Kildare V Mayo

Watching the match again this morning, again Sean Cavanagh said that when he played, you always expected Kildare to make a stupid mistake to blow it - you can't be insulted by this, it was how the top teams viewed Kildare. Soft and capable of shooting themselves in the foot. Roli said on Saturday the character was there but the lads needed to believe it and it took something like Saturday to show it to them. Like the Mayo team they put away, it doesn't happen overnight and it's regular kicks in the guts that gets you there, if you're willing to keep coming back. Hopefully it's the start of them at least producing a higher plane of performance. If they do that, they'll be back in Division 1 at the start of 2020 and closing in on being a top four, and competing at least with Dublin. If. A new manager could obviously have an impact on that if Cian is moving on - unless maybe it was Roli.

I don't know where to begin lads.. A week is a long time in GAA it turns out.

I want to echo everyones comments and say thanks to everyone involved with Kildare GAA which for me was one of the greatest sporting occasions of my life. Luckily I was there in 98 and 2000 which will forever top the memories but Saturday night was right up there and certainly in my top 5 moments following Kildare.

The guts , determination and steel shown by management and county board earlier in the week was backed up in spades by everyone on the field. Watching the game back, we looked even more impressive on the telly than in person.

We have lamented for months and years that this team needed a FU moment , we aren't gonna be beaten anymore. Saturday night was it. What a random turn of events that brought us to this moment.

I am still speechless about the last week, one of the proudest I have ever been to be from Kildare.

Thanks to everyone involved - Lets back it up now against Fermanagh next week end.

Absolutely great performance on Sat night by the team.......... to be fair it was easy to get up for that performance and that's the level we need to hit...... however nobody is asking the question is why are we not consistently performing to that level....... to me we have the players we are consistently matching Dublin at underage so need to start doing something at adult level........

Unreal. Lost for words. Massive massive respect and praise to CON, the CB and mostly the players for the wins in the qualifiers and especially the last 7 days culminating in a day that will long be remembered in Newbridge. Fair play lads. I honestly thought the whole thing was gone after Carlow. To turn it around like this has been incredible.

The most emotional evening I've ever known as a Kildare supporter. As Rex said, 21 heroes in white, they were all brilliant.

Cribbin was outstanding but for me Feely was MOTM. Make no mistake, when this game was in the melting pot he deliberately stood up & put himself in the middle of the action. When he put over that point with his left foot to edge us ahead and saluted the crowd with a manic look on his face – it was one of the most electrifying things I've ever seen tbh.

He played like a maniac throughout – he nearly leapt out of his skin when he scored that point in the first half as well. It was honestly the best display I've seen in a Kildare shirt since Ryan v Laois and Buckley v Meath in 97. He is the natural successor to Buckley, Lynch & Earley – a stylist and born leader who will do the needful when it's most critical.

There were so many highlights to this game. Brophy's sublime pass to Cribbin. Kelly's interception. Hyland racing up the field like a mad man. Johnny Byrne scoring and running back down the field with a clenched fist. And Healy driving on at the end and passing it for the sealing score to Callaghan – who I honestly thought was washed up at this level.

It was also Cian O'Neill's greatest ever moment as a manager, he played a blinder. Got all the substitutions 100 percent right & putting Conway on Aidan O'Shea was a masterstroke that I'd never even considered.

The most significant aspect was that in a tight game against a top team, we held our heads to see it out. This team has all the ability in the world – so if they can add that to their repertoire and get their mentality right for each game (note: just study what Mayo have done this decade), I'm telling you the sky's the limit. And I've thought that since seeing them all as minors.

Well done to team, management & supporters on an outstanding week and let's all drive on towards next weekend.

Special post about Mayo.

Their team, management, supporters and officials are a credit to their county – and to Irish sport & society. In all the years that I've supported Kildare, 2015 was – and I pray always will be – the worst I've ever experienced. After relegation to Div 3, we were dumped out of the championship courtesy of historic humiliations by Dublin & Kerry.

I felt we were nothing short of a disgrace, and set to join Offaly on the fast-track to oblivion. It killed me that the Dubs got such an easy passage through us in Leinster, and I felt they could well walk to another All Ireland final.

But then along came Mayo to sew it into them for two games and get me excited about football again. They did it once more in 2016. And 2017. They genuinely had me leaping out of excitement during those epic tussles with the Dubs. They are the most compelling Irish sports story of the decade and they have set an example for counties outside the establishment duo of Dublin & Kerry - most notably us – to follow.

There is nothing surer than they will be back. And with the passionate support there is for football in the county, and the quality young teams they continue to produce, I do think it's inevitable they will eventually win that damn All Ireland.

Maigh Eo Abu.

Hear hear!

Dublin may have the medals but Mayo have the respect of the country. A classy team and people. It’s a crying shame the likes of Andy Moran, Colm Boyle and Keith Higgins will never lift Sam.

Excellent post HG, always remember the qualifier down there 2 years ago and despite the fact they were hammering us, there was no sneering and laughing at us. Really genuine G.A.A people.

