*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

jordainius

premierstone wrote: »

What about the team that wins this years intermediate, do they play Senior next year, or is their a play off with one of the bottom 5 senior teams??

No promotion, very unfair in my opinion (I'm fiercely opposed to the changes for a few reasons!), but I suppose the clubs knew that before they voted on it.

Fireball07

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/hurling/2013/0609/455593-limerick-o-brien/


Paudie O'Brien certainly talking the talk there...... that's the kind of thing you want to hear. (Of course it's very easy to say the right stuff, you have to back it up with performances). I think Allen is the right man to stop them from getting carried away.



As for the re-jigging of the club championship, I think it's a bad idea. I think the reasoning behind it is to up the standard of the intermediate championship? That's a fair enough wish...... but I reckon it could have a negative effect on the senior championship tbh. Personally, I thought 16 teams was fine.

glasagusban

16 senior teams was too many. Does anyone believe there are 16 senior hurling teams in limerick?

jordainius

glasagusban wrote: »

16 senior teams was too many. Does anyone believe there are 16 senior hurling teams in limerick?

Fireball just above you does, and I do. And plenty more do, at the same time plenty more don't. In this years championship, outside of Na Piarsaigh, Kilmallock and probably Adare, there really isn't much between the rest of the teams, all the teams are capable of beating each other.

We have had 7 different champions in the last 10 years, 9 different clubs have played in the last 8 county finals, 10 different semi finalists since 2007. That's a pretty decent spread which would compare favourably to most counties.

The changes are a bit rash, and flawed in places, for example; relegation and promotion is now 2 up/2 down, which I agree with, but the new format doesn't ensure that the two worst teams go down, a lopsided draw could see the 8th or 9th best team relegated from the top 12. Instead of relegating the two 6th placed teams there should be play offs where 5th in one group plays 6th in the other.

All that said, I am looking forward to seeing how all this pans out, the next few years will be very interesting indeed!

glasagusban

Big win for Doon today beating Na Piarsaigh. The scoreline does not do the game justice, Doon were a far superior side and hurled Na p off the pitch in the first half especially. Weak and limp performance from Na P who for reasons only they will know seem to have decided to play with a sweeper between the full and half back lines this year.

grenache

glasagusban wrote: »

Big win for Doon today beating Na Piarsaigh. The scoreline does not do the game justice, Doon were a far superior side and hurled Na p off the pitch in the first half especially. Weak and limp performance from Na P who for reasons only they will know seem to have decided to play with a sweeper between the full and half back lines this year.

Who were the main contributors for Doon?! I know Doon are always handy but you would still have expected Na Piarsaigh to win that one.

Big win for Adare last night too.

Rightwing

I think we got a handy draw there in Longford, but I'm negative on the footballers regardless on who we get. Can't see them go through.

washman3

Think we will have a decent enough chance away to Longford. Had a good win up there last year but Longford had become complacent and believed the media hype. They failed to perform. Hope the lads will be keen to make up for the terrible display V Cork and this can be the start of another 2 or 3 match run. We are not going to win the A.I. as we all know, but lets face it, we will not win the hurling either.

Rightwing

washman3 wrote: »

Think we will have a decent enough chance away to Longford. Had a good win up there last year but Longford had become complacent and believed the media hype. They failed to perform. Hope the lads will be keen to make up for the terrible display V Cork and this can be the start of another 2 or 3 match run. We are not going to win the A.I. as we all know, but lets face it, we will not win the hurling either.

if we win a munster in the hurling that'll do me

washman3

Rightwing wrote: »

if we win a munster in the hurling that'll do me

Certainly. me too.
it would be a successful 2013 then.

willietherock

grenache wrote: »

Who were the main contributors for Doon?! I know Doon are always handy but you would still have expected Na Piarsaigh to win that one.

Big win for Adare last night too.

Doon halfback line Dinny Moloney,Cathal Mc, Richie English totally dominated the Na P halforward line of Dowling,Breen,Downes.Niall Maher dominated King midfield. Downes improved when he went in full. Hard to believe Doon don't have anyone on the Limerick senior panel.

Fireball07

Footballers draw could have been worse, but I still wish we had a home game. Longford will fancy their chances of beating us up there, last year they didn't really perform.


We will have to lift our performance, and play like we did against them last year, and something more similar to this year's league final. Can't have any of that lack of intensity.

paddy no 11

willietherock wrote: »

Doon halfback line Dinny Moloney,Cathal Mc, Richie English totally dominated the Na P halforward line of Dowling,Breen,Downes.Niall Maher dominated King midfield. Downes improved when he went in full. Hard to believe Doon don't have anyone on the Limerick senior panel.

