Kilkenny GAA Thread

I think we can talk here until the cows come home.Lads can think of whatever idea they like but ive no doubt it will go against the cronies at county board.Good forbid a bit of thinking outside the box and forget about it it costs because that's a big no no.You don't need to be Albert Einstein to work out there's a lot of sheep sitting in the soft seats. I know things have gone pear shaped for herity but the likes of herity and Tom Mullally should of being tracked down and brought into underage setup or get suitable candidates trained up.

We all heard Ciaran muldowneys interview here. How he was met with resistance etc. We're not saying he was a messiah,what we're saying is something is rotten and you've the same lads just moving chairs around the table. You would wonder hown managers being selected for underage teams are interviewed? And we're all behind Derek lyng but where else would you get it where he was asked and had no competition.

We all know A big root and branch is God knows how long over due but we all know it will never happen and they'll cover their arses by saying mick Dempsey is this and performance coach that. The records are speaking for themselves.The years are tipping by. You'd have to admire duignan he has being a breath of fresh air.Clare were a laughing stock a few years ago underage. They went back to basics and Donal molaney and many more are working hard with these young lads. Donal has won all Ireland's at underage so the pedigree is there.

As others have said it's a long time since we produced a kilkenny hurler. Worryingly on the pitch the seniors and u20 were both in winning positions and very unlike kk at home couldnt see it out. I know it's easy hide behind the phone and slate lads who gave up months and months but a proper review has to happen. We all think we have the answers and hind sight is a great yoke but that u20 team wasn't right from the get go.You would wonder how they thought Harry shine would last I'm not going to harp on bout it either but we hadn't a foward to bring on the other night and Danny Glennon got about 1-5 the night before below in thomastown and Jay Burke was marking him. A lad on the county extended panel last year

I look at the big differences Liam Cahill has brought to Tipp or a bit of steel pat Ryan looks to have added. I thought we looked toothless and a very poorly coached.The same few lads being taken off in most games but start the following game.

On another point of view I think the higher echelons of the county board grew in stature on the coattails of Brian Cody’s success. The arrogance is unbelievable, they are not listening to the county board members so the general public like ourselves haven’t a hope. I am so sick of this ongoing situation we can see it happening before our eyes for the last 15 years. Start moving today and it happens very quickly.

Have being involved underage with my club myself and have seen upfront what goes on. Youngsters go into the development squads at a young age and after that their only priority is the county team. They have built up a name and once your in it seems your their for life. We would have had better players who developed later but never got a look in because they never made the panel under 14. Then as a manager you get less than 100% from the county player as he is keeping himself for the county teams. They used to publish the development squads on the Kilkenny gaa website. The same players year after year. Sometimes a player can get complacent when they don't really have to push themselves.

Similar with our secondary schools situation. One big school winning year after year, practically a county team playing against other schools usually picking from just a few clubs. It gives our young players a sense of them being better than they actually are and is not good for their development. If you are not in kierans or CBS, then you are likely to get an approach to go into kierans. Only helps to massage the ego further.

The result then is young players who don't realise they don't have to work harder at their game, but often think they have made it at such a young age.

Another problem in Kilkenny is there are to many chiefs and not enough soldiers. A lot of people think they are experts. This does not help when trying to modernise the game at club and county level.

Wexford played a lovely brand the other night. Went short to the wings as they knew Kilkenny were slow on the legs. Went long to the big full forward at times to. Kilkenny did not know weather to go short or long, was an absolute shambles . I hear some players are disappointed with Dowling after comments made after the match.

You are now paying the price for 23 years of Cody

he sacrificed skill for strength once the great team was gone and fogarty went Cody was a disaster

new young lad from conahy with boro I think

at Celtic match against Clare there was a young lad playing corner back as good a young hurler I have seeing way above some of the players last night

maybe some of you will now realise that anyone as anthony Daly said to Cody his grandmother would have won all irelands with that team

look at Cody’s record with village won nothing when other managers did

skill always came first in kilkenny

the skill of players in the minor and under 20

was as bad as ever seeing in kilkenny hurling

Davys gameplan kills any natural flair players have

There was nobody on the Kilkenny panel as good as Cian Byrne no.10 for Wexford.

He was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch.

