*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

Fireball07

Another year of that shít....so fcuking annoyed.


That game was definitely winnable, some stupid mistakes, not being clinical enough and poor decision-making at crucial time cost us. Not good at all.

:mad::mad::mad:

slegs

Limerick were by far the better team. Same old story...too many bad wides

jordainius

I hope Clare beat Cork in the relegation final. Not a hope in hell the powers that be would let Cork play division 2 hurling!

mickmackey1

I think the importance of being in division 1a may be overstated, lets face it the big guns don't show their full hand during the league, so even if you meet them and beat them in Feb or March it may make s**t all difference come c'ship time.

Dubs won the league 2 years ago but were relegated last year & then beaten out the gate by KK, the league win didn't matter one f**k - and the way they played tonight they'll be demolished by both KK and Galway.

The fact is we're clutching at straws if we think we can even challenge the top dogs and we'll need a lot more than a few half-paced Div 1 matches to change that.

ps. how depressing to see Dowling completely off form, has he got too big for his boots already?... we're shagged if our potential stars go off the rails so quickly.

Orizio

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Dubs won the league 2 years ago but were relegated last year & then beaten out the gate by KK, the league win didn't matter one f**k - and the way they played tonight they'll be demolished by both KK and Galway.

Surely this undermines your argument.

Insect Overlord

mickmackey1 wrote: »

ps. how depressing to see Dowling completely off form, has he got too big for his boots already?... we're shagged if our potential stars go off the rails so quickly.

He's pretty much still a kid, and he spent last year playing Under 21 and Senior hurling for club and county. Probably a bit of college hurling too, after a few years of Harty Cup hurling and beyond. I reckon if people give him a chance to recover he'll get back to form.

Fireball07

I don't think we're far off the 1A teams at all...I mean KK are ahead of the rest but we're close enough to the others imo. I mean we beat Clare last year, they haven't turned into world-beaters since then, and they held their own really.

And I think we can still beat those teams in the Championship...there is a big space of time to ready ourselves, get on a run, etc. But it's still nice to have these games, to get an idea of where we're at. I mean it's not like we have that many top class games to watch in a year. But we'll need a major improvement on today's performance if we're to challenge Tipp. But I think we can bridge that gap.



As for Dowling, I didn't think he got much chance to show what he could do.... should have been on a lot earlier imo.

Thinkstoomuch

jordainius wrote: »

I hope Clare beat Cork in the relegation final. Not a hope in hell the powers that be would let Cork play division 2 hurling!

Im a Cork fan but I would be disgusted if were in Div 1 by default.
I want to be in Div 1 only if we have earned the right.If were not good enough to beat Clare the Rules so should not be changed just for Cork.
If they are going to change the format it shoudnt be whether Cork win or loose next week.
I think times have changed that the GAA won't just change things for the sake of Cork.
If we are relegated i dont think they will change it .

Hidalgo

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I think the importance of being in division 1a may be overstated, lets face it the big guns don't show their full hand during the league, so even if you meet them and beat them in Feb or March it may make s**t all difference come c'ship time.

Dubs won the league 2 years ago but were relegated last year & then beaten out the gate by KK, the league win didn't matter one f**k - and the way they played tonight they'll be demolished by both KK and Galway.

The fact is we're clutching at straws if we think we can even challenge the top dogs and we'll need a lot more than a few half-paced Div 1 matches to change that.

ps. how depressing to see Dowling completely off form, has he got too big for his boots already?... we're shagged if our potential stars go off the rails so quickly.

While Div 1 hurling won't guarantee a successful championship, it's definitely beneficial. Minor mistakes you make in Div 2 aren't as obvious as less chance of them being punished and costing points, make those mistakes V KK or Tipp and you've a great chance of paying the price.

Dub as you point out won the league and look at the championship that had, unlucky to lose out to Tipp in the All Irl semi final. Last year they had a poor league and they followed this with a similarly disappointing championship.

The big guns might not show their hands in Spring but you'll find more out about your team going toe to toe V players like Richie Hogan, Brenda maher, Joe Canning etc than many of those in Div 2

shawnee

Hidalgo wrote: »

From a neutral looking at tonight, it was almost the opposite of the group game in Croke Park. That night Dublin should have been well ahead at half time, tonight Limerick should have been well in front had they taken their goal chances.