Is that dinny who was with the county a few years back but got a couple of bad injuries? How's he hurling/fitness these days.

willietherock

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Is that dinny who was with the county a few years back but got a couple of bad injuries? How's he hurling/fitness these days.

v well. What age is he?

grenache

willietherock wrote: »

v well. What age is he?

He couldn't be any more than 25/26 at most? God he had a couple of great seasons around 2008/2009, always seemed to have the worst of luck with injuries. Looked to be the heir apparent to Mark Foley. Good to see him back hurling well.

paddy no 11

Is the county squad closed at this stage ye reckon,

Obviously not seen him play so i'm not looking for him to be added to squad but was wondering if its open to additions, especially as we have a couple of rounds back to back.

Colemania

I was at the double header in kilmallock on sunday and it was an awful day for hurling in fairness. Allen was there anyway, switched from the standing covered stand to seated for the second half of the Well v G/Ballingarry match (auld age).

No standouts from the Granagh team, DOG can't be judged with a team like that around him putting in such a lame effort in the second half.

For the well, Seanie o'brien battled very well in midfield again and won a lot of frees. Don't think anyone will edge their way into Allen's plans this year though unless there's a mad injury crisis. The well must have had about 20 wides and looked shakey in defence as a lot of junior hurlers are being tried out there due to injuries and lack of quality players. Kelleher only missed one free all day and its good to see them with a consistent free taker finally.

My man of the match in the Doon game would have been Cathal McNamara. This guy has been mentioned for a while now and how he didn't start last year for the limerick 21s I do not know. He's a strong lad, great in the air and rushing out of defence with the ball and clearing. (take note wayne mac )

Now to the performances of na piarsigh's limerick players.....

Downes was decent when he got the ball. Dowling was marked out of it and did nothing major. Dempsey was fairly decent but I wouldn't say it was a great performance. David breen....... King and adrian breen (before the injury) did nothing of significance either. Couldn't handle doon's physicality.

The doon support was fantastic, albeit there was a fight in the stands between 2 middle aged men over a missed chance which was quite stupid and especially with so many children in the stands from the ages of 3 or 4.

Anyway, the last round of games should be interesting. Could be some shock relegations!

glasagusban

Sorry Grenache never got back to you but the other lads have it covered.

One Na P player that also did well was Niall Buckley at 5. Wasn't even on the 21s panel and could have been in with a shout to start.

Agree with the reports of the lads above. Except I thought dowling was alright, he was nearly double marked half the time due to Na P's stupid tactics. Couldn't judge Adrian breen he hardly saw a ball, but I hear he has been dropped from the panel. King was AWOL and david breen was ineffective. I don't know how much you could judge the Na p players. All over the pitch thy looked inhibited and lethargic and their "tactics" were laughable. Serious collective turnaround needed from them.

Fireball07

I think it'd be a pity if Adrian Breen was dropped off the panel, I rate him quite highly. He's only young, very fast and if he gets the ball, he's well able to score.....has a bit to work on yet, but I think he's better than his brother tbh.

I doubt players will be added to the panel at this stage, bar injuries, or a particularly brilliant run of form from someone.



Today I was just thinking, with the adjustment to the championship, how many intermediate/lower division players are in the senior panel?
Our starting full-back line against Tipp came from Glenroe, Blackrock and Knockaderry. Then there's Paul Browne from Bruff, and Paudie Ahern from Kilteely/Dromkeen, who are junior, I think?

Now, if teams drop down, then there's likely to be a few more joining them. But do people think potential county players are more likely to benefit from a better-standard intermediate than a bigger top division? And how about the players at junior level and lower intermediate, there must be a few good players down there.

Fireball07

Minor hurling panel has supposedly been named... haven't seen it published yet though.

glasagusban

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Is the county squad closed at this stage ye reckon,

Obviously not seen him play so i'm not looking for him to be added to squad but was wondering if its open to additions, especially as we have a couple of rounds back to back.

I'd imagine it's closed alright on the run into a munster final. But then O'Brien was added later in the season last year. I don't think though that we are so weak on replacements in any position with anyone showing such form that they would have to get a call up like Paudie last year.

Fireball07 wrote: »

I think it'd be a pity if Adrian Breen was dropped off the panel, I rate him quite highly. He's only young, very fast and if he gets the ball, he's well able to score.....has a bit to work on yet, but I think he's better than his brother tbh.

