Cork v Kildare

I think saying it was half a team for Cork is a tad unfair. Do u think Shields or Cadogan would have been better than Clancy's first half. Gould at 6 was super for them they impressed me much better than Counihans teams.
To our own, under pressure at 6 as usual was a bit disappointed with Conway was hoping he might go on a run of games there. Why has McGrillen never been tried there. Murnahan best of backs.
Couldn't believe Hurley been subbed thought he done well. Thought it was a game for Flynn for last 20. PoN did well when he came on. Mulhall impressed again Brophy didn't have his best but that happens. McNally playing well.
In summary best team won.
PS time for baba to reappear?

Its not really unfair. They were missing Cadogan, Shields, Ray Carey, Paudie Kissane, Noel O'Leary, Alan O'Connor, Graham Canty, Aidan Walsh, Colm O'Neill, Ciaran Sheehan, Pearce O'Neill, Paul Kerrigan all from retirements or other reasons. This was a game I thought we would have won with the changes in there whole set up.

I hope we can tighten up the defence in the next few weeks, we seem to be missing Peter Kelly, Lyons and Doyle back there.

If we don't tighten up defensively we are going to be on the wrong end of a couple of hidings over the next few games. We can't keep coughing up the amount of goal chances we are currently and continue to get away with it.

You would fear for our defence against teams like Tyrone and Dublin upcoming unless we can reduce the amount of goal chances we are coughing up. I don't know whether it is a personnel issue (we are missing a few of our regular defenders) or whether it is more of a whole team mentality issue - are we a bit too gung ho at the moment and leaving ourselves vulnerable when the play breaks down further up the field?

There are encouraging signs in much of our forward play. Some of the points kicked in the first half yesterday were top class. Cork seemed to adapt much better to the conditions in the second half and a lot of our players looked like they just ran out of puff as the half wore on. That suggests to me that there is probably a good bit of physical work being done at the moment. Hopefully the defence and the kickouts will improve once that emphasis switches more to the tactical side of things which presumably it will as the weeks go by.

This was a very poor display and Cork were almost as bad. The defense didn't seem to know who was playing where. In the first half the only one that was running out of defense with the ball was Bolton. That's OK when he is in the half back line but he was playing corner back!! The midfield could not keep with their man as Cork ran through the middle. Half forward line played way too deep which left Mulhall and Brophy coming very deep looking for the ball. That might have being OK if the passes being kicked to them went close to them and not 15 yards away.
This was a bad display by a team that looked like it was improving. Not sure how the midfield was not changed with 20 minutes to go. The lads were out on their feet and we had Paudi and Flynn on the bench! As bad as we were we could have won this game and I just hope we don't look back on it in a few weeks as 2 points we could have really done with.

Plus points of which there were only a few. Mulhall showed well and kicked some lovely points along with a super long range free. McNally never stopped trying and IMO has kicked on from last year. Hyland played well when he came in and looked like the only one willing to take the ball out of defense.

If your going to have a bad day having it early is probably best as long as you learn from it. Ryan now has a lot to work on before March cos the next 4 games will really tell us where we are.

Looks like the Kerry match will be the critical one for us to win. Tyrone are flying at the moment and beat us twice last year in Conleths so its difficult to see us getting anything out of that game or the Dublin one.
When you win despite making bad errors its easier to gloss over those errors and concentrate on the forward play. This might be the wake up call we need to improve our defensive setup as the lessons from the last 2 games were not addressed.
It would help to have players like Doyle, Lyons and Kelly to come back in the defense and that will surely help.
Two more wins should be enough to stay up and that is all this team looks caplable of aiming for at the moment.

"We're in transition" Ryan quoted in the Independent today.

I hate seeing that excuse being offered up this early in the League. Every team is trying out things with different players, in fact most teams are unrecognisable.

I was expecting that quote at some stage this year, but no so early.

Walter White wrote:

"We're in transition" Ryan quoted in the Independent today.

I hate seeing that excuse being offered up this early in the League. Every team is trying out things with different players, in fact most teams are unrecognisable.

I was expecting that quote at some stage this year, but no so early.

I dont often agree with you Walter but that's a worrying quote from Jason.

seem to recall Geezer using it early last year too when explaining his use of so many of the 21's.

was it not worrying then?

Loads of Pints wrote:

seem to recall Geezer using it early last year too when explaining his use of so many of the 21's.

was it not worrying then?

I certainly don't recall him using it. Considering we were unbeaten until Dublin in the League too it wasn't too early. And he certainly didn't offer that excuse when they beat us.

Bullshit my friend. Try again.

I don't think it is, he definitely used the term 'transition' on more than one occasion last year so its nothing new with this Kildare team.

I find your agenda against this new set up a bit petty and pathetic really. I don't think you have offered one constructive comment since the new season started. You of course being the same lad who chastised anybody who spoke ill of the previous management team.

The war is over man, the football is back. Geezer is gone and never to return, time to hit that hard on with a spoon once and for all...

One of the big problems is the amount of chances we are conceding. Meath, Mayo and Cork each could have got 4 or 5 goals against us in the last 3 games without doing anything really special. Our defenders don't seem to be able to get out in front of their men regularly and when we turn over the ball, we get picked off too easily as there never seems to be much cover.

I wonder could we work on a more conservative gameplan over the next 3 weeks, bearing in mind that Tyrone and Dublin are our next 2 games and Ollie Lyons is the only defender likely to be back by then. Maybe bring Daryl Flynn into midfield and play Chalky as a spare man in front of the full-back line. I'd worry if we play Dublin and defend as we have been defending in the last 3 games, we could get hammered like we did in the championship match against them last year.

