Kildare begin their 2018 Division 1 League League campaign against Dublin in Croke Park on Saturday 27th January as part of a double header and finish with Galway at home on Sunday March 25th. With four home games; Monaghan, Tyrone, Mayo and Galway and with Dublin, Kerry and Donegal away, the home games will be seen as vital to Kildare's survival in Division 1.

Allianz Football League Division 1

Round 1: Saturday, Jan 27th: Dublin v Kildare; Sunday, January 28th: Galway v Tyrone, Kerry v Donegal, Monaghan v Mayo

Round 2: Saturday February 3rd: Mayo v Kerry, Tyrone v Dublin; Sunday, February 4th: Donegal v Galway, Kildare v Monaghan

Round 3: Saturday February 10th: Dublin v Donegal; Sunday February 11th: Galway v Mayo, Kildare v Tyrone, Monaghan v Kerry

Round 4: Saturday February 24th: Mayo v Dublin, Monaghan v Tyrone; Sunday February 25th: Donegal v Kildare, Kerry v Galway

Round 5: Saturday March 3rd: Dublin v Kerry, Tyrone v Donegal; Sunday March 4th: Galway v Monaghan, Kildare v Mayo
Round 6: Saturday March 17th: Mayo v Tyrone; Sun, March 18th: Galway v Dublin, Kerry v Kildare, Monaghan v Donegal

Round 7: Sunday Mar 25th: Donegal v Mayo, Dublin v Monaghan, Kildare v Galway, Tyrone v Kerry

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 2990 - 13/10/2017 16:55:48    2055088

Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 665 - 17/10/2017 17:41:43    2055818

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 18/10/2017 18:55:49    2056076

I'd agree with lilywhite1 - the home games will be vital. Monaghan at home in the 2nd round of games you would imagine is a must win.

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 19/10/2017 12:20:31    2056192

Dont know what the team was but beat Down by 12 points in a challenge match today.

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 20/01/2018 20:07:17    2069511

There seems to be this belief that Dublin won't be on their game this early in the season but I don't but it. They have played in all 5 League finals since Gavin took over, winning the first 4 & barely losing to Kerry last year. Not sure why anyone would think they would suddenly not be up for it this year.

Anyway, going to be interesting to see the team Cian puts out. Lots of competition up front but I'm more interested in how the defence shapes up, we need more improvement there I think.

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 24/01/2018 14:00:21    2070344

beir_bua (Kildare) - Posts: 746 - 27/01/2018 10:00:00    2070996

Agreed beir_bua .....hard to see how dropping Ollie from the squad & replacing him with someone who was clearly behind him in Cian's thinking last year is a step forward. You would have hoped there was a young lad or two he thought was ready to step up. Hope Luke Flynn can make a claim at midfield as Feely's partner. Up front...no Niall Kelly, Brophy, Slattery, McCormack...Jimmy Hyland too an option when fit. I think we're so much in better shape there.
Anyway...Cill Data Abu. Hoping for a big show.

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 27/01/2018 14:27:24    2071049

Celboboy (Kildare) - Posts: 25 - 29/01/2018 09:17:20    2071760

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 29/01/2018 18:39:30    2072114

Agreed St Conleth. We have to beat Monaghan or relegation is extremely likely.
Is Brophy going to be fit and Neil Flynn too ? I'd see them as our two likeliest scorers outside of Dan Flynn. The big conundrum with Dan now is where to play him to get him doing the most damage. He's something else when in full flight but have to get him involved more often.
The big disappointment v the Dubs was the way panic set in after the first Dublin goal. We've seen it in a few games over the last couple of years - the lads have got to react better to things not going their way.

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 30/01/2018 14:04:31    2072411

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 30/01/2018 18:23:01    2072512

beir_bua (Kildare) - Posts: 746 - 31/01/2018 16:42:22    2072839

Don't think home advantage will count for much today - smaller pitch should suit a defensive team like Monaghan and make it easier for them to bottle up the likes of Dan Flynn, Niall Kelly and Paul Cribbin.

We've an attacking bunch of defenders and Byrne, O'Donoghue, O'Grady and Hyland are well capable of carrying the ball forward - important to get them running from deep.

Kickouts are still a concern though - only so much Donnellan can do when nobody is making a run or offering a short option but it'll be interesting to see what the plan is today now that just aiming for Feely isn't an option.

Obviously would be a massive 2 points if we picked up a win today - would put us in a good position with Tyrone on 0 points coming to Newbridge next week.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3685 - 04/02/2018 12:11:28    2073809

My God, that was disappointing. A lot of lads had poor days (McNally, Johnny Byrne, Conway & a few others) but we still had enough to win the game. Shame Ben McCormack went off as he was flying. Same for Paul Cribbin but unlike Ben, he only had himself to blame. Niall Kelly looked sharp when he came on, I imagine he will start next day.
The free taking.....I think Feely's done brilliantly in Neil Flynn's absence all things considered but we need another option. I wonder should we have brought Donnellan up for a few of the ones further out ? The tap over free at the start of the second half though ? That one broke my heart altogether ! We had massive momentum at that stage..
O'Donoghue played well again.
Anyone know if O'Grady will be out for long ? I'd be worried about David Hyland too, just didn't look to be moving freely to me at all. I'm not sure he's 100% fit.

Looking like a real struggle now to stay up. Anything other than a win v Tyrone & we are definitely gone.

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 05/02/2018 12:40:08    2074241

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 05/02/2018 18:49:10    2074405

Paul Cribben was going really well until he hard his brain freeze. McCormack was right at it too, him going off probably cost us in the end even allowing for everything. He was surely worth that point or two we needed. O'Donoghue had a good game too, after that the rest were well below par. Poor shooting, poor options being taken and Feely apart from the frees, I thought slowed down our possession just when we launched our attacks. And I say that as a massive fan of his. Tyrone are going to be tough and hungry but we have to at some point learn how to play these teams, we are around long enough now. Time to dig in and get any kind of win on Sunday otherwise it's hard to see us surviving.

kildare73 (Kildare) - Posts: 854 - 06/02/2018 01:13:35    2074485

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 06/02/2018 19:01:00    2074636

KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 09/02/2018 22:22:35    2075332

I for one am glad to see Moolick starting. Think himself and Feely are the best midfield pairing we have.

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 11/02/2018 11:41:09    2075709