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

Agree 100%

The Morey thing is a mystery to me from the outside, but honestly, the vast majority of backs in the country would have fared not much better given the Limerick tactics and the quality of the ball in. Ollie Canning maybe would have held him better, but he's a great forward whatever else.

Last year it was a Thurles double header.

But maybe Tipp's presence makes that less likely.

Croke Park double header would probably suit all teams better.

You're totally right.

Even just consider that Finn and Lynch are injured, with Hegarty, Hannon etc. not in top form. It has opened the door to other teams.

It's funny how when all is said and done in the provincial championships we are in the most predictable situation which is the same as last year. Galway found a new innovative way to lose to Kilkenny but other than that it's more of the same.

Clare had Limerick for the taking yesterday but ultimately are just that little bit short. The Limerick defence stifled them in the end yesterday and forced silly shots. Clare might even be vulnerable to a strong Dublin display in a QF but I cannot see them making a final no matter what. People will defend the Clare management but doing nothing when Limerick had only one fully-functioning forward for so much of the game was a strange decision. Maybe they were thrown by getting ahead by half-time and thought they'd work their way through it, but they were dominated for 20 minutes of the second half. Plenty of time to consider matters and see the pattern of the game changing.

Limerick should improve and should again have too much for Galway. Limerick v Kilkenny final I think. Kilkenny were always protected by the draw and always probable finalists. Even now it's still working in their favour with Tipperary, Galway and Limerick on the same side of the draw (probably); Kilkenny would choose Clare/Dublin any day of the week. Their ultimate outcome would be for Galway to somehow make the final against them.

It is a great testimony to Limerick to come through all of that with injuries and a competitive province and still be standing. Hopefully all will be on board and fit for the last surge.

The only thing Galway are fit for is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Yesterday was the worst example but they have history of those collapses.

How they can be considered serious contenders is baffling. I can't imagine what damage the Tipperary forwards will do to that defense.

Kilkenny with Mullen & Reid back will be a serious force in a final, but Limierick also have massive room for improvement

In terms of the bigger picture:

Limerick heavy favs for the AI. I think there is an expectation that they will raise the level of performance for the SF and final as I don't think the performance yesterday or in the round-robin would be good enough to beat KK. But they probably do have another level in them and if they can sort a few knocks in the 4 week break, they will be incredibly hard to beat (not that they aren't already).

I thought Clare were quite poor yesterday, on the field and on obviously on the line too. A few of their bigger players had poor games, Fitzgerald, McCarthy and even TK was only ok and had some poor misses. The usual failures haunted them also - atrocious shot efficiency, poor free-taking, poor puck-outs etc. They should get through Dublin with probably some difficulty, but I think it ends for them in the SF at the hands of KK who will match them physically, but have far superior efficiency in attack. Of course if all went right for Clare on a day, they can beat anyone. I don't think yesterdays defeat will hurt as much as last year where they probably played as well as they could have and still lost - yesterday they were a good bit off and that should give them a bit more hope and belief going down the stretch.

Galway played really well at times yesterday and again finished the game out powerfully - their conditioning looks to be excellent. But the loss yesterday leaves them a really difficult route to the AI now and its hard to see them win 3 tough games in a row with their level of consistency. They were hugely dependent on Whelan yesterday who was by a mile the standout player of the 2 games, without him, Galway could have been cleaned and that is a worry, although the performance of Kevin Cooney was a big boost. For the life of me I can't see how Conor Cooney still gets picked especially with Niland now on the frees, he hasn't played a decent game against top opposition since 2017.

I'd expect them to come through probably Tipp (They are a well-seasoned team at this stage and surely should have enough for an inexperienced but hopefully very game Tipp side), but I'd expect it to end at the hands of Limerick after another ferocious battle.

Tipp are a bit of an unknown at this stage. Had a great 1st 3 games in the round-robin, not even the most ardent Tipp fan expected them to be unbeaten of those 3 games. They worked their socks off and brought a work-rate that was the match of any team in the country. The Waterford match was an absolutely flop and maybe the paid a price for the obviously huge conditioning work that was done in a short time from last years disaster. If they bring the form of the first three games to the knock-out stages, they should beat Offaly, will give Galway plenty of it, but while they might get over Galway, I can't see them having enough to get through all of Offaly, Galway and Limerick in the space of a month. If they bring the form of the Waterford game, they won't even win in Tullamore.

Dublin will beat Carlow and I think they will provide a stern test to Clare, but they seem to fall away in the last quarter of games, so I'd expect Clare to see them off in that period.

Apologies - I see it's already been dealt with.