O'Byrne Cup 2011 - Official Thread

Looking forward to seeing Mollick and Dowling play - exciting talents

kickingking wrote:

If Damien Hendy hadn't gone off injured in the second half of the 2002 Leinster Final I think we'd have won that match. He's been a great servant through some tough years and with Kelly and McGrillen tied up with their college teams, we're not exactly flush with full-back options. Eoin Naughton should get a run there in the second half though.

Looking forward to seeing a few of the younger lads in action, particularly Moolick and Dowling. Good opportunity for the two Celbridge lads to force their way into the squad too. Don't know much about Fitzpatrick but I think he's played most of his football around midfield and half-forward. Interesting to see how he gets on in the corner.

naughton???????????????????????

I hope its a good game , will it feel odd with glen leading longford ,or is a case of beat whats put in front of you , then worry about glen , what if "touch wood " longford win , how it pan out , will glen be hounded or praised , will be a tough task for both teams.

Fitzpatrick plays wingback for the juniors so it will be somewhat new for him being in the corner however he is a tenacious player with plenty of energy so he should be ok. He needs to work on his ball retention but other than that is a good player.
Good to see other lads getting a chance and I'm sure the current established senior players aren't too bothered missing an O'byrne cuop match but you get the feeling McGeeney would be playing Earley, Doyle etc if they were available to him. Maybe this forced hand will be a blessing in disguise.

O’Byrne Cup & FBD Connacht League: Live score updates & Results – Sunday 9th January 2011

O’Byrne Cup Senior Football first round
Westmeath v Dublin, Mullingar OFF
Wexford 0-02 1-10 DIT, Wexford Park, 2pm
Kildare 0-11 0-06 Longford, Newbridge, 2pm
Offaly v DCU, Tullamore OFF
Meath v UCD, Pairc Tailteann OFF
Carlow 1-06 0-04 Kilkenny, Dr Cullen Park, 2pm
Louth 2-06 0-02 Athlone IT, Drogheda, 2pm
Laois 0-06 0-04 Wicklow, Portlaoise, 2pm

FBD Connacht Football League
Sligo 1-06 1-03 Galway, Enniscrone, 2pm
NUIG 0-08 0-07 IT Sligo, Dangan, 2pm
Leitrim v Mayo, Ballyhaunis OFF
Roscommon v GMIT, Ballyforan OFF

McGrath Cup
Cork 0-08 0-04 Waterford IT Pairc ui Rinn
Kerry 1-7 ITT 1-5

Barrett Sports Dr McKenna Cup Senior Football
Armagh v Antrim, Athletic Grounds, OFF
Tyrone v Donegal, Healy Park, OFF
Derry v Monaghan, Celtic Park, OFF

http://www.sportsnewsireland.com/2011/01/09/obyrne-cup-fbd-connacht-league-live-score-updates-results-sunday-9th-january-2011/

Good start to the year with plenty of new players on show. Connolly in goals dealt comfortably with anything that came his way (which wasn't much) and placed his kickouts well.

I liked the look of the corner back from Kilcock; Ciaran Fitzpatrick. He looked promising. Is he anything to Eamonn Fitzpatrick who was on the panel a few years back ?

Eamonn Callaghan was class throughout. Eoghan Flats kicked some lovely frees. It looks like JD will have a job holding on to that job. We also kicked a number of eye catching scores from distance.

Although Longford didn't put up much resistance 0-16 was a very satisfactory return and hopefully we can build on it next week.

How did Moolick and Dowling fare?

Derfil wrote:

How did Moolick and Dowling fare?

Both played well enough, both well able to kick a score.

Good performance today considering it was an inexperienced side on show.

Of the new guys I'd say that Fitzpatrick was the one who caught my eye the most - very lively game, won his fair share of ball and made some good runs forward, looks like he could be a very good option to have at corner back and deserves a few more matches to show what he can do.

Connolly looked solid enough in goals, didn't have a whole lot to do but was comfortable under any high balls that went in and was effective with finding a free man with his kick outs. Only real danger came when Fitzpatrick got caught out and a Longford forward was through on goal, did well though to come out off his line quick and close down the angle, forcing a wide.

Moolick, Dowling and Mark O'Sullivan did well in the forwards, all managed to get at least a point each. O'Sullivan covered a lot of ground in the first half and Moolick was all over the pitch in the second, did a lot of good defensive work and looked eager to get on the ball after settling into the game. Dowling played a bit closer to the goals and looked dangerous when in possession, well able to win his own ball and pick out a pass.

Leper and Flats probably the two who were most impressive overall. Eoghan kicked some excellent scores, most of them frees, but he was able to pop them over from either side without fuss. Leper seemed to be involved in almost every move we put together at times. Made some great bursts out of the half back line and set up a lot of scores.

