Kildare U-20’s

Well Tommy I though it was great to witness kildare team win leinster, beating ,last years all ireland winners and dubs for good measure, the kildare crowd at game last night would not agree with you ,I thought the game was entertaining end to end for long periods, poor shooting ,loosing possession etc ,but not all behind the ball and some marvellous individual performances by both teams ,to come out on top was brilliant

I think Tommy makes a fair point and hard to argue with him. Some of the shot selection & misses from both sides was poor and think Sligo will be much harder opposition. Having said that I really couldn't give a feck, Leinster titles don't come around too often.

The fact that we never let Dublin get ahead was massive and you could see their frustration when it was 0-11/0-11 and 0-12/0-12 in the 2nd half. Think the lads deserve huge credit for that.

Thought some of the lads you'd expect to shine didnt but others including the bench stood up which again is a positive.

Please don't get me wrong, I was thrilled at the final whistle and as nervous as anyone down the stretch. Just thought it was really poor. Meath must be septic because that Dublin team don't have a defence.

Saw someone say the keeper made a good stop and clearance at the end which I think is emotion in the moment. For the record I mentioned the keeper after Offaly game as one of best on park as his kickouts are superb. But have a look back to about 1 hour 36 mins as it summed up the game for me.

A point up in stoppage time, 21 yard free comes in head high, he flaps at it, and then when he could easily pick it up in a panic hoofs it out for a kickable sideline.

Anyway, glad we won, just thought standard was awful and way down from semi-final. At least there's another semi-final to come!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL-D0ulxLCY&t=5921s

It was definitely a rush of blood moment when he just booted the loose ball into the terrace, not a bad idea when the injury time is already over but when there's 3 minutes of added time still to go a bit of game management would have helped.

Some keepers might have caught the shot, some might have assumed it was sailing wide or over and turned to get their kicking tee before it even went dead. A lot of people seemed to think it was over the bar until he got a hand to it anyway.

It looked a relatively kickable free anyway, main takeaway is that Dublin are just as capable of poor shot selection and execution as we are.

We've won 3 matches by a combined total of 6 points. Mental development can be just as important as physical or technical development for young players. I'd imagine they'll have learnt a lot more from 3 tight games that could have gone either way at the end compared to going out and hammering teams.

To be fair Tommy, I can completely understand the point you are making. There was some poor execution and errors on both sides. But it’s important to remember that a lot of these young men were playing in their first Leinster final, coming down the home stretch it’s evident we were maybe a little nervous. But that’s expected. We showed great desire and grit to get over the line. It was a rush of blood from the keeper at the end but he will learn from this experience, he kicked a super score in the second half. Overall the bench were very effective, listening to Brian Flanagan afterwards he knew we were very battle hardened and have a strong bench.

We can’t underestimate what it does for Kildare football to be beating Dublin regularly at underage level. I think I counted 12 or 13 players that played in the league game for the seniors V Dublin in February that had already beaten them at some stage at underage level. It may take 4 or 5 years for these lads to come through but there’s plenty of talent in Kildare at the moment, which is great to see. Winning provincial titles and playing in all Ireland semifinals/finals doesn’t guarantee success at senior level, but it certainly goes a long way in the right direction.

I think any criticism of the execution has to be in the context of this was their third tough championship game in 15 days with basically the same core group of players. Dublin were home and hosed by half time last week. Both mental and physical fatigue were factors at different times. Given the turnover since minor and the players not available this was a serious effort.

People would do well to remember 2016 when we had a terrific team but couldn't get over the line in a game we should have won v Dublin. Remember the taunting from Dublin supporters that day? Go back further and Mark Hogarty gifting a handpass to Dublin in front of the goal when we were 3 points up in the drawn under 21 final. We've had plenty of higher quality performances where we haven't won but these lads have improved enormously in the last 2 weeks. In 05 and 16 we arguably f**ked away all-irelands those days v Dublin.

The number 7 dropping that shot short was Dublin's version of Mark Sherry not taking a point to win it in normal time in 16. No one should feel bad about them winning in the manner they did. Tyrone and Kerry are probably a level above them but if they get to a final then arguably they've got everything they can out of themselves and isn't that as much as we can ask for.

Only in Kildare can we find the negatives in a massive positive and pick them to death. I've often said if we ever win a senior All-Ireland the usual nay sayers will rush to find flaws in such an achievement. For myself I'm immensely proud of what these young men and their management team have achieved. I thought it was an exciting game of football, with a lot of quality, mixed with errors, but all-in-all a game worthy of the occasion. Let's not forget 13 of our total was from play.

