Kildare v Kerry

Felt for Donnellan with the goals. I was down the far end of thenpitch but he didn't appear to be at fault for any of them. The backs were well beaten today.

Feels too early for detailed analysis and will have to watch it back to do so - someday!

Painful and sad afternoon - I didn't think the defeat to Dublin could be surpassed but somehow we managed to notch up the biggest defeat in our history. For that no one can be particularly proud - management, players, county board and even the supporters who didn't exactly turn up in droves - the notoriously non-travelling Kerry folk matched us and we're only down the road.

We were an absolute shambles mentally. I'm not going to use the "s" word after the abuse I got last time we performed like this. But a few players hid today and they'll know who they are. Our pathetic shooting early on didn't help but neither did our attacking set up which saw Smith completely isolated and no one making a run around half forward (players hiding). It must have been soul destroying in the first 20 minutes when the full back we're doing their job manfully but there was no outlet when we came forward.

I thought three players in particular tried everything to pull a performance together - Doyle, Cribbin and Lyons. Why Ollie wasn't moved over to Cooper when Hamez went off I can't fathom.
Anyway well done to those three lads today.

The management will have lost any goodwill (and there was plenty) they'd gained from the Cork performance. They were rabbits in the headlights. Cotse playing wing-back?  Doyle shoved to wing forward just as Kerry were starting to run straight at our defence? Peter Kelly for Leper and seemed to be playing in the forward line at least for a while. And all the time Cooper roasting our full back line?

Gut-wrenching stuff. Thank god for the minors last night (although even they showed worrying mental frailty). Div 3 seems about right now. Even Fermanagh earned a few kudos for themselves for giving it a lash.

Hard to believe we could have a worse day than the Dublin game. I thought we'd drive on from the Cork game and give it a good rattle today. We never got moving at all and there's no worse team to be facing than Kerry when that happens. I don't know how players can recover from such a crushing defeat. All the positives we got out of the Cork game are totally gone.

Having had a few hours to digest that it dosent get any easier. It really was embarrassing . I have never been as embarrassed coming out of a Kildare match. Not even when Kilkenny beat us back in the 90's.

The manner in which we completely folded today is beyond alarming. A number of lads on the field today are simply not good enough at this level which didn't help things.

Dublin aren't 19 points better footballers than us and Kerry aren't 27 points better than us. But at the back of it when you aren't set up correctly defensively , several players picked not up to this level and several lacking the willingness to go through a wall to win the ball (borderline dirty) you will always fall short and be open to be taken apart like we were today .

Our next manager whoever he is needs to instill a mean streak, a steel and dirt into our players and anyone not willing to go bald headed for the ball needs to be shown the door. We are far too nice footballers and simply out pushovers without any grit or meaness paricularly from midfield back.

Get the club championship up and going next weekend to take our minds off this shambles. Time heals all wounds.

Fully agree on the "too nice" comment at the back. I'm struggling to avoid naming names but it's an amateur game so I'm not going to call out individuals. The question is where are these hard-nosed, win at all costs defenders in the county? Our better minor and under-21 teams of recent years haven't really had them either. It would help though if we could get one of our better markers and someone who would run through brick walls into the full back line : P Kelly : and not bring him on as a wing forward when we're getting destroyed back there.

[quote="Freddy Krueger"]Having had a few hours to digest that it dosent get any easier. It really was embarrassing . I have never been as embarrassed coming out of a Kildare match. Not even when Kilkenny beat us back in the 90's.

The manner in which we completely folded today is beyond alarming.  A number of lads on the field today are simply not good enough at this level which didn't help things.

Dublin aren't 19 points better footballers than us and Kerry aren't 27 points better than us. But at the back of it when you aren't set up correctly defensively , several players picked not up to this level and several lacking the willingness to go through a wall to win the ball (borderline dirty) you will always fall short and be open to be taken apart like we were today .

Our next manager whoever he is needs to instill a mean streak, a steel and dirt into our players and anyone not willing to go bald headed for the ball needs to be shown the door. We are far too nice footballers and simply out pushovers without any grit or meaness paricularly from midfield back.

Get the club championship up and going next weekend to take our minds off this shambles. Time heals all wounds.

