what did we learn from league

with six weeks to leinster championship what can we take from league what are positive and negative

fone wrote:

with six weeks to leinster championship what can we take from league what are positive and negative

Positives: Fionn Dowling, probably our best player in the league apart from that blip against Tyrone. Our home form has been decent apart from the Derry match, 3 wins from 4 aint bad. Beating the Queens

Negatives: Our scoring rate has been poor enough especially against Tyrone and Donegal. We still havent got a settled mid-field partner for Flynn, thats a huge worry considering Early's setback.

Fionn Dowling our best player!!! What league games have you been watchin?? In fairness to the chap he has a steady debut in the league but thats about it he hasn't set the world a light or anything..can't understand all this talk about him, in fairness wat has he ever done to deserve all this praise..struggled to hold down a place when he was on the minors and was terrible when played for the 21s in wexford for a player that is supposed to be a senior man now..all this talk is nonsense about him

I think a few positives to come out of the league campaign are:
We seem to have found the right keeper in Connolly..he has the size and the kick out, also very gud shot stopper, communicator and will have no problem under a high ball..
Another is Foley at full back..He seems to have taken full advantage of the situation the team had to try and find a full back..especially since geezer didn seemed interested in giving him a chance further out the field where he would be more effective..
O'Neil seems to be finally showing the talent he plays with everytime he wears a larries jersey...

Negatives:
Still no decent centre back found..g white should of been given the whole league to settle into that position.
McLaughlin is still starting when it is clear to people he is more of a danger to us with his consistent fouling and poor ball skills..granted p kelly wud probably be there ahead of him..
Not found a midfield partner for flynn..which should of been one of the main aims for geezer in the league cos early probably wouldnt of made it back for the championship even without receiving this injury set back
Our forward play in general throughout the league has been extremely poor..perhaps this is down to the training being done at this time of year by the team and forward movement and score taking hasnt been a major priority..

Fionn Dowling our best player!!! What league games have you been watchin?? In fairness to the chap he has a steady debut in the league but thats about it he hasn't set the world a light or anything..can't understand all this talk about him, in fairness wat has he ever done to deserve all this praise..struggled to hold down a place when he was on the minors and was terrible when played for the 21s in wexford for a player that is supposed to be a senior man now..all this talk is nonsense about him


Perhaps a bit OTT of Taibi to say he was our best player. However this guy is a real talent. His win rate of balls played into him must be in the 90%s. Some of his scores during the league were Padraig Joyce quality and all from a 19 year old. His point agains Derry in the league was top notch. He is in with a serious chance of starting the championship.

some outburst about Dowling there barrowsider.... all the points he's been scoring as a 19-year-old in his first few months of senior inter-county football would suggest to me this is a serious talent - his bravery in constantly looking for the ball, the manner of his contribution against Meath when we were wobbling and even though he didn't score after coming on with 15-20 minutes to go, he won oceans of ball at half-forward and must have had two or three assists. I'd agree Dowling is very close to starting in the championship.

One thing we learned from O'Byrne cup and league is if we're in a tight game don't take off leper as he is our best player under pressure.

barrowsider wrote:

McLaughlin is still starting when it is clear to people he is more of a danger to us with his consistent fouling and poor ball skills..granted p kelly wud probably be there ahead of him..

Crazy comment. Bit of a myopic view there Barrowsider, You'll only ever see one thing if you only look for that!

Apart from the Tyrone match where he was poor (hardly alone there) , I thought McLoughlin had a decent enough league campaign. He has his limitations, but I've yet to see a better option for the no4 jersey.

What we've learned:

- Connolly looks a good solid keeper.
- Peter Kelly is a big loss. The full-back line has played well but if Kelly was fit we could play Foley alongside Flynn at midfield.
- Chalky finally looks to be coming of age.
- We could struggle at midfield without Dermot. We need another big summer from Daryl Flynn and hope that Hugh Lynch can find some consistency.
- We're not converting enough of our frees and it's costing us dear. The few that Johnny missed against Derry probably cost us promotion.
- Leper is a key player and his fitness is central to our chances.
- Rob Kelly could be a match winner if he gets good supply (not the hail Mary's that were being lumped in up in Dungannon).
- Fionn Dowling is a viable option but he is still far from the finished article.
- It's important that either Jimmers or Smithy recapture some form in order to give us more of a goal threat.

I think the fact of the name barrowsider gives all his partisan views on certain players. I think Mac fills an important role within the team.

My view on things: I still think goalkeeper is up for grabs, Leper & Chalky are fundemental to the team. Fionn Dowling has huge potential and kicked some fine scores. Daryl Flynn is a powerhouse of a player and needs a partner. It's great to see the that there are other people stepping up and getting the team over the line rather than depending on JD to do it. When you see the likes of Kavanagh, Smith, Rob kelly, Tomas O'Connor etc waiting in the wings it can only be good.

Ogie wrote:

some outburst about Dowling there barrowsider.... all the points he's been scoring as a 19-year-old in his first few months of senior inter-county football would suggest to me this is a serious talent - his bravery in constantly looking for the ball, the manner of his contribution against Meath when we were wobbling and even though he didn't score after coming on with 15-20 minutes to go, he won oceans of ball at half-forward and must have had two or three assists. I'd agree Dowling is very close to starting in the championship.

Not to be a pedant or anything but I've seen it in a few places now, Dowling is 18 and so is Moolick. Neither is 19 until October.

Stonecold wrote:

My view on things: I still think goalkeeper is up for grabs.

Really??? I think Connolly has nailed down the number 1 jersey, maybe for years. It's actually hard to think of a really good save he has made during the league but he is very solid under the high ball and has a real presence. I'd like to see him vary his kickout a little but I would imagine he is under instructions from the sideline

The one guy I'm surprised hasn't gotten a go at midfield is Rob Kelly, seeing as that was where he broke into the squad and scored regularly even though only used as a sub there two years ago. I suppose he hasn't had a real run at it though injury-wise.

