Clare v Kildare round 3B qualifer

Nerves are not the best after that! Woeful first-half performance which to be honest continued into the second half as Clare doubled their lead. We made so many unforced errors in the first-half it was hard to believe it. Cross-field and diagonal balls that were never on or just went astray. Our problems from kick-outs have emerged again - they scored a point in the second-half from one that didn't reach the 45 although to be fair to Connolly he did make one great save in the second-half that was vital. Conway, Flahts and Smith carried the team in the second-half and Leper, after a sticky first half, showed his value. JR will have a dilemma the next day as Fogarty was out of sorts and TOC's contribution was important - who will start the next day? Fogarty's place-kicking wasn't even a factor tonight as I don't think we had a kickable free in the first half (we had one 45 I think which he missed).

That bit of experience in the team told in the last 15 minutes but we all know that won't be enough the next day. We will go in against Mon/Don as massive underdogs - no harm.

Also what is the story when players are receiving treatment - there was an incident in the second-half when Fitzpatrick/O'Grady (not sure which) was receiving treatment but McQuillen allowed Clare to take their free and they ended up scoring from the play. Consistency?

Regarding the next day - are we looking at a double-header in Croker on Aug 2nd with Kildare vs. Mon/Don and Meath/Armagh? The wide open spaces again I'm afraid!

Next match will be a double header in Croker on Saturday Aug 2 and (assuming Dublin win tomorrow) will be Kildare v Monaghan/Donegal and Meath v Armagh.

One of the most frustrating things watching Kildare this year is there is no consistency of performance. Just when the forwards seemed to click against Down, they were very poor tonight bar one or two. Ironically, the much maligned full-back line against Meath now seems one of the strongest lines of the team. How much of this is down to inexperience or Jason Ryan(!) or a couple of players being off form or not good enough is open to debate.

Jaysus lads absolutely blessed to win that. Thought the backs played really well Fitzpatrick had an absolute stormer and was always out infront of his man, Ollie put in a typical Ollie performance and was class also broke forward at pace.
Midfield was bad Gary Brennan destroyed us I agree with the other poster and Daryl definitely should be in there or even Hughie Lynch.
I thought there was too much fucking around with the ball in the first half and we lost it so many times Podge was coming out into the midfield leaving Smith isolated too this needs to be worked on we didn't look like we had a plan and as people have said already only for Fitpatrick, Ollie, Conway and Alan Smith the match would have been over in the first half.
Despite Leper having such a bad first half he was immense in the second half and helped us to get back in the game and score the equaliser. Flats played very well when he came on and Id start him instead of Niall Kelly don't think he has done it in the last couple of games and doesn't look confident. Id have Tomas in for Podge too.
3 more things
1.You would need an incredibly strong heart to support them by god they have ye drained!!
2.The lads showed some unbelievable character to come back from 6 points down in the second half in not conceding and scoring 7 on the trot.
3. Joe McQuillan is a biased prick and I hope to god he never referees a Kildare match again!!

Best of luck to the minors and onwards and upwards!!

Very poor performance from midfield up with the exception being smith and a dogged display from McNally. The backs played well particularly Fitz, Lyons who completely nullified tubridy and Conway who is improving with every game. O'Flaherty was excellent and toc was very good when introduced.

the rollercoaster continues, great to get the win but for the most part the performance was dire. huge amount of individual errors in the 1st 40 mins but character was shown from there on in. Our best team or combination is still probably not starting and it needs to be the next day. anyway two weeks to get it right and you never know what might happen, we have the potential

We can gloss that up any way we want, It was a Division 4 Team against a Division 1 Side, and if there was a 2nd tier in the Football, Claire would be in it... and yet if they hadnt went so Defensive when they were 6 Points up, I have no doubts who the Winners were..
It really does look like the Management are reading this Forum, with the change in tactics and Personal implemented.. Not sure any advice we give them will save us the next Day.. although on the bright side, we are Jeckyl & Hyde, and next Day we are due the good One.

