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Post by dabomber on Jan 30, 2015 16:34:48 GMT
He left the panel last summer, maybe his status hasn't been changed in the New Year? Maybe Eamonn wants players that want to play for Kerry............ I for one have never really got all the hype when it comes to Cox to be honest. A great man when the game is going his way and is given space, not so much when its the other way around. There are much better players to pick then him in my option Agree with you here hurlingman, I feel his lacks just that extra yard of pace to win his own ball, and it's that yard of pace that can be the difference when making the step up to inter county senior
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Post by greengold35 on Jan 30, 2015 17:42:49 GMT
There is a rumour around that Cox is being linked to Roscommon from where his father hails; John Evans would be very much aware of his abilities.
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Post by southward on Jan 30, 2015 18:58:50 GMT
I've seen Conor playing many times both at underage and senior. My impression - he's a really good player but maybe just not top-flight Kerry standard. I think where he comes up short in a team context is, I won't say selfishness, but let's say a failure to bring other players into the game. When he plays for Listowel particularly, none of the other forwards seem to get a look in and it can just seem like the Conor Cox Show. Don't like to be critical of the lad; an undoubted talent and he certainly tries hard enough but I don't see him displacing any of the current crop anytime soon.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2015 20:06:55 GMT
Conor Cox is a decent player but the bottom line is he is too greedy . That's not what Eamonn wants. I have seen him playing for the u21s , Juniors for Listowel and UCC and he is a glory hunter . Time and again a couple of years ago I watched him for Kery u21s v Cork and it was very frustrating . Players calling for a pass and running loose and all he wanted to do was shoot and he shoots for everywhere . Mikey Sheehy or Pat Spillane would not shoot from some positions he shoots from . Thomas Hickey , Gavin O'Grady , and Conor Keane are ahead of him right now and unless he changes his style of play he will never get a good look at Kerry ., Conor Keane on the other hand is a great prospect and im glad to see him on the bench . This guy is dangerous and I could see him become a regular sub this year for Eamonn . He has all the skills . We'll see how it goes .
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Post by Deise Exile on Jan 30, 2015 21:34:35 GMT
A lot of harsh comments on Conor cox. I'd say if you look back over a year ago Mike Geaney was also getting criticised by all the experts on here. Look at how mike geaneys year turned out after that. Let's give the guy a chance and if he doesn't perform in training or matches then leave it at that
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seamo
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,016
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Post by seamo on Jan 30, 2015 21:37:26 GMT
Number of league appearances of the squad listed Brendan Kealy 26 Pa Kilkenny 4 Mark Griffin 9 Shane Enright 25 Jonathan Lyne 18 Fionn Fitzgerald 9 Paul Murphy 7 David Moran 27 Bryan Sheehan 51 Michael Geaney 7 Kieran O’Leary 38 Johnny Buckley 14 Stephen O’Brien 7 Paul Geaney 7 Barry John Keane 21
Shane Murphy 0 Jack Sherwood 6 Daithi Casey 6 Tommy Walsh 10 Padraig O'Connor 0 Thomas Hickey 0 Philip O’Connor 0 Alan Fitzgerald 1 Jack Maguire 0 Conor Keane 0
Really stark the lack of experience among the lads on the bench, especially when you see Tommy Walsh on his own has nearly more experience that the rest of the bench, despite his years in Oz. Anyone know why Moran was named as captain as opposed to Sheehan?Due to being the most senior Tralee man with the Stacks lads missing I assume. Tralee didn't win the county championship, Stacks did!
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Post by fenit67 on Jan 30, 2015 22:18:31 GMT
David Moran has been named as captain as he is the choice of his division which is St. Brendan's and not just Tralee. The substitute bench is a reflection of league football i.e the need to develop players. Now I will admit to having been critical of our performances in the league over the past two seasons to the point of apoplexy but this is how the league must be used. The NFL is the testing ground until the GAA wake up and address the impending issue of semi-professionalism and the idiotic and chaotic nature of fixtures. The senior team costs many spondies these days and that amount of investment deserves a better competition than currently offered. I realise that I am digressing from the main topic but the GAA needs to have a competition that allows the best 16 to fight it out for Sam each year from mid-April to August. Regulation and financial propriety is paramount even in a small country like Ireland. We may need to consider even more when we see that Victoria drove its main sport, Aussie Rules (also big in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territories) to become the biggest professional sport in Australia generating millions each year. Victoria has a similar population to Ireland and yes I realise that for much of its history AFL was semi-pro and Ireland does not have a similar hinterland to Victoria. However in Ireland the GAA generates its cherished amateur ethos and revenue from unpaid players whether all are or not technically amateurs. We need to wake up to certain realities. Our top players are no longer amateurs. They need a decent competition. Kerry will continue to win which is a fact and a reality.
