Clare v Kildare AIFQ R3

[Dinny Breen]

From here to there.

First ever meeting and a banana skin written all over it.

[Donnellys Hollow]

I remember drawing with them in the league in 2000. Not sure if we have played them more recently than that.

EDIT: We beat them 2-12 to 2-6 in the 2002 league according to Ger McNally on the twitter machine. Last meeting in Ennis was in 1999.

[Dinny Breen]

Good grief, 7 pm throw-in down in Ennis. Not a good one for fans and I'll have to miss it as I have a prior engagement, KFM it will be. Jesus I hope we don't lose this one.

[Syferus]

From here to there.

First ever meeting and a banana skin written all over it.

Unless you're making a joke about the colour of their jerseys I highly doubt it.

[Zulu]

Clare in Ennis are a tough prospect for anyone, they're about Tipp's standard so well capable of putting it up to Kildare at home. I'll be surprised if the game isn't in the melting pot with 10 to go.

[Donnellys Hollow]

The Kildare players should be reminded of how badly we struggled against a spirited Limerick outfit in 2012. None of these fixtures can ever be taken for granted.

If we put in another solid defensive display you'd have to be reasonably confident. A poor Carlow team put 2-13 past Clare. If we limit Tubridy and Donnelly in the two corners our forwards should be able to amass enough scores.

[Ohtoohtobe]

I wouldn't be surprised if we're trailing with 20 to go but hopefully another strong finish might see us through. Test of our midfield because everyone I've ever spoken to who's seen him play rates Gary Brennan very highly.

[The Lark]

Is Niall Browne from Two Mile House still involved with Clare?

[Donnellys Hollow]

Is Niall Browne from Two Mile House still involved with Clare?

Not anymore.

Adrian Cahill (Celbridge) was also with them for a while.

[stevecw]

After seeing Clare destroy Carlow on Sunday, i'll be following this one with interest. They are seriously fit and play at a surprising pace for what was this year a Div 4 side. Brennan in midfield is a class act. He dominated midfield all game, but had very little opposition in that sector in the absence of Brendan Murphy.

They have some top forwards in Collins and Tubridy and Kildare will have their work cut out at the back. Meath only scored 13 points against us, Clare got 26 and could have matched Meaths 7 goals easily. It's easy to see how they ran Kerry so close.

The big worry for Clare is that they looked very weak in the backs. Carlows very limited forwards got in for 2-13. So I would expect a high scoring game on Saturday evening.
Kildare should have enough to win by 4-6 points or so but will get a serious test. But if they play like they did for most of the Meath game, Clare will win this.

[Syferus]

Clare were a very defensive team in the league this year. Best defensive record in the division too. Strange that all the talk is about weak backs. Clare are only average going forward and will be doing well to simply stay in D3 next year.

This isn't a banana skin for Kildare.

[Zulu]

Syferus, you've an awful habit of confidently writing teams off you don't know much about. You even wrote Kerry off for the love of Jaysus! Using the league is nonsense when judging teams now, where are Cavan, Derry or Cork? All teams who did well in the league yet two are gone and Cork look a shadow of themselves. Division 4 Tipp beat division 2 Laois and Armagh's league hardly set them up for their current position.

Clare are far better than you give them credit for and at home they should do well here. It is certainly a banana skin for Kildare, i.e. a team they would be expected to beat but who have enough about them to catch them on the hop if they aren't tuned in. Kildare should win and might even do so comfortably but Clare in Ennis are capable of troubling a lot of counties.

[Syferus]

Syferus, you've an awful habit of confidently writing teams off you don't know much about. You even wrote Kerry off for the love of Jaysus! Using the league is nonsense when judging teams now, where are Cavan, Derry or Cork? All teams who did well in the league yet two are gone and Cork look a shadow of themselves. Division 4 Tipp beat division 2 Laois and Armagh's league hardly set them up for their current position.

Clare are far better than you give them credit for and at home they should do well here. It is certainly a banana skin for Kildare, i.e. a team they would be expected to beat but who have enough about them to catch them on the hop if they aren't tuned in. Kildare should win and might even do so comfortably but Clare in Ennis are capable of troubling a lot of counties.

Clare are a mid-table D3 team right now, at best. I know exactly what that standard is and how much of a leap it is to challenge teams playing at far higher levels. Kildare will beat them, this guff that there's much chance of an upset is pushing credulity. They might run them close for a half or 55 minutes but Kildare's panel is clearly stronger than Clare's and that will tell even if they put up a good fight.

I wrote Kerry off as contenders for the All-Ireland because they cannot and will not beat Dublin, which is exactly what they would need to do in all likelihood. They have a live chance against Mayo but even then they would be battling against a type of formation they have historically struggled with and they have also had numerous important losses since last season.

You have an awful habit of trying to call predictions before they even have a chance to come to pass.

[Zulu]

You have an awful habit of trying to call predictions before they even have a chance to come to pass.

That doesn't make any sense.

I wrote Kerry off as contenders for the All-Ireland because they cannot and will not beat Dublin

You did far more than that.

Clare are a mid-table D3 team right now, at best.

They're about Tipp's level on league form who beat Laois who did better than Armagh in the league, who just knocked out Tyrone a division 1 team and league division one finalists were knocked out by Longford. If this was Longford at home, Roscommon at home or Cavan at home then most people would view this is a potential banana skin or even a likely loss for Kildare but because it's Clare they are dismissed by folks who know little about Munster football.

We see every year that division 3 and 4 teams are well capable of catching division 2 or lower level division 1 teams in championship matches, sure Clare already ran Kerry close so the idea that it's ludicrous to give Clare a chance at home against a Kildare team that can be very good or very bad is arrogant nonsense.

I wouldn't back Clare to win but to say it isn't a potential banana skin is rubbish, especially when you only have league football to back up that comment. We've already seen how poor an indicator league football can be when it comes to championship.

[Syferus]

That doesn't make any sense.

It's pretty clear. The match hasn't been played.

You did far more than that.

Nope.

They're about Tipp's level on league form who beat Laois who did better than Armagh in the league, who just knocked out Tyrone a division 1 team and league division one finalists were knocked out by Longford. If this was Longford at home, Roscommon at home or Cavan at home then most people would view this is a potential banana skin or even a likely loss for Kildare but because it's Clare they are dismissed by folks who know little about Munster football.

We see every year that division 3 and 4 teams are well capable of catching division 2 or lower level division 1 teams in championship matches, sure Clare already ran Kerry close so the idea that it's ludicrous to give Clare a chance at home against a Kildare team that can be very good or very bad is arrogant nonsense.

I wouldn't back Clare to win but to say it isn't a potential banana skin is rubbish, especially when you only have league football to back up that comment. We've already seen how poor an indicator league football can be when it comes to championship.

Tipp have been building for years, Clare are only starting to get their act together. They are far less comparable than you seem to think. Clare's record for the last quarter of a century makes the likes of ourselves, Longford or Cavan look positively stellar too. They are a county that has a long road ahead of them. They made good progress this year but you're putting a pile of manure and the cart before the horse trying to make a case for them beating Kildare. Kerry usually play non-Cork games in Munster at much less than their best (how many times have Limerick ran them or Cork close only to be easily turfed out in the Qualifiers?) and I highly doubt Kildare will be as casual in a knock-out match.

If you think Tipp beating an over-rated Laois team (and Jesus, they almost made a meal of that too) is going to mean Clare can beat a decent Kildare team then you're going to be sorely mistaken on Saturday. Clare don't have the panel or the experience to win, even on if Kildare don't play to their best.