Laois v Kildare

Like a lot of people, I don't have the greatest optimism about this one.
A win would give us some momentum and hope for the last two matches; a draw might be an ok result - the point might save us (or not) but my gut feeling is that we are going to lose and most likely going to be relegated.
The reasons are being and can be discussed elsewhere.

My guess for the weekend is
Laois v Kildare - Laois win
Fermanagh v Armagh - Armagh win
Cavan v Clare - Cavan win
Roscommon v Westmeath - Roscommon win

Massive interest ...obviously

I think we'll win this. Our lads are well used to beating the noisy neighbours and won't fear them.

Will be travelling Saturday with Herself and 2 little ones. Would love to think i was going with any sort of hope or optimism but, like most on here, this team has sucked any enthusiasm i had before the season started out of me. A new manager coming in (never mind the fact he was an all-ireland winning one) should have given the players a big boost and something to prove but unfortunately it's been the same old same old. I predicted we would not go up but thought we would be contesting 3rd or 4th place. Now unless we improve massively i can't see us avoiding relegation. The one thing i had hoped for above all else was that we would fight like savages in the tackle but our tackling this year has been even worse than the last 3 years. The sad thing about it all is that there is talent there. Unfortunately talent alone will not beat teams who work harder and tackle harder than you. This County has been perceived for years to be "soft" and i hate admitting it but the perception is true. Having said all this i am still a proud Lily and realize these lads are amateurs and give up a hell of a lot to wear the white jersey. I would love to have these comments thrown back at me over the course of the next few matches. 3 games to put it right....it's shit or leave the pot time !!!

Aren’t strength of mind and strength in the tackle both talents? We’ve all been saying for years that this is a talented bunch, but are they really? I mean if you continually make the same mistakes over and over again, not learning then aren’t you not talented?

I think we’ve all been guilty of overhyping this lot.

How many would have made the 2009-2012 team?
Goalkeeper- No.
Full back line- No. (Peter Kelly was already there and a very different player). Hughie and Foley everyday of the week.
Half back line- Definitely No. Bolton, Morgan and Flano hands down.
Midfield- Feely possibly. But we already had a class fetcher of the ball and an All Star.
Half forward- Don’t think so. Roli, JD if he’s out there and Paudi.
Full Forward- Possibly Dan. But then who would you drop between Smith, either Jimmers or Johnny if they played in there, or Flats at his best?

Not that talented when compared to Geezers team. Maybe we’ve all expected too much from them. They are what they are.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard enough - simple as that no matter how many nights training or whatever is done we are not working harder than other teams and that’s why we are where we are and we deserve to be there......

It's Laois, there should be no quarter given. If they can't get themselves up for this game they are a lost cause.

Show up and get the job done nothing more nothing less.

We will beat laois handy enough. Hopefully kevin flynn plays midfield and moves o loughlin all over the place
I think we will win by 5 or 6. Laois are poor. While we did nt win last week. There was a big improvement.

Predictions can only be based on what we’ve seen so far this year. And based on that we can’t honestly say we’re expecting a win.
I’m predicting laois will get at least one goal, we’ll get none, we’ll give away plenty of scoreable frees due to poor tackling. And maybe a black card or red to finish off the night.
I’m basing this on what I’ve seen in the 4 games this year.

Further improvement on last week and I would be confident of a win. I do worry about us turning the screw and closing out the win on back of 3 losses but we are better than Laois and O'Moore Park holds no fear for us. Black card, red card who cares as long as we get it.

Rex wrote:

It's Laois, there should be no quarter given. If they can't get themselves up for this game they are a lost cause.

Show up and get the job done nothing more nothing less.

It has to turn now.. if we can't win this one, then what's left for this Group ?.

It's an ideal game for the players to make a statement of what they think they are capable off. If they don't tackle like demons against a bitter rival in a must win game with relegation at stake then they really have no business in this division or in the top tier.
Interesting points by Andriu Mcloughlin in indo today about what some guys will do in training and in games. Thinks Dan needs to be more like JD and accept he is a marked man and adjust accordingly.
Also thinks Kildare might be better off in a Tier 2 for a season! He might be right after the weekend.

For me, this team is already done & we need to start rebuilding as soon as possible. Imploring the players to dig deep and keep in this division. There's no way O'Connor will select this team, but I'd go for...