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Post by veteran on Jan 30, 2015 22:33:44 GMT
I was interested to read where somebody said that, as things stand, Colm Cooper and Tommy Walsh would be eligible for the Kerry Juniors. It reminded me that in the late sixties comparable glittering names played for the juniors after winning a couple of senior medals and before going on to win a couple of more. Mick O'Connell, Mick O'Dwyer and Johnny Culloty were involved as far as I can recall. However, I don't think Eamon will allow two of his golden boys gain match time with the juniors!
It is true that the junior team is being used far more judiciously now as regards giving younger fellows experience. One time it was treated as a pension for guys on the way down.
The Conor Cox omission is intriguing. Certainly, he is not the finished article but previous form and recent form with Listowel and UCC would suggest that he is worthy of inclusion in the match day panel at least. Perhaps, Eamon was disenchanted with his going to America last summer. I agree that leaving the panel for the championship suggests a certain lack of commitment but of course it could that he is not flush with cash and needed a lucrative job over there to help him through college. It surely cost him a senior medal in any case. Chances to achieve that don't come around too often. Another possible explanation, and a plausible one I feel, is that club commitments with Listowel, which remember went into January, and latterly with UCC necessitated a break. it could be that Eamon and Billy Morgan, who would appear to have a good relationship, decided that was a prudent approach.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Jan 30, 2015 23:52:52 GMT
David Moran has been named as captain as he is the choice of his division which is St. Brendan's and not just Tralee. The substitute bench is a reflection of league football i.e the need to develop players. Now I will admit to having been critical of our performances in the league over the past two seasons to the point of apoplexy but this is how the league must be used. The NFL is the testing ground until the GAA wake up and address the impending issue of semi-professionalism and the idiotic and chaotic nature of fixtures. The senior team costs many spondies these days and that amount of investment deserves a better competition than currently offered. I realise that I am digressing from the main topic but the GAA needs to have a competition that allows the best 16 to fight it out for Sam each year from mid-April to August. Regulation and financial propriety is paramount even in a small country like Ireland. We may need to consider even more when we see that Victoria drove its main sport, Aussie Rules (also big in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territories) to become the biggest professional sport in Australia generating millions each year. Victoria has a similar population to Ireland and yes I realise that for much of its history AFL was semi-pro and Ireland does not have a similar hinterland to Victoria. However in Ireland the GAA generates its cherished amateur ethos and revenue from unpaid players whether all are or not technically amateurs. We need to wake up to certain realities. Our top players are no longer amateurs. They need a decent competition. Kerry will continue to win which is a fact and a reality. Has someone been reading HS and the Pale media and their constant pining for "Champions League". In the words of the great Nigel Owens "this is not soccer", and in the world of GAA, Championship is King. And long may it last!
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Post by fenit67 on Jan 31, 2015 2:33:10 GMT
Annacaultilidie please do not be so obtuse and certainly do not associate me with that site. Championship may be king but we can no longer expect people to train for the "championship" any longer as they are year-round sportsmen. I stand by what I have evoked and that is a two-tiered championship with no league. There has to be a better proving ground for the best team in the country other than a few chance encounters during the year. What exactly do we wish from our sports? Is it in this day and age that one match defines our endeavours or a series of matches against the best? Why should we in Kerry fear a challenge!
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jan 31, 2015 3:20:11 GMT
The best club players become reluctant to pass the ball because, well they are the best to score and only pass as a last resort. And that's all okish until they get to county level and where there are better lads all around them. The problem is that a player must reinvent himself while he is 'graduating' and when he is experiencing many new pressures. This is but one of the challenges fellas face and only some make it, and in a way it shows who can take the pressure. I bet we all know of club players who might be a match for a county player in a club game but would be lost on the field at inter-county level. I'd say the likes of our Veteran could shed light on many other characteristics of county players over the best club ones. Anticipation is another that comes to mind, reading the game and knowing when and where to be, that is natural sports intelligence. I learned bits like this from Mick Finnucane of the '47 Polo Grounds era; you'd learn a lot in 5 minutes listening to him if you got him in the right frame of mind. I was having a chat with him of an evening as he watched a soccer match on TV and whether it was that he was distracted or what but the things I learned were truly amazing, if simple in many ways. Remember that Mick called the AI spot on when interviewed on Up For The Match; he basically said that it boiled down to how Kerry's younger lads performed on the day and yes, there were other factors also, but Paul Murphy getting MOTM proved Mick 'anticipation' was near enough.
