Itās reported in the indo today that a member of the Clare senior football panel, Niall White (23), was found dead in his home on Monday in ātragic circumstancesā
RIP sad stuff. From Doora Barefield I think.
Shocking stuff.
RIP
Christ, shocking sad news. RIP.
Disgraceful to see how Dublin have tossed aside Denis Bastick this weekend. That man deserved to start 
He did in his bollox. 
He was only in until the lads that were away came back. We still have a major problem at midfield though with no set pairing there as of yet, we badly need to find a couple of midfielders or else we will be in the shit when we start palying teams outside Leinster.
That team will steamroll Laois unfortunately. Whatever hope we had with donkeys like Bastick or Fennell, we have little or no chance with that side out.
Laois have named the same fifteen. I have changed my prediction from above and now predict Billy Whizz will tear that no good useless O Carroll to shreds and send him back to hurling like Keaney :ph34r:
DUBLIN (SF v Laois): S Cluxton; P McMahon, Rory OāCarroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan; MD MacAuley, B Cahill; P Flynn, K McManamon, B Cullen; A Brogan, D Connolly, B Brogan.
Actually think Dublin are heading towards a better structured team here. Oā Carroll has serious potential at No.3 and i have really liked the look of McCarthy. Although i would see him centre with Brennan gone in the not too distant. The need for someone to take the work load off MDM has been realised it seems and Cahill could do this well. With bigger men to come in later in the game and win some primary possession. I might be giving Gilroy too much credit though yet, weāll see.
Mossey Quinn off too can only be a positive. Would swap Cullen and McMahon myself.
You would put Brian Cullen corner back? He wasnāt quick enough for centre back, what makes you think he would make it in the corner. Iād play him a lot closer to the opposition goal as he is well able to score and create.
Brennan, Nolan and Flynn are three very average players. That Paul Griffin might come back into contention if he ever
got back. Connolly is very hit and miss too, the amount of scores OāGara laid on for Brogan last August. Think he will get his place back for when the champo really starts.
Itās obviously a typo Kib man and he meant McManamon
Well fuck you anyway I was hoping he would go off on one and make a fool of himself
Connolly is inconsistent, but i have a sneaky feeling he might break out somewhat this year, seems to be getting ever so slightly more confident (could be a contradiction to some people who considered him cocky, i happen to feel heās completely the opposite).
I have long said Brennan is one, a club player, and two, way too indisciplined to play at this level and especially at No.6. Lose the indiscipline and he might scrape by, but it could also numb his game in general.
I seriously doubt you have seen enough of Nolan and Flynn to pass judgement really (and i daresay your just rehashing others opinion), but luckily you have got it right on Flynn. Nolan might have a role yet.
There is simply no comparison between Connolly and Oā Gara. If Connolly finds regular form heās a shoe in.
Obviously i meant Cullen swapping with McManaman. But i actually have changed my mind. Alan Brogan is not up to it in the corner, at the very highest level anyway. Iād play him 11, Cullen on the wing and McManaman in the corner as he is a good ball winner.
On Gaelic Football, discussing it with you. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Youād want to get up far earlier than that. You have consistently shown you havenāt a notion what you are talking about here time after time.
Now if we were talking about some shitty mid table English Soccer team that nobody cares about then iām sure youād make a fool out of most of us.
By Christy OāConnor
Friday June 03 2011
Nine days before last monthās championship match against Wicklow, Kildare played Armagh in a challenge game at the Kildare training centre in Hawkfield.
The match was played behind closed doors, but the security cordon at the gate was so tight that it was jokingly referred to as being like Checkpoint Charlie on the old Berlin Wall.
A section of the local media, the fathers of two players and about 25 supporters felt the chill winds of the policy. One die-hard fan, who was already parked inside, was asked to leave because he had waited in Newbridge and followed the Armagh bus directly through the gates as his means of camouflage. For a finish, the group traversed a field at the back of the ground to sneak in behind one of the goals to catch some snapshots of the action.
Reporting on the events in their next edition, the āKildare Nationalistā described the treatment of some of the ācountyās most loyal supportersā as ādisgraceful.ā The fact that the group included Club
Kildare members was held up as
āanother example of how this squad of players is being detached from the rest of the county.ā
In conclusion, the episode was deemed to have āmarked a low point in relations between the county team and those who back them.ā
Kieran McGeeney and his management team, though, had a different take on events. They claimed that it was Armagh who requested the game to be played behind closed doors, even though it was obvious that Kildare were trying out Johnny Doyle at midfield, word of which subsequently leaked out.
