Kildare v Longford

Murof correct will take a bit of strategic planning and long term vision which is not there and no doubt some will fall by the wayside with the wrong attitude and some will join that have grown up but as i said we need to come up with a plan to get closer to Dublin and we have the underage success recently to do this but the people need to be the right people at County Board and Team Management...

For example for the life of me i can't see how sticking with Mark Donnellan in goals and not Aaron O'Neill is going to get us any closer to the top table of football...…..

Saying this for a year or more put Conway at six, moolick with feeley and switch captain in to full back line move out hyland as well by the way are we playing a non contact sport not one hit from a Kildare player yesterday and when the Longford player melted one of ours uproar amazing

Please if anybody on twitter, in the media, talking to anyone in the media or anything please get someone to ask CON or any player why are we playing a non-contact tactics?

Can someone explain why during when team is picked for next game and during 70 min yesterday any changes that are made are usually from 8 to 15 foes CON and his selectors think 1 to 6 are a tight bunch and not in need of change

On a lighter note if we are beaten on Sun at least we won't have Brendan Murphy charging down the middle like last year after his left hook on sat night

totalgaa wrote:

Can someone explain why during when team is picked for next game and during 70 min yesterday any changes that are made are usually from 8 to 15 foes  CON and his selectors think 1 to 6 are a tight bunch and not in need of change

On a lighter note if we are beaten on Sun at least we won't  have Brendan Murphy charging down the middle like last year after his left hook on sat night

Sean Murphy was red carded.. looked more like a right slap... Think Brendan was out following a previous red..

The only positives i can find is that it was an improvement on the Wicklow match against better opposition and the players didn't give up dispite repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot. Very frustrating to watch but unfortunately this appears to be our level

[quote="John_R"]Regards Nash; he is just back after weeks out due to a hernia in early April. Not 100% but I doubt he has much training at all done with the squad. No disappointment in not getting on today.

Not arguing your point.. but if He's not 100% then why name Him in the match squad ?.

I’ve maintained for the past few years that Dublin should occasionally have to play away games in Leinster championship. I know it’s a radical proposal!!

People say “Oh but they can’t play Meath in Navan or Kildare in Newbridge - the crowds will be too big!!”

I know Newbridge is a moot point for this year because of redevelopment, but consider this...

The so-called legendary Dub support amounted to 14,000 on Saturday - for a double header.

And if beating us & Meath is such a foregone conclusion, logically there is no problem playing us away - or at the very least in neutral venue. Or could it be that particular argument is a crock of shit & the Leinster championship is as good as fixed in Dublin’s favour.

Hopefully we do beat Longford so we can kick up over this & make some trouble. GAA establishment already hates us over Newbridge Or Nowhere may as well double down.

Why are you talking about where we play Dublin? Let's beat the mighty Longford before getting the pitchforks out.

Regarding integrating the U20s into the team, Peter McConnon made a great point on the radio during the Wicklow game. He said Hyland looked lost and very frustrated in the corner. He suggested he be allowed take the close in frees to build a bit of confidence. Simple but effective. Same goes with the other young players, give them a chance. This year is a total write off anyway so what's there to lose? Throw O'Neill in goals too on Sunday, couldn't do any worse than our current No.1.

I noticed this paragraph included in the round 1 qualifier today, they probably have this included in the provincial series as well :

'Home venues shall be subject to approval by the Central Competitions Control Committee and shall meet the criteria set down by the National Facilities/Health and Safety Committee.'

In thinking of the above I really won't be holding my breath for the proposed redevelopment of St. Conleth's Park, seems to be moving at a very slow rate although, if moving at all.

Note to Kildare defenders. Watch this: https://twitter.com/refcomeon/status/1133034757032488961?s=21

That’s how you defend and tackle.

Badger85 wrote:

Note to Kildare defenders. Watch this: https://twitter.com/refcomeon/status/1133034757032488961?s=21

That’s how you defend and tackle.

In fairness the fussy man in black we had would have given a free in for the tackle on McLoughlin. David Gough was only too happy for the game to flow!

The really frustrating thing watching Kildare is the amount of amount of easy scores we give up in every game and our failure to learn from them.

