*Limerick GAA news/discussion thread*

GerB40 wrote: »

As a Tipp man all I can say is I sympathise with ye're situation. Ye have the players, promising youths and a hunger to win. The managing/coaching situation is a shambles however (something Tipperary fans know all too much about after Declan Ryans disastrous reign as skipper).
Once ye have that sorted I'm certain Limerick will be the thorn in the bollõx of Tipperary again..
Keep the faith lads....

Totally off topic but I certainly wouldnt classify Declan's tenure as disastrous, he was in charge for two years and won two Munster Titles and was only beaten twice in Championship hurling both by a team widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Obviously the nature of teh 2012 defeat was hard to take but one bad day should not be used to describe a two year reign as a disaster.

That is not the point Premier. The point is that Limerick never needed Donal O'Grady to begin with. There are plenty of quality home grown coaches in Limerick who understand Limerick hurling better than he does.Even if it was the point I would still disagree with you. Donal O'G has one game plan and one only and that is the short passing game which Limerick would find harder than most to adapt to as it goes against the very basics of Limerick hurling which is far more a traditional ground game than Corks or Kilkenny's or Tipps. Limerick are best when allowed to play direct honest to God hurling with the ball doing the work. That is what they are good at and it is what should be developed by any Limerick manager to a higher leval and not have an imported foreign style which is alien to thier natural instincts.It is what Tom Ryan did and Ritchie Bennis did and they brought Limerick to All Ireland finals something Donal O'G was never going to do with his style.

savannahkat wrote: »

To say or believe that Limerick do not have enough quality home grown coaches is unbelievable. Over the years great coaches like Tom Ryan, Eamon Cregan and Ritchie Bennis to name a few have been shafted by various Limerick County Boards.T.J Ryan has the makings of a great coach/manager all he needs is time time to develop Limericks natural own style and is probably better off not to have Donal O'Grady imposing his out of date short passing game on the current Limerick squad. Limerick club hurling has a style a directness that is unique to Limerick. When the county team is trained to enhance that style rather than import a style foreign to the players it is only then that the full potential of Limerick will be realised.
There as as many good home grown coaches in Limerick as there are in any other county to infer or insinuate otherwise is demeaning to the many great coaches in Limerick, The really serious damage being done to Limerick is this inferred suggestion that home grown quality Limerick coaches are non existant. Limerick will not give thier own a fair chance and that is the truth of the matter..
I am a Kilkennyman who was deeply involved in Limerick club hurling both coaching and refereeing for more years than I care to remember so I am not an outsider just blowing off.

Tom Ryan was shafted, but he's not a top-class coach at this level anymore.

I loved Richie Bennis, but again, not a top-class coach. A good person to have around a team, no doubt about that, he's pure passion, but tactically and in terms of overall coaching wouldn't be at that level. Cregan, I will say is a top class coach, but he's not going to put in charge at this stage, I don't think he has much interest tbh. He's happy where he is.


TJ Ryan might have "the makings" of a great coach, I don't know, but he failed last year with the U-21s and is inexperienced. I just don't think it's his time for the job.


I do think there are some good Limerick coaches... there is a slight problem in that most top Limerick clubs wouldn't be overly happy giving a coaching rule to a big man from another club within the county. There is a reason all these Claremen are coaching in Limerick, and not in their own county. There is always a bit of a reluctance.

I would identify a few men in Limerick as being better coaches than TJ- Joe Quaid, Shane Fitzgibbon, Ciaran Carey, Ger Cunningham for sure; I think Kirby is decent, then you've got the likes of Ollie and Niall Moran who are untested at a high level. But these people would probably be better off coaching for a few years in clubs outside the county before trying to get the big job. The thing is we're looking for someone now.

Davy did his time with LIT, then took a job with Waterford before returning home. Ger Cunningham is coaching Laois now, Clare have a couple Limerickmen on board, most notably Paul Kinnerk.

premierstone wrote: »

Back to the topic at hand and to be honest I am shocked there are people here questiong DOG or claiming Limerick are better off :eek:

Its not that often that myself and thinkstoomuch are in agreement but I have to agree with him here, DOG is a proven sucess and TJ Ryan's reign will end in tears.

Just incase thinstoomuch thinks Im going soft though I still disagree with you over John Allen

O'Grady is a proven success, but will he win another All-Ireland? Was his heart really in this job?

We were poor in the league, but you'd get over that. He was always a bit too stubborn though... we were exposed in 2011 by Dublin, and by the time we rectified things it was too late. This year we were way behind where we were last year... and where we were in both league and Championship in 2011. The point is... was O'Grady going to bring us on further than last year? I don't really think so. Obviously we'll never know now, but with rumours of discontent anyway, it didn't look likely.