Back to back finals beaten by a single point. Disappointing.
Can anyone enlighten as to why Allis and not Hannon took the first few frees. He hit 2 wides, the second one at least would have been converted by Hannon.
On the other side, I don't think Paul Ryan missed one all night.

Subs also made a difference, all of Dublin's made a notable contribution with McMorrow and Tracy involved in a few crucial scores

Disappointing display by Limerick. Leaving our best player Hannon at full forward played into Dublin's hands. He touched about three balls in the first half. Far too many wides from Limerick. Few if any of the team played to their potential. Tipp would have hammered them had they reached the play off. Back to the drawing board yet again.

Mountainlad

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

Im a Cork fan but I would be disgusted if were in Div 1 by default.
I want to be in Div 1 only if we have earned the right.If were not good enough to beat Clare the Rules so should not be changed just for Cork.
If they are going to change the format it shoudnt be whether Cork win or loose next week.
I think times have changed that the GAA won't just change things for the sake of Cork.
If we are relegated i dont think they will change it .

Don't want to derail the thread, but I too would be disgusted if Cork were in the league by default. And I agree, I can't see it happening if they do go down.

To all Limerick fans who were fit to throw their laptop at their tv earlier (or if at the match, throw their child at John Allen etc.), just remember championship is king and ye're very much so in with a chance in June.

Treble20

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

Im a Cork fan but I would be disgusted if were in Div 1 by default.
I want to be in Div 1 only if we have earned the right.If were not good enough to beat Clare the Rules so should not be changed just for Cork.
If they are going to change the format it shoudnt be whether Cork win or loose next week.
I think times have changed that the GAA won't just change things for the sake of Cork.
If we are relegated i dont think they will change it .

Well said mo chara. As a Cork fan if Clare beat us next weekend we have to face the consequences and start life in division 1B next year and I would be disgusted to think the rules would be altered to suit us,that would be totally wrong.

On the game tonight I really think this was a game that Limerick lost more than Dublin won IMO. Limerick seem to lack a cutting edge to their game,not ruthless enough at times,they'll really look back on this game as one that got away.

Fireball07

Still really really annoyed. We really should have won that...Dublin were pretty unexceptional, really sloppy from us.

My annoyed player-by-player analysis:

Quaid- Grand, couldn't do anything about the goal. Most of his puckouts were good

Walsh- Wasn't overly happy with him, bit sloppy at times, probably the loosest of our full-back line.

McCarthy- Got turned a couple of times but was generally grand

Condon- Pretty decent.

O'Brien- Probably our best player, cleaned up in the first half, quieter in the second. Scored a good point, distribution was good.

Wayne Mac- Still annoys me. You can't fault his effort, and at times he can be excellent, had one great hook today but gave away a really stupid free and that time where he couldn't rise the ball unmarked, leading to him getting surrounded was annoying. And he can be careless....but then his good stuff is really good. Annoying player.

GOM- Good game, I thought. Upped it tonight. Few careless passes but swept up nicely. Sutcliffe and Keaney didn't get a sniff tonight really imo.

Browne- I thought he was decent, he's very lively and gets around the pitch. Seemed to emerge with the ball from scrambles a lot.

Ryan- Worked hard as ever, but sometimes he took on a shot/pass that wasn't on, maybe should move the ball quicker. Defensively, he's great to have though.

Allis- Frustrating. Missed a couple of scoreable frees which cost us in the end. And he had a few bad wides from play too. Kept at it, never stopped running and did score some good points too. Maybe could have been taken off as he tired.

Hickey- I thought Hickey was good, his direct running when he gets the ball is a real asset and is something we've lacked. However, he didn't get the ball enough...and Rushe did direct affairs from centre-back. Dunno if it's completely Hickey's fault though, he was dropping deep a lot....took his scores well, the one on the wing was class. I think the experiment has been a relative success tbh.

Breen- Poor. Was best working in our half-back line tbh but contributed nothing in attack. Fairly anonymous. Disappointing as I know he can do better but Dowling should've been on way earlier for him.

Downes- Lovely score at the start, some of his direct running was superb, drew some frees. But the worst thing about Downes is when he starts taking potshots from everywhere, without even looking at the posts. If he passed the ball more, and gave himself a better chance of scoring, he'd be class. Frustrating.

