Kilkenny GAA Thread

tbiggertycome

Harry has plenty of potential and could be a very good/ top class player in time but he is still very young and plenty of guys who showed great potential and skill at his age never made it. He's size always kind of counts against him especially when teams try to force everything through Harry has our previous minor teams did. Teams can then just double or treble mark him and then his size really comes against him. If a team uses him as just one of the forward options and isn't trying to force everything through him then he can really destroy his man. Almost anytime I've seen him marked one on one he comes out with plenty of scores or is fouled a lot. He has great hands and skill and is usually very accurate when shooting, he has good turn of pace and jinking moves to get away from his marker. He has a good head on his shoulder and seems a smart, level headed guy.

Plenty of potential downsides as there is with any lad this age but plenty of upsides too if things work out. I think with him hopefully getting good S&C coaching with the U20's and later the club seniors this year it will help him deal with his markers better in the next few years from the physical side of things.

Marrooned

I thought the ref last night was atrocious from the start.He ruined a game that might have been so much better. There was a clash of hurls last night and I thought he was going to call in the murder squad. Anyway Kilkenny looked to be inaccurate with there passing game but this improved as the game went on.Harry usually performs better when the expectation isn’t on him.They will certainly want to improve for the next challenge and hopefully Galway might be slow out of the traps. As I said on previous posts don’t be too critical of the players ,they will improve.

dzer2

KILvLAO E Murphy M Butler H Lawlor T Walsh M Carey P Deegan C Browne J Maher A Mullen W Walsh P Walsh J Donnelly B Ryan TJ Reid E Cody Subs D Brennan C Delaney D Corcoran R Reid D Blanchfield C Kenny A Murphy M Keoghan R Leahy T Phelan S Walsh

Powerhouse1

I think the treatment Richie Reid is geting is nothing but scandalous.

brookville

Seems Bizarre dropping David blanchfield he didn't do much wrong the last day. Donnelly and maher seem to do better when things open up. It's a pity Darren mullen not on the panel after being a sub last week we could do worse than starting himself and Shane Walsh. Suprised to see tj starting given the hefty schedule. Laois down a good few players.

Grats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118958502#Comment_118958502

I'd say Browne needs the game time hence Blanchfield in subs. Delaney could do with a run too. Buckley must be sick or injured. I suppose covid could be an issue too.

JJs Left Hand

TJ needs minutes before the 3 big games and we need scores because score difference will be important as I can't see any team going through the group unbeaten

brookville

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118958554#Comment_118958554

Browne definitely needs game time I'm just suprised at blanchfields expense. Covid and injury could be a factor alright. I'm suprised to see how far James bergin has slipped,not making the panel now and little league time.He was a valuable sub last year.Laois will get full respect like every team but at home and probably after a tight 40 mins with a double sweeper we should kick on. They're down dunphy,picky,podge delaney and roddy King went off with a hamstring the last day.

Grats

Yes, James Bergin must be struggling.

blackcard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118957647#Comment_118957647

Harry is a very skilful hurler, hopefully he will keep growing. Way too early to even suggest that he will make the Kilkenny senior team. Ciaran Brennan is someone who has also been touted, he is on the small side but I reckon he could do a job in midfield for Kilkenny

dzer2

Ah come on he is 21 and nowhere near the team. Seen him in the colleges he wasn't tearing up trees or anything.

Village87

There was lads on here slating Harry Shine after the Kierans lost the All Ireland Finals. Let the lad develop and no need for the over reaction to a good or poor performance, Kilkenny beat a poor Offaly team. He did the same for Minors last year v Offaly and it only put pressure on his shoulders. Hopefully Harry kicks on and Kilkenny can beat Galway. That is a very big game for this bunch's development.

dzer2

My comment was on Ciaran Brennan not Harry. Harry is 17 and has a long way to go to be fully grown them you will see his potential. It's unfair to play him against 20 yr olds.

Must love hardship

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118960668#Comment_118960668

Its now Unfair to play someone at his age grade??

He is over age for minor, his next intercounty age grade is u20.

Do you suggest everyone waits until their final year at an age grade before it's fair to play them at that level??

Village87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118960806#Comment_118960806

He is one of 12 lads on the panel the same age. Good for development

dzer2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118960806#Comment_118960806

No I don't but a question for you. Is it fair to all the 20 yr olds and 19 yr olds. The system is broken in Kilkenny we never field a team at underage level that's up to age. Kilkenny prides itself on the standard of hurling as one of the top counties.yet we never produce 15 lads a year to represent the county. If Harry was the size of Joe Fitzpatrick then maybe but unfortunately he is not. I wonder how good for development it will be if like the last yrs these lads get well beaten.

Alonzo Moseley

Just a sense of perspective here

Galway and Wexford both used players (Gavin Lee and Oisin Pepper) in last Saturday's Senior championship match neither of whom have even sat their Leaving Cert yet.

So if we are out of order using 18 year olds on U20 teams, where does that leave Shefflin and Egan?

