Kildare v Longford

Would agree with the names above. I find Conway is a much better summer footballer than winter and he'd be one of first names on teamsheet. The captain has been poor this year by his own standard, he should be at wingback where he excelled 5 years ago. Halfhearted effort to stop Longford's 3rd goal spoke volumes. Cribbin is game but not a good enough tackler or marker. Id play him at halfforward. Brophy has been very poor all year. Another one who looks soft in the tackle which is amazing given the man's build. To be fair to Donellan, he was one of the best players we had during the league. That said, ONeill is going to take over from him sooner rather than later. Has a better kickout and is used to playing as an extra defender.

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

People repeat this perception that we pick the same 15 every game, and in their heads, it becomes fact. But it’s incorrect. 29 players have got game time in the league and championship this year.

13 players have featured in at least 7 of the 9 games so far whilst 8 featured in only 1 or 2 games (mostly sub appearances). Kildaregaa365 can correct me on that but it's accurate enough I'd say.

Our bench on Sunday had a combined 18 starts and 17 sub appearances throughout the league and Wicklow game, 4 of those players alone accounted for 17 starts and 9 of the sub appearances.

tomoneillandhissisteranne wrote:

Which might suggest some/a lot of the fault lies with the players?

Definitely some fault lies with the players but it looks as if our defenders are told to "shadow" their man rather than press them and try and force turnovers. I'd say Longford couldn't believe how much time  and space they had to create a shooting chance. They averaged 1-10 this season against Division 3 opposition but they had nearly matched that total by half time playing into a strong wind! I think if we changed our tactics to press aggressively we'd cut down the chances conceded drastically.

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

People repeat this perception that we pick the same 15 every game, and in their heads, it becomes fact. But it’s incorrect. 29 players have got game time in the league and championship this year.

I think the main frustration here is the lack of changes in positions we are consistently falling short i.e. goalkeeper and half back line.

No problem picking the same players if they are performing well but some clearly are not. We were 4 pts on Sunday until Longford started to run at us. We fouled as usual to hand them easy scores to level.
Did we react at all? No we let them run from half way to score a ridiculously easy goal and they butchered another chance.
What was remarkable was our inability or unwillingness to tackle. We learned absolutely nothing from the league and a lot of the same players seem unwilling to work harder to change the way we play.
What is really annoying is that the forwards we have now would have won us an AI in 98. Our current defenfers wouldn't get near the 98 team. I don't think we appreciated how good those guys were and how close they came.

Not about volume of players - it's about the strategy from game to game. O'Neill does err on the conservative side – most managers would shake it up for a replay to freshen the approach and ask questions of the opposition.

But look, if he wins, he's vindicated. I'll be cheering them as loud as anyone.

Incidentally the charge that I'm "anti-O'Neill" is farcical. I actually like him.

But there was a good interview with Johnny Doyle on Colm Parkinson's show recently where he said, "If there isn't a strong showing against the Dubs followed by the Super 8s, people will be asking questions."

And rightly so.

I actually do find it heartening there is a passionate debate on here after the match.

It was tumbleweed beforehand and I was genuinely worrying apathy was setting in amongst the Kildare GAA public.

Hopefully there's a good turnout on Sunday and we knock these hoors on their arses.

Talking about shadowing players instead of tackling I go to a lot of club games in Kildare and I see this tactic a lot the player sitting back (Marking Space ) then when a runner come instead of putting in a tackle they shadowing the attacking player away from the scoring zone. The reason I bring this up is that managers of most of the teams are shouting to push out and put in a tackle I wonder over the last few years when these tactics came in are the players unable or afraid to change because they cant tackle properly and have the know how how to tackle properly to me thats the way it looks.

The thing I find puzzling, even confounding, about CON is that in 2014, he was with a Kerry team who won the AI with a brilliant tactical set-up against the maestro, Jim McGuinness.

He also worked with Mayo, where he would have gained an insight into their defenders – whose displays against Dublin in the last few years made them market leaders in reading the game & tackling. It really is an art in modern game.

