Kildare v Down - 7 February

[Dubh driocht]

Maybe when Mc Geeney said ' F***  Down' the FF took him at his word ?

[passedit]

Aindriú MacLochlainn

He will give away at least 6 scoreable frees, an absolute liability.

Down by 3

Dinny I attended the game with a mate who's currently exiled in Kildare and he made the same statement before the game and like yourself was proved dead right. You'd wonder, if its as plain as day to everyone else, why Geezer can't see it?

[Trevor Hill]

It was a sight I have not seen for quite a while -- Kildare followers leaving St Conleth's Park in droves with nearly a quarter of an hour left to play. They were witnessing the most shattering defeat they have had to endure in the McGeeney era, even worse than losing to Wicklow in the championship in 2008.

On that occasion, the word was that Kildare were only starting a rebuilding process and that it was a freak result. But yesterday, after two successive All-Ireland quarter-final appearances, Kildare are no longer rebuilding. Apart from the chimney, the Kildare house is all but finished as far as players are concerned. No wonder the fans are worried.

Of course there are excuses because the GAA is never short of these when a team loses. The loss of several players suspended from the recent Laois game is an easy escape route, but that will not cod many genuine Kildare followers who know their football.

No, what will most upset these fans was the manner of their team's destruction at the hands of Down yesterday. In every aspect of this game from about 20 minutes on, Down demolished their opponents man by man and ultimately as a team.

They were wiped out at midfield where Ambrose Rogers was magnificent; the Kildare full-back line was simply atrocious at even the most elementary aspects of defensive play; and, in general, Kildare played the type of football that suited Down perfectly.

confront

Kildare played the short passing game until they were blue in the face and surely any person with knowledge of recent football history would know that this is exactly the wrong type of game to confront Down with.

For over 40 years Down have been experts at close play, tackling opponents in twos and threes and thriving on close exchanges. Kildare, with their orgy of short passing all over the field, learned the hard way that taking on Down with that type of play is suicidal. At midfield, Down, as always, were well able to counteract the opposing high fielders, Dermot Earley and Daryl Flynn.

The ironic thing is that in the opening quarter, Kildare actually moved the ball quite well and a couple of their early points were created by long foot-passes. In one case, a beautiful 40-yard crossfield pass from Flynn in the first case and Gary 'Chalky' White in the second yielded two great points from Karl Ennis and Robert Kelly. But after that Kildare closed down the play to their own downfall.

It was Down who showed the benefit of early long balls by constantly aiming for Benny Coulter on the edge of the Kildare square. Coulter did not win every ball but the disruptive effect of his isolation on Michael Foley saw the Kildare full-back taken off after about 15 minutes, which tells its own story and showed that Kieran McGeeney spotted the problem early.

Unfortunately, the malaise spread quickly in the Kildare defence late in the second half and reached farcical proportions in the second half when Down outscored their opponents by 10 points.

Kildare's players never learned as the game went on, something which will surely worry their mentors, including their latest guru, former Armagh star Aidan O'Rourke.

The ability to think on your feet was a trademark of McGeeney and his Armagh colleagues of the time but, on this occasion at least, he did not manage to pass that on to the players in white jerseys.

There has been a lot of talk in the past two years about the toughening-up regime of the Kildare players and there is no doubt they are all much stronger physically than previous Lilywhite teams.

They also have adopted the style of several other modern teams, particularly from Ulster, of always engaging physically with an opponent even when getting involved with a most harmless piece of play. It seems you are nobody nowadays on the football field unless you show on every occasion that you are a hard man.

This style has its price if you don't know how to carry out this hitting, legally of course, and Kildare seem to be slow learners in this regard. They had two players sent off yesterday and in every game they have played in 2010 they had at least one sent off. Despite what many GAA people claim, it does not pay to foul nowadays.

Down looked very impressive in this match under the direction of new manager James McCartan. They had a hunger that was in marked contrast to Kildare; their backs were ravenous in beating opponents to the ball, and their forwards were always in front of their men. Marty Clarke is obviously a player of immense skill while Coulter's role can be transformed into a pivotal one on the team now that he seems to have mobile and intelligent forwards to back him up.

But it is far too early yet to talk about Down being back in the big time because, like Kildare, they too have had many false dawns and yesterday may yet turn out to be another. But from this game at least there was a wonderful air of excitement and vigour among the Down players.

Kildare, one supposes, cannot be that bad and they will get plenty of chances to show that in a ferociously contested Division 2.

Having gone so far down this particular road of playing the game, it seems unlikely that McGeeney and his mentors will shift direction so we can expect a 2010 campaign based on super fitness, tough physical personal battles and endurance from the Lilywhites.

The big question for Kildare fans as they watched their team score just two points in the final 37 minutes of the game, is where the scores are going to come from. Johnny Doyle's absence indicated yesterday the huge dependence the team has on his scoring ability.

But more players like him are needed urgently and only time will tell if Kildare have them for the 2010 championship.

- Eugene McGee

Irish Independent

[downlow]

Great performance...
how well do you expect Down to perform this year?