*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

lim4ev

glasagusban wrote: »

I'm often very frustrated with TTM and disagree with a lot of his repetitions, but I'm siding with him here.

A "clear out" of players for the sake of it is just a bad idea. It's also very disrespectful.

If you have better players coming through and the older ones aren't making an impact, then by all means. But always the best players in the county should be picked. Most of our players have a good few years left in them yet.

Waterford crucially kept their older players that were playing well. After that where the choice was between an older player not making a big impact or youth they went with youth. It's a sensible enough policy but people are getting carried away about their clear out, there is a good sprinkling of experience in that team, and they are lucky after that to have some exceptional young players.

I'm not suggesting a clearout for the sake of it if we had nothing coming thru underage i'd say what can we do but we have so lets use them the majority of this yrs team will still be there but bring in 5 or 6 blood them let them freshen things up and see how they go.Lets hope we can turn our season around on sat as I hate being so negative

lim4ev

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

That's imo coaching has take responsibility if wrong team panel picked
Nearly everyone here agreed panel with no corner backs had no balance in cover


Defence was poor all year and concession goals was never fixed
System was orthodox laboured and predicable with no variations of sweeper in the league
I think lethargic going though motion set in and that happens when set up isn't ruthless enough

I suppose its hard to argue with you after all that's happened so far this yr i'd have loved to see r English and m casey tried in the corners but how do I know they weren't asked?Maybe some didn't make themselves available?

Fireball07

The panel originally picked had four corner-backs, iirc. Walsh, Hickey, Condon and O'Brien, with King also able to play there, but was mainly picked at midfield.

A lot of people were surprised that O'Brien was chosen as a back but in hindsight, it looks to have been a great call tbh. Walsh is a decent enough corner-back, not spectacular but okay. The most worrying thing has been Hickey's drop-off in form, he doesn't look fit at all since his injury against Dublin. Condon was being tried at wing-back where I think he did alright but is a fine corner-back too. But now we've got a half-fit Hickey and an injured Condon, and SOB is probably extremely useful for adding pace to our half-back line. I would have liked Dempsey to be added, over English & Casey, I reckon he's better than both of them. He's better than Carmody as well, hard to know Carmody's best position, but he is a good hurler.


The real killer was the half-back line, we had the three from last year, with Paudie really not a half-back. Gavin was tried in the forwards; we pushed Condon & SOB up there (maybe Hickey could have been). Outside of those, we have Dan Morrissey who is solid enough but not top class. Some people called for Quaid but we need him in goal, Tom Ryan would have been a boost but not on the panel. Tried Hannon at centre-back, I don't think it was going to work, but maybe should have been tried for longer. Who else is there? Breen? Dodge? Byrnes would be next best probably, but really not a lot of options and now we're back to last year's line.




Still, I've weirdly made myself more confident. Mainly because I'm not sure Dublin are that great either, their loss to Galway was as bad as ours to Tipp. I know they've beaten us already but surely the likes of Jim-Bob/Browne/Dowling/Downes/Hannon/Richie/Wayne/Mulcahy aren't going to just stand idly by and watch us crash out of the Championship lamely. Neither is TJ; tactics mightn't be best but first thing that has to be improved upon is intensity and work rate over 70 minutes.

zombieHanalei

This is absolutely not about the players. The only new tactic we tried was the lump high ball on top of Pat Begley and that was a massive failure and was rightfully abandoned. Plus, it's hardly a "new" tactic. Other than that we're pretty much doing exactly what we did last year.

Essentially all we've done differently is introduce Lynch, Morrissey and Seanie O'Brien to regular first team game time, and make a few positional shifts (Condon, Browne, P.O'Brien) but we haven't made any changes to the most important part; how the team is actually set up and how they are trained and how they use the ball. You can do all the clearing out of players you want but the fact of the matter is any new player you introduce will only be brought into a system which is old school and becoming increasingly easy to pick holes in.

