Kilkenny GAA Thread

brookville

Theres no doubt this year's management have studied last years all Ireland in particular and know themselves our half back line got thorn asunder.They have tried different players at different times on this line.I was suprised to see deegan back around the half back line against waterford i know we were missing a good few.They experimented with Lawlor on the wing for the dillion quirke match.

Cody tried him a few years ago against dublin in a championship match but it didnt work out. I know he was only trying to break into the team that time. He has improved a huge amount over the last few years.Lyng would love Lawlor out on the half back line but he's probably the best full back in the country but it's worth exploring it this weekend. Most managers realise a dominant half back line is a brilliant springboard to getting food results. Theres no doubt our half back line wasnt great last year and ultimately got exposed on the biggest day.

Tommy is very comfortable in a 2 man full back line with butler and will mind the house and padriag will move around. Blanchfield and Corcoran are the 2 wing backs most of us wanted so this will be a good test.On paper that looks a good half back line. Great to see Richie named and hopefully I'm wrong but he could be a late replacement as quick as anything. Our fowards could struggle for scores.Cork look to have better forwards but I'm sure we'll get hard work and honesty from our lads. This will be our first real test of the year. We can't be relying on drennans frees but this will be a big step up and what he has played.If its Damien cahalane that marks him he is an experienced player.We need the experienced players to lead the fight this weekend.Donnelly,deegan and mossy in attack.

Although Cork down a good few like ourselves they've plenty of very good players. Jack o connor has serious pace. Kingston is a bit hot and cold and the power chap at 14 has done well. Both teams will go at this hopefully and the weather is better. The league could desperately do two good semi finals this weekend.

Village87

2 very under strength team's Sunday. League is purely for development now

brookville

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120398413#Comment_120398413

The league as a whole has being very poor.Most teams were happy to take limericks approach last year. 3 of the 4 managers in the league semi finals are all In their first year managing.

Players won't be risked with any niggles but most teams seem to have alot of injuries. Maybe its the training but alot of teams are down bodies. With the short season unfortunately if a player picks up for example a hamstring at the wrong time they could miss the season.

I'd expect two good semi finals this weekend.We could struggle a bit for scores tomorrow but from positions 1-9 with the exception of maybe Richie Reid to come back this could look like our championship set up. Mossy,deegan and Donnelly will be starting or very close to the championship team. Since Donnelly came on against Tipp he has done well. It would be great to see him nailing down a starter jersey now. We have probably only found one player in the league so far and that's Billy drennan. As already said here he's free taking is exceptional. The long range free under the new stand was a great score In very tricky conditions. Tomorrow will be another step up and will hopefully do himself and Clifford well in the long term.

jonniegoogle

People here keep harping on about the roasting our half back line got in the final last year. I don't think there's any 3 players in the county who would have handled the Limerick half forward line that day given the amount of SPACE we allowed them to utilize(INcluding Blanchfield). I don't care what anyone says, there was no way to possibly defend Vs that attack given Cody's man on man set up. Limerick ask questions every way and especially tactically. They had their homework done and it reaped dividends. Carey will be a huge loss and was really settling in imo although Blanchfield is an able deputy.

Not sure on what team I'd put out this year but it will be very interesting. The one thing I do know is that their will be a bit of flexibility with regards to our tactics. Looking forward to the year ahead

Shocks12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397504#Comment_120397504

Yep no doubting Kenny has been poor I agree but has the class. He has bulked up a small bit too he doesn’t seem quick or agile at moment but I feel he will come good!

Deskjockey

Minors up vs Laois by 1.10 to 0.07 at half time

One of the KK wing backs sent off after 20 mins with a straight red, didn't see what happened as was following the ball that he had just released.

Deskjockey

Brian Moore causing havoc with his pace, scored a great goal

barneygumble99

2-17 to 1-10 now 25 minutes gone in second half

tbiggertycome

Scores:

C Doyle 0-10 (0-5 frees)

E Lauhof 1-1

B Moore 1-0

M Stynes 1-0

G Kelly 0-3

B McDermott 0-1

Vereker 0-1

E Cahill 0-1

All the forwards scored a midfielder and a sub 2-5 from play from the FF line is a nice contribution.

barneygumble99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120399549#Comment_120399549

Great result, delighted for Conor Doyle, from my own club, a small club but great spirt and effort from the community to make it a great club to be part of.

tbiggertycome

Deleted

Marrooned

The referee for the minor game today was some tulip, he destroyed the game from the start.the sending off of Bergin was some joke. Fair play to Niall Bergin for defending his troops but it only made him turn against us more and earned Niall a yellow card later on. The team performed very well despite the earlier setback. Did we get five or six cards to none.

briancoolcat

Jasus watching tipp Limerick tis ominous for the rest of us, they are some team when they want to turn it on. They will win the four in a row without a doubt, tipp are learning the hard way it takes time to build a competitive team, we probably can compete with them this year but we won't be beating them that's for sure.

mullinr2

I'm not sure I want to see Kilkenny in the league final. It would be an awful hammering for us. I'd be more confident if TJ and Mullen were fit but they're not.Our side of the league was poor, i feel if Kilkenny were on the other side we would have really struggled. Cork would be better placed to take on Limerick next week

hogans heroes

Ran them 2pts last year and bt them in 19.Alot has to happen for us play limerick in the All ireland series and I wouldn't be worrying about that now.winning breeds winning and confidence, so I hope we win and take it to limerick.