Hannon- Why wasn't he moved out sooner? This full-forward thing is stupid. The minute he moved out, he set up two scores and almost scored himself inside a couple of minutes. He was well-marshalled today though, was prevented from getting a few more scores. Frees were good, goal was very well-taken. However, the length of time he took to take that sideline at the end was so stupid...he had to score from it after taking so long.

Mulcahy- Was quiet in patches, but was subject to a lot of hard hits, won a few frees. Should've buried the goal chance at the start. Still, was lively, scored 0-2, won at least that from frees and laid off some with clever handpasses. Looked dangerous any time he had the ball.



Moran- Didn't really do anything, not sure if he was the right sub.

Dowling- Again, didn't really do anything, was blocked when he went for goal. He's a lovely striker of the ball, and I think he would've offered more than Breen and could have been around 40/45 mins.





Really frustrating stuff. I liked our start, it was excellent, but Hannon should've been at half-forward, he made things happen there. We need to find a full-forward who we can stick with.

jordainius

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

Im a Cork fan but I would be disgusted if were in Div 1 by default.
I want to be in Div 1 only if we have earned the right.If were not good enough to beat Clare the Rules so should not be changed just for Cork.
If they are going to change the format it shoudnt be whether Cork win or loose next week.
I think times have changed that the GAA won't just change things for the sake of Cork.
If we are relegated i dont think they will change it .

I was having a go at the GAA, no dig at all at Cork.

Times haven't really changed, a 9 team division one was supposed to be introduced in 2008, so in 2007 (when the top 12 teams were split into two untiered groups of 6) the format was that the top 4 teams in the two groups would qualify (for the new div1) and the two 5th placed teams would play off for the final spot in 2008's division 1.

The GAA fully expected those 9 teams to be Kilkenny, Galway, Tipp, Waterford, Wexford, Cork, Clare, Limerick and Offaly.

However, Dublin uspet the GAA's plans by finishing in the top 4 of their group, meaning Offaly and Limerick contested the play off, Limerick won, condemning Offaly, and not Dublin as the GAA had hoped to division 2 hurling, baring in mind that Dublin were a long way off the standard they would reach in 2009.

Rather than see one of the "Big 9" play in the second tier, the GAA scrapped the new format and continued with the two groups of six for one more year.

If they will change the system to suit Offaly just 5 years ago, I don't believe it's ridiculous to suggest they'd do it again if Cork got relegated.

I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying that it's exactly the type of thing the GAA would do. Sure they overlooked their own rules in 2008 when Cork gave two walkovers in the league, I'm almost certain the rules say they should have expelled Cork from the league for that. (thus demoting them to div2 in 2009). But Cork were allowed take part in the third round once the player strike was concluded.

Again, not having a go at Cork, this is purely aimed at the GAA.

Fireball07

Well, that was a massive disappointment... the footballers had better not fcuk up now. Hopefully they can salvage Limerick's sporting weekend:


http://www.livegaelic.com/news/allianz-football-league-preview-clare-vs-limerick/




Will be really really annoyed if we're stuck in Division 4 next year too, especially after winning our first 4 games.

Mullet

As a Dublin fan who was at both league games this year last nights game was a reverse of the game in croker were we didn't take our chances that night and lost badly.

Limerick played the better hurling last night but some of the options taken by your forwards in the last 10 minutes were poor. All Dublin's subs made an impact with McMorrow Tracey and Dillion all been involved in crucial scores in the last 15 minutes.

I wouldn't be to hard of your team but like Dublin the potential is there to ruffle a few feathers and last nights game could of gone either way.

Been a cynic if cork go down the league format will be changed which is wrong but if hurling is to progress my own opinion is that Limerick Offaly Wexford should be in division 1 and make it a 10 league division abolish the likes of the Walsh Cup's. This will give time to play the league from early February through to the end of April.

Fireball07

Really hope the footballers pull through today!



Don't think I could handle 2 non-promotions in 2 days

paddy no 11

jordainius wrote: »

That's a little over the top! Lost a tight game against a decent team who are at a similar level to ourselves. That game could have gone either way in fairness.

A bit silly to call the championship pointless! We have a home semi final against Tipp, we weren't too far off beating them last year in Thurles, won't be much between Limerick and Tipp. Munster championship is wide open this year, any one of the 5 counties could win it.

We're not good enough for an All-Ireland alright, but a Munster is by no means beyond us this year. Disappointing today, but a good work out ahead of the championship. Let's not panic just yet!

