Jimmers article in Sunday Times

Good article by Christy O'Connor on Jimmers in the Sunday Times yesterday - Jimmers was very honest about himself, saying he didn't work hard enough until recent years. Carew restated what he'd said earlier in the year that Jimmers had what it took to be the best forward in the country and O'Connor said that JImmers was the best example of McGeeney's benefit to Kildare. Jimmers also said he reckoned the international rules might suit him. Interesting on a number of counts.

On another note, will Ballymore's Leinster game clash with international rules?

Asked the same myslef earlier Ogie, according to fone, Ballymore's match is scheduled for the day after the 2nd international rules test.

Interesting that Kavanagh says he didn't work hard enough. By all accounts he was a real star throughout school and college but by god was he frustrating to watch for Kildare before last season! Have to admit, I had given up on him! Some improvement the last two years!

I was the same EG, I didn't rate him and thought he was mentally weak (does that county as non-constructive criticism?). Anyway, he actually made a believer of me in the qualifiers 08 - he was one of Kildare's best players against Cork in the quarter-final and has built on that. The mad thing is I think there might be more in him.

Yea Ballymore play the champions of Louth away on Sunday 31st October.

Does anyone have the link for that article?

I tried but they're paid for website and they probably wouldn't have the Irish stuff on it anyway... won't have time to do it for a couple of days but if I do, will try to type some of it for ye

Yea i tried there too! Thanks Ogie, i'll try see if anyone around here still has the paper from Sunday

Managed to see the paper after and typed it up if anyone else is looking for it.


Kavanagh Ready to Rule

Christy O'Connor



Skilful James Kavanagh has the power to match and should prove it against the Australians



If you run your finger along the lines of the map of Kildare's progress under Kieran McGeeney you can trace numerous places where the journey began, but the real fork in the road arrived in McGeeney's second championship game in charge in 2008, a qualifier against Cavan in Newbridge. Still reeling from the shock defeat to Wicklow the team appeared to be going nowhere, while McGeeney didn't seem cut out for management. A defeat at home to Cavan and he was more than likely gone.



Preparations were being made for his dismissal when Kildare trailed by two points deep in injury time. Then James Kavanagh popped up at the end of a neat move to put the ball into the net. McGeeney had a lifeline. Looking back, it is fitting that Kavanagh was at the heart of igniting a fire that was almost doused before it could rage.



One of the greatest tributes that can be paid to McGeeney is how he has regenerated and revitalised so many Kildare players, whose careers were either stagnant or in deep decay. Nobody symbolises that rejuvenation more than Kavanagh. An unused substitution against Wicklow in 2008, he had only managed to score four points in eight championship appearances since his debut in 2005. He had started games in 2007 but was substituted, scoreless in all of them. Twice he was hauled off before half-time.



Now? In his last two seasons, Kavanagh has scored 4-23 and matured into one of the game's top forwards. He has secured successive All-Star nominations and was the only Kildare player selected on Ireland's International Rules squad.



"James is still developing," says Kildare selector Niall Carew. "We haven't seen the best of him yet. He has the potential to become the best player in the country. He is definitely the most skilful player we have in Kildare."



Kavanagh is 25 and there is no real mystery to his accelerated improvement and increased status. It has come from pure hard work.

"It's been down to my mentality," says Kavanagh. "I always knew I had the ability but maybe it was just getting the head right - just being focused and knowing what you want in life.



"In those earlier years, I think I was immature both mentally and physically. I was in college and maybe I wasn't giving everything 100%. I was probably half doing a lot of things. There comes a time in your life when you have to totally dedicate yourself to something and that has been the real difference in my improvement.



"I realise now that it's just a matter of emptying the tank and getting the most out of myself. In the last few years, I've been much more focused, much more determined and I know what I want now on the sporting field. Playing for Kildare now means everything to me. I have a lot of goals and I just put it down to determination and wanting to do well for myself and the people close to me."



Kavanagh grew up in Ballymore, an outpost on the edge of Kildare nestled in the Wicklow mountains, but a significant part of his football education was framed in Galway. He spent the last two years of his school life as a boarder in St Jarlath's College, Tuam, where he played in two All-Ireland College's finals. He won a Hogan Cup in 2002 and captained the side when they lost to St. Pat's Maghera a year later.



Those teams were loaded with players coming off the Galway underage academy; Michael Meehan, Sean Armstrong, Darren Mullahy, Alan Burke, Gary Sice, Niall Coleman. Kavanagh started dating Mullahy's sister, Linda, who was in school at the time in the Mercy Convent in Tuam. Now she's his fiancée.



After school, college took him to Athlone IT and a business studies course for two years before he joined the Gardaí, where he's now based in Crumlin. Kavanagh has gradually found a rhythm to his life which rhymes with his football and this year was his best season yet.



He scored one of the goals of the season against Meath but his game peaked in the fourth round qualifier against Monaghan when he stood up and led the attack. With John Doyle struggling with his striking, Kavanagh kicked five points, four from play, and gave the last pass for Ronan Sweeney's goal.



Kavanagh is a quiet character by nature but his personality, confidence and leadership skills have matured in tandem with his development as a footballer. "It's more than time now that I became one of the leaders of Kildare and one of the main men," he says. "That's what I'll keep working towards."



Kavanagh went into the All-Ireland semi-final against Down as a frontrunner for player of the year and performed effectively as a target man, but struggled to convert his scoring chances. In the end, he finished with just a point. He was still unlucky to miss out on an All-Star.

"If we had got to the All-Ireland final, I'd probably have been a shoo-in," he says. "Maybe people judged my year on the Down game but the All-Stars are like that. It's very easy to go one way or the other."



Kavanagh has kept his foot pressed to the accelerator ever since. He effectively drove Ballymore to yesterday's county Intermediate final before switching his focus to Saturday's first test. With lethal pace and power, an ability to score with both feet, and the awareness to be able to release the ball quickly, Kavanagh seems ideally suited to International Rules.



"My footballing attributes suit the game," says Kavanagh. "These Australian lads are going to be seriously powerful but I have developed in the last couple of years. I have put in a massive effort. I'm ready for it now."



He has certainly earned the opportunity.

Thanks for typing that up L4L, a good read, he seems to know his place in the team as one of thetop men and is comfortable in that position.

Looking forward to see him get better in the next two or three years.

Fair play Lily, I reckoned people would appreciate it - I liked the maturity in the man and his willingness to accept he was coasting. And the feeling that there's more to come. Which is very exciting indeed.

No problem. I was glad I managed to find someone who still had the paper. I thought other people would like to read it too. Thanks for offering to type it up for me too Ogie.

Yea it was a good article alright. He was very honest in it anyway. He's improved so much in the last few years. Hopefully he'll do well in the Aussie Rules now! It's great to see him on it.
Between that and the Intermediate Leinster Champ Halloween weekend too he's going to be kept busy for the next few weeks.