Seanie Johnston Switch and outside managers

[Lone Shark]

I have to say I find the choice of going to St Kevins intriguing - I thought he said he was living in Straffan?

Anyway, it's not exactly the kind of club a glory hunter would choose, which is a point in Johnston's favour. All that said, I remain of the belief that a lot of what Kildare have achieved is on the back of a large group of players buying into McGeeney's ethos and committing themselves wholeheartedly to the system. When that sense of spirit and commitment is so important, it's a huge move to introduce a new breed into the ecosystem.

Honestly, I was all set to place a decent sized bet on Kildare for the All Ireland this year. It's purely my opinion, but I would think twice on account of this.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Just out of interest what grade are St. Kevins?

Was told last week that Johnston has no intention of playing with the club he joins. He is still living in Cavan so will simply living the life of an 'inter-county' footballer which he clearly desperately wants

They're senior but they wouldn't exactly be known as the most fashionable club in Kildare and they'd have no ambitions of actually winning the county championship.

Niall Carew (Kildare selector and only Kildare native in the management team) is a Kevin's man. People can draw their own conclusions from that...

[DuffleKing]

Johnson will start every game for Kildare in the Championship i would imagine - whether he earns it or not for one very good reason - he is a reliable free taker and a left footed one at that. It will end the sight of Doyle / o'flaherty / kavanagh swinging the outside of the right boot at frees tight on the right hand side!

[Onlooker]

Just out of interest what grade are St. Kevins?

Was told last week that Johnston has no intention of playing with the club he joins. He is still living in Cavan so will simply living the life of an 'inter-county' footballer which he clearly desperately wants

If he is still living in Cavan, how can he get a transfer to any club in Kildare or any other county.   It is by no means certain that any transfer from Cavan Gaels to St. Kevin's will be passed by the relevant County Boards.

[Breffni_Yank]

Johnson will start every game for Kildare in the Championship i would imagine - whether he earns it or not for one very good reason - he is a reliable free taker and a left footed one at that. It will end the sight of Doyle / o'flaherty / kavanagh swinging the outside of the right boot at frees tight on the right hand side!

He is right footed!

Sad times when a lad is willing to pass on a club career because he is so desperate to play for a fashionable county.

Everyone knows he won't be living in Kildare. I have a funny feeling the club will hardly see him.

[fearglasmor]

Just out of interest what grade are St. Kevins?

Was told last week that Johnston has no intention of playing with the club he joins. He is still living in Cavan so will simply living the life of an 'inter-county' footballer which he clearly desperately wants

If he is still living in Cavan, how can he get a transfer to any club in Kildare or any other county.   It is by no means certain that any transfer from Cavan Gaels to St. Kevin's will be passed by the relevant County Boards.

Correct.

[Ohtoohtobe]

The whole thing makes me a little uncomfortable.
I could accept Bryan Murphy and Karl O'Dwyer playing for us because both were committed to living in Kildare and had been discarded by counties that always have strong football teams, with zero hope of ever playing for those counties again.. Murphy is committed to Kildare to this day, for example.
With SJ, it smacks a little more of taking advantage of an internal row in Cavan by poaching their most talented forward - and as Kildare people, we all know how bad that felt when Larry Tompkins went to Cork.
I'm not sure how I'll feel if he's starting in the championship. I wouldn't go as far as to say that anything we win would be tainted, but I would prefer to see 15 Kildare men on the pitch, particularly at a time when we're producing a lot of promising young players and have a strong U21 team.

[Donnellys Hollow]

The whole thing makes me a little uncomfortable.
I could accept Bryan Murphy and Karl O'Dwyer playing for us because both were committed to living in Kildare and had been discarded by counties that always have strong football teams, with zero hope of ever playing for those counties again.. Murphy is committed to Kildare to this day, for example.
With SJ, it smacks a little more of taking advantage of an internal row in Cavan by poaching their most talented forward - and as Kildare people, we all know how bad that felt when Larry Tompkins went to Cork.
I'm not sure how I'll feel if he's starting in the championship. I wouldn't go as far as to say that anything we win would be tainted, but I would prefer to see 15 Kildare men on the pitch, particularly at a time when we're producing a lot of promising young players and have a strong U21 team.

It really is two fingers to someone like Ken Donnelly who has worked his arse off to get back from injury. No doubt that he's not as talented as Johnston but I think most right minded people within the county would prefer to see a lad like him getting a jersey because he would have earned it.

