Meath Vs Kildare - 5/6/2011, Páirc an Chrócaigh

[lynchbhoy]

Meath are appealing the Farrell sending off. If they do it by the book as Lynchboy said, I don't see how it can be over turned.

worse still , we, as an organisation are so flippin inconsistent the same thing could be overtuned this month and allowed stand next month.
This lack of continuity drives player,s managers, coaches and fans bonkers.

but we cant say the GAA never give us anything to talk about !

[Donnellys Hollow]

What is the perceived contribution in Kildare, if any, of O'Rourke to the make up of this Kildare team?

I understand he has done a lot of work with the backs. He must be doing something right because the Kildare backs seem to have tightened up considerably on the evidence of the two matches so far. They only conceded one point (from a last minute free) in the second half against Wicklow and three points (only one of which was from play) in the second half on Sunday.

He also seems to have taken over from Niall Carew in communicating instructions to the players during matches.

[Lily4life]

Enjoyed the match on Sunday. Brilliant second half performance for us.
Connolly and the backs all did well for us. I thought Bolton was outstanding as was White and O'Flaherty.
In the middle John Doyle was great again. He's definitely one of the best players in the country.
For me Hugh Lynch is one of the most underrated players in Kildare. He won a lot of ball around the middle especially in the second half.
In the forwards Leper was also brilliant, definitely deserved man of the match.
Eoghan O'Flaherty looked like he was lacking confidence with his shooting at times but improved in the second half.
I don't think it suits Flanagan to be in the forwards. He's better suited in the backs but will find it hard to get a place there when our backs are doing so well at the moment.
Smith scored a great point at the start but didn't get enough ball.
O'Connor didn't get much either. I'd say Rob Kelly could push for his place there for the next day.
Kavanagh showed that he's returning to form. He gave a few great passes and his point with the left foot was great.
As for the subs Sweeney was quiet when he came on. Rob Kelly scored a good point. It didn't make sense to me to bring Mark Scanlon on when he was captain of the Kildare junior team and now can't play for them tomorrow night.

As for the sending off. The rule states that striking warrants a red card. In that respect he deserved to go but if officials used their common sense he shouldn't have got more than a yellow.

With the goal it was close but I think Geraghty wasn't in the square. I was thinking at the time he would know better than to be in the square and it seemed on TV that he wasn't. These wrong decisions shouldn't happen. We saw it in the Leinster final last year and our match against Down too. That's just the way it goes. It would have changed the momentum of the game had it stood but I think the better team won on the day.

Bring on the Dubs!!

[Declan]

Best line I heard about this on Sunday night was a Meath fan saying that they had to take the positives out of the performance. When pressed on what those positives were he paused slgihtly before saying - well at least Farrell will be suspended for the next day

[Jinxy]

I don't get all the negativity about Brian Farrell.
I think he's a class player but he needs to be given a run in the team to get his confidence up.
I believe he was flying in training and club games before Sunday.

[lynchbhoy]

I don't get all the negativity about Brian Farrell.
I think he's a class player but he needs to be given a run in the team to get his confidence up.
I believe he was flying in training and club games before Sunday.

well on form, i'd start him before both O'rourkes and Bray also.

[thejuice]

GAA president Christy Cooney has leapt to the defence of under-fire match officials.

http://www.hoganstand.com/Meath/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=149250

"There has never been so much training going on for referees and umpires and linesmen. Last Sunday, the instant reaction from most people was 'it could be a square ball' or 'it mightn't be a square ball'. The referee had to make the judgement. I'm sure if he called it the other way there would have been different views as well.

"Every umpire has gone through a rigorous weekend of review and training and tests, and they have all been certified to a standard. There's not an issue around that. We'd be very happy. We got challenges with regard to our umpires last year and we responded to that and so did the National Referees Committee.

"Let's not just isolate a single incident. They are human beings, they are capable of making a mistake. There will be questionable decisions in every match. It depends where you are sitting, where you are looking at it or whether you are for or against the team in any decision - whether you felt they were wrong or right. So let's not blow this out of proportion."

