Kilkenny GAA Thread

Village87

Hard to look to much into the league. All the top teams are playing without there 7-8 of there starting teams. Waterford, Wexford, Clare, Cork, Tipperary, Limerick are missing loads of players and blooding in new players, they will be different animas come championship. The worrying aspect for Kilkenny there is very few new players putting up there hand. Mikey Carey and Liam Blanchfield are back from a break. Both have very basic skill levels for the top intercounty hurlers.

Ceist_Beag

Hard to argue with a lot of the points made about yesterday. However I would like to make a case for young Drennan in the forwards. His instincts are very good for such a young lad. He's not scoring enough from play but I think he needs to be given time and patience as there's a very talented player in there. Also someone asked where the goals will come from, well we know Mossy will be in contention come championship time and he certainly knows how to score them. I thought Corcoran was very good yesterday, especially once he moved to midfield.

Finally, have to agree with Alonzo. I know the wind was strong yesterday but it's depressing when you see lads hitting it over from their own 21 (and one of them could have travelled another 20 yards). The ball travels too far these days, it's not adding to the game at all.

One other aside, young Screeny is already showing he's able for senior inter county hurling, he's some talent. Someone said Mikey did a good job on him, personally I thought he was roasted.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818206#Comment_121818206

Agree on Billy Drennan i do believe there is a bit of class there, we need lads like him delivering for his club and by all accounts he was a poor for his club in Junior this year. Mikey Butler is after getting 3/4 roasting's the last few months. Teams are looking to target him imo.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818206#Comment_121818206

Really? Screeney scored one point in the 2nd half and got ahead of Mikey Butler once or twice for the ball but did little with it. He did very little in the first half when Offaly were on top. Screeney showed glimpses of his potential, his point was a fine score but I thought we dealt with him well. If that was a roasting then Huw Lawlor gets roasted nearly every single match. Offaly definitely had better players than him yesterday.

Ceist_Beag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818267#Comment_121818267

I can only go on what I saw but he was out first for most balls and most of them went on to a teammate. It was a lot more than one or two balls (in fact he was first to almost every pass in to him). His touch and distribution was very good for one so young.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818302#Comment_121818302

Didn't see that at all in the 1st half from Screeney myself tbh. He did get a few more possessions in the 2nd half but his layoffs were generally to a Offaly player who got swamped or who ran into a cul-de-sac. If anything judging by the point he scored in the 2nd half, he'd have been better creating space for himself to shoot or hanging back waiting for the ball to get to him.

I thought Ravenhill and Mitchell in the 1st half did very well and were their best players attacking. Offaly definitely panicked against the wind when their puckouts and frees weren't going as far. In fact we allowed them more ball then they should have got by not pushing up fully on their puckouts.

Ceist_Beag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818344#Comment_121818344

Yeah you may be right on the first half tbh as I had a much better view of him second half and that's probably what I'm basing it on. Possibly he wasn't as involved first half but then Offaly were hitting a lot of ball over from further out the field first half so it wasn't going in as much.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818350#Comment_121818350

Fair enough, I think the backline was more crowded in the 1st half so he wasn't able to get as much space to run into. There's definitely huge potential but I think it's a good thing for him that Offaly are playing in the top league but the 2nd tier championship as he still needs time to develop. Offaly should win the McDonagh this year bar Westmeath can pull off another special win.

Nedflanders02

I'd share the concerns raised here about our forwards and the fact that no one new is standing up to earn a place. I've ben very surprised how slow Lyng has been to give the likes of Stephen Donnelly a run given his form with Thomastown this year, his default is to go back and bring on the older senior players, as someone said earlier once they were ahead of Offaly and the game was won they should have been bringing on Donnelly, Clifford etc.. One thing I can't understand is that we have picked a big man at the edge of the square for every game this year but we have not hit any ball in to them, Blanch was poor yesterday but they barely hit any ball into him, if they want a big man there as a focal point you'd think they would be dropping the odd ball in around the square! Also Gearoid Dunne hasn't been involved in any game this year, is he injured?

