Kildare vs Mayo

we still need a player or two with pace in forward line we were still very predictable when fogarty and brophy got the ball. mullhall has a bit of go thats badly needed but hopefully we are on right track with lyons injury free bolton and cribben bombing forward and a few to come back we could be there or there abouts

Nial Kelly in for McNally and one more year for John Doyle instead of Podge and that's a good forward line

I don't think you'll see Johnny or Nial for a while yet, going on current form I don't imagine there will be many changes in the forwards, from what I've seen any subs that were used were very similar in style to those they replaced, its been like for like. Midfield have done enough to date I think, am looking forward to seeing how the do next day, a much bigger test. Defenders are a different story, while the half backs were good second half the last day I would be concerned with the lack of pace in the fullback line and our kickouts are way to cumbersome. If our half backs bomb on as suggested we will be exposed, that was a major problem first half v Meath. I though the half back line in the first half were 10-15 meters to high up the field, they closed that gap in the second half, Bolton in particular held his ground and used his kick pass more. We won our fair share of ball in the full forward line but took the wrong option on a few occasions and were isolated far to often. We are a bit away from the finished article yet but I like what I see so far

Niall Kelly should only be used sparingly until the summer when he does return after his operation. Hip problems can be very persistent and Kelly has a lot of football behind him for a player so young. He should be minded now so we can get the best out of him over the next decade. If that means sitting out a few league and possibly even u21 games then so be it.

Team for Sunday from the Kildare GAA website. Apart from Shane Connolly coming back, looks like no changes from the Meath game.

1. Shane Connolly
2. Mick O’Grady
3. Mick Foley
4. Hugh McGrillen
5. Kevin Murnaghan
6. Emmet Bolton
7. Paul Cribbin
8. Tommy Moolick
9. Gary White
10. Cathal McNally
11. Eoghan O’Flaherty
12. Sean Hurley
13. Paddy Brophy
14. Darroch Mulhall
15. Padraig Fogarty

Change of keeper the only change, no major surprises I suppose.

Yep - as expected : although I would love to know what the criteria for selecting the keeper is?

Probably rotating at the time being. No firm decision on first choice yet. I remember Geezer doing the same with Corley and Enda Murphy in his first year before settling on Murphy after the Wicklow loss in championship.

Good team lads, really looking forward to the game now!

That team is a big gamble in my opinion. We're playing the All Ireland finalists on Sunday.

And you need to be winning your home games to survive in Division 1.

Why is it a gamble? What's the alternative?

topcat wrote:

Probably rotating at the time being. No firm decision on first choice yet. I remember Geezer doing the same with Corley and Enda Murphy in his first year before settling on Murphy after the Wicklow loss in championship.

I still think Kildare have a problem here, Not for there Goalkeeping ability's but in relation to there kickouts of both keepers. I don't have the stats to hand on the but i noticed a lot of our kickouts last weeks and previous weeks  were directed high up in the air and a spinning ball which is hard to catch.

I dont know how much work has been done on kickouts in training but to me we have to get 80% possession of OUR kickouts to hand to have a chance to compete with the top teams when it comes to the crunch.

On the kickouts we need to make zones to which players have free space to make there runs ie: Halfbacks short kicks, Midfield man for man ,and half forwards running into space from kickouts. This has to be worked on week in week out until it comes natural to the whole team of the strategy that works best. I will be keeping an eye on it come Sunday and hope it gets better

Up the Lillies

I expect changes before the game starts.

Dido : I totally agree with this.
I always felt that Geezer didn't emphasise kick outs enough in training. During matches he tended to get ball winners in and around the middle third and relied on winning breaks.

Obviously I wasn't at every session and don't know whether kick out strategy was in discussed in any detail in team meetings. Anytime I went to see Kildare train I never seen any work done on specific kick out drills. Dublins success over recent years is built around Cluxton's kick outs and they have obviously worked very hard on this in training.
I wonder is the new management team concentrating any more on this area of the game or do they have plans to. On the evidence of what we have seen so far nothing has changed, but that may well change in the spring when training will be geared more towards ball work and strategies.

flourman wrote:

Why is it a gamble? What's the alternative?

