Kilkenny champs again

Daysha

2-19 to 1-15

Totally deserved victory. Don't think I've ever seen a county win an All Ireland without even entering 4th gear all summer! Hard luck to Limerick, but KK were by far the better side.

Ginger83

Who got man of the match?

andrew1977

Awesome team Kilkenny, their full back line today were fanastic in my opinion
Great touch also by the Kilkenny team to bring young mcgarry up with his dad for the presentation . Fair play to them

jackbhoy

Ginger83 wrote:

Who got man of the match?

Usually don't announce this until Sunday Game tonight and then present the award at the team dinner. Brennan must be favourite.....

KK were just so much better, if the ref didn't give so many sympathy frees Limerick would've lost by a lot more. Was surprised/impressed to see physicality of Kilkenny, they showed they can do the hard work as well as hurl magnificently.

conzy

Yay Kilkenny!

Was a good match, dont mean to stir ****e but the ref seemed very unfair in the first half...

Kilkenny got 7 frees overall compared to Limerick's 18...

wixfjord

Tenner on brennan to be motm at 20/1 come on rte dont let me down!! Should have had money on him scorin first goal too. Limerick had chances in my opinion kilkenny werent the all masterful side they normally are. Very bad final tho. Nice touch by shefflin mentioning vanessa mcgarry.

Pride Fighter

Congrats KK.

Limerick Dude

Well done KK, far the better team.

D. Coughlan

Well done to Kilkenny, the rebels will be back next year to stop the three in a row, again!!!!!!

Kojak

Well done to Kilkenny. They were much the better team on the day.

I can see us saying the same thing this time 12 months from now. With the new championship structures for 2008, all KK have to be is essentially peak for 2 matches in the year.

On the basis of this year's championship, there is no-one IMO to stop them next year.

lukin

D. Coughlan wrote:

Well done to Kilkenny, the rebels will be back next year to stop the three in a row, again!!!!!!

More importantly we must stop them overtaking our 30 All-Ireland's. We stopped them doing it in 2004 but I've a feeling it will be much more difficult next year.
But on a more general note hurling needs a county other than KK or Cork to win the AI next year.
The last time the AI was won by a team other than KK or Cork was in 2001 and even then it was Tipperary, who have won a fair few anyway.

Limerick Dude

Kojak wrote:

Well done to Kilkenny. They were much the better team on the day.

I can see us saying the same thing this time 12 months from now. With the new championship structures for 2008, all KK have to be is essentially peak for 2 matches in the year.

On the basis of this year's championship, there is no-one IMO to stop them next year.

I dont know, i think cork, waterford and limerick will all be better next year and hopefully give kk a run for their money .

Daysha

Even with a pretty much guaranteed semi final place, Kilkenny won't get an easier year than this one. Wexford twice, Offaly, Limerick and Galway (who did at least put up a bit of a fight) were all blown away. They avoided Waterford, Cork and Tipp. Because you can't meet the same team twice next year they'll have a much tougher summer.

Cork and Waterford will be better than ever next year, Limerick will gain lots of confidence from this year, Galway under Ger will continue to improve and Clare in all fairness can only get better next year.

O'Leprosy

I think I may as well go down to the bookies and put some dosh on KK for 2008 :rolleyes:

lukin

deise59 wrote:

Even with a pretty much guaranteed semi final place, Kilkenny won't get an easier year than this one. Wexford twice, Offaly, Limerick and Galway (who did at least put up a bit of a fight) were all blown away. They avoided Waterford, Cork and Tipp. Because you can't meet the same team twice next year they'll have a much tougher summer.

Cork and Waterford will be better than ever next year, Limerick will gain lots of confidence from this year, Galway under Ger will continue to improve and Clare in all fairness can only get better next year.

Can't see Waterford improving much from this year, they've hit a ceiling IMO.
Limerick's best player in the final was one who is coming to the end of his career (Ollie Moran) so that doesn't augur well for the future.
Loughnane probably won't be even be in charge of Galway next year and Cork? Our guys have a lot of miles on the clock too.
I don't think Clare will be AI contenders next year.

fricatus

andrew1977 wrote:

Awesome team Kilkenny, their full back line today were fanastic in my opinion
Great touch also by the Kilkenny team to bring young mcgarry up with his dad for the presentation . Fair play to them

Hear hear. Hats off to them for winning and for bringing up the little lad (Daragh?)

He was bawling crying but mad happy for KK winning, all at the same time. Being a heartless male, I rarely cry, but I sure came close seeing that.

fricatus

lukin wrote:

Can't see Waterford improving much from this year, they've hit a ceiling IMO.

Waterford won the league this year, the first time since 1963. In the process becoming the only team this year to beat KK, the eventual champions.

We beat Cork on two occasions, and hauled things back to a draw when things got tough. We won in Croker for the first time in ages, shaking off that particular hoodoo.

Oh yeah, we took the Munster championship.

We had one bad game against Limerick, but it was the only one all season. Waterford's momentum is upwards. The breakthrough into an All-Ireland is long overdue, but this season has seen progress and next year will see more.

There's no ceiling there.

Flukey

I wanted Limerick to win, but there was an emotion and poignancy to the Kilkenny win and some touching moments in the presentation and speeches. Congratulations Kilkenny.

