*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

cgpg5

With regard to ye're under 21 team, I was talking to a Clare under 21 panellist earlier on in the year and he reckons 14 of ye're starters in semi last year are underage again this year? Is that correct? If it is ye've some team.

Would love see ye beat Clare in senior but Kilkenny losing has really thrown a spanner in the works for everyone in back door!

Fireball07

cgpg5 wrote: »

With regard to ye're under 21 team, I was talking to a Clare under 21 panellist earlier on in the year and he reckons 14 of ye're starters in semi last year are underage again this year? Is that correct? If it is ye've some team.

Would love see ye beat Clare in senior but Kilkenny losing has really thrown a spanner in the works for everyone in back door!

I don't think it's 14 but there's a big number alright. Graham Mulcahy and Conor Allis are both overage this year and I'm not sure about Pa Begley, Cian Hayes and James O'Brien, I've a feeling they're overage too.

But Hannon, Dowling, Downes, Ryan, Carmody, O'Brien, Dempsey, Murphy, O'Reilly are all still available and they've got a few good minors from last year to step up too. Should be a pretty strong team.


That's true about Kilkenny but we can only play what's in front of us, if we get past Clare, it will have been a reasonably successful season and you never know what might happen in the quarter-final.

Colemania

Limerick team to play Clare: Quaid; Walsh, McCarthy, Condon; McNamara, O'Grady, OMahony; Ryan, P O'Brien; Dowling, Geary, Breen; Mulcahy, Moran Tobin

No Hannon or Hickey starting and somehow Geary keeps his place!

Only now I'm getting a bit less optimistic...

washman3

Colemania wrote: »

Limerick team to play Clare: Quaid; Walsh, McCarthy, Condon; McNamara, O'Grady, OMahony; Ryan, P O'Brien; Dowling, Geary, Breen; Mulcahy, Moran Tobin

No Hannon or Hickey starting and somehow Geary keeps his place!

Only now I'm getting a bit less optimistic...

On that note, its a trip to Longford for me...:mad:

soccymonster

Colemania wrote: »

Limerick team to play Clare: Quaid; Walsh, McCarthy, Condon; McNamara, O'Grady, OMahony; Ryan, P O'Brien; Dowling, Geary, Breen; Mulcahy, Moran Tobin

No Hannon or Hickey starting and somehow Geary keeps his place!

Only now I'm getting a bit less optimistic...

Bar the fact Geary is starting in place of Hannon, I'm not really surprised by the rest of the team.
Don't really think Allen is into dummy teams pre-match so I'd say this will be the definite one lining out. He must be seeing stuff in training that we are clearly missing. And considering Hannon hasn't played a full 70 mins (the 55 minutes against Antrim, considering they aren't a top team, doesn't really tell us if he's ready for a full game against the physicality of Clare) against a top side, maybe that's the reason for holding back as an impact sub.
Although really, he's going to have to play a full 70 minutes sometime. But I'll say it again, maybe it's just something in training we're missing.
I'm less confident now seeing that but at least we have the likes of Hannon, Downes and Hickey to take off the bench.

Soulcrew09

When I saw Geary and Moran my head starting paining me. If theres a few points in it with 10/20mins we at least have some good players to come in and make an impact. My worry is changes will be needed before half time.

Colemania

Soulcrew09 wrote: »

When I saw Geary and Moran my head starting paining me. If theres a few points in it with 10/20mins we at least have some good players to come in and make an impact. My worry is changes will be needed before half time.

Ya i agree. Just noticed that Seanie O'Brien wasn't named on the bench although Carmody and Tommy Quaid were. Strange to leave him out of the squad unless he's injured as he's a great impact sub to have.

HigginsJ

Colemania wrote: »

Limerick team to play Clare: Quaid; Walsh, McCarthy, Condon; McNamara, O'Grady, OMahony; Ryan, P O'Brien; Dowling, Geary, Breen; Mulcahy, Moran Tobin

No Hannon or Hickey starting and somehow Geary keeps his place!

Only now I'm getting a bit less optimistic...

Yea def little bit less optimistic. The only thing I will say is that with Hannon, Hickey and Downes to spring from the bench it will give us the impact we lacked against Tipperary.

I hope to see call 3 in the game with at least 20 minutes to go and then have them ready to start in place of Wayne Mc, Geary and Moran for the quarter-final v Waterford.

chatjunkie

HigginsJ wrote: »

Colemania wrote: »

Limerick team to play Clare: Quaid; Walsh, McCarthy, Condon; McNamara, O'Grady, OMahony; Ryan, P O'Brien; Dowling, Geary, Breen; Mulcahy, Moran Tobin

No Hannon or Hickey starting and somehow Geary keeps his place!