Obviously we're in an even worse position now, at least O'Grady had some sort of proven calibre, TJ really doesn't. But I don't think it was going to work out either way.


It may end in tears, I really really hope it doesn't, but it would take some sort of miracle. It can't be good for the players seeing all this go on. Although if the hurling coach is good, someone who is a good tactical head, maybe we have some hope. But that's what we're depending on. Otherwise, are Beary and Lyons going to step up with TJ and start being more incisive on the sideline, and tactically? I'm not worried about the physical side of things, we're pretty fit and strong, it's our touch, movement and intelligence that worries me.

And who pray tell did Brian Cody coach before he took over Kilkenny.

savannahkat wrote: »

And who pray tell did Brian Cody coach before he took over Kilkenny.

I actually don't know... but I imagine he didn't just walk into the job because he was a good player, I imagine he trained club teams too.

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

That yere real desire ,get to finals and loose

Limerick musnt accept 2nd best
None of those two have any idea how to break down yclare

O grady was proven,he actually won an all ireland

If every team limited themselves to only managers who had won All-Irelands, no one would make any progress......


No one denies O'Grady was a great manager, and he did a fine job rebuilding Limerick in 2011. Was he the right man this time? I'm not so sure. Still better than TJ, but would prefer someone less stubborn and who is maybe a bit younger, a bit more hungry. O'Grady didn't apply for the job this time, he was tempted in to accompany TJ.

Before anyone gives out anymore about O'Grady think back to the end of 2010.Limerick were an absolute joke of a county. Within 4 months we were division 2 league champions and we almost pulled off a surprise win against waterford. We had the guidance of one of the best figureheads in hurling and were the most committed and organized we had been since the mid to late 90s.

O Grady was the best thing to happen Limerick in years.You can point to his style all you like but the 'traditional' Limerick style we have so long raved about has been a dismal failure for the most part of 40 years. Why the f''' shouldnt we try a different approach?

That we lost the game against Dublin in 2011 had little to do with the handpass style. We fell behind early and after getting close try as we might we just couldn't get even or ahead.You cant say it was from lack of effort either. It certainly wasnt this stalinist-like revisionism that we were a failure under DOG in 2011 because I can assure you compared to the jokeshop setups of a decade previous we were nothing of the sort.

It was a significant progression. 2 other ones happened that year-Donegal and Mayo. They came back much stronger the following year. Like any lifespan of a team there is a lot of patience required to succeed in sport.It can sometimes take a lot longer than you had hoped. Limerick fans dont seem to know the meaning of patience and want instant success.

2014 wasn't the greatest league from a Limerick point of view but neither were 2012 or 2013 but we still gave good championship performances in both.Who's to say we wouldn't have done so in 2014.

Donal O grady was correct to walk away from Limerick. The County Board didnt know what they were up against. The man has a serious record in sport, as an analyst and as a principal (The work he did for the North Mon was meant to be incredible).You dont undermine a man who has worked extremely hard to make a success of himself in several walks of life like that. What the f''' has anyone in the LCB to come anywhere close to that. Then they start telling him what they expect and how it should be done.

I wont even bother to discuss that imposter TJ but anyone at the 21s last year will tell you we were light years behind tipp tactically.Expect more of the same in 5 1/2 weeks.Anyone who expects us to abandon the short passing game and for the traditional Limerick style to work is in for a rude awakening.

shockframe wrote: »

Before anyone gives out anymore about O'Grady think back to the end of 2010.Limerick were an absolute joke of a county. Within 4 months we were division 2 league champions and we almost pulled off a surprise win against waterford. We had the guidance of one of the best figureheads in hurling and were the most committed and organized we had been since the mid to late 90s.

O Grady was the best thing to happen Limerick in years.You can point to his style all you like but the 'traditional' Limerick style we have so long raved about has been a dismal failure for the most part of 40 years. Why the f''' shouldnt we try a different approach?

That we lost the game against Dublin in 2011 had little to do with the handpass style. We fell behind early and after getting close try as we might we just couldn't get even or ahead.You cant say it was from lack of effort either. It certainly wasnt this stalinist-like revisionism that we were a failure under DOG in 2011 because I can assure you compared to the jokeshop setups of a decade previous we were nothing of the sort.

It was a significant progression. 2 other ones happened that year-Donegal and Mayo. They came back much stronger the following year. Like any lifespan of a team there is a lot of patience required to succeed in sport.It can sometimes take a lot longer than you had hoped. Limerick fans dont seem to know the meaning of patience and want instant success.

2014 wasn't the greatest league from a Limerick point of view but neither were 2012 or 2013 but we still gave good championship performances in both.Who's to say we wouldn't have done so in 2014.

