Kildare v Galway

With Galway in final on Sunday week they will put B side think Kildare will make changes as well
The players will probably go back to clubs for week to ten days after game


Match @3pm Sunday

At the start of the league this was a match I was looking forward to. As a team we haven't beaten in generations I figured that af the end of a division 1 league where we had both performed much the same if we could beat them it would be progress. Don't think that now.

Got to be changes to the team. Certain lads have had plenty of chances. As K365 said in another thread the Moorefield lads must come in. In fact I quite like the team k365 picked, although Dan should be left in full forward in my opinion to see if he can replicate last week.
We desperately need a free taker so that should be a priority.
Another thing I want to see is Conway used in a position that suits him. He's wasted playing half forward. Put him at centre back with Flynn and Doyle either side. Murray is a far better reader of the game and can put in a tackle when needed so I would put him as sweeper in place of Doyle.

Let's try something different, what's to lose.

Rex, does O'Neill strike you as someone who would try something different? To me he is starting to look like Jason in keeping doing the same thing in the hope of eventually proving people wrong.
I used to like his interviews but they are starting to grate a bit now sadly.

I wonder if CON is going to stick with K Cribbin as extra defender. Seems to have worked reasonably well so far. One of the few positives of this campaign actually has been the extra defensive options.

K Flynn has been good and O'Donoghue I think has been one of the best players, possibly the best after D Flynn. I also think Dempsey and Murray have the potential to be really top players. Of the Moorefield contingent, O'Connor was outstanding last year although Corofin game had uncomfortable echoes of previous outings in Kildare shirt.

Galway will be interesting... Corofin club final performance one of the best football displays I've ever seen, sensational stuff. Galway and Kerry teams I always find play with incredible style over the years. Galway actually have much better forwards than Mayo but can they get Croker big game mentality... Also think their defensive game could unravel in Croker yet again later in the year.

Probably be a good few of them missing on Sun tho.

The forwards all need a huge kick in the backside. They've all been terrible, D Flynn been carrying the whole lot of them.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

I wonder if CON is going to stick with K Cribbin as extra defender. Seems to have worked reasonably well so far. One of the few positives of this campaign actually has been the extra defensive options.

Cian o neill will stick with Keith Cribbin as extra defender from what I am hearing

murof wrote:

Rex, does O'Neill strike you as someone who would try something different? To me he is starting to look like Jason in keeping doing the same thing in the hope of eventually proving people wrong.
I used to like his interviews but they are starting to grate a bit now sadly.

It is very strange murof that the team has only had cosmetic changes over the last two months. One would think that a team on a serious losing streak would be altered in some way. But we just keep plodding on hoping they are suddenly going to click.

As for his interviews I think the last few have been more real and to the point and less trying to keep a positive spin on things when Stevie Wonder could see we were in trouble.

All I know is the Championship will be upon us before we know it so solutions will need to be found.

I have to say I find interviews with O'Neill in local media not great, and to be honest coverage of the team compared to Mayo for example not great. But havent seen anyone grill him on why no new players in league.

Cian O'Neill's interviews now are no different to his first two years in terms of quality but we're losing and a losing manager will never be able to please supporters with his interviews.

Apart from injuries in the full-forward line there were no changes last year either but that wasn't a problem?

In terms of changes how many players do people actually think we have who have the ability to play at division one level. Like a lot of these new players struggled with the pace of the O'Byrne Cup earlier in the year and now people think they are ready? Be careful what you wish for. Without Flats, the Sash young lads off travelling and a few more who have turned down invites to join the panel we don't have any more than 20 or so who can realistically compete at this level. Throw in a couple of injuries and a few off form/low on confidence and Cian is limited in his choices.

Agree with Ogie's point on the other thread, most of our performances have been better than most of our performances last year, people just can't seem to comprehend how much higher the standard is at this level.

Best of luck to the lads on Sunday and beyond. Some of the players in final year in college have contracts waiting for them if they reach a certain level with their final year results e.g. 2:1. Don't think people understand the pressure they are under with assignments and so on at this time of year. Its not like other division 1 counties where players are well looked for jobs when they finish college regardless of results. Still believe in these lads for the summer.

I actually don't agree AT ALL that the performances have been better this year. They've been okay but actually, substantially better? No way.

