O'Byrne Cup 2011 - Official Thread

bloodsub wrote:

Most of the bench played against Kilmacud Crokes last night.

What was the score in that game?

juniors won handy kilmacud barely scored except for a jammy own goal jacko was good kelly oneill and cribben too

tomoneillandhissisteranne wrote:

Ogie, it must be great to be on the panel - all that inside information. Lucky you!

I forgot to say, I've made a fair improvement myself although the jiu-jitsu was a bitch

That's the position for Dowling I reckon, wing-forward, - has Head become the new PRO?! Great stuff for keeping us updated, I can't be seen to be giving inside info

Kildare 1-11 DCU 0-09
Excellent first half performance seemed to lose their way somewhat after half time.
Good few wides. Connolly was excellent in goals, saved a penalty and the retake. Gave away one point from a sloppy kick out but looked very comfortable throughout and made a couple of good saves when called upon. He has to be in poll position for the No 1 jersey.

Ye was brilliant first half (some massive points kicked) but bad second. For whatever reason we were very sloppy and kicked alot of ball away. But we won comfortably and are still short alot of regulars so another good day at the office

Connelly has cemented his position in goals for the moment, Paidi and Lynch did excellant in the first half in midfield, Moolick had his best game thus far and Mark O'Sullivan worked hard and scored some good points.

On the flip side think the Heff experiment is derailing. He seems to be completely shot confidence wise. He can't win clean posession, can't win a hop ball with guys half his size and for the 3rd match in a row he has completely missed a one on one. Granted some of the ball coming in was poor but yet another game to forget for him.
Also David Whyte is another man running out of time. Gave away posession and frees throughout. Doesn't seem to be a back, midfielder or forward...

excellent first half, lot of poor decisions in 2nd half,


But Leper was again outstanding, Paidi and Hugh in midfield were superb, paidis point from the kick out at end of 1st half was one of those stand out moments.

Moolick was even better than last week, thought david whyte did okay.

Dowling seemed to be very paniced, making bad decisions , poor shooting, though flats was very quiet, missed easy free in 2nd half.

Willie Heff really had poor game, again bad decision making, and wild shooting in front of goals.

Connolly was great in goals, great addition to team, really felt confident every time DCU began to bare down on goals., no offence to shorty but its connollys height really gives him the upper hand.

I know its only the O'Byrne cup but winning games is not a bad habit to have. Great to see some of the newcomers to the team showing ability also. Just wondering how people think Ollie Lyons is fairing. He doesnt seem to be mentiioned as much as some of the other new players but I think he looks quite promising.
Anyone have details of our next opponents ????

great solid start to the year. 2 wins and by my reckoning that if we win our next 18 games we will have the o'byrne, league, leinster and all ireland in the bag... im dreaming and for once i hope it comes through....

jj wrote:

I know its only the O'Byrne cup but winning games is not a bad habit to have. Great to see some of the newcomers to the team showing ability also. Just wondering how people think Ollie Lyons is fairing. He doesnt seem to be mentiioned as much as some of the other new players but I think he looks quite promising.
Anyone have details of our next opponents ????

Westmeath away next week I think.

Louth & UCD in the other semi.

Lynch and oneill were great,lyons did well.lepear as always was great. Even if it is the obyrne cup kildare seem more fitter.Goalkeeper was good,like the way he can find a player with his kick outs

5 point win was in my opinion not a good reflection of the game. Kildare were far superior in all departments and look very fit already.

I though Paudi in Midfield was excellent, scored a couple of booming pints but gathered a lot of ball and I don't think he missed a pass all day. He also linked the backs and forwards very well. Hugh Lynch in beside him was also prominent. Considering they were up against the poster boy of Connacht football in Shine they completely out played him.

The young lads again did very well, Moolick looks to the manor born in a Kildare shirt, he is big and quick, hits hard and has a great engine. He also can kick a point too which makes him very useful.
Fionn did well, scored a nice goal and was showing for the ball as much as possible.
Connolly was excellent again and looks to be putting severe pressure on McCormack for the no.1 jersey. Apart from his penalty saves, he made a great one on one stop, but what made me really take notice is he came out of his area half way through the second half and even though there were a few players bunched up he plucked a ball from the skies, I have to think Shorty would never have got there for that.

With Peter Kelly gone I was interested in the corner backs and both did well on their men. Ciaran Fitzpatrick seems to be the player that could be the break out man this year, he is very quick and his attacking intent was there to see again today.

All in all a very good display against a team we although would put it up to them but in the end could only score form placed balls, there is now some serious competition for places.

I echo everything Rex/jme said. I'll also add that ogie owes O'Sullivab an apology.

Also beans on toast if u are Connolly and your looking in fair play

The No.1 jersey is yours at the moment, but it's a long time between now and may a lot of ball to be played still.

With Peter Kelly out, Would now not be a good time to have a look at Karl O'Brien easily best defender for St. Laurances over last 2 years. Ciaran Fitzpatrick looks to have settled well, look forward to seeing him in league.Shane Connolly has being very good and will bring great competition for Number one jersey.

