Courage, Belief, wonderous things

Fair dues AW, you have been through the ringer a lot more than most on here. For you to say it was the toughest just shows how devastating it has been.

I have to admit,I have never cried after losing a match but I could not keep it in,I cried leaving Croker and it was such an emotional sunday. So much incidents. It was tough. This team has made my summer and I will be buying a season ticket next year to follow my heroes everywhyere.

I agree Always White, there were many dissappointments for me in my time following kildare. Some I can recall are- the controversial leinster final in 1966 against meath, the 1978 leinster final - hammered by dublin, loosing to wicklow in 1990 , the all ireland final of 1998- so long waiting and still no sam maguire and loosing to laois in the leinster final in 2003.
I also think the weekends defeat is one of the biggest dissapointments I have had. However, at least the lads showed some pride in the jersey and heres hoping for sucess in the future.

it a amazing how we got so attached to this kildare team

Like some people here I've been following Kildare football since Adam was a boy and believe me it has given me more "highs" than any junkie will every get from any drug. When our county championship ends I go to as many club matches as possible and by January I can't wait for an auld O'Byrne cup match. I think this panel of both players and management are so near an All Ireland that I can almost taste it so I really hope that there will be as few retirements as possible.

So to all involved with Kildare football through the years I say a big THANK YOU and roll on 2011 for a whole new season of thrills and excitement.

Long time lurker on this forum. Earliest memories of supporting Kildare was in the genesis of the first Micko era. Young teams bullied by Dublin, that same team blossomed into two time winners of Leinster at a time when a great Meath team were in their pomp.

This team spent a large part of the mid to late 2000's in the doldrums. The spine of the team have matured, McGeeney has unearthed footballers who possess that rare mix of attitude and talent, the likes of Kelly, O'Flaherty, McGrillan, White, Smith et al have a good 8 or 9 years left if they want it. This team now has an identity, tough, never say die, and tellingly you can see that each and every single one of them have total belief in each other. Rome wasn't built in a day, lets look to the future.

So let's go on and win the bloody thing next year - that's the only answer that will silence the men in suits who actually don't seem to care about integrity.
No wonder Croke Park is rarely full these days.

http://www.daraghoconchuir.ie

Click on the link boys and girls, read this this mornng and thought he sumed all our feeling up very well.

I Hope Darragh Doens't Mind, but this is top class.

