Kildare v Dublin

Don’t we usually turn up to play the Dubs bent over with our trousers down? They won’t want us getting any ideas for the Championship, can see the same happening again I’m afraid

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Agree murof.. I'm sure all will be informed in advance of the protocol re clapping or whatever.. then tear into them in the match, if we have the stomach for it.

Well yes of course that's the ultimate marker to lay down.

Just feel we need "something" to put a fire in the bellies & I'm not sure what that something is with this team or Kildare footballers generally, sadly. It's on show far too infrequently. In a curious way the most seismic thing that's happened to us was going down to 13 men v Laois in '97. That was the most idiotic and potentially cataclysmic thing at the time. I nearly walked out of CP I was so furious with them at the time. But that was the day the worm turned for me and 13 boys became men.

I don't know what it's going to take with this team.

It comes from within.

This laying down a marker talk is ridiculous lads, do you really think the Dubs will roll over if we stop being so nice? They’re well able to give it back & if we start doing it it’ll only wake them up! Only way to beat them is, well, get better at playing ball!

Great article today too Tommy

Is it me or does the current Panel look very young ?.
I'd also be concerned about the lack of leaders on the field.. Peter Kelly isn't a certain starter and Leper is unlikely to feature often.. Eoin Doyle and Keith Cribben always seem injured.. other than those I don't know.. maybe I'm talking shite again.

It's a very young squad, but there comes a time for them to grow up. The core have been there for a number of years and have enough football played at this level to know what they have to do. As 365 said, getting them to fire up is proving difficult. They will say in their interviews how hard they train and so forth but they rarely show if ever a manic streak on the pitch.
Something needs to give, it's about time the decided that win lose or draw they won't take a backward step for any team they play.

When is the team named?interesting to see the dubs team

Lilly5hite wrote:

This laying down a marker talk is ridiculous lads, do you really think the Dubs will roll over if we stop being so nice? They’re well able to give it back & if we start doing it it’ll only wake them up! Only way to beat them is, well, get better at playing ball!

Okay so Mayo only get close to Dublin by playing ball? Bollox -- they stand up to the f^ckers and have no fear whatsoever. They rile-up Connolly and generally get in their faces and basically turn it into a war, a battle. No quarter given. And yes they play some good ball as well. But they certainly don't get as close as they do by being afraid to "wake them up". They expect the backlash from Dublin and they deal with it as good as anyone.

Mayo probably have better footballers than us on the whole but not to the same degree Dublin do (I would argue). They should be the model.

Bang on Rex. These boys are about to hit their peak years. They've had underage success and got themselves to Div 1. They've got favourable league and championship draws this year, and even with Moorefield winning Leinster, there is a sense of things moving in the right direction in Kildare football.

In other words - we're out of excuses. Are we going to be winners or just another team? The moment of truth is upon etc etc. Call me a madman but I choose to believe!

Stark raving lunatic HG but sure what’s the point being anything else?

Cill Dara Abú

I do feel Mayo have lacked that one, final quality forward to get them over the line - if there was a transfer market I've no doubt they'd break the bank for Conor McManus - but I have to admit they've had me leaping out of my seat with excitement the way they've torn into Dubs over the past few years.

The general thrust of what we're saying is - time for our lads to grow a pair. I want to see the spirit of Ryan, Doyle, Lynch, Buckley et al in evidence this year... Not just another feeble Div 2 team out of their depth a la Cavan, Roscommon etc etc.

The next 9 weeks will tell lot about this current panel

Most definitely - we're going to find out what they're made of.

And yes brilliant article by Ewan MacKenna today. Kildare are the last line of resistance in Leinster - Meath have given up tbh. All their pundits and hacks kiss the Dubs' arse and it is just shocking stuff.

Fair dues to TK but is anyone listening?

No one that matters wants to listen and “official GAA” in the counties impacted are afraid to say anything so they trot out the “Golden Generation, Great Manager, House in Order” line.

Fair play to TK indeed.. shining light in Irish/Brazilian sports journalism and one of our own!

Lads clapping the AI champs onto the field has been a tradition for decades. Would be unclassy in the extreme to be the first team not to do it.

Maybe leave an accidental stray leg out as they’re running past

Unclassy but would be funny. All the better if it’s Connolly.

Yes great piece in the Indo today Tommy - Very enjoyable - Ignore the twitteratti as ignorants pass your facts off as "sour grapes". Must wreck your head (similar to Kimmage) how ppl trot out the lazy lines of "do you get any enjoyment from sport", "begrudger" etc etc when you tell them something they don't want to hear.

I really feel the GAA is on the verge of something radical happening. Whether its the club v county issue or the boredom of counties getting whitewashed in provinces it has the feel of a major revolt in next year or two. Something big (I sound like a loony now haha )

Just read that piece, have to say it is bang on the money and needs to be regularly said. The damage done to the once great Leinster Championship will probably never be fixed. Its unforgivable that Duffy and his cohorts bank rolled Dublin knowing it would have a detrimental effect on every other County in Leinster. The problem they have now is it has spread across the Country. The basically poisoned the water and have slowly killed the ecosystem.

Going back to football matters. I'm really looking forward to see how we fair in the league. Last year most of us were happy to be around mid table in division two but we got a great start built some momentum and got over the line. Any team that come's up a division are nearly always favourites to go back down but hopefully we can give a good account of our self's. Tough start against the dubs in croker there is not much coming out of there camp but I expect a mixture of regular starters and players on the fringes to start for them. I expect a good performance from Kildare but can't see them winning again would love to be wrong.

This time last year there was alot of doom and gloom around after the OB cup defeat to dublin however the league opener in navan gave the entire county a lift. Granted meath are useless and were playing dublin this time around but hopefully come 9pm tomorrow we are all in good spirits

A couple of notable points on the somewhat checkered history of the guard of honour...

We gave one to Donegal in the corresponding fixture five years ago (also in Croke Park).

Dublin made a point of not giving one to Meath in the late 80s. There had previously been some debate in Meath whether they should give Dublin one in Navan in 1983. They ultimately went through with it, albeit with a caveat from Gerry McEntee: "Let's clap them onto the field, then kick the shite out of them." Perhaps we should follow suit.

Any type of result will be a big bonus for us. Just be great to have a decent start to the year. More important than anything is a performance and not falling asleep at any stage.
I would like to see us shore up a nice bit defensively overall. I really would like to see Conway in the middle and dropping back a few yards with Doyle sitting in front of the full back line.

A lot of "bull into them" talk here.

Tommy's article cites the GAA's books showing 1.4 million given to Dublin on development funding in 2016. If you look at dublins own books they show them getting almost double that ; 2.77 million.

Wrote about on another topic on this site.