All-Ireland Hurling Championship Quarter Finals

cruiserweight

Now we are at the real business end of the championship and should have some good competitive games and the fixtures are :

22/07/2006 Kilkenny v Galway (06:00) Thurles
22/07/2006 Cork v Limerick (04:15) Thurles
23/07/2006 Tipperary v Waterford (04:00) Croke Park
23/07/2006 Wexford v Clare (02:15) Croke Park

Some of the teams have already been named. Waterford are waiting on the fitness of Paul Flynn, and the Wexford and Kilkenny teams are also expected to show changes from the Leinster Final.

Clare (SH v Wexford): D Fitzgerald; G O'Grady, B Lohan, F Lohan; B O'Connell, S McMahon, G Quinn; J Clancy, C Lynch; D McMahon, T Carmody, N Gilligan; D Quinn, A Markham, T Griffin

CORK (SH v Limerick): D Cusack; P Mulcahy, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpin; T Kenny, J O'Connor; T McCarthy, N McCarthy, N Ronan; B O'Connor, B Corcoran, J Deane

LIMERICK (SH v Cork): B Murray; D Reale, S Lucey, S Hickey; O Moran, B Geary, M Foley; B Foley, D Ryan; N Moran, M O'Brien, TJ Ryan; A O'Shaughnessy, B Begley, C Fitzgerald

TIPPERARY (SH v Waterford): B Cummins; D Fanning, P Curran, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, C O'Mahoney, H Moloney; P Kelly, S McGrath; J Carroll, F Devanney, J O'Brien; E Kelly, D Fitzgerald, L Corbett

Okay with the info out of the way, I am expecting Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford and Clare (but hopefully Wexford) to progress! Anybody else have any opinions?

Mossy Monk

i would like to know why all these matches have to take place in Dublin

why not have Tipperary/Waterford in Cork and Cork/Limerick in Thurles. it is a joke

cruiserweight

Mossy Monk wrote:

i would like to know why all these matches have to take place in Dublin

why not have Tipperary/Waterford in Cork and Cork/Limerick in Thurles. it is a joke

Because Billy Joel is playing Croke Park on Saturday night, it will be interesting to see what the pitch is like on Sunday

http://www.mcd.ie/live/fullnews.php3?tname=1030838513&xname=billyjoel

Flukey

Teams love to play there and many fans want the games in Croke Park. It means more people can go. From here on, in both championships, that is where the games will be. It is only because of Billy Joel that the other pair are not there the following weekend, and are being played in Thurles on Saturday. I got my ticket for Sunday today.

GreenDoor

I fancy Cork, Clare, Galway and waterford.

I've backed Galway and Waterford so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Danno

Predictions:

Cork 2-19 V 1-13 Limerick
Galway 4-15 V 2-20 Kilkenny
Clare 0-17 V 0-15 Wexford
Tipperary 3-21 V 2-19 Waterford

angeleyes

I think Limerick is going to be beaten by more than that Danno although of course I would love to see Limerick win. Dont know if there is room for a major miracle in Thurles on Saturday.

cruiserweight

The last of the teams have been named, some very interesting positional changes for Wexford, I am not sure if the team will line out as selected!

Irish Independent wrote:

DARRAGH RYAN has been recalled to the Wexford hurling team for Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final with Clare.

Ryan will start his first championship match of 2006 after recovering from the knee injury that has plagued him for most of the season.

He only returned to the squad in the wake of the Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny, putting an end to speculation that he had a difference of opinion with the team management earlier in the year.

Ryan has been named at full-back, his customary position, and that has triggered a number of positional switches involving Keith Rossiter, Malachy Travers and Richie Kehoe.

Michael Jacob and Tomas Mahon return to the side after coming on as replacements against Kilkenny. Darren Stamp and PJ Nolan, who are both injured, and Mitch Jordan are the players to lose out.

Waterford make two changes to the side that beat Laois in the last qualifier game for their quarter-final meeting with Tipperary. But there is still no place for team captain Paul Flynn who is still on the injured list.

