All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2023 ( Munster And Leinster Championships,Liam McCarthy Cup)

Happyilylost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697584#Comment_120697584

I do it to start the conversation. This is the team. Duscuss.

A is on the beer since Saturday

C rode Ds wife and won't pass to each other.

F is dropped

Z is on a plane to Chicago.

And not everyone is a Facebook/Insta/Twitter guru.

Mad about baa baas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697584#Comment_120697584

Also need separate threads for the die hard lads that walk to matches in the snow in January in their bare feet..and the mere mortals who see.a game on the TV and therefore have no right to an opinion apparently..

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697584#Comment_120697584

Nothing to do with the post I was replying to.

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697597#Comment_120697597

Very true. Sport is strange. Liverpool 1990 take 30 years to win the PL again. Munster after defeating the Ospreys in the ERC quarter final in 2009 go into decline, Offaly after 1998 by plying their trade in a 3rd tier competition, the Christy Ring, some 20 odd years later then struggling to get out of the second tier.

All empires fall and it can be hard to see it coming. But I think Limerick are still too young, have a lot left, are producing young players like Cathal O'Neill to fall yet.

YabaDabaDooley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698105#Comment_120698105

The one i could not see happening was walking out of Croke Park after the 2005 All Ireland hurling final. Cork people were already talking about doing the 3-in-row in the pubs after the game and i couldn't blame them. The future looked very bright. And then 18 years later and still no All Ireland?

A bit before my time but Tipperary got to six All Ireland finals in the '60's, winning four, beat Kilkenny in the '71 final and then fell off the face of the earth not winning Munster again until '87 and the All Ireland until '89. I think Tipp went eight years or more without even winning a game in Munster.

I agree with you i cannot see this happening to Limerick because the age profile of their team is still young enough and their blooding a few young lads to freshen up the panel last couple of years. They might be beaten this year or next but they'll still have enough to come back and win more silverware imo.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697417#Comment_120697417

I am not expecting anything. Its a Clare Limerick final and anything can happen as happened the last final they were in

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698166#Comment_120698166

Yes Tipp and Cork, 2005- especially surprising.

Cork is such a powerhouse traditional county I feel in 5 years or so post Limerick they could easily be the next dominant county. They are too strong a county to stay down for long.

Just to take the opportunity to say rest in peace Teddy McCarthy, a Laochra Gael, if ever there was one. I met him a few times when he managed Laois hurlers, he was a humble, genuine, gentleman. 57 is no age.

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698302#Comment_120698302

You won't be disappointed then Martin! The best approach.

YabaDabaDooley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698317#Comment_120698317

With all their underage success and their academy creating so many goid hurlers i feel it's only a matter of a short time before Cork win the Liam MacCarthy. The first one could be the hardest to win though as no All Ireland is easily won and the longer the drought goes on the more desperate a county gets but when they do make the breakthrough i don't think it will stop at one All Ireland. There's enough hunger built up down there now to win a few.

RIP Teddy. Sad day. Great turnout as you'd expect.

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698347#Comment_120698347

That's it the breakthrough year. Waterford couldn't get through in the 00s. If Galway caught Limerick in 2018, ifs and buts, you just don't know.

Frankie Machine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120696283#Comment_120696283

😁😁😁

I'd guess that 30k has been a pretty standard attendance figure for KK v GY Leinster Finals.

KK Leinster Finals tend not to be over-attended anyway.

I think the Clare lads are burning a lot of emotional energy, between this rivalry that's developing and the 25-year famine. Cooler Limerick heads, experienced and maybe finding better form from here on, will prevail.

Limerick by 4+ points. Hope I'm wrong.

KK by more than that. Hope I'm right.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120698073#Comment_120698073

By god

Mantis Toboggan

Think Clare will regret giving Limerick home advantage for the final, home ground surely worth 3 or 4 points.

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120699243#Comment_120699243

Well Holy God.

awaywithyou

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120699256#Comment_120699256

this home advantage thing is being blown out of all proportion... most of the Clare lads are nearer to the gaelic grounds than some of the Limerick players... Clare will not mind one bit playing there and there will be a huge Clare crowd... i am lucky enough to have a ticket and i am looking forward to going... Clare and Limerick are the 2 superpowers of Munster hurling at the moment.. they bring out the best in each other.. should be a good match... would like to see Clare win... but Limerick will be better than the round robin game and i think will do 5-in-a-row... funny how a team like Limerick can perform poorly by their standards in the round robin section (except Cork game) and still end up in a munster final...

on tickets.. i was lucky to get one.. my brother has plenty of contacts in Limerick and Clare and further afield and he got it for me... but i know a young vet that calls to us to treat any sickj animals etc.. he is very interested in hurling.. think he from cavan or monaghan.. he has 3 tickets for match.. how is that possible?? he got them from someone in his homeplace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120699490#Comment_120699490

Clare are hardly a Munster superpower just yet. Nare a title in a quarter of a century 😲

Conversations 3

Anyone knows of any decent tickets going for Leinster final PM me

Looking for 4

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700018#Comment_120700018

True. And they have to erase the memory of the no show in last year's all ireland semi final. For whatever reason that was a bad flop.

No Munster team has fallen asunder like that in a semi in the past decade.

The narrative was Clare were wrecked after Munster but Limerick did the business v Galway and Kilkenny. And did the business in 2018 under the same system. And were unlucky not to win the 2019 semi.

castletownman

I can't split either team in both matches (more due to patchy form of the Leinster teams) to the extent that I have backed a draw double. Keep me interested if nothing else anyway.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120699490#Comment_120699490

Your vet probably just bought them on ticketmaster

Seadin

I reckon Clare won't be good enough tomorrow and will come up short. I think Limerick will beat them by 5+ points

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700092#Comment_120700092

True. And they have to erase the memory of the no show in last year's all ireland semi final. For whatever reason that was a bad flop.