Freddy I'm usually bashing you but I agree wholeheartedly with this comment. Its time to clear the decks a couple of players have given years of dedication and I thank them and a couple of others need to be moved on. We need to get more aggressive too many nice players more steel required. A new manager and hopefully winning games in div 3 and get a team ready for realistically two years time.

I wouldn't say the older players should step aside. 2/3 newish lads just not good enough for this level. One or 2 Lads not rated by our last manager.

People gave out about Andrew McLoughlin and Daryll Flynn being booked and getting involved, the same 2 lads would take the head off your shoulders for the ball.

Daryll Flynn would have went through Moran a couple of times today with the knee up competing for the ball to let him know he was around. Moolick and Cribbin almost apologetic to the Kerry midfield for competing .

Compare our full back line to the Kerry full back line . O Grady a nice clean lad barely laying a glove on the forward whilst O Mahoney down the far end is ploughing into tackles with wreckless care for his own well being. O Sé would take your head clean off your shoulders for the ball, Ollie is doing his best to be touch tight without being overly physical. Too nice. And the more I think about it the more we haven't got the mentality or steel to implement a Donegal/Monaghan/Tyrone defensive system because our lads are simply too windy to give or get a slap.

Holy Mother of Devine Je**s, what have I just witnessed....

Its the first game I have attended this year as I don't like the whole set-up in the county board but reading some of the comments here during the week lead me to believe we had some chance of a win in this one so I decided to go and bring the young lad.... BIG MISTAKE.

I pitied the poor chap having to witness that trouncing and having to put up with the constant laughing in our faces of a group of Dublin supporters sitting in front of us in the stand.
I know there is a gap between the top teams and the rest but I think even Carlow would have given a better account of themselves than that excuse of a performance ..

Here are a few of the embarrassing quotes that made me think we had a chance today.. thanks lads. Ye obviously know nothing about football or else ye are living in dreamland.


Franklin ... I think Kerry are over rated and if we keep Donaghy quite and bring the same intensity as the Cork match we have the defenders to keep the other Kerry forwards under wraps. I think we will beat them by a couple of points.

white boy ... Kerry are very worried about Kildare pace. Word has it . They will want to slow it down and play it at there terms . If we let this happen we gone . When we run at teams we are hard to handle . If we don't ship any goals early and play with pace we a great chance

flourman ... Obviously they're worried about our midfield - playing Sheehan, Moran and Maher. Doyler will have Sheehan on toast

The only small bit of hope I take from today was Donegal were taken apart by Cork in 2009 in similar fashion. 1-27 to 2-10 was the scoreline. Which flattered Donegal truth be told.

9/10 players thay day went on to play and win the All Ireland final in 2012 just 3 years later. Now I'm not saying we'll win the All Ireland but I am saying with the right tactics and approach we can regroup and be competitive once more.

We also have a lot of potential coming through the system.
Days like this make you utterly depressed about football.

Don't know what happened today myself but we won fuck all in the middle, there was no decisiveness or passion on show either. We were set up all wrong too, Smith was left inside on his own all game and he was expected to win the ball with 2 or 3 Kerry players around him. When we didnt send the ball in we fucked around with it on there 45 yard line then they won the ball and hit us on the break. Changes should have been made quicker couldn't believe how long it took to bring on Podge Fogarty management has to go.

Borderline wrote:

Holy Mother of Devine Je**s, what have I just witnessed....

Its the first game I have attended this year as I don't like the whole set-up in the county board but reading some of the comments here during the week lead me to believe we had some chance of a win in this one so I decided to go and bring the young lad.... BIG MISTAKE.

I pitied the poor chap having to witness that trouncing and having to put up with the constant laughing in our faces of a group of Dublin supporters sitting in front of us in the stand.
I know there is a gap between the top teams and the rest but I think even Carlow would have given a better account of themselves than that excuse of a performance ..

Here are a few of the embarrassing quotes that made me think we had a chance today.. thanks lads. Ye obviously know nothing about football or else ye are living in dreamland.


Franklin ... I think Kerry are over rated and if we keep Donaghy quite and bring the same intensity as the Cork match we have the defenders to keep the other Kerry forwards under wraps. I think we will beat them by a couple of points.

white boy ... Kerry are very worried about Kildare pace. Word has it . They will want to slow it down and play it at there terms . If we let this happen we gone . When we run at teams we are hard to handle . If we don't ship any goals early and play with pace we a great chance

flourman ... Obviously they're worried about our midfield - playing Sheehan, Moran and Maher. Doyler will have Sheehan on toast

Not much sympathy for you Borderline if that was your first effort to support the team all year.