When you change nothing, it becomes stale, and the other teams aren't stupid, they'll wise up. Even Westmeath managed to run at our defence a few times and found acres of space, 2B counties are wise to us now. They also deployed a sweeper for phases and as usual we played right into his hands a few times. If Westmeath had a few players who were clinical in front of goal that would have nearly swung it for them, they did their homework on us, the used the blueprint of the Tipperary game. If we don't change how we play things will just get worse and worse.

The players are being hung out to dry by this, good players are looking average at best, a guy like Donal O'Grady has been dropped, he has looked sub-par this season but I honestly feel that has much more to do with the system than DO'G, we're not using him the right way anymore.

He would be a good sweeper, he's the most intelligent hurler we've had in the last 10 years, he has all the attributes you want for a sweeper but the management teams insistence on not deploying that tactic knocks that idea on the head.

Waterford didn't just do a clear out, they went back to the drawing board and devised a system, they're introducing their 2013/14 minors into a system which suits the modern game, whereas we've only promoted one so far and any new player who does come in as it stands will only be introduced to a flawed outdated system that won't allow the players to shine.

glasagusban

Good post again ZH. In addition to that, the system should be based on the players available. We don't have rakes of quality inside forwards like Clare do, Clare have at least 5 players that would start on a limerick full forward line. We are quite strong on players for the middle third of the field though. It would make sense to set up to that strength rather going with a fairly traditional set up.

I quite liked the way the team set up the under Allen, by switching a few players in that system we could have also carried more threat up front. It's a good reference point to start again.

Mehapoy

zombieHanalei wrote: »

This is absolutely not about the players. The only new tactic we tried was the lump high ball on top of Pat Begley and that was a massive failure and was rightfully abandoned. Plus, it's hardly a "new" tactic. Other than that we're pretty much doing exactly what we did last year.

Essentially all we've done differently is introduce Lynch, Morrissey and Seanie O'Brien to regular first team game time, and make a few positional shifts (Condon, Browne, P.O'Brien) but we haven't made any changes to the most important part; how the team is actually set up and how they are trained and how they use the ball. You can do all the clearing out of players you want but the fact of the matter is any new player you introduce will only be brought into a system which is old school and becoming increasingly easy to pick holes in.

When you change nothing, it becomes stale, and the other teams aren't stupid, they'll wise up. Even Westmeath managed to run at our defence a few times and found acres of space, 2B counties are wise to us now. They also deployed a sweeper for phases and as usual we played right into his hands a few times. If Westmeath had a few players who were clinical in front of goal that would have nearly swung it for them, they did their homework on us, the used the blueprint of the Tipperary game. If we don't change how we play things will just get worse and worse.

The players are being hung out to dry by this, good players are looking average at best, a guy like Donal O'Grady has been dropped, he has looked sub-par this season but I honestly feel that has much more to do with the system than DO'G, we're not using him the right way anymore.

He would be a good sweeper, he's the most intelligent hurler we've had in the last 10 years, he has all the attributes you want for a sweeper but the management teams insistence on not deploying that tactic knocks that idea on the head.

Waterford didn't just do a clear out, they went back to the drawing board and devised a system, they're introducing their 2013/14 minors into a system which suits the modern game, whereas we've only promoted one so far and any new player who does come in as it stands will only be introduced to a flawed outdated system that won't allow the players to shine.

