With our last outing of the year Vs Kerry this weekend, I think now is an appropriate time to look back over the year. At the start of the year, our aims were probably to be competitive in Division 1 and stay up, reach a Leinster final and then get into the super 8's. The league was largely disappointing but we were extremely competitive in the majority of games. I feel the Monaghan game at home in particular was a killer blow, the game was in the melting pot and if we pushed on and won it could have changed our whole league campaign. The Tyrone and Donegal games were also games we left behind and we were unlucky not to have at least drawn one of them games. The Carlow debacle was obviously the most disappointing defeat of the year, the manner in which we lost was appalling. No heart, no desire, no passion. Walking out of Tullamore that Sunday was as low as i've ever been following Kildare. Wins against Derry and Longford restored pride, while the whole Newbridge or nowhere saga really defined our year, that baking hot Saturday evening in Conleths was special. The super 8's have been a learning curve in the respect that we are just a tiny bit off the top teams, perhaps a more ruthlessness needed to make the breakthrough. So looking over 2018..
The resilience shown after the Carlow game was phenomenal. Both players and management deserve huge credit for turning our year around and giving us some great days out.
Newbridge or Nowhere, the whole saga really brought alot of people together in the county, Cian O'Neill's appearance on RTE news was fantastic, speaking very well on behalf of his players.
Neil Flynn: This man has been extremely unlucky with injuries in the last few years but he hasn't looked back since being introduced V Derry. An excellent free taker and natural score getter.
the league campaign. No wins, no points. Says it all really!
Niall Kelly: Niall is a tremendous footballer with all the ability in the world, unfortunately it hasn't happened for him this year, which is a great shame, on his day he is as good a footballer as there is in the county.
Ben McCormack: Unfortunately Ben hasn't been able to commit to the panel due to work commitments. He is one of our best forwards and his ability is unbelievable. Would be great to see him in the white jersey sooner rather than later.
Question is now, does Cian O'Neill stay or go?
Replying To ShortGrass_1: "With our last outing of the year Vs Kerry this weekend, I think now is an appropriate time to look back over the year. At the start of the year, our aims were probably to be competitive in Division 1 and stay up, reach a Leinster final and then get into the super 8's. The league was largely disappointing but we were extremely competitive in the majority of games. I feel the Monaghan game at home in particular was a killer blow, the game was in the melting pot and if we pushed on and won it could have changed our whole league campaign. The Tyrone and Donegal games were also games we left behind and we were unlucky not to have at least drawn one of them games. The Carlow debacle was obviously the most disappointing defeat of the year, the manner in which we lost was appalling. No heart, no desire, no passion. Walking out of Tullamore that Sunday was as low as i've ever been following Kildare. Wins against Derry and Longford restored pride, while the whole Newbridge or nowhere saga really defined our year, that baking hot Saturday evening in Conleths was special. The super 8's have been a learning curve in the respect that we are just a tiny bit off the top teams, perhaps a more ruthlessness needed to make the breakthrough. So looking over 2018..
Question is now, does Cian O'Neill stay or go?"
Well it's looking likely Cian is staying on. Turned a disaster of a season on its head to end up in the super 8's. None of us would have expected it a few short months ago.
Plenty to look forward to next year with the u20's coming through. Pity young Jack Robinson missing out on an all Ireland medal but back from Canada. Great player at minor and scored 1-7 from play the other night. Surely set for seniors next year. Great to see good performances from county players in championship....so far anyway!
Roll on 2019 with a huge chance of getting back to div 1.
Our defenders aren't bad individually so maybe improving the defensive system is more important than changing the players. We will see anyway.
Lots of positives from the year...Kevin Flynn had a great breakthrough year, fantastic to see Neil Flynn stay fit & deliver on his promise. For me, Paul Cribbin was our star player. I thought Monaghan was his only poor game, other than that he was excellent. (even against Carlow when pretty much everyone else had a meltdown !)"
Barrett from the u20's a very solid full back but think he's u20 again next year.
Agree completely with the fact that we need more defenders to come into the panel, Mark Dempsey from Moorefield is a brilliant defender and I would expect him to be involved in some capacity next year. Hopefully we can bring through a few more of the U20's this year, division 2 football would be much easier to ease them through as opposed to the ruthless nature of division 1 which we witnessed last year.