LillieLad wrote:

Don't know what happened today myself but we won fuck all in the middle, there was no decisiveness or passion on show either. We were set up all wrong too, Smith was left inside on his own all game and he was expected to win the ball with 2 or 3 Kerry players around him. When we didnt send the ball in we fucked around with it on there 45 yard line then they won the ball and hit us on the break. Changes should have been made quicker couldn't believe how long it took to bring on Podge Fogarty management has to go.

that game was over at half time. Cork are bad state

Is it too much of an overreaction to say that as a footballing county we haven't changed much at all in the last 25 years? I say 25 years as that’s the extent of my “career” following Kildare. Bar the occasional exceptional season, we are soft and windy. Plenty of nice talented footballers but few with bottle or stomach for a battle. We can only beat other soft teams, EG Laois; teams already “softened up” by the big boys, EG Cork; or teams who are significantly inferior, EG Longford or Offaly.

I’m not sure if it was the first or second goal, the reaction of a number of players with their heads in their hands and so on, stood out for me. All fight and spirit was gone at that stage. It's a psychiatrist or a brain surgeon we need more so than a manager.

Regarding the manager, one would have to wonder at the rationale behind playing a “defensive” system after leaking three or four goals. Why not just go hell for leather and try to put up a less embarrassing score and let lads have options when we were in possession? What’s the worst that could have happened? They might have scored another three or four goals which they went and did anyway!

Not that I'd lay all of the blame on the manager but there were plenty of other mistakes on the line as well such as not bringing subs on sooner.

I thought the Dublin defeat by 19 points was our lowest point but we surpassed that today. We must the the weakest team mentally in the country. When things start to go against us, instead of rolling up the sleeves and fighting harder we seem to go into our shells and hide. Contrast our 2nd half performance with that of Fermanagh who fought to the end and managed to finish with their pride intact.

The really galling thing about today was how easy Kerry got in for some of their goals. For one of the goals, Stephen O'Brien ran through from the 45 without anybody laying a glove on him. Eoin Doyle seemed to be playing in the forwards while Kerry were running through the centre of our defence. Peter Kelly was brought on in an attacking role which he's clearly not suited to.

It's been some few weeks for Kildare fans. Record defeats against Dublin and Kerry, a record score against Longford and a great win against Cork. Our defensive problems have never been solved and until they are, we are going to suffer big defeats against the big teams.

Pick the bones out of that.

What amazed me this week was the amount of journalists crawling up Ryan and making him out to be some kind of genius. Even today in the independent there was an article telling all and sundry how Kildare have been transformed and are on the way up. I bet that journalist wishes he waited 24 hrs. One win against a rubbish uninterested Cork team and suddenly two years of absolute shite has been forgotten and wiped from memory.

Well I didn't forget it even though a few on here tried to stick the boot in last week, unfortunately said boot is firmly on the other foot now. Hopefully the County Board do the decent thing and put us out of our collective misery and dispense with the spoofer. A few lads on here might shed a tear or twenty but no one else will care.

Nuke it from orbit is the only option, everyone is out until the new manager decides otherwise. A lot of careers ended tonight, next year will be a whole new clear unspoilt vista.

While management and players are getting it left right and centre ask yourself a question how many kildare players would get on this kerry team today

moatesports wrote:

While management and players are getting it left right and centre ask yourself a question how many kildare players would get on this kerry team today

Irrelevant question. We should be looking at the reasons why we're not as good or can't even compete with the likes of Dublin,Kerry,Donegal and Mayo.

Look at ourselves in the mirror , what we are doing wrong on and off the field. People very quick to say You can't compete with Dublin's millions or Kerry's natural talent or Donegals tactical competence . You fucking deal with it. Come up with some sort of fucking coherent plan yourself as a county and work god damn fucking hard at it.

We're stumbling along here from on bloody fucking farce to next with no vision or plan as to where we are going or how we get there.

Ryan will be removed and a new man will come in and be expected to deliver something. Whatever that something is no one will know.