Tom Feeney replaces Kevin Moran at full-back after missing the last game with a shoulder injury, while Seamus Prendergast comes in for James Murray, precipitating a series of positional switches.

David Collins returns to the Galway side after missing the last game against Westmeath through injury, but will still have to undergo a fitness test before he gets the green light for tomorrow evening's clash with Kilkenny.

Cathal Connolly is retained at half-forward, but David Tierney loses out again as Alan Kerins comes into the half-forward line.

Thirteen of the team that started against Kilkenny last year have been selected. Richie Murray and Tierney are replaced by midfielder Conor Dervan and Connolly.

Kilkenny are searching for a new captain ahead of the Thurles showdown after Brian Cody last night wielded the axe to the side which won the Leinster title.

Jackie Tyrrell, who lifted the O'Keeffe Cup less than three weeks ago, has been dropped to make way for James Ryall, with Michael Kavanagh coming back in for the manager's son, Donnacha Cody.

Eoin Larkin, the most likely captain as the 'next in line' from the James Stephens club in terms of experience, moves to midfield as Richie Mullally loses out.

Aidan Fogarty and Eoin McCormack come into the side in place of Mullally and Micheal Rice.

WEXFORD (SH v Clare) - D Fitzhenry; D O'Connor, D Ryan, K Rossiter; M Travers, D Ruth, D Lyng; R McCarthy, C Kenny; M Jacob, R Kehoe, E Quigley; S Doyle, R Jacob, T Mahon.

WATERFORD (SH v Tipperary) - C Hennessy; D Prendergast, T Feeney, E Murphy; T Browne, K McGrath, B Phelan; S O'Sullivan, D Bennett; D Shanahan, S Prendergast, E Kelly; J Mullane, M Walsh, E McGrath

GALWAY (SH v Kilkenny) - L Donoghue, D Joyce, T Óg Regan, O Canning; D Hardiman, S Kavanagh, D Collins; F Healy, C Dervan; C Connolly, D Forde, A Kerins; D Hayes, G Farragher, N Healy.

KILKENNY - J McGarry; M Kavanagh, JJ Delaney, N Hickey; J Ryall, J Tennyson, T Walsh; E Larkin, D Lyng; E Brennan, J Fitzpatrick, A Fogarty; E McCormack, M Comerford, H Shefflin.

Kojak

Predictions for this weekend:

Cork 1-19 Limerick 2-10 (Cork to win, without their Half-foward line scoring much)

Kilkenny 3-16 Galway 1-18 (Galway are doing too much messing around with the line up, also defence can be suspect)

Clare 1-16 Wexford 0-14 (Clare's physical strength to make the difference)

Tipp 2-18 Waterford 0-23 (Tipp to hold on, just about)

DUB

Flukey wrote:

Teams love to play there and many fans want the games in Croke Park. It means more people can go. From here on, in both championships, that is where the games will be. It is only because of Billy Joel that the other pair are not there the following weekend, and are being played in Thurles on Saturday. I got my ticket for Sunday today.

Better a full Thurles then an half empty Croke Park in my opinion. Last year you had people maoning about the lack of atmosphere.

jank

excatly. remember its a 4 hour trek each way from cork to dublin. Much better to have it in Thurles IMO. With any luck the semi will be played there too but i doubt it.

slinky

Cork 1-18 Limerick 1-14
Kilkenny 2-18 Galway 1-17
Clare 1-18 Wexford 1-15
Waterford 2-19 Tipp 1-17

Limerick Dude

I think cork will beat limerick but it wont be the thrashing that everyone is saying it will be.

DUB

Limerick Dude wrote:

I think cork will beat limerick but it wont be the thrashing that everyone is saying it will be.

I dunno Limerick Dude, I hope you're right, but Limerick were lucky to beat Dublin recently and with the greatest respect to the current Dublin team [who I've high hope for in the future, v.v. young team], but anyone who struggleds to beat Dublin is in for a hard time against this Cork team. Hope they make a game of it. I really do.

MisterAnarchy

jank wrote:

excatly. remember its a 4 hour trek each way from cork to dublin. Much better to have it in Thurles IMO. With any luck the semi will be played there too but i doubt it.