But I don't think you can totally blame the management either, they were there when we rattled Kilkenny last year and looked like with a stronger panel they may challenge, maybe the O'Grady influence carried them through last year but surely they are not doing that much different than last year? If it worked last year why is it not working this year? Brian Cody freshens up things in Kilkenny now and then but ultimately what they are doing this year is probably not that different than the year before. You mention ogrady, he was half forward last year and pretty much in the same role but has been vastly less effective, is that all down to management, I think in his case time has caught up with him, that happens and can be fairly suddenly, the lack of form of hickey, is that down to management, again playing same role in the team but got cleaned in both games, surely the setup and training isn't that different from last year to this year? Maybe they've lost the confidence of the players, who knows? Or players are being rushed back?
I wouldn't say it was all management either, some players are having years from hell form wise...

thinkstoomuch1

Mehapoy wrote: »

But I don't think you can totally blame the management either, they were there when we rattled Kilkenny last year and looked like with a stronger panel they may challenge, maybe the O'Grady influence carried them through last year but surely they are not doing that much different than last year? If it worked last year why is it not working this year? Brian Cody freshens up things in Kilkenny now and then but ultimately what they are doing this year is probably not that different than the year before. You mention ogrady, he was half forward last year and pretty much in the same role but has been vastly less effective, is that all down to management, I think in his case time has caught up with him, that happens and can be fairly suddenly, the lack of form of hickey, is that down to management, again playing same role in the team but got cleaned in both games, surely the setup and training isn't that different from last year to this year? Maybe they've lost the confidence of the players, who knows? Or players are being rushed back?
I wouldn't say it was all management either, some players are having years from hell form wise...

Too much way too much was put in to kk performance
It was lashing wet day where no pace or full width ptich could be done by kk yet took now proven since awful limerick defence for two goals


Look kk pace v tippeary all ireland final games
It was usuall one off back wall gritty determined limerick display that weather helped but said it then that's all it was
Like limerick were poor against cork and it showed


If limerick were even half as good as kk game that would got promoted and not being hosed by tippeary
Last year huge huge huge hurt limerick from o grady affairs and momentum back wall spurred drive energy and limerick dug in
They surprised everybody


As the season went on naturally that motivation wilts as you can only use hurt something for a time
Against cork limerick looked tired and lethargic
Kk was moral victory
This may sound harsh but in truth that's all it was
Nothing more nothing less


Team hasn't improved and no ruthless radical shake up and niall moran who will be terrific coach is prime example on brought back last year after challenge v waterford in Dundrum and in panel and then named league
He was no where near up level going forward and immense credit he walked away
Have no doubt he didn't walk he'd still be picked by Ryan as sub
Not ruthless bar few players bring in real change, coaching is absolutely awful as seen by conceding fourteen goals seven games

Most intelligent hurling man around o grady asked play orthodox eleven when no way can he do it he should be sweeper and he's been awesome as heartbeat limerick
Breen will just so okay but never be dropped
He'll pick o mahony and Wayne mac half back line where you can't have both but just one

There's no fluidity and no games management but this management like any poor manager does stuff like thing just down work rate and intensity things go wrong with out realistic views tactical innovation paramount and ruthless conviction also to successfull teams


Limerick players don't suddenly become that bad over night
Look at leinster rugby they saw things were gone stale and let leo o Connor go as good manager for probably good middle table club but leinster real ambitious win things not them


Ryan I feel sorry for he was never ready manage on he's own and he's no proven quality with him
He got extended rushed contract on one game last year which was totally wrong to do
Limerick have now backed themselves in to a corner as he's still two years left and no real available candidate bar daly out there who I always felt is being lined up job down the line

That the bottom line limerick doing nothing different than last year and you must evolve and adapt as stay static and predicable you will go now where

You snooze you loose so to speak

thinkstoomuch1

There's a free Lance journalist clare man huge fan Limerick hurling called David Williams
He said after kk defeat even Ryan wasn't man win all Ireland just good manager but not great and he's exact words were he's the David Moyle gaa
Hard to disagree with him in like Moyle good quality but should never got big big jobs as not up standard management
Moyle got united but they didn't wait around he failed minimum standard and he was gone
He then went Spain and had awful season
Moyle be good top ten premier club but fact is never win big prizes


Ryan is good certain degree but he won't win all Ireland limerick
I'd love be proven wrong I just don't see it

Twoman Fullbackline

The repeated bringing up of the KK match is beginning to really annoy me. Ya it was a good performance, I felt we outhurled KK completely at times, but the simple fact of the matter is we still lost and came away empty handed. A year on it is utterly irrelevant, tbh.

