O Byrne cup 2012

To me the Conway / O' Flaherty question as to who plays where can be solved by two questions.
1. who is the best passer of the two
2. who carries the greater scoring threat.

For me the best passer plays in the half backs, the scoring threat plays in the half forwards.
So in my worthless opinion.

1 = Conway
2 = O' Flaherty

Yeah maybe it is to do with the knee but I agree with Rex, all other factors being equal, Conway at wing-back and Flats centre-forward is the way to go in my book.

No harm trying him out there, we'd have a huge scoring threat from O'Flaherty one side and bolton on the other. It's all about evolving the team each year give us that extra edge. I thought his passing was decent enough yesterday too. Ya can't be judging after one game anyway!!

Last year we moved our best forward out of the scoring area to shore up midfield. I think it would be a mistake to do likewise with O'Flaherty especially as Conway can do that job better than anyone on the team. Our priority has to be to be to find at least one more scoring forward. Fogarty, Dowling and Eaton should get some game time to give them experience before summer. By the way if we meet Dublin its likely that a strong team will be selected and also for the final if we win that one so maybe the Offaly game is the best one to try out fringe players.

Like Ogie said Conway hasn't played wing back at all since returning so it looks like centre forward is his. I'd rather him at WB though as he has a lot more freedom there and links up very well with the forwards. Having played with him a lot he is a forwards dream, he will land the ball on your chest from forty yards.

The knee is a huge problem for Mikey, I'm sure it will always be in the back of his mind thinking is this going to let me down again.

Hopefully not though it's great to have him back.

so come june MOF bolton are certs for half back line , so is final place between white or conway, lets be honest eoin will half forward line come championship time

It is great to see so many of the players fully fit and competing for places, however I would agree with some of the other posters that we should be trying out a few new players in the O Byrne cup. I was amazed that not one player from Athy got a run out against DIT. Them lads aren't county champions for nothing.

Much of the debate about Conway v O'Flaherty for wingback seems to revolve around who can pick out the better pass or score more going forward. Should the first prerequisite for the job not be the ability to defend. I'd be interested in hearing members views on which of them is the better defender.

As an aside one of the best passers of the ball we have is Chalky, who is a defender. Also Leper is a good passer too. The 50 yard crossfield ball in the first half to Chalky yesterday was superb. It just goes to show how little this skill (long accurate foot pass) is used any more when it gets a round of applause.

Jesus lads we've played 70 minutes of football in January and centre forward is Conways and Morgan and Eoghan O Flaherty are certs for Wong back.

A little perspective here . It's January . The ball is wet , the ground is soft and what they want is game time and match fitness. After that as we've seen the real stuff starts in June.

Places are up for grabs all over the pitch. I've never seen a Kildare panel with such strength in depth with top top players still to return.

Any given position on the pitch is going to come down to whoever wants it most.

Also it'd be hard to judge young flats on one game at Wing back v DIT. Tyrone/Galway would be a much better barometer. Like wise for Conway at 11.

Stanley on the Athy players issue, a good chunk of them lads are invovled with the u21's at the moment. we may see some of their faces at a later date.

As I've already said, P.Kelly, Conway, Roli, Lyons, all coming back from injury have earned their game time at the weekend. I wouldn't argue one bit with the team selection at the weekend.

I thought there were plenty of changes both in personnel and positions. I think what's throwing people is that it still looked like a strong team which does highlight our strength of depth. I think it's obvious too that there's a focus on winning these games to aid further experimentation with players. No doubt there'll be more changes for Sunday.

The encouraging thing is that we have so many options; not so long ago that a couple of injuries would leave us giving lads who weren't quite up to it debuts in the championship. Now we have substitutes who would have walked onto the team seven or eight years ago. Nice problem to have.

fionnmccool wrote:

Stanley on the Athy players issue, a good chunk of them lads are invovled with the u21's at the moment. we may see some of their faces at a later date.

Thanks Fionn, I didn't know that. It is good to know we have such a strong squad.

When does the U21 championship start?

Kildare U21 play Offaly or Meath away on 07/03

I wouldn't say Morgan or Bolton are certs - I wouldn't say Mick Foley is a cert. If they're not around for the first few games of the league and Kildare win... it's been the case from the start.

Dead on about Chalky's kick-passing, Leper too but Chalky in particular.

Most of the Athy guys are with the U21s and Geezer said he'd prefer to leave them get full games there rather than just pick up 10/15 mins, he'll look at them down the line, they've been playing plenty games.

I actually think that there is more leeway for a half-back to score in the modern game than a half-forward, as you get just that bit more space and leeway coming from deep. Think I said it already but an analysis of Mikey's tally of scores for Kildare would reveal that I would say at least 70% of his scores came in the year he was wing-back.

As for the need to defend, it is a requirement, but no more so than a half-forward. Half the time, the half-forward will be behind the half-back, or covering the same area around the middle third. The days of man-for-man in the backs are gone with a few years now. People were saying the same thing about Mikey. To my mind, Flatts is probably better equipped to deal with a one-on-one defensive situation should it occur, as it will on occasion, no matter how many bodies are in one half of the field.

Right now, I find it hard to believe he'll be there but all I'm saying is I didn't think the selectors were looking at Mikey as a viable prospect there three years ago either. The mad thing for him is, if it works, it could cost his brother a place, and if it doesn't, it could cost him a place in the forwards.

As always, it's the little things.

