*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

paddy no 11

condon
hannon
Wayne

Half back line in QF, lets see how that goes before we pass judgement.

glasagusban

paddy no 11 wrote: »

condon
hannon
Wayne

Half back line in QF, lets see how that goes before we pass judgement.

Agreed. I don't think it will work out, but if it really did then Hannon to 6 could transform the team. Worth persisting with up to the quarter final. Particularly as there appear to be no other candidates for 6 identified and Wayne can always slot back in and do the job we know he will do.

I'm more concerned about the lack of nuance in our attack compared to most other teams. At times v Offaly we played some nice hurling working excellent stick passes to men in space for scores. I think this might have been due to the selection of players like Fitzgibbon and Lynch who have great vision to make those passes. It's why I think Lynch has to start come summer. I'm concerned that the selection of Begley means our plan is to lump high ball forward and that this will be the approach in summer. Dowling is a strong target man for full forward but you have to have more than that. Mulcahy can shred teams when ball is put into space in front of him but too often he has to break it down to himself from high ball, which he is better at than he has any right to be.

The wexford game last year showed signs of better link up play and movement in our forwards than we had seen up to that point, I was hoping we were going to see that develop a bit more this year and actually start scoring a few goals as a result. Hasn't looked like it from the league so far.

zombieHanalei

I'm disappointed there were no additions to the squad since Moran and Ryan departed; we had bad luck with injuries and we knew we'd be without the Kilmallock lads, if you've only 21/22 available players I'd wonder how that could impact training. I was told there was a shadow squad in addition to the named 32 man squad but it would appear that was not the case.

Things aren't fantastic at the moment, which I guess has been normal for this time of year recently and I don't doubt that we'll be up to speed come championship, but we need to go beyond what we've been delivering in the last 4 years, and there is no evidence to suggest we have improved.

Style of play still pretty much the same, only new thing was the old lump it up to the big man at full forward routine against Waterford; it worked the first time but Waterford dealt with it easily for the rest of the game. With all due respect to Patrick Begley he's nowhere near as effective in that role as Brian was; and even Brian tended to be hit or miss.

I don't like that tactic, you need a particular type of player for that to work which I don't believe we have at present. It's wasteful, more often than not the end result is a big clearance from the opposition full back line. And as we know, that can give a team and their fans a big lift.

Fireball07

Our gameplan has to get the best out of our players because we do have the talent available it most positions... but we didn't really lump it long last year at all. We played direct hurling alright but it wasn't aimless pumping of balls constantly. We did play some aimless ball at times, but it wasn't a constant thing.

Look at the players though

Nicky- One of the best keepers around. I can't think of anyone who's on a different level anyway. So good under a high ball, and good puckouts.

Richie Mc- Probably the best full-back in Ireland atm.

Hickey- Up there with the best corner-backs, few class acts like Murphy, Cahill & Connors around at the moment but he's top top quality.

Browne & Jim-Bob- Again as good as any midfield pairing in the country, of which there are plenty good ones. Don't think I'd swap them though, they offer so much to us.

Hannon- A phenomenal talent, when he's on form, he's lethal. 4 or 5 points from play against KK in the midst of the worst weather I've seen at a hurling match. Was so good underage, he has the ability to be one of the top hurlers around.

Dowling- A fantastic free-taker, ice-cool under pressure and delivered from play consistently last year... a goal against Tipp, 0-3 against Cork, 2-3 against Wexford, 2 or 3 points against KK too. That's excellent consistent scoring. Can win his own ball and is so clever on the ball.

Mulcahy- One of the most underrated forwards in Ireland imo. Just pure, utter class. A delight to watch.



Then you've got Downes who we all know has the potential to be top class, Condon is as solid as they come, Gavin is stylish, just needs to find more while the likes of Breen & Dodge are possibly less fancy than some of the others but facilitate the others with superb work rate and an ability to scrap for possession and take points. Then you've got Lynch & Morrissey, two of the best minors of the past few years.... Tobin, Paudie, Wayne, Walsh who are all good Championship players.