Until we sort out the defensive deficiencies, I think we will have to adapt a more conservative gameplan, it probably won't be pretty but needs most, if we continue the way we are then it is only a matter of time before a team puts 5 or 6 goals past us, with the black card rule players are nearly afraid to tackle a player running with the ball for fear of him using his momentum to create a situation where it looks like the player has been dragged down-resulting in a black card for the defender. The only way to stop this is to clog up the space for the attacking players to run into. This may mean we only play with 3 forwards in the opposition half at times and will mean us having to break out of defence extremely quickly with the ball. We may not currently have the players on the panel to play such a game plan and we may have to continue to operate an all out attack system!!

We are in " Transition " , New Manager, New Lads in.. I agree its not an excuse I like, as Cork are very much in the same boat, but its 2 points from 2 Games, with 3 home Games to come.. Not the end of the World just yet Folks.

Poor show however we need to learn from it and move on, i wondered how long it was going to take to get the knives out from some quarters and it dodn't take too long from some.

If we learn anything from this is we need to be able to revert to a more defensive style when necessary and especially away from Newbridge in larger more open pitches where you can easily get opened up.

I would be concerned about guys that have done years of the best strength and conditioning coaching coming up against players from the likes of Cork / Tyrone and Dublin and we don't seem to be able to match them in the tackle and we seem to be overrun, now that could also boil down to individual desire e.g. Sean Hurley lovely footballer and i would say is one of the most relaxed players in Kildare and i just wouldn't like to trust him in a big Championship game with a minute left to win a 50:50 ball against a player from Cork/Tyrone/Dublin who just would be going at 120% to get the ball - he is not the only one that probably looks like they are just a relaxed footballer.

I hope the Management Team learns from this and yes i know in my opinion we are also in a bit of a transition period and i wouldn't knock the Management Team for trying new players and tactics.

Loads of Pints wrote:

I find your agenda against this new set up a bit petty and pathetic really. I don't think you have offered one constructive comment since the new season started. You of course being the same lad who chastised anybody who spoke ill of the previous management team.

Quote :

Great football, Great fans, Great stadium, Great County Board.

Brilliant win, Brilliant performance all round the pitch against a brilliant Meath team.

Excellent refereeing performance and umpiring by men in brilliantly white coats.

Everything was brilliant and I put that as brilliantly as I can.

Hope that's enough positivity for everyone.

Did you not see my post above from the Meath match in the O'Byrne Cup?

The circumstances surrounding our previous managers removal was always going to put the spotlight on Ryan this year. I was a fan of the previous set up, had I hard on? Yes occasionally.

Will it stop me from supporting Kildare and wanting them to be the best?
Not a chance.

I moved on long ago and anytime I speak out about a loss or indeed anything deemed negative it will be thrown up to move on. That's sad, almost as sad you bringing up having a hard on.

We're 2 games into competitive football and have a win and a loss. Look deeper into that you will see some worrying aspects. Coughing up many goal chances and conceding 36 scores in 2 games of football in February.

If this continues the Ryanerittes will have a tough time on their hands.

To me its easier fix defensive frailties or strategy than it is to fix offensive frailties. Our "for" tally is highest of Div. 1 and we're still hit and miss will the ball into the forwards TOC.

Good first half disappointing second half. I know Cork were in the same boat but our guys that played Sigerson seemed a bit jaded. Particularly Brophy after last weeks heroics.

Subs were strange. Mulhall and Hurley taken off when they were along with McNally our best forwards. Big Tom Brophy and Flats didn't have a great impact on the game.

Thought we were wiped again at midfield and at 6. Neither Bolton or Conway looked convincing there. On a more positive note we do have options of Flynn and O'Neill in the middle and Doyle Kelly Lyons and McGrillen to come in to the backs.

Murnaghan has been very good so far. And at the minute Mulhall is proving me wrong. Long may it continue.

Why isnt McGrillen starting at the minute? He's one of the more experienced and consistent players we have.

Westside wrote:

Why isnt McGrillen starting at the minute? He's one of the more experienced and consistent players we have.

To be honest im wondering the same about Daryl Flynn.

I must say I was surprised as well that Hugh McGrillen and David Hyland did not start yesterday. Surely they are among our 6 best defenders. Also was a bit surprised when Daryl Flynn didn't come on yesterday when we were losing our grip at midfield.

On the plus side, it is good to see Kevin Murnaghan, Cathal McNally and Darroch Mulhall play well.

Can anyone tell me what is our score difference from the two game after all the scores we are conceding?

zero, lost by 1 won by 1 not the end of the world

The score difference is not the point here. It's the amount of scoring opportunities we are coughing up.

Meath, Cork and Mayo all carved openings quite easily in our defence in the last 3 games.

Cork and Mayo have scored 36 scores in total against us. 2-34 in total and could easily have been more. Mayo had 11 wides if I remember correctly. It's only February, when things quicken up in the summer what could we shift then?

I'd like to think that when things quicken up in the summer we will defend better and score more, after all we have scored 3-33 in our first 2 games and if memory serves me correctly we kicked a similar numbers of wide against Mayo. Coulda, woulda, shoulda counts for Fcek all.

Our biggest problem is the number 6 spot, we have been wide open there for the last 3 years, now I've been chastised on several occasions for failing to grasp the finer points of the ''modern game'' but you cannot vacate that channel and we do it all the time, its all well and good having an attacking half back line but inmo someone has to hold that spot and we continue to neglect it. Somebody has to take up that role, you won't get at Dublin, Tyrone or Donegal to easly through the middle someone will always funnel back to that spot when they loose or don't win the ball