Moatesports. I think every fan is realistic enough to know that Kerry are much stronger thann Kildare, I dont think thats the issue. However is it wrong for us to expect to be competitive, compact and give it a go? Should we expect to concede 7 goals? No way. We deserve better as fans and I actually think that the players deserve to have a county board in place that can actually put a manager in place who will insert the structures in place to make us competitive. Whilst Jason ultimately equalled mcgeeneys record of most years in championship, he oversaw our worst two defeats, two relegations and many players jumping ship, and for that its good riddance from me to him.

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

Can change manager... and maybe we should - but players need to accept responsibility. We were five points down after 40 minutes. One goalkeeping mistake led to six goals in 18 minutes. We are so pathetically weak mentally. How we could go from some of our tenacious defending in the first 10-15 minutes to watching them walk through for seven goals... it goes beyond managers or tactics.

jayses othoo......keeper didn't catch the ball cleanly....fair enough..........BUT FFS DON'T BLAME HIM FOR THE REST......

Jayses Borderline that's the funniest post i've ever read on any forum:D ....in my entire life..... ............. :)if you don't like the Co Board set up...why did you bother your hole goin to the match in the first place...?...........

ah don't be too offended by the Dubs comments "sure t'is only banter" .....as Luke would say......

reichenhall wrote:

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

Can change manager... and maybe we should - but players need to accept responsibility. We were five points down after 40 minutes. One goalkeeping mistake led to six goals in 18 minutes. We are so pathetically weak mentally. How we could go from some of our tenacious defending in the first 10-15 minutes to watching them walk through for seven goals... it goes beyond managers or tactics.

jayses othoo......keeper didn't catch the ball cleanly....fair enough..........BUT FFS DON'T BLAME HIM FOR THE REST......

I didn't you madman. I'm saying it was 0-10 to 0-5 when he made that mistake and that's all it took for us to cave in completely over the next 18 minutes. None of the other goals were his fault, obviously.

i'ts there in black n white "one goalkeeping mistake led to 6 goals in 18 mins and the team caved in".........was a goalman meself for many years and 'keeper in the garrison game.........i know the feeling.......

You've a problem with comprehension Reichenhall. My point is that we're so weak mentally that instead of recovering from that mistake as a team - these things happen after all - we caved in as a team in incredible fashion, shipping five more goals in no time. That is not blaming the keeper for the other five - my impression was he had no chance with any of them.

But while we're on the subject it was the second high ball he batted down in the game. Not good enough at this level. He's had a good season though in fairness.

Just elaborating on that, we actually kicked the first two points of the second half.

You wouldn't have been thrilled at that stage but you could also not have imagined what was to come. OK, we couldn't compete aerially in midfield and couldn't really penetrate or stay composed up front but other aspects of the game were going ok.

Thought Smith was playing well, Kelly showed a couple of glimpses, Fitzpatrick, Ollie and Doyle had instances of superb defending at times in the first half.

At that point we looked on course to lose by about 10 points. Would have been an ok season, something to build on.

Instead we reacted to the concession of one goal by just throwing the towel in. True, Kerry are class and I accept that. But when they get the second you start a row, you start taking black cards rather than letting lads through, you do anything. You fight. It's championship.

Now I don't think most lads consciously gave up but it only takes two or three going into their shells for it to spread through the team like a cancer.

Maybe Jason Ryan is to blame for that. I don't know. I would probably opt for a change of manager not because I think he's a bad coach but because the psychological damage from shipping seven goals in 20-odd minutes of football demands some kind of fresh start.

But will there be anyone better? You think Cian O'Neill is going to fancy that? What different players will we have next year? Apart from a couple of obvious young lads coming through, I don't think there's dramatically better footballers in the county.

Do you accept lads back who turned their back on their teammates when they were needed most?

We can criticise the lads there yesterday, and I just did, but at least they didn't jack it in after the Dublin game.

Lads talking about clear outs, but if it wasn't for Emmet Bolton's leadership, we would have lost to Laois the first day, lost to Offaly in Tullamore.

Indeed it's the Boltons and Paudies and Smiths and Lepers I feel most sorry for. They would never have dreamt the day would come they'd be part of a team that concedes seven goals in a half of football.

And looking beyond them: if there's no better players out there, how are these ones going to react next time a big team gets a scoring burst?

Above all: will we even get far enough to play Kerry or Dublin? People keep saying we can't go any lower but of course we can. If we fall apart now it could get far, far worse. Tail off further and instead of beating Cork, we'll be losing to Laois and Offaly.