But get the most out of your top class players and you'll go a long way. Build the team around some of the outstanding young talents we have.

thinkstoomuch1

Fireball07 wrote: »

Our gameplan has to get the best out of our players because we do have the talent available it most positions... but we didn't really lump it long last year at all. We played direct hurling alright but it wasn't aimless pumping of balls constantly. We did play some aimless ball at times, but it wasn't a constant thing.

Look at the players though

Nicky- One of the best keepers around. I can't think of anyone who's on a different level anyway. So good under a high ball, and good puckouts.

Richie Mc- Probably the best full-back in Ireland atm.

Hickey- Up there with the best corner-backs, few class acts like Murphy, Cahill & Connors around at the moment but he's top top quality.

Browne & Jim-Bob- Again as good as any midfield pairing in the country, of which there are plenty good ones. Don't think I'd swap them though, they offer so much to us.

Hannon- A phenomenal talent, when he's on form, he's lethal. 4 or 5 points from play against KK in the midst of the worst weather I've seen at a hurling match. Was so good underage, he has the ability to be one of the top hurlers around.

Dowling- A fantastic free-taker, ice-cool under pressure and delivered from play consistently last year... a goal against Tipp, 0-3 against Cork, 2-3 against Wexford, 2 or 3 points against KK too. That's excellent consistent scoring. Can win his own ball and is so clever on the ball.

Mulcahy- One of the most underrated forwards in Ireland imo. Just pure, utter class. A delight to watch.



Then you've got Downes who we all know has the potential to be top class, Condon is as solid as they come, Gavin is stylish, just needs to find more while the likes of Breen & Dodge are possibly less fancy than some of the others but facilitate the others with superb work rate and an ability to scrap for possession and take points. Then you've got Lynch & Morrissey, two of the best minors of the past few years.... Tobin, Paudie, Wayne, Walsh who are all good Championship players.


But get the most out of your top class players and you'll go a long way. Build the team around some of the outstanding young talents we have.

A lot of what you say is correct and I'd agree totally but your post imo highlights problem with this set up I alway believed is a tactical mastermind is absent and one who won't look on a sweeper possession game as plan b with contempt but would actually embrace it



The fall out from the disaster Saturday imo is huge worry in bar tom Ryan no when else said it was disaster

Tj Ryan said more about the card for dowling and he delighted with players work rate and happy all the performance bar the sixteen wides

All he said regards the failure to be relegated was time to move on, redeem themselves and look forward to quatre final
No mention of the failure to get promoted or poor performance in three games
Imo issue was ignored


Imo it shows the huge problems this team will have win big games as management fail realise mistakes made team selection and the huge disaster Saturday was

As regards the post saying last year limerick looked red hot goal wise v wexford and it's superise haven't done same again surely to god imo after wexford dominate league game bar result clear as daylight tired wexford team as has been said many times wexford management had huge bearing collapse last year and as another poster said here ist twenty minutes wexford gave limerick huge problem but imo wexford clearly ran out of steam after wards


That team picked probably beat Laois as I'm surprised Laois are so poor this year but limerick half forward line lacks real pace and scoring and half back line is not strongest either imo

A great point has been made, limerick will likely be better in summer and yes imo one big game them but nothing says imo hsve improved to go from being competitive to winners and as Paudie o brien brilliant interview after kilmallock game said fine line between competitive and winning and time limerick teams push on and become ruthless as no point loosing saying same old stuff again and agai
Imo for a team to be ruthless you must have a ruthless manager and imo tj good quality but not ruthless enough as seen by picking team, slow nature make game changes, refusal plan b, and adding niall moran when never going to work thus credit moran calling it a day himself as imo tj would still picked him for the panel if he didn't retire

Your post shows the talent in limerick hurling is there and I alway believed that
Never in doubt imo

HillFarmer

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

A lot of what you say is correct and I'd agree totally but your post imo highlights problem with this set up I alway believed is a tactical mastermind is absent and one who won't look on a sweeper possession game as plan b with contempt but would actually embrace it