O'Neill

Mark Barrett
O'Grady
Doyle (marking Evan O'Carroll)

Ryan
Kavanagh
K Flynn

Feely
Moolick

Tyrrell
Brophy
N Kelly

N Flynn
D Flynn
Brophy

Incidentally, fair play to Andru MacLochlainn... Can someone tell me why more Kildare players and other players in Leinster aren't in absolute uproar?! If we in any other province, we could still turn our season around, but for us to compete with Dublin – not even to beat them, just to give them a game – we have to be in Div 1 with all guns blazing.

Even then, they'd still beat us most of the time, because they have several unfair advantages, which is generally not the idea of competitive sport.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/most-gaa-funding-goes-to-the-team-that-wins-the-most-former-kildare-defender-calls-for-level-playing-field-38994582.html

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

For me, this team is already done & we need to start rebuilding as soon as possible. Imploring the players to dig deep and keep in this division. There's no way O'Connor will select this team, but I'd go for...

O'Neill

Mark Barrett
O'Grady
Doyle (marking Evan O'Carroll)

Ryan
Kavanagh
K Flynn

Feely
Moolick

Tyrrell
Brophy
N Kelly

N Flynn
D Flynn
Brophy

Incidentally, fair play to Andru MacLochlainn... Can someone tell me why more Kildare players and other players in Leinster aren't in absolute uproar?! If we in any other province, we could still turn our season around, but for us to compete with Dublin – not even to beat them, just to give them a game – we have to be in Div 1 with all guns blazing.

Even then, they'd still beat us most of the time, because they have several unfair advantages, which is generally not the idea of competitive sport.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/most-gaa-funding-goes-to-the-team-that-wins-the-most-former-kildare-defender-calls-for-level-playing-field-38994582.html

never knew we have 2 Paddy Brophy on panel

GPA are doing very little as well on Dublin situation either

Ha! We could do with two Paddys atm. Meant to put Slattery in half-forward line.

Yes GPA doing nothing about Dublin, it's ridiculous.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

Ha! We could do with two Paddys atm. Meant to put Slattery in half-forward line.

Yes GPA doing nothing about Dublin, it's ridiculous.

Paul Flynn won’t upset Dubs anyway

True! More players in Leinster need to speak up like MacLochlainn and Eamon Callaghan. It's actually them who suffer most, because their putting their lives on hold to compete in provisional championship that's as good as rigged.

The likes of Galway, Tyrone, Mayo can come to Croker in summer and take free hit at Dubs, but we're screwed from the off. Like last year, we won't be able to compete this year – so it's another demoralising defeat followed by possible demotion to Tier 2. Even if we retain Div 2 status, we're at the mercy of the qualifier draw.

You could get a Tyrone early like last year and boom, year over.

David Hyland is better than at least 5 of those backs.

I think they will improve from the last game. Weather it is good enough to beat laois at home it's 5050. Not sure why we all think this team is a talented bunch. I have never seen it. A bit of huff and puff on rare occasions but to be honest we are way off division one status.

Weather looking decent again I see.

O'Moore Park closed after Saturday night for remedial work. Hurlers giving up home advantage but there was no way the footballers would against us. The pitch is by all accounts unplayable and with further bad weather expected this weekend the game will be a lottery. Our players generally tend not to go well in such conditions. No doubt about it, if we don't improve on all performances so far this year, we will be beaten.

As Badger85 says, you can't get us scoring a goal, you can see us conceding one. Hard to be optimistic other than the fact it's Laois and they are no great shakes. They seem to be working a lot harder than they used to but their discipline is as suspect as ours, especially the centre half back Piggott who picks up a black or red card most games. Laois people can't believe the results they have got so far as they had written off the year once the great Donie made himself unavailable. Hopefully Saturday night is their reality check. Must win game.

Lillis could easy see red tomorrow nigh , Lillis interchanges between midfield and full forward positions

Ger Brennan absolutely withering about Kildare on GAA Hour this week, so was Ciaran McKeever on Monday. Both just dripping with acid sarcasm about the team. Consensus is lovely skilfully footballers but pathetically soft. The most galling thing is that I can't disagree atm.

This team is so disjointed and mentally fragile right now I think Laois are going to win but I'm just praying, doing a Hail Mary that Kildare can dig out a performance.

Fingers crossed for corona virus! League gets abandoned! We stay up!

You cant but agree with ex players regarding Kildare at the moment I cant see anyone on that panel (this is going back a few years not just this year) to stand up and be counted and we are soft we cant seem to dig in when the going get tough and unless we show some kind of ruthlessness and get our hands dirty we are going no where fast.