I doubt players will be added to the panel at this stage, bar injuries, or a particularly brilliant run of form from someone.

Today I was just thinking, with the adjustment to the championship, how many intermediate/lower division players are in the senior panel?
Our starting full-back line against Tipp came from Glenroe, Blackrock and Knockaderry. Then there's Paul Browne from Bruff, and Paudie Ahern from Kilteely/Dromkeen, who are junior, I think?

Now, if teams drop down, then there's likely to be a few more joining them. But do people think potential county players are more likely to benefit from a better-standard intermediate than a bigger top division? And how about the players at junior level and lower intermediate, there must be a few good players down there.

Adrian Breen is a good player but the county senior panel may be a step too far just yet, he might be better off with the intermediates for a season or two rather than being rushed into the county set up.

Good point on having county players playing at a lower level. But I do think that more competitive divisions will raise the standard overall. Can't really go about having a weaker championship just to give the few county players on junior teams a handful of better games.

premierstone

Fireball07 wrote: »

Minor hurling panel has supposedly been named... haven't seen it published yet though.

Haven't seen it either Fireball, but I did hear that the Limerick Captain is a student at Doon CBS and the Tipperary Captain Tom Fox is also a Doon CBS attendee, a very unusual and possibly unique situation.

Probably happened in Flannan's and Kieran's down the years but for a non-baording school it must be a first??

Fireball07

premierstone wrote: »

Haven't seen it either Fireball, but I did hear that the Limerick Captain is a student at Doon CBS and the Tipperary Captain Tom Fox is also a Doon CBS attendee, a very unusual and possibly unique situation.

Probably happened in Flannan's and Kieran's down the years but for a non-baording school it must be a first??

Possibly Richie English, he's a very good player... plays for Doon. Although I think it may have happened with Ard Scoil recently enough, with Clare and Limerick, think a good few Clare players went to Ard Scoil.


Off the top of my head, you'd expect Ronan Lynch, Cian Lynch, Andrew Le Touche, Dave Dempsey, Sean Finn, Tom Morrissey as well as English to be on the team..... I'm sure there's a few very talented players that I've forgotten.

glasagusban

On contrast to what I've said above, the limerick leader talks to John Allen today and says there were no panel injuries, although concern persists over a shoulder injury to Adrian Breen. Perhaps in wrong about him being off the panel. Also, players have been identified and will be called in for training games over the coming weeks, though no new call ups have been made.

Fireball07

Minor panel posted on facebook:

Stephen Power (Ahane), Tom Morrissey (Ahane), Graham Whelan (Bruff), Sean Finn (Bruff), Richard English (Capt) (Doon), Darragh Donovan (Vice Capt) (Doon), Dean Coleman (Doon), Pat Ryan (Doon), Eoin McNamara (Doon), Stephen Ryan (Doon), Damien Lacy (Dromcollogher/Broadford), Jamie Butler (Feoghanagh/Castlemahon), Sean Flanagan (Feoghanagh/Castlemahon), Jamie Porter (Monaleen), Andrew La Touche Cosgrave (Monaleen), Edward Doyle (Monaleen), Lorcan Lyons (Monaleen), Darragh Kennedy (Murroe/Boher), Michael Casey (Na Piarsaigh), Ronan Lynch (Na Piarsaigh), David Dempsey (Na Piarsaigh), Colin Ryan (Pallasgreen), Cian Lynch (Patrickswell) and Barry Nash (South Liberties).


Richie English is indeed the captain, I think this might be his 3rd year minor?? Not sure about that. All the players I mentioned earlier are involved, not too familiar with all of them....big Doon contingent- Donovan is supposed to be a good player, and I've heard good things about Ryan and Jamie Butler too. But yeah, I really don't know how strong this team are in comparison to others, or in comparison to Tipp.

paddy no 11

Well we'll be second favs after that, impressive from cork without their captain and goal getter.

That said clare were mince and left about 3 clear goals behind them

Fireball07

You'd have to fancy our chances, think we could have beaten either of the teams. But you can't underestimate Cork, they were impressive today.

glasagusban

Home Munster final, we will batter cork, wahoo!

washman3

glasagusban wrote: »

we will batter cork, wahoo!

Just as Clare thought up to today.;)
Cork wont fear us in the slightest..

glasagusban

washman3 wrote: »

Just as Clare thought up to today.;)
Cork wont fear us in the slightest..

They sure won't. Perfect.