kildarecountyblog.com

The season is over, the club is over. But football lives on.

Sunday was Emerald Final day. The MLS Cup final was played in the Emerald City, but first the FAI Cup Final took place in the Emerald Isle.

Sporting Fingal quite extraordinarily for a second tier team earned a place in the FAI Cup final by beating non-league Blarney, First Division Athlone Town and Premier Division teams Shamrock Rovers and Bray Wanderers in previous rounds. They met Sligo Rovers in Tallaght Stadium and played in front of a crowd of 8,000 spectators to compete for the FAI Ford Cup and for the right to represent Ireland in European Cup competition next season as the National Cup holders.

It was the Premier team that was the first to score. However Sporting Fingal completed their rags to riches tale when they scored twice to earn a 2-1 victory. The club formed just two seasons ago to compete in the newly formed “A” Championship - at the third tier of the Irish football pyramid. They got an unexpected break and were rushed into the First Division to replace Kilkenny City. They finished in an impressive 4th in their first season. In their second season they improved again, finishing 3rd, winning the promotion play-offs, winning the FAI Cup and qualifying for the Europa League qualification rounds.

The story of the other Emerald Final was not completely dissimilar. LA Galaxy went into the match as favourites and scored first. But it was Real Salt Lake which formed in 2004 that went on and took the victory after a penalty shootout. Both teams will represent USA in the CONCACAF Champions League along with Columbus Crew (as Shield winners) and compete against the qualifiers from the other CONCACAF nations.

The match was played in Seattle which is a 12 hour drive from Salt Lake City and an 18 hour drive from Los Angeles. So it is quite surprising to see that 46,000 attended the match.

Kildare County took to the field wearing Newbridge Town’s strip to fulfill their last league game of the season (of all time?). The team was left without a manager and without a kit after Somerville met with the FAI last week (reported from an interview with the manager on local radio station KFM). Somerville’s plans to save the club were rejected and apparently it was agreed that Kildare County would not be able to fulfill the fixture.

Then stepped in the supporters club. This blogger wasn’t present on the day but the news coming from a well-known County fan here reports that the match was organised and ran by the supporters club. The final result was 5-1 to Shelbourne with local hero Trevor Bowers fittingly scoring the last ever goal for Kildare County.

At this point it is assumed that the manager and the board have thrown the towel in. The supporters kept the club going for one last day.

The official news on the club website confirmed this today (link here). However, Salthill Devon still believe that there is a play-off scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday 10th of November, and they continue to advertise it. Kildare are going to struggle to fulfill this fixture with no club, no manager, no money, no players, no kit. The rumour is that the PFAI (the football players of Ireland’s union) are pushing for the play-off. This would ensure that Kildare would pick up the “prize” money of €6,000 due to them for finishing 12th. The PFAI believes that this money would be used to pay the wages due to the players.

There is no news coming from the FAI on this one. Your favourite blogger is staying posted but doesn’t expect to see Kildare County compete again.

The results since my last blog would have meant that Kildare would have had to play off with Salthill Devon for their league survival. Those results were a 2-1 defeat to Wexford, a 2-0 defeat to Waterford and a 5-1 defeat to Shelbourne. After the Wexford game I emigrated to canada so your favourite blogger has only now settled down to return to my blog.

I imagined that I would have continued my preview of the play-off and finished the player by player assessment on whether Kildare would do any better in a play off against a Galway club as they did last year. It’s all a bit academic now in light of recent news. But Philly Hughes as lone striker versus the Hughes/Kilduff partnership of last year that drew a blank in Station Road in the second leg would not have measured up to much. Kilduff was far and away the top scorer for Kildare last season, and one of only 3 players ever to register a hat-trick in a Kildare Jersey. He has gone on to UCD this season and won the title and promotion, contributing a major goal haul along the way again.

Bloggers verdict for the strikers: Last season 8/10, this season 4/10.

The final total is 23/40 for each team ! But considering the departure of some significant players in the last few weeks since my originally assessments, especially in defence, I think that this seasons team is probably just slightly weaker.

