Kildare v Longford

According to the commentators - the players are doing heavy training and were training yesterday. It's a fine balancing act.

Yeah I didn't think Kildare looked at the races at all for most of the match today. We were fortunate that Longford were very limited otherwise we could have been in trouble. Donnellan was called into action too often for my liking.

I thought Hyland and O'Donoghue were impressive in defence. Flynn caught the eye again. It was good to see him pushed forward in the final quarter. I'd like to see more of that once Cribbin and Moolick are back fully fit. Dowling showed fairly well and was probably the best of the three starting full forwards.

Great to be winning games but you'd like to see Kildare showing a bit more considering the quality of opposition.

You would hope they are training hard because I thought that was poor quality today. Against a better sidecwe would have been beaten. 
Cian might be taking a risk in that he thinks we have enough to beat what's in front of us even if we are doing the hard yards in training.

As I thought the full forward line produced very little. Poor decision making and shot selection added to poor execution did not make it a pretty sight.

Still 3 from 3, decent scoring difference and three home games to come is a good position to be in.

inexile wrote:

According to the commentators - the players are doing heavy training and were training yesterday. It's a fine balancing act.

This actually explains a lot. We were just commenting at the match that they all looked heavy-legged and to be fair the pitch didn't help - it looked soft and boggy. Best that can be said about the performance is that 'a win is a win'. No one really enhanced their reputations today. The full-forward line still remains a problem area - the O'Neill and Callaghan experiment didn't work hence the changes at half-time. Daniel Flynn can be so frustrating - he picks up ball in great positions but so often he takes the wrong option and ends up being surrounded by 3/4 defenders. Then he goes and creates the second goal from nothing. Feely was good again if not as impressive as he was against Offaly. Defensively we looked pretty decent and I agree with KK above re Hyland and O'Donoghue.

We put 2-24 up against Longford last summer - we were a long way from that today although as I say ground conditions didn't help.

All the above are spot on. . We looked leggy and at times it was a poor standard div 3 game. But it's another win.
With Adam tyrell not starting we are again fielding without a left foot free taker.. thankfully it wasn't an issue today.

You can really compare February football and June Football. Performance will come hopefully. It's important to get out of that division because it's easy to pick up a division 3 mentally. They didn't train yesterday btw.

Interesting to hear they did heavy training yesterday because they didn't seem 100% today. Took a long time to get going and thought we could be in trouble until O'Flaherty got the first goal. The full back line did well. Feely and McNally tried their best. The full forward line didn't work very well, despite Dowling scoring a few points. Would imagine it won't be the same three next week. A bit frustrating to see lads handpassing back and forward across the field rather than taking their men on and running towards goal but perhaps that was due to tiredness today due to the training. We'll need to up our game next week for the Limerick match.

You can really compare February football and June Football. Performance will come hopefully. It's important to get out of that division because it's easy to pick up a division 3 mentally. They didn't train yesterday btw.

Who got the goals?

Ogie wrote:

Who got the goals?

Eoghan O'Flaherty and Tommy Moolick.

Flats and moolick.

How much game time did Tommy get?

Ogie wrote:

How much game time did Tommy get?

Played the last 15 minutes.

Two more wins back in division 2

Hard to see us not making it.

And it can't come soon enough. Was watching Dublin-Monaghan last night and I think it's fair to say the standard was a bit higher than Div 3.

Workmanlike today, nothing more. The part I'm most concerned about is that we're still too loose in defence. A bit of brilliance from Dan Flynn created the goal for Moolick to give us a bit of breathing space. And what happens? Yet again, we go asleep, the opposition go straight through the middle of the defence and a forward was hauled down for a penalty.

Wouldn't surprise me if O'Neill blew a gasket and he'd be well within his rights to. We've only conceded one goal thus but I think it's putting a false gloss on things. Kerry, Dublin, Mayo et all - think they'd all still do a number on us. A long way to go etc.

Upfront, Dowling did some good things and kicked a couple of points, although he screwed up a goal chance and had the obligatory horrendous wide. But I think he's a good option, although may be only as a squad player.

I know Neil Flynn is still to come back but I still think we need more options in the inside forward line. O'Neill, Callaghan, Smith - all good players and honest as the day is long, but they're never going to shoot the lights out.

Overall, though, three from three and I think we'll definitely get promoted. You have to be pleased with that. I'm going to the U21s Wed and it will be interesting to see if anyone puts their hand up, particularly in the forwards.

I just say some pictures on line of the stand that was being upgraded and it looks like the The Four Seasons Hotel compared to Newbridge

I thought Hyland was our best player and it will be interesting when Fitzpatrick is back to see what O'Neill does. Personally I'd leave Hyland there.

Another thing that was very noticeable was that as soon as Tommy moolick came on Dan Flynn was put Full forward. While I'm not sure hes the answer up top we do lack pace inside and its worth looking at.

With 3 of the next 4 at home Promotion should be secured

Good assessment HG, one of N Kelly's quieter days and the forwards lacked flair bar Flaharty. Most of the good performance came from the backs,thought Hyland was v good in second half. I didn't think we were great but we didn't need to be.
On a side note was that the worst ref ever.....

Too many not up to it - reflected in all substitutions really -

Hyland was excellent as was O'Donoghoe - defence looked decent, but opposition was poor.

It's time to move on from past failures, hopefully with P Cribben, E Kelly and a few U21s to come in, improvement will come with better ground.

Tipperary game in Round 6 of the NFL now fixed for Saturday March 26th according to GAA website (2pm)

http://www.gaa.ie/football/national-football-league/fixtures

I thought the backs were solid and the penalty save was a boost but the forwards were guilty of way too much sloppiness and some awful misses. The second goal was a thing of beauty. Good to win but a poor game and Longford were dire.
Spoke to a local man who told me the stand is closed due to safety concerns - "cowboy building" according to him. It looks great but will be out of commission for some time.Shame

Adam Tyrell looked in a bad way, being carried off after the warm-up. Any updates on him?