Offaly v Kildare

Good win, Its always very hard to do a 6 day turnabout after being hammered, its onward and upwards

TK sounds like the KFM commentary was as misleading as ever. I thought Smith was hesitant despite scoring three points and Cribbin was uncharacteristically quiet. The goal was nothing to do with tactics or strategy, just a bad individual error by Murno.
Make no mistake, Bolton and Doyle won us this game with decent support from Moolick, Flats and the full-back line.

A win is a win but that was more of a struggle than it ever should have been. Our propensity to concede late goals is amazing, we take the wrong options to often and we are not clinical enough. In saying that, a few players showed they have pride in the jersey. Bolton in particular put in a shift when we needed him to. 
Moolick made a difference when he came on. 
Again a few players keep getting picked but they are not producing the level required.

That is a poor Offaly team and they will never get a better chance, we almost obliged but they didn't have the footballers to get it done.

It would be nice to play the next game at home. Roscommon away is the only one that would worry me, so expect that on Monday morning.

Has Pat Nolan been on any radio stations yet...

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

Eoin Doyle gave one of the best performances I've seen from a Kildare player today. Him and Bolton dragged us through by force of will alone. It was a dogfight between two mediocre teams and that pair made sure we won it.

+1 Doyle is a monster / the one player that can't train regularly is our best player by a country mile.

Give him the captains armband next year and build the team around him.

Guts, pace, leadership and skill

Some aggression from him Flourman. An animal. I almost felt sorry for Guilfoyle by the end. He was completely and utterly destroyed.

Yeah he's as good as I've seen in a long time / hopefully his injuries are just growing pains - and will subside next year.
6 of him at the back and we'd be OK -

Think what Doyle could do in a proper defensive structure.

Lads Bolton mite be past his best but his will to win you have to take your hat off to . Eoin Doyle left everything on the field what a player if we can bring in 6 u /21 with them and a big name manager that knows how to play to ours strengths and puts that will to win in all players we will be back up the ladder quick . There is a load of talent at under age in this county . All that happened in Dublin is they that tapped into that with a lot of money that it .

Yeah credit where its due ive been critical of doyle in the past mainly because he wont or cant use the foot but he was by far the best on show today and he was barking orders too you could see himself bolton fitzy flah an the likes still have plenty of pride in the jersey
Moo has to start the next game hopefully podge is forgiven and back on at least the bench dowling clearly isnt good enough

A hard fought win in a match where I feared the worst is a poaitive so also is the drive and determination shown by those mentioned in the above posts. The negatives for me where how threadbare the sq is, some very poor wides and the amount of unforced errors we ran up.

we struggled past Offaly a couple of years ago and today was no worse, the sad truth is we're both div 3 teams and we're just a little better.

well done on producing a performance and showing character

Was reading facebook tonight people giving out about taking Dowling off after he had come on. I actually think it was the right call, 3 wides in a short time and sloppy passing, it was good to see some ruthlessness.

Doyle was by far the best player on the field. He sheer will to win was something else. Sadly too many around him came no where near his level.

Funny thing is he's only starting because Conway is injured. You'd have to question why Doyle wasnt starting against Laois instead of Murnaghan who I don't rate whatsoever. I fail to see why he's starting.

Flats and Smith were our best forwards. Flats in particular. Enjoyed his massive point before half time.

Ollie and Bolton done well too. But the back of it all there is something massive holding us back. We seem to completely lack confidence . Whether that's in ourselves , those around us, our manager or the system we are playing but you can see it everytime we are in possession. We just look so unsure and lethargic.

I'd like us to draw Roscommon at home . We'll soon see has Curly Moe and Larry on the line learned anything since they thumped 24 points past us a few months back.

Diabolical performance but a win's a win and all the other cliches.

Why was Fogarty dropped from the squad?! We're doing a pretty good job of whittling  away one of the best groups of underage players we ever had.

Doyle's a miller alright. What I liked last week was that he was one of the few Kildare players who decided he wasn't going down without a fight - literally. Hit Kilkenny several digs and at one point fucked him over the line like a bag of spuds! He is one animal defender alright - always right in on top of his man, never gives them an inch, totally strangles the life out of him.

It this team was being run properly, there'd be nothing to fear in this side of the draw, but at the moment we're lurching from one game - and crisis - to the next. Poor Ryan will probably need six months at a wellness clinic when it's over.

Think Roscommon would beat us - everyone else we'd beat. So maybe the road show will go on for another week - despite the wheels being constantly in danger of falling off and the driver not having a clue where he's going.