Longford averaged 1-10 in the league and they had scored 1-8 by half time yesterday into a strong wind. Apart from the stupid goals and mindless frees we concede, most of Longford's points came from free shots from about 40 yards out. The lack of urgency to close the player down drives me mad and is in complete contrast to any serious team (see Roscommon clip above) For the last chance they had in normal time that hit the post, we had everybody back but nobody made an effort to push out and put pressure on the ball. Seriously???

We have Cian O'Neill who is supposed to be a good coach/tactician, good football men in Tom Cribbin and Karl O'Dwyer, Alan Flynn who is another highly rated coach and Michael Fennelly (one of the great hurlers as performance coach) involved with the team but we keep doing the same thing match after match and don't seem to learn. I've given up expecting anything to change at this stage.

A man said to me that was at the game about Kildare this man follows Kildare everywhere and it would take a lot for him to criticise, he said that Kildare have to many nice footballers that lack the fight aggression leadership ruthlessness that is needed. I said before in a post I would love Kildare to be hated around Ireland but im afraid we dont have the management or the players there at the moment.

Stevie you are dead right – it is the fatal flaw in this team.

Plenty of ability but they simply don't have the steel. It's not going to be rectified this summer unfortunately but hoping we can at least die with our boots on.

Yep I hear that a lot alright.. "Ah shur yere a grand Team, with some lovely Footballers ".. I'd say there's not a County that would fear playing us at the moment.

And that's why you have to seriously question the leadership in the team. O'Neill has his flaws but it's actually the worst thing you can say about an inter-county team: "They're soft."

And let's face it, they are, mentally and physically. That is how they're perceived in the county and around the country.

There's only way to change it – start getting results and producing strong performances.

It also doesn't help that there are a core of players who are guaranteed of their place under O'Neill and he never makes changes to freshen up the team & keep opposition on their toes.

Btw – I'm open to having my mind changed on all this. Blowing away Longford on Sunday would be a good start.

I honestly think he'll name the same starting 15 next Sunday, or close to it. FOR A REPLAY!!

Note that none of us are speculating about possible changes.

I totally disagree with that but I've promised to not whinge about O'Neill this summer for the greater good.

Totally our massive problem is we have no real enforcers.... willing to stand up and put the body on the line and take the pain and injury if needed...… we must have the softest training sessions ever ….. as has been said previously i can't see Philly McMahon giving the Dublin forwards an easy time in training …. like i couldn't see Glenn Ryan, Rainbow, Willie Mc, Lacey, SOS, Davy Dalton, Nuxer or even the likes of Roly in recent years holding back too much in training ……. i would say if anyone put in a big tackle in training everyone would take a step back in astonishment and some might even cry!!!!!! and the CON would talk about it for 15mins...………..

Totally agree Micky. Where the f**k are the Daltons, Ryans, Laceys, McCreerys etc in this group?

The type who hit first and never ask questions later.

I have NO DOUBT O'Neill is too soft on them & mollycoddles them – it's so glaringly obvious in their performances.

Mark Donnelan has to be dropped for the replay. Lapses in concentration and mistakes like his on Sunday can not be tolerated. It's not acceptable. Cian O Neill should have been making decisions/statements like this 4 years ago..
This squad are not playing like their lives depend on it.. O Neill obviously not able to inspire/motivate them..
There's nobody on here demanding leinsters or all irelands.. all I want is a team to be proud of!! The past two years have been an embarrassment

Parcel – nail on head.

And yes, drop Donnellan for the replay FFS. Time to shake this f**king thing up.

Re dropping Donnellan, how many games has young O Neill played in goals this year? Should have played 2/3 league matches

Surprised if the same 15 don't start again on Sunday. He might drop one or two forwards but 1 to 9 is set in stone.
1 to 9 is where the problem is and 3 of those are costing us dearly. Won't name them but even as a small experiment why not swap Hyland and Kelly and see if it improves the team? Too radical probably for this coach.

Personally, I'd keep Dempsey & Hyland and after that, I think there is a strong case for the other four defenders and Donnellan being dropped.

At a minimum, swapping Hyland and Kelly is worth a try.

In terms of personnel and positional switches, O'Neill is easily the most conservative coach in the top two divisions. It's not helping us.