New Senior Setup

Yes, yes and yess.......you are right on all fronts. Mags had the makings of a really good goalkeeper. Was well able to organise her defenders aswell.

Frankie couldnt be still playing, could she?

Mags wasn't in love with county training but her commitment to her club couldn't be questioned, she was and still is a top keeper, we have brought her back from Scotland for a number of big games over the last few years when our current keeper got injured and she has always delivered the goods. But alas she won't be solving Kildare's problem.

You are right Kildare are a very young team, with that comes immaturity, they will learn, I don't know what era you are from but I can only assume you are from the panel that made the breakthrough to senior. and if memory serves me correctly that took a while to achieve. I think its only fair that the current panel of players be given time, there will be setbacks but keep in mind they are starting out at senior and div 1, it will be painful at times but they will find their level and I hope its near the top

Agree completely Ballyboy and the board need to support the management if and when the hard calls are made and egos are bruised.

Don't think Frankie is playing anymore Whitelass, not sure, but she was until a year or two ago. Loves it!

I think that its a bit ambitious to expect young players to play senior football, give 100% commitment and accept defeats (hammerings) ...I don't think they will have the maturity to do all this for the purpose of rebuilding football.

Whitelass wrote:

The very very basics of ladies football are glaringly lacking. Tackling, passing, kicking or soloing on either side and scirong are all sadly lacking.

After seen the kildare men at the weekend, the same could be said about them. Is it something lacking in kildare football training?

Well having seen the Ladies on Sunday I have to say things look much brighter than they did last week. OK the first 10 mins were disorganised but after that it was much better and they totally owned the second half.

So girls just keep on going and I have no doubt things will work out over the next 2 years.

Little Sam whatever the ambition of this panel is I only hope its to stay as close to the top tier as possible, whether this can be achieved or not depends on the quality of player available to the panel. Your comment about ''rebuilding football'' has me a little perplexed, Kildare are senior and play in div 1, when and where was the collapse ??.

This current batch of young players and management have a tough task ahead of them, there are few old heads on the panel to show the way ( Disappointing a few others opted out, they were needed ) and I have no doubt if they work hard enough they can achieve their goals

@Littlesam - I didnt watch the boys playing on Sunday but I head they didnt play well at all. I still dont think you are comparing like with like. From what I have seen of them over the last few years they have been a supremely fit, mobile and effective championship squad. If they are lacking form at the moment, I would feel its only a bit of rust. By the time champiuonship comes around I think they will be back contesting the All-Ireland series again.

The ladies, from watching my daughter play and how she is coached and indeed other clubs. There appears to be a lot of GAA coaches teaching them. Some of whom are very good, but sadly, some of them think they are on a GAA pitch playing GAA football - do I need to point out the differences in GAA and ladies football?

I hope you didnt take my comments about Mags as insulting Ballyboy, I didnt intend them to be taken as so. Mags had all the attributes of making a top class intercounty goalkeeper, and if memory serves me correct, she would still be young enough to be playing......if she wanted? My point was, she simply didnt want it enough.

You say you are disappointed that some have gone away. Im surprised that you are surpried - if that makes sense? Commitment is a massive issue in this county and from my memory, it always has been. There have always been the players who just will not give the total dedication that the likes of Dublin, Cork, Monagahan and so many other counties give. I have heard of some of the guys playing under Kieran McGeeney, who travel from Dublin, Limerick and further to train 2 or 3 times a week. I know of ladies who will not travel within their own county to train.

The collapse, perhaps is a bit strong. But they will not survive in Division 1 this year. And championship results in recent times..........well they were awful. And that was with a full compliment of players.
I guess only time will tell how this one is going to play out.

your last comment there whitelass got me thinking where ash jennings has gone she must be travelling 3 years now has she settled abroad? kelf you might know?

AJ was in Canada for a year and has been in Aus for the last 2. Was home at Christmas but I would not hold out too much hope of her returning. A great pity.

I was very pleased with the performance on Sunday.

The team is much changed this year and will need a lot of time to

Gone from 2011: Patricia Del, Catherine O'Malley, Miriam Murphy, Siofra Daly, Paula Keatley, Aoife Jacob, Caoimhe Keoghegan, Jane & Aoine O'D, Angela Lyons, Noelle Earley, Brianne, Dee Gately and T Noone. Its hard to replace are excellent experienced footballers.
Other like Louise Keatley, Orla & Karen O'Shea, Cliodhna McNamara might also have plenty to offer

But Joe has to get on with those willing to commit !!!!

@ Ballyboy, I am commenting on the discussion...it was mentioned earlier about rebuilding by another person...how come you did not jump on the comment then?

When I referred to rebuilding, I am referring to the lost so many talented players and possibly the core team of Kildare and the introduction of so many new players onto a panel. Maybe rebuillding is the wrong word.

I hope that this side goes on further and remains at the top and can compete competively at the top!! But i still think it is a big ask of a young players to take over from such an experienced panel.

And Whitelass, you are right, it is not like for like, but the lack of scoring in Kildare mens has been there for a long time, missing chances, so on...and i see this also in Kildare ladies.