I don't expect too many, if any changes - this is the team that has started our last 2 games (Hyland/keepers exception) - with the current state of injuries I don't see where changes are going to be made.

Hard to argue with that - unlucky on Hyland but equally would have even tough on Murnaghan after last week's performance. Big step up for O'Grady as well at this level and I'd share some other people's concerns about our full back line. Wouldn't have any arguments with the full forward line either.

Glad generally to see those who have done well in the OBC hold on to their places. Up to the other squad members to force them out and that's good healthy competition to have.

What's the latest on the injury front, particularly Flynn, Callaghan, Eoin Doyle and Paudie? Are any of them likely to be available for the next few games? I'm assuming the 2 Kellys and JD are a long way of playing at the moment.

flourman wrote:

Why is it a gamble? What's the alternative?

There are plenty of alternatives.

Daryl Flynn, Lyons, Mikey Conway, Callaghan, Hyland, Tom O'Connor, Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Paidi O'Neill.

I'm not saying all of the above should start but they are alternatives.

I realise if you want to learn something about a player you need to give them meaningful game time but we have a lot of players in there that we are trying to learn about all at once.

Murnaghan, O'Grady, Moolick, Mulhall, Hurley, Fogarty, McNally are all rookies.

In saying that I'm really looking forward to it.

Walter White wrote:

flourman wrote:

I realise if you want to learn something about a player you need to give them meaningful game time but we have a lot of players in there that we are trying to learn about all at once.

Yeah agree with that but most of the players you have mentioned have played in big games in the past that Kildare have not been good enough in. Flynn / Leper obviously have injury issues, TOC does not score enough from FF, not sure if Paudi is available just yet.

It is a gamble - but one that I feel has to be taken - we need to find new blood, new formations, new strategies - because what we have been doing in the last 2 years has not been working (and in saying that last year was about bringing in new players/blooding them and I still see last year as a success in that respect, especially keeping our D1 status), but I think that has to continue this year too.

Really looking forward to the game too.

Lyons has a fairly persistent hamstring problem. I can understand why he's not starting. Hyland will have a busy programme over the next few weeks with the Sigerson and the under 21s. O'Grady got better as the game went on against Meath and did ok against Paul Mannion the week before. He deserves another go.

Lets put it this way - what has been wrong the last 2 seasons?

Was it formations or the way we were set up?

Was it our strength and conditioning?

Was it the players?

Maybe it was a little bit of each. If that is the case, should we discard the players who were so good in 2009,2010 & 2011 that quickly? I don't believe we should.

A different S&C approach should rejuvenate a lot of players and the new set up should bring a huge amount of hunger. I don't think we should turn our back on a lot of lads just yet.

murof wrote:

What's the latest on the injury front, particularly Flynn, Callaghan, Eoin Doyle and Paudie? Are any of them likely to be available for the next few games? I'm assuming the 2 Kellys and JD are a long way of playing at the moment.

Flynn and Paudie are back training fully and are fit to play. Callaghan a few weeks away and Eoin Doyle situation doesnt look great.

Meath created too many goal chances last week there will have to be changes. On another day if those goals went in we could have been well bet.

We need to freshen things up a bit what is the point of bringing in a new manager / having trials / extended panels etc. if you then just go back to the same old thing now...
i would agree some of the guys mentioned as alternatives haven't performed whether they got too comfortable with the last manager or not i don't know . . .

No point waiting till later in the year in the middle of Croke Park / or some other Championship venue and then realising the lads that you have had out there all year (+ previous years) are just not good enough and then throwing in these new lads in to try and get you out of jail -and then calling it rebuilding

Of the players available very few have been discarded and none without getting chance and I'm sure the rest will get time to play themselves in. I remember J Ryan giving a talk on winning " breaking ball" a few years ago and he certainly has ideas on how to go about it.

Personally I would like to see Hurley at Midfield, Chalky at Centreback, Paddy at Centreforward and Hylo at Wingback.. Is Conor Murphy on the Panel still ?, surprised He hasnt been used, as Hes a decent free taker.. Looking forward to the Match, and a serious step up in quality. Should be a decent crowd at it hopefully.