2016 O'Byrne Cup

Are Healy and Sherry apart of the panel lads? I hope they are anyway, Sherry proved his worth last summer in the few appearances he made!!

Sherry is anyway

I think Cian has to look at these players again. A guy could have matured a lot in a year or maybe he'll discover like Jason Ryan that some are just not good enough. It will settle down over the next few weeks hopefully. Most county's are going through the same process I would imagine.

I think most of us would be happy if our interest in the O'Byrne Cup ended on sunday. Winning it has not done much for us in recent years and we would be far better off cutting the squad and concentrating on tactics for the league.
With that in mind what team does Cian pick on sunday? Does he give some from the Louth game another chance or pick his strongest team and see how they perform?
Personally I would like to see the likes of Tyrell, the 2 Byrnes, Houlihan, Eaton and the 2 Flynns get another run. Not sure many others have enough to offer at this stage.

Agree with that murof. Healy is in with the 21s and he and others will be well monitored by Murphy and o Neill.

There are guys that played on Wednesday night that have been around on the panel a long time, and indeed have given great service.
That being said these guys have gone past their sell by date - and whereas they can be relied upon to beat the likes of Laois, Offaly .. come up well short when against the top 4/5 teams - I'll not name names, but it's clear who I'm referring to.
If these guys are on a starting 15 come May / June - I'll be bitterly disappointed.

That's a fair point flourman.

I agree in principle, however these lads don't pick themselves onto the panel so if they are no longer deemed to be up to the grade required then its up to the management team to make the changes.  

That said it is a very hard conversation to have with any player who has given long service , not just from January to August but more or less all year round for 10 or more years.

How many long service players have been dropped from the panel in the last 10 years, very few, most have retired themselves so its an problem that's been there for quite a while.

By the way I mean no disrespect whatsoever to any long serving player, past or present, they owe us/ Kildare Gaa nothing

Offaly 7/4. Kildare 8/15. Draw 15/2.

I generally agree on the long serving player issue. I was disappointed to see any of them (other than Daryl Flynn who hasn't played the last couple of years really) given a game on Wednesday. I just don't see any benefit in that. Probably not much benefit in the league even. There's not many of them to be fair though. Who are we talking about : Bolton, Conway, Callaghan and O'Neill essentially? Of those I think two could still play a part in the championship, whether in the starting 15 or not. Though it would probably be their last year. The other two I think could probably step aside at this stage. Will be interesting to see if Cian makes a statement and does cut one or two. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for 2 of those to stay in the panel, push for a place and lend some experience around the panel.

Crofter out of those you've named Bolton still has a lot to offer. He is a class act and in my opinion is still able to perform at the top level.

Conway and Leper are around a long time. Leper in his pomp was all star standard. Injuries have take their toll. O Neill is a model pro, a workman like player. Rated by every manager for his work ethic and honesty but probably wouldn't make any of the top 7/8 teams starting line ups. I can see his benefit to the squad but not the the starting line up.

We need a clean slate but not necessarily secure clean sweep. Old heads are good around the panel for their experience. We just don't need so many of them.

Will be interesting to see the panel cut

Freddy Krueger wrote:

Crofter out of those you've named Bolton still has a lot to offer. He is a class act and in my opinion is still able to perform at the top level.

Conway and Leper are around a long time. Leper in his pomp was all star standard. Injuries have take their toll. O Neill is a model pro, a workman like player. Rated by every manager for his work ethic and honesty but probably wouldn't make any of the top 7/8 teams starting line ups. I can see his benefit to the squad but not the the starting line up.

We need a clean slate but not necessarily secure clean sweep. Old heads are good around the panel for their experience. We just don't need so many of them.

Will be interesting to see the panel cut

Yes you're basically agreeing with me. Didn't really want to name names but I was thinking of the same two and in the same order of "usefulness" pretty much

Theres about four or five who have served us well and who will never win a Leinster but we wouldnt have besten Offaly or Laois last year without them. Cant see them making cut this year.

It will tell a lot about the man in charge when we see his final panel... I'm really starting to think that we don't have better in the county than what's on view currently... yeah people will throw in the odd new name. But it's mainly the same group of fellas.
Not worried. But I hadn't realised louth were a div 4 team.

Theres still about 10 of our best lads who havent played in the OBC who will feature this year...Cribbin*2, Kelly, Feely, Conway, Hyland, Sherry, Smith, Flynn, Moolick. D Fitzpatrick and MOF possibly and maybe one or two more.

If we are thinking of getting rid of a few of the older lads would that be the same for the likes of Morgan o Flaherty Hugh McGrillan who have come back in I think the best way is to see if the lads still have it if now then so be it thats why Cian o Neil is there sometimes you have to make big calls.

Anybody see a team for tomorrow yet?

Shane Connolly, Peter Kelly, Ciaràn Fitzpatrick, Liam Healy, Morgan O’ Flaherty, Johnny Byrne, Cian O’ Donoghue, Daniel Flynn, Rob Kelly, Matty Byrne, Èanna O’ Connor, Adam Tyrrell, Cathal McNally, Eoghan O’ Flaherty, Ray Cahill

I wasn't overly confident last Wednesday evening and I am no more confident today. Bewildered at the positioning of some of the players.

Lets wait and see but I can't see more then 3 or 4 of this team playing in Croke Park in June.

Best of luck to all concerned anyway.

Poor game. We missed a few chances in the first half & a late goal chance but TG Kildare did not finish a few of their goal chances. Ye had at least 6,,,,,,,and could have given us a right hiding. I can only see 2 or 3 of todays Kildare team making the cut while Offaly rely on most of what we saw today. Not promising.....

Interesting interview by Cian O Neill after the match today.

https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/cian-oneill-post-offaly

Heard a similar interview on KFM this afternoon. He is basically saying what we have all been saying for as long as we can remember in that Kildare players make the wrong decisions on a regular basis during games. The ingame management fails them when needed most.

Even today simple passes were given up for a harder delivery which ended in a turnover. Do the simple things well and the rest will follow.

It was nice to hear a Kildare manager annoyed. Ryan would never have said anything like that. I get the feeling if you are not doing what the manager wants or how he wants no matter who you are you are out.  If the O' Byrne cup got nothing but that across to the squad then it will have been worthwhile.

Anyone enlighten me on the performance of Eanna O'Connor? I dont like picking out individuals but just fascinated about he is doing due to his family background. I missed the game but saw he got a few scores, did he impress anyone?

I thought O'Connor was one of the more impressive Kildare players on show today. He looked fired up to make an impression, he got on plenty of ball and he used it well.

MD wrote:

Anyone enlighten me on the performance of Eanna O'Connor? I dont like picking out individuals but just fascinated about he is doing due to his family background. I missed the game but saw he got a few scores, did he impress anyone?

This site has some thoughts on the game and player ratings :

http://kildaregaa365.com/index.php/more-questions-than-answers-offaly-v-kildare/

Thought O'Connor was one of the better forwards and his passing was generally good into the inside forward line. May have done enough to stay in the squad for the league. No one was really outstanding today in the forwards though. It was a poor game.