pack and make some jerseys their own. Hard to pick our best 15, performances are a bit up and down, and lots of lads with similar abilities.

I think Richie Reid is a serious option for a place in the starting team - either at midfield or even no 7. He strikes the ball really well which would help when we are building out from the back with short passes. He is obviously well able to take a score too. As has been pointed out there are a lot of places up for grabs. Kilkenny had a poor league really overall so the Ballyhale lads have not lost any ground.

I think Evan Shefflin will be there as a long term option - this year might be a bit too soon. Joey Holden could start the first day if Conor Delaney is banned and who knows, he could make the position his own if he goes well enough. Conor Delaney has to start somewhere when he comes back though.

Reflecting back on the club final you have to wonder about the style of hurling Ballyhale played on the day. Their positioning and use of space was very clever. They executed everything really well. They mixed the short with the long and always seemed to pick the right option. While inter county is admittedly another level up with sweepers widespread, I would nontheless love to see the county impose a similar type of hurling this summer. There are a number of ways of dealing with the blanket defences and I want to see us lead the charge in eliminating that scourge for our great, great game.

JJs Left Hand wrote: »

Essentially Ballyhale played the same hurling as Kilkenny though didn't they? The ball going into the forwards was still cross field balls on top of the full forward line or direct ball to Colin. The difference was that Thomas' didn't have the bodies back or around the middle that county teams do. I'd have to watch it back though as I'm only going from memory.

I thought TJs comments about Henry adapting to modern hurling was interesting....

Re: Joey, I'm a fan of his at corner back and never agreed with the criticism which I thought was ridiculous but I think mentally both him and Cody won't want to put him back at full back.

The quality of ball given to the forward line was very good and much different to how Kilkenny have been playing. There was a lot less high hopeful 50/50 balls lumped in, and much more low ball to the forward who was out in front of his man, or into space. Kilkenny have a lot less players who can win their own ball in the air (probably only Donnelly, TJ and Wally can do it consistently). I'd back the likes of Leahy, Ryan, etc to do serious damage with better quality ball and less 50/50s (or worse). I think that's why we go long periods where our forwards can't win a ball when they are outnumbered by the sweeper system.

Obviously it's easier to give your forwards better quality ball when you are dominant in midfield and defense like Ballyhale were, but there was a nice mixture between short, long, finding free men in better positions and finding balls into space where the forward was favourite to win.

Village87 wrote: »

Surely Ballyhale have 4/5 players to start for Kilkenny. Very sharp and clever on the ball compared to that of Kilkenny during the league. Heard a few players dropped during the week. Plenty of players in there must be looking over there shoulder as they have got loads of chances and have not took there chances. Players like Kevin Kelly, Conor o’ Shea, Luke Scanlon, Jason Cleere, Rob Lennon to think off the top of my head.

who was dropped?they said conor o shea and pat lyng and conor martin are gone?