Cill Dara v Aontroim - AI Football Qualifier 26/06/10

[imtommygunn]

MDG Kevin Brady was very good. Won good ball and used it well. McCann's very poor though as you say. Magill not on long enough.

Have to say I wasn't that impressed with Kildare. McGeeney has firmly put his stamp on them. They would be quite a cynical team and had a few boys who should have been punished a lot more for persistent fouling which would have put the defense more on the backfoot. Wouldn't have made a difference in the grand scheme of things - far too good for antrim. Kildare's tactics weren't significantly different from Antrim's either except their half forwards stayed in half forward.

Alan Smith should make a big difference for Kildare I'd say. Improvement required to progress though. Particularly in forward department.

[Maguire01]

MDG Kevin Brady was very good. Won good ball and used it well.

Are you serious? I thought he was pretty poor.

[aontroim]

Yet another game where Paddy Cunningham hid from the ball until the ref's whistle blew for an Antrim free.  The lad showed no interest in looking for the ball when the attacking player was looking for someone to offload to - top class free taker - offers little else - harsh words but every bit justified after watching him play those last two games.

[Maguire01]

Still, worth carrying for frees. There were few other options for scores.

[Gold]

Dissapointing. Too few balls kicked in as noone was showing. Had a chance just after half time but stopped dead and got blown away.

Men continuously passed the ball off instead of shooting, led to the obvious turnover and a score at the other end.

John Doyle showed constantly, scored a class goal fetching a goal above his head, dummying inside Brady and burrying it. Some of his showing and scores from play with instant shots were a joy to watch, pity we had noone similar at the other end.

Kevin Brady showed well and was in front for every ball, McGourty worked his balls off getting though mountains of good work, Niblock worked hard, Kel did well fielding about 4 high balls (he needs to do this more as he has the spring and timing despite his size) and Locky was dangerous when running at Kildare with pace although he didnt do it often enough.

Sin e

[imtommygunn]

Kevin Brady won almost every ball played near him and used it reasonably well. Best forward we had. He lacks a yard of pace mind but he used it well.

Our forwards were terrible in general. I wouldn't agree Niblock looked threatening - ran up too many blind alleys.

Realistically we don't have a FF and we didn't have any half forwards. You can't be winning big games with that.

Stilll we have to remain positive. Hopefully division 2 will bring us on. CJ a big loss really.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Not sure how much to read into this match because Antrim were shocking. I thought at half time that we might have blew it because we probably should have been much further ahead but it was great to see Kildare kicking on again in the second half. We all gave McGeeney plenty of criticism after Navan but in fairness to him he has clearly learned a lot in the interim - full-back line in particular is much improved. I still think there's improvement in this Kildare team and nobody will fancy coming to Newbridge in the back door.

McCormack - Didn't have a lot to do. Kickouts are improving.
Kelly - Looks a very accomplished lad. Tough, physical and quick. Made a great surge forward to set up a point in the second half.
McGrillen - Back to the form of last year. Out in front of his man and very composed on the ball. Tougher tests ahead I suspect though.
MacLochlainn - Bit unfortunate to be booked I thought and was always going to be subbed soon after. Deserves to retain his place though.
M Flaherty - Picked up a lot of breaks and got himself on the scoreboard. A good night's work.
Bolton - Another who looked back to somewhere near his best. Great diagonal ball for the goal and threatened every time he drove forward.
Flanagan - Made some good tackles and interceptions to repel Antrim attacks. Distribution has improved.
Flynn - The most improved Kildare player by a country mile. He's developing into a real quality midfielder. Discipline has improved no end.
Roli - Won a lot of dirty ball when he moved out around midfield and caused the Antrim defence plenty of problems. Should have goaled in the second half.
Kavanagh - Not firing on all cylinders yet. Worked hard though and won a lot of ball including a super catch in the second half.
O'Neill - Another good nights work. Well able to horse into opponents around the middle of the field and chip in on the scoreboard.
E Flaherty - Looks a real good prospect. Showed his inexperience on occasions but has plenty of reasons to be proud of his performance.
Doyle - I take my hat off to the guy. Missed frees he'd normally kick in his sleep but never let his head drop. Worked his backside off as well. Top class.
Earley - Clearly not 100% (hence the move to full-forward) but still caused Antrim plenty of problems. Great reception for him from both sets of fans when he was taken off late on.
Leper - The free role he has been given suits him down to a tee (compensates somewhat for Conway's absence). Kicked two great points early in the second half.