I think that I need a whole other post to make sense of the rest of the recent news.

At the weekend Monaghan leaped ahead of Sporting Fingal and UCD on the goals scored against us this year. UCD on 10 (4+1+5) Fingal on 12 (8+1+3) and Monaghan now on 13 (5+2+6).

Things haven’t really changed since Thomas Donnelly was sacked! In Donnelly’s last game in charge with his bunch of local kids, Kildare lost 5-1 to Monaghan leaving Kildare 3 points adrift of the next team. Now 20 games on or so and Kildare find themselves back at Century homes against the Mons and are beaten 6-1. They now sit 7 points adrift from the next bottom team. In this blogger’s opinion the team seemed to improve and then some significant players were let go and in the last 3 weeks when it really mattered we have struggled. O’Riordan, Barrett, Matt Byrne are all being missed badly, and Baba hasn’t been there for the last few games - with no explanation on the website whether he has gone or not.

News is coming through that Gilmore has clinched the A Championship for Salthill Devon. He has scored a number of goals in the last few matches and his brace at the weekend gave them a 3-1 win over Castlebar Celtic. That results confirms one of the contenders for the relegation/promotion play-off. The other contender (Kildare) could be confirmed next weekend when Kildare meet Wexford Youths. Anything less than a win and Kildare are mathematically bottom.

So far over the last two weeks we have agreed that this years team is an improvement on last years in the goal keeping position and in the defence. Next we focus on the midfield.

Last year:
Brady, Cathal
Murray, Colin
Fortune, Colin
Mooney, Craig Replaced by Bowers, Trevor

This year (possible)
Brady, Cathal
Jackson, David
Byrne, Davy
O’Brien, Darren
Doran, Christy

Clearly Brady is the ever present here. His form this year is just as last year. Not much to say here. However the other four from this year are better than the other three from last year, to the man. Not many people could argue. Byrne holds a Premier medal and experience in the Scottish SPL, Doran had a long period with top First Division team Dundalk. O’Brien has been one of the best players for Kildare this season. Jackson has weighed in with a couple of goals when it mattered.

Last year Mooney was a flash in the pan, a young lad and came in for a few games and looked good, but once found out he was limitted. There is no denying he could run with the ball but he never quite made it at this standard and after a handful of LOI appearances he hasn’t managed to get a contract this year. Murray had more experience but was never a midfielder. He was more at home at fullback. Unlike Mooney he did secure a contract this season again with Kildare but his perfromances didnt amount to a whole lot. Finally Fortune was the glue that held together a fairly weak midfield last season. He had experience in particular with the Irish Armed Forces team but the current midfield five dont lack experience.

This week it is a landslide for this season’s team.

Blogger’s verdict for the midfields - Last season 4/10, this season 6/10. The running total now is last season 15/30, this season 19/30.

In my opinion the five man midfield does not work. But you make the most of what you have. And Somerville has a shortage of strikers (after letting go of O’Riordan, Barrett and to a lesser extent David Lee). Obviously an extra man in midfield will strengthen up the midfield but next week when we focus on the attackers, the balance will swing the other way.

Kildare unexpectedly beat Limerick on Friday. Your favourite blogger was stuck in Daly’s Cross but was there in time to see the winning goal. I later caught the highlights on youtube. The final score was Limerick 2-3 Kildare. Limerick had a handful of injuries and were forced to play alot of players out of place. Limerick had nothing to play for, they are mathematically safe from relegation and mathematically safe from promotion too.

Before I continue my preview of the play-off lets conside Mervue’s next three games - UCD, Waterford and Fingal. And for Kildare - Wexford (who we already beat this season and are dropping down the table in the last month or so), Monaghan (who we have got a great record) and Waterford. It seems a new hope is being born here. I think its a given that neither team will get a point off any of the top four, who have been in a division of their own all season. So wins against Wexford and Mons would leave us 1 point behind Mervue going into the last game - anything can happen then.