I got sucked into the Munster hurling narrative in the media late last year & genuinely believed that Clare would annihilate Kilkenny in the semi final.

What occurred was a massacre that Clare should still be keeping quite about.

Anyhow, I'm starting to think Munster hurlings main strength is that you can't get relegated from it.

Where would Limerick or Waterford be now if relegation was a possibility

Vinnie222

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700265#Comment_120700265

Limerick would be in the same position as they find themselves in today 😊

Jock_Ewing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700265#Comment_120700265

Munster brings colour, atmosphere, even contests frequently and full stadiums with a lot of noise. Limerick are excellent be it Munster or All Ireland. But the atmosphere has often clouded judgement on how good some games actually were, there was a 20min spell of poor shooting in last year's Munster final for example.

In contrast you have smaller crowds in Leinster, especially Croke Park, where today's game will seem poorer no matter what. The seagulls will make most noise. Galway, bar 2019, and Kilkenny generally qualify within themselves. There's a bit of a scrap for 3rd place. When there is something on the line at a full county ground like Wexford v Kilkenny this year you get a good game with atmosphere.

The reality is Limerick have been out on their own. A Galway or Kilkenny can take down any of the other Munster teams as Galway did to Cork and Kilkenny to Clare last year. Wexford probably should have beat Tipp in 2019. Munster is a far better championship than Leinster but bar Limerick the teams haven't proven themselves to be significantly better.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700265#Comment_120700265

Ya because Kilkenny and Galway are in real serious danger of relegation.

Throw some Cannon fodder into Munster and we will happily sign up to your pretend threat of relegation.

Butson

Galway and Kilkenny are both very average at the minute.

Both pushed Limerick very hard last year. Galway beat Cork in 1/4s.

Kilkenny easily bet Clare in semi final.

Munster is far more exiting for all the obvious reasons. But overall quality wise, not by much.

puzl

Very hard to call either game today.

In Munster I feel if Limerick play to their potential they've a few points on Clare. That's an if we can't ignore though as Limerick haven't been fully right all year really. Given the rivalry between these teams you'd expect the ref will be busy so let's hope we finish with 30 players on the pitch. Very excited for this one.

In Leinster I really don't have a clue. Both teams have showed signs of form but overall have had lackluster round robin campaigns. If both teams turn up this could be very close.

Pablo Escobar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700566#Comment_120700566

You could also make the argument that Cork beat themselves in the quarters last year.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700265#Comment_120700265

Three Munster teams have won the All Ireland in the last 10 years. All bar one has reached the final more than once in that time. Three All Ireland finals in that time have been all-Munster events.

It's weird in that context if you think that Munster hurling's main strength is that you can't get relegated. And wonder of the whereabouts of Limerick (who've quite a good record recently) or Waterford (who've lost only once ever to Galway and beat Kilkenny in their last two championship meetings) were relegation a factor in the province. You are just not getting the most out of hurling.

Many of us could wonder too where Cork might be now if they were in Leinster and conclude that probably not out of the championship at a minimum would be the answer.

Or we might wonder how Kilkenny can get to an All Ireland semi final so easily in recent years when they can't beat Wexford who can't beat Westmeath who can't beat anyone else?

Yes, it must be frustrating to be from Leinster. To be a hurling person in a non hurling province must be quite a dysmorphic experience. To know that there is no real jeopardy for the better teams and the finalists are known before it starts. To have to big up Westmeath v Antrim in the last round. To know that a potential relegation game involving teams whose players you could not name is in fact the only real show in town in the round robin.

To know that one team in the final wins it so much that the experience is irrelevant to them other than to avoid an awkward All Ireland quarter final. And that the other is only there to make the provincial championship somewhat viable and have no native interest in the competition. For this mindset how anger-inducing and "over-hyped" will crowds celebrating on the pitch in the Gaelic Grounds today no matter who wins be?

Deep down how much would a Leinster person love to have that too and not to have to resort to increasingly incredible, untenable, and abstract arguments about "quality"? To not have to elicit some prestige from the fact that Galway and Kilkenny ran Limerick close last year when nearly all Munster teams do that most of the time.

To not have to get excited about Kilkenny beating Clare last year when Tipperary could go down to Ennis and beat them on their home ground in the first round this year with no song and dance about it. Or no urge for constant recognition for it. There are so many questions. But best not to dwell on them.

It'll be over in a few weeks and for the rest of the year you'll be back to hearing about how Ballyhale and Ballygunner are p*ssing through their County championships again while we pretend briefly that it might actually not happen again. You'll hear how many lads are in Boston and New York for the summer enjoying the benefits of the split season. That'll be as good as it'll get. Maybe best just to enjoy the serious hurling while it lasts and not over-think the parallel universe stuff.

cave_dweller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700527#Comment_120700527

I agree 100% with this. I watched back last year's Munster final during the week and was amazed at how poor the second half was. The atmosphere glosses over poor periods of play. The reality is that all of the Munster teams, Kilkenny and Galway are at a similar level with the exception of Limerick at their best. They're ahead of everyone then.

I think Limerick and Kilkenny will win today. Limerick missed too many chances vs Clare the last time. I expect their work rate and efficiency to improve and it should see them over the line. I'd back Kilkenny in Leinster. I think both are a little unknown and not playing very well but I feel more confident on the level that Kilkenny will bring so will tip them. Amazed at Galway being favourites considering how poorly they have played at times and Kilkenny going for the 4 in a row.