Kerry GAA discussion thread #2

dobman88

munster87 wrote: »

Honestly Maher was far from a calm presence when he came on in the Galway game. I think the way forward might be two players who can carry the ball at midfield. You see McAuley/McCarthy doing it for Dublin beside Fenton, who is deceptively pacey himself.

Yeah the back pass in that game was terrible but he had just come into the game in hard conditions and the kick out to him was terrible so I gave him a pass for that. After another mistake in that game he won two clean kick outs and got us on the front foot. He did the same today and kicked a nice point too.

Xenophile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsAw5C7-PoQ

Shane12

The Monaghan backs got away with absolute murder off the ball, Fair play to clifford and the rest of the forwards for keeping the heads.

Why oh why did he drop Murphy, he is a far superior keeper to Kelly. Kelly is unable to find a target outside 40 yards his trajectory is too high allowing the opposition to get closer to the intended target.

Poor performance but have to admire the bit of fight to comeback.

homerjay2005

sitting down to a beer not long in the door from Clones......emotions higher at the end that we all thought.

still there, just about..

Bass Reeves

Got to watch the recording of the game. I was stuck at work and could only get odd updates on the internet..

Marc Griffin did a Shane Enright on it for the first goal was caught out of position and then sat on his backside. Donaghy had no influence on the game IMO. Darren O'S was lost when he came hardly seems to touch the ball in 25 minutes bar a Hail Mary ball into Donaghy. If we are lucky enough(or unlucky enough) to get out of the group we better pray that Morley, Foley and Gavin Crowley are over there injuries. We need to find 1-2 more forwards and at least one more midfielder.

Peter Crowley is immense at CB if it was me, I am not sure if I put Morley FB or into midfield as a third man to win lose ball but not sure if it would work. We were lucky to have stayed in the game but if you picked 6 backs from Foley, O'Sullivan, Shanahan, White, Peter Crowley,Morley and Paul Murphy I think your defence would be solid enough. Kelly's kickouts were brutal how they let the lad from Rathmore walk away dumbfounds me. Midfield is a connundrum we really need to shore it up. Hard in a way to ask two lads to win the battle there by themselves. Put someone like Morley or Sean O'Se in as a third man but we would miss O'Se from CF and I think we need him there.

If we get out of the group we would need Geaney to come good, along with Clifford, O'Brien and O'Se, it would mean we would need one more forward, would O'Donoghue do as a playmaker or would you play Burns or Kevin Mac.

It is the bench that is the issue all we have is O'Bealoigh, Burns and McCarthy. I just am not sure what influence in a game that Donaghy and Maher would have. Maher was Ok today but a disaster last Sunday. I do not have much Confidence on Killian and Marc and the of the Golden oldies I am not going to even mention. Forget about a sweeper and go man to man if we get out of the group.

C__MC

Lads was in clones.

Really thought Kerry would respond today but it was dreadful. The goal papering over cracks.

Geaney off and back on? Depending on Donaghy at 35? The keeper was shocking. As was number 3. Darren o Sullivan a spent force.

The goal saved Eamon Fitzmaurice an embarrassing two weeks build up to
A dead rubber, but Kerry’s season is done and dusted as is Fitzmaurice term. Their season hangs by a slim slim thread

Kingdom

conor05 wrote: »

It’s a sad state of affairs for Kerry when a guy just out of minor has single handedly dragged them through the super 8s.

There is very little heart in this Kerry team.

David Clifford has the heart of a lion!!

Was in clones today. Have just finished watching the game again to check a few things.

Your post make a 3 statements. 1 is debatable. 1 is absolutley true and 1 is Absolute horse****.

There's serious heart in that team. The problem is that it's with fellas you wouldn't expect it from.

The_Honeybadger

Our experienced lads look stuck to the ground and completely out of form. A lot of these lads helped dig out an impossible All Ireland in 2014 and I dont believe they have become bad players or that they lack heart all of a sudden.

When one or two players are out of form you’d say fair enough but we seem to have the guts of the team in that boat, even the ultra reliable Paul Murphy looks out of sorts. Are they over trained or what is going on? I heard that Joe O’Connor has left the setup, does anybody know if there is any truth in this? It looked like a real coup to secure his services at the time.

