Dublin v Kildare

paul flynn and jack mc caffrey start for dublin

Dublin (v Kildare): Stephen Cluxton (Parnells); Sean George (Ballymun Kickhams), Philly McMahon (Ballymun Kickhams), Michael Fitzsimons (Cuala); Jack McCaffrey (Clontarf), James McCarthy (Ballymun Kickhams), Jonny Cooper (Na Fianna); Cian O’Sullivan (Kilmacud Crokes), Michael Dara Macauley (Ballyboden St Enda’s); Paul Flynn (Fingallians), Ciaran Kilkenny (Castleknock). Bryan Cullen (Skerries Harps); Kevin McManamon (St Judes), Ciaran Reddin (St Maurs), Cormac Costello (Whitehall Colmcille).

That's a pretty strong Dublin team. Couple of changes from the last day in both personnel and positions.

O'Sullivan probably adds a bit more mobility into the midfield than McCarthy does but McCarthy probably plays the centreback role a bit more similar to how Ger Brennan does in a sort of sitting / holding role.

Paul Flynn potentially up against Cribbin should be a really good battle. There's a good bit of pace in the full forward line too and Reddin and Costello are both well capable of grapping a couple of points each. Foley and McGrillen will both need to up their games to get the better of either them.

Against Cork though they looked somewhat vulnerable under the high ball on top of the fullback line. If O'Carroll doesn't come in for them beforehand then TOC could do a lot of damage, Cork though had a lot of support for their full forward line and there didn't appear to be as big a gap back to the middle third as there has been for us at times.

Ideally a game against Westmeath would be the best way to put last weekends defeat behind us. And a Cork win last week is going to make Dublin a bit more determined to win this one, they'll probably feel a win here is a must if they want to make a semi final with trips to Derry and Tyrone still to come.

I don't think we'll win, a good performance and a battling display unlike last year should be enough to give us a bit of hope heading into the Kerry game, even more so if Kerry don't win against Tyrone on Sunday. I'd still expect us to finish with at least five or six points, and provided Westmeath and Kerry don't pull purple patches out of the bag it should be enough to keep us up.

I'd hope we'd score a bit more than 5 or 6 points !

Flynn and McCaffrey back for the Dub's is a big boost for them however I still think (maybe more hope) we can really put it up them. Brophy and Mulhall I think will love the bigger pitch tomorrow and if giving the right ball can really do some damage. I think we will all agree that not giving away goal chances will be the key to us being in the game near the end. Yes the Dubs are favorites but still don't see why we cant turn up and put in a big performance.

Folks any news on the team for tomorrow night?

This is a really winnable game with Dublin still missing Brogan, Connolly, Mannion, Rory O'Carroll to name a few.

Would have to agree with shoutitout. If we can somehow keep the Dubs goalless we'll have great chance. Easier said than done I know.

Their full back line is probably their weakest line, hopefully O'Connor, Mulhall and Brophy can take full advantage.

Kildare by 2.

Team Named:

1. Shane Connolly St. Laurences
2. Mick O’Grady Celbridge
3. Mick Foley Athy
4. Hugh McGrillen Celbridge
5. Kevin Murnaghan Moorefield
6. Fergal Conway Celbridge
7. Paul Cribbin Johnstownbridge
8. Tommy Moolick Leixlip
9. Gary White Sarsfields
10. Cathal McNally Johnstownbridge
11. Eoghan O’Flaherty Carbury
12. Sean Hurley Johnstownbridge
13. Paddy Brophy Celbridge
14. Tomás O’Connor Clane
15. Darroch Mulhall Athy

Im suprised to see Hugh starting.. Im assuming He will mark Young Costello.. I would of thought Hylo would have being better suited.

We really need a disciplined display from our half forward line and Midfielders here / if they do not track runners from their half back line - it will not matter how many holding CBs we have - Dublin create goal chances through creating overlaps with strong running Midfielders and Half Backs, if these runs are not tracked Dublin will again have a goal fest against us.

Wonder will the two under 21s start. Hard to leave Brophy out given his influence on the senior team so far. Would worry about Conway in this game in such a pivotal position - very inexperienced back line with its two experienced players both out of form. There was an argument for pulling Chalky back to CB for this one I would have thought as Hurley could have gone midfield with O'Neill or Daryl to supplement that general area also (if fit enough).

[quote="Gaa1928"]I think we could win if we don't concede any goals however if we don't tighten up at the back and leave a centre back there we could leak any amount of goals, particularly if Tyrone are allowed the run down through the middle straight at our defence.

I have the same opinion for this match but I am much more nervous of the Dublin goal threat after last Sunday.

Is Bolton fit for tomorrow? I would have him in at center back for his experience. Conway is doing well but Dublin will come down that middle channel like a flood. Not the place for a young lad.

