Kerry GAA discussion thread #2

The_Honeybadger

You’ll have 5, possibly 6 if that team starting in the summer, lots of injuries and lads left at home for a dead rubber game. Can’t see where scores from play will come from. We could get tonked here.

munster87

keane2097 wrote: »

A truly bizarre line up. Maybe we'll end up doing something special this year and I'll have to eat my words but I'm very much ready for this set up to be over.

A pointless lineup for a pointless game. Would like to see Morley get a few minutes at least.

dobman88

Mikey Geaney must have some serious dirt on Fitzmaurice that he doesn't want in the public. How does he keep getting starts. Shouldn't be anywhere near the panel

DDC1990

Nothing more then a challenge game today.

Griffin couldn't play the sweeper role. Buckley couldn't play the full forward role. A lot of things tried out.

As much as I like to participate in the Mikey Geaney bashing, he was grand today. Got taken off at half time, but it was so we could switch to Man to Man as Griffin was struggling in the sweeper role. Griffin looked decent in the second half with the pressure off him in an unfamiliar role.

Midfield were poor enough.

Spillane was good on frees. Coffey did well, though was close to getting sent off for a pretty bad high tackle. Stephen O'Brien looked very dangerous.

Tyrone goal looked suspiciously like a square ball and Deegan kind of rode us in the second half, but they were the better team.

windy shepard henderson

DDC1990 wrote: »

Nothing more then a challenge game today.

Griffin couldn't play the sweeper role. Buckley couldn't play the full forward role. A lot of things tried out.

As much as I like to participate in the Mikey Geaney bashing, he was grand today. Got taken off at half time, but it was so we could switch to Man to Man as Griffin was struggling in the sweeper role. Griffin looked decent in the second half with the pressure off him in an unfamiliar role.

Midfield were poor enough.

Spillane was good on frees. Coffey did well, though was close to getting sent off for a pretty bad high tackle. Stephen O'Brien looked very dangerous.

Tyrone goal looked suspiciously like a square ball and Deegan kind of rode us in the second half, but they were the better team.

fair play on anyone who made the long trip up , a mate of mine from dromid pearses once informed me that tyrone were dangerous opposition in both stand , sideline and on the field after an informas club game in o'moore park a few years back :pac:

i still thing looking at kerry over the league that its been a good workout but as someone said earlier tonight , mikey geaney starting today shows poor selection from management ,maybe its his last chance...again!

DDC1990

windy shepard henderson wrote:

fair play on anyone who made the long trip up , a mate of mine from dromid pearses once informed me that tyrone were dangerous opposition in both stand , sideline and on the field after an informas club game in o'moore park a few years back

Found Tyrone supporters to be extremely welcoming and reasoned the last 2 trips to Omagh. Plenty of chat and interest in Clifford especially. Many left disappointed not to have seen him play, but a couple of lads told me they came down to the Kerry side for the warm up to see him! Amazing the hype he brings with him!

Radio5

So what has been learned from the League this year?

The_Honeybadger

Radio5 wrote: »

So what has been learned from the League this year?

I think we have found several players that are ready to play championship football, namely, Foley, Sean O’Shea, Burns and Clifford, I would also add Gavin Crowley and Tom O’Sullivan despite having seen considerably less of them due to injuries.

Others who were around the panel last year like BO’B, Jack Barry and Kevin McCarthy are all a year older and wiser and our championship team will have a younger look about it this year. Our fitness wasn’t at the level of others throughout and we tired in a lot of games but I’d expect this to be sorted by the time the serious stuff starts. Some of the youngsters in particular are very light though, and this isn’t something that can be fixed easily.

Tactically I don’t think we learned anything, which isn’t really a surprise given all the new players being introduced. We have a huge issue at the back where we are giving the opposition too much space and end up giving away cheap scorable frees as a result. Centre back is a big issue. If the management team isn’t working on something to rectify this I would be very surprised.