And then of course there are "dark arts" – tripping, blocking, jersey holding, late tackles etc – which Kildare for some reason don't believe in. If you can't beat em, join em.

Good article on independent.ie of Kildare's inability to finish off teams. Echoes everything that been said on here on recent days.
The picture of Longford's 3rd goal is comical, goalkeeper and CB on their arses and the FB attempting a block with his foot!

Firstly i will say i absolutely hate this 'shadowing' which has crept into football its a contact sport i still think ……

I have to say part of the problem for managers and is the 'celebrity referee's' that have crept into the club and county scene ………… sometimes its hard to judge from one game to the next at club level and then at county level its seems acceptable up north and in certain games by particular referees and then if it was say Kildare v Longford a full different set of interpretations would apply to say Armagh v Donegal …………..

There is one for the Sunday Game that might actually help the game.... pick a referee and show how he ref's 2 games differently and help get our beautiful game back to the contact game with consistency of decisions ……...

Here folks, don’t be blaming refs for our inadequacy. The simple fact is our defence can’t do any form of tackling whether it be legal or illegal tackling.
Refs aren’t to blame for our defenders lack of ability to read a game and block the holes and channels in our defence.
Let the refs and the powers that be look after their standards. We need to look after our own and address our issues, starting with the senior panel (including the management) taking a long, hard look in the mirror.
Let’s not give them a free pass and say it’s the refs fault.

Sean Hurson is referee on sunday........

I’d be more worried about o’neill picking the same back 7

Podge Nash won't be in the 26 Sunday.

Just an amendment to my earlier post, we’ve actually used 34 players in the nine games, I missed some subs on my first count. 25 players have started at least one game and seven have started them all. I’ll post the full list later if I get time.

What's up with Nash, Seamus?

Heard there was a leaver, must be him?

John_R wrote:

What's up with Nash, Seamus?

Left the Panel.

Any reason for him leaving the panel? Has he not only returned from injury?

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

It's flattering you are so obsessed with my posts.

Have not attended a Kildare training session, but would venture that performances this year don't exactly reflect Jim McGuinness-levels of coaching ingenuity.

I'm using results – what metric are you using?

The metric I'm using is being at games and attending the occasional training session.
You were the one who said you weren't going to any further games under the current managerial set-up.
I notice you've gone from being sure to venturing an opinion on those sessions, which you've never attended.
And, sorry, I'm not obsessed by your posts - simply finding your venturing is sometimes baseless.

Er, breaking down grammar, adjectives etc using bold and italics suggests obsession.

Look forward to your thesis!

No, no, no HG - it simply suggests too long spent in the halls of academia and not enough time at the training ground.
The adjective is an overused item - like the hand pass - but the bold and italics are the green and white flag raisers of the forum discussion.
See you in Hawkfield for training
PS I haven't seen the word Er since my Beano reading days - nothing personal, just saying!

ANYWAY!
Back to the game. You would hope that Kildare will improve and learn but I was hoping that after the Wicklow game...
The worry with lads who have left is that there is less lads who could make a difference, but I do think that Moolick should be thrown in and Conway to 6 where he can at least bulk up the middle.
How many times watching a game and listening to McConnon say it on KFM has it been noticed that the middle is sooo open.
Our defenders are not clogging up the middle and are caught up the field too often. Just let Conway sit and carry out when needs be.
Feely sits and sprays the ball forward. Moolick can kick from distance so he can ramble up the odd time, but overall those three men should be holding the centre.

Re Nash: rather be playing club games than sitting on the line with no prospect of game time. Young, yes but not naive. Recognizes games aren’t going to come no matter how well you go in training and In house games so would rather play with club. By all accounts tony archobald is the best performer consistently in training and in house games and can’t get a look in. Laois player an 18 year old and 4 21 year olds Sunday vs Westmeath. Our problem is we have this perception we are better than we are. County board management panel and supporters included. Sooner the better we realise where we are and take the plunge and trust youth the better we will be .

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