meath v kildare 7 feb @7pm

well after sunday defeat kildare head to navan looking for points not a easy place place to go after meath losing to galway last sunday
donnellan

o grady
peter kelly
fritzpatrick

lyons
doyle
fergal conway

o neill
lynch if fit ( white)

o flaherty
kelly
murnaghan

mulhall
dowling
fogarty

kildare midfield will tested to limits against meath kildare need stop the short kicks outs
also hope kildare are up meath hard hitting on and off the ball
also live setanta sports 1

Good to hear Paul Cribbin came off the bench for Maynooth tonight.

What's the craic with Emmet Bolton lads is he ready to play?

He was out on the field before the match last Sunday training with Smith and Mikey Conway.

The main thing I'd like to see in this game is much more intensity from the defence and a far greater amount of turnovers. At one point during the first half on Sunday, we had 15 players behind the ball - and Down still scored! Now it was from a free which I didn't think was a free, but we still need to be putting more pressure on the ball.

The weird thing is I genuinely think we have much more quality in our squad, and I don't particularly rate Mick O'Dowd as a manager, but we've flopped against them big time on the last two occasions. Plus I would be expecting a ferocious backlash from them this weekend.

I said on the other thread I fancied Meath, but to hell with it, I'm going to keep the faith. The morale in Meath is low at present and this may be a good time to meet them. A tightened up defence and our greater threat upfront to see us through.

I see Morgan O'Callaghan has been named a selector for the seniors tonight, with Anthony Rainbow working with Brian Murphy and the U21s.

Would be surprised to see Kelly start on Saturday having played on Sunday and last night. Ryan wasn't happy that Moolick played 3 times inside a week when picking up an injury.

Meath are poor, this is a game we have to be winning. Home advantage is pretty big in the league but this game is there to be won.

It's important we get the match-ups right at the back for this one. I think we've more options now than when we played them in June. I'd like to see Peter Kelly mark Bray, Eoin Doyle on Reilly and Fitzy on Newman. These 3 players didn't finish our last 2 games so that could be a problem for us. I'd go with the team fone has named above, with Leper starting instead of Niall Kelly.

Meath are no great shakes and if we had beaten Down then I'd have fancied us to win but I'm not sure now.

Off Topic.. but a fairly poor result indeed for Maynooth losing at Home to UL, who are hardly prolific on the Football front.

Seamus M

No it was not a good result and it was apoor display but Paul Cribbin did very well in his 15 minutes (or thereabouts) but I just felt he might not yet be at full pace. Fergal looked out of place at 11 while Hyland did OK at midfield. Both teams very defensive but 15 wides to about 5 was the big difference..

Regarding Maynooth, good, lads back to a competition that actually matters, that represents people, that people care about, that doesn't keep many genuine students from making friends in college and that is basically an ego trip for a couple of mentors in what are supposed to be learning institutions.

TommyKeegan wrote:

Regarding Maynooth, good, lads back to a competition that actually matters, that represents people, that people care  about, that doesn't keep many genuine students from making friends in college and that is basically an ego trip for a couple of mentors in what are supposed to be learning institutions.  

Yeah I think it's good for us. This competition has already (arguably) cost us Tommy Moolick. Now I assume Niall Kelly won't play Saturday and it might affect how Conway or Hyland perform if they play. In a tight game that could make the difference between winning and losing, winning and losing might make the difference between playing Division 2 or Division 3 football next season.
And there's no benefits for us. Ok, you might argue that playing at a high level develops these players, but I think the likes of Kelly would learn more from a league game at this stage. The only minor benefit I can think of is that playing this competition might bring on players such as Duke or Killian Mulhall.
It's far more of a hindrance than a help to us when you weight up the pros and cons.

Meath (FL Division 2 v Kildare)
Paddy O'Rourke;
Donnacha Tobin, Conor McGill, Mickey Burke;
Padraic Harnan, Donal Keogan, Bryan Menton;
Harry Rooney, Adam Flanagan;
Graham Reilly, Mark O'Sullivan, Andrew Tormey;
Joey Wallace, Stephen Bray, Mickey Newman.
Some good players there, particularly in the forwards, most of whom gave us run around for the first 50 mins last june. Very important to get our match ups right on the day.

Very big game on saturday night in terms of year ahead. There is a break after this game too.Any sort of a win is vital.

For what its worth I would go with the below

Donnellan

Lyons (picks up Wallace)
Kelly (picks up Bray)
Fitzpatrick (Newman)

Doyle (Reilly)
Conway (O Sullivan)
O Grady (Tormey)

Lynch/Chalky
O Neill

Flats
Kelly
Murno (extra defender)

Mullhall
Dowling
Fogarty

I wouldnt have to many arguments with that TC.. I see Maynooth College played Conway at Centre Forward, mad stuff indeed..
If Fionn is going to come out as an extra Midfielder, then Mulhall needs to stay close to Podge as near to Goals as He can..
A Win for Kildare by 2.. Jason to give a Victory speech, and all is rosy again.

Oh and the 10 Million winning Lottery Ticket was purchased by the Kildare C B Syndicate..

SeamusMurphy wrote:

I wouldnt have to many arguments with that TC.. I see Maynooth College played Conway at Centre Forward, mad stuff indeed..
If Fionn is going to come out as an extra Midfielder, then Mulhall needs to stay close to Podge as near to Goals as He can..
A Win for Kildare by 2.. Jason to give a Victory speech, and all is rosy again.

Did he actually play centre-forward?

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Oh and the 10 Million winning Lottery Ticket was purchased by the Kildare C B Syndicate..

Now you're talking!

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Oh and the 10 Million winning Lottery Ticket was purchased by the Kildare C B Syndicate..

Knowing our luck, we'd probably lose the ticket

Why can't the team be named on a Thursday night, like most other counties, not too much to ask ???

The CB syndicate did win the lotto and have invested the money in some magic beans!!!

Ogie

Yes he did,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, while K Mulhall, wearing 12, was sweeper... and UL played with 2 sweepers ! ! ! ! !

Any team picked yet?

I'm confident that we can win tonight although it will be a dog fight. In a way I hope it comes down to the wire and we win by a couple of points in the last five minutes. I think it would shand to the lads in the long term.
Best of luck boys.