I don’t like criticising players or managers but Fitzmaurice looked completely lost on the sideline the past two weeks, like he can’t believe what he is watching, it’s very noticeable. Unless there is a miraculous turnaround very soon it’s hard to see him surviving this bad run. The drastic tactical changes from game to game are really hard to countenance and I definitely felt that it got to the players last week.

Hopefully we can get back on track v Kildare and Galway will do us a favour but I think Dublin or Tyrone/Donegal would walk through us at the moment.

Bass Reeves

dobman88 wrote: »

Think Maher is worth a shot now for the last game at least. He'd be a calm presence, good in the air and have Jack Barry to do the running.

He is too slow and would not last the pace of the game. The mark he won was uncontested. I imagine he was not on Monoghan priorty list for marking.

Kingdom

Bass Reeves wrote: »

He is too slow and would not last the pace of the game. The mark he won was uncontested. I imagine he was not on Monoghan priorty list for marking.

Anthony Maher is worth a shot for whatever games remain. If you watched when he came on today he was definitely at the pitch of the game. Ignore the 5 min brainfart he had against Galway - because to be honest his career deserves for that be ignored- leave that aside, his distribution of the football is always sensible and always accurate. Some.of his point scoring is exceptional but he plays a high percentage rate.

Is he a 70 min all.action man? No. But unfortunately David Moran has regressed.hugely in these past two games. He improved yesterday as the game wore on but didnt have really have the impact you'd expect of someone of his ability. If prefer to see as another poster mentions Maher as the sitter and Barry doing the legs.

Bass Reeves

Kingdom wrote: »

Anthony Maher is worth a shot for whatever games remain. If you watched when he came on today he was definitely at the pitch of the game. Ignore the 5 min brainfart he had against Galway - because to be honest his career deserves for that be ignored- leave that aside, his distribution of the football is always sensible and always accurate. Some.of his point scoring is exceptional but he plays a high percentage rate.

Is he a 70 min all.action man? No. But unfortunately David Moran has regressed.hugely in these past two games. He improved yesterday as the game wore on but didnt have really have the impact you'd expect of someone of his ability. If prefer to see as another poster mentions Maher as the sitter and Barry doing the legs.

He is too static. Same as Donaghy. He would not be at the pace of the game if started. Same as Donaghy you cannot expect other players to do the running for you. For all Moran flaws and poor play himself and Barry are the only option at midfield at present because of the bench.

This idea that a midfielder can be a sitter from the start of the game is seriously flawed. He be exposed. Neither of our midfielders had a good game yesterday but Maher is not the answer.

thesultan

dobman88 wrote: »

Stoner wrote: »

What a come back Maher coming on getting a mark and a score. I'd written him off. Great goal, great fight back.

Did very well today, won some good ball last week too after an initial mess up. Should be in for Moran who just can't keep a cool head and always looking for the Hollywood pass/score. Time on the clock today to work the ball back to O Donoghue or Clifford and he just kicks it to nowhere.

Fairly sure it was O'Brien that had his hands in the air calling for a pass on the stand side. One could see him hitting his hands off the ground in frustration.

Prop Joe

Fair play yo Mikey Sheehy and Co. who slates Kerry fans about travelling and when a few Kerry supporters travel up and go on the field afterwards he ushers them away from them..Class act.

Also very useful having over 40 guys training in Currans when the theory is bring back on P.Geaney

Bass Reeves

Prop Joe wrote: »

Fair play yo Mikey Sheehy and Co. who slates Kerry fans about travelling and when a few Kerry supporters travel up and go on the field afterwards he ushers them away from them..Class act.

Also very useful having over 40 guys training in Currans when the theory is bring back on P.Geaney

When you put the wrong lads on the bench what can you do. If Morley was still injured why was he named on the bench. If you have no condidence in players why have them older players on the bench.

dobman88

Bass Reeves wrote: »

When you put the wrong lads on the bench what can you do. If Morley was still injured why was he named on the bench. If you have no condidence in players why have them older players on the bench.

Barry John Keane!

That man is good for at least 2 or 3 points every game no matter how late he comes on. Must be very frustrating for him

Fr Tod Umptious

dobman88 wrote: »

Barry John Keane!