Its ridiculous that so many matches are played in Croke park.
Thurles is a far better venue,more central,easier to get to ,better surface.
No corporate boxes in Thurles though and the 10 year ticket holders in Croke Park want lots of matches.

1huge1

Flukey wrote:

Teams love to play there and many fans want the games in Croke Park. It means more people can go. From here on, in both championships, that is where the games will be. It is only because of Billy Joel that the other pair are not there the following weekend, and are being played in Thurles on Saturday. I got my ticket for Sunday today.

and this has nothing to do the the fact that your from dublin yourself

Limerick Dude

cork beat limerick by a point, the jammy fcukers! lol

Nalced_irl

I thought Limerick were going to take this one. Cork seemed to be all over the place from about 20 mins to go till the end. Wasnt a bad game at all from a neutral perspective.

mickd

Soul destroying half. long overdue to get someone from outside the county. Hayes is a disaster

Flukey

1Huge1, that people and teams love Croke Park, that Billy Joel is there next weekend so two of the quarter finals were in Thurles earlier, and that I got my ticket on Thursday for tomorrow's matches, has nothing to do with the fact that I am from Dublin.

Kojak

mickd wrote:

Soul destroying half. long overdue to get someone from outside the county. Hayes is a disaster

I have advocated an "outsider" for many years now.

It was an absolute joke - I wasn't confident of us winning but that performance was a fu*king disgrace.

KK are reasonably good - not as good as they would like kind, but Galway absolutley collapsed after that soft goal let in by Donohue.

To be fair to him Shane Kavanagh, a lad I thought was always a little suspect, was our best performer (if thats saying much)

Hayes is gone after this, IMO. Make no mistake, this result was every bit as bad as 2 years ago. In fact it could have been even worse if KK hadn't stood up in the last 20 minutes.

It'll be another 3 years before Galway are in the All-Ireland again - God only knows when they will be capable of winning it.

Fast_Mover

Was at both matches today in Thurlus.
Im a bit annoyed/confused tho...

As one would have seen there was a parade and the National Anthem sung for the Kilkenny/Galway game.....why was there none for the Cork/Limerick game?!

Both games were of equal importance..both quarter-finals, so why should one match get preference over another or why couldnt it have been done twice?

I also feel alot of player need the parade and National Anthem to get themselves psyched up/focused on/up for the match..and especially the way the atmosphere was in the Semple Stadium they needed it!!

Anyone have an answer/reason for that?
Thanks.

GreenDoor

Having backed Galway I was disgusted in the manner in which they played for 50 mins. This is the coaches fault for keeping the likes of Teirney on the bench etc.

Nalced_irl

Fast_Mover wrote:

Was at both matches today in Thurlus.
Im a bit annoyed/confused tho...

As one would have seen there was a parade and the National Anthem sung for the Kilkenny/Galway game.....why was there none for the Cork/Limerick game?!

Both games were of equal importance..both quarter-finals, so why should one match get preference over another or why couldnt it have been done twice?

I also feel alot of player need the parade and National Anthem to get themselves psyched up/focused on/up for the match..and especially the way the atmosphere was in the Semple Stadium they needed it!!

Anyone have an answer/reason for that?
Thanks.

To be honest, i have noticed that in double headers before also. I have no answer or reason for it. Even if both matches arent of equal importance, i feel the national anthem should be played before both. The anthem isnt held for the important games and its only a few mins so i think it should be played before every game, chamionship and league.

On the Croke Park topic. Watching the first game there today, it did seem that there was a severe lack of atmosphere. I mean, the game wasnt great which im sure played a part but for a QF double header, the stadium was half empty. What happened to the GAA`s plans to build a state of the art stadium in all provinces? I thought that was a great idea. While i know players love to play in Croker, the atmosphere is destroyed when the stadium is half empty and im sure a stadium closer to the counties playing would mean a bigger crowd in a smaller stadium and alot better atmosphere.

