Kilkenny GAA Thread

Just saying we used to dominate all things hurling , now not so much now.wheather local colleges are just picking their own,it seems that way to me.

The club scene is very important this year. The players are out there. Management have to be all over this. We need to find players to match Adam Hogan , Mark Rogers, Shane O Brien, Alan Connolly, Shane Barrett, Ciarán Joyce, Conor Leen

In 2010 we only had 3 over 30

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/kilkenny-team-1.646746

Being in Leinster, obviously not KK's fault, has a lot to do with that stat. A more accurate summary of KK's year is who of note did they beat in Championship hurling. KK played one meaningful pressure game and lost it. I'm not having a go by the way- and how could I considering the depths Tipp habe fallen to - but KK fans need to be realistic on whete they currently stand.

well we also beat Waterford and Limerick and Cork

Clare bet us 3 times this year, if we played them 10 times they would beat us each time, much stronger team, better bench and more flair.

KK would not be afraid of Clare if they meet again next year and rightly so. Their bench bet us simple as that.

Would Clare have beaten Limk in the final? I think not. But i thought they had the beating of Cork.

The Clare v Cork game is a toally different type of match up to if either of them had played KK.

Here is my assumption on Kilkenny.

Lyng hasn’t stamped his authority on this team yet. Same players as Cody's team really.

Could have and probably should have bet Clare if we were better in our passing. Reid lamped ball down the line high and we basically gave ball away.

You could argue this is an All Ireland left behind we all would have fancied our chances against Cork.

Some players whilst great servants should have been dropped no need to name names but legs of some are gone since 2017. I have seen a few club challenges lately being around the club scene and there is really good club hurlers out there who have cleaned out panel members.

Why aren’t they in there you will ask? Hard to know commitment and I know of one club who have players asked but family reasons (kids) work etc stop this. So we must respect the players who do put life on hold for Kilkenny hurling they do deserve our ultimate respect.

There are good club players there.

My view on what Lyng should do. Clear out the players who are there a long time he might even need to retire players and not pushing onto the team bring in youth (Cillian Hackett etc) Work from there and seriously look at coaching. A well coached team doesn’t flake ball away as easy as we did.

My thoughts on the long winter ahead but there is plenty of room for optimism!

ad infinitum ………

🤯

"if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle" ……

Did some of the lads here ever consider the possibility that the panel and team that lyng picked were the best players he had available to him..is there a chance that the youngsters have not broken into the team because they are being out performed and out worked by the older lads on the panel?

Clare Had plenty of older players on the field sunday..

Perhaps there will be multiple retirements in the coming weeks and we will get lots of game time into the younger crew..it will be interesting to see how they perform.

I was also very impressed with the likes of shane Murphy Jordan molloy and owen wall in the league but i wasn't at any of the training sessions so maybe they didn't perform as well in the summer

I do agree we continue to make the same mistakes once the pressure comes on but i believe the players and management are equally responsible for this..

Yet as poor as we were in the second half against clare we still only lost by a very small margin..so i dont think its all doom and gloom..

Will Derek lyng be under pressure next year if kilkenny have another poor year.

Personally yeah I would move Lyng on but this county board are so inept that possibility will never enter the thoughts so why I didn’t factor that in my post.

Eddie Brennan would be my choice and you can be damn certain he would bring in a top class coach.

Kilkenny Lessons From 2024 Championship

1. Kilkenny scoring efficiency in full flow needs to at least match Limerick, Cork and Clare. I agree with Village 87 that we seem more intent on stopping teams scoring. Limerick hit 30+ points in their 4 in a row. We need one or two more scoring forwards like Wall, Shine and Drennan playing during our purple patches. We shot 6 awful wides into Hill 16 and missed 2 goals in the first half v Clare. Clare, Cork and Limerick scored 16-17 points each into Hill 16, we shot 11. This low accuracy has been a problem at AI semis & finals for 2023 and 2024; better in 2022. We may need key forwards to lower their work rate and retain more energy for scoring.

2. Kilkenny need to be less predictable. Cody practiced this; springing surprise players late to avoid video analysis of player styles – refer Jackie’s book. Wexford and Clare easily dealt with Walter Walsh at right half forward this year; it backfired; why not put him rff or ff. Ryan Taylor (a link player) for Clare changed the middle third flow at a critical stage and opened up the dominant Kilkenny half back line in the semi; Cian Lynch did same in 2023 AI final. I would like to see 2 link players in midfield (Molloy & Kenny) next year, Tommy W replaced by Larry Murphy or a fast corner back for the last 20 mins. Change up the middle third for the last 25 mins. Reposition Mikey B or replace him for the last 20 mins – Peter Casey scored 5 points against both corner backs in 2023.

3. We need more competitive matches before the AI semis. Leinster was too easy. We scored 30 points v Dublin in the LF but 16 v Clare. Leinster games were 24+ points.

4. We need to take more risks with new younger players. They may not be showing up in training but give them responsibility and they will show up in time. Also, the older players seem to know how to get on the LF and AI semi team.

5. Eoin Cody, Adrian Mullen and John Donnelly need to learn more front 8 positions to further develop them.

6. We need a stronger panel with the ability to bring on 8 skillful and strong players like Clare did in the AI final. Also, to change the structure of our play late on to outfox the opposition.

It's good to see some lads are back to the happy enough to lose a tight match to the eventual winners. If we were learning from our mistakes every year I wouldn't mind but the team has gone back a bit from the team that lost two years ago and its more or less the same team. This project isn't exactly in its first or 2nd year Infact it won't be long before we'll be looking for replacements in key positions,lots of talk of huw going travelling, if we could only freeze tj every 6 months.We can talk about the club championship and finding players all we want but when push has come to shove the last 2 years no one new has being trusted in the big games. Tactically I think we are poorly coached and when under pressure again revert to route one while being double marked up top. The quality of ball and the puckout/movement is also very poor at times and has improved little over the last few years. You would be hoping if Lyng does stay he will freshen things up in the backroom team. Id be looking at the s&c and getting someone involved who can help with the coaching .The team has regressed and unless lads are trusted and gave experience we will regress further.

You can talk about facilities, S and C,the county board until your blue in the face at the end of the day it's all about Players.Kilkenny are short 3 or 4 top class players to win an All Ireland at the moment,we won 36 All Irelands without facilities, yes coaching S and C and facilities are important now in the modern game but if you don't have the players good enough those thing won't win you an All Ireland.

Jp is pumping money into Limerick for over 20 years or more now and they never won an All Ireland until this current crop of unbelievable players came along.Kilkenny had a golden era from 2000-2015 because we had 15 years of unbelievably talented players constantly coming through. Tipperary are in transition now because the players they have aren't good enough and they've lost alot of their All Ireland wining team.Galway the same.

Next year management will have to go with the younger players(should have started this year) we could be in for a few more lean years but the thing about Kilkenny is hurling is the number one sport in the county and we will always produce good hurlers who will then have to be well coached and looked after from a young age.