The fall out from the disaster Saturday imo is huge worry in bar tom Ryan no when else said it was disaster

Tj Ryan said more about the card for dowling and he delighted with players work rate and happy all the performance bar the sixteen wides

All he said regards the failure to be relegated was time to move on, redeem themselves and look forward to quatre final
No mention of the failure to get promoted or poor performance in three games
Imo issue was ignored


Imo it shows the huge problems this team will have win big games as management fail realise mistakes made team selection and the huge disaster Saturday was

As regards the post saying last year limerick looked red hot goal wise v wexford and it's superise haven't done same again surely to god imo after wexford dominate league game bar result clear as daylight tired wexford team as has been said many times wexford management had huge bearing collapse last year and as another poster said here ist twenty minutes wexford gave limerick huge problem but imo wexford clearly ran out of steam after wards


That team picked probably beat Laois as I'm surprised Laois are so poor this year but limerick half forward line lacks real pace and scoring and half back line is not strongest either imo

A great point has been made, limerick will likely be better in summer and yes imo one big game them but nothing says imo hsve improved to go from being competitive to winners and as Paudie o brien brilliant interview after kilmallock game said fine line between competitive and winning and time limerick teams push on and become ruthless as no point loosing saying same old stuff again and agai
Imo for a team to be ruthless you must have a ruthless manager and imo tj good quality but not ruthless enough as seen by picking team, slow nature make game changes, refusal plan b, and adding niall moran when never going to work thus credit moran calling it a day himself as imo tj would still picked him for the panel if he didn't retire

Your post shows the talent in limerick hurling is there and I alway believed that
Never in doubt imo

i think on Paper at least Limerick has the beating of the likes of Cork. I've watched a good few Waterford Limerick minor games over the last 4 or 5years and the likes of Lynch and Dowling are the real deal.

There was one lad, Carmody who i thought would be a definite starter for Limerick Seniors, is he on the Limerick Panel?

He was on fire one year against Waterford below in Walsh Park minor.

I do agree with TTM in one way in the sense that with the current quality Limerick have they should have beaten Waterford and Wexford and gained Promotion, BUT not the end of the world, your still in a quarter final and can still get good competition for the big guys.

Fireball07

Good enough win in the end by a fairly cobbled-together team. Laois seemed to cause us a lot of problems in the first half but 2nd half had a lot more urgency.


Tobin again seemed to be on fire, really laying down a marker for the Championship and I don't think he can be dropped now. We'll see how he gets on against Dublin anyway. Tommy O'Brien scored 1-2 or 1-3, Allis also seemed to get on a lot of ball.


Dublin in the quarter-final, should be an interesting tie, get to measure ourselves against a side who beat Galway, Tipp and KK. Think it's a toss for home advantage.

I'd say we'll have a few of the Kilmallock lads available- wonder will Wayne, Condon & Hickey be available.

Fireball07

So far in the league, we have used 27 players, including one Kilmallock player and one player who has since left the panel (Niall Moran). We obviously still have Graeme Mulcahy, Paudie O'Brien, Barry Hennessey and Kevin Downese to come into contention.


Richie McCarthy & Stephen Walsh are the only players who have played every minute of every game; while Paul Browne, Jim-Bob and Dodge have also featured in every game.


Our top scorer to date is Seanie Tobin with 0-22, which is very impressive considering he's only started 2 games. David Reidy is next with 2-11, then Shane Dowling with 1-12, Paul Browne with 0-12 and Declan Hannon 1-10.


Our best scorer in terms of amount of time on the pitch is Seanie Tobin, who is averaging 8.65 points per game, Dowling's average is 7.39 while Tommy O'Brien's 1-3 in his only game to date, means his average is 6.


In terms of scoring from play, Paul Browne has been our main man from midfield with 0-12. Tobin is next with 0-9, then Hannon with 1-5, Reidy with 0-7; while both John Fitzgibbon & David Breen have 1-3 and Cian Lynch has 0-6.