Only now I'm getting a bit less optimistic...

Yea def little bit less optimistic. The only thing I will say is that with Hannon, Hickey and Downes to spring from the bench it will give us the impact we lacked against Tipperary.

I hope to see call 3 in the game with at least 20 minutes to go and then have them ready to start in place of Wayne Mc, Geary and Moran for the quarter-final v Waterford.

While it is great to have a few decent subs on the bench, its not the way to win games. Starting off with your best team is the only way to go! We need hannon out there scoring points Osmo the off. While Geary has been one of limericks finest over the years, he is just gone a bit too slow and is not a natural forward. This is last chance saloon for us, very disappointed with the team named!

Fireball07

Not sure about that team tbh...I know Allen doesn't want to disturb things too much, but surely the Geary experiment at centre-forward hasn't worked at all? It might if he ever tried to catch the ball but he's under orders to bat it down and usually we end up losing possession. Hannon is the most naturally skilful player Limerick have had in years, he can score points from anywhere, wins ball and runs at defences, I don't see how he can't be included.

Paudie O'Brien is the right call in midfield, I think and it's no surprise that Moran continues up front although I think Downes was a better option. My other preference was Hickey over Wayne Mac but at least we do have those options on the bench.

Still hoping for the best but it won't be easy.

paddy no 11

Think Allen is giving too much creedance to the strong bench scenario, in the Tipp match it was our first game of the year against a div 1 side and a lot of those lads had no/little championship hurling - they were bound to tire.

He'll definitely make subs early i'd say so hopefully they can push on. If we're in the next round hopefully they can start.

Having experience and size of geary/moran probably not a bad thing for a derby match.

premierstone

Lads I dont know what has happened in the interim but a blind man could see when he came on against Tipp that Hannon wasn't fit or anywhere near it, the injury he has I am led to believe will eventually require surgery. The only one I cant understand starting is Downes I thought he was causing Curran alot of problems against Tipp and he's removal, Hannon's introduction and the withdrawal of Mulcahy out the field was what cost Limerick the Tipp game.

keane2097

Big boost for the footballers having Donovan and Lucey back? Thoughts on their chances?

Fireball07

premierstone wrote: »

Lads I dont know what has happened in the interim but a blind man could see when he came on against Tipp that Hannon wasn't fit or anywhere near it, the injury he has I am led to believe will eventually require surgery. The only one I cant understand starting is Downes I thought he was causing Curran alot of problems against Tipp and he's removal, Hannon's introduction and the withdrawal of Mulcahy out the field was what cost Limerick the Tipp game.

Hannon scored 6 points from play against Antrim, played 50+ minutes and was top class. He looked fit, and definitely should start. And even if he wasn't, we have much better options than Geary to play in the half-forwards- Moran, Downes, Seanie O'Brien, Tommy O'Brien...

Mulcahy should stay in the corner against Clare because he's in electric form, scored 2-5 the last day and on top form, he's unplayable.

keane2097 wrote: »

Big boost for the footballers having Donovan and Lucey back? Thoughts on their chances?

Yeah...but the loss of Galvin, Lee and Lavin is bigger than that boost.

For those who haven't seen the team:

1. Scanlon
2. Lane
3. McCarthy
4. O'Dwyer
5. Riordan
6. Lucey
7. Ranahan
8. Donovan
9. Buckley
10. O'Connor
11. Kelly
12. Browne
13. Collins
14. O'Carroll
15. Ryan

On paper it looks like a decent team but things haven't been going well. Lucey should give more solidity to what has been a very porous defence. The half-back line in general looks very strong, Riordan and Ranahan are pretty good wing backs and Johnny McCarthy at full-back is as good a man-marker as they come but as a unit, there are question marks.

Donovan is a boost in midfield but Galvin is a class above, while Lee is another good ball-winner. Buckley works hard but isn't a natural midfielder.

Then we have Browne playing forward when he has severe problems scoring, if we utilise the pace of O'Connor and Kelly properly, they could cause problems, likewise O'Carroll. But they haven't clicked yet...Ryan has been carrying them, and he's been playing brilliantly but needs more support from Collins and Kelly in particular.



I think we'll lose, Longford are a very good team. If everything goes right, we could win, we definitely have the players. But we've been underperforming, neither Clare nor Waterford are great shakes, we had a poor league and there are severe questions over our backline and that's before you take out the players we're missing. Not confident.

premierstone

Fireball07 wrote: »

Hannon scored 6 points from play against Antrim, played 50+ minutes and was top class. He looked fit, and definitely should start.

