O'Byrne Cup 2011

[The GAA]

FFS lads - a spark who goes into a college one afternoon a week for ten weeks can't be eligible for sigerson cup in anyone's estimation. especially when the credit points attached to courses now are scrutinized so much.

What's a national university?

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kelly hit by torn cruciate curse

GAELIC FOOTBALL : Kildare's plans for the year ahead have been rocked by the news that the cruciate knee ligament curse has struck again, this time accounting for Peter Kelly.

Dermot Earley, Mikey Conway, Ken Donnelly and Rob Kelly were all struck down by torn cruciates last year and now it is Peter Kelly who faces an uncertain future after it was confirmed that the All-Star defender had become the latest victim.

The Two Mile House clubman suffered the injury after just 30 seconds of Tuesday night's O'Byrne Cup clash between the UCD side he was captaining and Meath at Páirc Tailteann.

While initial indications had been cartilage damage, a scan revealed on Wednesday night that the cruciate had been torn.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0114/1224287487358.html

[ross4life]

That's a bad blow for Kildare who's his natural replacement?

[laoisgaa]

Laois v AIT (O'Byrne Shield) - 1. Eoin Culleton; 2. Shane Julian, 3. Denis Booth, 4. Robert Kehoe; 5. Paul Begley, 6. Cathal Og Greene, 7. Niall Donoher; 8. Padraig Clancy, 9. Colm Coss; 10. Craig Rogers, 11. Barry Fitzgerald, 12. Darren Strong; 13. Michael Finlay, 14. Jason Enright, 15. Donal Brennan

[laoisgaa]

Kildare team to face DCU
1. Shane Connolly, St. Laurences
2. Ollie Lyons, Celbridge
3. Damien Hendy, Castledermot
4. Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Kilcock
5. Mark Scanlon, Round Towers
6. Michael Foley, Athy
7. David Whyte, Moorefield
8. Hugh Lynch, Confey
9. Padraig O'Neill, St. Laurences
10. Tommy Moolick, Leixlip
11. Eoghan O'Flaherty, Carbury
12. Eamonn Callaghan, Naas
13. Karl Ennis, Maynooth
14. Willie Heffernan, Nurney
15. Mark O'Sullivan, Celbridge

[laoisgaa]

DUBLIN (SF v Wexford): 1. Stephen Cluxton; 2. Conor McKiernan, 3. Seán Murray, 4. Darragh Nelson; 5. Paul Casey, 6. Ger Brennan, 7. Darren Daly; 8. Colm Murphy, 9. Denis Bastick; 10. Alan Hubbard, 11. Kevin Bonner, 12. Tomás Quinn (St Vincent's); 13. Kevin McManamon, 14. Eoghan O'Gara, 15. Dean Kelly

[Donnellys Hollow]

That's a bad blow for Kildare who's his natural replacement?

Of the three lads on the Kildare panel that have won All-Stars, two have now done their cruciates.

McGeeney will have a job on finding a natural replacement for Kelly because we don't exactly have a lot of quality full-back line players in the county. Declan Brennan would have been the obvious choice but he's gone off to play for Derry!

One of Ollie Lyons, Conor Brophy or Ciarán Fitzpatrick will have to fill in.

[The GAA]

Its hard to give DIT any credit when their team is populated by electriians and joiners. They'd hardly have a leaving cert between them

It's hard to take you serious when you come out with a ridiculous statement like that. Because they are an IT you immediately presume all their players are are apprentices of some sorts. I guarantee you you couldn't tell me five courses that the DIT lads are doing. If eligibility is a problem for you you might want to look at certain Universities. Even the dog on the street knows what is going on.

From the DIT team I seen that beat Wexford in the paper, Bradshaw is doing a masters, as is Cuniffe after they finished off their degrees in NUIG so I  think your comment is completely disrespectful to them fella's.  O'Shea is doing a course he was offered through the CAO. I think DCU tried to get him into a course out there despite him not having the points but some of you might remember O'Shea did an article in the Irish Independent where he revealed he didn't get enough points for DCU but he was hoping they could sort him out. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure Connolly is the only man on an apprenticeship in DIT.

