Walsh Cup 2016

[Unlaoised]

With Cahir Joe Zane and willie to come back it certainly looks brighter ...

John Walsh is a boost if he can get up to speed.

[redsetanta]

Merman, John Walsh did captain St Kierans college to an All Ireland colleges title back in 2004.

[Unlaoised]

John Walsh was also center back on a dark day for Laois hurling I remember being in Navan that day and thinking where do we go from here...

At Navan
Down 2-16
Laois 0-19
DOWN - G Clarke; L Clarke, S Murray, S Roddy; G Clarke, K Courtney, P Hughes; A Savage 0-1, C Coulter; R McGrattan 0-1, P Braniff 1-4, G Adair 0-1, M Coulter 1-7, B McGourty 0-1, S Clarke. Subs: J McGrattan 0-1 for C Coulter (h-t), E McGuinness for S Clarke (70)
LAOIS - P Mullaney; B Campion, P Cuddy, P Mahon; J Phelan, J Walsh, J Hyland; J Young 0-9, J Fitzpatrick; K O'Keeffe, D Cuddy 0-2, S Dwyer 0-3; D Culleton, P Cuddy, J Hooban 0-1. Subs: D Rooney 0-3 for O'Keeffe (15), C Healy 0-1 for Culleton (43), J Brophy for Dwyer (58), P Russell for D Cuddy (61)
REF - J Ryan (Tipperary).

Division 1B Relegation Playoff

[redsetanta]

Team for Sunday

O'Reilly
Carroll, Walsh, Maher
O'Mara, Foyle, Mullaney
Stapleton
Whelan
Collier, Reddin, Purcell,
Fennelly, Scully, Kavanagh.

[Buffalobull]

Dublin will be well up for it this weekend and will be a good test to see where these younger lads are at!

[TheGreatGame]

Best of luck to the lads tomorrow, but expectations should be kept low.  A lot of fringe players are getting a chance and a lot of u21's involved too.  We're going to conceeding an awful lot in terms of size and experience tomorrow.  Whatever way it goes against Dublin, the Walsh Cup has served us well this year.

[redsetanta]

Tough day out yesterday.

Too many very scorable wides. Same as last year Dublin proved a real hard test and we didn't have the players to take the game to them.

In saying that we did get to shoot for scores in the final third but some very poor wides even taking account of the wind.

With Hyland, Keenan, Picky and Cha to come back as well as King and Ben Conroy getting over injuries it's hard to see any of the forwards yesterday nailing down a spot.

It's the first time I have seen them this year and management are trying out players and making positional changes so the performance and workrate is more important than a victory. Dublin definately more cohesive. They played with an ease whereas we were very rushed at times and struggled to get and retain possession.

At least plenty of young lads have had a taste of senior intercounty and what's required to make the step up.

[blueandwhite1]

Anyone stand out?

[redsetanta]

There were no real stand out players as such. Maher and Healy in the backs played well but made mistakes.

Whelan wasn't too bad. Reddin was very lively but his size meant he was shoved off the ball too often. Mullaney did reasonably well. Foyle getting used to his new role so struggled to stay with his man. Paddy Purcell did some good stuff but all in all no real standout players as they mixed the good with the bad.

If you were to pick one it would be between Maher and Healy but you know what you're going to get with these lads anyhow.

[burdizzo]

Actually, I thought Foyle played a bit better as centre back this time. Himself, Healy, and Maher were the pick of the backs, while further up the field there wasn't a whole lot to be excited about. With that amount of wides, how could you? Dublin seemed to be out in front a lot of the time. Dowling took his goal very nicely indeed, but didn't do much apart from that.
Reilly really should have stopped the penalty, which wasn't all that well struck.
What's the story w/ Ross King? He was togged out for UCD at Heywood, but didn't feature for them at all. In fact, he was number 30 on the 'programme'. Is he still coming back from injury?

[merman]

I think I heard Roddy had knee surgery before Christmas. Nothing too severe; just to clean up some issues around his cartilage; Willie Dunphy had similar.

I really think we should be looking at Matthew Whelan at full back. A back 6 of Healy-Whelan-Maher; Fitzpatrick-Foyle-Delaney would be a serious foundation!

[Unlaoised]

I see King got too points for UCD at the weekend? or is there a different R.King?

[redsetanta]

Foyle had a decent game Burdizzo but his man did some serious damage. Foyle seemed to get caught at times between holding the space or following his man out the field which left him exposed. He will need to get time to settle into the role as it's totally different to anything he's done since Cheddar came in.

[Ogie]

Poor performance all round yesterday, first time hurling on grass this year showed, a lot of poor touches and poor decision making by most of forwards.
Hopefully all of the above mentioned will be back in training in the coming weeks, we can't afford to be without anyone.
I'm sure Kerry will be targeting two points against us to survive in 1B,
On yesterday's performers I thought Darren Maher, Neil Foyle & Ryan Mullaney hurled well, with Mullaney really putting his hand up for a starting spot, hurling very similar to Tom Delaney last year,
I think Foyle reads the game brilliantly, Santa he was constantly told to sit back yesterday but our midfielders weren't covering, Dublin as they did in te championship game last year used they ball very smartly & gave good ball into their forwards.
Up front only Scully & Purcell showed glimpses of what they could do,

I'm sure they will have a good 4 weeks ahead with plenty of hurling & practice matches (it also looks very much like Brendan Cummins has a much more involved role this year) & with a full crew back on board we will account for Kerry in first round.

I see Offaly are getting all excited and confident again after beating a poor Kilkenny U21 team so hopefully we can beat them in Birr in the second round too and get the year off to a real flyer!

[redsetanta]

Merman, would you not find a place for John Walsh somewhere in the back 6?

Does Matthew have the pace for full back?