Kilkenny GAA Thread

Fairly drab match and a comfortable victory. Would say that Laois goal was very poor from our defence, Laois player was able to waltz through our half back line with noone near him to make the tackle. They had another chance five minutes later that they drove wide but they didn't get much other in the way of goal chances. Drennan the standout forward with Donnelly and Ryan impressing at time. Ryan was the subject of a really high challenge which should have been a red card. I thought Buckley did well today and in fairness to him you can see his movement off the ball is very good with the runs he makes. Delaney did fine for the most part. Some of the youngsters like Dunne and Clifford when he came on didn't make much of an impact but there's plenty of time for them to improve.

Richie Reid was 6 Niall Rowe started instead of Shane Murphy

Kilkenny very much more 'on it' today in terms of hurling sharpness and physicality and it was hard to know to what level due to the opposition but they hit very few wides, generally played the ball a bit more pragmatically but still worked some good scores (great cross fields and also some nicely worked puck out routines). Reid and Mullen were comfortable on the ball and brought a greater assurety to possession (I didn't realise what a big lad Mullen is) . Again Billy Ryan was very productive at centre forward - getting through a mountain of work - and more importantly end product (score or pass for score).

Laois have a very good goalie so only a spectacular shot was going to beat him - Mossy and Cody both went high in good positions (Cody's was optimistic in any case). Eoin Murphy was really good under a series of tricky high balls when Laois had the wind. Buckley was athletic and committed and it will do his confidence good - however my reservation is about his decision making on the ball against better hurlers - but I can see where he can do a job.

One small thing to correct from my perspective - was our defending of opposing runners - still we have multiple men converging on the opposition carrier - generally being undone by 'step-inwards' - instead of one checking himself and closing off the middle or taking a slightly different line - happened at least 3/4 times for scores to my mind.

Drennan was excellent again and I was a bit worried he was injured before going off but saw them all doing their sprint work on the second pitch without any signs of problems so hopefully all ok.

Great news, especially on Hogan. Any county (even Limerick) would love to have access to those 3 wizards. Noticeable how Lyng went out of his way to say how hard Hogan is training.

That doesnt sound like a man who intends confining Hogan to 5 min cameos. For me Hogan should start every time and bring on someone like Billy Ryan for last 15-20 mins.

I agree entirely with JJ’s comments on Richie Hogan. The look of fear in the eyes of a tired defender when they would see Richie bounding onto the pitch with twenty minutes to go.

I agree with last bit, starting two 34 year olds is probably too risky.

But the reality is we dont know whether Hogan has the "legs to start" because I can't remember the last meaningful championship match he started (19 final?).

Anyway, it's just really good to see Lyng on record saying he definitely feels he's got a role to play.

Cody always seemed to have something in for him (and TJ up till 2012) and this was compounded after the sending off in 2019. I have felt Cody has sent him to Coventry ever since, blaming him for the heavy defeat.

One for the older members...guess the game?

Very good, league final, KK 2-10 Galway 2-6, Christy Heffernan & Liam Fennelly with the goals

Was Brian Cody not captain in 1982?

Very slow start for Kierans they were 1-4 to a point down after 15 minutes. In fairness they've kicked into gear since then with 3-5 to 0-2 for the rest of the half. The goals were from Donagh Murphy, Ted Dunne and Harry Shine.

Your dead right KK36 must be 1986 so.Good win for St. Kieran’s another final on st Patrick’s day.

Very strange performance by Kierans, scored one point in first 15 mins of first half and none in 1st 15 mins of 2nd half but still ran out comfortable winners.

Pres Athenry beat Thurles by a point in second semi, in truth I thought Athenry were a good bit better and Kierans will need to be at their best in final.

No doubt we will be told the two Harty finalists couldn't motivate themselves for this secondary competition. 😀

Usual Munster BS. Sure, that's why Kieran's have won all their All Irelands, the Munster teams couldn't be bothered. If a bunch of young lads can't get motivated to win an All Ireland for their schools, then they're at nothing.

The reason they have won all their All Irelands is that they have a packed team. When Munster had boarding schools pulling hurlers from 20 clubs and a few counties they won them too. In those days genuine school teams like Cashel and Tulla didn't get near a Harty Cup either. In the 18 years before St Flannan's ceased boarding they won 9 Harty Cups. In the 18 years since they have won 1. In 26 years before boarding ceased at St Coleman's they won 7 Hartys. In the 20 years since they have won zero.

The Harty is now a more genuine schools' competition with a level playing field. The trade off, however, is an acceptance that there remains a team at All Ireland level which has retained the advantage that boarding schools traditionally had by bringing players from distances way beyond the reach of local schools. It makes the All Ireland a flawed competition which should always be won by St Kieran's and probably will be most years.

Galway has won 14 All Ireland Minor titles in 40 years but no All Ireland Colleges' championship. If they had an equivalent school like St Kieran's hoovering up players from all over rather than relying on schools using local players they clearly have had the talent to dominate that schools' competition.

The attitude of Munster teams re. the All-Ireland is not reflected in the very strange image portrayed here of young guys celebrating not winning it. They just don't see it as a realistic target and there's a sense of resignation at coming up against essentially a County team without the restrictions of normal catchment area or feeder Primary schools most schools operate with.

St Kieran's will appreciate the difference having lost to Offaly schools in the Leinster final. If they had to play teams drawing the same kind of pool as themselves they probably wouldn't win the All Ireland all that much as Kilkenny's Minor record in recent years demonstrates.

Who is the player between Christy Heffernan and Ritchie Power.