Hidalgo's post below sums things up pretty well

Hidalgo wrote: »

While Div 1 hurling won't guarantee a successful championship, it's definitely beneficial. Minor mistakes you make in Div 2 aren't as obvious as less chance of them being punished and costing points, make those mistakes V KK or Tipp and you've a great chance of paying the price.

Dub as you point out won the league and look at the championship that had, unlucky to lose out to Tipp in the All Irl semi final. Last year they had a poor league and they followed this with a similarly disappointing championship.

The big guns might not show their hands in Spring but you'll find more out about your team going toe to toe V players like Richie Hogan, Brenda maher, Joe Canning etc than many of those in Div 2

Tipp had a bad year last time, they'll be better this year, think they'll beat dublin easy and beat us in the 1st round of the championship.

Then its back door, beat some div 2 teams and then get knocked out of the championship in thurles in a QF, and back to div 2 next year. Its all too predictable.

cat in the sack

Limerick were a bit unlucky last night but i think there has been a small bit overrating of this Limerick side over the last two years, thats the second final they have failed to show up it.

it will be hard for them now as next year you will have either Clare or Cork
that will be looking to come back up, and Limerick would be way behind them as they have fine young teams on the way up.

Fireball07

Yeeeeeeeessss!!


Great win in Cusack Park. Division 3 will be a welcome relief after too long spent down in the bottom tier. We're definitely good enough to compete at that level.

Had a bit of luck today, Donal O'Sullivan had to make saves, and the woodwork helped us. But we kicked on and got the scores when the game opened up, and that's what you'd want to see.


Hope we win the final now, Offaly are a team we know we can beat, although they'll be better than they were the last time. Beating Tipp is no mean feat.

Rightwing

Fireball07 wrote: »

Yeeeeeeeessss!!


Great win in Cusack Park. Division 3 will be a welcome relief after too long spent down in the bottom tier. We're definitely good enough to compete at that level.

Had a bit of luck today, Donal O'Sullivan had to make saves, and the woodwork helped us. But we kicked on and got the scores when the game opened up, and that's what you'd want to see.


Hope we win the final now, Offaly are a team we know we can beat, although they'll be better than they were the last time. Beating Tipp is no mean feat.

Very, very few care about the football.

soccymonster

Deliiiiiighted Makes up somewhat for the disappointment of last night.
Donal O' Sullivan made some vital saves. As well as the crossbar.. Penalty was also poorly taken by clare's tubridy so we were lucky in one sense.
Paudie Browne was very good at centre back. Buckley played an immense second half, scored a class point in the first few minutes of the second half.
Ian ryan played a good second half too and lavin just seemed to be everywheeere and on the ball constantly. Like, the first half was poor enough, particurarly the last 10 minutes where limerick seemed to let clare back into it letting them get within a point or so when they were 5 points up to no score at one stage.. Second half was better.

Division 3 next year, whoop whoop Wouldn't be fearful of Offaly. I'd say we could beat them. Although they beat Tipp and we couldn't But sure, be grand haha

On the other hand, I'm still hurting from last nights defeat

Fireball07

Rightwing wrote: »

Very, very few care about the football.

I care though.


I wouldn't say it makes up for yesterday...but it's a certain amount of relief.

glasagusban

Fireball, your post was generally optimistic after the match yesterday. You were complimentary of Paul browne, did he even strike a ball? A few more were just awful. How can you say that hickey at 11 is working out when the dublin centre back commanded the whole game and won man of the matvh?

What really makes me sick about the loss was that we lost the game yesterday on the sideline. I would say two players obviously should have been taken off at half time and by 10 minutes into the second there were IMO 4 players that obviously needed to be taken off. Yet it took about 20 mins for our first sub to be introduced.

Also Hannon, our best forward, who has been scoring freely from half forward all league, and is patently not a full forward, was wasted for most of the game. And where was the sense in not having Hannon on the frees from the start? If any of the changes that seemed obvious to me had been made I think we would have won.

This may be overly simplistic, but: we lost by one. Hannon at half forward all game and on the frees from the start would surely have been worth another 3 or 4 points to us.

I've been positive about Allen so far, I think he has improved the team far more than O'Grady did, but there have to be serious questions about the managements selections and their game management after yesterday.

jordainius

Rightwing wrote: »

Very, very few care about the football.

Not true, plenty care about it, fair enough- not near as many as who care about hurling in the county but plenty of people have an interest in football in this county.

