LSFC Meath v Kildare

[Dinny Breen]

Just over 2 weeks away and Kildare are f*cked at midfield.....

A major doubt hangs over Dermot Earley's participation in Kildare's Leinster SFC opener against Meath on May 20 after he suffered a recurrence of the stress fracture in a bone in his foot at the weekend.

Kildare manager John Crofton took his team to Sunderland for a weekend of training at the Black Cats' state-of-the-art training facility when Earley, who has been sidelined since the second round of the National League, suffered a recurrence of the injury.

And with Killian Brennan ruled out for the rest of the season, it means that the Lilywhites could conceivably be without their first choice midfield pairing for their clash with the newly-crowned NFL Division 2 champions.

The weekend away had been organised with the help of Sunderland's Kildare-based chairman Niall Quinn.

DERMOT Earley's inter-county career with Kildare is hanging by a thread after yet another injury setback.

Earley suffered a recurrence of a metatarsal injury during a training session in Sunderland where the Kildare squad had set up camp over the weekend, courtesy of club chairman Niall Quinn.

Earley did the damage to his foot while running during a non-contact part of the session. He had already missed most of the NFL campaign because of the same problem and has been plagued by debilitating injuries over the last number of years.

The former Allstar missed most of last year's league with a broken collarbone, and returned for the summer only to miss the qualifier defeat to Derry with a broken metatarsal sustained in training.

Kildare manager John Crofton admitted that the Sarsfields powerhouse will require "minor surgery" and won't play any part in their championship opener against Meath on May 20.

After that, Crofton says he is not in a position to say when his team captain will return again.

"I really couldn't say or wouldn't like to put a time on it other than to say I'm very disappointed for him," said Crofton who faces something of a crisis as he weighs up potential midfield pairings for the game in less than three weeks' time.

Killian Brennan, who ruptured his Achilles tendon in the early part of Kildare's league semi-final defeat to Donegal, has already had surgery and will be out for the rest of the season.

Rehab

Brennan faces a long period of rehab with the injury and it will be next year's league before he can resume with the Lilywhites.

There is better news concerning Michael Foley who is another potential midfield recruit. Foley has resumed action with his club Athy after a prolonged back problem, but as to whether he will be fit to face a resurgent Meath is not something Crofton would be willing to speculate on.

Tomás O'Connor, who moved to midfield after Brennan's injury against Donegal, subsequently damaged a cruciate ligament and he too has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

However, Ronan Sweeney is expected to be ready for the championship after recovering from a groin problem, while clubmate Ross Glavin (ankle) is also back in training.

The trip to Sunderland was organised through Quinn who is a resident of Eadestown outside Naas. Kildare were given use of the newly-promoted Premiership club's facilities and the squad were at the Stadium of Light on Friday as the home side beat Burnley.

Meanwhile, Meath footballers will warm up for their clash with Kildare with a five-day training stint in Portugal next week.

Fresh from their Division Two league success at the weekend, they will continue their preparations abroad but are unlikely to have Graham Geraghty, who is a Fine Gael candidate in the forthcoming general election, as he steps up his political campaign.

Kildare were in Sunderland, Meath are off to Portugal, both teams are putting a lot of effort into this game, our crisis at midfield leaves Meath as firm favourites, although it looks like it could be a straight shoot-out between Doyle and Farrell as both sides are struggling to get other names on the score sheet...

Really fancy the winners here to beat the Dubs....

[thejuice]

Really fancy the winners here to beat the Dubs....

I like your confidence. Im not so sure about that tho. Want to go to this game but the cost of flying on a Sunday is steep and I have an exam the day after. I reckon Meath will win this game, we have the potential but we havent played to our best yet. I reckon Farrell will be well marked so its up to some of our other forwards to step up to the plate. Just like when we played Offaly in 1996(i think), we used Tommy Dowd was being followed everywhere so we pulled him out and allowed Graham Gerethy to run through the gaps.

[Dinny Breen]

I like your confidence. Im not so sure about that tho.

It's nothing to do with confidence in the teams ability, more with the fact that Dubs will be going in cold, have had a poor league campaign and is Pillar's third year in charge and looks to have stagnated conversely both Kildare and Meath have had a good league campaign and the confidence gained from winning their first round will be massive so everything will be favour of the underdog.

[Gnevin]

Don't know who i want to win this one , Kildare so Meath are out in the 1st round or Meath so we can have a cracker in Croke Park

[Jinxy]

Kildare are definitely favourites for this one.

[The Claw]

Kildare are definitely favourites for this one.

Good lad Jinxy, it worked for the Roscommon game anyway!
Joking aside, i would have kildare as favourites, div 1 finalists v div 2 winners. Missing their midfield is a blow to kildare as meath have the potential to dominate that area. Watch out for stephen bray, he will revel in the open spaces of Croker.

[agorm]

Kildare were in Sunderland, Meath are off to Portugal, both teams are putting a lot of effort into this game, our crisis at midfield leaves Meath as firm favourites, although it looks like it could be a straight shoot-out between Doyle and Farrell as both sides are struggling to get other names on the score sheet...

Really fancy the winners here to beat the Dubs....

Dinny, I think that you are stretching the favouritism a bit here. I will be going to the game hoping that Meath win but this Kildare team are at a better stage of development than Meath. They have players coming back and at the end of the day Meath have beaten very little of note. Both Monaghan and Roscommon were poor.

[Dinny Breen]

Lads, your gas just accept the fact that Meath are favourites, it's what the bookies have and they have it like that for a reason. Our midfield is a crisis, we are missing Earley, Breenan, Flynn, Glavin, Foley and Sweeney and are playing a converted full back O'Neill there at the moment. We'll have a couple of those guys back by the 20th but they won't be match fit and certainly not championship fit...

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Canavan assists Kildare
01 May 2007

Tyrone football legend Peter Canavan accompanied Kildare to their training camp in Sunderland last weekend, it has emerged.

The two-time All-Ireland winning forward travelled with the panel to the North East of England to impart some advice ahead of the Lilywhites' Leinster SFC opener against Meath on May 20. Canavan's presence, though, was somewhat overshadowed by midfielder Dermot Earley's latest injury setback, which rules him out of the Meath game.

The weekend away was organised with the help of Sunderland's Kildare-based chairman Niall Quinn. The panel enjoyed breakfast in the K Club on Thursday before flying to Sunderland where they took in the home team's 3-2 victory over Burnley on Friday night.

[The Claw]

Coylle, I think, is a championship manager, he managed to get Monaghan to beat the all Ireland Champs Armagh in 2003 and Dudley always seems to struggle with the underage teams but once they come to championship, they seem to come good.

[Hound]

You're the favourites

No, you're the favourites

No, you're the favourites


Right, with that out of the way, is there any chance any of you feckin saddo inbreds can discuss the game 

[Jinxy]

Dublin will be serious favourites to beat whoever wins this one.

[Jack Dempsey]

Meath will be 1pt favourites with the bookies anyway

[Jinxy]

GG will be no use for this game with the election coming up. He'll be too afraid to tackle anyone lest he get sent off and bring the FG/Labour coalition crashing down around him. We'd be as well to leave him kissing babies in the stand.

[The Real Laoislad]

Anyone know if this game is all ticket? Or will i be able buy tickets outside the ground? I wouldn't mind heading into Croker that day should be two good games