Cork v Kildare

[emmetryan]

I've put together a tactical analysis piece on this game for anyone interested here http://action81.com/blog/?p=6109

[Donnellys Hollow]

I suspected after the Meath game that things may have gone a bit stale and McGeeney's voice doesn't resonate as much after 5 years. I think yesterday proved that to be the case. It's the first time that Kildare have bowed out tamely since 2007 which is the most disappointing thing but there is no shame in losing to that Cork team. Hard to know whether he'll give it another year or not. Whoever is over Kildare next year needs to do the following IMO:

- Convince Doyle and Earley to give it another year. They might not be the forces of old but their voices are needed in the dressing room.

- Appoint a new attacking coach. I know Carew does most of the work with the forwards but for whatever reason they appear disjointed whenever they come up against a good defence. Maybe that's down to a lack of quality but I think we need some fresh ideas and a fresh approach in this department.

- Make every effort to get Kevin Feely on board. This may be unrealistic given his soccer commitments but if he's able to tog out for Athy and for the Kildare u21s then surely he can be facilitated as regards training and so on. It would be great to have Paul Cribbin available too but I'm not sure what the story is regarding him and whether he'll make it in Aussie Rules.

- Come to an arrangement with the clubs regarding the availability of county players. I think the county players need to have more time away from the county setup. I cannot be healthy for them to be so insular and they must be sick of the sight of each other at this stage. Get them playing more club football. It will help the fringe players who do not see enough action as it is and it will help recharge the batteries and keep things fresh.

- Give the likes of Fogarty, Dowling and Eoin Doyle a good run at it in the National League next year. It's clear that a fresh injection of youth is needed and there's no better place than Div 1 to blood these young players. I'd hope to see Seán Hurley and Conor Brophy back on the panel too as they are the sort of players Kildare can ill afford to let drift away. We know what lads like McLoughlin, Scanlon, Ennis, Roli and Tommy O'Neill are capable of and we need to find out whether these young lads can cut it at the highest level. Even if we were to get relegated, I think we would be in a stronger position facing into the future if these lads are bedded into the team by the start of the championship next year.

- Lose the siege mentality. It's self defeating and only provides an easy excuse when we're beaten, i.e. everyone's against us, referees, media etc.

- If there is any lingering resentment or bitterness regarding Johnston from within the panel then he has to be cut loose. I'd say everyone in Kildare has heard the rumours at this stage and who knows whether they are all true or whether they are all complete bullshit. It's clear though that the whole saga and the media circus it generated cannot have been helpful to the team's preparations this year.

[rodney trotter]

I think the Airtricity league being played during the summer would probaly have ruled Feely out of playing with Kildare seniors this year. It starts around mid March and run into November. I think this is his first year with Bohs? He played with Kildare u21's, maybe there was some agreement with Bohemians as the u21 campaign finishes in the beginning of May.

[heffo]

I suspected after the Meath game that things may have gone a bit stale and McGeeney's voice doesn't resonate as much after 5 years. I think yesterday proved that to be the case. It's the first time that Kildare have bowed out tamely since 2007 which is the most disappointing thing but there is no shame in losing to that Cork team. Hard to know whether he'll give it another year or not. Whoever is over Kildare next year needs to do the following IMO:

- Convince Doyle and Earley to give it another year. They might not be the forces of old but their voices are needed in the dressing room.

- Appoint a new attacking coach. I know Carew does most of the work with the forwards but for whatever reason they appear disjointed whenever they come up against a good defence. Maybe that's down to a lack of quality but I think we need some fresh ideas and a fresh approach in this department.

- Make every effort to get Kevin Feely on board. This may be unrealistic given his soccer commitments but if he's able to tog out for Athy and for the Kildare u21s then surely he can be facilitated as regards training and so on. It would be great to have Paul Cribbin available too but I'm not sure what the story is regarding him and whether he'll make it in Aussie Rules.

- Come to an arrangement with the clubs regarding the availability of county players. I think the county players need to have more time away from the county setup. I cannot be healthy for them to be so insular and they must be sick of the sight of each other at this stage. Get them playing more club football. It will help the fringe players who do not see enough action as it is and it will help recharge the batteries and keep things fresh.