They also privately claimed that they only ācloseā about five sessions a year, in an attempt to try out different systems and formations, especially coming up to the championship ā and that that is their right and nobody elseās business, including Club Kildare members.
DEFENCE
In a further defence on that point, management say that they and the players have always enjoyed a healthy relationship with key members of the supporters club, Pat Mangan and June Kelly.
Thereās no doubt though, that McGeeney has been fighting a PR battle in the county recently. After being blamed in March for the resignation of former Kildare county board chairman Padraig Ashe ā over an issue related to club fixtures ā McGeeney colourfully claimed that he gets blamed for everything from āthe Famine to Fianna FĆ”il.ā
Although this Kildare team have now generated a huge support base, the Kildare Nationalist surmised that their ādetachmentā from the players is based on two beliefs: that the players donāt engage with the supporters as much as theyād like, especially through the local media, and that the clubs have been seriously relegated in importance behind the county team.
In response to those accusations, McGeeneyās thinking would be very clear. As a player, he never engaged with the media and public on the same level as other high profile figures. Although a manager has different responsibilities, McGeeneyās form has remained consistent with that character, while his persona has been reflected through his players in their dealings with the media.
Although a county manager must have a duty towards the clubs, McGeeneyās attitude as a player was always geared towards ensuring that nothing got in the way of winning an All-Ireland. Rightly or wrongly, that is still his mentality now as a manager.
Under the current training regime, itās nearly impossible for the clubs to have any claims on their players, especially when management made the decision after last yearās championship to increase the intensity and amount of training sessions.
In effect, the players more or less train seven days a week now ā four football sessions and three other days split between gym work, speed work and core sessions. Whatever it takes. There have often been weeks when the squad have done eight collective sessions. For example, there was an optional forwards coaching session between 8.0 and 9.0 on a Friday morning, with āoptionalā being a loose title.
Of course, that lends itself to antagonism with the clubs. It also breeds rumours. When the squad trained for five successive days in Johnstown House in Enfield, there was talk afterwards that players were not allowed to use their phones during their time there. It was untrue, but was just another by-product of the image McGeeney has always cultivated.
Because of his obsessive nature as a player, McGeeney often propagated that image as an austere, serious, dour individual. He never brought much levity to the Armagh dressing-room, but his captaincy was always hands-on and interventionist.
Creating an unbreakable bond within the Kildare squad has been one of McGeeneyās greatest achievements, but it has also underlined his maturity as a manager and as a person.
In his first year in charge in 2008, McGeeney had kept his distance from the players, but he was advised to change his approach after the first round defeat by Wicklow.
Ever since, he has adopted the role he had performed so well as Armagh captain by engaging with players one-on-one. His immense value has really been felt outside the training ground.
Alan Smith, who was involved in an alleged assault in 2009, and who had a court case pending during last yearās championship, described McGeeney last summer as being ālike a second father.ā
The development of so many players is a testament to the quality of coaching, but McGeeney is always looking for that extra edge, never sitting still. On the day after Kildare lost the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final to Tyrone, McGeeney rang the sports psychologist, Hugh Campbell, with a view to recruiting him for the 2010 season. Campbell is still on board.
Having such a professional set-up and intensive training schedule requires serious money, but the fundraising initiatives that the players regularly pursue have often been about more than just funding.
In McGeeneyās first two seasons, the squad organised a charity white-collar boxing tournament, which built team-spirit and confidence and imbued the players with a sense of responsibility that had never previously existed.
Then in September 2009, McGeeney told the players that he wanted each of them to raise ā¬3,000. The money was for a playersā fund, a holiday to America and a new gym, but it was mostly about them taking more responsibility and developing their own personalities.
The players raised over ā¬160,000, spent roughly ā¬20,000 on new weights and equipment and turned the old press conference centre in the K Club into their own gym. The players laid the floor, did all the wiring and plumbing and fitted the entire place out themselves.
Over the last two seasons, they have taken jiu-jitsu ā a mix between martial arts and wrestling ā and kickboxing classes. Last November, McGeeney himself received his Blue Belt in jiu-jitsu in the presence of all his players.