But since certain players have featured a lot more than others for whatever reason, it's probably better to look at scores from play per minute on the field to really see who's been contributing most from play. And in our case, it would be level between Gavin O'Mahony and Tommy O'Brien with 0-5 and 1-2 respectively from a single game. If that was consistent, it'd be a very welcome addition... but for those who have played more than a single game, Tobin again leads the way with approximately 3.5 points from play per game. They are the only ones averaging over 3 from play per game.

Other players averaging over 2 points from play per game are John Fitzgibbon, Declan Hannon, Paul Browne, David Breen and Tom Condon.

zombieHanalei

Big performance required next weekend, otherwise league can only go down as a resounding failure. We have been most unfortunate with injury issues and unavailability of the Kilmallock lads (and Dowling's moment of madness) but I don't believe those factors are sufficient to excuse failure to achieve promotion at the 4th time of asking. 2nd place once again; I hate to say it but we're the bridesmaids of 1B

Today, not much to say really, once again we had a poor enough start. We've started poorly in all games bar the Offaly one, and even that wasn't overly convincing. Obviously that can't happen next Sunday, you can get away with that in 1B but a 1A team could be out of sight after 20 minutes.

Most performances as expected. Seán Tobin was very good again, and McCarthy and Browne stood out as to be expected. I was happy overall with Allis though I don't see him as a starter, Sean O'Brien did alright, he's probably first sub for the full back line (provided Condon is definitely going to be utilised as a wing back), Thomas O'Brien was a bit of a mixed bag, happy with his work rate, good in possession but can struggle to win possession! David Breen's first touch has seemed a bit off all year, if he could claim ball first time more often he'd be absolutely devastating. Excellent at getting to a ball first but not so excellent at winning clean possession.

Patrick Begley; more or less the same as the Waterford game, got caught for square ball a couple of times, not effective at all in the role they have in mind for him, felt sorry for him, he looked fairly dejected when coming off.

Aaron Murphy has one hell of a puck out on him. Himself and Quaid were warming up before the game so Quaid ran out to the opposing 45 yard line to gather the puck out and send it back, Murphy's first shot went well over Quaid's head and landed almost on the opposing 21 yard line. He knocked a free over from about 100 yards out at one stage.

Dublin are a good test for us next week, we should have a few of the injured players back and the Kilmallock lads should make the bench at least. No excuses next weekend.

mickmackey1

zombieHanalei wrote: »

Aaron Murphy has one hell of a puck out on him. Himself and Quaid were warming up before the game so Quaid ran out to the opposing 45 yard line to gather the puck out and send it back, Murphy's first shot went well over Quaid's head and landed almost on the opposing 21 yard line. He knocked a free over from about 100 yards out at one stage.

Was Richie not taking a lot of the puck-outs? Sounded like that on the radio anyway.

zombieHanalei

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Was Richie not taking a lot of the puck-outs? Sounded like that on the radio anyway.

Laois forwards stood off Richie pretty much every time for puck outs and Murphy hit a lot of short puck outs to him.

glasagusban

Fireball07 wrote: »

So far in the league, we have used 27 players, including one Kilmallock player and one player who has since left the panel (Niall Moran). We obviously still have Graeme Mulcahy, Paudie O'Brien, Barry Hennessey and Kevin Downese to come into contention.


Richie McCarthy & Stephen Walsh are the only players who have played every minute of every game; while Paul Browne, Jim-Bob and Dodge have also featured in every game.


Our top scorer to date is Seanie Tobin with 0-22, which is very impressive considering he's only started 2 games. David Reidy is next with 2-11, then Shane Dowling with 1-12, Paul Browne with 0-12 and Declan Hannon 1-10.


Our best scorer in terms of amount of time on the pitch is Seanie Tobin, who is averaging 8.65 points per game, Dowling's average is 7.39 while Tommy O'Brien's 1-3 in his only game to date, means his average is 6.