That man is good for at least 2 or 3 points every game no matter how late he comes on. Must be very frustrating for him

BJK was exactly the man for that situation

Always good for a point or two at this stage of the game.

Fitzmaurice's decisions become more bizzare by the week

siblers

Barry John Keane is the exact kind of player you want from the bench, his scoring ratio to minutes played off the bench must be very good but it's not just that, he has a great attitude too, pure dogged and will work his bollocks off, a very nice footballer too. Would probably stroll onto nearly any other team in the country/

I laughed when Geaney was brought back on, it sums up how clueless Fitzmaurice is when it comes to using his bench

Bass Reeves

dobman88 wrote: »

Barry John Keane!

That man is good for at least 2 or 3 points every game no matter how late he comes on. Must be very frustrating for him

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

BJK was exactly the man for that situation

Always good for a point or two at this stage of the game.

Fitzmaurice's decisions become more bizzare by the week

siblers wrote: »

Barry John Keane is the exact kind of player you want from the bench, his scoring ratio to minutes played off the bench must be very good but it's not just that, he has a great attitude too, pure dogged and will work his bollocks off, a very nice footballer too. Would probably stroll onto nearly any other team in the country/

I laughed when Geaney was brought back on, it sums up how clueless Fitzmaurice is when it comes to using his bench

BJK looked ordinary the last day and against Cork. You can only be a super sub for so long. TBH looking at Marc,BJK, Donnacha and Maher they look like lads that are straight out of the Gym and have no conditioning done just strenght work.

Bench and panel full of either old lads over thirty that are past it or lads in the 23-28 age group who in general are not being used in championship. Hard to fingure out

dobman88

Bass Reeves wrote: »

BJK looked ordinary the last day and against Cork. You can only be a super sub for so long. TBH looking at Marc,BJK, Donnacha and Maher they look like lads that are straight out of the Gym and have no conditioning done just strenght work.

Bench and panel full of either old lads over thirty that are past it or lads in the 23-28 age group who in general are not being used in championship. Hard to fingure out

That's the second time you've mentioned Marc, who are you talking about? Mark Griffin started the match. Nobody else called Marc on the panel. Marc O Se retired in case that's who you're on about lol

Bass Reeves

dobman88 wrote: »

That's the second time you've mentioned Marc, who are you talking about? Mark Griffin started the match. Nobody else called Marc on the panel. Marc O Se retired in case that's who you're on about lol

Sorry misspelling Mark griffin.

dobman88

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Sorry misspelling Mark griffin.

Had me second guessing myself for a minute lol.

I guess that's the way the game is gone now, a lot of focus on gym work. Saw a pic of Seanie Shea yesterday from when he won the minor and the difference to him in two short years is incredible. Arms like a chickens legs back then.

I'm a big fan of BJK as it is so would be biased giving an opinion on him but I think he can feel very hard done by on Sunday. Could never question his effort or commitment, he just came through at the wrong time with the likes of Geaney, JOD and now Clifford. He walks onto any other team in the country, bar Dublin imo.

dobman88

Also the conditioning has gone to pot since Cian O Neill left. Kildare look like one of the fittest teams in the country, they just don't have the footballers to match it.

cms88

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

BJK was exactly the man for that situation

Always good for a point or two at this stage of the game.

Fitzmaurice's decisions become more bizzare by the week

In resent times i've been critical of him, but yesterday was the game for him. At the very end he would have at least gone for a shot, may not have worked but the game would have been over anyway

TITANIUM.

Lads I know there's allot of doom and gloom around at the moment but looking at the bigger picture maybe things are so bad. Maybe even positive. We all knew this was going to be the biggest transitional year in a long time so expectations should really be tempered. 4 of the new crop seem to have bedded in extremely well and extremely quickly. O'Shea O'Suillivan white and Clifford. And to be fair the rest of the new lads are doing about as well as can be expected for lads finding there feet.
There bound to learn allot from games like yesterday. There going to have to get used to Northdys belting the crap outta them, Defending hard with 1 or 2 really good forwards staying up front to do the damage.

It's great to see a few hardy attacking backs coming through. a few have already pointed out it's the established lads that are just not at it yet. Maybe it's just a coincidental dip in form , we'll just have to wait and see.
It's great we have at least 1 more game to expose them lads to championship more and you never know we might have more then just the 1 game left. If a few more of our bigger names start firing then things could get very interesting.