I’m not sure what to expect from the championship. We are very much in transition from the 2014 winning team to a new team backboned by our recent underage success. With the right system I think we can get to a semi final or final as the standard across the board isnt great at the moment, with the very notable exception of the Dubs.

Same As

The 26 I'd like to see for the 1st round of the championship.

Goalkeepers: Shane Murphy, Brian Kelly.

Defenders: Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Ronan Shanahan, Brian Beaglaoich, Shane Enright, Tadgh Morley, Gavin Crowley, Peter Crowley, Mark Griffin, Killian Young.

Midfielders: David Moran, Jack Barry, Maher.

Forwards: Paul Geaney, David Clifford, Sean O Shea, Micheal Burns, James O Donoghue, BJK, Kieran Donaghy, Daithi Casey, Darran O Sullivan, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen O Brien.

The above is omitting Fionn Fitzgerald, Tom O Sullivan, Johnny Buckley, Donnchadh Walsh, Mikey Geaney & Jack Savage all of whom featured in last year's replay against Mayo. Shane Ryan, Bryan Sheehan & Jonathan Lyne were also on the panel that day but won't be considered this season.

New players to the panel from Championship 2017: 6 - Shane Murphy, Jason Foley, Brian O Beaglaoich (injured 2017), Micheal Burns, Daithi Casey & David Clifford. Sean O Shea would be another as would Shanahan as both were on the panel but didn't feature in Championship.

Barry Dan & Maher for the 3rd midfield spot is a toss up, dependent on whether Maher will commit for the season or not. I'd like Tom O Sullivan to have gotten more game time during the league, he'll be right in the mix for the 26 also. Aside from that, I don't think there's a whole pile of guys hard done by.

keane2097

Good crack at the panel there I'd say SameAs.

On yesterday - it sounds from those who were there as if we yet again tried out a new system for half an hour then abandoned it, in this case Griffin at 6 as a sweeper/stopper?

I wrote this elsewhere lately about the management appearing to stagger from system to system, notion to notion, and none of their plans or ideas ever surviving the first encounter with resistance.

DDC1990

Radio5 wrote:

So what has been learned from the League this year?

Game time and intercounty experience for a whole panel of players who had little or no experience.

We have tried several systems for short periods of time in matches. We tried 3 different defensive set ups vs Tyrone yesterday for example.

We played a simple sweeper system with Griffin sweeping. We tried a mass defence with Jack Barry and David Moran deep, half forwards tracking runners around the middle and Griffin sweeping very deep in front of the full back line. This is a strategy for defending a lead I imagine, with Tyrone not coming near to scoring a goal under this system. Then we had the classic man to man for the whole second half where Tyrone edged away.

Fitzmaurice seems to go to man to man when he has seen all he needs to out of league matches. I really don't think the result bothered him one bit.

People get too worked up over the league and not seeing progress, but I think Fitzmaurice break a game down into smaller parts and tries several little things.

That doesn't always work.

He seems to think that Adrian Spillane is suites to playing a role vs Dublin it seems. He seems to see Mikey Geaney as a useful player vs defensive sides. He tried Johnny Buckley as Full Forward- seemingly thinking along the lines of "height like Donaghy, good score kicker and will track back better". The only problem being Buckley was clueless as how to position his body for any high ball and was blown out of it by a good Tyrone full back. Buckley also wasn't stron enough to break the first tackle when in posession.

He tried Griffin at sweeper. He's got a run stopping physique and speed which would mark him as a great sweeper. However his decision making was poor and I'm not sure he has the footballing brain that a sweeper needs. I don't think Crowley is necessarily the answer either.

If Jason Foley could get a little bit bigger in the next 12 months we could have something special. He has all the attributes needed and was a leader on the field yesterday, barking orders, calling kickouts. He definitely seems to have the right brain for the position, though he could be a classy Full Back regardless.