The_Tank

For that pivot role up front you need someone with pristine control, ability to switch direction and make intelligent runs, patience and an aerial threat. We don’t have a player with all three. Cody is prehaps the closest but not really ideal. Richie Hogan was the last player we had that I can think of that would be good in that role. Colin Fennelly at club level was a real threat but didn’t have the neatness for county in that role.

Failing that going to the other extreme with someone completely unorthodox is another approach eg. Paddy Deegan. There you take the rough edges for the guaranteed mayhem.

usualstripes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819182#Comment_121819182

Maybe Deegan is worth a shot there!

brookville

The league is very fickle. We all say at the start of the year we wont care to much about it and then it when it starts teams seasons are judged on a wet and windy pitch. Everyone seems to be missing a good few players. It was another poor return from the fowards again sunday but some of tactics were strange.we are a poor coached teams at times. We still playing some short ball for the sake of it but dunno what we're at.We're doing it cause we have to do it. We seem keen on a target man at 14 then play no ball into the full foward line.liam is finding the going tough.

The championship is only about 6 or 7 weeks away and the league will be over soon. Unfortunately stephen donnelly is having trouble with his hips. Unfortunately hip trouble is in the family. The team will start taking shape over the next few weeks but i dont see anything new which is dissapointing. Mullen has being outstanding and without him we would be bottom of the table.if we go into the championship with the same team again it will be dissapointing. We dont have many new bright sparks like other counties.

Mikey has being under pressure a while and lyng should of gave him a few more weeks off.he still has time and he should do it. Its was a shocking first half for whatever reason. Bar 2 players the majority of sundays team have played in bigger matches. The next two matches will be hard and both will want to beat us.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819018#Comment_121819018

Lyng has been unfortunate with players, he would have wanted to try, picking up injuries. Among them G Dunne, S Donnelly, J Molloy and even P Deegan. He did bring on Clifford, K Blanchfield and P Moylon against Offaly. He started P McDonald who unfortunately made no impact in the first half like most. Pity we didn't see him when the team got going in the second half.

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822501#Comment_121822501

Its very disappointing that we are getting very little out of Dicksboro. They rightly fancy themselves to win a Kilkenny senior hurling championship but i don't think they have a player good enough to start for Kilkenny with the exception of Tom Kenny who is not on the panel.

dodgysub

I don't think he has been unlucky with injuries. They are a given at any level particularly inter county. He seems to have no plan to bring on and develop young players. Bringing on Walter last Sunday at the first sign of trouble was ludicrous following on from bringing Conor Fogarty and Cillian Buckley against Wexford. How can you judge players if they're not tested at league level? So what if we lose a few league matches but we found 3 or 4 players that might be up to this level. Even if they are not up to that level, it would be better to find out now. After last years All Ireland, it was obvious we needed a serious overhaul of the team but we have'nt really even looked for a new 6, 8,9, 11 and 14 (at least). We have enough basic talent in the team to compete for Leinster but I am baffled by the approach of management.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822501#Comment_121822501

I'd 100% agree with you on the injury front, it's been very unfortunate that a lot of the players he would have liked to see get a chance have been missing with injury. The disappointing thing is that we look to be going in to championship with the same team as last year bar maybe Carey and Shane Murphy.

Nedflanders02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823024#Comment_121823024

I'd imagine the point being made about injuries is not that we're picking up injuries as everyone is this time of the year but that it's the players who we would have wanted to try out have been injured and not got a chance.

kentu

Is Niall Brennan of Lisdowney gone off panel also?? another player I would have liked to see more from this year as anytime I seen him felt he might have something to offer.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823165#Comment_121823165

Exactly my point.