I'm long enough following Kildare to recognise a false dawn when I see one and I've seen a lot of them. I'll be the first to call out all of our failings and god knows we have a lot still to iron out. But let's park all that for now and enjoy what was a fantastic win by a team of character mixed with no little skill.
Mickey Harte often talks about how Tyrone developed their own tradition from practically nothing based on creating a culture of success which ultimately fed into their senior team. Maybe I'm being over optimistic but I sense something similar happening in Kildare. Anyway lets just enjoy this for what it is and give the negativity a rest for one day. C'mon the Lillies

Tommy don’t know if you’ve heard, but Browne was going to go with your first post as the victory speech. In the end he decided to go with what he’d already written. Probably for the best.

Breffni Park, Cavan on Saturday the 7th at 16:00 for the semi is confirmed anyway.

Can't understand this idea it was a terrible standard. The Munster final was 3 points each at half time if I recall and the Connacht final was way worse than yesterday. If the Kildare keeper did what the Mayo lad did I'd think you would want him banished Tommy 

 Kildare have a great opportunity to reach the final and at that stage it's anyone's.

Let's just get behind the lads, forget the negative and look at what we did well,, which in my opinion was a lot.
We won, we're the 2022 Leinster Champions, one of only 4 Counties left with a chance of an All Ireland so everything beyond that is just noise.

Cill Dara Abu

Couldn't agree more, that performance was top quality, if you think different you obviously don't watch much underage football.

Fair play to Flanno and the lads. Himself and Shane Farrell both spoke very well on TG4 too.
Roll on the semi!

Is there a chance Kevin Cummins could placed into the u20 panel at this late stage . He is currently the top scorer in the senior 1st division and was mom for Naas cbs in the all-Ireland schools final ?

Talk about a huge week on three fronts...

Thanks so savage work of this group at minor & U20, we have a real psychological edge on next gen of Dublin footballers, which is pleasing. Had earmarked Browne, Bagnall & Maguire from minor & it’s obvious they have the stuff. At this stage, there are a few Dub forwards who I don’t think are ever going to play a good game on Maguire again.

Unlike Mayo, we’ve learned from the sins of the past & now have a conveyor belt of silky forwards, Fanning simply superb. Elsewhere, thought Killian & Lynam were mighty, and if league game was a build-up to Feely’s catch, same applied to Farrell this time out. Real shades of Earley, Buckley & Lynch in that one.

Very impressed with the spirit Sligo showed against Mayo, O’Hara has clearly got a bit of granite into them. Should be a ferocious battle & you wouldn’t expect anything less in an AI semi. Best of luck lads & horse into it.

One big note: need to brush up on kickouts. Could have cost us in first half against Dubs despite some superb play. No doubt management have been addressing it so hopefully an improvement.

Best of luck to the lads tomorrow. Plenty of talent in the squad well capable of making an All-Ireland final.

Best wishes to the lads, well within their ability to win this. It would mark a significant step forward in our development to reach 2 All-Ireland finals in 5 years. This is all about creating a culture of success and achievement in which to nurture our young players.

Great chance.to reach an All Ireland final. They don't come around too often - fingers crossed they can take it. Good luck to the team & management !

Up the Lilies!

Shooting was absolutely terrible in that first half.

Defence is well on top at least and looking much better at both kickouts than Sligo, particularly the last 10 minutes or so.

8 - 3 up at half time but 18 - 3 would be a fairer reflection on the game. By far the better team but without Aaron' Browne we would be in trouble. Someone please tell Gill to stop shooting, 4 wides from wingback is ridiculous. We need a lot more from Fanning, he's looking a little subdued. Should win but we're making hard work of it.

This game is proving TommyKeegan to be right. Putrid stuff. Hopefully see it out but would be worried coming up against a Kerry or Tyrone

Final in Croke park on Saturday… seniors out in Croke park on Sunday… ‍�
A bit of joined up thinking required here from the GAA

Well done lads, tough going at times but got over the line. Great to see Aaron Browne back to his best and our backs were well on top. Great to be back in All Ireland final.

Well done to the lads. That’s 4 tough games we have had now. Kicked bad wides and it wasn’t a classic, plenty to work on ahead of next week. Any word on a venue/time for the final?