National Football League 2013

Looking forward to the first outing v Offaly. Offaly will give Kildare a stiffer test this time round but can see kildare pulling away with 15 to go.
All eyes on Offaly but just thought I'd give my cents on a possible meeting with the Dubs in The Leinster Semi.
The pundits/media are tiping/hyping Dublin. Let them think Leinster will be a walk through and that no one else need bother turning up.
It sets kildare up nicely for the leinster semi final clash. Going in as underdogs all the pressure is really on them.
Not as tight at the back as they were under Gilroy. I know we will create the chances against them but we HAVE to take them.
There's always shocks in the championship Kildare/Dublin match just might be one of them.
Roll on the championship

whiteknight wrote:

Looking forward to the first outing v Offaly. Offaly will give Kildare a stiffer test this time round but can see kildare pulling away with 15 to go.
All eyes on Offaly but just thought I'd give my cents on a possible meeting with the Dubs in The Leinster Semi.
The pundits/media are tiping/hyping Dublin. Let them think Leinster will be a walk through and that no one else need bother turning up.
It sets kildare up nicely for the leinster semi final clash. Going in as underdogs all the pressure is really on them.
Not as tight at the back as they were under Gilroy. I know we will create the chances against them but we HAVE to take them.
There's always shocks in the championship Kildare/Dublin match just might be one of them.
Roll on the championship

I like the optimism but in reality I have seen nothing to suggest we can beat the Dubs in champ this year.

Dempsey questions McGeeney's strategy
01 May 2013


Moorefield manager Luke Dempsey. INPHOFormer Carlow manager Luke Dempsey has questioned Kieran McGeeney's training schedule with Kildare.

Dempsey, who is manager of Kildare club team Moorefield this year, explained to the Kildare Nationalist that he was unwilling to play his county players, Daryl Flynn and Ronan Sweeney in a crucial league game against neighbours Sarsfields last week, because of the training schedule they had put in with the county during the week.

Kildare had a hectic schedule during the week as they trained on Tuesday and Wednesday night before training on Saturday and Sunday morning.

All players were then released back to their clubs to play league matches later on Sunday, but Dempsey stressed that he was not willing to play the lads concerned in fear of aggravating old injuries.

"They trained on Sunday morning and the two lads had been suffering from their own injuries," stated Dempsey. "Ronan has a disc problem in his back and Daryl has a hip problem.

"They trained Saturday and Sunday, training Tuesday night, Wednesday, it's all too much. I'd never put the players through that by asking them to play.

"If there was a scaled down county set up I'd play them, but I wouldn't risk tow players who have put in that sort of a week."

I don't see anything in the quotes from the Nationalist where Luke Dempsey "questions McGeeney's strategy."

Hoganstand are just putting their own spin on the article.

That's just the way it has gone. If we don't train that much we'll be back to where we were in the mid-2000s and people will sack the manager saying we need a more professional set-up. Get that set-up and people want players to have more times with the clubs. Can't please all the people all of the time.

With the club championship starting next week the whole thorny issue of players availability for their clubs will surface again and it's very hard to strike a balance on this. Having said that there's not much point releasing players for a club game if they have to do a hard training session that morning, it might tick a box but isn't doing the player much good.

With Kildare playing a challenge match Sunday against Galway, clubs will more thank likely have no more than two training sessions with their county players before playing next weekend, this is far from ideal but as TK says this is a pretty impossible situation to manage. We are far from the only county with this problem, Dublin have already had to postpone a round of club championship due to the county teams performance in the League.

Last week was a prime example of this Kildare trained Sunday morning knowing that a round of club fixtures were on later that day also knowing that if they trained the players would more than likely not play for there clubs. We have a round of club championship games coming up next weekend and I really think it was very unfair on the clubs. TommyKeegan said about a professional set up and not pleasing everyone, To me that was way more unprofessional from the Kildare management I also put some of the blame on club committees & the county board for allowing this to happen.
But its the same sh?te every year!!!!

steviegenius wrote:

Last week was a prime example of this Kildare trained Sunday morning knowing that a round of club fixtures were on later that day also knowing that if they trained the players would more than likely not play for there clubs. We have a round of club championship games coming up next weekend and I really think it was very unfair on the clubs. TommyKeegan said about a professional set up and not pleasing everyone, To me that was way more unprofessional from the Kildare management I also put some of the blame on club committees & the county board for allowing this to happen.
But its the same sh?te every year!!!!