Most importantly I feel we got through the league without so many experienced players who can come back in and make an impact on the team: James, Darren, Killian, Maher, Donnacha, Morley (except for a half yesterday), Fionn (bar one game last week).

We whittled down the list of probables as well. We are unlikely to see a few guys until next years league.

Brendan O'Sullivan, Mikey Geaney, Jack Savage, Adrian Spillane, Brian O'Seannachain, Cormac Coffey, Matthew Flaherty, Greg Horan and Andrew Barry are unlikely to see action again this year. Most of them will continue to train with the extended panel and provide good depth for training matches.

Others like Eanna O'Conchuir, Johnny Buckley, Daithi Casey and Tom O'Sullivan will be fighting it out for the 25 and 26 jersey on the match day squad.

Personally, while there is no silverware at the end of this league I am quite happy with how the league went and that when the Super 8's come our squad will be more than ready for the challenge of 3 massive Championship games in the space of 4(?) weeks.

The_Honeybadger

Great post SameAs you are not far off there, although can anybody see a situation where Fionn (our captain) and Mikey Geaney are not getting game time in the summer?

It’s only when you see it written down you realise how much competition there is for places. I hope we stick with the younger lads and give them experience if nothing else.

@Keane would completely agree on the systems. The Mayo replay last year is probably the worst example I can think of.

DDC1990

keane2097 wrote:

I wrote this elsewhere lately about the management appearing to stagger from system to system, notion to notion, and none of their plans or ideas ever surviving the first encounter with resistance.

I think it's a ploy during the league. You really don't want to give too much away in glorified challenge games.

Dublin switch between systems with ease depending on the state of the match. That's where the aim should be as they are the best defensive team in the game at the moment.

It's not pretty watching teams sally past us when we have gone man to man because Fitzmaurice is happy with what he watched, but I firmly believe that its not ineptitude on the sidelines but an attempt to cover up some more serious defensive work.

keane2097

DDC1990 wrote: »

I think it's a ploy during the league. You really don't want to give too much away in glorified challenge games.

Dublin switch between systems with ease depending on the state of the match. That's where the aim should be as they are the best defensive team in the game at the moment.

It's not pretty watching teams sally past us when we have gone man to man because Fitzmaurice is happy with what he watched, but I firmly believe that its not ineptitude on the sidelines but an attempt to cover up some more serious defensive work.

I've lost the faith that it's some super secret masterplan over the last while for various reasons.

We appear to have no interest in cultivating and practising a consistently effective defence or kickout strategy, which means I think the best we can hope for is a one off 'gimmick' - if you know what I mean - along the lines of pushing Mahony up on kick outs v Dublin in '16 or isolating Geaney in FF v Donegal in '14.

The most credit I'm willing to give the set-up at this stage is they have something else in mind along those lines and are waiting for a chance to spring it on Dublin to squeak us over the line on a big day. That sure would be nice but it's not exactly the way to build a dynasty.

Poor_old_gill

I think theres life in Savage & Andrew Barry yet.

Savage has been riddled with injuries all spring and has been nowhere near match fit while Barry is a good player and seems to be wrote off on one performance.
I'd agree with most of the rest

DDC1990

Poor_old_gill wrote:

I think theres life in Savage & Andrew Barry yet.

Absolutely. Not writing them off at all. Savage looked great in some championship games last year but form wasn't great in the limited game time he got this year. With competition so high for place I just feel like he will struggle to make the match day 26.

With Andrew Barry I think he needs another year. He's got a great football brain and physically looks very good. I'd worry about speed for the Intercounty game but there may be a role as a sweeper.

DDC1990

keane2097 wrote:

I've lost the faith that it's some super secret masterplan over the last while for various reasons.

I agree with this. There is no system like Donegal had in 2013 or Galway have this year.

