Kildare Minors 2024

Another good team judging by tonight's result. Didn't know it was on Clubber until I checked the result.

Down 1-03 to 0-04 at half time but coming back into it. Defence shakey enough for the first twenty minutes but tightened up then. Ruaidhri Lawlor looks like another big talent coming through.

Did very well to come back in the 2nd half tonight especially after Westmeath scored another goal after we got it back to a point in the difference.

Ruaidhrí Lawlor the standout throughout, got stuck in constantly and almost dragged us back into it single handidly midway through the 1st half when Westmeath were 5 up.

Austin Donegan was very impressive when he came on, great pace, direct running and bet men at ease to create multiple chances up top.

Overall some simple mistakes at times and some poor shooting especially in the 1st half. Flip side of that they also defended very well at times, turned over a lot of Westmeath attacks and at times in the 2nd half when on top were cleaning up every loose ball going.

Beat Louth and it's straight through to a semi final, loss there still gives them a quarter final anyway.

Longford beating Dublin tonight and guaranteeing top spot in Group 1 with a game to spare, along with Meath (who've recently enough won back to back Leinsters along with an All Ireland) facing Westmeath in a must win game next weekend show it's as wide open as ever at this grade.

Good last quarter, totally dominated from losing position. Bench made big difference and as they tired we'd pace and power to slice them open.

Two strong performances... Look forward to seeing these lads underachieve in a senior jersey in a few years!!

Over past decade, we actually have a stronger conveyor belt than ever in Kildare. Even with the 97-2000 team, as someone who was there at the time, that was a not a squad destined for greatness – really they made themselves Leinster champions & AI contenders through intense hard work and the genius of Mick O'Dwyer. They were similar to recent Mayo teams in that regard.

Been thinking a lot recently about how genuinely mind-boggling it is that we so spectacularly screw up at senior. When you look at the array of underage, club & schools titles won by Kildare over past decade, it is literally unprecedented in the history of inter-county GAA – in either code – not to have a single damn senior trophy to show for it.

So, we continue to make history... though not in the way we want!

Btw, on senior team, funniest take I've heard recently – growing in popularity amongst GAA hacks – is that we're "waiting in long grass" to take out Westmeath.

The only reason these boys would be in the long grass is because they got lost on the way home from nightclubbing. For us to pull off sucker punch, it would require kick-out strategy, midfielders who can link play, defence that doesn't haemhorrage scores, and attack that knows what a goal is, plus players who actually had some balls.

So no, we aren't beating Westmeath, and we aren't making an impact in Tailteann either – which is positive as at least this debacle of a period will be over and we can reset under new manager, who should be Malachy O'Rourke or Brian Flanagan.

PS. Don't bother with "O'Rourke wouldn't go near us" take. We were in worse shape when Dwyer came onboard.

Difference between this team and under 20 team last night is they have a bit of pace about them and attacked in numbers

Certainly wouldn't write off our U20 team at all – both our All Ireland teams had early losses. Also, losing by a point away to Offaly not exactly a catastrophe. In fairness, Offaly are really putting their shoulder to the wheel at underage, although so far they've seen the same results as us at senior (ie. none).

Louth away tricky but manageable. Unfortunately Clubber not working for me for some reason (anyone else having issues?) so might not be able to see it.

I believe a member of our Senior management is going strong to be the Minor Manager next year. Lord God only in Kildare would this happen....

3 wins from 3 after a 12 points to 6 win over Louth today.

Straight through to a semi final in 3 weeks time.

Offaly, Wexford, Wicklow and the winners of Meath v Westmeath through to the prelim quarters, 2 winners from those will join Dublin and Louth in the quarter finals.

Overly simplistic to say avoid the Dubs and we should be making a final but things are going to plan so far anyway.

That was an extremely impressive performance from the young lads. Playing against a big wind in the second half and Louth had got it back to a point. Controlled the game, no crazy shooting and lots of brains on show. Really impressive. Ruaidhri Lawlor is a serious talent.

Can we meet Dublin in semi final?

lilysavage wrote:

Can we meet Dublin in semi final?

Yeah, the semis will be based on no repeat matches depending on who gets through. If Dublin do get through then the only way we can avoid them is if Offaly get through as well, which would leave us and 3 teams from the same group which you'd imagine would mean an open draw.

Is the minor game tonight been covered by anyone.

Gaa1928 wrote:

Is the minor game tonight been covered by anyone.

Its on TG4 Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq6_0IguKE

Winning by a point but christ above they've left about 7 pts behind, poor shooting, bit slow in the build up...and if the management don't change the free taker ( he's playing well in open play ) then any defeat will be solely on them

Def should be at least 3 or 4 up @ half-time. Lets hope it does not cost in the second half !

Decent half hour from them so far.

Defending well, getting back in numbers but more importantly getting pressure on the player in possession and creating a lot of turnovers. Pushing up on Dublin kickouts and forcing them to go long and doing well in the middle third as a result.

Wouldn't be a Kildare team if our shooting wasn't woeful at times though. Plenty of chances and some poor wides. Also seem to be making hard work of getting shots away at times, plenty of chances for someone to have a go carrying the ball over the 45 but more happy to go sideways or stop and go backwards than try taking a shot on.

Longford beat Louth by a point in the other semi final 11-10, were 5 down at one stage in the first half and 2 down at half time.

Longford beat Dublin by 5 and we bet Louth by 6 in the group stages not that it matters a jot.

See what happens when they move it quickly ..great goal

And then follow up with 2 wides

Our free taking is killing us tonight