El Ancient East Classico Kildare v Meath

[thejuice]

God, we still have a lot of work to do. Thought it would be a lot closer.

Kildare better in the strength and fitness stakes. But also tactically they knew where to snuff out our threats. Reilly and O'Sullivan were well marshalled. Unfortunately none of our other threats from the last game made an impact in their place. Jones and Wallace weren't effective. Kildares tackling was very impressive I have to say.

They'll give the Dubs a rattle but they really need to be way better at taking their scores.

[Shamrock Shore]

Seeing how shambolic Louth were today leads me to the conclusion that perhaps Meath got too much hope in their win over Louth.

There is a chance Meath's next opponents could be Longford.....shur that will be a handy one to get ye back on track!

[Dinny Breen]

I think we all expected it to be won or lost on the performance of the Meath full back line. Kildare's starting full forward line scored 2-9...

[GalwayBayBoy]

Kildare were very impressive in fairness. Gives me a small bit extra hope for ourselves considering we beat them in the division 2 league final. They look like a side that will take some beating this Summer. Definitely on the up.

[yellowcard]

Good to see Kildare getting back to being competitive again, hopefully it will make for a competitive Leinster final. Cain O'Neill seems to be going in the right direction with them.

[seafoid]

Kildare were very impressive in fairness. Gives me a small bit extra hope for ourselves considering we beat them in the division 2 league final. They look like a side that will take some beating this Summer. Definitely on the up.

Division 2 was slated before June. Kildare and Galway have improved a lot.

[cornetto]

League 2 final team

Kildare: M Donnellan (0-01, 0-01 45); M O'Grady, D Hyland (0-01), O Lyons; J Byrne, E Doyle, K Cribbin (0-01); K Feely (0-04, 0-03f), T Moolick (0-01); F Conway (0-01), F Dowling (0-01), P Cribbin; C Healy, N Kelly (0-05), B McCormack.

C/ship team

Kildare: M Donnellan; M O'Grady, O Lyons, D Hyland; K Cribbin, E Doyle, J Byrne; K Feely (0-05, 0-04f), T Moolick; F Conway, N Kelly, D Slattery; C McNally (1-03), D Flynn (1-04), P Brophy (0-02).'

No  c .mcnally d flynn p.brophy.kildare alot stronger now than league 2 final

[Jinxy]

I left Tullamore with a depressingly familiar feeling last night.
First of all, congratulations to Kildare.
Superior all over the field.
Athletic, powerful, well-organised and hard-working.
In truth, if they upped their conversion rate we could have been beaten by 20 points.
Flynn and Brophy (in particular) ran the legs off our FB line, who were huffing & puffing after 20 minutes.
Was impressed with McNally who I previously would have considered to be more of a worker than a finisher.
Feely was excellent also and Moolick got through a load of work before he went off.

As for us, my worst fears came to pass in terms of our goalkeeper, FB line and centre-field.
I'd say Feely & Moolick wish Paddy O'Rourke was a Kildare man as they seemed to really enjoy his kick-outs.
I lost count of the number of times one of our lads was in acres of space around the middle only for Paddy's high, floating kick-out to arrive 5 seconds later at the same time as a Kildare player who invariably caught it cleanly.
We could not get past midfield, which meant we had to revert to short kick-outs and our HF line dropped deeper and deeper to try and run the ball out.
In fairness to Menton, he tried his best to drag us back into the game in the 2nd half and kicked some good scores, but he was pretty much on his own at midfield.
The mark rule is a big advantage for this Kildare side and I think they will have the edge over Dublin in terms of the aerial battle.
Our starting HF line was incredibly ineffective.
O'Sullivan tried hard but his decision-making is awful, which resulted in him turning over possession time and again.
For me, Wallace has lost the electric pace which made him such a potent weapon a couple of years ago.
Without that, he hasn't a lot to offer.
Graham had one of those days he tends to have.
He was tightly marked, his head dropped, and he contributed little or nothing.

Lenihan was the only bright spark in attack, although O'Coilean did very well when he came on.
In the period after half-time we got some good scores and built a bit of momentum but in reality Kildare were so physically dominant and so secure in possession, it was always going to be a false dawn.
I think Kildare will give the Dubs a rattle as Flynn and Brophy will enjoy the wide open spaces of Croke Park and I think Feely & Co. will do damage around the middle, however they will need to be more clinical.
As for us, literally any team with a bit of confidence & spirit could take us the next day.