Terrific contribution by the way...:rolleyes:

Rightwing

jordainius wrote: »

Not true, plenty care about it, fair enough- not near as many as who care about hurling in the county but plenty of people have an interest in football in this county.

Terrific contribution by the way...:rolleyes:

Oh so we are all suppossed to be praising you and your great contributions. Good man, write a little report up and we'll all say well done.

:rolleyes:

Fireball07

glasagusban wrote: »

Fireball, your post was generally optimistic after the match yesterday. You were complimentary of Paul browne, did he even strike a ball? A few more were just awful. How can you say that hickey at 11 is working out when the dublin centre back commanded the whole game and won man of the matvh?

I think Browne did some good defensive work yesterday, he was often the one emerging from the rucks with the ball. He mightn't have been extremely prominent all the time, but that's often the nature of his role. Not sure who I'd replace him with either (perhaps Hickey?).

As for Hickey, I'm not actually sure he was at centre-forward for the entire game, he was on the wing for parts with Allis more central...and at other times he seemed to be sweeping around the half-back line. Whenever he got the ball, he made a big impact, and I think when it comes to scrapping for possession, our half-forward line is our weakest line...he's one of the only players who will fight.

Also, while I don't agree with our half-forward line dropping off...the back line/midfield have to take some of the blame too...there's no point hitting the ball straight to where a Dublin man is unmarked. The amount of possession just gifted to Rushe by poor passes was disgraceful. You have to look up, and Downes and Mulcahy were getting some joy when the ball went into the corner.

What really makes me sick about the loss was that we lost the game yesterday on the sideline. I would say two players obviously should have been taken off at half time and by 10 minutes into the second there were IMO 4 players that obviously needed to be taken off. Yet it took about 20 mins for our first sub to be introduced.

Also Hannon, our best forward, who has been scoring freely from half forward all league, and is patently not a full forward, was wasted for most of the game. And where was the sense in not having Hannon on the frees from the start? If any of the changes that seemed obvious to me had been made I think we would have won.

I do think the management had a big part to play in the loss alright.

The Hannon one is baffling, it hasn't worked yet...yet he continues with it. I can see the theory behind it, if he gets the ball close to goal, he'll likely score. But he wins ball and directs things from half-forward, you have to him out the field...the rest of our attackers aren't creative enough to justify him there.

And yeah, there should have been subs on. Dowling, Moran, even Adrian Breen, maybe Dempsey/Carmody and Tom Ryan.



Hopefully DOG is back soon. Wonder what Paudie O'Brien would be like as a forward? He won some great ball today, his passing is generally excellent and he's certainly able to score. Half-forward line needs working on. Defence was improved apart from the silly frees.

grenache

Rightwing wrote: »

Oh so we are all suppossed to be praising you and your great contributions. Good man, write a little report up and we'll all say well done.

:rolleyes:

I would say jordanius' contributions are more insightful than "very few care about football in Limerick".

mickmackey1

Rightwing wrote: »

Oh so we are all suppossed to be praising you and your great contributions. Good man, write a little report up and we'll all say well done.

:rolleyes:

Its fireball who writes the reports you muppet

glasagusban

Fireball, maybe I need to watch the game again, should have recorded it. Don't think I could stomach watching it again though. From what I saw in thurles Browne was anonymous. You need more from a midfielder. I also thought Ryan wasn't great. I don't like directly criticising players but these two are not consistent enough and not a strong enough pairing for championship. I would be very worried to see this pair starting v tipp. Replace with two of hickey, O'Brien, or Allis. Ryan and Browne would be two decent impact subs to have for later on.

The half forward line with breen in particular was dropping very deep, this works well enough if we are then delivering good ball to the inside forwards but it also means we need subs coming in from around 50 minutes as that work rate can't be maintained.

Agree with you on everything else. The game was crying out for some subs to be introduced. O'Brien has been scoring freely from midfield for kilmallock and LIT, 6 and 7 points a game from play fairly regularly. Intercounty is different but he should be in midfield and players should be looking to find him in a bit of space to fire it over the bar.

I figure we need about four players to come into the team (Dempsey/carmody, DOG, Dowling, Moran) with some positional switches to have any chance of staying with tipp come championship. Maybe the form of some players isn't good enough to have warranted them starting yesterday but if they're not firing come championship we are in for a very disappointing season.

Our forwards support play also needs huge improvement.