Hurling- what’s gone wrong and where do we go from here.

Kilkenny killed the game, Limerick took their physical dogmatic anti hurling approach to a new level.

Cork are on a one team mission to save real technical hurling. The only true purveyors left, of real hurling.

Every neutral should be behind them, their potential succuss the only spark that can reinvigorate teams to play hurling how it should be played.

Otherwise, the alternative is, who is the biggest, most dogmatic and most physical.

Cork don't get enough credit for sticking to their own game, despite their losses. Their belief they'll finally overcome anti-hurling, playing the right way, has to be admired.

And they will get there. Hurlings greatest county, producing the most natural hurlers for decades, will get there. They've had hard learning curves, but they will adapt with experience and outplay the rest. It's just a matter of time

Hurlings greatest aristocrats are coming for their crown. Watch this space!

And before anyone comes out with the nonsense, Kilkenny are the greatest hurling county, Cork led the roll of honour for literally decades. It's only recently KK surpassed them.

Cork splitting provincial honours with Tipp for decades, KK had over 20+ attempts, with a handy Leinster provincial title, with no back door, to surpass them coming from Leinster. You'd assume, had Cork won their provence 80+ times like KK, instead of circa 50 times, they'd have 40+ All Irelands.

And much of KKs dominance had to do with the implosion of Cork GAA in the late 00's, gave KK a free run. Make no mistake, the greatest and most talented hurlers come from Cork, not Tipp or KK. Cork play a unique technical, special way, near all but lost today.

All neutrals should be behind them, the last true hurling county, playing the right way. People don't want to hear the truth, clearly.

You love true hurling, get behind Cork!

Needed a laugh on my night shift. You delivered. Thanks

Tipp won 3 all Irelands in last decade playing unbelievable hurling, not worthy of a mention?

A previous poster asked me was I not impressed by how Tipp recently won All Irelands. I wasn't. They took what KK did, and yes the difference was more skill. They tried to beat KK at their own game, then let skill tell, like Galway after them. Limerick took it to a new level.

Cork are the only team who didn't go down this road. What I mean by technical skill isn't simply running at opponants, the ability the find 40 yard passes to a team mate under pressure, to run off his team mate seeing a silky pass, the general ability to put a 70 yard pass in their team mates hand.

Physical teams break this up, but I believe Cork will adapt to it and finally outplay them. Hurling needs them to succeed. They're the only team that hasn't gone down the KK rabbit hole, of a physical and dogmatic approach. They still play true hurling, the last team left

This thread is about what has gone wrong with hurling. I'm surprised with the responses. After watching 20 years of dogmatic hurling, and after asking themselves what the problem with hurling is today, I'm surprised more people aren't agreeing.

People able to see how pungent and dire it is when their team don't win, and when they do, gloss over it. As a neutral it's been pungent since KKs dominance .

I understand people don't like Cork, it's not about liking them, it's about getting behind what they represent, and their cast iron belief in playing a system where they are continually losing, but won't change, knowing if they persist they'll win out.

I'll tell you something, when they finally overcome the negative physical dogmatic approach, and get the hang of how to play against it, the rest may as well pack it in.

The rest have invested in a certain style for near two decades now, a certain way of playing, and when Cork suss it, and get the better of it, alot of county's will be in serious trouble trying to adapt.

You forgot something very important and most if not all hurling counties agree is that cork are soft as shite. Have been for near 20years now.

I acknowledged their problems, yet in that time what have Tipp really won? 2001? Couldn't even dominate after their great rival fall fell.

Your last comment very important, Cork soft as sh1te? They are now, but won many All Irelands playing that way. They persist with a philosophy, admittedly, being bullied by everyone at present. They can't compete physically.

But just consider, they've youngsters of a raw talent, who can play that style and succeed coming through?

What's Limericks, KK, Tipps answer to a team who can play around and through them on a technical level, once they adapt to to what's constantly beating them? You don't think Cork are going back to the drawing board after every defeat and doubling down on this?

They're going to win playing a game the rest abandoned, and when they get on top of it, the rest are in very big trouble imo

Cork since he late 00's were a disaster. No one was saying they would of had a team to beat or compete with KK, but alot of that comes down to internal problems, and they slowly went downhill, year after year, after that

Their resurrection came in 2017, and Lehane dragging them up several levels, since then they've been back to an extent.

I'm sure Cork would have loved 3 All Irelands since their last win, but I can gaurantee you if they won 3, they would have dominated. They've had huge problems and lost years, but since they've been rejuvenated, they're working on something.

They're getting closer every year, persisting with lost tactics where everyone says they're soft, living in the past but persisting with it. They're building to something.

The great rivalry coming will be Limerick v Cork. Limerick a proven team versus the pace and speed of Cork. It is coming. And Cork will topple them and hopefully change the ideals of how hurling is seen and played

LeHane inconsistent, not saying otherwise. If you can read, was the spark that jumped Cork into action v Tipp v 2017. Sometimes that's the spark that matters.

That was an individual performance that dragged Cork from the wilderness, never said he built on it. But he was that spark that kicked Cork into action again with a mammoth performance that day.

Read before you jump the gun

It’s about the game buddy, not teams, you are ruining the thread with your rubbish.

But they won't complain, because the running/possession game they advocated for in the mid 90's with it's steps, oversized hurls, athletes above hurlers is now the most prevalent style.

They ignore completely that it was their hurling skill that won them the AI's, and when those brilliantly skilful hurlers like Joe Deane, Ronan Curran, Wayne Sherlock, Ben O'Connor and Sean Og and a few others retired or faded, it was then they fell apart. They still had the athletes, but not the hurlers, and certainly no players that could hurl under the pressure in a way that the likes of Joe Canning, Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett, Richie Power or Henry Shellin could.

Interestingly enough on the last few pages, the Cork slide may be going on longer than we thought. For all their all-Irelands, since the start of their first famine in the 50's (beginning in 1955), Cork have won only 11 titles in 69 years. Hardly the stat to back up the claim of being a dominant team in a sport, particularly when you consider the population and club advantage they have over every other major hurling county. They top only one roll of honour (U20) to boot, and that's by 1.

The annual "Cork are back" post

What has all this bolloxology to do with the actual game of hurling?

That is a good point.

For me the biggest problem is the fact that scores can be got from 30 metres inside your own half hence these 1-27 to 29 point games.

The intensity has gone out of the game, it’s nearly a contest of free takers now

Needs to be addressed……..urgently in my opinion.

GAA Stats

@GAA_Stats

The goalscoring rate, so far, in this year's senior hurling championship (2.36 gpg) is the lowest since the 1891 championship (2.20 gpg).

Another buzz tweet without much context given behind it. Not sure if he's referring to just Munster and Leinster or what, but stats like this need the season to be played out for full context

For what it's worth, I think Goals Scored per Team per game is more effective than Goals per Game as a stat. For Munster, if you're looking at Goals per Game it's 3.00, but the Goals per Team per Game is 1.50

That 1.50 equals exactly the Goals per Team per Game in the 2022 Munster Hurling Championship

?? What the Jaysis

The tweet was about goals scored. Goals. Not points. Goals. Literally nothing to do with points.

Buddy