In terms of scoring from play, Paul Browne has been our main man from midfield with 0-12. Tobin is next with 0-9, then Hannon with 1-5, Reidy with 0-7; while both John Fitzgibbon & David Breen have 1-3 and Cian Lynch has 0-6.


But since certain players have featured a lot more than others for whatever reason, it's probably better to look at scores from play per minute on the field to really see who's been contributing most from play. And in our case, it would be level between Gavin O'Mahony and Tommy O'Brien with 0-5 and 1-2 respectively from a single game. If that was consistent, it'd be a very welcome addition... but for those who have played more than a single game, Tobin again leads the way with approximately 3.5 points from play per game. They are the only ones averaging over 3 from play per game.

Other players averaging over 2 points from play per game are John Fitzgibbon, Declan Hannon, Paul Browne, David Breen and Tom Condon.

Wow Fireball did you do that up yourself? Fair play! Hard to say what to take from it all. Tobin in two games has been our best forward of the league. Would love if he could perform like that in summer. Was he out centre forward towards the end of the game today? Sounded like he was on fire again anyway. He'll probably be keeping Downes or Lynch on the bench in this form.

@hanalei: don't know if the league has been a waste or not. In the sense that we missed promotion, it has. It's hugely frustrating for fans, must be for the team too, they can't not care. I don't know if a good game v dublin will improve it or not. Last year we were brutal in the quarter but it didn't affect our summer.

I wouldn't worry about the result v dublin, as long as we learn something more about the team. Such as, should we persist with Hannon at 6, how does walsh go, how do our wing backs (whoever they are, condon, Morrissey, wayne, allis) get on, can lynch/reidy/fitz make an impact up front against a top team, should o'mahony be left at half forward... Any couple of good performances and seeing a bit more pattern in our play would be good.

Fireball07

glasagusban wrote: »

Wow Fireball did you do that up yourself? Fair play! Hard to say what to take from it all. Tobin in two games has been our best forward of the league. Would love if he could perform like that in summer. Was he out centre forward towards the end of the game today? Sounded like he was on fire again anyway. He'll probably be keeping Downes or Lynch on the bench in this form.

I used to do it for all matches, but lost my data, which was a sickener. I use excel and once you have the system in place, it takes literally 2 minutes to update after every match and is pretty easy to analyse. I might start doing it for other teams soon... I'm quite interested in stats for scores from play, and who is effective, although it doesn't take into account players who win frees consistently.


Tobin has huge talent and it seems like the operation has done him a lot of good. He's pure class for Murroe/Boher and although it is a step up to county level, he does have a lot of ability. He's very good in the air for a man of his size, he has pace and his work rate is fantastic. I've only been listening on the radio but it would seem that he dispossessed the corner-back to create a scoring chance about 4 times over the last 2 games and when we were pumping the ball in and getting nothing, he was the one man breaking the ball down and making a scrap for it.


As of now, he has to start ahead of Downes or Lynch or Morrissey, or even Gavin up front. Possibly even Dodge. He was on the wing at times against Offaly afaik, and did move to centre-forward today. He's got good vision too... he's a different style of centre-forward to someone like Breen or Dodge, even different to Hannon. He'd be a pure playmaker forward, never going to have the power to drive through the middle like some but if space did open he could attack... he's good at spotting a pass. I'd say he'd be most similar to Gavin's style as a centre-forward.


It's one good definite plus from the league so far.