Elite entry is the real thing that is making a joke out of college football. Certain colleges just play fantasy football and bring in whom they like. I think Conor Mortimer is in UUJ now.  I'll say no more.

I know 2 electricians personally who are currently playing for DIT. They've been electricians for 4 and 5 years respectively. Suddenly, they get offered a scholarship to go to DIT one afternoon a fortnight for ten weeks to get some electrical certificate they never knew about nor needed.

Are they the only 2?
I know for certain that they are not. "Apprentices" like this should not be eligible for Sigerson football.

The merits of colleges like DCU and Jordanstown lowering entry points is highly dubious and needs sorted too but at least those students attend courses and can argue their case about course credits.

[thejuice]

O'Byrne Cup, Meath Team Vs UCD:

B Murphy;

C McGill, J Macken, D Dalton;
D Morgan, C McGuinness , C Lenehan;

M Ward, C Gillespie;

S McAnarney, C Ward, N Mooney;
G Reilly, B Sheridan, P Gilsenan

Challenge, Meath Team Vs Down:

Paddy O'Rourke;

Donal Keogan, Brian Menton, Ciaran Lynch;
Ciaran Ellis, Derek Flood, Tommy Johnson;

C Berrigan, P O'Brien;

Gearoid Rennicks, Alan Nestor, Ian Davis;
Martin Doran, David Morgan, Brian Ennis

O'Byrne Shield, Meath Team Vs Kilkenny

Brendan Murphy

Gary O'Brien  James Macken  Colm Brennan
5. ?  6.?  7.?

Conor Gilispie Craig Berrigan

Paddy O'Rourke Alan Douglas Terry Farrely
Ian Davies  David Morgan   Brian Sheridan

Good to see Banty giving as many lads as possible a go in the jersey. I think he might have  learned more from the game against Down than he might tonight against Kilkenny with all due respect.

[The GAA]

Paddy O'Rourke running for keeper and outfield?

[thejuice]

He plays midfield for Skryne. He's handy enough.

[The GAA]

Aye, i know he does - just never saw him outfield for the county and wondered if it was a different por

[thejuice]

Meath 0-13
Kilkenny 1-03


Poor game but sure, its january

[Farrandeelin]

Can't believe Kilkenny scored a goal!

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kildare 1-11 0-09 DCU

Plenty of positives to take from the performance again. Kildare were far too strong in the first half and DCU had no answer to them. The game was over at half time and a combination of Kildare sloppiness and a sympathetic referee let DCU put some respectability on the scoreboard.

Callaghan was excellent for the second weekend running (if there was one surprising Kildare ommission from that Indo top 100 list it was him). For two lads that have been knocking around for a good few years both Scanlon and big Heff had fine games. Willie was horsing lads out of it anytime the ball came his way and he looks to have also added a bit of subtlety to his game. DCU had no one to match his size and strength. Scanlon was very solid at centre-back with Mick Foley moving to full-back. With Peter Kelly likely to be out for the season we should see a lot more of him in the full-back line during the league.

Of the rest, Ollie Lyons kept David Kelly very quiet. He's not the biggest lad in the world but he's got great pace. His Celbridge teammate Mark O'Sullivan again showed well in the forwards and looks a more rounded player than he did when he was on the panel a few years ago. Young Moolick looks well able for senior football and Dowling showed good poacher's instincts for the goal. Connolly in goal has really put down a marker for the rest of the year. Apart from one poor kickout he was solid throughout and saved two penalties in injury time (retaken for some reason).

Wouldn't be reading too much into these O'Byrne Cup games but it's positive to see the fringe lads pushing hard for places. DCU had a strong team but I think all but one of their scores came from Donie Shine frees. I'd say McGeeney will be happy enough with that.