Management wise, I'll keep my powder dry till the end of the season (which could well be Saturday evening) but I will say that Daly is absolutely not the answer either.

thinkstoomuch1

Twoman Fullbackline wrote: »

The constant bleating about the KK match is beginning to really annoy me. Ya it was a good performance, I felt we outhurled KK completely at times, but the simple fact of the matter is we still lost and came away empty handed. A year on it is utterly irrelevant, tbh.

Management wise, I'll keep my powder dry till the end of the season (which could well be Saturday evening) but I will say that Daly is absolutely not the answer either.

That's the thing kk being touted as an achievement
Absolutely not it was golden golden opportunity lost and better team won unlike myth fabricates limerick media that oh better team lost
No they didn't kk got two goals and fully deserved it


That game I fear done more harm than good limerick hurling
It lived off like a glorified loss
Utter utter nonsense


You could be right daly lot questions marks also only thing is he's done good Dublin but having said that still failed win all Ireland beat average cork team

He's done well minors but still cork well control game last week so questions remain still

Mehapoy

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

That's the thing kk being touted as an achievement
Absolutely not it was golden golden opportunity lost and better team won unlike myth fabricates limerick media that oh better team lost
No they didn't kk got two goals and fully deserved it


That game I fear done more harm than good limerick hurling
It lived off like a glorified loss
Utter utter nonsense


You could be right daly lot questions marks also only thing is he's done good Dublin but having said that still failed win all Ireland beat average cork team

He's done well minors but still cork well control game last week so questions remain still

Well I wouldn't be touting it as an achievement but more of an indication of the standard the team got to, you can argue all you want about the conditions etc. but Kilkenny are the standard bearers and Limerick were up to that standard in that game, were they going to win an all Ireland if they beat them, nobody knows, same as tipp would point to taking Kilkenny to a replay, not as an achievement, but as an indication that they were 5% off winning an AI, obviously means nothing if you don't follow up on it, like Galway in 2012. For Limerick In the context of this year it's an indication of the standard which they have fallen well short of, it would scare me this year to face Kilkenny in a semi final, given the form we're in. That's why it's mentioned so often, don't think anyone considers it an achievement.

pajoguy

I think we need to see how the rest of the year plays out. It's much easier to judge at the end. Which could be saturday evening or not.
The league is a huge issue now as it seems that we cant seem to rise to the so called weaker counties or teams we should be beating well. (Laois, offaly, antrim) always a worry we will get sucker punched. Like westmeath last sunday. When they got back within 4 points it was worrying. There was no bite, no fire in the belly which is something limerick have always brought to championship.
Hopefully our lads put in a performance on saturday, get a result and get to quarter final as that is an absolute minimum any year. No point harboring ambitions of an all Ireland and then not making quarters. Rod for our own backs.
If we protect of full back line with sweeper, use intelligent ball to forwards including half forwards not just lump it into Dowling we have a chance. These are young intelligent lads. If these things dont happen there is an issue then witht the sideline that will surely have to be addressed. Maybe not a new manager but coach and selectors.

Fireball07

zombieHanalei wrote: »

This is absolutely not about the players. The only new tactic we tried was the lump high ball on top of Pat Begley and that was a massive failure and was rightfully abandoned. Plus, it's hardly a "new" tactic. Other than that we're pretty much doing exactly what we did last year.

Essentially all we've done differently is introduce Lynch, Morrissey and Seanie O'Brien to regular first team game time, and make a few positional shifts (Condon, Browne, P.O'Brien) but we haven't made any changes to the most important part; how the team is actually set up and how they are trained and how they use the ball. You can do all the clearing out of players you want but the fact of the matter is any new player you introduce will only be brought into a system which is old school and becoming increasingly easy to pick holes in.

