Leinster Minor Q/Final Draws

Great win. Well done to team and management.Brendan Hackett must be our most successful underage manager ever or close to it.

By jaysus - that was some tonic

Brilliant win tonight away to a team who Meath people really thought were very good.
Strange how we struggled to produce a decent scoring forward for so long, JD and Fennin were they only 2 who could regularly score against top teams. Now in the last few years we have Kelly, Brophy, Flynn, McCormack and now Kelly and Hyland. I know the last few have yet to deliver at senior level but they clearly have the talent. Would be great to see them all on the field at the same time.
Should be a great boost for the seniors on Saturday. If nothing else it will show them that there are options for the manager in the coming years if they fail to perform.

Fantastic win and a great team performance.

Looked a bit open at times in the first half and the 2 Meath corner forwards caused a lot of problems, especially the number 13.

Missed peno was obviously a bit of a momentum shifter, would have been a point down had that gone in but did well to put their heads down and get back on top after that.

Hard to pick out any star players but Hyland and Kelly did really well in the forwards, always showing for the ball and willing to take on their man. Masterson cleaned up in midfield, must have won 6 or 7 kickouts cleanly. Once we pushed up on the Meath defenders and cut off the short option their keeper didn't know what to do, at least 2 in extra time just went straight out over the sideline. O'Toole at cornerback was on fire in the second half and in extra time. Out in front of his man numerous times which resulted in Meath's most dangerous forward from play being taken off, don't know where he found the energy to bomb forward late on when a lot of lads were either out on their feet or down with cramp.

Don't know where Meath got their number 10 from but he looked like an absolute brick shit house, must have got his birth cert from the same lad Obafemi Martin's gets his from, serious baller to boot and had a lot of influence in the first half.

Less said about the ref the better, seemed to be making it up as he went along and was barely able to run with 5 minutes left in the first half.

Considering the amount of lads going down with cramp and the pace the game was played at in normal time I would have thought there was an argument for getting rid of extra time for minor matches. Changed my tune come full time though, everyone who came off the bench put in a shift and a couple of lads put forward a strong case for starting the next day.

Looks to be a great sense of team spirit among the lads, great scenes at full time.

Well done to all involved. Winning is a great habit.

Delighted with the win tonight. The lads played great. The ridiculous penalty being missed really drove them on for the end. John O'Toole stood out for me. Masterson was very good in the middle too. Ciaran Kelly and Jack Robinson too. Overall it was a great performance so well done to everyone involved. Looking forward to the final!

Great win by the lads tonight. The penalty was definitley the turning point but it should have never been given as we had a player badly injured on the ground at the time.

Once O'Toole got to grips with the meath corner forward I felt we were the better team and they ran out of ideas. In Robinson, Kelly and Hyland we have players who can cause anyone problems. Hopefully they finish the job Sunday week, Back to back titles would be a great boost

Fantastic win... amazing how people wanted Hackett burned at the stake about 13 or 14 months ago - that's short term, kneejerk thinking for you I guess.

In fairness, no-one could have argued with O'Rourke's comments on Kildare. It was the first thing McGeeney said to the players in the dressing room at the end of 2007 and it's the perception countrywide about them at senior level right now again. They don't take much rattling. But that's something only they can turn around, by getting over their fears and digging deep on a consistent basis.

But brilliant to hear that there was plenty of steel on show to go with the talent of the youngsters. Hopefully a few of those lads can come through but right now, hopefully they'll go and win it out. The consensus was that the winner would be favourites. Laois have been going well but fingers crossed. It would be a great boost to bag a Leinster.

Why is its easy to fellow Kildare minors and u21s, but seniors just us hardship

Not that long ago it was difficult to follow both underage groups as they failed to win a game for many years. Just shows how things can change. Maybe the lesson to be learned is to give the senior manager a chance even it means writing of this year.
We are lucky to have people like Hackett and Murphy in charge.

Indeed we went a barron 22 year's before the 2013 minor win without a title.

With 4 in a row final appearances, It's a big question as to why only 3 player's from the last 3 teams are currently on the senior panel, and only one a regular starter.. are we not bringing them trough, or are the players coming out of minor looking to take a break from it at that stage. . Throw in college etc on top.

Er, no one could argue with O'Rourke's comments - except that's what I've actually done.