His younger brother Cillian, who was a minor last year and played corner forward the other night is going to be a better hurler than Cian I'd say and that's saying something. We can only hope that with better coaching we can develop better underage teams again sooner rather than later. Its tough for the minors last night and the u20s during the week. They put the work in but we have to hold our hands up and say we're not producing the hurlers we were accustomed to or we're not developing them to the level required.

I’d have to agree with hurlarious about the county board.they tend to do all their projects piecemeal, in one way there is no debt but it also creates a meanness and unwillingness to spend money and as was mentioned earlier we need big investments in infrastructure. (1) a dedicated second inter county pitch (2) Dunmore to be extended to at least another three pitches and one all weather. (Which by the way they got a great deal off of the county council, this was offered by the council rather than secured by the county board) (3) how many gaa development officers do we have in the county and is it in line with other counties,now I do know Brian Ryan is there over twenty years but is he still on his own.(4)the skills have to be taught in the schools and in the clubs at an early age I think the skills levels have dropped drastically in the last twenty years (5) the national school teachers used to hurl after school one time but this stopped over a work to rule problem so there is no time given voluntarily anymore. Thirty years ago the amount of great volunteers in the education system was huge,now there are none.We need to get moving quickly and sort out these problems.

Ned Quinn is an arrogant know it all. All clubs unanimously want the minor moved back from u17 to u18. Cork, Tipp and Wexford have succeeded on there own terms. Kilkenny are afraid to do this under Ned Quinns instructions as Croke Park do not approve. This is the biggest problems facing clubs atm. Players u18 are to young to separated from there own age group, now most u19s are doing the leaving cert. Thats 2 years lads are only going through the motions. Dont get me started, the county board and Ned Quinn are a disgrace.

The county board thought that Kilkenny would always have hurlers without structure, coaching and funding and “that is for others counties who dont have as many hurlers”

There's sense of huge frustration in this thread at the moment about how our county board operates currently and how it has operated for far too long now. I agree with so many of the comments here about how antiquated our board appears to be and i share the frustration. Like so many areas of life its so easy to just pass comment and criticise but of course we all know that gets us nowhere in the end. Real change is required before we find ourselves so far down the pecking order that we will struggle to be a competitive fore on the national stage for many many years to come. In my view its too late to to look at changing how we operate the current minor, u21 and senior set ups. We are where we are and we all know why we are here. Development squads need to be looked at and looked at in a very serious way starting now.

Its no longer good enough for development squads to be comprised mostly of chaps from the clubs who have representatives involved in the coaching of these squads. Its no longer good enough to send out notifications to clubs asking to send in lads for trials. We need our GPO's and our GDA's out looking at underage matches and selecting chaps on merit, on their ability on their skill and assemble development squads around players that are already showing potential in real games with their own clubs, not just because they come from the same club as one of the development squad coaches. People might say that's not practical or that's not how its done but we need t start thinking outside the box. Our county board GPO's who have been in positions for a very long time now aren't exactly run off their feet and from the quality of their "coaching" I've seen in schools down our way, their time would be better served doing something else.

Each club has a county board delegate and its up to the club members to voice their concern through this delegate and send a message to the board. If the board don't want to hear that message then club members throughout the county need to find their voice, vote with their feet and make action happen soon rather than later because we are running head long, blindfolded towards the cliff edge and when we fall its going to be some climb back up. Never have i felt so frustrated and negative towards kilkenny hurling as i do right now, but as the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is today

Well said Delaney. It was the top men in the county board let the standards slip 20 years ago.Brian Cody was a great man for keeping it going so long with dwindling resources. In the end I agreed with his departure if only to freshen things up. I heard Michael Fennelly has taken up that new position as hurling officer. This won’t serve any purpose if they will not give him the tools to work with.

Agree and when Cody finished in 2022 he brought a team to a Final where we weren’t expected to be. With a little more composure we could have won it and we also have won the last 3 Leinster finals. No mean feat for a team not expected to be at the top table. Agree it was right time for Cody to go but he did leave us with a competitive team and Something to work on. The county board don’t see I believe the trouble we are in because of our underage being so bad. How someone can blame Brian Cody for this is beyond me and I think anyone that thinks rationally.

Ant word on the 3 minors that went off injured last week - will they be available for the Clare match?

Great underage team. Full of energy