zombieHanalei

Player|WCC Apps.|WCC scores|NHL Apps.|NHL scores|Total Apps.|Total scores|Primary posn.|Other posn.
Allis, C|2+1|0-2|3+1|0-0|5+2|0-2|wing back|midfield
Begley, P|2+1|0-1|2+0|0-0|4+1|0-1|full forward|-
Breen, A|3+0|3-8|2+2|0-1|5+2|3-9|corner forward|-
Breen, D|1+0|0-0|3+0|1-3|4+0|1-3|utility forward|-
Browne, P|0+3|0-1|5+0|0-11|5+3|0-12|midfield|-
Condon, T|2+1|0-3|2+0|0-4|4+1|0-7|wing back|corner back
Dowling, S|1+2|0-6|3+0|1-12|4+2|1-18|full forward|-
Downes, K|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|-|-
Fitzgibbon, J|0+1|0-0|2+3|1-2|2+4|1-2|wing forward|midfield
Hannon, D|0+0|0-0|3+1|1-7|3+1|1-7|centre back|centre/wing forward
Hennessy, B|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|-|-
Hickey, S|3+0|0-0|4+0|0-1|7+0|0-1|corner back|-
King, C|3+0|0-5|2+0|0-0|5+0|0-5|midfield|wing back
Lynch, C|3+0|0-9|3+2|0-6|6+2|0-15|wing forward|-
McCarthy, R|3+0|0-0|5+0|0-1|8+0|0-1|full back|-
McNamara, W|2+1|0-0|3+0|0-2|5+1|0-2|centre back|wing back
Moran, N|3+0|0-2|1+0|0-0|4+0|0-2|wing forward|-
Morrissey, D|3+0|0-1|3+2|0-0|6+2|0-1|wing back|-
Morrissey, T|1+2|0-5|1+3|0-1|2+5|0-6|corner forward|-
Mulcahy, G|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|-|-
Murphy, A|0+0|0-0|1+0|0-1|1+0|0-1|goalkeeper|-
O'Brien, P|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|-|-
O'Brien, S|0+0|0-0|1+4|0-2|1+4|0-2|corner/wing back|-
O'Brien, T|2+0|0-6|1+0|1-3|3+0|1-9|corner forward|-
O'Grady, D|2+1|0-2|5+0|0-4|7+1|0-6|wing/centre forward|wing/centre back
O'Mahony, G|1+0|1-2|1+0|0-5|2+0|1-7|centre forward|-
Quaid, N|3+0|0-0|4+0|0-0|7+0|0-0|goalkeeper|-
Reidy, D|0+0|0-0|4+1|2-11|4+1|2-11|wing forward|corner forward
Ryan, J|3+0|0-4|4+1|0-2|7+1|0-6|midfield|-
Ryan, T|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|0+0|0-0|-|-
Tobin, S|0+0|0-0|2+2|0-22|2+2|0-22|corner forward|utility forward
Walsh, S|2+0|0-0|5+0|0-0|7+0|0-0|corner back|-


Primary and other positions in relation to how they have been used in 2015 only.

paddy no 11

Waterford looked very coherent yesterday, you'd kind of have hoped thats where we would be. Obviously we've had some disruption but still we dont lt doesnt look too convincing. Hopefully a style of play develops soon and maybe TJ is keeping a few cards up his sleeve. Would really like to give dublin a real good game. Id be inclined to give the kilmallock lads a break though, and presumably a month for Dowling could still leave us a little short.

glasagusban

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Waterford looked very coherent yesterday, you'd kind of have hoped thats where we would be. Obviously we've had some disruption but still we dont lt doesnt look too convincing. Hopefully a style of play develops soon and maybe TJ is keeping a few cards up his sleeve. Would really like to give dublin a real good game. Id be inclined to give the kilmallock lads a break though, and presumably a month for Dowling could still leave us a little short.

That's what has disappointed me a bit. The only pattern in out okay that I've seen develop this league seems to be bateing high balls to a full forward. Waterford on the other hand are clearly playing to an effective system at this stage. Two years ago under Allen when we had a very distinctive style for summer we only saw it for the first time in the challenge match v kilkenny just before championship, so maybe we'll see a bit more style come summer than we've seen so far.

Cu Baire

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Waterford looked very coherent yesterday, you'd kind of have hoped thats where we would be. Obviously we've had some disruption but still we dont lt doesnt look too convincing. Hopefully a style of play develops soon and maybe TJ is keeping a few cards up his sleeve. Would really like to give dublin a real good game. Id be inclined to give the kilmallock lads a break though, and presumably a month for Dowling could still leave us a little short.