He has consistently argued over the years that the footballing culture in Meath is superior to the that in Kildare. It doesn't stack up - and as I said previously, he goes very quiet on the topic when Kildare teams beat Meath, which is regularly.

As for McGeeney - what would you say the perception is "countrywide" of his all-conquering Armagh team currently?

Superb game last night. Can't say I enjoyed it because I was so nervous but you could appreciate that we were watching 2 good teams playing quality football. Think extra-time was unfair and a replay in Newbridge would have been fairer but it was tremendous contest. Because it was Meath up in Navan it gets a lot of attention but 2 years ago the minors went up to Longford and beat the team that had won the Leinster minor league and narrowly lost to the Dublin team that would ultimately defeat us comfortably in the Leinster final. We won that in extra-time. Last year we went into the backyard of a really good Offaly team and edged them by a point in, ahem, a hostile environment. Point is that last night wasn't the first time a Kildare minor team has displayed character or resilience since Hackett took over. Individually they aren't as talented as the recent minor winning sides but its great to see the players improving with each half of football.

Don't think there's any need for anyone to apologise over the criticism Hackett got after the Louth game Ogie. He said himself before the Wicklow game that they had changed around preparations for the first round this year so that they were more prepared. Basically an admission they were undercooked last year.

There was a big crowd in Portlaoise on Tuesday night so I'd say they'll travel in big numbers for the final. A little unusual in that probably 4 of their 5 best players are in the backs. Goalie flapped under an up-and-under and took a few short kick-outs to the centre-back and one to the full-back. Long kick-outs decent. Kelly at corner-back is really good but would probably be better out the field. He struggled against Jimmy Hyland last year when Hyland had less support than he does this year. The other 2 players in the full-back line weren't tested as the Offaly lads just stood behind their men and never tried. Their half-back line run the show. A modern team in the sense that the half-back line attack a lot and their half-forward line defend a lot. Doesn't always work out. Offaly's fourth point should have been a goal when one of their half-forwards ran about 35 metres straight down the middle before blasting over. The player chasing him was the centre-forward, half back line MIA. Their biggest midfielder Delaney hasn't got much of a spring off the ground but the other guy is more mobile. For all their many problems Offaly won plenty of ball on long kickouts. Kinsella at corner-forward is a lovely footballer and was harshly taken off on Tuesday. He's a son of Eddie the ref but thankfully for him seems to have gotten his footballing knowledge from the mother's side of the family! At least O'Toole got good preparation for the challenge last night. The full-forward is burly (like his father) and tends to get his head down and run or shoot without looking for a team-mate.

In the first half Laois slowly hand-passed their way forward before laying off to either the full-forward, Delaney or one of the wing-backs on a crash ball like an inside-centre in rugby. They got a few handy frees running straight into an Offaly player. In the second half they moved the ball far more easily because the half-back line and corner-back got up the field a bit more and they had the skill to send in some good foot passes into space before Offaly could get numbers back. They deserved the winning margin but its difficult to put into words how bad Offaly were. Their full-forward line never tried a leg and they played as individuals. Never seen an Offaly team display no passion in a local derby until last night. The only thing that might have made a difference would be if the Laois centre-forward had been correctly sent off for flicking a boot to the head of an Offaly player on 20 minutes.

If I was a bookie trying to set the handicap for the game for the game I'd probably set it at Laois +5.5. Even with a couple of injuries I think our lads are a little bit better. The fact that a handful have already played in Croke Park is a help. Finally I think if its any bit warm or humid Laois will struggle to play their pressing and short passing pressure game for the full 60 minutes no matter how fit they think they are. Would like to see our midfielders go zonal on their kick-outs with Masterson on the left (Laois goalies' right). I think they'd be afraid to kick it his direction. If the short kickout isn't on then he isn't as comfortable kicking to the left.

Finally, the most impressive move of the game was Hackett skipping a queue about 100 yards long to get in on time for the throw-in. If the players display the same level of cuteness as the manager I think we'll be ok.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

As for McGeeney - what would you say the perception is "countrywide" of his all-conquering Armagh team currently?

Not sure what this is about but I say Armagh are in a bad place with a soft underbelly and not up for a fight, exactly like we were before he changed the players outlook. We were many things under McGeeney but easy to best was not one of them.

