Kildare v Laois

If Ryan is still around for the Championship game v Laois, his team talk is done for him.

That photo blown up and on the dressing room wall. The chance to make that clown shoes day again for him should be all the motivation the players need.

Crofter wrote:

Heard the same about Daryl O'Brien but he was out there last night. Didn't pay attention to which keepers were out there. These things happen on many squads - it happened under McGeeney with Fogarty to name one - and can be just an individual issue.  Any one got anything concrete on this?

tom corley james robinson shane connolly and mark donnellian the goalkeepers on panel as far as i know

Milltownmary I'm delighted to inform Laois are a third team that can't get promoted. Already 3 behind Down and although only 2 behind Meath, Cavan and Roscommon two of those are playing each other next week so will move out of Laois's reach. Actually that Cavan v Meath derby will be a bit tasty as will Westmeath v Roscommon. I actually wouldn't put it beyond Westmeath to win that one. Local derby at home to a team who blow hot and cold. Too many writing them off.

That's a great photo. One for the 2015 edition of A Season Of Sundays!

The form in this division has been all over the place. Nothing guaranteed next Sunday. Galway produced the goods today but they were beaten at home by both Cavan and Laois, neither of whom looked great against us. They also play Roscommon in the Connacht u21 Final next Saturday which may curtail the involvement of a few of their players like Damien Comer who scored 1-3 for them today.

Hopefully the two minutes of madness against Down doesn't come back to haunt us next weekend.

Crofter I know Daryel o Brien is very happy being part of the Kildare set up and Fone whats wrong with not being happy about not getting game time? so we want payers just going in to the set up for 2 or 3 years not getting game time making up the numbers. we want players going in there from the start and kick up a fuss make a statement.

Was at the game I found Kildare are still low on confidence but tried very hard They kept going at it and got there rewards with a great goal at the end.

A lot of our problems is when the going gets tough or a game is in the melting pot we don't have the players with the mentality for the fight. When teams have turned the screw on us a little several of our players tend to go missing.

I won't pinpoint any individuals but it was a real eye opener for me on Saturday against Laois when it came back to level terms to see 2/3 players being out muscled and fought for balls when they were in the pole position to win the ball in the first place.

I'm not sure if this kind of thing will come with age and maturity , I think they are maybe just not good enough. Very good club players but just not up to the next level required.

It was no real surprise for me to Emmet Bolton come up with the goods when he did. He has never been one to back down from the fight and always always gives 100% in the white jersey. Alan Smith also was excellent.

I'm scratching my head at the continued selection of 2/3 other players.

Which 2/3 players Freddie?

In fairness 55 minutes in you could see some players starting to tire and as usual over the last year and a half the subs were slow to arrive. Its only when we fall behind that the subs get introduced in a hurry, quite often too late to effect the game (e.g. Paul Cribbin v Meath). The backs showed a bit more aggression and marked more tightly but apart from that a lot of the same problems as the other matches were on show. In addition, seeing big Donie Kingston sprint away from the cover for his point in the first half and then chase down Paul Cribbin under the stand in the first half doesn't exactly speak volumes for our fitness.

In the paper today Jason Ryan appears to think that the management and players are not getting the credit they deserve for working hard. No one here doubts the commitment of the players and management but working hard is the bare minimum at this level, its working smart that wins games. Massive credit to the players for digging out that late win (particularly Cribbin and Bolton) but we were better for most of the game and it should never have come down to that late goal. Most of that Laois team were hammered by us in 2011. A few of them were hammered at under 21 level by us two years ago. Tom Sheil scarely got a kick of a ball off Conor Earley in the minor semi-final last year. O'Flatharta is getting more out of his panel than Ryan is out of his. Tuam next Sunday will tell us plenty.

That shower make me laugh complaining about Kildare's tackling. All I heard growing up from the Laois side of the family was Kildare are soft, Kildare can't handle the physical side of the game. Handled it pretty well Saturday night. Make no apologies for saying that I enjoyed seeing Chalky level young Sheil late on. Oh and Mr. Sheehan and Kingston - don't dish it out if you can't take it as well. See ye on June 6th in Tullamore.

Any chance We can Play all our Home Matches in Portlaoise from now on ?. Its becoming a very lucky Ground for us.

Its geat to get the Win, and while we made hard work of it, we were the better Team imo.

We are still struggling to win enough Prime possesion in the middle, and the lack of a left footed Free taker is still a concern.

Does Eamon and Paudie come back in now, and for whom ?

No they should not, one of Ryan's failings is the continued playing of players whose performance is not up to scratch.

We need to shore up that defence with a sweeper, it's vital we stay in the game on Sunday until a time comes that we have to go for broke.
Ryan who I have said on numerous times is not up to it can make inroads into winning support back if we get a result, if we don't and we get relegated then any lasting positive thoughts people have of him will be gone and so will he.
To be scratching around like a chicken looking for two points to survive is a sorry state of affairs and Div 3 will be an even bigger disaster. Ryan and the players need to treat Sunday as the biggest game of the year. Full on 100%, anything less will tell us a lot.

I think Leper and Eoin Doyle are available for the Galway match, I don't think Paidi O'Neill is.

If everybody is available apart from Paudi I'd play Dan Flynn instead of Fionn Dowling, Tommy Moolick instead of Chalky, Eoin Doyle at wing-back with Peter Kelly moving to full-back instead of Mick O'Grady. I'd tend to agree with playing a sweeper (Murnaghan for Keith Cribbin) but I don't think it will happen.

Bad News Baba wrote:

No they should not, one of Ryan's failings is the continued playing of players whose performance is not up to scratch.