Lads who is they next manager ? Or who is out there or available ?

Lads line one, paragraph four HG,is an interesting question....?

tk "devoid of football brains".....what a sad and insulting thing to say about amateur sportsmen.....??

as Ballyboy said "a lot of negativity on here",glass half full folks.......move on to the draw on monday see who we get, and take it from there......

Just going to ask again - why was Fogarty dropped? I mean he chipped in with a few points v Dublin, wasn't the worst by a long shot. Was there another bust up in the squad we didn't hear about? Does Ryan actually have any control left anymore?

whoever the next manager is, will hopefully get every footballer in the county wanting to wear the white jersey. instead of players leaving the panel mid season or dropping themselves off the panel before the season starts. cian oneill would be a great choice if interested. theres plenty of minors and u/21s coming through the grades at the moment that will take us back to footballs top table, with the right leadership, team spirit and guidance.

Apparently Paddy Power have opened a book on who'll be dropped/walk out/retire/get injured/suffer alien abduction before next game.

MD wrote:

Was reading facebook tonight people giving out about taking Dowling off after he had come on. I actually think it was the right call, 3 wides in a short time and sloppy passing, it was good to see some ruthlessness.

Yeah apart from one great catch on the stand side he can't have many complaints although it's hard not to feel a touch of sympathy for the lad on a personal level.

I'd echo everyone's praise of Eoin Doyle and Emmet Bolton.

Am I alone in thinking Mark Donnellan's kickouts have improved no end since last year? In our three outings to Tullamore he has been on the money more often than not but I'm not sure whether the strategy of hitting the wings would be as effective in the tighter confines of Newbridge. Tommy Moolick competed very well in the air.

Praise on here is way over the top. Who were the lads marking at the end of the day. Boltons man was one of Offaly best players

what's the story with Dan Flynn. saw him today in Tullamore. Thought he was meant to be in the US? Is he making himself available or what?

Hyland and Mulhall walk out, Fogarty disappears without trace, Flynn goes to America but is apparently spotted in Tullamore - when The X Files returns they should do an episode based on the Kildare squad.

Dan Flynn either had a Gilmore's Groin operation last week or he's having one this week.

Fogarty was in the 26 and togged out. If the rumours are true he did not take part in the match action for "disciplinary" reasons. Why you would have someone on your match day panel when you've absolutely no intention of using them is beyond me however. Also, if the "incident" supposedly happened last Sunday night it seems odd he was named at 15 for the match programme.

As Ogie says, there's no mystery about Dan, he needs a groin op which keeps him out for the summer whether he was going to the States or not.

On the match itself, thought the whole thing was pretty depressing. Offaly effectively played with 14 men as McNamee couldn't hand pass or catch a high ball. With Ollie Lyons up his arse (and later O'Grady) he was a passenger. The Offaly team is among the worst 4 or 5 championship teams in the country on all evidence and hopefully our wins over them at all three grades this year will stop some people on here running scared every time we're down to play them.

You can only assess our performance in that context, and while the 6 day turnaround and other recent traumas no doubt impacted our slow start, it was a sub-standard overall performance from Kildare. Having denigrated the "spineless" nature of our performance against the Dubs (which I stand over) it was positive to see a few put themselves forward as real leaders yesterday. Most notably Eoin Doyle as discussed above. Bolton was everywhere even if his man also had a good game. Flats, Smith, Fitzy and Moolick also stood up and I wouldn't agree Cribbin had a quiet game. He continues to be our player of the year for me. But why did those lads not show that intensity against the Dubs in Croke Park?

But let's keep things in perspective. There were no new tactical innovations, no one running off Smith's shoulder when he was winning every ball sent in to him and no real penetration to our attack all day. The defence improved as the match went on but I still noticed we left huge gaps at the back even when Offaly were chasing a goal and sure enough Murnaghan's error left them in for a soft goal as there was no cover. A better opposition and it could have been Tyrone/Down all over again.

When Offaly started the second half well I thought we lost composure. Our shooting deteriorated sharply in that period with shots snatched at and wides mounting. Thankfully we got the goal when we did as it settled us and gave us scope to concede the goal and still prevail.

Can't help feeling this was the last sting of a dying wasp. We won't have opposition as poor as that next week and the panel seems to be paper thin.

Hopefully Ryan will have learned that he needs Moolick in from the start. There are at least 2 candidates he could replace in my view (Cotse and Murnaghan).

Westside wrote:

Praise on here is way over the top. Who were the lads marking at the end of the day. Boltons man was one of Offaly best players

Agree Westside but then again so is some of the criticism.