Kilkenny GAA Thread

Looking back at the match, I counted only 2 thrown balls by Dublin and 1by Kilkenny - Michael Carey who was actually awarded a free as he was being fouled. Limerick. The referee did not award any frees for a thrown ball. Typically Limerick would throw a dozen followed by Cork and Waterford. Not saying we would come within an asses roar of these teams even if they didn't throw the ball.

Totally disagree with this. Throwing the ball and taking too many steps are a blight on the modern game. Favours athletes rather than hurlers

Based on yesterday Kilkenny will beat Wexford easily and the Leinster final will inevitably be Galway v Kilkenny. Galway probably have more about them potentially than Kilkenny but don't score goals whereas Kilkenny do. That makes Galway vulnerable in the same way they made heavy weather of beating Kilkenny in 2018 when they were much better, and lost in 2020 when they were a bit better.

Trying to win with a goals disadvantage is a struggle. A few weeks back it took Kilkenny 70+ minutes to score the same number of points as Galway scored in the first half but Galway were still only scraping through in the end. There's no evidence the Galway manager is capable of addressing this issue. Should be plenty of bitterness that day which will make it fun.

Radio 1 match analyst John Mullane was speaking to Joanne afterwards last evening and had a proper meltdown when he saw how the Dubs players were on the pitch afterwards, smiling with supporters and taking selfies. "They've been beaten by 17 points and they're doing this", he kept repeating.

No way should we start doing this. As a county with a proud tradition of handball and indeed outstanding hurlers who were and are outstanding handballers this should be abhorrent to us. It is a blight on the game and I strongly suspect that if it was properly clamped down upon by referees then the likes of Limerick, Cork and Wateford would struggle big time.

Not every good hurler can properly handpass the ball. It's a unique skill that requires a lot of practice to perfect. To accurately handpass a long distance is a very rare skill indeed, I think DJ was the greatest exponent I ever seen of this. Unfortunately some of the biggest cheerleaders against clamping down on this scourge such as Daly and Cusack have prominent roles on RTE and have tried to normalise it. Maybe it's high time they brought someone in to balance out this debate.

The refs clamped down on the throw ball during the league. They've pretty much abandoned it in the championship. Coaches wouldn't have their players using it if it wasn't an advantage. We can continue to stick our heads in the sand but if we don't move with the times SOON, we're doomed. It would appear Cody is waiting for the wheel to turn, it's a big wheel!

Dublin were awful, non existent in the full forward line. Richie Reid got on a lot of ball as the free man but hit a lot ball long in crowded areas and we lost it. We need to get the ball 10-15 yards further up the pitch before we go long to the full forward line. Way better than Paddy Deegan in that position all the same. If Dublin had a good full forward line we could have been in trouble in the first half. Mullen, Mossy and Kenny excellent, Mikey Carey solid again. TJ was very good in the second half.

Limerick were blown twice yesterday for throws

he didn't blow for much at all in the first half. Every year in the league, something is picked out to clamp down on and forgotten about in championship. Be lucky to see a free for it in another month

I wouldn't be writing off Wexford so easy like a lot of posters here ...we still have to get to a leinster final some here think we're already in it...The last 5 years has shown any time these teams meet there is never a puck of a ball in it, form usually goes out the window.....Wexford will definitely not fear KK next weekend and if they do beat us we'd be in trouble, but I would also say they have it all to do. We can't be getting too over Confident.

When I meant to say was that there was no free given for a thrown ball in Kilkenny v Dublin. Very few thrown balls in the match. Limerick got blown twice, could have blown a dozen times.

I don't think we'll get carried away with the weekend. Dublin are very poor and made our defenders look better than they are. The second half might cover up the frailties in defence and midfield and our puckouts.You look at nickey quid yesterday and David Fitzgerald daring him to hit Tom morrisey and he putting it in his hand.

it's obvious we reverted to what we're good at and that's route one and winning breaks. In the first half when the game was tight we presisted with being cleaned out on puckouts but it's obvious after all the mistakes against galway we weren't going to mess around with it but any time we did we had Richie Reid as the out ball. If he could give better ball into the forwards we would be much more dangerous. We all knew there'd be a few changes but it was a suprise he put kenny in corner forward but he done well and cody deserves credit for the changes.

Wexford have being dire since the league semi final and on form we should be beating them but they should come with fire in the belly. We definitely won't be complacent and we have good competition for places,donnelly and Billy are probably better subs.There should be a big crowd and a good atmosphere at the match.

Positives for me included the good form of Mikey Butler, I keep waiting for him to be cleaned out. Despite what another poster said I thought Adrian Mullen got around the pitch, he was defending on his own 5 m line and attacking on the 45 m line. Eoin Cody kept going even if things didn't go his way. Cian Kenny had good touches and tried hard, needs to get stronger. Mossy will always give you 100%

However, our distribution into the forwards was poor and it is unlikely to improve much this year.

Given all the rumours flying around last week, it was good to see a committed performance

We'd be playing Dublin in what? Sorry, what are you talking about?

That's correct.

At the moment Galway are on 7 points and Dublin and ourselves are on 6 points so if ourselves and Dublin win at the weekend it will be ourselves and Dublin for the Leinster Final. Cant see it happening though.

We just have to ensure we put in a good performance and get the win v Wexford. This will allow Huw Lawlor a chance to be ready for the Leinster final, more than likely v Galway.

If we got that far id fancy our chances v Galway but we cannot underestimate Wexford Saturday evening. There could be some kind of a sting there. Any news on Huw Lawlor?