When you change nothing, it becomes stale, and the other teams aren't stupid, they'll wise up. Even Westmeath managed to run at our defence a few times and found acres of space, 2B counties are wise to us now. They also deployed a sweeper for phases and as usual we played right into his hands a few times. If Westmeath had a few players who were clinical in front of goal that would have nearly swung it for them, they did their homework on us, the used the blueprint of the Tipperary game. If we don't change how we play things will just get worse and worse.

The players are being hung out to dry by this, good players are looking average at best, a guy like Donal O'Grady has been dropped, he has looked sub-par this season but I honestly feel that has much more to do with the system than DO'G, we're not using him the right way anymore.

He would be a good sweeper, he's the most intelligent hurler we've had in the last 10 years, he has all the attributes you want for a sweeper but the management teams insistence on not deploying that tactic knocks that idea on the head.

Waterford didn't just do a clear out, they went back to the drawing board and devised a system, they're introducing their 2013/14 minors into a system which suits the modern game, whereas we've only promoted one so far and any new player who does come in as it stands will only be introduced to a flawed outdated system that won't allow the players to shine.

Most of that is correct, but I would find flaw with some of the players even within a flawed system. Some players are hard done by in that they're not getting the right service but there have been some playing below levels they are capable of and there is no excuse for the overall work rate of the team being below what it was last year. Even in the games we lost last year, we played quite well and certainly were putting in a big shift, in terms of tackles and tracking back, etc.


As for the system itself... I don't think we need to play something like Waterford do to play well. Kilkenny play a fairly simple style, I'm not one of those that says that they don't employ tactics, that's just madness but they do play quite a simple gameplan that is based upon high intensity all over the pitch, high aggression as well as smart use of the ball. The use of diagonal balls from their backs, quick movement of the ball and the ability of their forwards to win one-on-one battles is the basis of their game but they also have smart hurlers that can pick out those passes that isolate backs in those situations.

I actually think that the game TJ is trying to employ is most like Kilkenny's in nature. It's certainly not the deep-lying defence game of Waterford or the highly-structured moving forwards of Tipp (although the movement of Kilkenny's forwards is superb too). A big advantage that KK have over us is the strength of their half-back line, they believe they will win the vast majority of puckouts and so can push up on teams. But it's not just that that has gone wrong from us this year- the work rate of KK's forwards is unbelievable and if you can dispossess a corner-back, you'll probably score. Our use of possession into the forwards isn't good enough but some of that is down to the players as well as coaching, the movement isn't always the best but we do end up pushing ourselves into bottlenecks which is more of a coaching issue.



I think the way we are trying to play does put a lot of responsiblity on the shoulders of players to make the right decision, and it's not always easy to do that in the heat of a Championship match.

Fireball07

I wonder is there any chance of us actually playing a sweeper this time.


Might be a bit late to be implementing a tactic like that. To be honest against Tipp, I'm not sure we needed a sweeper because they usually only had two men inside but we went man for man and when we could have just left a corner-back free inside. Same thing happened against Clare and I reckon it was a mistake on both counts. If we just name two inside forwards, I wonder do we have the nous to actually feed them decent ball.


If we were to play a sweeper, people talk about Dodge as the best option but I wonder does he have the legs for it anymore? I don't think he has 70 minutes in him tbh. Browne could arguably be the best but I think we need him as an actual midfielder, Seanie O'Brien has the pace but does he use the ball well enough? Maybe Gavin?

Twoman Fullbackline

One thing is direct balls into Downes/Dowling (hopefully Downes) at the edge of the square could reap rewards for Limerick as Kelly is still out with injury and Carton who has also been used at full-back this year has left the squad this week, against Laois they played Cian O'Callaghan who is U21 there. I would imagine both sides are eyeing up the opposing number 3s...