I have always considered sport to be a form of escapism from life but of course it’s part of life so it takes on most of its characteristics. Amongst those is the fact that there are no guarantees, what you deserves doesn’t come into the equation and it isn’t always fair. As well as that, you’ve got people making major decisions and getting them very badly wrong. As a consequence grief that could have been avoided is caused to many. I’ve said it before, not least to the man himself, but Kieran McGeeney should speak more to the media. He gave an indication after Sunday’s game why he doesn’t – he doesn’t feel that judgement of players should be part of match reporting – but it’s a pity. Nothing he has ever done has involved compromise and that’s why when he does speak, he gives an honest answer, even though he knows he’s going to see his name in a headline for saying something that 95% of players, management and media agree with. People think that he – or Niall Carew for that matter – rings up the newspapers to blow off some steam. He doesn’t! He’s answering questions. I found it bemusing that so many media folk criticised Roy Keane for having too much to say last year but it goes against the grain with him not to be honest. The irony is that this is manna from heaven for all of us. Keane has sworn to supply a few more ‘no comments’ this year because of the negative reactions. We’ll be the poorer for that. It is McGeeney’s honesty that gives you answers of such raw emotion as was evident post-Down. No ‘sick as a parrot’ line there. Instead we were told that he felt like there was a hole in him that would never be filled. But his pain was for the players. “To put your heart and soul into something like that and to see it ripped away from you, it’s tough” he articulated. “I know what it feels like. I’ve been there, done that. You try to tell them that that hurt can help to push them on. It can bring them to bigger heights. “It is part and parcel of sport, part and parcel of life; it is how you deal with it. They are disappointed but they can’t go home and feel sorry for themselves. They are good players, they are good athletes, they are good lads. They have to remember that. “That isn’t a measure of who they are just because it tipped one way today in the last few minutes. So, I just told them to remember that and prepare themselves.” How could you not play for this man? He speaks sense of course but it’s not the type of sense you normally hear. Of course he was right about the idiots who were counting the amount of times Aidan O’Rourke stepped out onto the pitch against Meath. They must be the same guys who fine counties for not having subs and other personnel off the pitch by the cut-off point. And the pencil-pushers who give the stewards the right to confiscate banners deemed ‘offensive’. Humorous references to the new Perspex fence obviously come under that term in what must have become a Stalinist regime since my last visit to Croke Park. And yet important things that cost teams games have been swept under the carpet for so long. The Louth situation in the Leinster final was much worse than what happened here but this was very bad too, appallingly so. The case for using television replays is water-tight and it is ‘old fogery’ to deny it. Mind you, how the umpires didn’t reckon Benny Coulter was in the square considering he was standing next to them is beyond me. Yes, human error is part of the game and always will be but if you can reduce the mistakes, without any negative effect on the game, why not do so? McGeeney would like the media to be saying this rather than him. Some do. But you need a forum such as this or a column to do so. And anyway, whose opinion carries more weight, Kieran McGeeney’s or Daragh Ó Conchúir’s? Of course the square ball is a stupid rule. It was a breath of fresh air to allow forwards challenge goalkeepers in the league but surprisingly, it wasn’t approved for championship. This was brought in to protect goalkeepers in the days in which they were routinely executed. That doesn’t happen anymore. Right now, like the hand-pass, it’s just another problem being thrown in the referee’s lap. When you take into account Alan Smith’s point that wasn’t given, Kildare found themselves 1-1 to 0-3 down after 12 minutes, when they should have been 0-4 to 0-1 ahead. You can say what you like about how good Down were – and Kevin McKernan, former cage-fighter Kalum “fingertip” King, the classy Coulter and Martin Clarke, the obvious favourite for footballer of the year right now, were very good – but the whole game changed right there in those moments; most pertinently with the awarding of Coulter’s goal. Kildare were coming back again at the end, as they have always done. Given the control they were exerting early on, had the right call been made, it is reasonable to assume that they might have pushed a little bit further ahead. But, of course, we’ll never know. Interestingly, while a penalty could have been given, McKernan definitely handled the ball on the ground outside the small parallelogram and that’s a 14-yard free which is what was given in the end anyway. I needed a few replays to come to that conclusion mind you. To see men like Johnny Doyle and McGeeney in tears afterwards was jarring. So too, the geniality of Dermot Earley who has been through so much but still smiled and congratulated his opponents in time of obvious personal pain. His father’s son. A few other things. Perusing the forums, Kildare supporters are complaining about abusive Down supporters. Especially abuse rained down on McGeeney. Look. I know it’s sport but that is part of it, even if it shouldn’t be. But then hitting a lad a rabbit punch or a kidney punch off the ball, or making some remark about his personal life shouldn’t be either. It’s this argument about cheating all over again that we had after the Henry hand ball. It’s sport, it’s life, there’ll be cheating. And there’ll be abuse. Hell there were plenty of Kildare folk abusing McGeeney after Wicklow 2008 or Louth in June. People need to grow up. It’s not nice to hear opposition supporters questioning your hero’s parentage but it happens all the time. Ask Nicky English, Maurice Fitzgerald, DJ Carey, Roy Keane, Fernando Torres, Peter Canavan or any other top class sportsman. Ask McGeeney and I’ll lay money he takes it as a compliment. People don’t bother abusing fellas that are no good. And as for booing? That’s been going on for years. I’d be amazed if McGeeney isn’t back next year, or Doyle or Earley. All three have been kicked in the balls and kicked in the balls and kicked in the balls. They’ve come back, only to be kicked in the balls again. McGeeney eventually won his All-Ireland and then went back to being kicked in the balls. It seems that Anthony Rainbow, Killian Brennan and Damien Hendy are calling it quits. Brennan was a natural leader while Hendy must be the ultimate team man, training there for so many years without much game time. Rainbow was unbelievable of course and if he weren’t married with a young child, I’m sure he’d be going nowhere because the training comes easy to him. After 20 years though – 20 years! – he’s entitled to ride off into the sunset, a bona fide football legend. It also means that I can give up club football next year as a result of a little pact we had that I had to stay at it while he remained with the county. However, if he can play inter-county at almost 39 – maybe I can play junior at 40 next season? He didn’t get a coveted All-Ireland medal but as I said before, there are no guarantees. What a footballer and what a man though. Ever see him with kids at a medal presentation or blitz or pitch opening? There’s a job there for him if the county board can come up with something. As for Kildare, they have been some joy to watch these past two years in particular and I’m looking forward to being on the beat next year. But you cannot say they deserve to win an All-Ireland. Did Dermot Earley snr not deserve one? Or Pat Mangan? Did Peter McGinnity not deserve an Ulster medal? Did Mick Galwey not deserve a Heineken Cup medal? It doesn’t come into it. You do the work. You put your heart and your soul on the line. And you pray that it’s enough. With Rob Kelly and Mikey Conway back, Kildare should be better. Unearthing another defender of Peter Kelly’s ilk is vital. Then there’s Fionn Dowling, Tommy Moolick and co. They will be back and they will carry on but while they empty themselves for our entertainment and considerable revenue for the GAA, perhaps the association will decide to make an easy decision to help the players and improve our games. Referees’ boss Mick Curley says video technology should not be used but thankfully the GAA has come to its senses and a meeting has been organised with the developers of Hawk Eye, as used in tennis and cricket. Maybe some good will come out of this after all.