Donal O grady was correct to walk away from Limerick. The County Board didnt know what they were up against. The man has a serious record in sport, as an analyst and as a principal (The work he did for the North Mon was meant to be incredible).You dont undermine a man who has worked extremely hard to make a success of himself in several walks of life like that. What the f''' has anyone in the LCB to come anywhere close to that. Then they start telling him what they expect and how it should be done.

I wont even bother to discuss that imposter TJ but anyone at the 21s last year will tell you we were light years behind tipp tactically.Expect more of the same in 5 1/2 weeks.Anyone who expects us to abandon the short passing game and for the traditional Limerick style to work is in for a rude awakening.

We didn't lose the Dublin game because of style, we lost because O'Grady persisted with hickey and geary at 3 and 6 (after he had finally realised o'mahony at 3 wouldn't work). Any fan could have told you Geary was being exposed and hickey was not a full back. The switch finally came after we had let in three goals, Condon to full back and hickey to 6, selections which were obvious all year long, after which we came back and weren't far off nicking that game.

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

That yere real desire ,get to finals and loose

Limerick musnt accept 2nd best
None of those two have any idea how to break down yclare

O grady was proven,he actually won an all ireland

Was is the correct word. What has O Grady done since he walked away from Cork in 05. He did nothing with club , county only told everyone how to win matches from a newspaper column.

the leader sport makes interesting reading with both jerome o connell and martin kiely both making many valid points, but the one sentence which is buzzing around in my head is by mk who quotes tj saying he was happy to put kiely in his place.

O Grady success rate when judged on silverware is not good.

In my opinion last year Tj made a lot of bad calls with the under 21's and did nothing to warrant his role now as senior manager, Says all we need to know about Limerick hurling and the county board that they allowed this to happen. Martin Kiely didn't really spare TJ in his assessment sometimes i don't really agree with his comments but i think this time he is right!

I really hope Tj can turn the situation around but i have little faith in Tj after last years debacle. When our seniors had to share a training pitch with our minors, because the management couldn't book the pitches in time that says it all really!!
We are laughable really! I feel sorry for our players !

Smith614 wrote: »

O Grady success rate when judged on silverware is not good.

In comparison to TJ Ryan, Tom Ryan, Richie Bennis and all the rest that have been mentioned here its excellent.

Jaysus you would swear Limerick had AI medals falling out of their back pockets the way some are going on here, and I emphasis some as obviously there are a few here who actually know what they are talking about.

We have lads claiming that DOG's blueprint is outdated and that he has no ability to evolve it but in the next breath they claim Limerick should go back to the hurl to the hip, blood and guts style that was last effective when JP was in short pants. You couldn't make it up!

shockframe wrote: »

I'd agree with nearly everything you say there but I would be slightly willing to stick up for Tom Ryan.

He may be his own running joke now but he was a genuinely pretty fair coach in the 90s and had a decent success rate with Ballybrown and Limerick. He did give a lot of lads from Junior/Intermediate clubs a fair chance in his time with Limerick which is something many managers never did.

If we had more people involved with his principles we might not be where we are at now.His methods might be a different story!

And I have indeed stood up for him myslef on here previously with a certain Cork poster, Tom is a decent manager and a good hurling man, I would still hold Donal O'Grady in higher regard is all I am saying.

Peaople seem to be suggesting that all DOG is, is a one trick pony and that trick is redundant and out-dated, I think that is well wide of the mark and pretty disrespectfull tbh.

paddy no 11 wrote: »

On Tom, would we have won the all ireland in 94 if there was one less ballybrown player on the field? Genuine question i was 15 at the time. Remembering hearing at the time that toms discussion of tactics was "when we have the ball yer 15 attackers, when ye dont yer 15 defenders" and that was it. Dont have much of an opinion as i was young but think we were relieved when he moved on.

There is possibly an argument to be made about 'one less Ballybrown player' alright but he was there well before Tom Ryan got involved and in fairness he wasnt seen much after 94.

Only 1 player was linked to the 3 person management team of 1994 so club bias would be an unfair I would say.

premierstone wrote: »

When you put it like that of course it sounds backwards and somewhat simplistic, but put it into context, firstly I'm sure there was more to his tactical array that that particular gem, but even at that in the early 90's the notion that your full forward line is essentially your first line of defense, would have been quite novel and advanced thinking. Of course it has since become the mantra of all teams but I doubt it was as prevelant 20 years ago?

Its possible he was ahead of the curve too. I dont have strong feelings either way. He got results and its not like we were a great side then, there were some limited players in that era and the competition was pretty stiff from clare and offally. But with a couple of tweeks to either side in 94, 96 we could have picked up both all irelands. Steve Mc in 96 to man mark and let someone else play loose being the obvious one, but hindsights great too.