While I appreciate what he's saying but there seems to be too much of a tolerance of this in his words. We've had 3 games in the last 2 seasons that have been effected by the square ball rule and umpiring. Surely, and I hope, they are looking at a serious alternative to this. It seems to be lost on him that for all the extra training and certification it is still being called wrong.

[Denn Forever]

Watching the match last Sunday, I was very impressed by the Meath play in the first half and was going to post (at that time) that Meath seemed to back to their play of old.  Glad I didn't post as Meath seemed to be a pale shadow of themselves in the 2nd half. 

Was Bray injured?  Was there a strong wind that was not evident on TV?  Why did they seem too just capitulate.  The O'Rourkes seemed to be starved of ball which they were winning well in the 1st half.

[Jinxy]

Tired legs in the 2nd half I'd say.
Mind you I saw a few tired legs in the first half as well.

[Bingo]

Tired legs in the 2nd half I'd say.
Mind you I saw a few tired legs in the first half as well.

Are Bantys army of highly paid trained fitness trainers not doing their jobs then?

Whatever about the shite football Monaghan played at times under the same regime, they were always very fit in playing that way.

[Jinxy]

I think we would be well down the table in terms of aerobic fitness.
Mind you Kildare could make most teams look unfit.
They're reaping the benefits of 3/4 years of consistent high-quality training.
That has a serious carryover effect from year to year.
Hard to compete with that when the management and coaching staff are chopped and changed every couple of years.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kildare are reaping the benefits of being consistently competitive at u21 level for most of the last decade. There was an article in the Indo last week showing Meath's record at u21 since 2002. They have met Kildare on six occasions in the intervening years and they only beat us once in 2007.

2008 Kildare 1-14 Meath 0-05
2007 Meath 3-13 Kildare 1-15
2006 Kildare 2-13 Meath 1-08
2005 Kildare 3-16 Meath 0-07
2004 Kildare 2-09 Meath 2-07
2002 Kildare 0-12 Meath 0-06

Nearly all of the players on Sunday would have featured in at least one of those fixtures. Those Kildare players have no fear of their Meath counterparts anymore.

[DB_An_Mhi]

Agreed Kildare could make most teams look unfit or lacking a championship edge, especially earlier in the season. But 2nd half collapses are becoming more and more frequent with Meath teams, and this year is as bad as ever. Even when there is something at stake. It happened in Derry (despite a good 1st half start) when division 2 survival was very much a concern. And it happened again last Sunday, when they were defending their Leinster title. It is one thing to be apathetic in the middle of winter at an away league match with nothing much to play for. But for a large number of players to drop their heads, lose their willingness to fight when there are only a few points difference on the scoreboard is another story. A GAA pitch is no place for the feint hearted or those who prefer to remain in their comfort zone. What I saw was a number of players who weren't really prepared to contest the crucial midfield battle for possession (effectively downed tools or went missing) and whatever ball they did see was moved on with little thought or intelligence. Few were taking responsibility.

[Jinxy]

We used to go in 4/5 points down at half-time and there'd be a sense among the fans that we'd probably still win the game.
Now if we go in 3/4 points up at half-time you're nearly expecting to lose the game due to a 2nd half fadeout.
This has been going on for 5 years or more and I'm baffled as to why it has not been addressed.
It strikes me that we just play off the cuff and when momentum swings against us we can't keep our head above water.
I think it's a combination of poor coaching and zero on-field leadership.
To be honest, and it pains me to say this, we need a massive clear-out at this stage.
I'd rather watch a team of young lads just out of u-21 go out, give it everything and lose with honour than watch a team of guys who have been around for the guts of 5-7 years go out and just roll over at the first sign of trouble just like they did last year and the year before that and the year before that.
There is nothing wrong with being direct but the opposition know we're just going to hoof it in every single time.
That is very easy to defend against.
We are going nowhere until we change our style of play and get some pace into the team.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

[lynchbhoy]

They're reaping the benefits of 3/4 years of consistent high-quality training.
That has a serious carryover effect from year to year.

same reason why a lot of players (Kildare and elsewhere) are sustaining bad injuries also - I think the body can only take so much for so long before breaking down.