that meeting should be interesting hope to god they do bring in video technology badly needed after the disasters of this year.

A long way from a meeting to having it done but hopefully they will bring in video technology. Hawk eye would probably be used for the goal-lines and the posts would it?

Interesting that Killian and Hendy are going too - Hendy must be one of the all-time greatest team player, to stay there so long with so little game time.

Where'd you get that article Fionn - takes a lot of reading... the shit with the banners is incredible

Heard on Kfm this morning that the inventor of the Hawkeye system has offered it to the GAA for free.

Great read there from Daragh.
But I bet nothing changes, Mick Curley as has been said doesn't want it and he has said Smith's point was rightly disallowed. Now when I hear this claptrap I get images of old men with their heads in a bucket of sand.
Nothing will really move forward until Kerry or Tyrone get a decision from hell, then wait until for the wailing from the top brass and see the heads suddenly appear.

I agree withy you JME nothing will change until one of the big guns is on the receiving end of a bad decision like last Sunday's. Although it's a good sign to hear O'Neill talking about using technology. On the down side I'm sick of hearing reasons why technology can't be used, like oh it would have to be used at every Junior B match and we'd never be able to afford that etc. etc. A load of b * * * * x

I'm not sure about video technology.

A blind man could see that Coulter was in the square before the ball on Sunday and that Smith's "wide" was a good two or three feet inside the post. Similar story for the Joe Throw in the Leinster Final. If everyone sitting in the stand could see it in real time - why do we need technology to see it?

The officials were incompetant on Sunday. If they'd done their job correctly there'd be no one giving out. I think McEneaney suspected it was a square ball on Sunday - hence going into consult with the umpires. His umpires were incompetant and were too busy ball-watching to know where Coulter was. They just told McEneaney when he went in that they thought the goal was legal when the truth is they didn't know whether it was or not.

Where do you draw the line if you do bring it in? Down's goal was clearly a free out but you could argue that Leper's was as well. Would that have been reviewed by a video referee and overruled as well? Also the penalty shout at the end - Could Kildare have requested that be looked at by the video referee at the next break in play?

KK you have just proved why Technology should be used when you say a " blind man could see that Coulter was in the square" yet the two buffoons beside the goal could not. Similar with the Leinster final that everybody down that end could see what happened but the two closest did not or chose not to.

This is exactly why we need it because those charged with calling the big plays and making big decisions are not doing it. If they were doing their job right there would be no need for this debate.

The problem is that umpires are not coached properly JME. Inter-county umpires are simply selected by the individual referee and are only required to attend a one day training course - whatever that entails?

Mickey Harte's suggestion that they appoint younger referees to act as umpires is a sensible one. Most umpires are geriatric auld lads who look like they're about to keel over. Also do away with the white coats and the necessity to wear a shirt and tie with black shoes - you'd swear De Valera was still in power! They should have the same uniform as the referees and linesmen and should be able to call fouls themselves - for example, I can't really fault McEneaney for not awarding the penalty at the end because there was around twenty bodies between him and the ball. The two umpires were in a perfect position to see McKernan touching the ball on the ground though. They should have been empowered to make the call.

As for Sheridan's goal in the Leinster Final, I think both umpires were aware that the goal was illegal as the green flag was not raised but Martin Sludden had already marked the score down in his notebook and he simply went in and told the goal umpire to put up the flag without consulting him as to whether it was legal. The umpires should be given the power to call frees, square-balls, penalties because a lot of the time they'll have a better view than the referee themselves.