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Post by Deise Exile on Jan 31, 2015 7:14:42 GMT
How many opportunities / games has Conor cox played for kerry? Let's judge him after 5/6 games rather than hypothesise over his weaknesses on this dreaded social media age. What did Paidi call us supporters? The roughest.....
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Post by kerrygold on Jan 31, 2015 11:01:37 GMT
David Moran has been named as captain as he is the choice of his division which is St. Brendan's and not just Tralee. The substitute bench is a reflection of league football i.e the need to develop players. Now I will admit to having been critical of our performances in the league over the past two seasons to the point of apoplexy but this is how the league must be used. The NFL is the testing ground until the GAA wake up and address the impending issue of semi-professionalism and the idiotic and chaotic nature of fixtures. The senior team costs many spondies these days and that amount of investment deserves a better competition than currently offered. I realise that I am digressing from the main topic but the GAA needs to have a competition that allows the best 16 to fight it out for Sam each year from mid-April to August. Regulation and financial propriety is paramount even in a small country like Ireland. We may need to consider even more when we see that Victoria drove its main sport, Aussie Rules (also big in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territories) to become the biggest professional sport in Australia generating millions each year. Victoria has a similar population to Ireland and yes I realise that for much of its history AFL was semi-pro and Ireland does not have a similar hinterland to Victoria. However in Ireland the GAA generates its cherished amateur ethos and revenue from unpaid players whether all are or not technically amateurs. We need to wake up to certain realities. Our top players are no longer amateurs. They need a decent competition. Kerry will continue to win which is a fact and a reality. Has someone been reading HS and the Pale media and their constant pining for "Champions League". In the words of the great Nigel Owens "this is not soccer", and in the world of GAA, Championship is King. And long may it last! A Championship with a back-door route might be considered a pauper.......?
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Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Jan 31, 2015 11:08:01 GMT
Conor Cox is young, does well with the college and certainly deserves a few games before he is being criticised here. If a player is as selfish playing for the club as ye make it out to be it also says a lot about the manager. If Eamonn selects Conor I'm sure he will get very clear instructions and a certain job to do. I, for one, would be quite interested to see how he could fit into the Kerry set up as he certainly does well for UCC
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Post by kerrygold on Jan 31, 2015 11:09:46 GMT
Eamonn Fitz will bring Conor Cox back into the fold in due course.
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mandad
Senior Member
Posts: 448
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Post by mandad on Jan 31, 2015 11:28:18 GMT
Can anybody fill us in a little bit about Philip O'Connor, Cordal. I have only seen him play twice and on both occasions I was impressed. He is very slight but he reads the game well and knows where the posts are. He will definitely need a lot of time in the gym. Has he any underage history?
On a different note - Mayo have a fairly strong subs bench listed for tomorrow:- 16. David Clarke. 17. Ger. Cafferkey. 18. Colm Boyle. 19. Darren McHugh. 20. Caolan Crowe. 21 Aidan O'Shea. 22. Barry Moran. 23. Diarmuid O'Connor. 24. Michael Conroy. 25. Enda Varley. 26. Mickey Sweeney.
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Post by Mickmack on Jan 31, 2015 12:34:06 GMT
2. Pa Kilkenny Glenbeigh/Glencar
3. Mark Griffin St Michaels/Foilmore
5. Jonathan Lyne Killarney Legion
10. Michael Geaney Dingle
16. Shane Murphy Kilcummin
17. Jack Sherwood Firies
18. DaithI Casey Dr Crokes
19. Tommy Walsh Kerins O’Rahillys
20. Padraig Ó Conchúir Dingle
21. Thomas Hickey Desmonds
22. Philip O’Connor Cordal
23. Alan Fitzgerald Castlegregory
24. Jack Maguire Listowel Emmets
25. Conor Keane Killarney Legion
Shane O’Callaghan
Fearghal MacNamara
I am hoping for three things from this league.
First and foremost, that no player ends up seriously injured in the sticky grounds of February and March. This is cruciate injury season.