Kilkenny look a right good bet to at 7/1 to win AI u20. Galway will be very hard to beat but Lee will be a big loss to them and Greg Thomas could get a run this weekend or the next rulling him out too. We have a terrible recent record v Galway (they were lucky to beat us in 2017 minor and steeped in 2015 but last few meetings they were clear winners) so badly need a win against them. I'm less worried about Munster oposition if we meet them (Galway have no fear of us at underage but often then underperform v Munster teams especially Cork and Limerick.)

Limerick look most likely Munster rep, and we beat that team by 12 pts at minor when they had Cathal O' Neill, Coughlin and English on board, all three now unlikely to see latter stages of U20

kksaints

We've been very good in the 1st half against admittedly a woeful Laois side. Play is a very good mix of the running game, diagonal passes and some direct high balls but not too many (Goal came from one). Mullen and Maher have hit some excellent long range points also.

Neewollah

3 subs brought on in the backs and no David Blanchfield. Is Cody at his usual tough love tactics. Drop out of the blue and bench now for the year.

blackcard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118966947#Comment_118966947

Very hard to understand, he has done very well in his first league campaign particularly when Conor Browne was the only starting back not to impress.

Neewollah

Probably the best prospect we've had in years in a league campaign. Very strange indeed. Surely these younger guys need to be given their chance instead of dropping and playing with their heads

me89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118966947#Comment_118966947

No need to bring him on 20 points up when he's played every games this year, give other lads some minutes, he will be back in next week.

Neewollah

I'll have a virtual fiver with you that he won't be 😉

Thats not Cody's style. Always starts what he thinks is his best team. Doesn't rest lads against weaker counties.

blackcard

Very good first half from Kilkenny, good passing and support play. 1-20 was a decent score. Hit 10 wides and missed a few opportunities for points by trying to get goals. 3rd quarter was poor, Laois hit 12 wides in the second half. Overall, the backs played well particularly Carey, Tommy Walsh and Mikey Butler. Cody, Mullen, Walter and Padraig Walsh had good scores. Billy Ryan and Shane Walsh will be disappointed not to get on the scoreboard. Job done, I would have settled for a 23 point win beforehand

JJs Left Hand

Thought Deegan was excellent. Being close to the pitch and hearing everything gives a proper sense of how he conducts the whole backline. Consistently telling lads where to be. Still does some daft stuff obviously but he's a proper leader back there in fairness

kksaints

Second half wasn't quite as good as the 1st but still an impressive performance albeit Laois were woeful. Thought Mullen and Maher were excellent, some great scores and got through a mountain of work. Funnily enough even though we scored 2-34 I thought we could have been more clinical with our goal chances. We missed out on least two because the final pass to the forward in space wasn't good enough. I think the style of play is definitely evolving somewhat, it's nowhere near as direct as two or three years ago, there's more running game and short passing although there's still a tendency when under pressure to bomb it long particularly from Eoin Murphy's puckouts.

brookville

A good first half with plenty of movement and scores but laois needed at least the few lads they were missing to have any chance of being competitive.The first 15 mins of the 2nd half we were poor but the game was well done and dusted at that stage. Its hard to read anything into the match other than wally and eoin cody were very lively. Things just didn't happen for Shane Walsh but I wouldn't give up on him.It was good to see Tom phelan getting a run.Hopefully no injuries tonight and all eyes will be on next Sunday and we'll have a much better idea where we're at.I think wexford have gone back and I expect a kk v galway leinster final. Galway had a big win tonight but whelan will be a loss next week. We should be aiming to win this match so it'll be intresting to see how it goes.Henry will probably have a man marker on his nephew and plotting against tj I'm sure it'll be strange Everybody is suprised at the blanchfield omission but hopefully he was just getting gametime into panel members like browne. I thought leahy might of got a run.Alan murphy,cian kenny and mossy didn't see action either after being prominent in the league so I'd be very suprised if we don't see blanchfield over the next few weeks. Conor fogarty returned to training this week and Richie Hogan pulled up with hamstring recently.Big weekend coming up next weekend with the seniors and u20s against galway

kk.man

I thought Mullen and Padraig were outstanding. Richie Reid looked v impressive when introduced. Hard to gauge against a very poor Laois team. Our style of play has certainly changed for the better.

jonniegoogle

Very hard to learn anything about our players Vs Westmeath and Laois although it's a great chance to get some confidence back, especially for the likes of Mullen and Wally. Next week's the big one. We'll need everyone on top form and I'll be very surprised if Blanch doesn't start as I think he's a super player.

Judging on last night's WD Vs Lim game, it's going to be a cracking end to the C'ship in late May, June and July. Throw KK, Galway, Lim, Waterford and Tipp into the latter stages and we'll have some brilliant games. Looking forward to it already.

PS. Horgan had an absolute shocker last night. Tried his best to hand it to the Wexicans but I was impressed how Dublin kept their heads and composure under fierce pressure.

Must love hardship

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118969244#Comment_118969244

I do think tipp will have much of a say in the latter stages of the championship