Kilkenny GAA Thread

Oops!

Scandalous when you consider pre covid it €15 cash on the day and €12 if you pre bought in Super Valu, hurling league hasn't also mattered as little to the top teams in 10-15 years, all about been right for provincial round robins in April.

Clara hit with tragedy yet again. Desperate news.

Condolences to the Nolan Family, neighbours and friends on the sad passing of James Nolan of Dunbell Clara. James was an outstanding and committed hurler and footballer for the club, who represented Kilkenny at various different levels in both codes. May he rest in peace.

My god that family have meet there fair share my condolence to all the family may he rest in peace.

Yes all Offaly schools but surprisingly St. Brendan's Birr, who are in the Leinster B final after a couple of comprehensive victories in the competition only have two starters on the team.

Kierans had Laois and Carlow players starting for them today.

Will be interesting to see what kind of team Derek and his selectors go with up in Antrim on Saturday at 2pm. I expect there to still be a good degree of experimentation in the teams named but with a good core of championship starters they can slot in around. Eoin Cody had a great performance last night scoring 1-12 of Carlows 1-19. Will he lead Kilkenny out for his first game as captain he might want too but with more Fitzgibbon to come might be better to let him rest this weekend. I know there was a cut to the panel last weekend only heard of one player cut but there must have been at least 10 to make way for the Ballyhale players returning.

I'm going to list a Championship starting 15 that I'd pick on reputation rather than form as we've seen very little so far. This is a wish list not everyone might make it or be up to it by the time Championship comes around.

Eoin Murphy

M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh

P Walsh, R Reid, D Blanchfield

P Deegan, R Corcoran

A Mullen, TJ Reid, E Cody

B Drennan, W Walsh, M Keoghan

I'd hope Conor Delaney could get injury free and put in a serious challenge for one of the back 6 slots. You could possibly swap Walsh and Reid, in the modern game all 3 half backs need to be comfortable playing all across this line anyway.

Ronan Corcoran is unproven (that's if he even goes in to the setup) but if he does I think he's the most natural midfielder in the county and I think he will adapt to the level and hopefully thrive. I'd be a bit worried about Deegans distribution but Adrian would be drifting out to midfield and Deegan can try find him and Ronan to let the ball in most of the time, or just improve his own distribution which hopefully the new management will talk to him about the long blind sky high ball he got away with previously. Deegan does bring plenty of energy and physicality which would be no harm in the middle 3rd.

Half forward line is easy.

Full forward line could have lots of lads in it. I think Mossy and Wally could provide a very tough 2 inside with young Drennan using his skill and vision to feed off them.

Plenty of players to call on and any one or many of them could be flying by the time Championship rolls around.

From what I can think of off the top of my head we still have any of the following players to call on

Keepers:

Darren Brennan, Aidan Tallis, Dean Mason

Backs:

Conor Delaney, Cillian Buckley, Darragh Corcoran, Darren Mullen, Evan Shefflin, Evan Cody, Des Dunne, Shane Murphy, Padraig Moylan, Sean Purcell, Niall Rowe

Midfield:

Conor Fogarty, Paddy Mullen, Cian Kenny

Forwards:

John Donnelly, Richie Hogan, Billy Ryan, Alan Murphy, Joey Cuddihy, Tom Phelan, Niall Brassil, Niall Brennan, Paul Cody, Shane Walsh, Timmy Clifford, Ian Byrne, Gearoid Dunne

Lots of the younger lads probably won't make it and will go back to the U20 panel and a lot of those who have been tried before will be given a shorter leash. Lads who have been on the panel 3,4,5 years and haven't been able to start will be given a chance no doubt but will probably be cut loose quicker than some of the younger lads who Derek and his team have great faith in. It's one thing doing it in a Walsh Cup match its another entirely different once the drums start beating, thats when it really matters. An interesting year ahead with loads of potential and reasons for optimism at the is stage.

I think they're going up Saturday evening which makes sense. I don't know if the shamrocks lads will be available my guess is padraig could be captain. This is obviously a tricky one to start with especially away so he would take the hands off you for any sort of a win.Hopefully a few newer lads will get game time but with fitzgibbon it's difficult.

Hopefully not until after the u20 competition is over. The u20 was a farce last year. If he keeps progressing he wont be far away. League will tell us exactly what we need to know

I hope they go up before Saturday evening

Friday evening I meant. From what I heard we won't see the ballyhale lads for a few weeks. The fitzgibbon players will need to be managed properly but he'll probably try get the balance right. I'd expect a mixture between experienced lads saturday like lawlor,Buckley,wally,padraig and lads on the panel a few years tom phelan,alan murphy,billy ryan,blanchfield. Cian kenny got some great scores as a roving center foward hopefully he can bring his game on another level.

Yeah forgot about Heary and no doubt plenty of others. As Brookville and yourself have said Cian Kenny will likely bag a starting slot. He has plenty of talent and skill and is a cocky little so and so which is exactly what you want in a forward. I would have concerns about him going out of games though. He's not the biggest man and up to now when he tends to ship a big knock he tends to go very quite. It's not easy to take them blows and play at a high level but the best players do or recover in a few minutes he tends to just disappear for the rest of the game. Hopefully he has sorted this and bulked up a bit to be able to roll with those heavy tackles a bit better.

I agree Tallis is a superb keeper and is able to play the modern game well. However I wouldn't throw Murphy on the scrap heap yet. I think there was still awful confusion around our puckouts and I can't believe it was all Murphy's fault. I'm hoping with a clearer idea of how we're going to play and everyone on the same hymn sheet Murphy's puckouts will work a lot better. If he's not up to it, isn't great to know we have another great keeper coming through. Darren Brennan has great puckouts but I'm not so sure on his shot stopping and particularly under a high ball he gives me jitters. He's probably next in line if Murph can't adapt but I'd skip him and go straight for Tallis.

What I like about Cian Kenny is his first touch. In the heat of championship you are going to get very little time on the ball and he is very good at controlling the ball first time, he is also good at drawing frees by running at defenders. He has to improve his stamina to keep involved in the game but hopefully this will come

KK v Ant

A Tallis

M Butler H Lawlor N Rowe

C Buckley P Walsh D Blanchfield

P Deegan J Donnelly

W Walsh C Kenny P Cody

B Drennan M Keoghan B Ryan

Subs

D Brennan

P Moylan

D Dunne

C Heary

D Corcoran

S Murphy

T Phelan

S Walsh

G Dunne

A Murphy

N Brennan

Agreed completely on Alan Murphy, can be brilliant in 1 game and won't be seen doing much for a while after that, Himself and Billy Ryan need to be real leaders from now on, both on panel long enough but probably need to bring game to another level.