Fionn its between shorty and connolly,thaught you were alot older than you looked.

karl obrien should have gotten a look in before this. why is so many larries man looked over??..he has not even been called into the juniors yet he has been playing in senior county finals since he was 17!..Must be given a shot at the big stage. well done today boys, tommys showing his class and sully done more than we expected

Very good performance for the time of year with everyone working hard. I was very impressed with the keeper except for one situation in the first half when he slapped down a ball that he should have caught. Am I right in thinking that all the Kildare scores barring one point came from play and that the opposite was the case with the DCU scores?

Yes ALways white donnie shine scored all but one of their scores.
Good performance all round I was very impressed with shane connolly very confident and steady hands in goals.I thought we could have put a few more over but overall it was a good result.

Was wondering how long it would take for the usual Larries poor mouthing to start. Last year it was an 'outrage' that Tommy O'Neill or John Fogarty werent on the panel, this year its Karl O'Brien. Seriously folks, Geezer is around long enough now to know better. These guys are just not good enough. Mark O'Sullivan has been given countless chances aswell. If these guys feel they are good enough then let them commit to the junior panel and WORK their way upwards.
Simple fact is, not one of these guys are at least as good as whats there.

Newbridgefan wrote:

Mark O'Sullivan has been given countless chances aswell.

Countless chances? All he had was 2 or 3 O'Byrne Cup games a few years ago. I thought he has been one of Kildare's best performers over the past two weekends and that's a big compliment because there have been some really positive individual displays. He's clearly a more mature player now than he was a few years ago when he was only just out of the u21s.

Shane Connolly, Ollie Lyons, Ciarán Fitzpatrick and Tommy Moolick have been others to catch the eye today and last Sunday. Good to see some of the more established lads like Leper, Paudie and Foley motoring along nicely at the start of the year too.

im sure if o'brien was given the chance at junior to work his way up he wud! best man marker larries had last yr! tommy o'neill will be in once hes back from injury

Padraig Nolan had Sullivan in the panel when he was manager. IM sure Crofton had at some point too.
Tommy O'Neill at his best is not a better player than any of the defenders we have in the panel at present. We could all say ifs, buts and maybes. Fact is, he's not.
The panel is strong and lads are working hard and thats what Geezer wants. I expect Dowling, Moolick, Fitzpatrick and possibly Mullhall by the end of the year to be panelists. I dont think Sullivan has what it takes.
Let O'Brien play a year or two with the juniors and see if he's up to it.Time will tell....

O'Sullivan is 23 or 24 years old, what he did or didn't do before is irrelevant, if he's good enough now he'll make it, if not he won't. Two promising performances though.

Jeysus Newbridgefan you have very critical view of some of the players Geezer deemed good enough to have a look at, thank God he doesn't have your attitude. As for lads working hard he has over 40 players working hard which includes the juniors ( your description, Geezer calls them the reserves ). Its remarkable the number of players who now want to be on this team, a big turn around from a few years ago, because they now have a way onto the 1st team.

As a matter of intrest what was your opinion off Peter Kelly this time last year ??

Newbridgefan wrote:

Padraig Nolan had Sullivan in the panel when he was manager. IM sure Crofton had at some point too.

O'Sullivan never played under Nolan. Nolan was gone after 2005 and O'Sullivan played with the minors that year. The only game he played under Crofton was an O'Byrne Cup game in Portarlington. Three or four O'Byrne Cup games over a four year period hardly constitutes 'countless chances'. Fair enough if he'd been given a full league campaign. Give the lad a chance. If McGeeney doesn't think he's good enough he'll be given his chance with the juniors.

fionnmccool wrote:

I echo everything Rex/jme said. I'll also add that ogie owes O'Sullivab an apology.

Also beans on toast if u are Connolly and your looking in fair play

The No.1 jersey is yours at the moment, but it's a long time between now and may a lot of ball to be played still.

Hmmm... so what's the difference between what O'Sullivan has done that he is owed an apology, and what Connolly has done that there's a lot of ball to be played still?

I was coming on to say fair play to Sully, who kicked three points very smartly and also showed a good workrate... but the ridiculous statement that I owe him an apology for thinking on everything I've seen of him for the last three or four years (the similar stuff that Glenn Ryan saw that meant he didn't pick him as a 21-year-old for the county U21s) that he hadn't the workrate or didn't move quickly enough for this level.

If he keeps up what he did today, and sticks with the reserves, he will benefit big time... I think the workrate will have impressed Geezer more than anything else and the fitter he gets, the better that will get - that's a new aspect to his game, and it's to his credit that he has realised he needed to add it... I don't think I owe him an apology at all, I laud him for a very good game today and hope he will keep it up. For what it's worth, I would reckon the statement you made about Connolly Fionn, also applies to Sully, as it does to Fitzy and Olly and Moolick and Dowling, but I've been impressed with them all at this stage, especially Tommy.

I was very impressed today for 45 minutes or so... I thought DCU would win this but it was never likely, Kildare outfought them, outworked them, outscored them, created numerous more chances (16 wides as well)... this was good and they look in good nick going into the league, much better nick than last year.

Thought Paidi and Hughie were brilliant at midfield, pity Mick got that bang, I thought he looked very tight and sharp.

How classy is Leper?