I didn't see what suspension he got but I assume it would be 2 games. After the statements coming from the camp after the Offaly game I am surprised that the County Board did not appeal the red card.

Twoman Fullbackline

We're going to Croker.

glasagusban

Twoman Fullbackline wrote: »

We're going to Croker.

Was hoping for a home game so I could get along to it but sure good for the team to have a run out in Croke park.

Twoman Fullbackline

It's very winnable as Dublin don't exactly have a great record in Croker themselves. Hopefully we will be able to put out a strong team. However lumping high-balls into the forwards will get us absolutely nowhere against Dublin as they are very strong in this regard.

paddy no 11

Happy to be going to croker, more games there the better.

glasagusban

Presume Kilmallock players will be available. Any updates on the fitness of hickey, condon, Downes?

zombieHanalei

Cu Baire wrote: »

I didn't see what suspension he got but I assume it would be 2 games. After the statements coming from the camp after the Offaly game I am surprised that the County Board did not appeal the red card.

From what I've been led to believe Dowling hit his marker into the "gentleman's area", I'd be willing to believe that as if there was a wild pull surely someone in the crowd would have seen it, was supposed to have been a tame enough incident, they reckon the Offaly player made the most of it but a definite red regardless.

Mehapoy

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Happy to be going to croker, more games there the better.

Yep, great to get a game in croker, would be even nicer to win! Get Paudi O'Brien on to take a few shots aswell, the sooner he can get the club AI out of his system the better...on another point how farcical is the current season that the league will be over before the kilmallock players are available...the sooner they bring in a calendar year the better for all concerned...

Fireball07

Dublin in Croker is a good test for us, I think. Only pity is that I'm not going to be able to go to it now. But yeah, games in Croker will do our lads good... I know we beat them there a couple of years ago before losing the final in Semple. They've a lot of players who are strong in the air, lots of pace and strength too.


The result isn't too important but I would like to see us win or at the very least give them a good game, no collapse like last year, that would not be encouraging. But a clear style of play executed well would be good.

Is Dowling's not just a one-game ban, he would be a big loss.


Might see:

Quaid
Walsh Richie O'Brien
Wayne Hannon Paudie
Browne Jim-Bob
Breen Gavin Dodge
Tobin Reidy Mulcahy

I personally am against Paudie at wing-back, but I could see him starting there. Dan Morrissey is probably the other favourite.

The inside line is the other one, we might just see the two smaller lads inside and play someone like Fitzgibbon or Lynch to float out around midfield. Or Begley could start inside.


That's all presuming we don't have Downes, Hickey, Condon, Dowling.


It'll be an interesting selection if nothing else.

cnoc

glasagusban wrote: »

That's what has disappointed me a bit. The only pattern in out okay that I've seen develop this league seems to be bateing high balls to a full forward. Waterford on the other hand are clearly playing to an effective system at this stage. Two years ago under Allen when we had a very distinctive style for summer we only saw it for the first time in the challenge match v kilkenny just before championship, so maybe we'll see a bit more style come summer than we've seen so far.

Do you think think that LK can automatically turn it on for the championship? Their League form is not anything to shout home about. LK are supposed to have first class forwards, but struggle to beat weaker opposition. Both Waterford and Wexford put up big scores against Laois and Antrim.

glasagusban

cnoc wrote: »

Do you think think that LK can automatically turn it on for the championship? Their League form is not anything to shout home about. LK are supposed to have first class forwards, but struggle to beat weaker opposition. Both Waterford and Wexford put up big scores against Laois and Antrim.

In the abstract I'd say no, but on the evidence of the last two years -yes we can. We've come off weak, even abysmal league campaigns to have decent championship performances. On all known form up until the first round of the munster championship last year tipp should have beaten us out the gate in Thurles.

We have decent forwards. But most of them haven't been available for most of this league:
Mulcahy has missed all of it.
Downes has missed all of it.
Tobin only played two games.
Hannon only one or two (?) games in the forwards.
Dowling didn't play much.
Breen missed a few games.