Good way to start the year at least, put up a good score and held Longford to only 2 points in the second half, good performances in each line today to build on over the next few weeks.

Good performance today. Well done lads. 16 points is a great result for this time of year, and also the fact that we are missing some of the more experienced players. Leper was brilliant today. well done to fionn dowling and tommy moolick for tagging on a few scores, and good to see mark o sullivan playing for kildare again. Fitzpatrick did very well with good defending as did Connolly in goals. Overall good result.

Promising display today - good to see some new faces and to see some good, plain, simple football and well taken scores. Longford were poor but that's not our fault!

Excellent display for the first time out this year, you could not ask for much more than today. All the new lads played very well and the senior players were excellent. They were in a much higher gear today than this time last year.

Serious competition for places, Well done all very enjoyable match.

One very noticeable thing from today was the hunger of the players and the willingness to get on the ball. Its very easy to hide and go through the motions in the O'Byrne Cup in January but there was a serious effort put in from the players on the pitch today giving that its the first week in January.

Fitzpatrick at corner back put in an excellent performance in his debut and will only get better the more he's around the county set up. Hopefully he gets more game time in the coming weeks against better forwards which will bring him on further.

Also I like the look of Connolly in goals, looks big and composed and comfortable under the high ball. Good kickouts also.

Mark O' Sullivan done well also, he's been tried in the corner a few times with Kildare in the past but I think half forward suits him much better.

Callaghan was a class above today, after missing the O'Byrne Cup and League last year if he stays injury free come championship he will be in serious shape.

Offaly or DCU next weekend in Newbridge, their game was called off and is down for Tuesday night.

Good performance and good result - hopefully we've started as we mean to go on for the rest of the year

Yep, good result to start the year with, attitude should be to win every game, regardless of the competition or opponents, great to see such hunger in the players already.

Thought midfield did very well, despite a poor opposition,

Leper was in class of his own, never stopped running, immense...possible candidate for captains role I hear??

Great to see new faces this time of year particularly in the forwards,

eoghan flats was great, took his scores well.
Great crowd considering it was very cold.

Couldn't make it today working, but by all accounts good start. Anyone mind putting the team up that played... Cheers.

S. Connolly

O. Lyons
D. Hendy
C. Fitzpatrick

M. Scanlon
M. Foley
E. Callaghan

H. Lynch
P. O'Neill

T. Moolick
E. O'Flaherty
M. O'Sullivan

K. Ennis
W. Heffernan
F. Dowling

Sub's which came on :
A. Smyth
E. McCormack
C. Teirnan

good win but lets be honest hw many of them will be there come champer connolly maybe,flah , paudie o neill ,and callaghan ??? i wasnt at the match nw but would anyone think any more would make it??

If you weren't at the match then how can you comment who will or will not be there?

Peter Kelly didn't even play with Kildare in last years O'Byrne Cup.

I would take great hope from a lot Of those lads today pushing for places and a squad position come
Summertime. A lot of them are very young and are there for the long haul eitherways.

fionn dowling has a bright future so does hugh lynch, heff is heff lets be honest do the job in the o byrne cup never gonna make champ, hendy is the same, o sullivan nt good enough for inter county he is great club player but even padraig flynn and sean murphy always keep him quite wen it comes to the business end, ennis scan and foley are good players but to me nt first team players , peter kelly came out of no where to some people ,but peter was always brilliant and always had the ability to play senior football with kildare he was full back for ucd sigerson teams for yrs thats quite and achievement and for two mile house he was there main player since he came out of minor so to me thta wasnt a shock it was only a matter of time, hope your right doh fionn really do

Cheers Fionn....

David Whyte came on as well.
Good performance for the first proper match of the year and with so many missing.
They all played well. Moolick did very well and Fitzpatrick I thought.
It's going to be interesting to see which new faces are still on the panel for the league when all the others return.

You can only beat what is in front of you. Only 4 of the team played started against Down. Connolly, Fitzpatrick and Ollie Lyons are definitely worth another look against stronger opposition and Moolick and Dowling are for the future. What ever happened to Darragh McEvoy, from Celbridge? He is one of the best man markers playing club football in Kildare

Great performance and great start to the year. I agree, there was good hunger and intensity from our guys from start to finish especially considering time of year. (were they really not training ???)Couldn't fault any of the team and they supported each other very well.Some excellent scores. Never looked like losing. Would be nice to get a good run in O'Byrne to get these guys another bit of experience.

Leper was in class of his own, never stopped running, immense...possible candidate for captains role I hear??

Can't see JD being removed from this role, although Leper would be a good vice captain. Could be wrong!