Kildare Minor 2018

Best of luck to the lads today. 5th game in 31 days is a tough ask especially when you add a couple more games for dual players but hopefully they do themselves justice today.

Desperately poor performance today again. Team and management seem to have run out of steam / ideas as the weeks went on. No disprespect to the players intended here but it doesn’t seem to have been our best group of recent years. Tactically the bench left a lot to be desired as well. Long balls into one full forward, often double or triple marked in the second half. Can’t blame management for some of the execution issues but the style of play was something of a throwback.

kildaregaa365 wrote:

Desperately poor performance today again. Team and management seem to have run out of steam / ideas as the weeks went on. No disprespect to the players intended here but it doesn’t seem to have been our best group of recent years. Tactically the bench left a lot to be desired as well. Long balls into one full forward, often double or triple marked in the second half. Can’t blame management for some of the execution issues but the style of play was something of a throwback.

That's a fair assessment IMHO. Very disappointed with the level of support over the last few weeks though, outnumbered in Newbridge, Tullamore and Mullingar.

Have to agree with 365. Kildare were in the weaker of the 2 groups and v were lucky to get past Wicklow. Then they were hammered by Meath and Monaghan.

That lad Behan is a good player though.

A weak group, we saw that against Wicklow clearly. Wish them all well is real life but if that's it in football the road endeth here... Given resources their achievements are actually pathetic.

TommyKeegan wrote:

A weak group, we saw that against Wicklow clearly. Wish them all well is real life but if that's it in football the road endeth here... Given resources their achievements are actually pathetic.

God Tommy, talk about giving a 16yr old a complex. I’m sure they’re disappointed but I think that’s a bit harsh.

Have you met a 16 year old lately?

They'll have many petty complexes, a kick in the hole will do them no harm. A fairly sh*t team who achieved no impressive results, do we need to bubble wrap that? Or do we honesty say that they failed?

Resources doesn't guarantee success Tommy. Wicklow beat Dublin who are resourced up to their eyeballs. We managed to beat Wicklow. From what I saw of them they looked a fairly average bunch of footballers who tried hard but lacked the quality of previous years. Not that long ago we couldn't win a match at this level and now we are disappointed that we can't win Leinster every year.

murof wrote:

Resources doesn't guarantee success Tommy. Wicklow beat Dublin who are resourced up to their eyeballs. We managed to beat Wicklow.  From what I saw of them they looked a fairly average bunch of footballers who tried hard but lacked the quality of previous years. Not that long ago we couldn't win a match at this level and now we are disappointed that we can't win Leinster every year.

Correct, but do we lie to this group or do we say they were poor?

After the last few years our expectations have increased which is good but reaching and winning finals can't be taken for granted. I'd also argue that a team losing doesn't mean that individuals involved can't progress and play senior.

That’s a bit harsh Tommy.

Sent from Topic'it App

TommyKeegan wrote:

Have you met a 16 year old lately?

They'll have many petty complexes, a kick in the hole will do them no harm. A fairly sh*t team who achieved no impressive results, do we need to bubble wrap that? Or do we honesty say that they failed?

By your own admissions a sh*t team, so going on those odds over achieved by even reaching a Leinster Final...... We can’t churn out superstars every year so we probably shouldn’t have entered a team in the championship at all....... Ive been more disappointed when teams that have more potential don’t turn up on the occasion so for an average team maybe the fact they got to an All Ireland Quarter Final might just stand to them in years to come.

We shouldn't lie to them Tommy about being poor but we should never tell them that their efforts were pathetic as you did. That's just disrespectful, not all kids that age are so confident that they can take that.

And Tommy what about management!? Or do you just want to batter 16 & 17 year olds

Sent from Topic'it App

Well done lads they will learn from this and move forward in the future.........

A lot of good footballers on this team. They lacked cuteness and a decent gameplan but there's a lot of potential in this team. Hard to pick yourself up 6 days after losing a draining Leinster Final and to try and beat the Ulster Champions! If anyone else knows a few of the lads of this team like I do, I can assure you Meath have always been their toughest opponents when they navigated through the underage grades. I would echo sentiments in relation to 5 games in 31 days - it's bound to have an effect on the performance and with dual stars in the mix, that's another pressure in itself. This group won the Fr Manning cup last year - okay it's not the deluxe title but they've mixed it with the best teams out there throughout the last few seasons so all is not lost for this group.
Management are as much to blame for the last two performances - persisting with a failed gameplan in attack! However all in all I think it is a sign of good things - they reached a Leinster Final and Quarter Final. Not bad for a 'bad' year! Onwards and Upwards. Great learning curve for this crop!!!

Cant have it both ways Tommy -

Not as strong a bunch as in previous years but getting to a Leinster final with a weaker group is a commendable achievement. Granted we were well beaten by both Meath and Monaghan which is a disappointment.

I am fully with you when you call out our seniors but I disagree that the efforts of these lads to dig out the results (particularly the Wicklow one) is not worth a nod of appreciation.

Disappointing but not pathetic.