AI Senior Hurling- Liam McCarthy Cup 2018

OldMrBrennan83

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BonnieSituation

Patww79 wrote: »

Christ I'd love to give Canning a clatter every time he says Lee-Han. He's not Chinese.

Thought it was just me.

BonnieSituation

Patrick Horgan just scored from 95m out. Does anyone else hate that that it's possible these days to do that?

C__MC

Same old Clare

If I here about the potential they have anymore, will go through the roof. They have done nothing since 2013

Bonniedog

New structure is standing up.

Alpha_zero

commercial break

spurshero

C__MC wrote: »

Same old Clare

If I here about the potential they have anymore, will go through the roof. They have done nothing since 2013

Probaly no such thing as a soft all Ireland put if ever there was 2013 was it.

BonnieSituation

spurshero wrote: »

Probaly no such thing as a soft all Ireland put if ever there was 2013 was it.

That's what annoyed me more about us throwing it away with Cork in the SF.

Could've done the double.

Alpha_zero

Hurling the sport of farmers

BonnieSituation

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Hurling the sport of farmers artists

FYP

Straight Talker

The Domhnall O'Donovan curse continues.;) Clare have not beaten Cork in championship hurling, since that 2013 all ireland final replay.;)

Straight Talker

BonnieSituation wrote: »

That's what annoyed me more about us throwing it away with Cork in the SF.

Could've done the double.

It was a close one alright.But Dublin had 75 years since 1938 to win a hurling all Ireland at that point!But Dublin hurling has never recovered from that defeat.5 years later and Liam McCarthy coming back to Dublin, seems as far off as ever.I actually think you would have beaten Clare in that final.We were way too loose and open in both the drawn game and replay.Dublin would have strangled the life out of Clare, if they got to that final.

OldMrBrennan83

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Straight Talker

Patww79 wrote: »

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I think Dublin were on the slide by the time Ger Cunningham arrived really.The Anthony Daly years were a freak.Dublin were never Liam McCarthy contenders prior to Daly arriving, and i think no matter if it was Ger Cunningham Brian Cody Jesus Budda or Alla as manager, Dublin were on the slide regardless.

btw It was the Dublin county board that kept Cunningham in the job.So they must have been happy enough with things.

BonnieSituation

Straight Talker wrote: »

It was a close one alright.But Dublin had 75 years since 1938 to win a hurling all Ireland at that point!But Dublin hurling has never recovered from that defeat.5 years later and Liam McCarthy coming back to Dublin, seems as far off as ever.I actually think you would have beaten Clare in that final.We were way too loose and open in both the drawn game and replay.Dublin would have strangled the life out of Clare, if they got to that final.

Absolutely agree with every part of this. We were men possessed in 2013

JohnnyFlash

Not classic fare in either game today. Limerick look the standout team to try and challenge Galway based on the matches so far. Have a good work rate, young, physical, strong in the tackle. Shooting is a serious problem - could have won by 10 or more today, and the same wastefulness cost them in the League semi-final. You'd have to acknowledge that Limerick hurling is in the best place it has been in a good few years.

Tipp were very poor. I know it's early in the season, but there's no time for ramping up with the new format. Paddy Power have put them out to 4/1 for the AI. Hard to know about Cork based on today's performance. Did enough, which is probably what they set out to do. They've some lovely natural hurlers, but they aren't the finished article by any means. The new format will suit them.

Wexford ran close again by Dublin, who have put in two solid performances, but look like they will be relegation material at the end of June. Not sure that will be good for the game in either Offaly or Dublin.

C__MC

2013 was a freak year for hurling.
Kk were decimated by injuries

Browney7

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Patrick Horgan just scored from 95m out. Does anyone else hate that that it's possible these days to do that?

Yeah I'd be in favour of the ball being made a bit heavier

Joe_ Public

Hate giving out about refs, and it had little material effect on the outcome, but Owens seriously needs a crash course on how to apply the advantage rule. Infuriatingly inconsistent today.

Edit: should say McGrath of course!

BonnieSituation

Browney7 wrote: »

Yeah I'd be in favour of the ball being made a bit heavier

If the ridges on the ball were made "taller" you would have less striking contact with the sliotar thus remving power behind it. Both need to be considered and proper standardisation needs to take place.

Hitting it that length is no fun to watch.

citykat

BonnieSituation wrote: »

If the ridges on the ball were made "taller" you would have less striking contact with the sliotar thus remving power behind it. Both need to be considered and proper standardisation needs to take place.

Hitting it that length is no fun to watch.

Those ridges would take the fingers off your hand. Thats a no no.
Theres nothing wrong with long distance scoring. The ball still has to go over the bar. Just because the ball travels farther doesnt mean it isnt incredibly hard to score from long distance. It also keeps the game relatively honest knowing most freetakers can score from distance. Otherwise youd get the type of cynicism you see in football.
It also means more scores/game. Thats a good thing. The alternative is low scoring games, teams going ultra defensive trying to grind out wins on low scores. We have enough of that as it is.

Bonniedog

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Wexford ran close again by Dublin, who have put in two solid performances, but look like they will be relegation material at the end of June. Not sure that will be good for the game in either Offaly or Dublin.