The issue I have with video technology is where do you draw the line? Sure Coulter's goal should have been a free out but Leper's should have been as well. Meath scored three goals against Dublin that were created after technical fouls were committed out the field earlier on in the play - would them scores have been ruled out with video technology? It works in rugby because of the stop/start nature of the sport. Our sport is more fluid. Fair enough if the technology is instantaneous but this is the GAA we're talking about. I forsee five minute breaks every second attack while Jerry and Seámus looking at a monitor in the back of a lorry on Jones' Road debate over whether the ball went over the bar or not.

If this Hawk-Eye technology can determine whether a ball went over the bar, or over the line, or not and can send an electronic signal straight away to the referee (eg. Smith's point on Sunday) then I'd be all for it. I'd be against video technology for penalty decisions, square-balls, overcarrying etc. Train the officials properly, empower the umpires & linesmen to call frees and tidy up the anomalies in the rulebook.

Can't argue with any of that but was McQuillan not the one who said the point was wide and he is a inter county ref. Anyway I'd agree the day of Ref's bringing their mates to umpire at games is over.
Maybe there should be a group of 20 umpires that do all intercounty games, get them trained give them powers and see how that works out.

I can see both sides of the argument as KK said a blindman could have made those decisions yet as JME says the people charged with making these decisions are simply not doing it, why? is it bias or incompetence, a bit of both I suspect!.

Without resorting to video evidence how about changing the rule where no player can encroach or score from inside the small rectangle unless the ball breaks off the keeper from a parried save or the goal post, even then if the keeper parrys the ball out or it rebounds out off an upright or crossbar it will nearly always end up outside the rectangle anyway, I can't see how it would impinge on the game as a spectacle, lets be honest how many scores are actually scored inside this tiny area hardly any at all.
By introducing this it will virtually eliminate any confusion or dodgy decisions perpetrated by incompetent umpires and referees like we had on Sunday and this years Leinster final?.

The introduction of a hawkeye running up the inside of the post does make sense, umpires vision can often been impaired by say low sun or if a player kicks a mighty garryowen that actually clears the height of the goalposts it can be hard to be definitive as to whether the ball went over or not, human error here is understandable [but of course in Smiths case though it was criminal and inexcusable].
Don't forget umpires do not have the benefit of instant replays and often have to make rash decisions even if they were unsure as to whether the ball was over the bar or not, and also don't forget even some telly replays are not foolproof and can often leave the viewer still in the dark as to whether it was over the bar or not.
Every county ground should be equipped with one!

Ogie wrote:

Where'd you get that article Fionn - takes a lot of reading... the shit with the banners is incredible

It's here in Daragh's blog, this address should be saved in everybodys favourites, a great read for any GAA or sports fan for that matter.

http://www.daraghoconchuir.ie/blog.php?all=all

Hi all - I have been reading through this forum since the start of the championship and have just plucked up the courage to join.

Sunday was hard to take but I think we (as in kildare supporters) will have to get on with things now and look forward to the new year. 1 item id like your opinion on is the selection of our mid-field on sunday. I thought that Killian Brennan should have been brought in he has more expeirence that most, is a natural leader and has a good footingballing brain. Any thoughts.

Sam

Probably a bit slow for Croke Park at this stage.

Welcome Sam, as Bloodsub said he just doesn't have the pace anymore for Croke park. If he was brought on he would have gave everything but it was just not set up for him because we were chasing the game.

Maybe your right bloodsub, but in terms of winning primary possession and giving a good pass - with his fielding ability I thought he'd be a better option.

sam wrote:

Hi all - I have been reading through this forum since the start of the championship and have just plucked up the courage to join.

Sunday was hard to take but I think we (as in kildare supporters) will have to get on with things now and look forward to the new year. 1 item id like your opinion on is the selection of our mid-field on sunday. I thought that Killian Brennan should have been brought in he has more expeirence that most, is a natural leader and has a good footingballing brain. Any thoughts.

Sam

Welcome to the forum Sam, I have to disagree with you as regards Killian Brennan, yes he has a good football brain but has of course got on in years and even in his prime he was never the most mobile, the game would pass him by imo, but there is strong rumour going around he will be hanging up his inter county boots anyway, but no harm keeping him on in the background as regards a motivational role, which no doubt will happen as he and geezer are engaged to be married