I'd go with a double sweeper system ( Gavin Crowley and Peter Crowley perhaps). Have a backline with Mark Griffin, Fionn Fitzgerald, Jason Foley, Paul Murphy. They are all guys who can counter at pace. Play Stephen O'Brien, Sean O'Shea and Kevin McCarthy as half forwards and have Clifford and Geaney alone up front. Play a mass defence and counter at pace with McCarthy and O'Brien or long footpasses to Clifford and Geaney who are strong enough to win their own ball and accurate enough to score when isolated.

Quite similar to the way Galway are playing. I'm sure Dublin will expose the flaws in that plan in the League Final next week.

Poor_old_gill

DDC1990 wrote: »

Absolutely. Not writing them off at all. Savage looked great in some championship games last year but form wasn't great in the limited game time he got this year. With competition so high for place I just feel like he will struggle to make the match day 26.

With Andrew Barry I think he needs another year. He's got a great football brain and physically looks very good. I'd worry about speed for the Intercounty game but there may be a role as a sweeper.

I know at the moment that Savage has a hip injury that is keeping him from playing- he only played about 15 mins for KOR at the weekend (didn’t travel with Kerry due to unforeseen circumstances arising early on Saturday morning).

I agree on Barry’s pace but there’s something I like about him.

Stoner

DDC1990 wrote:

Found Tyrone supporters to be extremely welcoming and reasoned the last 2 trips to Omagh.

Good laugh for us too, we stopped for a steak on the way back, very friendly locals.
It's rewarding and important to make these trips ultimately it's one of the best parts of the GAA, possibly the most important.

Always try to make the games in the North. It only seems like yesterday when we were up to Derry, now they are in division 4.

DDC1990

Amprodude wrote:

Fitzmaurice doing famous work with that Kerry team. Keep it up.

Yeah an All Ireland, a League and 5 Munsters in a row. Pretty decent return.

Are Cork safe from Division 3 yet or is it still possible ye will be playing Carlow and Offaly next year?

LooseCannonUF

DDC1990 wrote: »

Yeah an All Ireland, a League and 5 Munsters in a row. Pretty decent return.

Are Cork safe from Division 3 yet or is it still possible ye will be playing Carlow and Offaly next year?

Leix are worse than us!

Same As

Amprodude wrote: »

I was actually complementing his good work. Nice to count in the Munsters in the roll of honour. The way Kerry are going in division 1 this year you be better off down in division 2, I'm sure most would agree. Other results have kept you just up.

Isn't that one of the fundamentals of a league?

munster87

Amprodude wrote: »

I was actually complementing his good work. Nice to count in the Munsters in the roll of honour. The way Kerry are going in division 1 this year you be better off down in division 2, I'm sure most would agree. Other results have kept you just up.

Why would you be better off in division 2? You want to be playing the best teams.

JohnBoy26

Kerry have won 3 games with an experimental young team and have kept their division 1 status. At the end of the day that is a good result despite a disappointing second half of the league. This is only a young side so a few bad results is not entirely surprising either.

That poster should be more concerned with what's happening with his own county team and the alarming rate in which they have fallen from being 3 in a row division one champions to a mid to bottom table division 2 side who are now being beaten by teams you'd never imagine them being beaten by a few years back

Kerrydude1981

The road to Croke Park starts this weekend for the clubs

Castleisland Mart Championship

Next Saturday and Sunday we have games throughout the county heralding the start of the Castleisland Mart Club Championship. We begin with Round 1 games at neutral venues in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior Premier Championships and we begin with Round 2 games in the Junior Championship with first named teams at home. No extra time applies in these games. The fixtures are as follows -



Castleisland Mart Senior Club - Group 1

Sat March 31 @ 6.45pm

Austin Stacks v Kerins O Rahillys Austin Stack Park

Sun April 1 @ 4pm

Dr Crokes v An Ghaeltacht Austin Stack Park

Castleisland Mart Senior Club - Group 2

Sun April 1 @ 2.15pm

Dingle v Rathmore Austin Stack Park

Sun April 1 @ 4pm

Killarney Legion v Kenmare Shamrocks Fitzgerald Stadium





Castleisland Mart Intermediate - Group 1

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Kilcummin v Glenbeigh/G’car Beaufort

