Kilkenny GAA Thread

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403468#Comment_120403468

An outstanding talent. So composed on the ball during play also. Great to see players of his talent come through. Cannot be left off the team going forward.

Cork were terrible, no backbone. Joyce at centre back was very disappointing, no presence and pushed aside for 3/4 crucial balls that broke in his area, Cork wont be getting out of Munster based on today.

Lehane, O’Connell, Twomey, Roche, C Calahane, Power and Jack O connor are not championship hurlers for 2023 imo, no character when they needed it. Might get away with 1/2 of that lot

Grats

Cork were expected to beat Kilkenny, especially with four certs in our forwards unavailable. Having topped the "harder" group they were hotly tipped to go all the way and were, apparently, best placed to take on Limerick. They also have great talent in the panel having recently won 2 Under 20 Finals. Wonderful win for us with all the players working their socks off.

briancoolcat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403564#Comment_120403564

Im saying it with the last few years there is something really lacking in Cork, they have lost the steel that Cork teams of old used to have. Yes they are still producing lovely stickmen but every county at the top end have very good hurlers, I think their problem stems from their senior club championship, dandy hurlers running around great passing and lovely scores but absolutely no physicality whatsoever, definately not enough when they come up against top county teams that will will wire in to them.Their famine is going to last a lot longer until they get some real steel in to their hurlers.

Grats

Kilkenny Under 20s are away to Wexford the day before the League Final. I would like to see Billy Drennan, T Clifford and G Dunne turn out for the Under 20 team and let the senior players do the harder graft versus Limerick.

brookville

I know cork carry a bit of arrogance but from talking to a few supporters around town they fully expected to beat kk before the game.

The fight and sending off probably took a bit of sting out of the game but there's no doubt we hurled well and should of won by more. Deegan should of scored that goal and Kenny despite hurling well when he came on should of either brought that ball in or put it over the bar. Midfield today hurled well and contributed 3 points from play.

Drennan despite being tightly marked and only getting a point from play showed great great vision for Clifford's points. He's not greedy which is something I like. He sent the keeper the wrong way despite getting a slap across the ear and the messing that went on before the penalty with it being retaken.

Butler and Lawlor were huge helps in defense but Tommy was brilliant. I'd like to give that back 9 another go with Richie Reid coming in for Corcoran who I thought was under pressure at times.

Great to see tj,2x Mullens and the injured lads pucking around before the match. The match against limerick is a great test before the championship no matter what happens.

kksaints

Have to be pleased with the win. Performance was good but there's still a good bit to work on. Was slightly concerned with how we let Cork off the hook somewhat when they went down to 14. Drennan was super accurate from frees, he was outmuscled and outpaced at times in open play but he does have the knack of been in the right place to pick up loose balls from rucks and from deflected balls. Great vision to pick out free players also, once he bulks up a little bit more he'll be a cracking player. Thought Tommy Walsh and Butler had fine games in the full back line, Cork's movement in midfield and half forward line caused issues at times but Huw Lawlor did a good job at centre back and has definitely left Lyng with food for thought at to leaving him at half back. Donnelly gets through a mountain of work and hit two fine scores but he really should be scoring at least two points more per game than he does, he drops a ridiculous amount of his shots short.

On the negative side Hogan as the 3rd midfielder didn't work, he didn't get on the ball enough and bar a great point at the start didn't do a huge amount with what he got. Puckouts both ways are an issue, we left for too much space for Cork players to pick up their own puckouts in the the first half, tightened up a bit in the 2nd half but it was still worrying to see just how easy it was for Cork to get the ball from the puckouts with a bit of space. Our own weren't great, still far too many hit and hopes when we don't go to the full backline. Lack of pace throughout the team is a bit noticeable also, only Lawlor and Billy Ryan stand out with good pace. While not exactly slow, a lot of our players are fairly one paced.

JJs Left Hand

Happy with that. Should've been easier in the end with Deegan and Donnellys goal chances and Kenny inexplicably shooting for goal from the guts of 30 yards when a point puts you 6 points / 2 scores up.

Like everyone else I thought Tommy was excellent full back. Himself and PW have a serious knack of flicking the ball away from their men which is useful because neither are blessed with recovery pace.

Thought Deegan left a lot of scores behind him and same with a couple dropped short from Donnelly. Drennan probably needs to be more involved from open play but that will come with time. Balls of steel though.

Good to get the win and I think that game will bring a few of our lads on a lot. A good few boys gasping by the end of it. Going in as 7 or 8 point underdogs into the final but someone has to have a go so may as well be us.

brookville

Kk u20 play Wexford the day before the league final. Could we see tj,Richie,Cody,Billy Ryan and 2xmullen back and the 3 u20 lads concentrate a few weeks with that?the 7 day rule means they can't really do both given the fixtures. I also think we're playing a u20 match before a senior match in nowlan Park not sure which one it is though.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403731#Comment_120403731

Yes, I posted a similar post earlier where I said I'd like to see the 3 under 20s line out for Under 20 match against Wexford. The seniors play Westmeath in the opening round of the Leinster Championship with the under 20s taking on Dublin as a curtain raiser.

Comerman

Where are those games on?

Grats

On Good Friday Kilkenny v Galway in minor in Nowlan Park.

Easter Saturday in Wexford , Kilkenny v Wexford in Under 21.