The problem for me is the lack of consistency of individual performance which may be linked to lack of consistency of tactics. There's very few players who seem to guarantee a consistent performance. The likes of Fogarty, Moolick, Chalky, Kelly, Bolton who did well tee last day, were quite poor last night. The trouble is if you drop them are you sure their replacements will perform? Thank god Jason did go with Smith starting as we were dead and buried without his contribution.

On the defensive set up, I wonder was Jason preparing for the likes of Mon/Don and even looking next down the line, Dublin? You can't operate with just one forward against a massed defence though. I couldn't understand what Fogarty (not the fittest of lads) was doing chugging around midfield while Smithy was ploughing a line furrow up front. Madness and the fact he was hauled off suggests he might not have been out there under instruction. He'll probably lose out to TOC the next day on a "needs must" basis but I think Fogarty remains a big player for the future for us.

Niall Kelly and Chalky presumably will be under pressure too as will Mick O'Grady. If P Kelly is still unavailable as looks likely (not on bench yesterday) Eoghan Doyle may take his place. Donegal's full forward line would be a huge test for our defence and Monagahn are none too shoddy in that dept either.

Where I really feel we'll struggle is midfield against either Don or Mon based on yesterday's evidence. Clare's Brennan is a class act and McGrath isn't bad either and unfortunately Tommy and Chalky were destroyed. Hugh Lynch in for Chalky maybe? Daryl needs games I'd imagine to get to the pitch and throwing him back in at Croke Park seems dangerous. Hard to see him getting back in this year.

Can't understand why Round 4 should be in Croker - a neutral venue such as Clones or Hyde Park would be a great championship occasion, as Ennis was last night with 7000 people making a great atmosphere. (Btw, Cusack Park was a major disappointment as a first time visitor. It looks way better on TV and I never thought I'd see a ground with less plastic seats (none for the general public) than Conleths. I know they were planning to flog it and move out of town during the Celtic tiger days so I presume they got themselves in the same mess as us trying to do something with an old, shabby stadium.

That was one of the hardest fought wins I can remember, so great credit to all the lads the way they battled to get the last 7 scores to win by one. They showed a real desire, great heat and some of the scores we got were absolutely top class. Clare really took the game to us from the start and put us under a lot of pressure. For the 1st 45 mins we were second best which is the worrying thing if we want to progress any further.
As has been said we made lots of individual errors and our playmakers coughed up possession and gave the ball away on numerous occasions. They got a run on us in the 1st 10 mins of the second half, (the very same as against Meath & Down) when our kickouts fell apart. We were under pressure at midfield where the Clare no8 Brennan dominated, we are missing a physical presence here.
Some people saying Clare are Div 4 who we should have no problem beating, others saying they ran Kerry to 4 points so are a good side. Having watched the game I can only say they were very decent, very good defensively, excellent in midfield, with some good forward play, and with the home crowd behind them they threw the kitchen sink at us. We showed great heart, fight and no little skill to win it and that is the pleasing thing for me. That performance would not beat Donegal or Monaghan, but we have 2 weeks to work on that and we go forward with a fighting chance.

Jaysus ya wouldn't know if you are coming or going!
If that is our idea of a defensive system I'm very worried. We are like Ireland at Euro 2012. We don't seem to support the forward line while still not protecting our own goal. As was noted Smith inside with 5 Clare men in the first half then the move breaks down and Clare seem to get at our full back line with ease.
Players like Fitzpatrick stepped up as did Conway. After the break Lyins and Cribbin did well. From midfield up we were v bad in the first 45 mins lads like Kelly and Leper looked all over the shop.
Tomas and Flats turned it around and the latter really took the game to Clare.
Feel sorry for Clare as their crowd were decent and beating Kildare would have been a huge scalp. Mental thing is we are liable to do anything against Monaghan who are a proper outfit.

Flamingo you obviously have no clue about football, the team have conceded 11 and 12 points in their last two games that's not bad if you ask me. No goals conceded so it's strange you say we have nobody protecting our goal.