As flourman said earlier - jesus that was some tonic indeed!

It was great to walk out of Navan proud of a Kildare team that dug it out in a proper tough championship match. It's a while since we could say that. Credit to all involved.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

Er, no one could argue with O'Rourke's comments - except that's what I've actually done.

He has consistently argued over the years that the footballing culture in Meath is superior to the that in Kildare. It doesn't stack up - and as I said previously, he goes very quiet on the topic when Kildare teams beat Meath, which is regularly.

As for McGeeney - what would you say the perception is "countrywide" of his all-conquering Armagh team currently?

Good man. I should have said 'few' and I should have added 'outside Kildare' because that's the perception of the senior team. And it was the perception. And for a few years there it wasn't.

Meath traditionally were hard and they bullied teams. Now, Meath are poor.

If I answered your McGeeney question with the same interpretation as you did my statement on O'Rourke's comments - well I'd say you are inaccurate because Armagh aren't all-conquering. They're poor. And I would say that's the perception "countrywide" and countrywide. I don't know what that has to do with the conversation but there's my answer.

Hope the minors do the job now against Laois and that people aren't calling for 10 of them to be brought through to the seniors next year.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Indeed we went a barron 22 year's before the 2013 minor win without a title.

With 4 in a row final appearances, It's a big question as to why only 3 player's from the last 3 teams are currently on the senior panel, and only one a regular starter.. are we not bringing them trough, or are the players coming out of minor looking to take a break from it at that stage. . Throw in college etc on top.

Don't forget we had a really good Under-21 team in 2013 as well and a lot of that team are on the senior panel/team now. It's been a big step up for these lads so I don't think we should be promoting lads who are still Under-21 before they are ready.

Having said that, Neil Flynn and Ryan Houlihan have got a lot of game time this year, Chris Healy is close to breaking through and Mark Sherry and Ben McCormack would probably have been pushing for places had they stayed on the panel. I think that's a decent enough return so far. I'd like to see Paul Mescal, Luke Flynn and maybe Rory Feely get a chance in the next year or two.

I think we have to be patient. We do have a lot of good, young players. It's no guarantee of success but it's too early to say we're wasting that talent. I still think Cian O'Neill is the right man to bring these players through but obviously performances and results have to improve.

Quarter final draw

Leinster. Winners v Galway /Mayo Connacht runners up

Galway/Mayo. Connacht  winnes v leinster runners up

Kerry v ulster runners up

Ulster  winners v cork

To played over august bank holiday weekend

Fair points Johnny. . And maybe the break of a few year's after minor mightn do any harm... rory Feely has been impressive for athy in the league, and looks a very good prospect indeed.
Interesting in Dublin with their perceived conveyer belt they don't seem to be coming trough as much as was maybe expected.

How many of the squad are underage for next year?

If I was Cian O'Neill, I would have a few more players from the recent underage teams in the squad, even as options off the bench. No disrespect to someone like Adam Tyrell, but he's not inter county standard in my opinion.

You look at Jim McGuinness using Paddy Brearty or Jim Gavin using Con O'Callaghan - if you have the quality, you can do it. As someone else was saying, there is a chronic lack of players aged 25-30 in our squad. You have the remnants of the Geezer era, the nucleus of the 2013 U21 side and then we're all waiting to see how this underage boom manifests itself over the next few years.

I really think there's the makings of a serious Kildare side over the next five years or so, but of course it is going to take someone to mould them into a proper team. Not convinced Cian O'Neill is the right man but it's up to him to prove us wrong.

Incidentally, had a quick scan at "history books" and four consecutive Leinster minor finals is rare enough alright. Dublin did it late nineties / early noughties, and before that Laois did it in the 90s. Of course, the harvest from that crop went on to win Leinster under Micko so let's hope that's a good omen. Previous to that, you have to go back to Dublin in the 70s.

2 u/17's played on Wednesday and there's 4 more in the squad.
The u/17 squad are playing westmeath tomorrow in hawkfield @ 12

Galway 1-9. Mayo 0-6

Very best of luck to the minors on Sunday. Quiet buildup has been no harm. Hopefully they go out and play like they can.

Nice to see the pen pics on twitter (Gillian Murphy's suggestion for these obviously didn't go unnoticed!)

Best of luck to the lads on Sunday