Leinster Senior, u20 & Minor Football Championship 2019

[seafoid]

Glad I am still in Holland.

Congrats to Carlow .

On and off the pitch we have severe problems. We have a county board obsessed with making money as directed to them by Croke Board. They are now taking on infrastructure project badly needed but they can't afford.

A change in manager would give an uplift, biased as I am Glen Ryan would instill some belief & change the identity of a Kildare footballer. They play without emotion. Zero emotional energy in them.

Yesterday should be seen as a watershed moment but with the current landscape of Leinster football there might not be the will.

Anyway roll on the qualifiers.

This x1000000000.

Aughrim 1990 was a watershed moment. Yesterday needs to be the same. That's the worst I've ever sat through anyway and by a long way.

An axe needs to be taken to that team and start again afresh. I've never seen a group that is as mentally fragile and that's saying something as a Kildare supporter.

It is very strange. Compare Meath and Kildare. Meath have been shite for the last 5 years with no upside.  Kildare got a good run in D2 last year and got promoted . Very different to Meath. But the wheels fell off this year.
Maybe a new manager could do better.

[Blowitupref]

U20 round 1 result from tonight.

Meath 6-16  Wicklow 1-9
Offaly 2-19 Carlow 1-10
Dublin 2-21 Longford 0-11
Westmeath 2-12 Wexford 1-12
Kildare 1-17 Laois 4-6

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Great entertainment in Newbridge, nice to see some Kildare players with testicular fortitude for a change.

[AZOffaly]

Good win for the Faithful. When is the next round of this?

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Bank holiday Monday 2pm. Meath vs Kildare the pick of the games.

[LooseCannon]

Good win for the Faithful. When is the next round of this?

16th of June for us, AZ. We've a bye in the next round, as there's only three teams in our group.

[Dinny Breen]

Dinny

Kildare are on a shocking bad run - 12 defeats in a row in all competitions I think. I would love to see Glenn Ryan given the task. He is well regarded in Longford and I am surprised he didn't kick on after this stint with us. Maybe he had other committments but he would certainly instill some confidence back into the Lillies. I think KIldare will beat Derry and maybe there is a summer ahead.

Fair play to Carlow. Last won Leinster in 1944 - not sure when they were last in a Leinster final but I do think Laois will have too much for them.

So - maybe I am being a little naive here - but a repeat of the 1968 Leinster final is on the cards. We beat Meath in '68 as well (and they were All Ireland Champs at the time) as well as beating Dubs.

Lads, why is Cian O'Neill failing so badly? Is it a tactical thing, a man management thing, a physical preparation thing, or all three?

I will give my opinion but respect that someone like Donnelly's Hollow will have been at more games this year. This is a generally critique as I was in Holland for the Carlow game.

Tactically.

Our defensive system isn't working. Eoin Doyle is a fine CB but we deploy him as an auxiliary sweeper with Fergal Conway dropping back and then trying to go man to man. It works fine on teams that keep bodies up but against defensive teams that sweep forward on counter-attack it's a disaster and we foul so much when teams run hard and direct. In attack we are too laborious, lack confidence (bar Dan Flynn). To me we look over coached and roles are too restrictive. E.g. Niall Kelly, a very creative player who has gone backwards under O'Neill. O'Neill also reminds me of Eddie O'Sullivan, harder to get off his teams than on them. Never seems to be any consequence player wise to playing poorly. Must be demoralising for the non-starters.

Technically

Our most glaring technical deficiency is our inability to tackle add in how uncomfortable we look at passing the ball under pressure leads to a lot of fouls and turn-overs. This is a coaching issue.

Physically

We are big, athletic and have pace. We don't lack for fitness. We are well prepared. High rate of ham-string strains.

Life-style

Kildare players have egos, a cultural thing in Kildare, we have an undeserved arrogance married to reasonable underage success and Kildare players think they are better than they are. I never get the impression that this current bunch of players are willing to put in the hard yards, the first snow-flake GAA team.