- Give the likes of Fogarty, Dowling and Eoin Doyle a good run at it in the National League next year. It's clear that a fresh injection of youth is needed and there's no better place than Div 1 to blood these young players. I'd hope to see Seán Hurley and Conor Brophy back on the panel too as they are the sort of players Kildare can ill afford to let drift away. We know what lads like McLoughlin, Scanlon, Ennis, Roli and Tommy O'Neill are capable of and we need to find out whether these young lads can cut it at the highest level. Even if we were to get relegated, I think we would be in a stronger position facing into the future if these lads are bedded into the team by the start of the championship next year.

- Lose the siege mentality. It's self defeating and only provides an easy excuse when we're beaten, i.e. everyone's against us, referees, media etc.

- If there is any lingering resentment or bitterness regarding Johnston from within the panel then he has to be cut loose. I'd say everyone in Kildare has heard the rumours at this stage and who knows whether they are all true or whether they are all complete bullshit. It's clear though that the whole saga and the media circus it generated cannot have been helpful to the team's preparations this year.

If McGeeney stays on I wonder if he'll be as active in the transfer market over the winter

[Ohtoohtobe]

Some people have a lot of bitterness in them. After a county gets hammered, the last thing that would occur to me would be to go on the internet to stick the knife in. I might have a lot of faults, but I'm glad I'm not like that.

Anyway I think that's a good post DH and I broadly agree with it, particularly the part about spending more time with the clubs, to me the set-up smacks a bit of the Irish rugby team in the 07 world cup. I mean, Cork were making a big deal of getting three weeks off from club football to prepare for this, ffs, KE players, if they are in the starting XV, get about 33 weeks away from club football.

Truth is, like that Irish rugby team, we're not good enough to land the big one. That doesn't mean there isn't plenty of football left in us, and more excitable fans should remember that 24 counties would swap places with us, that only perhaps five counties ARE capable of winning Sam, and there's no great shame in not being one of them.

Finally, I'd give McGeeney another year. He's smart enough to learn from his mistakes and the only natural successor is signed up for another year with Longford anyway.

Also, I wish people would stop talking shyte about money. We don't spend as much as people make out (€600k this year) and even if we did, there's worse things it could be spent on than a county team we're proud of. 

[heffo]

Some people have a lot of bitterness in them. After a county gets hammered, the last thing that would occur to me would be to go on the internet to stick the knife in. I might have a lot of faults, but I'm glad I'm not like that.

Anyway I think that's a good post DH and I broadly agree with it, particularly the part about spending more time with the clubs, to me the set-up smacks a bit of the Irish rugby team in the 07 world cup. I mean, Cork were making a big deal of getting three weeks off from club football to prepare for this, ffs, KE players, if they are in the starting XV, get about 33 weeks away from club football.

Truth is, like that Irish rugby team, we're not good enough to land the big one. That doesn't mean there isn't plenty of football left in us, and more excitable fans should remember that 24 counties would swap places with us, that only perhaps five counties ARE capable of winning Sam, and there's no great shame in not being one of them.

Finally, I'd give McGeeney another year. He's smart enough to learn from his mistakes and the only natural successor is signed up for another year with Longford anyway.

Also, I wish people would stop talking shyte about money. We don't spend as much as people make out (€600k this year) and even if we did, there's worse things it could be spent on than a county team we're proud of.

Im not sticking any knife in. It's a legitimate question. He clearly decided last year he'd taken the Kildare players as far as he could and decided to bring better non-Kildare players in.

I'd imagine he is staying on, Ryan would hardly have committed to another year otherwise

[Ohtoohtobe]

Wasn't referring to you Heffo. The answer to your question, I'd say (hope) is no.

[rodney trotter]

Best of luck to Kildare in Div1 next year. The highest level is the best level to play. 7 out of the 8 Quarter finalists this year were playing Division 1 football this year. Ye were the only county that weren't but will be there next year. Ridiculous that Laois weren't given a chance against Dublin, they might have been relegated from div1, but they were playing against all the top counties.

[Donnellys Hollow]

I think the Airtricity league being played during the summer would probaly have ruled Feely out of playing with Kildare seniors this year. It starts around mid March and run into November. I think this is his first year with Bohs? He played with Kildare u21's, maybe there was some agreement with Bohemians as the u21 campaign finishes in the beginning of May.