You do realise stevie that Kildare may have been in a League Final on Sunday and that the league fixtures were not set in stone for that weekend or previous weekends.

If you check the Senior League Master Fixtures for the start of the year you will see that the weekends 13th/14th , 20th/21st and 27th/28th were open to be on either the Saturday or the Sunday.

I only got a confirmation the week of the league fixtures confirming that they were going ahead the Sunday at 3pm.

Would it not be unfair on The County Players themselves to not have 2/3 weeks notice as to what their training/matches regime is so that they can plan around it?

It's certainly not unprofessional of the County Management to proceed with a scheduled training session considering they could have been in a League final that very day also.

People should really consider the facts before going off on a rant.

Those league fixtures were confirmed on the 19th April, 9 days before they took place, I doubt Kildare had a training session scheduled for a day that they would have been playing in a League final and would defo not have trained 4 nights the week of the final, these things only changed after Tyrone beat Kildare. I wouldn't call what the county management did unprofessional but it is extremely selfish which they maybe have to be to achieve the level of success to match their ambition.

No rant from me Heisenberg I just think it was very unfair & selfish as topcat said for the clubs with championship around the corner not having there county players to get some sort of game plan together. There was another five weekend before Kildare play surly they could rearrange a training session to help out the clubs.

Spot on stevie and topcat.

You might as well be banging your head against a brick wall.

topcat wrote:

Those league fixtures were confirmed on the 19th April, 9 days before they took place, I doubt Kildare had a training session scheduled for a day that they would have been playing in a League final and would defo not have trained 4 nights the week of the final, these things only changed after Tyrone beat Kildare. I wouldn't call what the county management did unprofessional but it is extremely selfish which they maybe have to be to achieve the level of success to match their ambition.

19th of April was 5 days after they were beaten in the League Semi Final. I would say they had whatever way they were going to train planned out well in advance regardless of League Semi Final result.

2/3 Nights training and a match at weekend is what they were doing during the League. That adds up to meeting up 4 times at least in total weekly. I don't see any difference here except instead of a match they trained.

I also know some players played for their clubs that weekend so they were made available.
Who knows what that Sunday session was. It could only have been kicking session, could have been running.

Luke Dempsey is just being Luke Dempsey.

You would think McGeeney who has been in charge now at Kildare for 6 seasons would be given the benefit of the doubt over a journey man who applies for every county job going.

I don't hold it against McGeeney/Ryan/Hendy for being selfish. They want whats best for their team.
Its the county board that are at fault here.They are the ones charged with looking after the clubs. Why should they give a shit about Athy, Moorefield or JTB?

Luke Dempsey is only wanting what's best for Moorefield too. For the players to have the odd weekend here and there with the clubs is hardly going to much damage to Kildare's prospects in the summer. A full club match for some of those lads would probably be even better for their preparation than collective training with the county.

Why did some players play when others didn't. From what I heard all players where available to play. I saw O'Callaghan played, Cribben for JTB played and others to I would suggest. Dempsey could have played them if he wanted but choose not too.
That's his choice, so to go moaning to the press in an underhanded way is pathetic. He's only back managing in the county a wet week and he's giving out yards. Maybe if he himself was a little more selfish when in charge of Westmesth or Carlow he might have been seen as more than the failure he was.

It's that time of the year. Nobody will ever be happy with the fixtures. Some want a round played in May. Others say it's too early. County management want the best for their team, clubs want te best for theirs.

It's not that long ago that Peter Whyte and Jack Sheedy were pissing and moaning and dropping Daryl Flynn and David Whyte. All to prove a point.