Charlie69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823024#Comment_121823024

The other side of your point about Fogarty,Walter and Buckley I suppose is that in the absence of any young lads putting their hands up he has to see if the older players can still perform at this level or not. Because let's face it, we're still going to need them all. No point retiring lads until you have someone to take their place.

tbiggertycome

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823509#Comment_121823509

I suppose the counter to that is that very few young lads start off their intercounty in stellar form. It takes time to learn the ropes and get up to speed. The most disappointing thing for me is that they don't seem to be identifying 2-3 younger lads that they believe can make it and giving them 3-to 5 games in the same position to let them bed in and get used to intercounty hurling. Very few if any of the young lads have started more than 2 games in a row. Tom Phelans injury is also a disappointment as he would have benefitted from an extended run in the league.

Some on here are talking about other teams young lads showing up very strong for their teams but most have been getting regular league and championship sub appearances for the last 2-3 years so it's about time they are stepping up. Most of our young lads bar Billy Drennan have not had a decent sustained run in the starting team at any point so far. Is the management overly focused on the results and we're hard taskmasters in Kilkenny if the team isn't going well we complain. If they gave 3-4 young lads their head to fill positions for the whole league but it cost us a place in the top-tier league division next year would we be happy?

On a more positive note I was very impressed with Darragh Corcoran especially when he went to midfield. I'd be interested to see him there against a stronger opposition like Clare and see what he can do. I thought he read the game well, tackled hard, burst forward loads, he brought a bit of steel and urgency to the midfield we haven't seen from a Kilkenny team in a long time. He's shooting is nothing to write home about but that can be improved on. I thought he's decision making and passes were all good, more pressure and less time against better opposition might change that but I think he could do a serious job there for us.

I also think M Butler needs a break and after his late withdrawal on Sunday it might be the break he needs and come back in time for the championship.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822921#Comment_121822921

Have you missed all the posts regarding Tom Kenny? Just in case you have, he's not interested in joining the panel and that should be respected.

Back to those available - in your opinion numerous players on the panel at present aren't good enough. I think of ALL the Boro lads, Billy Ryan, Fogarty, Buckley, Wally, Deegan etc etc. Now, come up with the alternatives.

Name a 26/30 man panel from your vast knowledge of the club scene. I'd be particularly interested in who you think is being omitted from either the senior or under 20 panels.

brookville

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823251#Comment_121823251

He was dropped at the start along with shane walsh and a few others.

Nedflanders02

Congrats to Killian Doyle and Ben Whitty on winning the freshers A final with UL last night against DCU, DCU had Ivan Bolger, Bill Hughes and Ted Dunne on their team so good to see a bit of Kilkenny representation in the final.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121831397#Comment_121831397

Dare I say, that's good news! 👍

mullinr2

What are Kierans like this year? Hard to judge how strong they are from the Leinster comp. Ard Scoil will fancy their chances especially if Kierans are over confident from their Leinster final win over CBS

JJs Left Hand

Don't know anything about ASR but haven't been woeful impressed by Kierans.

Neary is obviously a lovely hurler but not sure how he's ended up at 6 and really think he can be targeted if a team has a good forward with a bit of size - I know he played 4 for the U20s last year and I think Ballycallan played him at wing back but for me I think he should be midfield or in the forwards and let him roam anywhere in the middle 3rd. Let him take the ball from a centre back and see the whole field in front of him.

Would be worried about their forwards as well as I'd class a number of them as "nice" hurlers but not sure if they want a heavy pitch and a dogfight. Croke Park in a final would suit them far more but I'm making assumptions about the pitch in Bansha to be honest.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121831979#Comment_121831979

ASR starting team in Harty final was 10 Clare and 5 Limerick.

Alonzo Moseley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121835070#Comment_121835070

On paper, you'd feel it's not vintage, but they have been winning easily (only a mountain of wides by Kierans kept margin down v Offaly Schools).

I think the winner of this semi will win it out, dont see Kierans losing in Croke Park. I felt Nenagh were lucky to win Harty, both their goals looked dodgy out (the first one was at least 10 steps).

ASR are big and strong, but were lucky to beat Thurles in semi. Match is in Bansha and if it goes ahead, it could be a real slog.

Live on TG4 YouTube

jimmythesulk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838039#Comment_121838039

You sure get to alot of the kierans games.