That's probably our top 6 forwards. After that, O'Mahony played only the Waterford game. Dodge played a few games and Lynch played a few games.

Our first 6 forwards will come from those. Nothing close to 6 of the 9 above have played a game together yet.

Rightwing

We should be looking to do a number on Dublin, league is up for grabs.

Waterford deserved champions of our league, they could easily make the final, if not win the whole thing out.

LMK

cnoc wrote: »

Do you think think that LK can automatically turn it on for the championship? Their League form is not anything to shout home about. LK are supposed to have first class forwards, but struggle to beat weaker opposition. Both Waterford and Wexford put up big scores against Laois and Antrim.

In hurling there are 8 teams that on any given day can beat one another, but KK, Tipp and Cork have always traditionally had the numbers when it come to top class hurlers so especially now with the "back door" system this reduces the chances of a County outside those 3 winning the AI
Limerick don't have the strength in depth to compete strongly in both the league and c'ship, I think that this group grasp this and concentrate on maximising their chances for the c’ship, for the past 2 years we've had good championships (excluding SF in 2013) and improved from year to year, in my opinion that is down in a large part to the quality of scoring forwards that have emerged in the past 3-4 years, but its mainly due to the fact they play as a Team and their cumulative worth is greater than the sum of their parts as all Teams should be. The reality is that these players put their lives on hold while playing intercounty the Munster Medal in 2013 and the manner it was won will keep them going for this year but there is only so many times they can keep the hunger without winning more medals to justify the work they put into it.
But we are still missing or waiting for one of our forward players (I believe must be in the forwards this happens for us to be in with a better than even chance of winning the AI) to improve to a point where they can be on a par with Ritchie Hogan or Joe Canning or Noel McGrath or Tony Kelly in their prime, that is sustain the level over a year of matches, not hit a peak in one match then drop back into the pack for the next 2 games, other have produced but not a forward, Seamus Hickey had an excellent 2014 ever match he was an influence so were JimBob, Paul Browne and Ritchie McCarthy, Dec Hannon produced against KK and that was nearly enough that day

Fireball07

LMK wrote: »

In hurling there are 8 teams that on any given day can beat one another, but KK, Tipp and Cork have always traditionally had the numbers when it come to top class hurlers so especially now with the "back door" system this reduces the chances of a County outside those 3 winning the AI
Limerick don't have the strength in depth to compete strongly in both the league and c'ship, I think that this group grasp this and concentrate on maximising their chances for the c’ship, for the past 2 years we've had good championships (excluding SF in 2013) and improved from year to year, in my opinion that is down in a large part to the quality of scoring forwards that have emerged in the past 3-4 years, but its mainly due to the fact they play as a Team and their cumulative worth is greater than the sum of their parts as all Teams should be. The reality is that these players put their lives on hold while playing intercounty the Munster Medal in 2013 and the manner it was won will keep them going for this year but there is only so many times they can keep the hunger without winning more medals to justify the work they put into it.
But we are still missing or waiting for one of our forward players (I believe must be in the forwards this happens for us to be in with a better than even chance of winning the AI) to improve to a point where they can be on a par with Ritchie Hogan or Joe Canning or Noel McGrath or Tony Kelly in their prime, that is sustain the level over a year of matches, not hit a peak in one match then drop back into the pack for the next 2 games, other have produced but not a forward, Seamus Hickey had an excellent 2014 ever match he was an influence so were JimBob, Paul Browne and Ritchie McCarthy, Dec Hannon produced against KK and that was nearly enough that day

Shane Dowling had a better year than 3 of 4 of those players last year. I'm not really worried about the quality of our star forwards... KK didn't even play Hogan in attack last year and even when TJ Reid was held by Hickey, it wasn't enough to win. It's the backup forwards if one of the big names is having an off-day and our half-back line that is worrying. I think we are making the right moves to address the first half, not sure about the 2nd.