It is what it's always been, a contentious issue that will never be solved. We just have to get on with it

Baba O' Reily wrote:

Why did some players play when others didn't. From what I heard all players where available to play. I saw O'Callaghan played, Cribben for JTB played and others to I would suggest. Dempsey could have played them if he wanted but choose not too.
That's his choice, so to go moaning to the press in an underhanded way is pathetic. He's only back managing in the county a wet week and he's giving out yards. Maybe if he himself was a little more selfish when in charge of Westmesth or Carlow he might have been seen as more than the failure he was.

A failure?

He managed the Westmeath minors to win an All Ireland title in 1995 and their u21 team to an All Ireland title in 1999. They beat a Kerry team in 1999 that had Tomás Ó Sé, Paul Galvin, Tommy Griffin, Mike McCarthy and Tadhg Kennelly on it. He took the Westmeath seniors to a quarter final in 2001 where they were a few poor refereeing decisions away from dumping out Meath in the drawn match.

Anyone that thinks he's a failure as a manager doesn't know much about football.

I'll admit I had forgot about the underage results which fair dues to him are top class, but one Quarter final is hardly a resounding success at senior.

Care to comment on the fact that his players were from what I know available to play but he choose not to pick them and then moaned to the local media causing more unneeded trouble. We know you are not a fan of McGeneey that much is obvious from your previous posts but I can only see the blame on one managers shoulders here. If other players played he has no leg to stand on.

If the HS article about his comments to the Nationalist is correct then I dont think he was complaining or moaning. He just seemed to be explaining why he wasn't playing Flynn and Sweeney as they were carrying injuries and had a hard training week. Nothing wrong with that surely as he would have been lambasted by many posters here if they had played and exacerbated their injuries. I have to say I find it disappointing the way some posters try to portray anyone who seems to question the way the manager runs the team. Dempsey certainly deserves better than to be labelled a failure.

Baba O' Reily wrote:

I'll admit I had forgot about the underage results which fair dues to him are top class, but one Quarter final is hardly a resounding success at senior.

Care to comment on the fact that his players were from what I know available to play but he choose not to pick them and then moaned to the local media causing more unneeded trouble. We know you are not a fan of McGeneey that much is obvious from your previous posts but I can only see the blame on one managers shoulders here. If other players played he has no leg to stand on.

If it's correct that they trained with Kildare on Sunday morning then he was right not to play them. But why are they training on the same day when there are club fixtures on? I believe a few competitive club fixtures would do the players more good than twice the number of county training sessions.

Some lads here have to get real!! County players cant play with there clubs in case of injury, they trained almost every day last week trained Saturday then Sunday morning then they were released to play with there club, Do ye not think they were more likely to get an injury after training Sunday morning and playing with there club in the afternoon

steviegenius wrote:

Some lads here have to get real!! County players cant play with there clubs in case of injury, they trained almost every day last week trained Saturday then Sunday morning then they were released to play with there club, Do ye not think they were more likely to get an injury after training Sunday morning and playing with there club in the afternoon

Like KK has said, why were they training on Sunday morning knowing full well there was a round of SFL fixtures later in the day? A change of tact is badly needed, this sort of training regime hasn't worked in the championship in McGeeney's 5 years in charge and I don't see why it would now. There's a challenge game tomorrow in Moorefield, that's just 6 days before the club championships start, this shows a total lack of respect for clubs from the Kildare management and the County Board.

There's nothing like a club v county row to bring out the McGeeney fanboys.

Ironic you say that since that hoganstand article was posted the usual anti mcgeeney Mafia come out in force one after the other. You lot are so predictable at this time of year. Like clock work.

Baba O' Reily wrote:

Ironic you say that since that hoganstand article was posted the usual anti mcgeeney Mafia come out in force one after the other. You lot are so predictable at this time of year. Like clock work.

Anti McGeeney mafia?

Get a grip you idiot.

Fanboy! On your bike you no mark clown.