Secondly, three or four players step up in the way Paul Murphy, Paul Geaney etc did in last years league. The players listed above will hopefully get a fair hearing during the league.
Thirdly... that Kerry start kicking long range points I have great time for Mark Griffin and a spell at CHB is due given his heroics v Mayo in Limerick. I agree with Veteran that Lyne is a natural back. He a great foot passer and can kick points from distance which nowadays is a great asset in a wing back.
Tommy Walsh always had unreal co-ordination for a giant of a man so I expect him to get back in the groove quickly enough. Conor Keane looked an artist as a minor. I havent seen much of him since so I don't whether things like fielding over his head is part of his game. Looking forward to seeing him in action. PaKilkenny is tenacious and this is a big year for him too.
Two years on for that "no score in the second half" game v Mayo, all is changed and changed utterly. EF now just needs to keep finding one or two new players every year to keep Kerry at the top table. There seems to be no shortage of those prospects coming through.
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Post by Mickmack on Jan 31, 2015 14:00:18 GMT
DARA O'CINNEIDE: The dream begins again for brave Mayo
Saturday, January 31, 2015
By Dara O’Cinneide
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending that always seems about to give in something that will not acknowledge conclusion insists that we forever begin. — Brendan Kennelly
Of all the teams setting out on their journey this weekend, Mayo are actually the most consistent league county — the only one to have been in Division One every season since the calendar year and qualifiers have been in force.
Even the most basic analysis suggests that Mayo, along with Dublin, Kerry and Donegal, have been the most consistent championship team these past five seasons too.
Ever since James Horan took over and removed what he termed the “bull*” from Mayo football, they have become consistently competitive — so consistent and so competitive, that they have rammed down the throats of their detractors nearly every negative stereotype invented to explain their failure to win an All-Ireland.
The only negative stereotype (if it could be termed such) that remains is their failure to land the big one in September. The group of players inherited by new managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly have been through many tough moments since 2011 and on just one occasion in each of those years have they come up short.
Why then as all teams begin again on the same plane in early spring, are Mayo almost being written out of the equation as genuine championship contenders?
Surely nobody in Mayo acknowledges last autumn’s championship exit as a final act for this team?
Has the change of management brought about by James Horan’s departure in the aftermath of Mayo’s defeat to Kerry been viewed as a step backwards for Mayo football?
Was last season not the second All-Ireland-or-bust-season for the player and management team assembled by Horan?
Will the fact that there has been a changing of the guard not freshen things up for all concerned?
Was Horan not right to depart when he did, just like his old adversary, Jim McGuinness, did after an Olympic cycle of four seasons?
For all the obvious progress made under Horan, are Mayo any weaker for his departure? Didn’t he, no more than all top managers, not make some mistakes in the heat of the moment in Croke Park? Take for example the decision, on the evidence of an earlier league game, to match Kevin Keane up with Michael Murphy in the opening stages of the 2012 final against Donegal.
Or the call to leave Keith Higgins on a clearly injured Eoghan O’Gara in the latter stages of the 2013 final? And what about the idea of playing Tom Cunniffe as sweeper in front of James O’Donoghue in last year’s semi-final? Were these decisions not just as big a factor in Mayo losing those games as the inevitable mistakes all players will make on the field?
Had Horan stayed on, would some within Mayo not have pointed to the fact that despite having some of the best individual defenders in the game (Higgins, Boyle and Keegan) Mayo appeared no closer by the end of last season to having a genuine collective defensive mindset?
You know, the type of mindset that would close out games, the type of approach you can call on when you’re just not keeping the scoreboard ticking over at the other end of the pitch?
I’m sure Horan noticed last year that his teams allowed Sligo IT score 1-9 without reply against them in the FBD league. Few who were present in Croke Park at the end of March last year could forget the three stunning comebacks Dublin made to secure an unlikely draw.
Even Cork’s late surge in the quarter-final gave hope to all in Kerry who were facing down the barrel of a gun before Kieran Donaghy’s late intervention in the drawn semi-final. The fact is that despite being one of the unluckiest teams in the championship, Mayo were also one of the most stubbornly naive when it came to the art of killing a game.
The challenge for the new management was always going to be continuing with the best of the James Horan era (and there is much to choose from) and changing what needed to be changed. Perhaps it is no coincidence here that it is two former defenders from Horan’s own playing days — Connelly and Holmes — who have taken up the challenge.
The raiding half-back line that has proven so successful in recent years for Mayo has forced their hand somewhat when it came to a playing style, especially when the scoring spread up front tended to be lopsided.