Wasn't jumping on you at all Little Sam, just looking for you to clarify your point and in fairness you did. Its a pity so many players are gone but to be fair some off them have been around a long time and they can't stay going forever.

Transition is probably a better description for what we a seeing at the moment, hopefully many of the young players will make it, some won't but that life

Transition is definitely a better word for it.

There is alot of new talent there so hopefully in time they will be as good as if not better than the old heads we have lost.

kelf wrote:

Gone from 2011: Patricia Del, Catherine O'Malley, Miriam Murphy, Siofra Daly, Paula Keatley, Aoife Jacob, Caoimhe Keoghegan, Jane & Aoine O'D, Angela Lyons, Noelle Earley, Brianne, Dee Gately and T Noone. Its hard to replace are excellent experienced footballers.
Other like Louise Keatley, Orla & Karen O'Shea, Cliodhna McNamara might also have plenty to offer

Of those you mentioned, only Brianne Leahy was part of the panel long term. Noelle Earley, Deirdre Gately and Tracy Noone had both taken sabatical in recent years. Of course Noelle is a class act, when shes on her game. Tracy? She always shone at junior and as far as I rmember, she might have even got an all-star nomination, am I right? But she always seemed to struggle at senior when I saw her. The other names that you refer to above had only joined the panel in recent years and could not be considered excellant - in my opinion anyway. People like Brianne and Kate have committed to the panel for a long time, some of these new girls could take a leaf from their book!

There are a couple of the young ones playing senior at present who I have seen at underage in recent years. I wont mention names but the attitude and manner stinks. ONe of them got a very fortuitous goal against Donegal and you could just see the ego inflate.
The goalkeeping problem is far from solved. Catriona made some really fine saves against Donegal but the goals conceeded were poor, not just on her behalf. I cannot understand how this issue has been allowed to drag on for so long. And this latest experiment of playing an out field player in goals..........well all you need do is look at the goals conceeded on Sunday to know how stupid that is.

Is there any goalkeepers in Kildare that would be of the required standard? I mean goalkeepers who play in goals for their clubs??

Speaking to a former player after the game on Sunday, she tells me that there is already unrest in the panel and that a couple have walked away already. 2 games into the season..........dosent bode well!

Wouldn’t it be nice to give the new manager and players longer than two months to fix thing particularly when they are playing in division 1 football where mistakes are punished hard. I’m not sure that Kildare has a team that is capable of playing division 1 football and that’s no disrespect to the panel who are putting in a huge effort – I hope I’m proved wrong and that as the season goes on things sort themselves out.
I don’t think it helps talking about players been unhappy and managers having to get along with girls – I’d be very disappointed if both players and the manager weren’t trying to work together and I think they are. Some people thrive on hearing of dissent in camps and trouble on teams, this type of support isn’t need in ladies football and is very unfair without giving a new team time.

With regards to the coaching I do think this may be the issue, with the increase in clubs and teams in the county I’ve definitely noticed a decrease in the quality of the coaching – its amazing the number of ex mens football players who assume just because they were a star on the U12 team in their day they automatically know how to coach ladies football. Good coaches take time to develop and with clubs under pressure to get coaches it sometimes very easy to accept a bad coach.

Agree with both of your points Dual, but I think your being a bit disingenuous when you single out the u12 '' men's '' star, if you know the ladies scene as well as you maintain you will know it is an ordeal to get coaches for underage teams particularly in the small rural clubs, it is nearly always a parent and mostly male, some who have never played, ladies are very reluctant to get involved in the coaching side of things. The county board are trying to address this issue, at the moment they are running a fundamentals coarse and a level 1 coarse, clubs should encourage their underage mentors to do these as it is at this early development stage that good coaching is essential

I like a good debate so could you clarify for me your comment regarding the coaching of ladies football, my opinion is that aside from the obvious rules there is no difference in how the game should be coached and played, Its a field game played on a Gaelic pitch with a football and 15 players, do the same principals not apply ??

While it was good that there was an improved display on Sunday, there is a big gap between Dublin and Donegal. However, given the youth, I would be glad that we would be somewhere close to Donegal. That's a true reflection of the panel out there.

And if people are walking away, let them. This isn't a club team. You never have the 15 most talented skilful players on a county team, at any level in any county, in any code, male or female. You should have the 25 most committed on the squad. And I would say that hasn't always been the case.

And if some of the younger ones have commitment issues, well a lot of the ones that were there a decade had them too. And maybe there is a difference of opinion as regards what counts as commitment.

I remember when Eadestown were going well, Dee Boylan used to travel from Mullingar or somewhere up that neck of the woods to train. For Kildare, they wouldn't come down from Dublin and being in college up there was seen as a genuinely good excuse. I know if I'd have been there, and they weren't coming down, they'd be gone.

That's the first thing that needs to change above all. The junior culture has remained. I certainly will give Joe more than two months. He has to get two years minimum. People need to be realistic. Meanwhile, hopefully the underage structures, coaching at a county level, will improve radically in the meantime because it's very hard to turn things around when you get them at senior level at 16, 17, 18.

