Kildare v Mayo NFL 2nd Feb 2014

[Donnellys Hollow]

A good start for a Kildare team that is very much a work in progress. It's important that we win our home games if we're to give ourselves a chance of staying up so that's one down with three more to come in Newbridge.

Pa Brophy will get all the plaudits and rightly so but there were a few of the other newcomers who I thought were excellent, in particular Cathal McNally and Kevin Murnaghan. TOC is fast approaching cult hero status. Anytime you have the man written off he seems to release his inner-Biffo for the day just to prove everyone wrong!

It was gas reading all the previews in the weekend papers still banging the same old drum that Kildare lack quality forwards. If anything, it's a few top quality defenders that we could badly do with. A player in the Glenn Ryan mould would be a godsend because we're opened up far too easily when teams run at us. Like Meath last week, Mayo created countless goal chances but thankfully from a Kildare point of view they were very wasteful in the first half. Other teams in this division will be more clinical when those chances present themselves and they will put us away.

It was one of the most entertaining league fixtures I was ever at and it's a credit to both teams for the spirit in which it was played. The black card should suit teams like Kildare and Mayo. Hopefully we will see a lot more of this positive football as the year goes on.

[Mayo4Sam]

Some good, some bad from yesterday.
Thought boyle got roasted inside, once Caff went on their 13 he was shut out.
Midfield was destroyed on breaks but won any clean ball that was there, thought gibbons did well.
Shane McHale suffered a little with their 11 pulled out of place, Higgins was non-existent, Carolan got on a lot of ball but has a tendency to carry into the tackle.
Bit harsh on mcloughlin there Moysider, that last ball he was bottled up, probably dropped it too early but could have been afraid of over carrying.
Some strange ref decisions, dont know what the free against their keeper was for? Keegan had a free given against him where their forward spun and went to kick the ball and kicked Keegan instead 
And they had a few poor tackles in the second half that I thought were ideal for the black card, a pull back by the neck on one player and Carolan was taken out of it in the lead up to the second goal, in front of the ref

Anyway, a game we should have closed out with the wind at our backs but not the end of the world

[johnneycool]

Caught a bit of this on TG4 and saw the Kildare left half back trip the Mayo lad with an outstretched arm after a great block on him, was wondering if the ref was going to issue a black and after a bit of thinking, discussing with the umpires, he duly did and probably correctly IMO.

What is the thoughts of the footballing fraternity on this one?

Will it take the players a while to get used to this rule as much as the referees?

[Mayo4Sam]

There was lads beside us looking for black cards for every foul, it was hilarious

[Donnellys Hollow]

I think the only player who was lucky to escape a black card yesterday was Sean Hurley. I got the impression that his protest that the forward had trapped his arm and dragged him down on top of him probably put enough doubt in the referee's mind to leave him off.

O'Shea was a bit unlucky. It looked a very clumsy, awkward sort of tackle but I'm not sure if it warranted a black card. Paul Cribbin can have no complaints. He was acting on instinct and will have learned his lesson.

[Dinny Breen]

O'Shea was a bit unlucky. It looked a very clumsy, awkward sort of tackle but I'm not sure if it warranted a black card. Paul Cribbin can have no complaints. He was acting on instinct and will have learned his lesson.

That was was my reading of those two as well, it was pure instinct for Cribben to put the arm up and impede the Mayo lad, caught him sweet between the legs and can have no complaints.

I think big guys like O'Shea and Hurley are going to be in an awkward position as their sheer size can force guys down. I just hope a culture of diving doesn't prevail.

[Mayo4Sam]

I think that is the first of many black cards for Aidan, hopefully after his first 7 or 8 he'll have gotten it out of his system by August

[Donnellys Hollow]

O'Shea was a bit unlucky. It looked a very clumsy, awkward sort of tackle but I'm not sure if it warranted a black card. Paul Cribbin can have no complaints. He was acting on instinct and will have learned his lesson.

That was was my reading of those two as well, it was pure instinct for Cribben to put the arm up and impede the Mayo lad, caught him sweet between the legs and can have no complaints.

I think big guys like O'Shea and Hurley are going to be in an awkward position as their sheer size can force guys down. I just hope a culture of diving doesn't prevail.

Hurley would have been unfortunate had he received a black card looking at this photo of the incident:

http://www.adrianmeliaphoto.com/cathal-carolansean-hurley-a363#photo

[Dinny Breen]

O'Shea was a bit unlucky. It looked a very clumsy, awkward sort of tackle but I'm not sure if it warranted a black card. Paul Cribbin can have no complaints. He was acting on instinct and will have learned his lesson.

That was was my reading of those two as well, it was pure instinct for Cribben to put the arm up and impede the Mayo lad, caught him sweet between the legs and can have no complaints.

I think big guys like O'Shea and Hurley are going to be in an awkward position as their sheer size can force guys down. I just hope a culture of diving doesn't prevail.

Hurley would have been unfortunate had he received a black card looking at this photo of the incident:

http://www.adrianmeliaphoto.com/cathal-carolansean-hurley-a363#photo

Dramatic scream and all...