Fr Tod Umptious

TITANIUM. wrote: »

Lads I know there's allot of doom and gloom around at the moment but looking at the bigger picture maybe things are so bad. Maybe even positive. We all knew this was going to be the biggest transitional year in a long time so expectations should really be tempered. 4 of the new crop seem to have bedded in extremely well and extremely quickly. O'Shea O'Suillivan white and Clifford. And to be fair the rest of the new lads are doing about as well as can be expected for lads finding there feet.
There bound to learn allot from games like yesterday. There going to have to get used to Northdys belting the crap outta them, Defending hard with 1 or 2 really good forwards staying up front to do the damage.

It's great to see a few hardy attacking backs coming through. a few have already pointed out it's the established lads that are just not at it yet. Maybe it's just a coincidental dip in form , we'll just have to wait and see.
It's great we have at least 1 more game to expose them lads to championship more and you never know we might have more then just the 1 game left. If a few more of our bigger names start firing then things could get very interesting.

I think a lot of Kerry fans have tempered their expectations, but both the national media and the local Kerry media have been very quick to hail this team as the complete package more than once.

After they beat Dublin in the league final last year many were saying they had for the mix right and were a force.

Terrece Talk spent all last summer talking about what Kerry needed to do to beat Dublin, until they realised on the August Bank holiday Monday that they would have to beat Mayo first.

This year after the loss to Mayo, the reappointment of Fitzmaurice and a average league campaign it only took big wins v Clare and Cork to have the same local and national characters back on the bandwagon announcing their arrival as a serious threat to Dublin.

But as the last two weeks have shown, they are still a good bit off.

They have the makings of a great team for years to come, but they will not progress this year and I'd seriously doubt their progression next year if the same management team is in place.

Radio5

Your last sentence is key there. This management team do not appear to have what it takes to bring the panel forward. It was largely thanks to all of Monaghan's many wides that Clifford's goal, wonderful and all as it was, made any difference to the result. The team need a new voice , many of them have been listening to the same manager for 6 seasons now and if the body language is anything to go by, there is very little left there in terms of motivation or inspiration.

Bass Reeves

dobman88 wrote: »

Had me second guessing myself for a minute lol.

I guess that's the way the game is gone now, a lot of focus on gym work. Saw a pic of Seanie Shea yesterday from when he won the minor and the difference to him in two short years is incredible. Arms like a chickens legs back then.

I'm a big fan of BJK as it is so would be biased giving an opinion on him but I think he can feel very hard done by on Sunday. Could never question his effort or commitment, he just came through at the wrong time with the likes of Geaney, JOD and now Clifford. He walks onto any other team in the country, bar Dublin imo.

Every payer has to do gym work. But as you start palying games the focus on gym works changes from strengt to more conditioning. The young lads all appear to be grand as do the like of Crowley, Murphy JOD Stephen O'B.

However Mark, Killian, Donacha and JBK all look like they have only done strenght work. It looks like the plan was to have them fit for an All Ireland in September not the end of August. They all look like they are carrying 4-8 pounds of muscle that they should not be carrying.

It like the way some lads can look at a horses in a parade ring they know the if something is not right. I understand a little bit about weight, conditioning, training what happen and when. I just think them four are carrying the wrong sort of muscle for the stage we are in the championship

TCDStudent1

siblers wrote: »

Barry John Keane is the exact kind of player you want from the bench, his scoring ratio to minutes played off the bench must be very good but it's not just that, he has a great attitude too, pure dogged and will work his bollocks off, a very nice footballer too. Would probably stroll onto nearly any other team in the country/

I laughed when Geaney was brought back on, it sums up how clueless Fitzmaurice is when it comes to using his bench

Geaney did not play well. However, he is a quality player and at that stage Kerry needed a goal. Made a lot of sense to me to throw him back on for the last minute as he is still a guy who might get you a goal.

wonga77

and they are 4 lads that dont really need to be doing heavy weight training at this stage of their careers. There needs to be a balance between strength and conditioning and the skills of the game

Mr. Incognito

Personally I think Fitzmaurice is doing a good job and dont wish to see any change and dont understand the armchair experts calling for his head.