Dee Boylan was based in Drogheda and travelled many a day fromthere to both Eadestown & KIldare training. It was probably Aoife Herbert who was in Mullingar.
Brianne worked in Athlone for 3/4 years when the occasion wrong shift pattern meant a missed session, then for 4 years in Aberdeen and missed one game during that spell. A current player lives in Kilkenny, another in Athlone and are apparently fully committed ( Joe would not have them if they were not !!!!).
Thats just a few examples

I admire all of them who give so much for nothing other than the honour & glory of wearing White.

Spot on Ogie

Ogie is right. Too many of these players taking the easy option and saying they cant make training. The last managment team was slated on this forum for players not committing and leaving the panel etc. It just shows where the problem really is.

I dont think its right to say too many. I think there are some players there who enjoy a high enough profile yet do not put in anywhere near the level of commtment required to warrant such a profile. Nor is it right to blame the players for the previous managements faults. How a management team can carry on throughout a 3 year tenure and not sort the goalkeeping position is beyond anybody!

Also, I cannot believe how a player of Brianne Leahy's class is deemed surplus to requirements for a county in the position of Kildare. This team badly lacks some footballers and is cryig out for the strength and ability of her. YEt it has been decided that because she is living and working in Belfast during the week, she is not committed the cause. Would somebody care to explain that one?

Im not surprised at the other recent departures, they have been flitting in and out on a regular basis in recent years.

Recent results havent surprised me at all. Donegal and Tyrone would be the 2 teams I would've expected respectable scorelines against, the remainder of the games will be where the serious damage is inflicted. Even if Cork or Monaghan play fringe players, those players will be working hard to nail down a starting position. Laois and Meath are also capable of running up high scores.

its very easy blame management, but the core of the problem lies within the county board. The development of ladies football is falling behind and suffering because of it. One of the main reasons in my opinion is asking ladies to play league and championship games of a week night puts pressure on ladies with work and college, they cant committ to this and are walking away from the game, and to be honest they cant be blamed nobody has the funds to miss work for a match or travel back and forth from college mid week and again home for weekends.I like most posters here cant see the county team making much progress this year within division 1 and the championship but lets take the positives, like the blooding of new players.

I agree with you regarding the Tues night fixtures, it will ensure that girls who are away at college will not play in the early stages of the league. The fact is that these fixtures are fitted in around the National fixture plan which is issued from Croke Park, having that plan there is very little scope left available to county boards, it is then complicated even more when you add in Camogie, there is quite a number of dual players. In fairness the county board would love to see someone suggesting a better way of doing it but as it stands there is no way around it

With respect Ballboy - this is the Ladies Football board we are discussing, camogie is not out problem. Our interest is in providing properly organised competition for lady footballers in Kildare. Tuesday night fixtures will result in 2 things. Players not being available and clubs playing if and when they feel like it.
It's very admirable to throw out the line about the countyboard would love to see people coming forward etc. The fact is, these people have put themselves forward for these positions. They have actively sought them & want them.
Any footballer in the county will tell you what a bad idea Tuesday night fixtures are. But hey, who cares about footballers. Once the balance is kept with camogie and most importantly the county team. What would be wrong with playing league matches on a Friday night? Or Sat or Sunday morning when players are home from College?
The big issue here is, club players are not being taken into consideration.

Going back a few years League games were fixed for Sunday's in March & April ( and before that in Feb).
The difficulty with that was County had National League on 4/6 of those Sundays (most clubs would not play without their county players), another 1 or 2 week-ends were taken by Inter Pros & O'Connor Cup ( a lot of players involved especially with NUIM/UCD/StPats) and 4/5 Sundays had Camogie National League and againa good few clubshad players involved (Eadestown/St L/Celbridge/May/Lx/Balyna) so games wereeither moved to Tue o& often not played due to so many away at college.

Then ur into College exam time in May & school exams in June & I forgot , Mocks in Feb/Mar often a prob with some teams who were mostly 16 to 18 year olds.

Its a difficulty. No one wants to force clubs to play without their Camogie players or to force players to chose between the two.

If any one can list 9 Sundays that would facilitate all the clubs to play the Senior League, incl the Finals, I'm pretty sure it would make things a lot easier for the Fixtures Sec.

Its all very well saying CB should make fixtures to suif LF & ignore Camogie but will themany dual clubs & players agree.

The men club teams have similar problems and the big discussion for them is being forced to play without their county players.

That would be a major prob for some of clubs and did not work when tried.

I have to disagree with Whitelass & say its possible that its too much consideration that's the problem she identifies !!!!!

If we are going to have a discussion on this issue should we move it to a new thread and not hijack this thread on the County team?

Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Again, it's not right comparing our sport to the boys. They have a group of 40ish players from a big mix of clubs. The girls panel is made up of nearly all Div 1 teams, maybe a few Div 2. Why should all other leagues be held to ransom??

The problems for this group are mounting bigtime. Stacey Cannon, Gillian Behan, Sinead Melia and now Aine Gately have all walked away from the panel.
These problems are bad enough but is it fair that the clubs are forced to play league football on a Tuesday, to accommodate camogie and this chaotic bunch?