Kildare U21 (2012)

Lads lets be sensible in our posts. After all these are only u21's.

Let's not overly criticise individual players. Anyone who does will be getting a ban.

Similarly the management.

swingfly wrote:

A few of these players seem to have gone back a huge amount since minor.. I wonder are they being over/under trained, have gotten a little big for their boots or were they just not that good to begin with. On a positive note Kevin Feely was magnificent, especially when the chips were down towards the end. I remember this age group playing some excellent, free flowing football at minor grade, and now some of them seemed to have lost that yard of pace. This shouldn't really happen between the ages of 18 and 21 and I seriously think the powers that be have to look into what kind of training these lads are doing.Too much emphasis on size in my opinion.

TRUE THAT! We have too many players of the same size and style and they have gone back. The reason for that to me seems to be that the training to gametime ratio for a lot of these lads is silly.
Do you honestly mean to tell me Fogarty, Hurley and Moolick are getting any good benchwarming for Geezer. In fact for the latter two I'd say being hauled off at will has done their confidence harm.
Players can only flourish in the right environment and I'm sure we all agree that Alan Barry is not the man for the job. Just because the formula worked once with Glenn doens't mean it will in the future.
I would never judge or put down any lad at this level. Tom Cruise is entitled to his opinion and to be fair he is pointing to the fact that we have too many similar players who are often being played out of postion just to get them on the field.
Two men I would look at is Hurley and Moolick. I think both are class but just seem off the pace. Can someone honestly tell me how many games either lad has played for their club. Be it league or SFC/ IFC as the case may be?
Both men should be thrown into the mix with their clubs and let them earn their stripes against veteran club men, rather than asking them to flute around with the seniors. Lads their age don't need training, they need matches where they can learn. Kilkenny are the yardstick for both codes and all their young lads get serious club action which toughens them up and gets them ready for playing against men.
Not thinking of the two afforemetioned players now but FFS how many clubs here have lads with minors or 21 county who they rarely get to see? Then when they come back (with delusions of grandeur in some cases) they are being eaten alive by an experienced club man.

Flamingo whilst the Senior Kildare lads train hard they also play games constantly. Amongst themselves and challenges. They sometimes play 40/45 minutes a side. They also have it properly officiated by Top referee's.

I agree.

Lads at u-21, minor and on the fringe on teh senior team need to play with their clubs as much as possible. This fiasco has been going on for 3 years now and we tippee-toe around it every year in case we hurt someones feelings. The setup is ALL WRONG at u-21 at the minute.

Lads getting off the point for a brief second i think playing that match in Gracefield was a joke. I know its prob the best offaly had to offer but there were kids around me who couldnt even see the game. Nightmare to get out of and the floodlights werent the best tbh. Surely the Leinster Council has better options. Portlaoise would of been ideal. I know offaly would give up home advantage but its a great pitch to play and ideal for supporters.

Very unfair to judge players last night given the lack of an obvious intelligent game plan. Even Cooper, ONeill or Brogan would find it hard to shine if the management dont have a way to maximise their talents and bring them into the play. The manager couldn't do it for the last 2 years so its no big surprise it looked bad last night. However to dismiss players' abilty to play senior in the future on one game is silly. Underage success or lack of is no indicator of senior ability. Our 2008 team had an impressive run to the AI final and yet only one of them is a certain starter. McGrillen couldn't even make the first 15 in 08! Would you have dismissed him as " not up to it" back then? Was JD the outstanding underage player of his generation in Kildare? There is plenty of time for these lads to make it yet and I firmly believe some of them will. Perhaps the weights training is not helping at their age. Feeley clearly hasn't done much of that and it shows in his atleticism. Hope those young players go back to thier clubs and enjoy a good summer of football.

I cant wait to get our player back.

Muller, I have to say I don't agree with your comments on Gracefield. I thought they went to great lengths to make the event run smoothly. There must have been 100 stewards on duty.

Fair play to Offaly last night. It gives further proof to the long lost theory that you don't have to be a big trundling behemoth to compete and win. There was no shape or coherent plan to that team (Kildare) last night. The 'big senior stars' were supposed to be the fulcrum of the attack. A plan of attack that gave no scope for guile or inventiveness.