Easter Sunday League Final.

Pigeon Chaser

Good point JJ. Most of our lads were gassed near the end ... Indicative of a problem with conditioning? Or suggests some heavy recent training? We haven't been found wanting in the championship before to be fair....

hogans heroes

Good win and great to see so many players used during the league.to win today with tj 2x mullens walter billy ryan, richie reid all watching on vives us a really strong squad.looking forward to taking on limerick and couldnt have better preparation for championship.

conor05

I agree about Corks SHC, it is the softest of the top 9 SHC in the country.

I remember watching Midleton and Douglas and it was like non contact hurling and a shoot out for Lehane and Kingston.

The winners of the Antrim SHC would beat the winners of the Cork SHC no questions asked.

Its odd because the Cork Intermediate and Junior champs are very tough physical affairs.

But anyway that’s their issue but them lads are been coached arseways in their senior clubs and then expected to perform against hardened hurlers from Limerick and Kilkenny.

conor05

Kenny should of tapped it over but thought he was absolutely outstanding when he came on.

He get on a serious amount of ball.

Comerman

Agreed. Does anyone know why the Cork full back got the red card??

sportsmaddad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380905#Comment_120380905

I watched Limerick Tipp yesterday and did a count of the handpass usage only in the 2nd half. By my count the ratio of Handpasses / Strikes with the hurl was: LK 34/34, TIPP 28/30.

I just counted how both teams released the ball from possession in the hand situations. Excluding goalkeeper puckouts and no ground strikes, pretty rare anyway. Strikes with the hurl ranged from short flicks to long range point attempts. Handpasses were almost all within about 5m or so.

Not a scientific study by any measure, but based on this random sample the ratio could be close to 50/50. And I'm not just picking on Limerick or Tipp, yes LK are the current masters of the technique but others aren't far behind. If this was representative it would back up the feeling that the handpass is becoming hugely prolific and fundamentally changing the game.

I see comments here that refs just need to enforce the handpass rule as it is. The problem is that a ref can really only make a judgement call on those ones right in front of him. The majority of the time they're too far away, obstructed view etc. There was an attempt a couple of years ago to really enforce the 'clear striking action' requirement but there was lots of media backlash and it was short lived.

So I think it'd take a change to the rule definition or, for example, two consecutive hand passes not allowed, to try and halt this. Any other thoughts out there? Or maybe are we barking up the wrong tree? Maybe supporters don't have that much of a problem with this shift.

Grats

I detest the throwing of the ball but coming around to thinking, if you can't beat them, join them. The refs can't keep up with it, so we may join the party. Cork did it big time today and were they blown once?

Alonzo Moseley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120404568#Comment_120404568

Like the backpass to the keeper in soccer and the handpassed goal in hurling, when something is being used that breaches the spirit of the game, get rid of it.

The handpass is close to impossible to police and has outlived its usefulness.

Similarly, we need uniformity on hurley length and bas size. The size of the bas on Kingston's hurley today, crazy, you couldn't fail to cleanly connect. People gushing about how skilful hurling is, but the reality is that many of the skills of the game are being made ludicrously easy.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403810#Comment_120403810

I'd wouldn't be surprised to see the league final on Saturday evening at 7 or 7.30 in Thurles, u20 game probably will be on at 2.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120404568#Comment_120404568

I would like to see the handpass of a double movement of one hand gone. For example you can handpass off the hurl or you can handpass and switch hands, obviously you cant drop the hurl.

Deskjockey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120404712#Comment_120404712

Kingston's hurl looked like a goalkeepers hurl on the TV when he was taking the frees Absolutely ludicrous stuff

dodgysub

How are the u-20's going?

brookville

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120404073#Comment_120404073

Junted mossy with the hurl just above the privates. Infairness he knew himself he was in trouble. I thought the shamozzle was only only jostling and handbags. Cork probably knew the game was gone after the second goal.They played better with 14 players.

barneygumble99

Very dirty stroke on Richie Hogan too, right on the ear. He should’ve gotten a red. It was deliberate, right in front of us.

castletownman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405299#Comment_120405299

Was that just before the row? I saw something like that as clear as day on the highlights, then Jackie and Dowling said they couldn't find any conclusive footage of what he done.

Kinda sums up the attitude towards dirty strokes in hurling really!

Greasy Paw

I see this 19.30 Start time on Sat Night mentioned on Limerick DB as well. What is the preasure to play the game at that time.

Grats

If it's fixed for Saturday it will be purely to suit TV. I hope consideration is given to those of us going to Wexford for the Under 20 match on that Saturday.

blackcard

Sunday's performance was a huge improvement on the previous week. Generally our backs played well particularly Tommy Walsh, Lawlor and Blanchfield. I wouldn't be getting carried away though. After Richie Hogan's early score, it was another 20 minutes before we got another from play. Prior to the penalty which resulted from shocking defending, Kilkenny were only 3 points ahead against a Cork team who weren't up for the match. Limerick will tell us more about where Kilkenny are.

If I was to pick a team for the championship, it would be like this if everyone was fit.

Murphy

Butler

Walsh

Walsh

Reid

Lawlor

Blanchfield

Fogarty

Mullen

Donnelly

TJ

Ryan

Drennan

Keoghan

Cody

kentu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407836#Comment_120407836

Paddy Deegan will be definitely playing, Most likely Half forward or Midfield