[Hardy]

Big mistake - seems to be totally at odds with the ethos McGeeney seemed to be instilling in Kildare. I heard a Kildare player being interviewed on the radio on Sunday (didn't catch his name). I got the feeling he wasn't all that impressed. Just a feeling, but he said a couple of things that contributed to it - first, that the players didn't know much about it, second that he'd be grand with good new players coming in, but that everyone on the Kildare panel has to knuckle down, put in the graft, etc. - words to that effect - I'm paraphrasing. But why would he feel the need to say that if there wasn't a sense of the superstar being parachuted in?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

This is the way it should have been done at the start.

Now Sean will have to fight for his position in the Kildare team.

+1

Fair is fair. He has moved club and county like many others have done.

+2 No issue with this from his point of view. This is what he should have done first off. Only Kildare will know if they promised him anything to tempt him to move, in terms of playing time or whatever, but that's a matter for Geezer and his team.

I don't necessarily think this should be the end of it. Without having any personal knowledge of the issue, it would appear that there is a huge level of scepticism as to whether Johnston's "residence" in County Kildare is anything more than a ruse to qualify him for a transfer. If this is the case then Cavan Gaels and the Cavan County Board have every right to oppose the transfer and if Johnston can't establish that he is genuinely living in Kildare than the transfer should not be sanctioned.

[NAG1]

Is this the first transfer of the GAA's new January window? 

[haranguerer]

St Kevins? This whole episode just gets more and more bizarre.

I'm very disappointed with the senior management over this and I think it could be a major error of judgement on McGeeney's part. I would prefer to see the likes of Dowling, Fogarty, Hurley or Eaton get a run instead of this lad and I think this could create serious disharmony within the squad. Plenty of lads on that Kildare panel have burst a gut over the past few seasons with little reward and they're not going to be pleased if they get usurped by some lad from Cavan who could be gone again by this time next year.

The whole thing stinks and it is not a good day for Kildare football. Why bother with developing young players through the underage structure if this is the route we're going to go down? We should have more faith in our own.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

I think you are right. If I were a betting man I would say he will be a failure in Kildare. His arrogance and self importance are his biggest flaws and they will come with him. I expect he will be a disruptive influence on your panel. Remember, this is a guy who walks out on his club just to play for a random county like Kildare to which he has absolutely no allegiance. I'm glad he is Kildares problem now (no offence to Kildare, a great GAA county) and Cavan are better off without him.

You're forgetting he was forced to walk out on his club. Thats what this thread was about - should he be allowed to move co without transferrign club. And the vast majority said hell no. well, now he has moved club, as he has had to to play inter co football. Given that the vast majority said he couldnt transfer counties unless he did this, its a bit rich to give out when he does just this.

[Breffni_Yank]

Is this the first transfer of the GAA's new January window? 

And on a Bosman ruling as well. Bargain!

[GalwayBayBoy]

Anyone feel Kildare are being a bit too proactive in trying to recruit Johnstone here. McGeeney seems to be welcoming him with open arms more or less while mouthing a few platitudes like "he'll have to earn his spot", etc. It seems fairly obvious that there has been "transfer talks" for lack of a better word between McGeeney, Kildare officials and Johnstone. Maybe if they said well we'll consider him after he's been here for a while and played some football for his new club but the whole thing seems a fairly transparent attempt to get Johnstone straight into the Kildare squad asap. Just doesn't seem right really. A county with the population of Kildare shouldn't really have to entertain blow-ins no matter how tempting it is.

[mylestheslasher]

St Kevins? This whole episode just gets more and more bizarre.

I'm very disappointed with the senior management over this and I think it could be a major error of judgement on McGeeney's part. I would prefer to see the likes of Dowling, Fogarty, Hurley or Eaton get a run instead of this lad and I think this could create serious disharmony within the squad. Plenty of lads on that Kildare panel have burst a gut over the past few seasons with little reward and they're not going to be pleased if they get usurped by some lad from Cavan who could be gone again by this time next year.

The whole thing stinks and it is not a good day for Kildare football. Why bother with developing young players through the underage structure if this is the route we're going to go down? We should have more faith in our own.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

I think you are right. If I were a betting man I would say he will be a failure in Kildare. His arrogance and self importance are his biggest flaws and they will come with him. I expect he will be a disruptive influence on your panel. Remember, this is a guy who walks out on his club just to play for a random county like Kildare to which he has absolutely no allegiance. I'm glad he is Kildares problem now (no offence to Kildare, a great GAA county) and Cavan are better off without him.

You're forgetting he was forced to walk out on his club. Thats what this thread was about - should he be allowed to move co without transferrign club. And the vast majority said hell no. well, now he has moved club, as he has had to to play inter co football. Given that the vast majority said he couldnt transfer counties unless he did this, its a bit rich to give out when he does just this.

He wasn't forced to walk out on his club - bullshit of the highest order. He had a choice and he made it and now he can live with the consequences.