Anyway, there's no point going into too much detail about the game plan (or lack thereof). Every man and his dog knows that McGeeney does not give a shit about any team bar his own. How else could a dope like Barry be in the job for so long. If the county board had any balls they'd have gone against him and hired their own man. But no, they were too afraid that Geezer would walk. If only he would. He's done nothing but put the county into serious debt over the last few years. We haven't beaten a top ranked team in the championship (Meath don't count) during his reign and we're supposed to be a top team? Load of bollocks. I'm sure I'll get a wave of abuse but I couldn't give a shite. I'm sick of the clowns that look to McGeeney as a messiah.

I agree Gomearza. The fact is we have not beaten a top ranked team in McGeeneys term as manager.

some angry angry comments....i think the right management and game plan wud have got them over offaaly last night,the wrong management nearly did sure....dont slate the players and say there not good enough at such a young age,they need to improve thats for sure but im sure everyone of them no that and were thining that on the long bus journey home last night.its all about building for the senior team in the summer,sometimes i think certain people do deep down want the team to fail to either say i told ya or just to rant about players.......some dont like certain clubs and because of this want there players to do bad,get a grip...interesting to see if any new lads link up woth the senior panel now

ManBearPig wrote:

some angry angry comments....i think the right management and game plan wud have got them over offaaly last night,the wrong management nearly did sure....dont slate the players and say there not good enough at such a young age,they need to improve thats for sure but im sure everyone of them no that and were thining that on the long bus journey home last night.its all about building for the senior team in the summer,sometimes i think certain people do deep down want the team to fail to either say i told ya or just to rant about players.......some dont like certain clubs and because of this want there players to do bad,get a grip...interesting to see if any new lads link up woth the senior panel now

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

Essentially what heppenned last night was we were beat by a hungrier and better coached bunch of players (not necessarily more talented). I also wouldn't compare Alan Barry to Glenn Ryan, have never seen Alan inspire any team and it is obvious he is only Kieran's puppet and does what he is told.
I genuinely believe that we should be looking after players however I also believe that you get what you deserve and Kildare as a county are doing is giving players absolutely everything with NO RETURN so therefore these lads (at all levels) start believing in all the hype, and expect everything which I'm sorry if this ofends anyone but our teams are too soft but are great at making it look like they are not, I think they were talking about All-Irelands for this team (what about Offaly)!!
This has been a problem for the last few years with our teams.
We need to ask ourselves who would we want in the trenches beside you when they are throwing the geurnades in - I'm sorry but not too many off last nights team.
I do believe this is not the players fault themselves but the system they have been put in and the crap that goes on around them.

well put Micky

ManBearPig wrote:

some angry angry comments....i think the right management and game plan wud have got them over offaaly last night,the wrong management nearly did sure....dont slate the players and say there not good enough at such a young age,they need to improve thats for sure but im sure everyone of them no that and were thining that on the long bus journey home last night.its all about building for the senior team in the summer,sometimes i think certain people do deep down want the team to fail to either say i told ya or just to rant about players.......some dont like certain clubs and because of this want there players to do bad,get a grip...interesting to see if any new lads link up woth the senior panel now

+1

welocme back Gomerza and Crotch, usually dont hear from you until late in the summer when you call for McGeeneys head, great to hear from you so early this year? no doubt you will post positive posts this summer in support of the team when they get a few good results this year?

Very disappointing result but plenty of overreaction on here. Some valid points raised amongst all the hysteria though. There seems to be a trend at underage level in Kildare (particularly at this age group) where we pick the best individual 15 players rather than the best team. Offaly played some great team football last night whereas we looked like a team of individuals. We had too many square pegs in round holes. It reminded me of McGeeney's first team selection against Wicklow in 2008 when we had M O'Flaherty and Bolton as corner backs with Mac as centre back and Flynn and Roli in the same half-forward line.