McGeeney has hardened up their bodies and minds, but the transformation of Kildareās attack over the last four years has been the most vivid example of their progress. The team donāt have the marquee forwards of other sides, but when they landed 18 points in the 2009 Leinster final, it was the joint-highest number of scores ever recorded from play in a provincial decider. In last yearās championship, they averaged 1-16.
Kildare have still to win something significant under McGeeney (they did capture this yearās OāByrne Cup), but irrespective of whether this team ever win an All-Ireland, he has brought them to another level. And whether some within the county agree or disagree with his methods, McGeeney will feel justified by how far he has taken them.
- Christy OāConnor
Some great insight there. You can appreciate what McGeeney is trying to do there, but Iām not sure itās something I would agree with, especially if the clubs are suffering as much as OāConnor says, although by appointing some as notoriously obsessive as McGeeney they should have known what they were letting themselves in for.
McGeeneys priority is the County team, and he cares little for the Club scene, which is fair enough I guess, heās an outsider, and he wouldnt be the first outside manager in any county to railroad the clubs to reach his goal, and could you blame him? Heās some individual, Iāll give him that, an astonishing personality, but as for this talk of āah heās got a sense of humour at the back of it allā, Iād seriously doubt it.
Heāll push Kildare as far as they can go, but if he doesnāt get them over the line, then thereās no getting them over it. If they were to finish this year without silverware and his three years were up, then surely his time there couldnt be classified as a success could it? Sure heās pushed them onto another level, but Sligo went to another level and barely lost an All Ireland Quarter Final against Armagh, what good was it? Where were the medals?
Iād love to see him go back to Armagh and drive them on again, because they need someone like him in charge.
The club is an issue, and its one i firmly believe can be worked out and can be of benefit to the players to play games with the club. I would be a fan of some of what he does, but i would definitely see the benefit of them playing club games.
Also training 8 times in a week is wrong, rest is as important as training. You simply canāt keep the mind switched on as a part timer for that many sessions.
Heāll certainly leave them in a better place than he got them. Thats success for me as a manager/coach. Only one team wins the All-Ireland. But many teams can have successful seasons.
Fair enough about perhaps leaving them in a better place, however if theyāre training 8 times a week on occasion is he not in danger of leaving behind him a group of burnt out players who have given their all and not made it across the line? Even a league title would count for something. Leinster should be their primary goal this year, but you get the feeling its not for McGeeney which is odd given that he won so many Anglo Celts.
McGeeney obviously doesnāt care about the club scene given he turned his back on his own home club to join Na Fianna similar to Kevās move that time to Geraldines in Arklow.
there i was thinking Id get no responseā¦
not too many care about Gaelic football either really Kev. Id say the EPL is most popular here, Ireland, the internet, the world etc. You seem to have mistimed your dig badly to be honest.
The fact that you are agreeing with my points generally is a little worrying though. I might have to revisit my opinion, early in the morning of course.
Are you serious about OāGara? OāGara is useless, yes I know he got a couple of goals but he cant solo, he cant pass, and he cant score. I donāt know if you were at any of the matches last year but the amount of times the guy tried to score a point and hit the corner flag instead was unreal. As for setting up brogan, I remember a game last year where all OāGara had to do was handpass the Brogan and he was in for a goal and he messed up.
Connolly is the better player in all aspects of play, but Connollys problem is in his head. Hopefully Gilroy has sat down with him and had a chat and hopefully Connolly has listened and finally steps up. If he does he will be one of the better players this summer. The best that OāGara can hope for is to come on as an impact sub late on in a game.
Dublin are week through the middle. OāCarroll started to play well at full back towards the end of the championship last year and hopefully he has continues this year the big but is that he hasnāt played for Dublin since the semi final last year. Centre half is a big problem, Brennan to me is a liability at centre back and is more likely to be sent off especially if he has a bad game or an opponent gets in his face. At midfield we have only MDM as a recognised midfielder, Cahill is not a ball winner and I can see him struggling through games later in the championship. We dont have a centre forward A Brogan is getting on and none of the other forwards or subs have stepped up to make that position there own. Mcmanamon has been around for a while now and has still hasnāt shown anything.
In saying all that I think we will still beat Laois on Sunday but we are still a long way from being contenders for Sam. We are weak in key positions and we donāt really have the players on the bench that could change a game if we are struggling like some other teams have. We will win Leinster, the footballers now have to bring home a cup, especially with the hurlers winning the league, which would have been a big kick in the nuts for the footballers, and I can see us getting to another All Ireland Semi Final but I think thats as far as we will go.