Kilkenny GAA Thread

We haven't the goalkeeper to be efficient at short puckouts , the goalie needs to be capable of putting the ball straight into the hand of the defender and he should be able to do this out to halfway line ....Murphy is a terrible distributer of the ball

Good overall performance and it was pleasing that we were able to mix the long and short game.

Positives: Mikey Butler’s man marking on Dessie Hutchinson was excellent. I was initially surprised that he was getting game time as I wasn’t sure whether he was just a good club cornerback and wouldn’t be able to step up since he’s not the tallest, strongest nor is he the quickest. But he’s sharp to the ball and that’s all that matters. Dessie usually beats his men all ends up with his excellent footwork but never seemed to bamboozle Butler at any point. The only caveat I would have is that the pitch looked heavy and of course favours backs moreso than forwards.

Mikey Carey and David Blanchfield look to have solved two spots that we have had trouble filling with any certainty since Padraig Walsh and Cillian Buckley filled them in 2016. Both of them are able to defend, cover ground, take their own score and can field their own ball with regularity. I cannot stress the fielding point enough as I feel our half back lines have been taken advantage of since 2017 with teams believing they can go long and outfield us with regularity - notably 2019 Leinster final, 2020 AI semifinal vs Waterford, etc.

Padraig Wash’s move to centre forward looks like a masterstroke. Aside from being an accurate shooter, his tackling can stonewall the opposition from carrying the ball out and creates an extra layer for them to work through. Negative detour: One thing that people may not have noticed from the AI SF last year is how spent Walsh was in the second half which is when Kingston went to town on him. I don’t think he has the legs for centre back anymore. Even today, he didn’t look to have the energy to make tackles towards the end of the match. It may be a case that he’s a 55 mins hurler and bring on a Donnelly or Mossie to finish the game with.

Rejuvenation of Wally. Wally’s physicality and presence brings a dimension to the team that it has been missing. He’s a lightning rod for the team and brings that edge. Plus his pace from the half forwards creates consternation in the opposition’s backs.

Continued excellence of Huw. His development has been remarkable. He will get a good test against probably the forward who has caused him the most bother in Horgan. Worth the admission to watch them battle it out.

Negatives

Adrian Mullen looked sluggish. Now it may be because of the long club campaign or carrying a knock but he looked off the pace. He looks like a player who may have put on too much muscle and has lost that pace which makes him such a threat. A couple of times he had the chance to go on a run and he checked back both times. Hopefully they focus his training on becoming more explosive again.

Full forward line of Mossie/Mullen and Billy Ryan made no impression in the first half. Billy improved in the second half and Eoin Cody showed why he should be an automatic starter.

I still remain unconvinced with the Alan Murphy and Cian Kenny pairing at midfield. I thought both had OK matches but whether it will be good enough come championship is open to debate. Cian still looks light for championship action but he has remarkable skill and the bouldness to make up for any lack of size. He may be better as an option off the bench when the game becomes looser. I’d like to see Darragh Corcoran given an opportunity in midfield (maybe against Laois/Westmeath in championship) since I think it could be his best position and give us a bit more size and defensive instincts that Murphy or Kenny wouldn’t naturally have. Conor Browne is another player who could enter the fray if he’s back to full fitness.

As other posters have remarked, we seem to have the general idea of a plan of short puckouts and diagonal balls without it being fully worked out or synchronised between the different moving parts. It may be just a work in progress or indicative of a lack of coaching. Time will tell.

Talk of wexford v Waterford in nowlan Park @4pm

Kilkenny v cork in cork @7pm all next Saturday

Interesting point speaking with a man from outside the county he knows little bit about hurling he reckoned Darren Brennan is a better player at distributing the ball than Murphy is .See Martin Comerford having to shout instructions into him yesterday on a good few occasions.

Kilkenny playing very defensive yesterday with Murphy down to start Corner forward but playing midfield with Buckley and Kenny, Wally and Mullen playing very deep also, essentially playing with Richie Reid as a sweeper. They really squeezed Waterford although Waterford could have been 7/8 points a head in the first half. Working very hard and grinding teams out but lacking in quality with 2 softish goals against a weakened Waterford team who were missing 3 all stars

Trust you to put a very negative spin on what was a very decent performance. Kilkenny have improved and are still improving in every game and that has been and is clear for all to see.

I don't buy all this crap about Waterford missing this player or that player. The fact is they came up to win and I think they thought they would win with the team they put out, especially after making a strong start.

But our lads stuck with it and once our backs got on top there only looked like there was going to be one winner. This chatter about them missing this guy or that guy - sure we were missing 2 definite starters in TJ and Deegan.

This isnt a dig against them as I think they have potential to win an AI but they have done nothing yet so all these supposed superstars Waterford have may not be the players a lot of people make them out to be. But by all means let them have all the hype...

Good test for Kilkenny. Cork of a Saturday night im the New Athletic Grounds should be really good examination.

Really looking forward to travelling to Cork for this one. A good test for Kilkenny and top quality stadium.

He means 'de Pairc'. The joke being the old Athletic Grounds which was demolished in 1974 to make way for PUC, so two stadia ago.

Yes, great facility and the pitch is maybe joint best in country with Croke Park. If we can win this one, then we really have turned a corner, but Cork will go pull belt at this, there will be no parlour games or shadow teams. I'd day there will be a huge crowd as well, maybe 25k.

One of the things as a Kilkenny supporter that has been a joy under Cody is that you can attend a Kilkenny match and know they will go hard. Even though I feel he should have left after the 2016 AI, as a supporter I will always be grateful that he always sends a team out to win. You will never get short changed.

 Even if we win League, Leinster is going to be treacherous for us, two tough away games. Dublin can't play as badly again in Parnell and Galway will be super hard to beat in Salthill (conversely to Cork, for me easily the worst hurling venue in the country) and then a bang in form Wexford. I also don’t like facing Laois first. As we have repeatedly seen (including last weekend), weaker teams who put good performances together early on, tend to collapse and cop hidings in latter stages of round robins, leaving a real possibility of a team getting nudged out on score difference. Galway sensationally exited three years ago simply because they beat Carlow by less than the 3 qualifying teams.

Fair play to him and hopefully his honesty will encourage others to open up on internal issues, gambling companies have alot to answer for in this country and the UK.

Watch the documentary about Paul Merson to enlighten you.

Bit of a shot in the dark but does anyone know of any supporters' buses travelling to Cork on Saturday?

Yeah fair post, really looking forward to this as barometer of Kilkenny. Agree with the post about Cody, no matter who or how they are playing Kilkenny are in the game with 5/10 mins to go. Hard to gauge the level Kilkenny are at so far this year.

First up against Antrim we were poor and lucky to win , Tipp game was poor standard and Tipp were far from full strength, 3rd game against Laois was a damp squib. Dublin game was a terrible standard until the half hour mark when I think the score was 6 points to 4 in favour of Kilkenny, Kilkenny got 2 goals and Dublin died a death. The Waterford game was similar to Dublin game as in the first 25 mins Kilkenny were poor and suffocated Waterford with Richie Reid, Alan Murphy, Cian Kenny, Cillian Buckley, Wally Walsh and to a degree Adrian Mullen all playing very deep.

Also interesting to see the level Cork are at. Can they sustain the level of physicality brought to the league so far. Intriguing game in prospect that will indicate how each team can prosper for championship.