Kildare previews

There’s all shades of opinion in the previews for tomorrow’s clash with Kildare but the majority favour us.  (Aside on majorities: hopefully the majority in Zimbabwe will vote out that shyster Mugabe today and, more to the point, that any such vote is upheld.  Anyone interested in the destruction of that country under Mugabe should read Peter Godwin’s excellent When a Crocodile Eats the Sun.  It would make you think twice about moaning about how bad things can be there – we truly have no idea).

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, predictions and stuff.  Let’s go with the majority first: the Times (sub required), Hogan Stand and Paddy Power all favour us.  RTE (whose record in relation to our games has been quite good, it must be noted) goes for the Lilywhites and the Indo sits on the fence.  Take your pick, in other words.

I’m in two minds about tomorrow’s game.  Mind Number One says that it’s going to be a bloody tough encounter and, nice guys that we are, we don’t have too much of an appetite for such fun and games.  Kildare have certainly toughened up under McGeeney and so we can expect that the opening exchanges will be on the robust side.  How our lads (especially the smaller fellas and the young bucks) stand up to that could go a long way towards deciding this encounter.  The attitude of the ref – our old friend from ’96, Pat McEnaney (how in the name of Jesus can that guy still be reffing?) – could be crucial in determining what kind of match this is.  If it does turn out to be a tough, close one, we could have our work cut out to get something out of it, especially in front of the partisan Newbridge crowd (St Conleth’s Park is a tight enough ground and there’ll be a big attendance there tomorrow, I’d reckon).

Mind Number Two has quite a different scenario he’d like to posit.  This is based on the way we’ve started most of our league matches this year brightly and the fact that we’re overdue banging in a goal or two (this is the ground, remember, where, on our last appearance there, Marty Mac knocked in three of them).  If we hit them with a nice few early scores, they could fold – this is Kildare we’re talking about, after all.  Once more, it’s a case of take your pick but I think we’re steadily improving this year and haven’t yet got the kind of return from our four matches that our performances have merited.  Kildare got hammered by Derry in their last outing so they don’t seem to be on the same development path.  If we start well and put some daylight between us on the scoreboard, we might be in for an enjoyable afternoon in Newbridge tomorrow.

Two reminders: don’t forget to put your timepieces forward tonight and also bear in mind that, despite the arrival of New Time, throw-in at Newbridge is still 2.30pm tomorrow.

2 thoughts on “Kildare previews

  1. I like the look of our team long-term. (And glad to see the changes coming through)

    However, I feel long-term gain will probably result in short-term loss. It’s probably not the strongest team we could have fielded for a relegation dog-fight away from home.

    We should have too much pace for Kildare, but in bad conditions in a tight pitch against a bunch of veterans, it’s anybody’s guess how it will go. In any case, all we are looking for is a performance, win loose or draw it’s all about the future for us.

    It’s a pity BJP isn’t fit, as we could do with his strength in the full-back line tomorrow. Also it would be interesting to see if both BJP and Conroy could play in the same full-back line. BJP did very well on McFadden earlier this year and could be given a another outing at No 4 (given management have now finally come the conclusion that most people came to after the Cavan and Derry games last year)

  2. I’ve just seen the weather forecast for tomorrow and there’s a good chance the match will be punctuated by heavy showers (a day for the stand, in other words). The conditions might not, then, suit our more expansive kind of game.

    I wonder if BJ has been ruled out completely? If not, we could see him at some point and, as you point out, it would be interesting to see him playing with Conroy in the same full-back line.

    What’s encouraging is that all the performances to date in the league (certainly the three I’ve been to) have been good and if we get another one tomorrow, that’s the main thing. We’re certainly playing better now than we were 12 months ago (even if we thought then that we were doing better than we really well) and if this trend continues, we can be reasonably hopeful about the Summer campaign.

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