Kilkenny GAA Thread

mooz

Senior QFs

Ballyhale Shamrocks v Dicksboro

GBC v Village

OLG v Mullinavat

Glenmore v Bennettsbridge

blackcard

Graigue Ballycallan had a well deserved 1-18 to 1-14 win over Clara, thought they would struggle this year but they have done well and brought through some younger players. Billy Ryan scored 3 points from midfield including 2 off his right. Tommy Ronan has done well at centre forward. GB also scored a bizarre own goal where the corner back lobbed the ball over his own goalkeeper. Clara struggled amd look like an aging team. Paul Cody and John Murphy carried the fight

Bennettsbridge beat Tullaroan 5-12 to 3-10 despite hitting 15 wides, Liam Blanchfield scoring 4-2, narrowly missing a fifth goal. Tullaroan never hit the heights they did last year. Gearoid Dunne and Shane Walsh have dissapointed. "Old" Tommy Walsh got a late goal for Tullaroan. Bill Hughes did well for the Bridge, James Hughes scored 1-3

blackcard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121151810#Comment_121151810

Ballyhale against Dicksboro is the tie of the round, I fancy Dicksboro. OLG should beat Vegas, Village to beat GB. Glenmore beat the Bridge by 6 points a couple of weeks ago and will fancy repeating that

hogans heroes

Shamrocks

Grauige

Olg

Bridge

mooz

Boro

Village

OLG

Bridge

hogans heroes

Biggestt test for shamrocks since ballygunner,

Neewollah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121152464#Comment_121152464

Biggest test for the boro all year. Will they stand up or fade away

hogans heroes

Well they have allways stood up and until someone takes them down their still the team to beat, Boro have been looking good but now face the ultimate test.

Speak Now

Intermediate Semi finals

KK36

I think there needs to be a tweak to the system in Kilkenny. The teams who finish 3rd and 4th are at a disadvantage to the teams who finish 5th and 6th. For instance, in senior Tullaroan hammered Mullinavat but Tullaroan are out because they drew a good team (Bennettsbridge) while Mullinavat are through because they drew a weaker team (Erins Own). Similarly in Intermediate, The Rower were disadvantaged. They are much better than Conahy Shamrocks and Fenians who went through because they got two weak teams in the first round.. A back door game involving the 3rd v 4th losers against the 5th v 6th winners would solve this.

The obvious rebuttal here is that the 3rd and 4th teams are safe from relegation.

It will only create one extra round but might be something worth considering.

JJs Left Hand

Agree completely. You're better off finishing 5th than 4th whilst acknowledging the jeopardy of also being at risk of relegation

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121155273#Comment_121155273

All the teams know the system, if they wanted to finish 5th or 6th for this advantage they would have. But they do not, look at the Shamrocks for example they finished bottom 2 unintentionally, imaging taking that risk and finishing bottom 2 to play them. Teams want to avoid relegation matches at all costs, look at yesterdays weather, anything is possible in these games. Going off yesterdays performances Mullinavat would have turned over Tullaroan imo. What cost Tullaroan is not the system, but players taking a holiday a week before the league commenced, that put them under pressure from day one and was a variable in the teams early exit from championship. Finishing in the top 2 is a massive advantage.

KK36

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121155305#Comment_121155305

It's hard to imagine that Mullinavat would have beaten Tullaroan yesterday seeing as they lost by about 25 points to them a few weeks ago.

I agree that top 2 is a big incentive but in reality there is no advantage, and indeed there is a disadvantage, to finish in the middle 2 as opposed to the bottom 2.

blackcard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121154913#Comment_121154913

I think the current system is perfect and nearly all games are meaningful. Apart from the 3 city teams and Ballyhale, the first objective of all other teams is to avoid the relegation battle. If you do win a couple of matches, the objective then becomes to finish in the top 2 in order to get through the first round of the championship and getting a lower ranked team in the quarter final. Giving those who finish 3rd and 4th a second chance would lessen the incentive to finish in the top 2.