Have to agree with HG that the performances this year has not been better than last year. Even allowing for the better opposition our skills level, our workrate, our team work and certainly our discipline have been very poor. We were at a similar level to Galway last year, they certainly have improved.
What teams other than Dublin can look after young players with jobs?

murof wrote:

Have to agree with HG that the performances this year has not been better than last year. Even allowing for the better opposition our skills level, our workrate, our team work and certainly our discipline have been very poor. We were at a similar level to Galway last year, they certainly have improved.
What teams other than Dublin can look after young players with jobs?

manly Galway have same from last year only difference paddy tally has join backroom team

Last year's league performances should be kept in context.

We hammered a poor Meath team first. Franked that form in the summer. If anything, Meath have regressed again this year. We then played well against Cork but they are now a mid ranked team at best. They are a pale shadow of the force they were back 7-10 years ago. We threw away a commanding half time lead up in Derry. They are struggling in Division 3 now. Hammered Fermanagh next - another fairly mediocre side. Decent win in poor conditions up in Down. They are struggling to avoid the drop again in Division 2 this year. We struggled to overcome a spirited but limited Clare side who always seem to cause us problems. Rounded off the campaign with the defeats to Galway.

The step up to the likes of Dublin, Kerry, Mayo is massive. Monaghan and Tyrone are closer to our level and it's no surprise that we were more competitive against them. Most of our players are simply coming up short against the best in the country. It's disappointing but not altogether surprising. We can point to some decent underage success recently but even at that level these players were coming up short against the best at those grades when they got out of Leinster.

What is more disappointing is the lack of composure and nous rather than lack of ability. Take last week, we had a number of chances to cut Kerry's lead in the second half and really build some momentum. Three of our more experienced players had fairly handy chances to kick points which have put Kerry under serious pressure and they put them wide or dropped them short. These were chances that the players involved would normally kick in their sleep. Against Tyrone, we missed some easy frees and then allowed them to waltz up the field for their winner. If the shoe was on the other foot they would have had no hesitation in taking us down inside our own half and then flooding all their own men back.

We have to hope that this team learn these lessons but we have been saying that about this group since 2016.

KK can't argue with any that. On the team's main failing, it's so true - composure, guile, know-how, call it what you want: this team is not blessed with abundance.

If you go back to the finest Kildare team of modern times, 1997-2000 - I really believe they learned a massive amount from three game saga v Meath in 97. In fact I specifically remember Niall Buckley say in an interview, "We studied how Meath played."

The most important lesson they learned was not to panic - which is a lesson this group badly needs to learn. Unfortunately, as you say, we've been saying it for the past two years.

Team is
Donnellan
Peter Kelly
David Hyland
Mark hyland
Bryne
Doyle
Kevin Flynn
Feely
Moolick
Conway
Keith Cribbin
Paul Cribbin
Jimmy Hyland
Daniel Flynn
Brophy

Sake..

Don’t expect Feely to line up

Wasn't Feely's leg hanging off last week?

Feely left Kerry on crutches and foot in protective boot

Kildare are going win on Sunday by that team

I dunno... Have Galway announced their team? Can anyone see the point in not starting Dempsey and Murray. I can't see the point tbh. If they don't play at all colour me v confused.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

I dunno... Have Galway announced their team? Can anyone see the point in not starting Dempsey and Murray. I can't see the point tbh. If they don't play at all colour me v confused.

no word on Galway . Seen were Walsh said expect lots of changes to team on Sunday

CON desperate for a win obviously.

I suppose there’s some logic in holding back the Moores lads for challenge games and to see them more in training but it’s not logic I’d agree with.

Back to the clubs for games at least for month of April, championship on first weekend in May so that only leaves 3 weeks, no games will be played in final week so the window of opportunity for the 3 Moorefield lads to stake a claim is very narrow if they don’t start at the weekend.

If they start championship with no league football behind them, we are really just engaging in wishful thinking that they will perform.

If you said at the start of this campaign what kind of players are we looking for, they would look a lot like Mark Dempsey and James Murray.

Otherwise, I want to see the forwards up their game big time this weekend. They're all sitting back with the feet up while D Flynn is running around like a mad man keeping us afloat singlehandedly... Time to get real lads!!

Apparently county board have post-game music already lined up for Sunday - You Win Again by the Bee Gees!

To be played to opposition teams in St Conleths in perpetuity.