Colemania

Fireball07 wrote: »

I wonder is there any chance of us actually playing a sweeper this time.


Might be a bit late to be implementing a tactic like that. To be honest against Tipp, I'm not sure we needed a sweeper because they usually only had two men inside but we went man for man and when we could have just left a corner-back free inside. Same thing happened against Clare and I reckon it was a mistake on both counts. If we just name two inside forwards, I wonder do we have the nous to actually feed them decent ball.


If we were to play a sweeper, people talk about Dodge as the best option but I wonder does he have the legs for it anymore? I don't think he has 70 minutes in him tbh. Browne could arguably be the best but I think we need him as an actual midfielder, Seanie O'Brien has the pace but does he use the ball well enough? Maybe Gavin?

Seanie has played sweeper for LIT before, last year I think it was. Played very well there but there's a MASSIVE jump from colleges level to senior intercounty level. Don't think he'd be the right option there.

Hickey and Seanie are 2 players that are vital to the team when on form but also have no definite position that you can say they excel in. Yes Seanie should be up the field more perhaps in the half forward line but he's not as prolific as other forwards we have (I say that even though he has outscored or even scored as much as some of our forwards from the half back line....)

Hickey is definitely a defender, no doubt about that, but his best position may lie in the half back line rather than the full back line. Well capable of winning a ball in the air, although not on the evidence of his last 2 matches, and can break with pace and distribute good ball to the forwards. Guilty on far too many occasions though, as with Seanie, of overplaying it and running into trouble.

O'Grady really is the ideal sweeper in that case. May lack the pace but he's great in the air, strong, and can distribute the ball well. He'll stick to his task and you definitely won't see him rampaging up the field and leaving a gap in behind.

Fireball07

Twoman Fullbackline wrote: »

One thing is direct balls into Downes/Dowling (hopefully Downes) at the edge of the square could reap rewards for Limerick as Kelly is still out with injury and Carton who has also been used at full-back this year has left the squad this week, against Laois they played Cian O'Callaghan who is U21 there. I would imagine both sides are eyeing up the opposing number 3s...

This is true, Galway opened them up there. However, you'd think they'd learn from that and give them extra protection. Apparently Rushe sat deep behind the half-back line in their last game and he's dominant in the air.

We'll probably play Downes inside again and we should try a few high balls i n but if he is outnumbered, then we should be getting the corner-forwards to make runs out towards the wing and gave them diagonal balls that they can run onto. Mulcahy & Lynch also have potential to cause problems. If they get the right ball.

thinkstoomuch1

Anyone not going limerick Cork game live limerick ninety five tonight full match being broadcast

Fireball07

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

Anyone not going limerick Cork game live limerick ninety five tonight full match being broadcast

Cheers for that!


Should be a good game, Cork traditionally strong at intermediate level and this Limerick team have been pretty impressive so far- strong half-back line and a very lively inside line.

thinkstoomuch1

Fireball07 wrote: »

Cheers for that!


Should be a good game, Cork traditionally strong at intermediate level and this Limerick team have been pretty impressive so far- strong half-back line and a very lively inside line.

Yeah cork do well but generally not yerra this team has done more than expected by getting to a final in brand new team from last year all ireland champions and doubts remain over cork manager dwayne who record school club etc not great but Ronan sheehan good selectyot with him
Limerick have expirencr and youth and pace and strength and more cohesive and as unit together as two games cork one and with finn morrisey o connell csrmody have lovely balance and Byrnes is very good


They also have game changer on the bench in McNamara, Ryan out minor is able this level and fine prospect and English and Ronan lynch who have youthful guile confidence and no fear Cork from under age in cork either that I think yere way too strong and wouldn't be surprised ye win well


Cork have brennan and meade from under twenty one two fine players and Leahy centre forward huge potential so good test Byrnes and Collins is good ball winner


Fintan o leary good solid performance at full forward but played cork senior before but never stood out so he's not unmarkebley

Tony Murphy is one with good ball could do real damage and is danger as he's big strong and flying for club


The man could win this game he's own tom morrisey who good limerick in challenges and waterford crystal awesome in minor last year took good player sean Bourke five points and flying ul also so hes real threat as he's future senior and I don't think Cork have anyone mark him

Good man on the bench for Cork in under twenty one player Kevin o Neill who is good ball winner and gets stuck in

thinkstoomuch1

Fireball07 wrote: »

Cheers for that!