Grats

If Cork lose tomorrow they won't be better placed to take on Limerick!!!

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401201#Comment_120401201

Limerick are like peak Kilkenny in that if they're in the groove nobody can live with him, there's a strong case they won the All Ireland last year despite dropping their level. Won't last forever though their just maxing out on a golden generation in the 2015 and 17 u21 All Ireland winning teams.

jimmythesulk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401453#Comment_120401453

Last year was our chance to beat Limerick. It will be difficult to get back to a final and perform so good again. And then they have lynch back this year. At the moment this Limerick team look like they will go on to be the greatest team of all time.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120400758#Comment_120400758

Is it true that one of the management of the Kilkenny minors has been asked to leave his position ?

citykat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401024#Comment_120401024

I presume you’re taking the piss?

tbiggertycome

..

jimmythesulk

Kilkenny gaa and fraud goes hand in hand these days. The biggest fraud however is the treatment and lack of promotion of Gaelic football in the county.

usualstripes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120402219#Comment_120402219

Just on the football there are better senior and intermediate clubs now than there have been for a long time. Mullinavat, being the standard bearers for the last 7 or 8 years could have gotten to a leinster club final this year had they been able to take their scores v fethard on sea in the semi final in callan. The standard is improving. I'm not sure why the county board didn't enter a team in this year's national football league. Maybe someone can explain. They're in the junior championship again after winning it last year. Doesn't make sense to me. Surely we could compete with the likes of London, New York, Waterford and a few more?

jimmythesulk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120402381#Comment_120402381

Do we have a minor football team this year? under 20 team?

usualstripes

A big improvement in the 1st half from last week. More urgency and better striking but we're still being cleaned out in our half forward line with high balls. Mossy and donnelly doing trojan work. Clifford, hogan, deegan and drennan need to get more possession and control. Drennan clinical on the frees.

kksaints

Goal in it at halftime in a fairly enjoyable game. Drennan excellent from frees not so good from play although he did help set up our goal with a really good pass to Deegan who set up Keoghan to finish. Blanchfield did well at the start although he takes too much out of the ball often. Lawlor has done well at half back. Lack of pace in the backline is an issue, only Lawlor has any real pace. Puckouts are also a problem, Cork are getting good clean ball from theirs, we unless we go to the full backline are not. Murphy struggles to target players who are pass the 40. Richie Hogan is playing as a 3rd midfielder essentially, got a good point right at the start but hasn't done much since bar get stung by a very harsh overcarrying call. Donnelly dropped a few short at the start but hit over two fine scores towards the end of the half. Cork's pace is dangerous and the match is still well up for grabs.

usualstripes

As per the end if the 1st half a big improvement on last week. A plus on top of that was that we created 5 or 6 goal chances. It will all count for nothing though unless we stop with the high deliveries into the half forward line. I counted one in the whole game we won and that was deegan In the 1st half. Aside from that we were totally cleaned out with these deliveries. Backs hurled well defensively but take the passing to the next level lads. Make our half forward line move into space. When we went a man up we missed about 7 or 8 handy scores so we need to be more clinical but all in all a much better fare. Another significant step up next day out and if we don't tidy up on these things then we could be in for a tough day. Hogan, after a great start went out of the game but got a nasty belt on the ear. Ditto drennan, how it was only a yellow I don't know. Drennan, scoring 1-13 in total is absolutely clinical and his open play will improve. A lovely ball through to Clifford for a goal chance. Darragh corcoran struggling to get to the pace. Lawlor and blanchfield good today. Fogarty good aswell. Hoping mullen, Billy and eoin Cody available v Limerick.

I've been very pleasantly surprised with Lyng and the squad so far. League final is a fantastic start.

Plenty of fellas being given a run out too.

Pigeon Chaser

Thought we were excellent today. Well done to all.

Only negative is we didn't push on and put the game out of sight with the numerical advantage. We allowed the game lose its shape and had some poor misses and made some bad decisions.

Drennan was coolness personified taking the penalty.

Don't know who got TG4 man of the match, but I hope it was Tommy Walsh. I thought he was wonderful and gives us a legitimate option to push Huw Lawlor forward.

Its so positive to see us playing with our heads up, trying to pick the correct pass. Still lots of mistakes but that's ok. We are going in the right direction.

Great to get the chance to test ourselves against Limerick. We are in bonus territory now with nothing to lose. Obviously Limerick will have their eyes on the Munster championship but they won't want to lose a final so it's ideal preparation for us.

Butterbeans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403391#Comment_120403391

Billy Drennan got MOTM on TG4. He has some radar, but I would have liked to see Tommy Walsh get it too, thought he was very good. But certainly wouldn't begrudge Billy the accolade. He took the penalty very well, so calm with the frees too, future is bright for him, he's had a great league so far.