Subs - For a lad that has shipped a lot of criticism I thought David Whyte was excellent when he came on. Won a lot of ball and used it well. Cribbin kicked a good score and threatened every time he ran at his man. Great to see Mick Foley getting a run too. He could have a role to play if Kildare are to go on a bit of a run this summer.

[passedit]

The difference between where Antrim are and where they need to be was summed up for me in the first 5 minutes of the game. They had two great goalscoring chances with the score a 0 -0 and didn't have the confidence to even test the keeper with either. any top team would have scored at least one and most likely both of these chances. Outside of that they were well beaten at midfield, with Kildare's 14 outstanding in the second half, and poor up front with only Brady showing for the ball. The lad that came on at full forward would need to push away from the table a wee bit, I am more mobile. If he's the best that was on the bench then god help Antrim.

[Milltown Row2]

The difference between where Antrim are and where they need to be was summed up for me in the first 5 minutes of the game. They had two great goalscoring chances with the score a 0 -0 and didn't have the confidence to even test the keeper with either. any top team would have scored at least one and most likely both of these chances. Outside of that they were well beaten at midfield, with Kildare's 14 outstanding in the second half, and poor up front with only Brady showing for the ball. The lad that came on at full forward would need to push away from the table a wee bit, I am more mobile. If he's the best that was on the bench then god help Antrim.

Magil is better than that, yes he did drop a lot of ball but he hasn't been with the panel for a while. Antrim may lose Baker now so who would be the man to come in and push on? will it be an Antrim man or will we go outside again?

[SambaSaffron]

MDG Kevin Brady was very good. Won good ball and used it well.

Are you serious? I thought he was pretty poor.

He was our only forward showing for the ball and won almost every ball in to him, laying it off to the running man every time. Unfortunately the running man tended to over-elaborate.

Magill didn't look fit, he obviously won't have been training at the level the rest have been for the past 6 weeks or so and it showed as he is normally a very good player. 2 McCanns look short of confidence at the minute. O'Boyle played rightly again. McGreevy's kicks have been baffling the last few games, not sure if its his fault or management.

[The Konica]

The difference between where Antrim are and where they need to be was summed up for me in the first 5 minutes of the game. They had two great goalscoring chances with the score a 0 -0 and didn't have the confidence to even test the keeper with either. any top team would have scored at least one and most likely both of these chances. Outside of that they were well beaten at midfield, with Kildare's 14 outstanding in the second half, and poor up front with only Brady showing for the ball. The lad that came on at full forward would need to push away from the table a wee bit, I am more mobile. If he's the best that was on the bench then god help Antrim.

Magil is better than that, yes he did drop a lot of ball but he hasn't been with the panel for a while. Antrim may lose Baker now so who would be the man to come in and push on? will it be an Antrim man or will we go outside again?

Yes possibly, however not to Derry from what I've heard.
While he might like it at some stage I'm told he has no interest in it at the minute at all.

(Anyway, not sure they've the talent at the minute either)

[DuffleKing]

Realistically lads, what has baker achieved? have antrim beaten anyone of note?

Have kildare beaten anyone of note in championship football?

[imtommygunn]

While his tactics weren't inspirational yesterday Baker has still brought a lot to antrim football.

Before last year we had won 2 ulster championship matches since 1982. Baker doubled that tally in one year.

He has brought what any manager who came in couldn't buy - belief. Before last year I'm not sure  I had ever seen an antrim football team with belief in my life.

[OverThePostsAWide]

Yet another game where Paddy Cunningham hid from the ball until the ref's whistle blew for an Antrim free.  The lad showed no interest in looking for the ball when the attacking player was looking for someone to offload to - top class free taker - offers little else - harsh words but every bit justified after watching him play those last two games.

Harsh but true. He came out and grabbed one ball with authority about 40m out in the first half but got so bottled up that he kicked it blindly into corner space and gave it away. Apart from that it looked like he was literally hiding behind his man, particularly in the second half. Space in front and to the side but he just didn't move 

[imtommygunn]

Do you not mean hiding behind his 2 men?

At one stage Cunningham did a dummy run to lose his man and lost him only for his other marker to cover his run so he tried the other direction and his first marker had that run covered!

There were basically 2 men on him. To be seen he had to lose 2. He managed on occassion but few could do it.