Kildare v Armagh

Why do we do it to ourselves part 924... Now that the complete waste of time known as the O'Byrne Cup is out of the way, it's on to the real stuff.

In terms of raw ability, I am convinced ourselves and Donegal are miles ahead of everyone in this division. Unfortunately, as we all know from long and painful experience, traditionally Kildare teams – like Mayo, I suppose – tend to play at the level of the opposition and very rarely burn their way through campaigns (2017 being an exception in this regard).

As such, I am not expecting this campaign to be anything other than a dogfight, and – given their past record – it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that this group of players will blow it completely. But I have to admit the influx of players from our first AI winning the team since the pyramids has me very excited for this year.

Just over a week to go and no doubt there'll be the usual ups and downs, but must say I can't wait.

Armagh could have big say in Division 2 with Jamie Clarke back in fold

Definitely, and if you can recall 2017 championship encounter, was a prime example of O'Neill's tactical failings... I was going mad on here beforehand, saying tie down Clarke and you choke the life out of Armagh. And what did we do? Gave him the run of the park and let him kick four from play.

Don't like saying it, but you could see the same happening again, because O'Neill remains quite tactically naive at times, especially defensively.

jimmy Hyland and paddy brophy Sigerson Cup this Sunday

Hopefully no injuries.

You've said the "i" word now, so no doubt lads legs will be hanging off this time next week.

No idea how we will go this year but a home game first up in the league is basically a must win. We seen how a poor start affected us last year. O'Neill is Conservative with team selection so I doubt we will see wholesale changes.

Looking forward to it all the same.

If we want to be a consistent last four team like Mayo have been, we need to be in Div 1 for the long term and cut out the yo-yo crap.

I really hope the team are pushing themselves towards that goal, but as I said earlier, they can be an unpredictable, erratic bunch.

Will come back to this later in the year, but-post Newbridge Or Nowhere, why are we still tolerating a situation where Dublin are playing pre-Leinster final games in Croke Park?

They should have to play us in Newbridge in Leinster championship occasionally – I don't give a shit how many Dubs miss out, it's time we started making Leinster competitive again. I couldn't get a ticket for Mayo last year & I really didn't care because we won.

If Newbridge Or Nowhere is to have a serious legacy, we need to start tackling the Dubs' numerous ludicrous advantages which have been tolerated for far too long.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

Hopefully no injuries.

if Maynooth lose they play 3 days later

Further to the ludicrous situation last year, whereby Mayo got more tickets than Kildare for Kildare home game (only in the gaa could this happen), Kildare should put down a proposal to Congress that the home team is guaranteed more than 50% of tickets, should be at least 65% actually. Put it this way, if Kildare qualify for the Super 8's then there is a 50% chance Kildare will be in Dublin's group. If it is a Kildare home game then I assume that Dublin's season ticket holders would get virtually all the ticket allocation, not to mention the entitlement that Dub supporters would have for club tickets within Kildare considering the good involvement many Dublin people have in our clubs. There is no guarantee for season ticket holders to get tickets to Super 8, this was a line spun by GAA during New bridge or Nowhere. I am not trying to be anti Dublin here, but just so happens they have greatest number of season holders and should be sorted now.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/all-ireland-champions-dublin-to-lose-second-croke-park-super-8-game-37720782.html

quote="HauntedGraffiti"]Will come back to this later in the year, but-post Newbridge Or Nowhere, why are we still tolerating a situation where Dublin are playing pre-Leinster final games in Croke Park?

They should have to play us in Newbridge in Leinster championship occasionally – I don't give a shit how many Dubs miss out, it's time we started making Leinster competitive again. I couldn't get a ticket for Mayo last year & I really didn't care because we won.

If Newbridge Or Nowhere is to have a serious legacy, we need to start tackling the Dubs' numerous ludicrous advantages which have been tolerated for far too long.[/quote]

See on Hogan Stand that admission to League games gone up to €20 from €15. Expensive day out on cold spring days!

Neill Flynn and o Grady are suspended for Armagh game for being sent off against Kerry last August

Just to repeat what Sir Gazelle said above – (can't believe I even have to say this) at Kildare home games, the vast majority of supporters should be, er, Kildare fans. As he says, only in the GAA could this happen.

But don't worry, I'll be coming back to all this later in the year. We are one of the few counties left who stand up to the GAA hierarchy and their shamelessly pro-Dub agenda. And definitely the only one in Leinster – the rest of them have given up.

Newbridgeornowhere wrote:

Neill Flynn and o Grady are suspended for Armagh game for being sent off against Kerry last August

Is that confirmed? I queried it on here a while ago and people were not sure. It leaves our full back line a bit light on experience especially if the Two Mile House players are unavailable.