[thejuice]

I wasn't  as depressed as yourself Hardy. I think Andy and Gerry need to work on a plan B if graham and Cillian are being crowded out and prevented from running. It was clear in the first half we needed more support in midfield for the breaks so pulling lads back and maybe leaving Lenihan and O'Sullivan up front by themselves. It might have stopped some of the bleeding at the back and gave the forwards some space.

[Main Street]

I wasn't  as depressed as yourself Hardy.......

Hardy?
Some good players in that Meath team but overall that was a very disappointing performance as poor as I've seen from them in the championship.
Besides having pace to burn, have Kildare rediscovered their gym mojo or are Meath players getting smaller?

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Besides having pace to burn, have Kildare rediscovered their gym mojo or are Meath players getting smaller?

It is a Kildare team based on the gargantuan 2010 minor and 2013 under 21 teams.
Sean Hurley and Podge Fogarty are another 2 huge men who may be back in contention next season from that group.

Not to mention the 2013 minor team who still have some potentially big county players in the likes of Paul Mescal and Luke Flynn who might come onto the panel at some stage. Then the 2015/16 minor teams to come in down the line with some of he 2015 team being panellists already. This years minors look competitive and it is a massive game in Newbridge coming up against Dublin. A win there would be a massive boost.

[Captain Scarlet]

That must be the main worry for Meath, the fact thst there is not much happening at underage.
Kildare have a core there who won't peak for three years. The players are sttong and physical, but unlike the Geezer years, are not bulked up.
They don't seem to be carrying extra muscle and there is speed on most lines. That is what the Dubs have too, but I dint think we are bear their level.
The wides were and issue but P Brophy hit a fair few due to over eagerness.
How will Meath come back after that?

[twohands!!!]

I'd say Feely & Moolick wish Paddy O'Rourke was a Kildare man as they seemed to really enjoy his kick-outs.
I lost count of the number of times one of our lads was in acres of space around the middle only for Paddy's high, floating kick-out to arrive 5 seconds later at the same time as a Kildare player who invariably caught it cleanly.
We could not get past midfield, which meant we had to revert to short kick-outs and our HF line dropped deeper and deeper to try and run the ball out.
In fairness to Menton, he tried his best to drag us back into the game in the 2nd half and kicked some good scores, but he was pretty much on his own at midfield.
The mark rule is a big advantage for this Kildare side and I think they will have the edge over Dublin in terms of the aerial battle.

I think Kildare will give the Dubs a rattle as Flynn and Brophy will enjoy the wide open spaces of Croke Park and I think Feely & Co. will do damage around the middle, however they will need to be more clinical.

No way in hell will Kildare win anything like the amount of ball they won from the Dublin kickouts as they won from Meath kickouts.
Not one of Cluxton's kickouts will be of the high floating ball just begging to be plucked out of the air variety.
Surely there is a better keeper in Meath than O'Rourke ?

Kildare conceded only 2 points from frees - and one of those was in something like the 68th minute when the game was over.
Meath hardly had much in the way of goal chances yesterday either.

In the 2015 championship Kildare conceded a whopping 15 goals in 5 championship games and 7 in 7 league games. 22 goals in 12 games.
Last year in the championship it was 5 in 4 championship games and 8 in 8 league games. 13 goals in 12 games.
In 10 games this year between 8 league and 2 championship they have conceded a total of 4 goals. 4 goals in 10 games.
This doesnt't account for the difference in teams played or the fact that Kildare were in different divisions, but if a side is not conceding goals, their odds of winning games, increases massively.

For me the worry with Kildare would be the wastefulness of the forwards - 2-16 is fair scoring, but as you progress in the championship you are going to meet much better defences.
The Meath defence was wide open yesterday - I'm not sure what the final tally of Kildare wides was, but for me the big negative was that a lot of them (especially in the first half) were poor enough wides.

[thejuice]

I wasn't  as depressed as yourself Hardy.......

Hardy?

His post was so long that by the time I got to the end I forgot who wrote it. Sure it's bound to be him or the other fella, does it matter.

[Hardy]

I'd have said exactly the same as Jinxy, so that's OK. (Though I wasn't the match and I'm too depressed to say anything.)