Flukey

The national anthem on any day, in any venue, is always played before the last game. You never hear it twice. As for double-headers, even when there is just one senior game, most days are double headers as you often have a minor game too. It is very rare that there is just a single game on a match day in a venue. In any event, whether it be one, two or even three games, the national anthem is played before the last game. That is your answer.

Fast_Mover

Thanks for that Flukey.
Still feel it should be played twice though, but that's just my opinion:)

Kojak

Kojak wrote:

I have advocated an "outsider" for many years now.

It was an absolute joke - I wasn't confident of us winning but that performance was a fu*king disgrace.

KK are reasonably good - not as good as they would like kind, but Galway absolutley collapsed after that soft goal let in by Donohue.

To be fair to him Shane Kavanagh, a lad I thought was always a little suspect, was our best performer (if thats saying much)

Hayes is gone after this, IMO. Make no mistake, this result was every bit as bad as 2 years ago. In fact it could have been even worse if KK hadn't stood up in the last 20 minutes.

It'll be another 3 years before Galway are in the All-Ireland again - God only knows when they will be capable of winning it.

The team selection was a disgrace. Connolly was a disaster, I don't i've ever seen a worse hurler tog for Galway. Did anyone see that attempt on goal he had which went miles wide. Then there was Dervan in midfield another shocking call. Tierney, Murray and Cloonan should have started. Felt sorry for Ger Mahon, there was no stopping Shefflin yesterday.

I have to wonder after the team selection if politics didn't come into it. Connolly playing because of his father and Dervan's father from Kiltormer, the same parish as Hayes himself. He has single handledly put Galway hurling back 5 years. You only have to look at club matches to see that Dervan and Connolly weren't up to the task. the way Murray has been playing in club level and to have his experience dropped is a shambles.

Roll on next year, Hayes gone and Joe Canning starting for the Galway seniors. He is a genius.

Evil_Bilbo

jaysus wexford moral must be low today (I know mine is)

what a disgrace of a manager - came in when they were leinster champions, gets 3 very decent new players (gizzy lyng, kieth rossiter, des mythen), and manages to turn them from a team who regularly reaches semi-finals (and draws them) to the worst team in years. Starting the likes of mossy mahon and mj furlong with players like pj nolan and paul codd on the bench. They were totally dominated in every aspect yesterday, and totally lacked the trademark wexford "fire in the belly".

seamus murphy and the management team have stood down, though who'll be able to boost that team for next year, who knows? They need to bring in the likes of george o'connor, tom dempsey, or liam dunne (or bring back liam griffin) to shake them up, someone who's not afraid to drop players and rule with an iron fist. Though I'd seriously doubt if anyone will be queueing up to take that job.

DUB

Limerick Dude wrote:

cork beat limerick by a point, the jammy fcukers! lol

So close, hard luck! Fair play to Cork though they kept getting the scores when the pressure came on.

DUB

Evil_Bilbo wrote:

jaysus wexford moral must be low today (I know mine is)

what a disgrace of a manager - came in when they were leinster champions, gets 3 very decent new players (gizzy lyng, kieth rossiter, des mythen), and manages to turn them from a team who regularly reaches semi-finals (and draws them) to the worst team in years. Starting the likes of mossy mahon and mj furlong with players like pj nolan and paul codd on the bench. They were totally dominated in every aspect yesterday, and totally lacked the trademark wexford "fire in the belly".

seamus murphy and the management team have stood down, though who'll be able to boost that team for next year, who knows? They need to bring in the likes of george o'connor, tom dempsey, or liam dunne (or bring back liam griffin) to shake them up, someone who's not afraid to drop players and rule with an iron fist. Though I'd seriously doubt if anyone will be queueing up to take that job.

Wexford looked like a team who didnt think they had a chance, i dont think they hooked or blocked a single Clare player. A real shame as there's some good players on that squad. Get Liam Griffin back in there to stop the rot. Yez need to seriously sort out the underage setup in the county as well.

DUB

GreenDoor wrote:

Having backed Galway I was disgusted in the manner in which they played for 50 mins. This is the coaches fault for keeping the likes of Teirney on the bench etc.

Awful team selection from Hayes, the raw material is there for Galway just need the right man in charge.