Clare v Kildare round 3B qualifer

Apart from a home draw against the same opposition I think it's the best draw we could get. Didn't fancy Armagh and all that would come with it so we dodged a bullet there.

We have to think we can beat them to get back into the business end of the Championship. They are obviously a coming team and pushed an out of sorts Kerry all the way.
Hammered Carlow yesterday but you have to think with the win in Newry yesterday we go into it with a pep in our step.

Why not just keep expectations low and see how the match goes. No point in guaging how the game is going to go based on yesterday, as we've seen this team is pretty unpredicatable but I'll be looking forward to the game. Its definitely a good draw.

Goid draw but not as cut and dried as previous years given Clare's strong form. Still we should have too much in second half for them.

Kildare have been so unpredictable this year. If we can repeat the Louth and Down performances we should pull through, play like we did for 45 mins against Meath and Clare will rightly fancy their chances.

Just hoping everyone is properly tuned in this time, would be great to get through to the final qualifier round and maybe even back to Croker for that game.

Have to be happy with that draw.

Suppose Sky will choose the Roscommon - Armagh game over this one so hopefully be another decent away support.

Considering Tipp avoided Cork and Sligo avoided Galway in the draw in 4A is it predetermined that if we beat Clare we'll face the Ulster runners up (assuming the Dubs beat Meath of course)?.

Battle of the Podge's

The draw could have been worse but Clare have improved a lot this year. They were beating Kerry at half time and ran up a big score against Carlow. We don't seem to handle being favourites too well either.

If we play our best though we should have enough. It's time we started showing a bit of consistency.

It's the type of fixture that we have tended to make hard for ourselves down the years but out of the three teams we could have drawn, Clare were the preferred opponents.

A division 4 team plain and simple, no point in trying to big them up. If we don't have 8 to spare at the end it will be a disappointment

Not over-confident but travelling with hope bordering on confidence .....in a sort of a way. To put it succinctly: the usual uncertainty of following Kildare.

jj wrote:

A division 4 team plain and simple, no point in trying to big them up. If we don't have 8 to spare at the end it will be a disappointment

Clare are in Division 3 next year and we are in Division 2 so the gap between us might not be that big.
Tipperary beat Laois at the weekend and the same can happen to us if our attitude isn't right.

JohnnyC wrote:

jj wrote:

A division 4 team plain and simple, no point in trying to big them up. If we don't have 8 to spare at the end it will be a disappointment

Clare are in Division 3 next year and we are in Division 2 so the gap between us might not be that big.
Tipperary beat Laois at the weekend and the same can happen to us if our attitude isn't right.

+1

This is a no win game.
Win well and it's only Clare.
Lose and the daggers will be out.
Show up with the same appetite and application as was shown in Newry yesterday and we'll be fine.

Perfect draw for us. Think we play better in the qualifiers on the road. Without wishing to look too far ahead (but I will!) we now know we play the losers of Donegal and Monaghan as apparently rematches (Kildare v Meath) can't occur in Round 4.

I'd rather have the psychological challenge of favouritism than the circus that would have been a Ryan v Geezer clash or a trip to the Hyde to face a Roscommon side with their tails up.

Clare seem to be playing well but the strength of our squad was very evident against Down but you'd have to be reasonably confident of coming through that one.

One other plus is we get a 2 week gap after next Sat before playing the Ukster losers.

Though they will also have a 2 week recovery.

Rex wrote:

Apart from a home draw against the same opposition I think it's the best draw we could get. Didn't fancy Armagh and all that would come with it so we dodged a bullet there.

We have to think we can beat them to get back into the business end of the Championship. They are obviously a coming team and pushed an out of sorts Kerry all the way.
Hammered Carlow yesterday but you have to think with the win in Newry yesterday we go into it with a pep in our step.

Down hammered Leitrim who are a better team than Carlow and didn't do them much good against the higher intensity of Kildare. Clare's performance against Kerry might be a more useful guide although it was a rusty Kerry's first outing. Tipp's win over Laois should be a warning for us but I think Tipp look a better team than Clare. Need to have the heads right all te same.