There are a fine team and people writing the obituary of Mayo football after Saturday evening are no doubt mistaken. They will be back, they won the 21s All-Ireland 2 years ago and those guys may now step into the breach left behind by a couple of the older guys who may decide to finish up.

I wouldn't be surprised if Andy Moran and Boyle kept going, Higgins wants to play Hurling I think. There some team and players and supporters never give up they'll definitely back and other than us I would love to see them win an All Ireland. Best of luck to them in the future.

Congrats again to our lads, what a massive win!!

James Horan reckons they have a clatter of talent coming through from some of the clubs down there to step into the breach. No problem with them at all. Great numbers. We were like that and more back in the 90's. It can come and go very quickly as we know only too well.

Its when the chips are down that you see the die hards and true support and I tip my hat to those Kildare supporters that have stuck with them all these years since the "glory years" faded away. That crew deserve a special mention and I know a good few are on here.

Agree entirely about Mayo HG. I felt a broken man after last year's final, I just felt it was wrong! And I have no connection at all with the county.

They've plenty competitive underage teams - it's just as we found in Kildare, the attitude isn't automatic and if too many of the MEN are gone, the standards drop.

Interestingly HG, talking about Kildare, it's almost like you wrote this.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/victory-caps-one-of-greatest-weeks-in-kildare-history-bplh8sxb2

Feely could not have been anywhere near fit. Would he have trained much if at all in the last few weeks? What he did in Longford was ridiculous and last week, so many big plays. He only came on in the 68th minute of a game Kildare were in serious danger of losing seven days previously. Not related to being fit I'd say. And man, does he care. This was the feeling he could never get down the levels in soccer. Here, the Waterford man belongs in Kildare - that was some swap deal, wasn't it. The hurler / soccer player coming to Kildare to play football, a footballer (Barry Coughlan) moving from Kildare to Waterford to hurl.

Powerful stuff Ogie, fair play.

All Mayo were lacking was a little bit of scoring power to finish it off. I know there aren't too many Conor McManuses knocking, but I felt young Loftus for example was a player they could have got a bit more out of.

Also I felt they could possibly have tried a couple of more lads from that U21 AI winning team. I know Rochford would have said time wasn't a luxury when it came to bedding in players, but for the past couple of years I felt that lack of extra scoring threat would come back to haunt them. When they were on top of the Dubs they were just never able to bury them.

But fuck me, they were INCHES from it. I thought it was bad enough losing to Galway in 98 & 2000, but last couple of years for Mayo, in terms of heartbreak, was NEXT LEVEL shit.

I thought Down was the worst ever for us, atleast in 98 and 2000 we won Leinster's but using soccer terms now to score an own goal and conceding a pen when playing so well was fecking heartbreaking for them. Even last year with Donie Vaughan getting sent off (not blaming him) but if he didn't they would have won it no doubt about it. With connections too Mayo I've been to a fair few matches over the years and there fans are something else too infairness. Anyways thats my last post about Mayo.

If we beat Fermanagh I think we can get to the semi finals...

Anyone remember when we played Fermanagh at this stage in 08? Definitely a candidate for the worst half of football ever played in Croker. It looked a real possibility that we would reach half-time scoreless!
The only way to beat an ultra defensive team is to hit them with a few early scores and force them to open up. Donegal did that and made them look clueless. We on the other hand allowed Carlow to go a few points clear and encouraged them that their system could work. Hopefully the memory of that game will spur us on.

Need to have Daniel more mobile in this game. Key tactic for me. Keep them guessing.

Would still like to say Paddy and him rotating.

murof wrote:

Anyone remember when we played Fermanagh at this stage  in 08? Definitely a candidate for the worst half of football ever played in Croker. It looked a real possibility that we would reach half-time scoreless!
The only way to beat an ultra defensive team is to hit them with a few early scores and force them to open up. Donegal did that and made them look clueless. We on the other hand allowed Carlow to go a few points clear and encouraged them that their system could work. Hopefully the memory of that game will spur us on.

Am I right in remembering there wasn't any score in the first seventeen minutes of that match in 08?
Maybe it's just a nightmare flashback rather than a memory!

Think it was more like 25 mins Tom. Don't expect it to be anything like that this time. The spread of scorers the last day gives me hope we can do it. Not relying on JD anymore.

Yeah it was the first 25 minutes Johnny missed a penalty as well. Ah we had some very good forwards then with the likes of Smith, Paudi, Kavanagh. Johnny was one of the best if not the best player in the country imagine having him now. We have some quality forwards now as well thank god.

kildaregaa365 wrote:

Need to have Daniel more mobile in this game. Key tactic for me. Keep them guessing.

Would still like to say Paddy and him rotating.

I completely agree with this - he did rotate a lot with Feely mind you because Feely, not that you'd know it, couldn't have had the gas for the middle for 80 minutes. But definitely, need him running with the ball a little more á la Conway, and then leave a few long into Paddy to change it up. In fairness, they did move around a lot but need to get someone as mercurial as Dan into the game more. But still, he scored two points, that's the type of guy he is, he's never going to run a game but it's the moments that can turn games.

You'd be delighted with Niall Kelly's reaction to being not just dropped but third sub. Very mature. That was strong management by the three boys too.