Should be a good game, Cork traditionally strong at intermediate level and this Limerick team have been pretty impressive so far- strong half-back line and a very lively inside line.

No problem any time

Fireball07

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

Yeah cork do well but generally not yerra this team has done more than expected by getting to a final in brand new team from last year all ireland champions and doubts remain over cork manager dwayne who record school club etc not great but Ronan sheehan good selectyot with him
Limerick have expirencr and youth and pace and strength and more cohesive and as unit together as two games cork one and with finn morrisey o connell csrmody have lovely balance and Byrnes is very good


They also have game changer on the bench in McNamara, Ryan out minor is able this level and fine prospect and English and Ronan lynch who have youthful guile confidence and no fear Cork from under age in cork either that I think yere way too strong and wouldn't be surprised ye win well


Cork have brennan and meade from under twenty one two fine players and Leahy centre forward huge potential so good test Byrnes and Collins is good ball winner


Fintan o leary good solid performance at full forward but played cork senior before but never stood out so he's not unmarkebley

Tony Murphy is one with good ball could do real damage and is danger as he's big strong and flying for club


The man could win this game he's own tom morrisey who good limerick in challenges and waterford crystal awesome in minor last year took good player sean Bourke five points and flying ul also so hes real threat as he's future senior and I don't think Cork have anyone mark him

Good man on the bench for Cork in under twenty one player Kevin o Neill who is good ball winner and gets stuck in

Interestingly, in the games so far it's actually been the more experienced heads who have been the standouts but there is a very nice balance of youth & experience in this panel. I think Dinny Moloney has been class, and to be honest, with the trouble we've been having in that position, maybe a return to the senior panel wouldn't have been a bad idea- consistently good at club level for years. Byrnes is a big, strong player; a proper centre-back as well, holds the centre, can score from distance. Got sent off against the Clare 21s last year but his aggressive nature is generally a good point. Barry Lynch is excellent too.

But Willie Griffin is the pick of the forwards really, the captain too. Ripped Clare part, scored 2-3 from play, big handful for Tipp too. As good a club hurler as you'll find, he relishes the extra space you get at this level. Obviously when Tom Morrissey was added the last day, he showed his class, probably should be on the bench for the seniors.


But you've got Kevin O'Brien who is as good a goalscoring full-forward as is in Limerick really, playing at centre-forward but that's working too; Mike Fitzgibbon, a former senior footballer, brings a lot of direct running, puts his head down and goes for goal. Carmody could play anywhere but brings a lot of work rate to the half-forward line too and then you have Mike Fitzgerald to bring from the bench who caused massive problems for Clare in particular. Backs don't beat him to the ball, lovely first touch too.


The whole thing just works. You could argue that some of the younger players or former senior players who are on the bench are better than some of the starters- Lynch, Cosgrave, Nash, Ryan, Quaid, Hickey but obviously this panel have been training together for a while and look to be a very strong team and are well-balanced.


Not many care about intermediate but it would be a boost for some of these players to win a trophy and to stake a claim for senior hurling.

Fireball07

Early goal disallowed for Cork, inside a minute. Threw the ball apparently, possibly a penalty not given though.

Fireball07

0-11 to 0-8 down at half-time, playing against the wind. Sounds like Cork should be further ahead, had a lot of possession. Willie Griffin missed a couple of frees, Diarmuid Byrnes missed a '65 and we've dropped a lot of shots short, maybe to do with the wind.