I’m going to keep that in the back of my head for a while and focus on the play-off now. And continue the comparison between last years team that lost the play-off and this years team. Is there any reason to be optimistic that they can fair any better? Last week the goalkeeper position for 2009 outscored the goalkeeper position for 2008 by 6/10 to 5/10. This week its the defence.

Last year.
Donnelly, Paul
Osbourne, Colin
O’Connell, David
Powderly, Eoin Defender/Issaka, Baba

This year (possible).
Daly, Colm/Walsh, Keith
Tiernan, Liam
Lawrence, Dean
Powderly, Eoin Defender/Issaka, Baba

We can start with the easy comparison Baba 2009 v Baba 2008 and Powderly 2009 v Powderly 2008. Last season Baba played very few games, in fact just three before the play-off. This season he has been an ever present and has certainly got better match fitness than this time last year. For Powderly the opposite is more true. Either way there is much of a muchness for this full back position.

The other full back Donnelly (2008) v Daly/Walsh (2009) is more interesting. Somerville has been a litte more experimental in this area and actually we could see Christy Doran play there in the play off. Walsh has just two games underneath his belt and although improving with confidence he is a young potential talent rather than an established first team player. Daly has shown well in the last few games too, and Doran would give more as an attacking full back than Donnelly would have. But Donnelly as a former U20 European Cup medal winner I think shades it here. Although he was at fault for one of the goals over in Mervue in the play-off I would still prefer to see him there than any of the other options.

The centre back position is very competitive. The Lawrence/Tiernan combination probably just edging it over the O’Connell/Osbourne combination. Although with Lawrence struggling for fitness Somerville would struggle to replace him with someone as good as O’Connell who in his short LOI career before he was put out by injury never put a head wrong. However Lawrence has had a few appearances in the Premier and has had spells with Rovers and Shels, so he has the calibre. Tiernan on the other hand also has the experience and has been the standout player in this bloggers view for the last few games.

The Somerville defence conceded 39 goals in 20 games (just under two goals per game). Last season the defence conceded 73 goals in 36 games (just over two goals per game).

Bloggers verdict for back four - Last season 6/10, this season 7/10 (again depending on injuries/suspensions).

It had to happen at some stage and when it did it happened very quickly. Any chance of survival is over now. Any illusions that we are not the worst team in the League also ended in the space of 8 days. A 5-0 trouncing by UCD, quickly followed by a 1-0 home defeat to the new boys Mervue. Consider that Mervue brought up a couple from their U20 squad and consider that they have been on one of their worst runs of the season and you begin to realise how poor the result was.

The only silver lining is that Doran, O’Brien, Purcell, Byrne and Isaaka were missing for Kildare. However Purcell and Isaaka have been with us all season, Byrne has been poor when he played. So really all that was missing were Doran and O’Brien and how that made such a big difference is very disappointing and frustrating.

So now the focus is on the play-off, especially since Longford also won at the weekend, 3-0 to Athlone which leaves Kildare 10 points behind again (they were 3 points behind Longford when Somerville took over).

Last season Kildare made the playoff and were annihilated. How does the new team compare to the old.

Below is the line up that were beaten 3-0 at home in the play-off last season.

O’Neil, Austin Goalkeeper

Donnelly, Paul Defender
Murray, Colin Defender
O’Connell, David Defender
Powderly, Eoin Defender Replaced by Issaka, Baba

Brady, Cathal Midfielder
Osbourne, Colin Midfielder
Fortune, Colin Midfielder
Mooney, Craig Midfielder Replaced by Bowers, Trevor

Hughes, Philip Forward
Kilduff, Ciaran Forward Replaced by Kavanagh, Eoin

This week we will start the comparisons with the keeper.

O’Neil played 50 matches for Kildare County and kept 9 clean sheets, in the other 41 matches Kildare conceded 96 goals! His career before hand was non-distinct with spells at Home Farm, Tolka Rovers as a schoolboy before joining Bohemians as an 18 year old where he remained for two seasons. Then he moved onto Dublin City where he was second choice and on to UCD again where he also failed to make the big break through. He ended up back in the LSL with Tolka Rovers before getting a chance with Limerick where he was number one choice for the First Division club for the second half of the season before being snapped up by John Ryan. Since been released at the end of last season he hasn’t secured a contract with another LOI side.