I missed the Down match but by all accounts we were good. We needed Futzpatrick and Lyons to be on top form to get on top in their individual battles. If Clare had better operators up front we were in trouble plus Donnellan made a crucial save in the second half.
I don't mean literally protecting from goals but fact is opposition has it too easy getting at out full back line. We demolished Louth and yet they could have got in more. Meath could have had the game wrapped by HT.
Fitzpatrick was IMO the best player for 70 mins. You can look at what we conceded
And say I haven't a clue but just going on what I've seen there is no doubt we are letting teams get at us far too easily.

Don't know about anyone else on here but looking at us and comparing to the top teams i am very fearful of our lack of intensity and poor tackling ability. I was never a fan of Solon and questioned his GAA capabilities and it looks to me as if we have lost the ability to tackle with intensity. To me tackling sets the tone for most games and puts doubt into the opposing teams heads i wonder are we even practicing it? Any views?

Our tackling has been weak in since 2011, before that I thought we were pretty good. The top teams ie Dublin Mayo & Donegal are put serious pressure on the player & ball. Monaghan are equally good at tackling but lacking in other areas.

Noel Mooney was in the stands just up from me and you'd like to think he knows a little something. He was shouting down basic things like pressure on the ball and so on. It all seemed very reasonable but it was the total opposite being done.
We actually stood off so much it was crazy. We are always crying out for a big hit but I'd be happy with some tackling at this stage especially out the field.
Only mentioning Noel as he is a coach and I was wondering what our coach was telling the lads to do?!

Tackling would be well down the list of improvements required for the Monaghan game. The more immediate issues are the forwards ability to not lose the ball in contact, not kick the ball away, get out in front, see the ball dead and convert chances. Only Smith and Flaherty are exempt from this. Midfield needs serious improvement too. Because of all of the above our backs are under massive pressure and to be fair are doing a serious job. We're far more solid back there than during the league anyway.

I think our forwards need to be able to stop the opposition moving the ball out of defence as easily as Clare were able to do. Some of our attempts at tackles were poor and Alan Smith, Paidi and Niall Kelly were probably lucky that McQuillan wasn't dishing out black cards on Saturday. Our backs did well but I think if Monaghan are allowed bring the ball up the pitch as easily as Clare were, then Conor McManus and Kieran Hughes will punish us. The intensity of our tackling is certainly way behind that of the top teams. The exception would be Fergal Conway - I think his tackling is excellent.

One of the most worrying things on Saturday was the amount of time we allowed Clare have on the ball once they started to come forward with it.

There looked to be some sort of clear plan to get bodies back inside our half, but as far as actually tackling and trying to disrupt play there didn't seem to be much on offer. When we tried to break from the back with the ball everybody seemed to be clustered through the middle, there was very little width to the team with Cribbin, McNally and Bolton playing pretty centrally for some reason.

From the start it looked like we had a clear height advantage in the fullforward line, yet for some reason we isolated Smith in there, and kept trying to play in low diagonal balls into the space in front of him. The Clare defence they coped with this very well, even in the one on one battles they came out on top as our lads looked to make a run and waited for the ball to come to them instead of rushing out to meet the ball like the fullback line was.

It wasn't until O'Connor came on that we actually mixed it up a bit with some long balls in towards the square.

For too long there was a lack of leadership on the pitch, nobody looked like they wanted to actually take on the responsibility of taking a shot with a lot of handpasses back and forth across the 45 being played. This allowed Clare plenty of time to get men back behind the ball and ultimately snuff out our attacks.

To be fair though we showed good character to come back and dominate for the last half hour. Again the subs had a good impact on things and were effectively the winning of the game for us.

There's probably more negatives to take from it than positives which is strange anytime you win a game, hopefully though we're able to tighten things up at the back for the Monaghan game and our midfield put in a better showing after being wiped out on Saturday (was surprised neither Lynch nor Flynn were introduced).

If we allow Monaghan move the ball out of defence as easily as we did Clare then they'll run right through us. If Smith is isolated as a lone forward inside the Monaghan 45 then he'll struggle to make an impact.

See we only got 6 frees, we all know how much of a joke that 'referee' is -any record of how many Clare got?

micky murphy wrote:

See we only got 6 frees, we all know how much of a joke that 'referee' is -any record of how many Clare got?

Clare got 23 frees.

Hate giving out about refs but his record 'against' Kildare would make you wonder!