I would be very worried for that full back line. O'Grady has never played in the wide spaces of Croke park and McGrillen and Foley are not exactly tearing it up at the moment. It's vital we shore up the middle, if we don't it will be another bloodbath and the pressure will be seriously on.

Being honest I can't see us getting anything from tomorrow. We are too leaky in defence and no amount of scores will make up for that against a team like Dublin. An improvement on the horrors of last year will be progression.

Surprised he has gone with the same defence again, thought there might have been one or two changes there. Dubs haven't been scoring goals thsi year so we can perhaps draw some confidence from that, the only problem is we have been coughing up goal chances at an alarming rate, Tyrone possibly could have had 6 last weekend, Mayo the same I wasn't down in Cork but heard it was a similar story down there.

If we keep a clean sheet we have a fantastic chance, I don't think we will though.

Dubs by 5 or 6

Not being negative or pessimistic in light of other things, but think honestly could be double-digit defeat and with two/three goals shipped at best. Just that match-up of backs and forwards, plus with their midfield and half-back line breaking worries me. Anything under that (presuming we aren't level or ahead in closing stages or something as circumstances change) wouldn't be disaster.

Very strange decision starting Conway at centre back given his last two performances against Cork and Tyrone. One thing Ryan is is persistent, Mick Foley has had a very poor year so far and Jason has yet to try someone else there.

I've tried to be optimistic and defending the current set up and performances. But this is a significant step up in class and looking at the line up I can't see us getting very close. You'd fancy Dublin to beat most teams by at least 3 or 4 points and we seem to be relying on a huge scoring performance from our forwards. I can't see us replicating that scoring performance or anything close and our defence has been wide open. I'd class anything under 6 points as a relative progression but fear it could be aroun the 10 mark if not more, depending in how much on their game the Dubs are.

Can't see us getting anything from this game lads. We look great up front and we are capable of racking up a high score, but the defence is what concerns me. This Dublin team could easily score 4 or 5 goals tomorrow night. Goals win games!

TommyKeegan wrote:

Not being negative or pessimistic in light of other things, but think honestly could be double-digit defeat and with two/three goals shipped at best. Just that match-up of backs and forwards, plus with their midfield and half-back line breaking worries me. Anything under that (presuming we aren't level or ahead in closing stages or something as circumstances change) wouldn't be disaster.

That sounds negative to me Tommy. And you know the how negatives comments are greeted around here.

Like a traveler in the Gresham.

None of the goals last week could be put on Conway at Centre Back. The first was a basic error by Mcgrillen who I thought was our best defender in a bad 2013 but has started poorly this year. Conway was off the pitch for the last two goals and at least one of the other goal chances came straight from Connellys kick out to a Tyrone player.
I would'nt optimistic about getting anything out of this game but improvement on last year is a possibility, 2-20 to 2-07 was the score on that occasion. It could have been worse I suppose if Dublin converted all their goal chances.

If I'm not mistaken we haven't actually beaten Dublin in league or championship since the 2000 Leinster final. There was the 02 and 09 Leinster finals, Brogan-gate, and last year's Croker genocides. Five games without a win... Would you believe it took us nine games to finally beat them under Micko. Crikey. I suppose the law of averages says it has to change sometime. Mind you that's what Spinal Tap said about their drummers who kept dying.

Crofter wrote:

I've tried to be optimistic and defending the current set up and performances. But this is a significant step up in class and looking at the line up I can't see us getting very close. You'd fancy Dublin to beat most teams by at least 3 or 4 points and we seem to be relying on a huge scoring performance from our forwards. I can't see us replicating that scoring performance or anything close and our defence has been wide open. I'd class anything under 6 points as a relative progression but fear it could be aroun the 10 mark if not more, depending in how much on their game the Dubs are.

Hard to argue with any of that really.

The only saving grace is that neither Flynn nor Cullen are the type of player to keep the scoreboard ticking over. If any of Connolly, O'Gara, Mannion or either Brogan was there instead I'd be a lot more worried about their scoring ability.

It'll be interesting to see what approach Jason Ryan takes to this one tactically. Last year we went defensive and let them come at us, then went man to man the second time around. Both times we got blown out of it, hard to know how much of an impact Ryan had on those decisions. Maybe there's some sort of middle ground that won't yield a hammering, it's one of those games where the performance might be more important that the result I suppose.

O'Gara is shite and wouldn't be worried about him if he was stating. Im worried about this too tbh hope to god we don't get hammered if play as well as we did last week we have a chance anything less we don't. Im worried about Mick Foley and Hughie myself but hopefully their up for it, as others have said it will be interesting how Chalky and Moolich do against O'Sullivan and McCauley, I think our forwards have the beatings of their backs though and if the ball is good into Tomas and laying off ball to Paddy and he's not isolated we can do well here.

He's far from shite. He is unorthodox but he is very effective at what he does despite some skill deficiencies - similar to TOC. They might not have won the All Ireland Final last year without O'Gara's contribution in the second half.