Kildare v Wicklow - 11th May

Kildare were supposed to be flying last year before the Carlow game and looked what happened. Kildare cant afford to look to far ahead take each game as it comes all focus should be Wicklow and Wicklow alone then if we get a result move on to the next game etc. Hopefully Kildare will go out and attack this game as proved last year when they went for it they played there best football.

We should win and probably be comfortable as Wicklow made no impression in Div 4 this year. But we really need to up our performance from the league and particularly the Fermanagh and Donegal games.
What I would love to see most of all is to greatly reduce the awful hand passing that O'Neill seems to favour as our go to method of attack. Our inside players work so hard to make a bit of space and then wait and wait for the inevitable rushed kick in. It must be so frustrating for a Kildare forward.
Compare that to the speed and direct football the U20's played last year. I know people will say that you cant compare different grades but we beat Dublin, Kerry and Mayo playing that style. Not only that but the team seemed to know how to tackle as well.
It's not rocket science to make this Kildare team a lot better than they are showing. They can start by playing with a lot more intensity, move the ball faster and tackle better. I live in hope!

So we struggle when we're favourites and expected to win a match apparently.

Maybe that's been the plan all along, regress to a point where we won't be favourites at all and cause a few shocks during the summer...

Team announced later tonight I assume, interesting to see what sort of strength we'll have on the bench.

Kildare, 1/25.. +9 at evens.. this should be achievable.

That's it big ball let's get positive and kick off with a big win

The under 20’s did a massive amount of hand passing between the opposition 45 and 65. The under 20s had Brian McLoughlin inside who they could kick it long into if there wasn’t space elsewhere. The first 40 minutes against Laois last year was a painful look at how cumbersome the forward line was without McLoughlin.

The seniors had three talented but not physically big players inside in the league and given it was a struggle for any of them to win 50/50 ball, the ball going into them had to be pretty much on a plate. Brophy to full-forward will at least be an improvement but people seem to completely forget how good and important Flynn and Paul Cribbin were for us the last couple of years. Without them there isn’t a direct physical presence in the forward line.

Think we’ll eventually get over the line by 4 or 5 after a battle. A match behind us and a few injured players back or with more match practice for players just back and the team will improve for the next day. But we’re lucky it’s Wicklow tomorrow.

People talk about the Mayo game as a turning point but they had improved before then. Big reason, the heat wave meaning that games were quite open and free-flowing which suited us more than other counties. When you look at the under 20 team last year, outside of the full-back line there was Masterson, McLoughlin and a bunch of small fast lads who were able to run the legs off Dublin on the biggest pitch in the province on a hot evening. How many of them will ever be physically able for senior football at the top end or will they turn out like the little “stars” on the 2003 Laois minor team.

I remember Cian O’Neill was criticised for not doing interviews after the Fermanagh game. Now he is getting criticised for answering questions at a Leinster Council press briefing like every other manager in the province did (even Jim Gavin) and bit by bit these quotes are produced by the media as we get closer to the game. I’d imagine some people here looked out the window yesterday morning, saw the unseasonably bad weather and said “well that’s the effect of global warming caused by the exhaust fumes from Cian O’Neill’s car”.

No it’s the effect of the hot air he’s speaking... ah no. You teed that up for someone to take a swing at.

You’re right about the lack of physicality though. All too often our full forward line aren’t so much pushed off the ball as they are, nudged off the ball.
Even our full back line could be described as being on the light side.

With the Players missing.. I'd like to see P Kelly at CB and D Hyland at WB.

Anywhere near the pitch where a lad could have a pint tomorrow?

Badger85 wrote:

Anywhere near the pitch where a lad could have a pint tomorrow?

Now we're talking!

I have never been as uninspired by a Championship Games in years just can't get excited after yet reading another CO'N interview who sounds like by talking about inconsistency he is making excuses already...….. i said on here last year we need to be wary of a surprise against Carlow and if we outworked them in every position we would win which we didn't outwork and we didn't win.

Same applies tomorrow really hope for a workman like performance full of grit, hunger and determination and all that good basic championship stuff ..... that's all i want to see.... the result will look after itself if that happens.....

Team... CON never really does dummy line-ups so more than likely will be side that lines out.

Donnellan

Dempsey
O’Grady
D Hyland

P Kelly
Doyle
K Cribbin

Feely
Conway


Slattery
McCormack
O’Flaherty

Tyrrell
Brophy
J Hyland

That's a stronger team than I anticipated given all the reports of injuries, looking forward to travelling down tomorrow evening and getting behind the lads

Jesus only just dawned on me Neil Flynn not on starting 15! Good options off the bench with him, Healy, Niall Kelly, Cian O’Donoghue and a few of the U20 lads.

There is loads of ability in this squad, if they could just get that little bit of extra resolve, and improve their discipline & composure in pressure moments, we could make that step up to the next level.

Anyway, nobody expecting anything from us this summer, let’s just go full tilt at championship & see where it takes us. You certainly couldn’t have written the script for last year.

Cill Dara Abu.

You really think Niall Kelly will be available from the bench 2 weeks after returning from a 6 month beano in Asia??

Yes - hence me stating it.

Anyone who saw league will know rest of squad took six months off as well.

Pleasantly surprised with the team named.

Wicklow will hardly play with 6 forwards in attacking roles so it'll leave a bit of freedom for Kelly and Cribbin to get forward. Conway spent most of last year around the middle 3rd so it's nothing new to him, although I do think Feely plays better with Tommy Moolick beside him.

Up front there's plenty of room for rotation, Ben into the full forward line with Brophy or Tyrell dropping back and Slats moving into the corner too if we're going to try kick balls out from the back.

The most low key build up to the championship in a long time, and that probably applies to a lot of counties but fuck it's good to have it back.

Still think Conway is the best no 6 in squad

Not the strongest looking bench but feeling more confident now than before for no reason at all really.

Sooner we are put out of our misery this summer the better.

If a sick dog can't walk you do the humane thing, not watch it crawl around in agony.

Adam Tyrell subbed as he kicks a free sums up this farce.

Out of his depth, another year wasted, Johnyy Doyle sounds horrified, this is a shambles, shameful dtuff

An absolute fucking shambles / get that joker out of town. He wouldn’t train pigs to get dirty.

I said at the start of the thread that Cian O’Neill shouldn’t have been in charge for this campaign.

Well - Exhibit A.

Actually a fairly quick summing up: abysmal performance and I do think Longford will beat us.

However as Tommy says, might be no harm as we badly need to rip it up and start again.

Somebody please please please tell me how Eoin O’Flaherty starts a game over Neil Flynn