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Brosna v Miltown/C’maine Castleisland

Castleisland Mart Intermediate - Group 2

Sat March 31 @ 5pm

Ardfert v John Mitchels Austin Stack Park

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

St Marys v Dromid Waterville

Castleisland Mart Intermediate - Group 3

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Laune Rgs v Waterville Caherciveen

Glenflesk v Desmonds Lewis Rd

Castleisland Mart Intermediate - Group 4

Sun April 1 @ 2.15pm

Templenoe v Currow Fitzgerald Stadium

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Spa v Gneeveguilla Kilcummin





Castleisland Mart Junior Premier - Group 1

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Firies v Beaufort Miltown

St Senans v Annascaul Ballymac

Castleisland Mart Junior Premier - Group 2

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Skellig Rgs v Listry Glenbeigh

Ballydonoghue v Churchill Finuge

Castleisland Mart Junior Premier - Group 3

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Keel v Fossa Killorglin

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

St Mls/F’more v St Pats Cromane

Castleisland Mart Junior Premier - Group 4

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Na Gaeil v Emmets Mountcoal

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Ballymac v Finuge Connolly Park





Junior Championship Group 1 – Rd 2 – 1st named = home venue

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Tarbert v Scartaglin

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Sneem/D’nane v Castlegregory

Junior Champions Group 2 – Rd 2 – 1st named = home venue

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Kilgarvan v Cromane

Cordal v Lispole

Junior Champions Group 3 – Rd 2 – 1st named = home venue

Sat March 31 @ 5.30pm

Ballylongford v Beale

Sat March 31 @ 6.30pm

Duagh v Tuosist

Junior Champions Group 4 – Rd 2 – 1st named = home venue

Sun April 1 @ 2.30pm

Valentia v Moyvane

Ballyduff v Renard

Forge83

Who here follows the club football scene strongly?
What players do you think are good enough to be included on the Kerry squad that currently are not?
Could Tommy Walsh ever return?
What is the story with Shane Ryan? Goalie or is he strong enough to be considered outfield?

dobman88

Forge83 wrote: »

Who here follows the club football scene strongly?
What players do you think are good enough to be included on the Kerry squad that currently are not?
Could Tommy Walsh ever return?
What is the story with Shane Ryan? Goalie or is he strong enough to be considered outfield?

Shane Ryan turned down a call up to the panel.

They wanted him to play in goals for Rathmore but he's a very good full forward for them. He wasn't going to get any game time in the forwards with Kerry so he turned it down.

Forge83

dobman88 wrote: »

Shane Ryan turned down a call up to the panel.

They wanted him to play in goals for Rathmore but he's a very good full forward for them. He wasn't going to get any game time in the forwards with Kerry so he turned it down.

Is that because he doesn’t want to be a goalie or he feels he is good enough to be considered in the forwards? Scored 1-6 today for Rathmore. Kicked a 45 too.

From talking to other supporters I got the impression he has the potential to be superior to our current two keepers....

dobman88

Forge83 wrote: »

Is that because he doesn’t want to be a goalie or he feels he is good enough to be considered in the forwards? Scored 1-6 today for Rathmore. Kicked a 45 too.

From talking to other supporters I got the impression he has the potential to be superior to our current two keepers....

When I was talking to him he said the commitment was too. He wouldn't be able to play for Rathmore and when he was the Kerry lads wanted him playing for them in goals.

I think he's a fantastic keeper and did a great job for the minors but he's playing well for Rathmore. I didn't even know he scored the 1-6 before my previous comment saying he's a good forward.

I think he knows he'd be up against it going for a forward spot on the Kerry panel. He's a very level headed young lad.

dobman88

Fwiw, I think he's better than either Murphy or Kelly.