On the other hand Kelly has played 12 games so far with County and kept two clean sheets, Kildare have conceded 20 goals in the other 10 matches he was involved in. He trained with the team under Dermot Keely in the pre-season of 2003 after returning from England where he played on the same youth team as Darren Bent with Ipswich Town. He never made an appearance with Kildare County but he has since made his name in the Leinster Senior League with Dublin Bus and Crumlin Utd.

Last season there was decent cover for O’Neill on the bench with John Flynn and Cassidy - both looked good when called upon. This season when Kelly hasn’t played Kildare may as well forfeit the match.

Blogger’s verdict for goal keeping position - Last Season 5/10, this Season 6/10 (only if Kelly is fit and in form).

I have no blog entry for the last three games. The results were 2-2 away to Athlone, 2-3 at home to Fingal and finally a 2-1 win away to Longford. It has been a rollercoaster.

After the 2-2 with Athlone I had finally accepted that hope was over. That was our last chance. Three points were needed in that game to close the gap on our rivals, and Athlone being one of them rivals it was important we didnt let them pick up a point. But they did and probably have stretched far enough away that they are out of reach.

Then we had Fingal at home and that hope that was dead was brought back to life. Kildare took a shock two goal lead early on in the second half. These three points if we could hold on would make up for points dropped in Athlone. The escape was back on! Unfortunately it was not to be. All three points were dropped when we conceded 3 second half goals. I still clung to that shred of hope though.

We had Longford next. And what a day that turned out to be. The win that we absolutely needed came. Bowers and Hughes combined for both goals, with Hughes applying the finishing touch twice. The escape is well and truly on now. Let our recent form and some cold hard figures speak for themselves.

The cyclical format of the Division gives us an opportunity to predict upcoming results based on previous results. Mervue play Shelbourne next week. They were beaten 7-0 in the corresponding fixture in July. Lets say they repeat this result and they repeat every other result to the last day of the season. And lets say the same for Kildare. We have still Wexford, Mervue and Limerick to play, so that is 7 points that we picked up in the last round of matches.

Now, if we take it that that is the way that the rest of the season is going to play out. We will arrive on the last day of the season like this with one game left to play each:

pos		pld	pts	gd
11.	Kildare County	32	19	-44
12.	Mervue United	32	19	-47

In the final match Kildare would play Shelbourne at Station Road, and Mervue would face Wexford Youths at Ferricarrig Park. This could set up a huge party atmosphere as Shelbourne could secure the title and Kildare secure safety by the final whistle at Station Road!

Poor finishing and dreadful mistakes ruined what many fans had viewed as Kildare’s last chance to mount any sort of escape from the relegation play off spot. Finn Harps came to Station Road and left with all the points following a 2-0 win.

In their seven complete seasons Kildare have finished ahead of some of the big teams in the table, Dundalk (three times) Sligo (also three times) and Galway (twice). They have never finished ahead of Finn Harps though and it looks unlikely this season especially after that result. Just to complete the list, Kildare have also finished the season ahead of Wexford (once), Dublin City (once), Cobh (twice), Limerick (twice), Kilkenny (5 times), Athlone (5 times) and Monaghan (6 times).

Their head to head record against Harps now stands at played 19, won 2, drew 5 and lost 12. County’s form in the last 6 games had been on a par with Limerick’s. The 3 points were a must against Finn Harps and should have been achievable. Kildare had three one on one’s with the keeper but didn’t manage to score. Harps were gifted a penalty by ex League Champion Davy Byrne, and then gifted a second by sub keeper Cassidy who dropped the ball through his arms.