Tom Morrissey is our only player to score from play, he's got 0-4 and is absolutely roasting his man. Think he won a free too and has apparently scored some unbelievable points. Gameplan seems to be give the ball to him and they can't deal with him.


Ronan Lynch came on for Kevin O'Brien. Andrew Brennan winning a lot of clean ball but Cork seem well up for it, apparently their work rate is superb and using the ball really well.

paddy no 11

Byrnes the real deal, playing like a helmeted Carlos valderama. Lucky to be only 3 down

Fireball07

Disappointing to lose, no goal chances like in the other games.

paddy no 11

Ah that was really disappointing, only got going when we went 6 points down.

Way too many players had terrible performances, and a few more were average.

We blinked first on the sweeper I think, and i dont think it was a good move for us, they really should have replaced sean finn or put him in the forwards where I think he belongs. Unfortunately dinny moloney on the same flank was also really poor, huge respect for the guy but it didnt happen tonight.

Midfielders played well, brennan caught great ball just didnt use it well enough.

Forwards made very little impression, morrissey aside. but even still he didnt take the only goal chance on the night.

Carmody was very poor, we would have been better served if himself and finn swapped positions.

Lynch came on and was ineffective, also a back imo
English was better and scored from half back

Barry connell was good very comfortable at FB

Byrnes was brilliant, best passer ive ever seen in limerick, his striking of the ball is exceptional. Can catch, reads the game well, not the fastest but not slow either has pace over 3 to 4 yards. The sweeper helped him, but the impressive thing about him was that he made others look good they all bought into his passing and the whole team was built around him.

I wouldnt think twice about playing him as a sweeper on saturday

Think the players will be very disappoiinted they didnt go at it hard enough for a long while.

Mehapoy

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Ah that was really disappointing, only got going when we went 6 points down.

Way too many players had terrible performances, and a few more were average.

We blinked first on the sweeper I think, and i dont think it was a good move for us, they really should have replaced sean finn or put him in the forwards where I think he belongs. Unfortunately dinny moloney on the same flank was also really poor, huge respect for the guy but it didnt happen tonight.

Midfielders played well, brennan caught great ball just didnt use it well enough.

Forwards made very little impression, morrissey aside. but even still he didnt take the only goal chance on the night.

Carmody was very poor, we would have been better served if himself and finn swapped positions.

Lynch came on and was ineffective, also a back imo
English was better and scored from half back

Barry connell was good very comfortable at FB

Byrnes was brilliant, best passer ive ever seen in limerick, his striking of the ball is exceptional. Can catch, reads the game well, not the fastest but not slow either has pace over 3 to 4 yards. The sweeper helped him, but the impressive thing about him was that he made others look good they all bought into his passing and the whole team was built around him.

I wouldnt think twice about playing him as a sweeper on saturday

Think the players will be very disappoiinted they didnt go at it hard enough for a long while.

Would have been nice to win it but if given a choice of winning one between the minor and intermediate would be taking the minor any day...same with cork I'd say, encouraging to see Byrnes do well, hopefully he shows well for the u21s aswell, needs to get a chance next year, does he play colleges?
Hopefully the experience will stand to the 21s on the panel, would be great to rattle tipp although probably long odds of taking them out.

Colemania

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Byrnes was brilliant, best passer ive ever seen in limerick, his striking of the ball is exceptional. Can catch, reads the game well, not the fastest but not slow either has pace over 3 to 4 yards. The sweeper helped him, but the impressive thing about him was that he made others look good they all bought into his passing and the whole team was built around him.

Mentioned this yesterday and after the match against Tipp. Fantastic passer alright

AbsentPonderer

Could have been our night were it not for the few frees that were missed in the first half. These things happen. Byrnes looked very good, there was one pass into Morrissey that he converted which looked so simple yet so effective, something which we are severely lacking at senior. Obviously would have liked to win but it's good experience for the younger lads.