Fred Daly

Rest in peace Liam Hinphy a true gentleman great GAA man The Village, Derry, Kilkenny.

robwen

https://twitter.com/SportTG4/status/1706609955841753235?t=AxJRGwvQYmQyHlGThos-wQ&s=19

Boro v Shamrocks on TG4 Sunday

Nedflanders02

Mullinavat v O'Loughlins - O'Loughlins look back to the form that seen them push Shamrocks all the way in the county final 2 years ago. They're backs are very strong with the 3 county players and added into that the form of David Fogarty and Jordan Molloy have really given them a formidable defence. Even though their forwards lack any big names they have been putting up big scores with Eoin Wall getting back to his best. Mullinavat have had an up and down year and will be happy to have the threat of relegation out of the way. Their backs are big and strong and John Walsh's form has been very good since returning, they'll be a very hard team to break down especially if the weather isn't the best but I fancy O'Loughlins to win this.

Glenmore v Bennetsbridge - Glenmore have had a great year topping their group and the form of the 3 Murphy's has been excellent, thrown in with that they have Ger Aylward, Cathal Beirne and Ian Byrne in their forward line, so fire power shouldn't be a problem to them. Bennetsbridge coming off the back of a good win against Tullaroan will be high on confidence. The spine of their team with Enda Morrissey, David Blanchfield, Kevin Blanchfield and Liam Blanchfield is very strong but they'll be most happy with the performance of the 2 Hughes' who were excellent at the weekend. With Ciaran Brennan and Jason Cleere coming back into the team also they look like they might hitting form at the right time. Glenmore ran out 6 point victors when they played a couple of weeks ago but I fancy Bennetsbridge to over turn that defeat at the weekend.

James Stephens v Graigue Ballycallan - The Village have stuttered through the league and were well beaten in the shield final at the weekend. Luke Scanlon has been in good form this year and they have quality players in Cian Kenny and Eoin Guilfoyle. They usually save their best hurling for championship and will be hoping to step it up again this weekend. GBC have been the surprise package of the championship and are definitely in bonus territory, the only game they won last year was the relegation final but if results had gone their way they could have been in a shield final. Tom Dunphy and Tommy Ronan have been excellent for them and Billy Ryan really stepped it up last weekend. I think this will be a very tight game and the experience of the Village might just shade it.

Dicksboro v Shamrocks - The tie of the round! The champions against the challengers! This has all the making's of a cracking game! Dicksboro have been very good so far and are the only unbeaten team left! Eoin Fennelly, Tom Kenny and Timmy Clifford have been excellent at the back and in Aidan Nolan, Bill Sheenhan and Andy Gaffney they have a dangerous forward line, also a they have an excellent panel and quality subs ready to step in. In the semi final last year against the Village they were bullied and found wanting when things got tight and tough, if they have rectified that problem and can tough it out when they have too I'd give them a great chance! The Shamrocks haven't been at their usual standards this year but this is understandable given their list of unavailable players. Colin Fennelly has returned and any forward line with TJ Reid, Eoin Cody and Adrian Mullen have an embarrassment of riches. Sunday will be a real test of their full back line without Joey Holden, if their backs can breakeven they have the forwards to see them home! This is usually the stage where Shamrocks start to take off and move up the gears but even with all the quality they have their absentee list has to catch up with them eventually, I think the Boro might just shade it.

Grueller

Hi folks. Our club championships are completed down here in Wexford and I am up to speed with how your senior championship is going, but just wondering how your intermediate and junior are going?

Our intermediate champions are Cloughbawn, bouncing straight back to senior after 1 year.

Our Intermediate A champions (junior by a fancy name) are Craanford Fr. O'Regans.

Both clubs may face Kilkenny opponents so just interested to know how your championships are going.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121165185#Comment_121165185

Intermediate championships are at semi final stage Thomastown play Dunnamaggin and Lisdowney play Mooncoin. Thomastown would be favourites to win the first game, they recently won the intermediate league for the fifth year in a row and have gone close to winning intermediate over the last 5/6 years but always seem to fall just short but have looked very impressive this year. Dunanmaggin are a young team and it's probably a year or 2 too early for them, they're in U17A and U15A finals so definitely a team on the up. Lisdowney were relegated from senior last year and should be too strong for Mooncoin, who also seem to be a club heading in the right direction. More than likely a Thomastown v Lisdowney final which would be a repeat of the 2020 final which Lisdowney won after penalties. Both are good strong teams with good scoring ability.