It was actually a club mate of Declan's I was talking to and he told me that after the Antrim game that Declan could barely walk and the groin injury flared up again, there is no way Allen would leave a fully fit Hannon on hte sideline for a game that will basically define Limerick's year, and Clare's for that matter.

Fireball07

premierstone wrote: »

It was actually a club mate of Declan's I was talking to and he told me that after the Antrim game that Declan could barely walk and the groin injury flared up again, there is no way Allen would leave a fully fit Hannon on hte sideline for a game that will basically define Limerick's year, and Clare's for that matter.

Really??

Well he looked fit...but it was stupid of Allen to play him in that case. He played really well but we didn't need Hannon to beat Antrim. Any of the other forward players in the squad could have done a job.

jordainius

Fireball07 wrote: »

Really??

Well he looked fit...but it was stupid of Allen to play him in that case. He played really well but we didn't need Hannon to beat Antrim. Any of the other forward players in the squad could have done a job.

Both Limerick and Adare are guilty of playing Hannon when he hasn't been fully over his injury, those groin injuries need time, and neither club nor county are giving him the time he needs to fully recover. There's no point in him playing half a game here or there, we need a fully fit Hannon capable of lasting 70 minutes. Limerick's reward for their impatience is facing into their first knockout game against strong opposition without arguably the best centre forward in the country and Adare's reward is potentially being thrown in to the relegation dogfight (they were one of the best teams in Munster not so long ago)

willietherock

Where is James O'Brien, Na Piarsaigh, after going? Looked a seroius talent with club and U21's last yr

Fireball07

willietherock wrote: »

Where is James O'Brien, Na Piarsaigh, after going? Looked a seroius talent with club and U21's last yr

Was in the squad during the league, think he was dropped off the panel after though.

Colemania

willietherock wrote: »

Where is James O'Brien, Na Piarsaigh, after going? Looked a seroius talent with club and U21's last yr

He has the height to be a good centreback but he's very awkward and injured at some stage every year. Alan Dempsey could be a great future Limerick corner back if he grows a few inches as he lacks in height but makes up for it in strength.

Regrards Hannon, he hasn't played for them in the county championship yet and they were angry with Limerick playing him and/or putting him in the squad this year when he wasn't fit at all. Looks like Adare may be out of the championship soon too and probably due to Hannon not playing a game for them. They're a one man team now i tell ya! :P

So are many of ye travelling up to Thurles tomorrow? Hopefully it stays reasonably dry because I'll be in the terrace for the 2 hurling matches.

Fireball07

I'll be heading up all right, hoping to catch all 3 games. Hopefully the weather is alright, don't want the pitch torn up before our game.

jordainius

Colemania wrote: »

Regrards Hannon, he hasn't played for them in the county championship yet and they were angry with Limerick playing him and/or putting him in the squad this year when he wasn't fit at all. Looks like Adare may be out of the championship soon too and probably due to Hannon not playing a game for them. They're a one man team now i tell ya! :P

He played the full match for Adare against Bruree the weekend after the Tipperary match, he was off the pace, still not match fit but got one or two nice points all the same. Adare need a miracle to make the quarter finals at this stage but they're far from a one man team... They seem have been fairly severely hit by retirements/emmigration this year. Still as strong a team as you'll get in the county with their strongest 15 but they no longer have the depth they have had up to this year, a few injuries and they don't have great cover. And harsh to call them a one man team when they have Wayne McNamara to call on- he has been excellent at club level for 6/7 years now.

Colemania

jordainius wrote: »

He played the full match for Adare against Bruree the weekend after the Tipperary match, he was off the pace, still not match fit but got one or two nice points all the same. Adare need a miracle to make the quarter finals at this stage but they're far from a one man team... They seem have been fairly severely hit by retirements/emmigration this year. Still as strong a team as you'll get in the county with their strongest 15 but they no longer have the depth they have had up to this year, a few injuries and they don't have great cover. And harsh to call them a one man team when they have Wayne McNamara to call on- he has been excellent at club level for 6/7 years now.

Well they've got no other scoring threat. Sure their under 21s got destroyed this year without Hannon. They even used the excuse in the paper at the time that they lost because of Hannon. I didn't think there was any championship games after the Tipp game cos I was at the Patrickswell v Doon and Killmallock v Murroe games and that was the last championship game we played and I'm nearly sure it was before the Tipp game.

Ah every team has been hit with retirements and injuries, not just Adare. Sure Patrickswell's starting team is made up of 4 or 5 minors and more than half the team under 23. Emmets don't even train or have any fans and they still manage to do well. Noonan left Adare due to not getting games and Griffin was transferred in from Kildimo so there mustn't be much coming through from underage for them. I can't see them being a force in the county for a while anyway. Killmallock are my tip to win it this year anyway.

jordainius

Colemania wrote: »

Well they've got no other scoring threat. Sure their under 21s got destroyed this year without Hannon. They even used the excuse in the paper at the time that they lost because of Hannon. I didn't think there was any championship games after the Tipp game cos I was at the Patrickswell v Doon and Killmallock v Murroe games and that was the last championship game we played and I'm nearly sure it was before the Tipp game.