Mentally   

No win since June last year, that destroys confidence. Mentally they were always fragile but this bunch of snowflakes haven't shown any mental fortitude under O'Neill, we don't win tight games, we either win pulling up or we lose.


They as a bunch need to now take a stand. These qualifiers are now on the players. O'Neill won't be in charge next season unless a miracle happens. There is an awful lot of anger in Kildare and with Gobshites like Tomas O'Se feeding that mentality it's getting personal.

An analogy I use with my teams refers to the Spartans, either you come home with your shield or on it. Attitude is everything. They need to show some attitude.

[Dinny Breen]

Dinny

Kildare are on a shocking bad run - 12 defeats in a row in all competitions I think. I would love to see Glenn Ryan given the task. He is well regarded in Longford and I am surprised he didn't kick on after this stint with us. Maybe he had other committments but he would certainly instill some confidence back into the Lillies. I think KIldare will beat Derry and maybe there is a summer ahead.

Fair play to Carlow. Last won Leinster in 1944 - not sure when they were last in a Leinster final but I do think Laois will have too much for them.

So - maybe I am being a little naive here - but a repeat of the 1968 Leinster final is on the cards. We beat Meath in '68 as well (and they were All Ireland Champs at the time) as well as beating Dubs.

I am biased, clubmates and grew up together but he would change the mentality and he would surround himself with good people. Politics involved sadly and even from talking to Glenn not so sure he will put himself forward again but he is my choice and the choice of many on the ground.

[seafoid]

I thought Kildare were reasonably strong underage. It might not take long before they are respectable again.

[westbound]

I thought Kildare were reasonably strong underage. It might not take long before they are respectable again.

Kildare were 'respectable' less than 12 months ago. Under new management it shouldn't take long at all to get them back up and running. Maybe Cian O'Neill can turn it around? If they beat Derry it'll be a massive start! But either way, Kildare should be respectable very soon.
It might take a little longer to be competitive with Dublin

[Blowitupref]

I thought Kildare were reasonably strong underage. It might not take long before they are respectable again.

Kildare were 'respectable' less than 12 months ago. Under new management it shouldn't take long at all to get them back up and running. Maybe Cian O'Neill can turn it around? If they beat Derry it'll be a massive start! But either way, Kildare should be respectable very soon.
It might take a little longer to be competitive with Dublin

I thought Kildare were patronised last summer for getting within 9 points of Dublin. They have done well at underage and their club football is decent which such mean things should start to improve at senior level for them however they will probably need a better manager and more local one that is more likely to get the best out of their players.

[AZOffaly]

Cian O'Neill is Moorefield. He's not a mercenary blow in.

[westbound]

I thought Kildare were reasonably strong underage. It might not take long before they are respectable again.

Kildare were 'respectable' less than 12 months ago. Under new management it shouldn't take long at all to get them back up and running. Maybe Cian O'Neill can turn it around? If they beat Derry it'll be a massive start! But either way, Kildare should be respectable very soon.
It might take a little longer to be competitive with Dublin

I thought Kildare were patronised last summer for getting within 9 points of Dublin. They have done well at underage and their club football is decent which such mean things should start to improve at senior level for them however they will probably need a better manager and more local one that is more likely to get the best out of their players.

That's possibly true, but no doubt getting to the leinster final and getting promotion from division is respectable. I'm not suggesting they will be competitive with Dublin any time soon.

[mup]

Cian O'Neill is Moorefield. He's not a mercenary blow in.

However he is living in Cork.

Rumours are that he will have some sort of role with Munster Rugby next year.

[Cunny Funt]

Cian O'Neill is Moorefield. He's not a mercenary blow in.

However he is living in Cork.

Rumours are that he will have some sort of role with Munster Rugby next year.

Has he attended many Kildare club game the last few years when living in Cork? He must be getting good traveling expensives out of this Kildare senior gig.