Possibly but he is still playing for both the Athy seniors and u21s through the summer and into the autumn. I know it's unrealistic to think he could commit full time to both senior intercounty football and Bohemians but I hope that every effort is made to entice him to play for Kildare even if it means that he does not train frequently with the panel. I understand that he is on a soccer scholarship to DCU at the moment and that involves some sort of link up with Bohemians: http://www.bohemians.ie/features/1644-feely-stands-high-in-fields-of-athy.html

An Athy poster on the Kildare board was suggesting that Glasgow Celtic were being linked with him so maybe it will all be in vain from a Kildare point of view anyway.

[rrhf]

Taxi for McGeeney!

[Donnellys Hollow]

Some people have a lot of bitterness in them. After a county gets hammered, the last thing that would occur to me would be to go on the internet to stick the knife in. I might have a lot of faults, but I'm glad I'm not like that.

Anyway I think that's a good post DH and I broadly agree with it, particularly the part about spending more time with the clubs, to me the set-up smacks a bit of the Irish rugby team in the 07 world cup. I mean, Cork were making a big deal of getting three weeks off from club football to prepare for this, ffs, KE players, if they are in the starting XV, get about 33 weeks away from club football.

Truth is, like that Irish rugby team, we're not good enough to land the big one. That doesn't mean there isn't plenty of football left in us, and more excitable fans should remember that 24 counties would swap places with us, that only perhaps five counties ARE capable of winning Sam, and there's no great shame in not being one of them.

Finally, I'd give McGeeney another year. He's smart enough to learn from his mistakes and the only natural successor is signed up for another year with Longford anyway.

Also, I wish people would stop talking shyte about money. We don't spend as much as people make out (€600k this year) and even if we did, there's worse things it could be spent on than a county team we're proud of.

Im not sticking any knife in. It's a legitimate question. He clearly decided last year he'd taken the Kildare players as far as he could and decided to bring better non-Kildare players in.

I'd imagine he is staying on, Ryan would hardly have committed to another year otherwise

I'd say he'll stay on alright. Glenn is the only realistic successor to him and he's unavailable. I just hope if he does stay on that he does not remain too loyal to some of the players that have served the county well over the past few years but have ultimately come up short. We need to blood some of the younger lads and my fear is that he will stick to the tried and trusted and we'll be sat here repeating the exact same things in 12 months time. It might take a few years for them players to come good and that may mean relegation and missing out on a 1/4 final place next year. If it's only going to be a case of one last year for McGeeney then he might not be as willing to get the ball rolling on a job that is probably going to take at least two or three years.

In fairness to him he has been willing to blood young players like Eoin Doyle this year but I'd also argue that he has made some daft calls regarding the young talent in the county. Bringing Hurley on against Dublin last year and then taking him off again after a few minutes was a puzzling decision and it cannot have helped his confidence. Likewise substituting Tommy Moolick after ten minutes of the first league match this year and then not giving him any other run out all year was silly and will not help his long term development. Even yesterday he introduced Dowling who I rate very highly, but he hasn't played all year while Fogarty who has shown plenty in recent months was left sitting on the bench.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Taxi for McGeeney!

We can't afford one.

[LilySavage]

'An Athy poster on the Kildare board was suggesting that Glasgow Celtic were being linked with him so maybe it will all be in vain from a Kildare point of view anyway.'

Saw him in Croker yesterday, hope to see him there on the field some day.

Regarding the match, i think we have been far too open this year and was surprised that he would line us up against Cork without a proper centre back. Last couple of years we have had 6 backs and MOF as a sweeper and Callaghan dropping deep as well. Yesterday we had 5 backs and no Leper and the most direct team in Gaelic football destroyed through the middle. Think that Brian Flanagan has never let anyone down in that regard and would have been suitable as a stopper in that area.We could have sacrificed a wing forward .

I agree with a lot of DHs points but wouldnt see an ample replacement for K McG just yet. Defo need a forwards coach though and next year maybe its one last push for Leinster. Its not beyond us.

Johnny Doyle should defo stay on, give him a break till March and he'll be back.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Johnny Doyle should defo stay on, give him a break till March and he'll be back.

Amen to that. Give him till next May if necessary. He was still the best Kildare player on the field yesterday along with Alan Smith who has really produced up this year.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Wasn't surprised by the result but certainly was by the margin. Kildare's up and down summer finished on a dreadful performance. I said months back that the Seanie Johnson saga wouldn't do the team any favours but I never imagined it would have the effect it did.

Never seen a team so wide open at the back in Croker before, that run by Walsh from his own 65 is surely unprecedented. I imagine it'll be a long emotive winter in Kildare.