We need to shore up that defence with a sweeper, it's vital we stay in the game on Sunday until a time comes that we have to go for broke.
Ryan who I have said on numerous times is not up to it can make inroads into winning support back if we get a result, if we don't and we get relegated then any lasting positive thoughts people have of him will be gone and so will he.
To be scratching around like a chicken looking for two points to survive is a sorry state of affairs and Div 3 will be an even bigger disaster. Ryan and the players need to treat Sunday as the biggest game of the year. Full on 100%, anything less will tell us a lot.

What players Baba, I thought the defense was pretty good on Saturday and apart from the Roscommon game have been solid this year. In my opinion its the other end of the field we have problems.

The defence was ok on Saturday, I'm not disputing that. There is a big caveat though in that Laois I don't think have the same class as the Galway forwards, especially as the Corofin players are back.

As for the players, Leper has been struggling big time this year and I don't think he should walk back in to the team. Doyle on the other hand has been our best defender so I could make exceptions fro him.

My team

Donnellan
Kelly
Fitzpatrick
Lyons
Doyle
Conway
Bolton
Chalky
P.Cribben (Moolick to come on later)
Murnaghan
O'Flaherrty
Kelly (if ok to go after Thursday, if not Flynn)
Smith
Fogarty
Dowling

Defences win games, forwards by how much. Keep it tight, Galway have not been in too many dogfights this year so at least we have that experience over them for good or bad.

Sur isnt that the same Team more or less that Jason is picking Baba ?

Nope, he refuses to play the sweeper. That's the key. O'Grady is also out as is O'Neill and Leper, who I have no doubt would have played if they were available on Sunday

But as I said the Sweeper is the big call. He played it in the O'Byrne and it worked well, then inexplicably dropped it for the entire league even when we needed to keep an lead (See Down, Meath and Laois).

The players he is picking is the least of his faults. It's the way he sets up the team and manages games, that's his problem, not picking teams

I would go with the same team that started against Laois, with the exception of Moolick to come in for Chalky if he is fit enough

Westside wrote:

I thought the defense was pretty good on Saturday and apart from the Roscommon game have been solid this year.

I wouldn't really agree that the defence has been solid this year. Our defending was poor against Down and Westmeath as well and we have conceded the most points in Division 2.

One of our biggest problems has been conceding stupid frees and we were better on Saturday. Hopefully we have learned that if we can put the opposition under pressure without fouling, we will usually either win the ball back or force a wide. It helped as well that we were trying to put pressure on the ball further up the field which meant the ball going into the Laois forwards wasn't as good as in other games.

Hopefully we can keep up the better defending against Galway, who will give us a better test.

I'm only on listening duty but against Laois K Cribbin got a special mentionpost match. I think he is a half forward who will die with the boots on but most on here are always keen to give him the bullet.
As per Babas team I'd maybe have Kelly inside but playing between the lines. Then Smith and either Dowling/ Fogarty inside. That's what I'd like to see in a general sense going into summer but I'm only going on Kfm so apologies if I'm being harsh on either Pdge or Dowling.

Yeah, I wouldn't have been K Cribben's biggest fan, but he was excellent on Saturday.

His brother really is an outstanding footballer - has everything really.

Keith is certainly a Fella who gives His all.
I recall the crazy situation, where Keith was Playing Senior with Kildare and couldnt make the U21 Panel.. only in Kildare

Baba.. So if we play a Sweeper, all will be sorted ?.. there You have it Jason, Your Job will be safe, we will Win Leinster, maybe an All Ireland, Get 3 All Stars, etc etc.

I would not go overboard with the win. Great to get it but as we all know the game was there for both sides and could of went either way. From what I have seen this year we are a div 2 team at best. Nothing more. And we cant pretend that we are more. I certainly would fancy us against all Leinster teams bar Dublin. So hoping to get a good run the championship. Other than that an exciting run in the qualifiers with some Saturday evening games under lights would be great.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Keith is certainly a Fella who gives His all.
I recall the crazy situation, where Keith was Playing Senior with Kildare and couldnt make the U21 Panel.. only in Kildare

Baba.. So if we play a Sweeper, all will be sorted ?.. there You have it Jason, Your Job will be safe, we will Win Leinster, maybe an All Ireland, Get 3 All Stars, etc etc.    

Now Now Seamus, you know that's not the case but in my opinion having watched every game this year it would be a good place to start for our esteemed leader.

Sarcasm Baba

I Joe Kiernan got the Irish Team Job, with Johnny Doyle among others as His trusty Disiple.. That now frees up Paul Early.

Think it's Dermot not JD. Played well in parts against Laois it should have been a lot more comfortable. The backs played really well esp Fitzpatrick he was always out in front of his man, he has the tendency to foul but saturday he didn't do it. O'Grady struggled with Kingston's physicality but still did a decent job I would have swapped P Kelly and O'Grady. Ollie did class on Munnelly and didn't give him an inch. Half back line were quiet enough I couldn't believe how quiet Emmet was but then he stepped up and got the goal. Conway was also quiet, Cribben was the best player in the half back line and runs his ballox off. Midfield needs to win more primary possession on kickouts but Cribbo was immense and I genuinely think he has the potential to be one of the best players in the country. Onto the forwards Smith was very good when the ball went and was always out in front of his man, Podge the same. Fionn is doing better in the half forward line and wins a good bit of ball in the middle. Niall Kelly had 2 good goal chances and should have scored but he's been incredible this year.

Whys O'Grady out of the Galway match? If we play our best we can win, We need to be at our best though.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Sarcasm Baba

I Joe Kiernan got the Irish Team Job, with Johnny Doyle among others as His trusty Disiple.. That now frees up Paul Early.

Is that supposed to be a joke ? Wouldn't let him near a junior team , he is clueless