All games have been good so far. Has re-introduced the knockout element. Dublin/Offaly in itself will have no bearing on who wins All Ireland but will be do or die for both teams.

zetecescort

Will be interesting how the week off affects the different teams. Would Limerick prefer to be playing again next week to keep the momentum going? would Tipp rather next week off to work on things or is it better to get straight back into it?

OldMrBrennan83

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washman3

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Hurling the sport of farmers[/QUOTE

And tell us, did you enjoy the Royal wedding yesterday...:)

Corcaigh84

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Patrick Horgan just scored from 95m out. Does anyone else hate that that it's possible these days to do that?

I totally agree with people who say the ball should be made heavier, there is far less incentive for goalmouth action these days when shots from way out field are the safer option.

I do think it's gas though we're complaining about Hoggie scoring from too far out when a few years ago Nash was scoring goals from too close in

puzl

thefloss wrote: »

I do think it's gas though we're complaining about Hoggie scoring from too far out when a few years ago Nash was scoring goals from too close in

In fairness to Nash though, he was unreal at those shots. Unfortunately for him, they had to change the rules to protect Goalkeepers after Stephen O'Keefe showed them all how to beat Nash.

Hurling Rankings

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danganabu

danganabu wrote: »

A lot of very worried people in Tipp about this game to be honest.

If Im perfectly honest myself I'm not overly worried and think we will win, maybe not comfortably but without much panic. If history has taught us anything is that Limerick are at their worst when expectations are high and Tipp are at thier best when the expectations have been lowered slightly.

Tipp have problems at full back, wing back and finding a settled mid field partner for Brendan Maher. But all are fixable imo, Barry has looked extremely vunrable but to be fair to him the cover in front of him has been poor and when Padraic Maher plays centre back Tipp look more exposed, Ronan should return there and Tipp look more solid when he plays at 6 and Padraic at 7. Barry to be fair has never let us down on the bigger days, last years Galway game a perfect example of where there were serious question marks being asked and he undoubtedly gave his best performance of the year. Flanagan looks really promising but also awful green he will need to be a lot more clinical than he was in the league semi, and indeed in the U21 game v Clare.

The second wing back spot is still a question mark with Barry Heffernan seemingly the man in possession of the jersey, I remain to be convinced to be honest and dont think he is aggressive enough or dominating enough, Paudie Feehan looked a real contender to me but seems to have fallen down the pecking order, Seamus Kennedy is woefully out of form and the only other viable option who I actually think would be the best is Joe ( Mouse) O'Dwyer but he has missed a lot of hurling through injury, I expect Heffernan to start and think Heggarty to get a lot of joy from him for the reasons above.

Who to partner Brendan is the other question mark and my prefernce would be Dan McCormack who woul dbe the perfect foil for Brendan, a bit like Eddie Enright used to do for Tommy Dunne - a classy hurler midfield is only as good as the lad beside him doing the heavey lifting if you like! Again the other options are Michael Breen, Seamus Keenedy and Noel MGrath, the former two are both out of form a good while and Noel is not the type of hurler needed, I much prefer Noel at centre forward dropping deep and pulling the centre back out of position or popping over points because the centre back holds the centre.

Overall I think there are far more question marks over Limerick and people are putting far too much stock into their league perfromance's, last week showed how futile that can be, but I will add that Kiely is definitely the right man for the job and has undoubtedly improved them, I just think the process may take another 14-24 months before they are at the top tier, I do however think they will qualify in the top 3 from Munster, which together with League promotion would be a good year for them.

P.S. I'm really getting giddy now about this 4 Munster Championship games in four weeks, back in the 70's/80's Tipp people had to wait 4 years for that and they all would be defeats!!

Well fcuk me, it turns out we have alot more problems than I thought, it now looks very much like that last years semi against Galway was the exception and that this team has been in a steady decline since 2016.

Yesterday was patethic, really really bad and bet in every single line of the field and absolutely no fight at all, if it wasnt for Limerick's poor execution, Seamus Hickey and a couple of excellent goals against the run of play we could have no complaints if we were beaten by 10 pts plus, how in the name of god we were winning with 10 mins to go I will never know.

Where to now? I genuinely have no idea but there are a few things that absolutely have to happen - Donagh Maher can't start, Ronan and Padraic have to swap back to thier best positions, Bubbles has to be droped, Connors not physical enough for midfield, Sean Curran just not anywhere near this level and I'm only scrathing the surface here!

Mick Ryan has been involved now for 10 years, I think its time for a new voice and a big re-shake, its all gone very stale and its hard to see how we can turn it around in a week.

Just one other thing and it absolutely 100% had no affect on the game, where a blind man could see that Limerick were the better team, but by god that was as bad a refereeing performance as I have seen, he gave Tipp some incredibly soft frees in the opening half but by god did he make up for it in the second half, if there is any proper transparency in refereeing surely that is his last Liam McCarthy cup game for 2018.

jr86

Yeah there was something a bit 'off' about Cork driving over a free in their own half and then the Clare keeper finding Tony Kelly who himself just drove it over straight away from about 100 yards. I much prefer the tactical element of building scores myself. It just doesn't sit right with me you can score with only one pass from your keeper or by picking up a clearance by an opposition defender deep in your own half and then driving the ball over from 100+ yards out

But whatever about long distance scoring, the 65 has turned into a tap over free.

A good block by a defender/keeper that trickles over the line turns into an essential guaranteed score. Surely it should be reduced to a strike off the ground or something?