I thought Mac was very good yesterday. Poor Hugh struggled - if that had been Mac he'd have been crucified on the cross!

Not being pedantic at all about the ages TBF - just accurate. No harm in that at all. 18. Good God, I hadn't played a club game yet and we were only junior at the time!

Fundementals of a good keeper to me are (in no particular order): good kick out, good shot stopper, solid under the high ball, non risk taker, physical presence (it is his house after all) and marshalls his defence.

It's just what I've seen of him so far, I don't like keeper's who come off their line and compete for a ball with 2 defenders (who should have it covered). I think his kickout's are poor and the Sligo goal yesterday was a perfect height to be saved, in fact he did get his hands on it but didn't deflect it enough. But then again I've never been happy with our keeper's since Christy retired, but that's just me.

To be fair, it would have been an incredible save SC, it was point-blank. I like that he's good under the high ball - I agree that there was no need to come for that ball, but Christy was often known to go wandering too! His kickouts aren't bad I thought - it's just that there's little variation, they definitely don't seem to do short kickouts or make space for kickouts wide... so that to me, is not the 'keeper, that's tactical. Kildare fancy themselves to win the breaks so they'll go long and make it a contest every time.

Yeah fair points Ogie, maybe I am being too harsh on de lad.

Did not make the game yesterday.

Was David Kelly paling for Sligo ?He is some player.

tomcruise wrote:

Did not make the game yesterday.

Was David Kelly paling for Sligo ?He is some player.

He wasn't playing TC

I also think it's no bad thing that Spillane and others are writing us off as an "ordinary team" again before the start of championship. Keeping the hype down is good for us I feel, all the while the Dubs are being talked up and up before the inevitable fall.

6 weeks is a pretty long time between the last league game and 1st champ game isn't it? There'll have to be a lot of challenge games between now and then.

I think the main thing that any team can hope for in a league campaign is to unearth some new talent to improve the squad and bring some fringe players on.

I think Geezer has improved the squad dramatically over the last few years. Bringing in Connolly, Moolick, Dowling and then giving players like Chalky, Kelly, Eoin Flats more game time has been importatnt.

There are definitely some question marks going in to the championship but mainly as a result of some terrible luck with injuries. If Earley, Kelly and Conway were fit now we'd all be very excited about the size and strenght of the squad and really looking forward to a long summer.

Last year the team only developed as the season went on. Hopefully this year we can get off to a winning start against Wicklow and build from there.

I think one of the main positives from the league has been Shane Connolly in the goals.

The backs are fairly settled I think with Foley probably being the most consistent through the league. Peter Kelly is a big loss alright but I think people are harsh enough on McLoughlin. He always seems to be the one singled out for negative comments.

In the middle Flynn's the best. Lynch is probably best to partner him there for the Summer although as someone else mentioned I would have liked to see Rob Kelly given a chance in the middle at some stage.

One of the negatives from the league would be the form of the forwards. All of them have been hot and cold in it. I think it's still wide open as to who the starting 6 will be on the 22nd May.

What have we learnt, lets see.

Flynn in our best midfielder by a distance and needs to be played there. He'll have to be the one making the surges as Lynch does not have the pace.
Lynch, if he gains consistency could be an able partner.
For a lad of 18 Dowling could do a bit of damage in the summer as he'll be an unknown.
Free taking has been rubbish and needs sorting out if we have any chance.
Our forwards have at no time come close to what they are capable of.
The supply into the forwards has been poor.
Fitness levels look good.
Goalkeeping position has it seems been sorted.
Squad is a lot stronger than this time last year.
Mick Foley is doing a good job and looks the best bet for Full back.
Nippy small forwards cause us trouble.
Chalky is best in the half backs.
Leper is best in the half forwards.
If the forwards click we'll give someone a pasting.

There are loads more but it would be boring going through them all.
There is one I would add, from listening to "supporters yesterday" a lot of them have no knowledge of the game or players and their ignorance is embarrassing.

Rex wrote:

There is one I would add, from listening to "supporters yesterday" a lot of them have no knowledge of the game or players and their ignorance is embarrassing.

This I agree 100% with.

Some of what was being suggested and shouted in the stands yesterday and indeed the last the last number of times I have been in Newbridge
were cringe worthy.

One would wonder if they ever attend football games.

This "drive it out" mentality whenever one of our lads get the ball in the back line really frustrates me.
If you have the ball the opposition cannot score. If a pass or attack is not on, hang onto it, invite them on you then break.

Also one of our shots dropped short yesterday, someone shouted out "ah for fuck sake why didnt you kick it over the bar".
I'm pretty sure that is what he was trying to do.

Fionn I had a elderly man behind me yesterday and it was cringeworthy. Every player got abuse, when it was kicked in it was hopeless, when it was passed short he screamed kick it in.
Every break we won in midfield was useless because we didn't catch it cleanly.
At one point a Kildare player was injured, doctor comes on moaning idiot behind shouts out "bring him a par of boots while you are there", then proceeds to ask the fellow he was with who it was that was injured.
He even at one stage started supporting Sligo because we were not following his idea of football.
It's a long time since I was embarrassed for Kildare supporters.

i learned that the chipper across the road is not what it use to be,they lack effort in there....need to get the finger out!!! use to be one the best around and its disappointing to see!!

Nonsense, they do a very good cod and chips. Your information is not up to scratch.

Stonecold wrote:

But then again I've never been happy with our keeper's since Christy retired, but that's just me.

What was wrong with Enda Murphy? I thought he was an excellent keeper.