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

Can we give the Munster vs Leinster thing a break? Jaysus, so much rubbish been spoken about it. It is a fact that Munster is a better championship with more depth. That's just how the provinces are. Likewise, it's also a fact that Galway and Kilkenny frequently have great teams that can match the best of Munster. We don't need to debate it every 2 mins...

The games at the weekend were very, very poor. Clare were not good, anyone watching that thinking they are favourites for the final are delusional. Their full back line was in a lot of bother, teams seem to have figured out how to get behind their half back line. They have a lot of injuries and some of their big players, like Duggan, seem to have gone off form a bit. If they play as well as they can they can definetly win but I'd be a bit worried for them physically. Clare don't play every game like they play against Limerick, they don't bring that level of intensity but they'll need to bring it to beat Kilkenny who are a good team and a match for anyone bar Limerick at their best.

Galway were not that impressive either. Tipp have been overrated all year, mainly because it's Tipperary (ditto Cork who lost or drew 3/4 games but were somehow unlucky) but they lack quality. To be fair they've had a lot of injuries and their squad isn't deep enough to cope with it. As a first year and with the base he came into.. Cahill has done alright. I've seen Galway a number of times this year and I'm a lot less impressed this year than last year. Even when playing well, they seem to have no plan for moving the play into their forwards. It's always just hit and hope. Tipp dropped off the puck out every time, C Mannion was sweeping and yet the ball almost always went to a defender to launch it or pass it back to Murphy to do it. It's criminal. Their inability to play with any cuteness cost them in the Leinster final and it will cost them vs Limerick. They might change it to be a bit more clever but when the pressure comes on they'll revert to type. Limerick are a team where easy possession will kill you, if Galway gift it to them like they did vs Dublin, Kilkenny and Tipp they will lose. With Hannon's injury and the general fatigue Limerick have shown there is a small chance they can come through but Limerick are so good at adapting and have quality everywhere. I don't see Galway beating them without Limerick giving them a helping hand and struggling without Hannon.

I don't think anyone is overrating galway, we know we are up against it with limerick and the game will be won and lost in the middle eight. Positives for galway against tipp were the introduction of linnane and fahy, who add energy and fight to the middle eight, better structure to the backs compared to the kk game, keep there full forward line scoreless and the better ball up to the forwards. For us to beat limerick, we will have to improve on the tipp game and bring the game to limerick and test out there full back line without finn and limit the damage Gillane will cause

Damien Dempsey lads the Dublin Bob Marley. Ye don't know what ye're missing 😄

I notice some of the upper decks are open for tickets online. That suggests that there is serious interest in that match. I've got my tickets for the Clare match thankfully. They're not in a great spot but I'm just delighted to be heading up to croker. There was a great Clare crowd last year but I was shocked at the lack of turn out from Kilkenny. Interesting to see if that's the case again this year.

All Damien Dempsey fans are mad hurling fans🤭