Kilkenny GAA Thread

I know at least 20 pl9ayers at minor would have scored that free. Absolutely brutal. Basic skills absent again can't field a high ball can't execute a 20 yard pass

I think I've said it here before but we just don't have the coaches. The development squads have been loaded with Kilkenny hurlers from the golden years but are they coaches? What level of coaching have they done before being brought into the county. What hours have they logged and at what level?

The level of coach education in the county is laughable. I haven't paid much attention over the last 12 months but before that when they bothered to have a session it was just the usual Kilkenny faces rolled out.

We're too arrogant to go outside the county. We should be begging Kinnerk to come down and take a session for a Saturday, promote the **** out of it and INSIST that every club sends in, at a minimum, a coach from their U15 and U17 teams.

Eamon O Shea does a great session. There's countless coaches outside the county that should be brought down to do a Saturday. Once a month would be enough.

I don't disagree with most of the comment but love these new "ANALysts" that appear out of nowhere all of a sudden. Young lads are doing their best and someone is telling them they are good enough to play county but unfortunately many are not. They need an adult to lead them but no one suitable is standing on the sideline tonight.

Think ye are being a bit hard on these young lads, this is reckoned to be the best minor team that Galway have produced by Galway hurling people themselves and that's saying something. We know how good Galway minors are, sure they are winning way more titles than any other county and they are rapidly closing the gap on the roll of honour. Having said that I'll bet we will get a few off that team that will make good seniors and that's what it's about as Galway will win the minor again this year.

That was really disappointing. From early on it evident that Kilkenny were completely outclassed. While facing a superior side is no excuse, what was truly unforgivable was the glaring lack of direction from their management.

The time for change has arrived. Kilkenny, from the very top must take a hard look at their strategies, or lack thereof, and make swift adjustments. As for the back room team tonight, very poor. Buggy may stick to the cars. This teams potential deserves to be harnessed and maximised, and it's crucial for all in Kilkenny to instill a competent board who can guide us back the top table. The status quo is no longer acceptable. Change is not an option—it is a necessity.

Some First post 😳 you do know Bergin is the manager?

If the Co Board do not wake up after this week what is going on.

Tonight's result is not a knee-jerk reaction; it is a damning indictment of Kilkenny's underperformance in the past decade.

Let's face the cold, hard truth: Kilkenny has managed to win only one All-Ireland minor title in the last ten years. Cork went twenty years between winning minor titles, we are on a heading to do the same. This is simply unacceptable. It.is.not.good.enough.

It's time for everyone involved in Kilkenny hurling to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

We are losing the battle, falling behind while others counties surge ahead. The complacency and lack of progress are leaving us in the dust.

It's high time to reassess our strategies, reinvigorate our coaching staff, who have no question a dedication to the cause but poor application. Time to rekindle the fire that once made Kilkenny a dominant force. The war is slipping away, and immediate action is essential if we are to regain our standing in the hurling world. Right now, we are on a downhill curve and gaining speed. Address this before it’s twenty years between titles, which now is where we are heading.

It's hard to know if Kilkenny are being left behind a bit re coaching or if the county board is to blame, I don't know enough of what goes on at that level of the game.

What I do know as a lifelong Kilkenny hurling follower is that we are not producing the kind of hurlers that won all Ireland's in the past .

Now maybe that's just a phase who knows. I would like to think we are just going through a bit of a famine and we will come good again. We still have a long way to go to reach corks level of famine.

Before lads come on here knocking young lads, have a think about it and maybe we just don't have them good enough in the county the last few years and we are just going to have to wait until a good crop come through. Just saying like.

What’s very clear to me looking in from the outside is there is a palpable difference in underage coaching standards in Kilkenny over the past decade. When the development squad system was set up in 2001, other counties copied it, improved it and now the Kilkenny model has fallen vastly behind.

The success of Limerick's Talent Academies, set up by Shane Fitzgibbon, Liam Hayes, Eibhear O'Dea, Joe McKenna, Eamon Cregan, Joe Quaid, and Leo O'Connor, serves as a glaring reminder of Kilkenny's shortcomings. It's high time for Kilkenny hurling as a whole to take a hard look in the mirror and make necessary changes.

Do we try emulate Limerick's approach by honing young talent, elevating coaching standards, and fostering a culture of resilience and fierce competition or continue with a system that was setup over twenty years ago. It’s a difficult question but the discussion must be had.

Kilkenny's lacklustre performances both tonight and earlier this week demands a critical evaluation. The time for introspection and transformation is now. The failure to adapt is a sure path to irrelevance.

Do the Kilkenny development squads work on running mechanics with their different age groups?

I read an article recently on the Cork and Limerick underage squads and they had coaches from athletics background teaching lads the basic running mechanics for sprint speed etc from the age of 14 to 17.

Looking at the under 20s Wednesday and minors tonight we don’t seem to have many speed merchants.

I'd agree although people do tend to overreact to underage results here at times. Personally think since it's an U-17 competition now that the Minor competition isn't anywhere near as Important as a future star indicator. Now it's not nice for the lads to lose as they did today but the result in the U-20s is more concerning as they're the players coming through in the next year or two and they didn't do well.