Maybe now, two former stalwart half-backs can find the right mix between the cavalier and the conservative to finally get Mayo over the line.
Starting Kevin Keane at full-back in the absence of Ger Cafferkey may be a sign of things to come, or it may be a meaningless, but at least Keane has the chance once again to offer a bit of muscular authority at the edge of the square.
Stephen Coen cut a dash for two years with the minors and both he and Patrick Durcan will relish the opportunity of facing up to the challenge of an away game in Fitzgerald Stadium against the All-Ireland champions. It could hardly be handed a better exercise in character-building on your debut.
There are no debuts for Kerry and despite the fact that they have a team composed entirely of twenty-somethings for the first time in an age, every one of the starting 15 has an All-Ireland medal. In the corresponding opening round game against Dublin last year, Kerry took to the field without a single player in possession of a medal won as first-team starter.
What difference will that medal make tomorrow? Perhaps very little, but the reassurance of knowing what it takes to get to the summit has to be worth something at some stage.
Complacency is always a concern in an All-Ireland winning squad but it is often forgotten that in any successful squad there is always a cohort of players who feel they could have contributed more to a winning season.
Kerry have enough of those on the field tomorrow to get them some league points in February for the first time in the Eamonn Fitzmaurice era.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
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Post by givehimaball on Jan 31, 2015 16:23:00 GMT
Seems to be a serious chunk of Mayo folk around Killarney already.
I'd be advising folk to make sure to get to the Park in time for throw-in as I think there might be a bumper crowd for this game.
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Post by Chinatown on Feb 1, 2015 14:15:30 GMT
Fair statement of intent with BJK's 1st pint
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keane
Fanatical Member
Posts: 1,267
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Post by keane on Feb 1, 2015 14:43:30 GMT
Standard of ball going into the full forward line is shocking
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Post by haryegsnbaken on Feb 1, 2015 14:44:26 GMT
We are a small bit better than that first half surely.
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Post by fenit67 on Feb 1, 2015 14:46:00 GMT
Not good just not good. The forwards are not getting good ball yet when they do they are less than convincing.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Feb 1, 2015 14:50:03 GMT
Fair statement of intent with BJK's 1st pint Great typo! Massive Mayo crowd here. Tis only the league though.
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keane
Fanatical Member
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Post by keane on Feb 1, 2015 15:19:39 GMT
8 points on the board and they take off the guy who scored half of them.
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Post by fenit67 on Feb 1, 2015 15:32:58 GMT
Not good enough today and too much sloppiness. Two poor goals given away and a deserved loss. The Mayo net was never really threatened and time and again the ball was kicked straight to a Mayo player.
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Post by haryegsnbaken on Feb 1, 2015 15:41:17 GMT
Typical early league form from us today. Expected a bit more though , giving the strength of the starting 15.
Moran is a monster of a man. Thanks for being on our side David,and a footballing brain to match a sweet right boot from distance. Outstanding from a man with such debilitating injuries that he suffered.
Sherwood stood out first half.
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Post by haryegsnbaken on Feb 1, 2015 15:43:29 GMT
Congrats to Mayo.....Was it the Jerseys by Mayo or did Vaughan and Aidan O Shea look absolutely HUGE!!!!
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ballintoy
Full Member
mac uilin clg 1907-2006"Na Gleannta Glas d'Aontriom, An baile spiord?lta d'iom?na?ocht."
Posts: 62
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Post by ballintoy on Feb 1, 2015 15:53:20 GMT
I mine a whean O years ago a Mayo supporter telling me he was up at McHale park watching Mayo dismantle Kerry in a league game, right in the heart of winter. The Mayo fans were cheering every passage of play and every score like it was the all Ireland final. One thing he always remembers more than the game itself was a conversation he over heard between a passionate Mayo fan and an elderly Kerry fella. The Mayo fan enthusiastically nudged the Kerry man towards the end of a one sided game and said what do you think our chances will be this year? In which the old fella said "your far too full of running for this time of the year". Moral of the story is in the grand scheme of things to days match won't matter too much.
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Post by misteallaigh abú on Feb 1, 2015 16:53:22 GMT
Well said Ballintoy. We were poor & sloppy at times and we were a good bit off the pace. Does it really matter? In the context of what we have come to expect of Kerry under Eamon Fitz, not a jot.
Any idea how serious Tommy Walsh's injury is? Looked to have hurt his knee.
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