Kilmallock v MurroeBoher/DoonVPatrickswell double header was the weekend after the Tipperary game. Under 21's got destroyed last year WITH Hannon!! Not having the young hurler of the year available is a factor/reason, not an excuse for losing a championship game. I don't recall any complaints/bitterness from Adare after that game. Scoring threats: Donncha Sheehan will always chip in with a few scores as will young Fitzgibbon and Willie Griffin will get a few scores. Your claim is a bit wide of the mark I'm afraid! I'm guessing you don't like Adare :P

Ah every team has been hit with retirements and injuries, not just Adare. Sure Patrickswell's starting team is made up of 4 or 5 minors and more than half the team under 23. Emmets don't even train or have any fans and they still manage to do well. Noonan left Adare due to not getting games and Griffin was transferred in from Kildimo so there mustn't be much coming through from underage for them. I can't see them being a force in the county for a while anyway. Killmallock are my tip to win it this year anyway.

Noonan didn't leave Adare due to not getting games, you don't know the story there. Not gonna divulge the reasons on a public forum, pm if you wish to know! Griffin made his own choice to move to his hometown club. There was a chap on another forum who outlined the players unavailable to them this year (who were available last year) and it amounted to 10 players with senior 40 championship medals between them. A few years of transition ahead for them for sure!

Champions? Toss a coin; Kilmallock on one side; Na Piarsaigh on the other. It will probably be that way for 5 or 6 years unless Patrickswell finally start converting good underage players into good senior players!

Colemania

jordainius wrote: »

Kilmallock v MurroeBoher/DoonVPatrickswell double header was the weekend after the Tipperary game. Under 21's got destroyed last year WITH Hannon!! Not having the young hurler of the year available is a factor/reason, not an excuse for losing a championship game. I don't recall any complaints/bitterness from Adare after that game. Scoring threats: Donncha Sheehan will always chip in with a few scores as will young Fitzgibbon and Willie Griffin will get a few scores. Your claim is a bit wide of the mark I'm afraid! I'm guessing you don't like Adare :P


Noonan didn't leave Adare due to not getting games, you don't know the story there. Not gonna divulge the reasons on a public forum, pm if you wish to know! Griffin made his own choice to move to his hometown club. There was a chap on another forum who outlined the players unavailable to them this year (who were available last year) and it amounted to 10 players with senior 40 championship medals between them. A few years of transition ahead for them for sure!

Champions? Toss a coin; Kilmallock on one side; Na Piarsaigh on the other. It will probably be that way for 5 or 6 years unless Patrickswell finally start converting good underage players into good senior players!

Don't like Adare? Thats an understatement. Ha. I assume you're an Adare man then. Maybe this will make sense if I say I'm from the Well.....haha.

Being honest, we won't win a county for a good while yet but we've got a lot of young players all coming through at once. We've got no leadership at the moment. The Foleys may as well retire, although Barry can chip in with the odd point now and then. Thomas O'Brien excels at midfield for Limerick, when he gets a game, but we play him corner forward He's wasted in there I think. Byrnes is turning into a great player, for someone who only started playing hurling for a club a year or so ago! The future is blue and yellow :P

grenache

Hope to god it stays dry for tomorrow's games. I'm going to all three. If we get any bit of rain the pitch might have cut up badly by the time our boys come out at 7.00

Colemania

grenache wrote: »

Hope to god it stays dry for tomorrow's games. I'm going to all three. If we get any bit of rain the pitch might have cut up badly by the time our boys come out at 7.00

Forecast isn't too bad so hopefully its ok. May suit limerick slightly better than clare but we'll see

Fireball07

Good performance from Limerick in the first half but they're losing 1-5 to 0-7.


They fell behind early on, but then began to dominate, and were 0-6 to 0-3 up with a minute to go until half-time and were well on top. But then Longford got 1-1 within a few seconds to go in front, and then a point apiece before the end.


Reason to be confident though, been the better team over the 35 minutes and now we're playing with the wind. And in all the other games, we had a much stronger second half and we just need to take our scores when playing with the end, sometimes we tend to miss easy chances.

JerryHandbag

Great win in the end, longford did end up with 13 men though. 1-21 to 1-15 after extra time

ShamoBuc

Super win alright, great to see Tip win aswell, both Munster teams progress!!