This was billed as the last chance to show that they could get off the bottom of the table. Just as the last game against Longford was the “last chance”, just as Donnelly’s last game against Monaghan was the “last chance”. But the football fan can always find an excuse to be hopeful. After the Monaghan game we found hope in the new manager, after the Longford defeat we found hope in his signings in the transfer window. Now what is there? The triumvirate of Athlone, Longford and Mervue are now 10 and 11 points ahead of Kildare. A win against them all would bring in 9 points - and current form would indicate that we could and should beat each of them. That would make up the guts of the deficit and would leave the door open for Kildare to pick off the weakest of that group. With that in mind - Friday’s game against Athlone is the LAST last chance.

Kildare County were beaten 2-0 by Shelbourne yesterday. It could have been different though. Somerville put David Jackson up front with Philly Hughes. It was a strange decision to leave three strikers on the bench (Lee, O’Riordan, Bowers) and stick the midfielder up with Hughes. Two clear cut chances fell to Jackson in the first 20 or so minutes. Neither chance ended in the back of the onion sack.

It was unlikely that Kildare would do any better however. So its hard to talk about points dropped. Shelbourne had won 11 out of their previous 13 matches, drawing the other two. A couple of other results went the wrong way for the County though as Mervue picked up a point to end their 8 match losing streak, and Longford knocked 4 past limerick away to all but drag themselves out of the relegation fight. Defeat for Athlone today despite their new signing Georgescu will have come as good news for Kildare. And we wait to see how Finn Harps do against Monaghan tomorrow.

Somerville has had the bones of his squad together now since Longford (the team that day was McDonnell; Murray, Lawrence, Osbourne, Issaka; Brady, O’Brien, D. Byrne, Doran; O’Riordan, Hughes) with just Jackson and Tiernan to come in for the next game. So in this time he has played everyone except Athlone Town and Finn Harps with his first team squad and has only picked up 7 points. Now he has 8 points plus to catch up and pass Mervue. Mervue have picked up 8 points on average in each round of matches. If they pick up 8 in the last round they really are un-catchable. The next two matches against Athlone Town and Finn Harps will tell alot about our slim chances. These are the only two teams that haven’t tested the quality of Somerville’s current squad.

Following the A-Championship is troublesome due to lack of updates on the FAI’s League of Ireland website. The wikipedia seems to have the most up-to-date tables. It certainly looks like there will be a relegation playoff. With very very few games played in the division since last time we checked, Salthill Devon still look poised to contest the playoff, with Castlebar Celtic ready to pip them out the post if Salthill hit a poor run of form.

The stories of doom and gloom and bankruptcy seem also to have dried up. So more than likely the relegation will be decided by on the pitch matters rather than off the field financial meltdowns.

Kildare County were beaten 2-0 by Waterford United at home at the weekend. Waterford have now one match left this season against the Thoroughbreds to complete a total white wash. Last season Waterford won 4 out of 4 against County and this season they have full marks too so far with 2 out of 2.

The weekend pitted the bottom four teams against the top four teams, so it was unlikely that Kildare would lose any ground on their rivals. It was also very unlikely that Kildare would gain any ground on any of their rivals! But that didn’t stop them from trying and Trevor Bowers in particular had a tidy game on the right wing and was Kildare’s biggest threat to the Waterford goal. He also tracked back to support Craig Purcell at full back.

Although it was not one way traffic, the class of Waterford showed and it wasn’t a surprise when they took the lead after half time. Indeed they would have taken the lead earlier but Lawrence at centre back had a superb game, and Kildare got a little help from the cross bar too. After the first goal went in the result was never in doubt, so when Kelly slipped and dropped the ball to gift Waterford a second it was all really academic.

Athlone Town gave the teams at the bottom a small glimmer of hope. The top four have been inpenetrable for most of the season. But UCD were 1-0 down to Athlone with 90 minutes gone at the weekend, and thus showing that the top teams are not quite in a league of their own. Kildare can bring this hope into their next match when they have the mamoth task of over turning Shelbourne. Luckily for us Athlone Town’s efforts were undone in injury time and only came out with a point. In the relegation fight they were the only team to get a result - Mervue, Longford, us and Harps were all beaten.

Now 5 out of the last 12 games for us are against the Top Four and we have 7 points to make up to Mervue.