Kilkenny GAA Thread

I generally don’t deal in "what ifs" and this is in no way a criticism of Lyng and team (maybe they had a chat with him and he said no), but jeez, Colin Fennelly would be a serious asset to have along with the reinvigorated older lads mentioned above, and especially with his Ballyhale team mates all flying. Getting his body in way of Morrissey and flicking the ball through for Cody or TJ.Can’t have everything I suppose.

On Sunday week, I see Brian Gavin in Examiner yesterday correctly again pointing out that refs penalising steps and throwing dries up almost completely the more advanced the championship is.O' Donnell took at least 10 steps before forcing a fine save out of Murphy and (for my eyes at least), clearly threw the ball to Rogers for the great block by Fogarty.

Our chances Sunday week will improve hugely if the ref has balls and penalises steps and throwing. We are not faultless in either department, but Lim are the high priests of throwing. It looks to me that they are coached to fling it off the fingertips (or more likely it looks like its coming off fingetips because they are fully extended). A bit like the action tennis players uses for the service toss. So, a ref gets conned because he sees the fingers extended and engaged and generally lets it go, but the split second extra it derives is vital in many instances.

Kinnerk is a genius, but many of the things he coaches, are hugely cynical.

I am very confident that whoever is in charge will not indulge the Quaid "time out" and I also predict Quaid will get done at least once for taking too long on puck outs. There is a lot of dissatisfaction with this since last weekend and I suspect Croke Park will specifically advise ref to insist on play continuing if it appears. Maybe insist outfield player pucks the ball out and Quaid leaves field for treatment

I’ve seen criticism since Sat about henry and Richie getting too wound up, but Limerick have such an incredible back room set up, they were right to draw the refs attention to the BS of allowing that hugely professional team, stop the match and get the information their data has spat out, to the payers on the field (more important than the break in momentum).

They are bloody hard enough to beat given the talent they have on the field, without conferring other on field priveleges on them.

I`m failing to see where the progress is. We had our arse handed to us on a plate in the league final, we needed a last minute Hail Mary to win the Leinster final against opposition we defeated comfortably enough last year and we struggled over the line on Sunday against a team we had disposed of by half time in the same fixture last year. Defensively we look much more vulnerable than at this point last year so I wouldn`t be that confident that we are going to shut out the Limerick inside forwards like we did 12 months ago. The whole Lawlor to centre back proved to be a sideline error that we haven`t really recovered from.

On a positive note the players appear to be fully behind the manager and I think Sundays game should bring on Adrian Mullen and Ritchie Reid a tonne and Mossy Keoghan to a lesser extent. The big issue now is where are Limerick? Are they 10 points+ better than Galway or are they much of a muchness with the rest of Munster. The former and we are in trouble. On balance I think it`s the latter, which gives us a realistic chance of beating them but we need to win before you can say we`ve made progress.

I see John Fogarty in Examiner has picked his All Stars as of now.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41180659.html

No TJ. All you can do is laugh.

Also in Examiner, Kiely getting very prickly abdout the criticism of the Quaid stoppages, but for me, maybe inadvertently, raises a more serious issue, is Nicky Quaid ok?

If John Kiely is telling the truth here, then it is astonishing Quaid isn't undergoing a battery of tests. Quaid also had stopped play a few times in Munster on concerns he was unwell. I am being serious here, Limerick have a huge back up team including medics, it shouldn't have to fall on refs and umpires to point out to them, their keeper is clearly unwell.

It's either BS gamesmanship or Quaid isn't right.

It's a suprise he didn't have a couple from Tipp in it ..

Brian Dowling stepping down as camoige manager. He did a great job and alway came across well in interviews, all the best to him.

Season tickets released for AI - Row 302, bloody hell...definitely my last year doing this...

Kiely hasn't come out of that well I think, alright it's a tricky topic to answer questions on but claiming that you don't know if your goalkeeper (of all positions) wears contact lenses and that same keeper having stopped play many times in the past by appearing to have a problem with his contact lenses doesn't really stand up to scrutiny

Your eyes are fine, O’Donnell clearly threw the ball. You are exactly right about the Limerick throwing too. When it gets a bit tough for them they crowd the spaces and use the throw to work the ball. Flanagan went on an eighteen step run at one stage and then illegally threw the the ball to a teammate against Galway. None of the so called pundits ever call this out there seems to be some kind of omertà on it to keep their jobs.

As you say, Limerick are a very talented team and they are hard enough to beat without all these shenanigans . So hopefully the ref pulls a few early on and then we can go from there.

Finally, great win on Sunday and a great match. Impressed on how Kilkenny saw out the match and turned the tide when a very good Clare team had gained the upper hand. What a save from Murphy, he’s now assured of immortality , it’ll be talked about for as long as they play hurling.

There was a good few there, a few thousand I'd say BUT the kids weren't allowed on the pitch at the end after training and the players signed hurls etc on the pitch side wire in Ardan de Gras when the kids were all getting squashed up against the wire on the stand side. It was all quite unsafe to be honest and my own kid left with nothing signed after 30 full minutes of waiting, while bigger kids left with 10 signatures on their hurls. Annoying.

Would it have been so bad to leave the kids on the pitch? Feel the Co Board should have thought this out a bit better, and hopefully won't do this again.

I think KK have a chance in the final, but if KK fans are being extremely honest here.

in the Leinster championship league game in Nowlan Park they let Galway back into it in the second half having being 6? Points up.

and in the Leinster final kk did similar, also let them go two points up and were lucky to win.

Against Clare kk let them come back from 6 down to go ahead 2 points up and were lucky to force a mistake out of them for the goal.

If KK can’t play better in the second hand in the all Ireland final (the half that limerick always raise their game), kk could get a trimming like in the league final.

kk badly miss Carey at wing back and Conor Browne at midfield. How they could do with Mullen in the forwards. How they could do with wing backs of Blanchfield and Carey.

KK need everything to go well, limerick need to just play their usual game.

I would expect 3-4 players to also step down.

A great couple of years, but this year was very poor. Miriam Walsh gets injured and the team crumbles.

Very poor.

They are were reigning all ireland champions.

They beat a poor Dublin side, threw away a 10 point lead against Tipp to draw, and 'robbed' a draw against Wex, then were beaten by Cork.

Cork should have been well ahead after missing 2 clear goal chances, and should have had a penalty.

That is a poor season. Whatever about taking the results in isolation, if people saw the performances in those game , they would understand.

would have to agree with greenspurs on his assessment, stop/start season and i know lost by narrowest of margins but victory would covered a load of issues highlighted on performance levels by many over the season , brian and his team tried various subs/players during the league but did not improve the performances of the team and reverted back to existing band of first teamers / every team needs competition for first team places but recently this is not the case for the kilkenny camogie team

Loss of o connell and walsh was huge, morrisey looked to be back to her best but then done her ACL.lack of firepower cost them.gaule got 1-10 of the 2-12 showing the lack of firepower ftom the rest of the forwards.changes I agree during hames were to predictable. But there are good young girls to come through and getting a manager that can blend the new talent and the old will be the challenge for the county board.heard gaule maybe going to OZ with kinneally after club championship (hope thats not true)