These lads are not bad footballers but they never looked like a cohesive unit at all. We do need a rethink at u21 level for the next few years because there has been definite improvement in our minor teams over the last five or so years. It would be a shame to see that progress squandered.

how can a team gell together when only last week MCGEENEY let the lads on the senior panel train with the 21s.the rest of the u21s were playing matches week in week out since xmas and then last week the whole shape of the team changes when the senior panelest come in,think that was unfair on the rest of the team and barry.

Loads of Pints wrote:

ManBearPig wrote:

some angry angry comments....i think the right management and game plan wud have got them over offaaly last night,the wrong management nearly did sure....dont slate the players and say there not good enough at such a young age,they need to improve thats for sure but im sure everyone of them no that and were thining that on the long bus journey home last night.its all about building for the senior team in the summer,sometimes i think certain people do deep down want the team to fail to either say i told ya or just to rant about players.......some dont like certain clubs and because of this want there players to do bad,get a grip...interesting to see if any new lads link up woth the senior panel now

+1

welocme back Gomerza and Crotch, usually dont hear from you until late in the summer when you call for McGeeneys head, great to hear from you so early this year? no doubt you will post positive posts this summer in support of the team when they get a few good results this year?

Ah yeah. I suppose a few results against some second tier teams will keep us happy for another year eh?

My only gripe is with the management, not the players.

I post a good bit and dont think I am against the managment all the time. I just feeling they are beginning to have a negative effect on a lot of clubs regarding players availability, the way they effect minor and u-21 teams training, junior teams etc. All the power seems to be with Mcgeeny and not the cb. Have a lot of respect for him but I just want to beat a big team in an important match. Not hoping we avoid them until we get tot he Quarters or semis.

Muller wrote:

Lads getting off the point for a brief second i think playing that match in Gracefield was a joke. I know its prob the best offaly had to offer but there were kids around me who couldnt even see the game. Nightmare to get out of and the floodlights werent the best tbh. Surely the Leinster Council has better options. Portlaoise would of been ideal. I know offaly would give up home advantage but its a great pitch to play and ideal for supporters.

if all fails blame the kids, blame the floodlights, blame the field, but don't blame the players it was as bad for offaly as it was for kildare
can't belive the sh.t on here or the excuse when kildare are beaten look like sore losers

Townend it's a Kildare forum get over yourself, what do you expect. If you don't like it you know what you can do.

What is it with other County supporters coming in here and moaning that we don't lavish their team with praise when we get beat. Are you that needy and unsure of yourselves that you need recognition form opposing Supporters to make a victory in an underage competition feel real.

As for gomearza, you win the idiot of the day award with botch coming in a close second. " A few results against second tier teams". Like we have been beating all the top teams over the last 80 plus years.

This forum needs a cull in a bad way.

after last night defeat i think a review should be done of u21 set up to see where they are going wrong

Botch wrote:

Have a lot of respect for him but I just want to beat a big team in an important match. Not hoping we avoid them until we get tot he Quarters or semis.

I had to re read that a couple of times to make sure I was not missing something. You want do you, YOU want to beat a big team. But before a quarter or semi as that is just not good enough. I don't know where do you go from there.

You would think by some posters expectations that we were winning All Ireland's every three years for the last 50 years, not two leinsters in that time and no All Ireland in 84 years.

But sure as long as we beat a big team before a quarter final then all will be ok.

Rex wrote:

Townend it's a Kildare forum get over yourself, what do you expect. If you don't like it you know what you can do.

What is it with other County supporters coming in here and moaning that we don't lavish their team with praise when we get beat. Are you that needy and unsure of yourselves that you need recognition form opposing Supporters to make a victory in an underage competition feel real.

As for gomearza, you win the idiot of the day award with botch coming in a close second. " A few results against second tier teams". Like we have been beating all the top teams over the last 80 plus years.

This forum needs a cull in a bad way.

Ah yeah. We'd really be able to beat the top sides with that attitude. And you call me the idiot. What irked you so much? Saying that McGeeney isn't all he's cracked up to be? Christ

You talk to me about attitude when you use the phrase "a few second tier teams".

If you bothered or were old enough to go to games before McGeeney you would of course know that Crofton and Nolan were tactical geniuses and won all their big games, found loads of untapped talent in the County and gave us loads of memorable days.

But I don't need to tell you that do I.