McGeeney is playing O'Flaterty wing back to help him improve his defending IMO

Conway is good but I feel he tries to tell everyone around him what to do and thats an aspect he will have to stop.

Against DIT he was telling everyone where to be even Callaghan who is a far superior football than Conway.

Felt against DIT O'Connor had a steady game, improving more and more each year, Kelly needs to get more involved rather than just marking, from what i seen he isnt that comfortable with the ball in his hands, granted he is a very good marker but need to be more involved like Lyons does be getting forward and help out the forwards.

Kavanagh was superb when introduced, he need to maintain that level if Kildare are to win anything this year.

Smith doesnt do enough for me end of, he has been given his chances and hasnt taken them.

Chalky O'Neill Roli all had steady games too.

Kildare need Kavanagh to produce this year when hes been tightly marked in the biggest games.

oldspice wrote:

Callaghan who is a far superior football than Conway.

"far superior" / what is this opinion based on?

If Conway is our play-maker, which barring injuries (god forbid) he will be, surely part of his duties is to organise players around him, I would say it is a sign of showing some leadership.

Well done to the lads on sunday. Overall a strong performance, great to see mikey and peter kelly back playing again. Backs were solid and daryl and roli did well. Seems strong enough panel! Best of luck in the next game against offaly and hopefully we can get into a habit of winning games, even this early in the year. Each game is as important as the next.

flourman wrote:

oldspice wrote:

Callaghan who is a far superior football than Conway.

"far superior" / what is this opinion based on?

If Conway is our play-maker, which barring injuries (god forbid) he will be, surely part of his duties is to organise players around him, I would say it is a sign of showing some leadership.

From what I seen Conway well tell people what to do NOT organizing there is a difference.

Callaghan doesnt need Conway to tell him where to be when he's been nominated for an All-Star so he obviously knows how to play the wing forward position to a very high standard. Conway drifts back into the half backs to pick up the ball and doesnt get up to support the forwards when he lays it off.

Who in the name of got let him kick the long range free in front of goal when O'Flaterty is a specialist at it......?

Callaghan is Far superior to Conway, what has Conway done he had one half decent year at wing back, didnt mark anyone.
He slows the game down too much. Get O'Flaterty back at 11 Conway wont be starting in chanpionship thats what I feel anyway.

I'v watched wha tConway has done in the juniors last year and against DIT and from my view people are blinded by uneducated football followers who think Conway is the bee's knees he' s far from it and wont last senior championship pace.

oldspice wrote:

from my view people are blinded by uneducated football followers who think Conway is the bee's knees he' s far from it and wont last senior championship pace.

Where did you complete your PhD in "football following"?

oldspice wrote:

flourman wrote:

oldspice wrote:

Callaghan who is a far superior football than Conway.

"far superior" / what is this opinion based on?

If Conway is our play-maker, which barring injuries (god forbid) he will be, surely part of his duties is to organise players around him, I would say it is a sign of showing some leadership.

From what I seen Conway well tell people what to do NOT organizing there is a difference.

Callaghan doesnt need Conway to tell him where to be when he's been nominated for an All-Star so he obviously knows how to play the wing forward position to a very high standard. Conway drifts back into the half backs to pick up the ball and doesnt get up to support the forwards when he lays it off.

Who in the name of got let him kick the long range free in front of goal when O'Flaterty is a specialist at it......?

Callaghan is Far superior to Conway, what has Conway done he had one half decent year at wing back, didnt mark anyone.
He slows the game down too much. Get O'Flaterty back at 11 Conway wont be starting in chanpionship thats what I feel anyway.

I'v watched wha tConway has done in the juniors last year and against DIT and from my view people are blinded by uneducated football followers who think Conway is the bee's knees he' s far from it and wont last senior championship pace.

Where to start with this. First of all how in God's name do you know what Conway was saying to Callaghan or any other player?

I've played with him and I can tell you he does not go around telling team mates how to play football, if he did he would be told where to go. Are players not supposed to communicate in a match?

"Callaghan is far superior to Conway" Can you expand a bit on this point? They are very different players, both have different abilities.

Lastly on the free, I actually agree with you on this, as I've said before on here Conway is a poor free taker and shouldn't be taking them, although Eoghan O' Flaherty should be demanding to take them if he feels confident he will score.

However the rest of your post is bullshit tbh.

Jayus lads we are only one game into 2012 and already its starting.As for the comment above that morgan nor bolton,foley are certs its mad.These three are the back bone of this kildare team.Foley player of the year and all star,Bolton was also outstanding and so too was flats

Lads just on the Conway free taking, O'Flaherty didn't look as if he wanted to know in the first half so maybe he wasn't feeling it on the day? I thought maybe whyte should have taken the free from 45m as he's popped over a few in the past. But have no problem with a left footed free taker that we've missed the past few years getting some match practice in. Better miss now than in September!!

As for Conway shouting instructions to other players, I thought that showed a sign of leadership. His passing ability is and has been first class. He was quiet in spells but is stepping up his level again after playing mainly for the juniors last year.

old spice, conway has proved already that he is more than capable of lasting senior intercounty football pace, do you not remember the leinster final against dublin, his man of the match performance against laois a few years ago.
as regards peter kelly he is a man marker that is his job thats what he got an all star for, saying that he should be getting more involved is on of the stupidest statements i have ever heard, he is a corner back and his job is to mark and he is very good at it.
p.s how the hell do you know what conway or anyone else is saying on the pitch or what they have been instructed to do? cop yourself on.