Win this and we are going to the bank holiday weekend! We should be beating Clare if we are being honest about it. They may have improved and will have all hands on deck following the hurlers defeat last weekend but we should realistically have too much for them.

I swear to god, I've been watching Kildare since 1990 and I'm always half afraid to say they should beat someone. One time I allowed myself that luxury - Meath in 2012, which I described to someone as "a formality". Karma gave me some nice payback there. Haven't allowed myself the luxury since.

jj wrote:

A division 4 team plain and simple, no point in trying to big them up. If we don't have 8 to spare at the end it will be a disappointment

What did Kerry have to spare over them?

I'd lay money Clare will be happy with the draw too. It's just one of those... you're not going to get any credit for winning it but that's better than you're gonna get for losing it. Take a one-point win. Remember Limerick a couple of years ago?

Gary Brennan is one of the top midfielders around - no-one aware of him here but he's a Paddy Keenan type - strong in the air and good for a few points. We won't be kicking the ball down the middle anyway but they will. And Rory Donnelly and the Collins boys are very good forwards.

What you'd hope is that Kildare's forwards will do damage if they get enough ball. Carlow scored 2-13 despite getting hockeyed. But it was some mauling of Carlow, given they'd beaten Waterford and Waterford took Clare to a replay.

It's the Kerry performance that is the one though. If that doesn't have you on your guard and you're talking about Division 4 and tradition and should be winning by eight points or more, you could be in for a bumpy land. Don't think Kildare can be talking like that about anyone.

Right now though, I'm just still delighted with their response to Meath in Newry. That was excellent.

any word on when the game is? who the ref is?

Game at 7pm Saturday. No consideration for travelling fans.

jj wrote:

A division 4 team plain and simple, no point in trying to big them up. If we don't have 8 to spare at the end it will be a disappointment

I agree, and lets be honest they only drew with Waterford in Ennis.. Its the perfect draw, and next up will be I assume the Ulster Final Losers, im assuming in Croker ?..
I know were a bit Jeckyl & Hyde this Year, but feck if we cant win this One then I ll join Jayson in that lap around the Curragh..   

We are not in a position to start expecting wins. I think people have short memories on this forum sometimes, not so long ago we were doomed and Down were going to hammer us. Now if we dont beat Clare comfortably its not good enough. We have to take each game as it comes, and get the result. I do believe we should win and will win but lets not forget before the last game we were in dire straits according to some on this. Clare wont be pushovers they have had a decent season and put up a huge score against Carlow which cannot be frowned notwithstanding the opposition were poor. Tubridy, Podge Collins, Brennan are all decent players and if we dont have the correct mentality, they will cause us problems. That said, if we are tight at the back and playing with intensity going forward we could cause problems. Think Smithy deserves his chance to start too, he has been razor sharp in every game he has come on it and must be so close now to a start.

Read on some Kildare GAA page on facebook that someone put up all the dates for the games we would be playing should we keep winning. They put up the dates until the All Ireland Semi, we have had one decent win and that happens, only in Kildare  Lets keep our feet on the ground shall we?

Ah come on, were not playing the Claire Hurlers FFS.. as for their victory over Carlow.. Carlow wouldnt beat most Senior Club Teams in Kildare.

Yes there were low expectations travelling to Newry, and rightly so after losing to Meath, but that was to play a Down Team who are always hard to beat and with a tradition to go with it..

We were coming of a bad defeat to Meath and saw our FB torn apart yet again. Is it any wonder some of us doubted we could beat a team that was in a AI final a few years with that preparation?
Clare were a few divisions below Down in the league and have no recent history of challenging for any title. We have a proven record in the Q/F's and are coming of a great win in Newry. There is no comparision between the build up to the Clare game and the Down game.
I am confident we can win but expect a tough game, lets not forget Limerick a few years ago.

I agree its different but some people like to get ahead of thereselves and not just on this forum Im hearing people talking about us making quarter finals/semi finals, its great to have belief I think this team could potentially do well but lets take one step at a time. Ive seen Kildare enough times to never take any game for granted anymore as someone said earlier about Meath in 2012.