First proper game of the season and vital we get off to a positive start. Looking at the McKenna Cup results and the teams McGeeney has been picking it seems Armagh are really targeting the early rounds of the league. We have only three home games and with this in mind I would be keeping experimentation to a minimum here. If we get a few early wins under our belt it will be easier to try out a few new lads and positional switches. If we lose a few and need points to stay up, we won't have the same freedom in the later rounds.

I'd go with:

Donnellan
Dempsey
Barrett (Peter Kelly if available)
D Hyland
O'Donoghue (think he's more of a like for like replacement for K Flynn than Murray)
Doyle
K Cribbin
Feely
Moolick
Conway (If available. Probably Slattery in pole position if he's not)
P Cribbin
O'Flaherty (Freetaking will be important if N Flynn is suspended)
McCormack
Brophy
J Hyland

Shite I'd forgot about TMH house lads not being available... with Kelly being out that does leave us light on FB options.

In time I think Barrett will prove to be a more natural full back than Hyland - he has greater physical presence - but he's still green, obviously.

We've all been saying for it three years – I'm sick saying it – but our defensive set-up still isn't right. Sometimes when teams attack us fast, things get confused when Doyle drops and there isn't enough cover down the centre. Couple that with an inexperienced full back line and things could get pretty hairy.

I don't thing O'Neill is the greatest defensive tactician and I definitely think Armagh will be targeting this area – they did it 2017 & really made hay, their full forward line had a field day.

I will be very interested to see if we have a new, improved defensive set-up or if it's the same old same old, which more & more teams are figuring out tbh. I've no doubt teams are saying – "attack them at pace, when Doyle drops they're so open down the middle."

Well, particularly if we're going with an inexperienced full back line, we need a much better structure. But I'm not holding my breath.

kickingking wrote:

Newbridgeornowhere wrote:

Neill Flynn and o Grady are suspended for Armagh game for being sent off against Kerry last August

Is that confirmed? I queried it on here a while ago and people were not sure. It leaves our full back line a bit light on experience especially if the Two Mile House players are unavailable.

First proper game of the season and vital we get off to a positive start. Looking at the McKenna Cup results and the teams McGeeney has been picking it seems Armagh are really targeting the early rounds of the league. We have only three home games and with this in mind I would be keeping experimentation to a minimum here. If we get a few early wins under our belt it will be easier to try out a few new lads and positional switches. If we lose a few and need points to stay up, we won't have the same freedom in the later rounds.

I'd go with:

Donnellan
Dempsey
Barrett (Peter Kelly if available)
D Hyland
O'Donoghue (think he's more of a like for like replacement for K Flynn than Murray)
Doyle
K Cribbin
Feely
Moolick
Conway (If available. Probably Slattery in pole position if he's not)
P Cribbin
O'Flaherty (Freetaking will be important if N Flynn is suspended)
McCormack
Brophy
J Hyland

both are suspended are it’s been confirmed

Brophy is also out of Armagh game

JESUS!!!

Brain mc Loughlin and John O Toole withdrew from Panel before Christmas for personal reasons

Podge fogarty and Pascal Connell were released from Panel last week

Team I'd go for...

Donnellan

Dempsey
Hyland
Barrett

O'Donoghue
Doyle
K Cribbin

Feely
Moolick

Conway
P Cribbin
E O'Flaherty

J Hyland
McCormack
Slattery

Would love to see Doyle and Hyland swap positions and see what happens. Didn't happen in O'Byrne Cup and not likely in a competitive league. If we defend like we did against Tyrone and Monaghan in the early league games last year then expect a similar narrow defeat.
Armagh can be unpredictable so hope we get stuck into them early on and get some early scores. Our season got off to a bad start last year with a couple of home defeats. This game is huge for this team.

It's true Armagh can be as unpredictable as us... Don't know if O'Neill will do it, but I would be in favour of swapping Hyland and Doyle as well. Sometimes when Hyland runs into a bull of a full forward he can't cope physically. And if we keep the same system, making sure Conway or Moolick/Feely are always in position to cover Hyland when he sweeps.

There's no getting around it – with injuries, suspensions, club commitments etc, we're light on options for this one.

Breaking...

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/allianz-league-new-rules-404686

Armagh looked decent tonight against Tyrone, I don’t see anything other than a hard battle to get the win.
Is Jimmy Hyland fit for next week?

Lads out of interest, when's the last time we bet them in the league? We're due a feckin win at this stage....... 06/07? I can't remember.

Who would you go for up front minus Neil Flynn and Co? Would like to see Jimmy H causing a bit of damage.......

Also on the fans comments - Armagh travel in good numbers as we know and are an insufferable bunch at the best of times. Lets hope Newbridge will be stocked with locals!