Junior is only coming into the knockout stages now. St Lachtains (Freshfird) are the favourites to win it out, they were relegated from intermediate last year after getting to the county final the previous year. Their main challengers are probably going to be Windgap and Tullogher Rosbercon (who have a very tricky first round tie against Graignamanagh at the weekend) but St Lachtains have looked a class above the other junior teams.

I've actually seen Cloughbawn play a couple of times this year (albeit challenge games) but they look a good team and play a nice brand of hurling and will be very hard to beat.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121165252#Comment_121165252

Senior is wide open, Ballyhale v Boro this weekend will be a cracker. Boro will be hard to stop if they get through.

Freshford and Thomastown are 10 points better than there closest challengers in Junior and Intermediate. But that does not guarantee they will win it

Grueller

Thanks for the synopsis lads. I would think our two champions aren't actually teams for the ages, but Cloughbawn are an experienced side and in Harry Kehoe and Conal Flood have a couple of real scoring threats.

Craanford Fr O'Regans are a good solod side with no real stars among their number, but they were comfortable enough in every game in the knockouts in their championship, despite being underdogs every game. They play a football county 1/4 final this weekend and it will be their 14th weekend in a row with a small squad. That must take a toll at some point. Craanford are a club quite local to me so I know them well.

Both teams have been playing football the last 5 weekends and haven't hurled in 6 weeks. That will be a huge disadvantage and is a real downside to Wexford splitting the season between football and hurling.

kentu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121165826#Comment_121165826

Think they are better than every other team in these grades too but 4-6 points better would be a fairer assessment in my view. Interesting to see if both can push on and win Championship's after kind of easing to league titles.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121166386#Comment_121166386

From what I heard Cloughbawn put very little in football this year after losing Intermediate A final 2 years in a row, just about stayed out of relegation this year, think alot of lads didn't even tog and the lads who play Soccer aren't going near it until the hurling is concluded, they want to give it a good rattle as when they won Intermediate in 2018 they had to play Naas 6 days after the county final, I'd imagine preparation was far from ideal 🍺🍺

greenspurs

Senior Camogie League Final on this Saturday at 1pm.

Its being played in Tom Walsh pk, Skeoghvosteen .... ( Blacks & Whites Gaa )

Should be a great game - the 2 best sides in the County meeting for the second time this year.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121165826#Comment_121165826

If Boro can beat Shamrocks on Sunday I think every other team left in it will fancy their chances of going and winning it! It would make for 2 really interesting semi finals but Shamrocks are Shamrocks and won't go down easy!

Think you are right about Freshford being well ahead of the pack, the remaining teams in junior are probably even enough but Freshford should be well clear. I do think this could be the year Thomastown finally get over the line but I don't think they're as far ahead of Lisdowney as that, I think if they do meet in the final that will be a tight game!

kentu

Tom Phelan very unlucky to miss out on All Star Nomination

Nedflanders02

It's a poor indictment of our forwards that only 2 have got all star nominations given that we've got to an All Ireland and won Leinster, albeit Tom Phelan a little unlucky not to be included. Going forward next year this is an are we are going to have to improve on if we want to win an all Ireland!

hogans heroes

Camogie post.

Think Piltown need the win more than the boro, being beaten again by Dicksboro for the 3rd time in a row in championship wont do any good ffor piltowns confidence . The ffirst round of the championship also on with tough games thatt are hard to call.

Gowran v st brigids

Conahy v Clara

Muckalee v barrow

Thomastown v Tullaroan.

greenspurs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121168513#Comment_121168513

True - A marker needs to be put down.

Dicksboro wont enjoy going to Skeogh on a tight bumpy pitch... Will they be complacent?

Y. Irelands - hit and miss , should have enough to win as Tullaroan - very poor.

St Martins should have enough to beat B Rangers - as they are very poor- Young team.

Conahy V Clara - Should be a Conahy win.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167821#Comment_121167821

Yeah I have seen Freshford a few times this year and if they did not have such a negative year last year(matters off the field), I'm sure they would be competing in the Intermediate semi final Sunday week. Sometimes relegation is not such a bad thing as it results in big changes. Aside from the county Junior an All Ireland would be a great year for Freshford.

Thomastown would be a very good senior side, and deserve to go up. Play a nice brand and have a big panel, a senior club in everything bar name