Kilkenny GAA Thread

John Kiely Brian Lohan did not shake hands after the munster final Kyle Hayes nearly knocked a young lad down after the match did not wont to sign autographs nothing about these two incidents anywhere yesterday. The stamping on Ritchie Reid Saturday night was the worst case of dirt i have seen in years.

Good question. We all know about Lohan and Fitz.

What IS silly is how quick the Galway folk, including players, turn on the manager. Just have a read if the Galway thread after the draw with Wexford and you'll see what they thought of Shefflin. Shane O'Neill was very close to defeating the great Limerick team and look what happened him. To say nothing about the treatment of M Donoghue.

John Kiely is an out and out Limerick man, managing his own county.

Don't pay too much attention to the threads after one bad result. No-one I have spoken to since Saturday has singled out Shefflin as the fault for defeat, they've laid the blame fairly on the players. In mitigation, the defence played decently enough, the problem was in midfield and forwards, where a number of players, in great form up to this, just didn't show up. They're not the first, or even worst, side for this to happen to this season. There's a huge amount of goodwill and hope towards Shefflin within Galway hurling circles all the time.

Donoghue left after a disagreement with the CB. O'Neill had a third year on his contract available I think, so not sure why he stepped away. There were no great rumblings of discontent last year, even though he got a lot wrong in his second season, team-conditioning in particular.

Just on the match itself if we can return to it;

Our full back line of Butler, Lawlor and Tommy did well.

Great to se Huw back and having Butler beside him covers an amount of ground.

Tommy scares me a bit when he is coming out with the ball sometimes. He looks too casual sometimes.

Carey, Reid and Deegan worked better with more precise deliveries coming from them. The one thing we need to see a lot more of is low ball well out in front of Eoin Cody and Billy Ryan. Galway's full back line were on our heels to be fair but we need to exploit this far better.

Fogarty in the middle is a defensive midfielder but for me wasn't in the game enough at all.

TJ made some excellent catches and distribution and his frees were immaculate. Mossy did trojan work in full forward winning possession but he needs to open his eyes to leave or hand out the ball easier. If he had handed out the half goal chance he had it would have been a certain goal.

These are the small margins that will make or break us and give us a fighting chance v Clare if they come through Wexford. (no disrespect to Kerry)

Id like to see Billy Ryan express himself more and come looking for more ball from our half backs.

Mullen was better v Galway and hopefully he can continue to improve.

Leahy and Cian Kenny weren't influential. Leahy got 1 point and Kenny was scoreless.

Mossy only got 1 point and Eoin Cody was scoreless so the message here is to make sure we use these guys and get them scoring. Scoring 22 points v Clare or Limerick wont cut it. I think we need at least 2 if not 3 goals if we are to beat Clare or Limerick.

Mossy is a genuine workhorse and gives 100% to the cause but sometimes we need a little bit of guile inside the 21.

On Padraig Walsh he scored 1 point when he came in but looked a little sluggish. Maybe he is recovering from some kind of injury, Maybe someone has some info on this.

Wally should have scored a point when he came in and also could have been handed a ball out from Mossy which would have been a certain score.

All in all we got the win but have to tweak a lot before the semi final. Its a great position to be in to be fair and anything can happen from here on. I have memories from last years semi final when we pushed cork and brought them to extra time only to lose shape and go direct which eventually beat us. Hopefully we have learned and some signs from Saturday show that we might be starting to learn.

It was refreshing to see the bones of a plan being utilised on Saturday. Smarter passing and deliveries, better puck out strategy and players running into position to take a pass. If they work on it over the next four weeks in training and stick with it on match day, we'd improve our chances dramatically. The players seemed happier in themselves, playing with more confidence and encouraging each other during the match and it showed at the final whistle in the way they celebrated.

We have the players. We had no plan, but things are looking up in that regard, at last.

Don't think so, he deserves a rest!

Let's see what they guy who raised it has to say. He seemed to be equating it to Cody-Shefflin.

They already have a pre-match handshake in the GAA, as in soccer, where the players are appropriately lined up already, at the All Ireland final for example.

If padraig is fully fit and going well I would have him in for Kenny, he's not physically ready yet. I know some people would like Blanchfield in but I dont think he's ready yet either. Both will hopefully nail down a place next year. Donnelly is better coming on later, Wally has been very inconsistent. Be happy enough with just the one change

would love to see him back but he cant catch a break with injuries, was it hamstring again a couple weeks ago

Edit: he was on the bench for the waterford league game, 20th march, must have been soon after that

Some say P Walsh looks sluggish but I think he always carried himself that way. Pity we didn't return him to the backs after the experiment in the forwards didn't work come championship. Deegan could have gone to midfield or forwards. I agree, the game last Saturday passed Kenny by. The harsh yellow card didn't help. Think it was Coen who got Kenny around the head later and no card shown. Leahy will have something to offer as will B Ryan but need to up it hugely. I think a running type game would suit both. So, hopefully Cody continues with the plan shown last Saturday.