[samwin08]

Black cards in this game given as rule demands. O Shea can have no excuse. In fact Mayo lucky to escape with just one.  Deserved more - Mayo forward pulled Kildare  defender to the ground and got a free in, should have been a free out and a Black card. Kildare have improved their tackling over last few years anyways contrasted to Mayo reckless tackling over last few years.

[Farrandeelin]

There was lads beside us looking for black cards for every foul, it was hilarious

Haha, us too.

By the way, I would like to apologise to Kildare fans for the greatest 'gobdaw' ever at a match. All he did was constant pathetic wind up attempts on Kildare fans about the reffing decisions, which annoyed me from the 10th minute on. Fair play to the fans for their non-reaction to him, whoever he was. He turned to me when 30 minutes had elapsed and asked 'Should it not be half time now?, All League games are 30 mins a half I thought'. Kept on his pathetic wind up attempts throughout the whole match.

I felt like turning on him and telling him to shut up at one stage, but I didn't heed him.

[ross4life]

There was lads beside us looking for black cards for every foul, it was hilarious

Haha, us too.

By the way, I would like to apologise to Kildare fans for the greatest 'gobdaw' ever at a match. All he did was constant pathetic wind up attempts on Kildare fans about the reffing decisions, which annoyed me from the 10th minute on. Fair play to the fans for their non-reaction to him, whoever he was. He turned to me when 30 minutes had elapsed and asked 'Should it not be half time now?, All League games are 30 mins a half I thought'. Kept on his pathetic wind up attempts throughout the whole match.

I felt like turning on him and telling him to shut up at one stage, but I didn't heed him.

Sounds like Larryin89?

[fearsiuil]

O'Shea was a bit unlucky. It looked a very clumsy, awkward sort of tackle but I'm not sure if it warranted a black card. Paul Cribbin can have no complaints. He was acting on instinct and will have learned his lesson.

That was was my reading of those two as well, it was pure instinct for Cribben to put the arm up and impede the Mayo lad, caught him sweet between the legs and can have no complaints.

I think big guys like O'Shea and Hurley are going to be in an awkward position as their sheer size can force guys down. I just hope a culture of diving doesn't prevail.

Hurley would have been unfortunate had he received a black card looking at this photo of the incident:

http://www.adrianmeliaphoto.com/cathal-carolansean-hurley-a363#photo

Dramatic scream and all...

Dramatic yawn and all...

[macdanger2]

Good game on Sunday – fair play to Kildare for coming back and winning. I was confident at half time that we'd win it and when we got the two goals I thought it was in the bag but they stuck at it well.

Some great medium / long range point taking from Kildare whereas most of our scores came from closer in, not sure if that's a confidence thing or what.

A few thoughts on Mayo:

- Hennelly's three 45s into the wind were savage. Thought he could have take a few short kickouts though when we were losing all the breaks – there weren't many runs being made though.
- Caff was mighty, our best player I thought
- Boyle struggled at corner back. No harm sticking with it for a few more league games but you couldn't play him there in the championship unless he improves.
- Keane was ok but shouldn't have allowed TOC to catch that ball
- Harrison and McHale did ok but not outstanding. Keegan was ok but you'd expect more from one of our stars
- O'Se was unlucky to get a black card, hope he doesn't start pulling out of challenges if he picks up a few. Parsons was doing well until he went off.
- Gibbons did well when he came on, great goal. Looks a bit awkward on the ball though
- Higgins was awful poor considering what you'd expect from him
- Carolan worked hard in the second half in particular but needs to add a more to the end result
- Gallagher did well although he faded out of it for 20 minutes in the middle of the game. Coen not as good but it's their first time out at this level
- Andy is mighty at winning the ball and holding on to it but he didn't get a score on Sunday
- McLoughlin was decent enough, showed well for the ball and got 5 out of 6 frees I think
- O'Connor did well when he came on. Varley didn't do much for the few minutes he was on.

Who was the number 17 who came on in the backs?? He did well to get a block in late on to save what looked like a nailed on goal for Kildare

Both Keegan and O'Se had clear goal chances and blasted it straight at the keeper – if we had scored these we would have been 8-9 points up before halftime and I doubt Kildare would have gotten back into it. Overall, the only starting Mayo forwards to score points from play were McLoughlin and Gallagher – all six of Kildare's forwards scored points from play. We needed to do better on the breaking ball - Kildare dominated here for long periods.

Anyway, onwards to Omagh and those Tyronies

[larryin89]

There was lads beside us looking for black cards for every foul, it was hilarious

Haha, us too.

By the way, I would like to apologise to Kildare fans for the greatest 'gobdaw' ever at a match. All he did was constant pathetic wind up attempts on Kildare fans about the reffing decisions, which annoyed me from the 10th minute on. Fair play to the fans for their non-reaction to him, whoever he was. He turned to me when 30 minutes had elapsed and asked 'Should it not be half time now?, All League games are 30 mins a half I thought'. Kept on his pathetic wind up attempts throughout the whole match.

I felt like turning on him and telling him to shut up at one stage, but I didn't heed him.

Sounds like Larryin89?

Is that a question ? I really get under your skin, don't i. For the record , I don't wind anyone up at games but I will never make a secret of my hatred for all things roscommon.