Mullet

There was only one team in it. Fair play to Brian Cody for consistantly motivating them year after year. Kilkenny have set such a high standard that no other county can compete against.

Orizio

I wasn't too bothered either away.Kilkenny winning again isn't much good for hurling, but that Limerick had some pretty awful players for that level. The classy more skillful side won which is a good thing I suppose.

gerire

I really hope Brennan does not get the MOTM the dirtiest of dirty strokes throwing the Butt of the hurl into Lucy's face when running past, he might get away with that in Tallaght garda station but had it been a slight bit higher, gotten caught in his face mask, that's an eye gone right there.

But the RTE probably didn't even show it on the sunday game so Brennan will get it; IMO Tommy Walsh should get it

That was however the most emotional trophy presentation I've ever seen, I'm not ashamed to say I was welling up

wow sierra

fricatus wrote:

Waterford won the league this year, the first time since 1963. In the process becoming the only team this year to beat KK, the eventual champions.

We beat Cork on two occasions, and hauled things back to a draw when things got tough. We won in Croker for the first time in ages, shaking off that particular hoodoo.

Oh yeah, we took the Munster championship.

We had one bad game against Limerick, but it was the only one all season. Waterford's momentum is upwards. The breakthrough into an All-Ireland is long overdue, but this season has seen progress and next year will see more.

There's no ceiling there.

Here here. Waterford were awesome this year. Fair Play to Kilkenny they are probably the best team in the country - but its only probably. Waterford and Cork are on a par with them. Where Kilkenny might edge it is in the strength of the panel - its scary to see a team who can lose players of the calibre of Shefflin and Hickey and barely miss them.

Daysha

lukin wrote:

Can't see Waterford improving much from this year, they've hit a ceiling IMO.
Limerick's best player in the final was one who is coming to the end of his career (Ollie Moran) so that doesn't augur well for the future.
Loughnane probably won't be even be in charge of Galway next year and Cork? Our guys have a lot of miles on the clock too.
I don't think Clare will be AI contenders next year.

Everyone seems to think this was Waterfords last chance, but, correct me if Im wrong here, the only two players that people say might retire are Tony Browne and Paul Flynn. If Flynners retires, that'll hardly end our AI chances, he hasnt been at his best since the 04 AI Semi against Kilkenny. And even then we've discovered a real talent this year in Stephen Molumphy.

Tony won't retire. He's still at the top of his game and another year will just make him even more hungry for an AI. And again, in his position we brought in Aidan Kiernay this year who's been fantastic.

So thats those two sorted. And after watching Waterford all year I see absolutely no reason why players such Big Dan, Ken and Brick can't repeat some of the performances they gave this year for a good few years to come. And then the two players that weren't at their best this year, Eoin Kelly and Mullane, can return to their best next year.

Doesn't really sound like the end of Waterford now does it?

Getting back on topic, without being too harsh on Limerick, they were really shown up today. And even though they did meet the best team in the country, they were very disappointing. Nothing like what we saw from them against Tipp in the 2nd half of the 1st replay or their AI semi against Waterford. To be honest I think they over achieved this year. Not being bitter or anything, but I think a defeat in the AI Semi would've been a more honest assessment of their summer. Cork or Waterford would've got a better match out of Kilkenny today. Their hit and hope balls into their full forward line when the going got tough reminded me a lot of Wexford in their two matches against KK. They just didn't have the skill to deal with the Cats and resorted to long pucks up the field and hoping for the best.

Next year they should aim for a Munster title, something long overdue for them and something they can achieve with a handy draw, but I'll be astonished if they reached the AI final again next year.

Joeface

I agree with everything been said here , KK are a an awesome side, Looked like they were just toying with us form most of the game.

Sat there in dismay for the first 10-15min

Couple of things limerick need to do to improve for the furture. One Keep young Hickey on the panel , Was given a fierce rough time and kept going one of the better players on the day for limerick , Break all of Brian Beg's Fingers so he cant play ...not that he can, there has to be a better full forward in the county than him , he was one of KK best defenders . Ollie Moran woke up , had a great game,
Foley was good aswell but For the 3 players on form for limerick KK had 10 .

I suppose hind sight is great thing and I could say we should have done this and that , but my god KK are a serious side , Waterford may have been closer to them if it was them in the final , but I still think KK sway a head of the rest on the hurling curve .they won every whole ball from what I say and it was just scoring a will

Limerick can take some heart i suppose since we did come from no where to an All ireland .

Congrats again to Kilkenny

yop

Well done KK, awesome really,

Very emotional speech and that poor little lad, put the hairs standing on the back of your neck to see him there lifting the McCarthy cup. The poor little chap.

Savage game, speed and big hits. KK always had that gear. Well done Limerick for never giving up.

One point which I thought was great to see, there was a shot of Brian Cody at the end on the sideline, he was raising his arms in the air at the final whistle.
In the background there was a shot of a KK man leaning over and shaking hands with the Limerick man beside him, great to see and thats the way it should be.

sillymoo2007

D. Coughlan wrote:

Well done to Kilkenny, the rebels will be back next year to stop the three in a row, again!!!!!!

I seriously doubt that if this years season for cork was anything to go on and with the ben and gerry show retiring and all that.

Fantastic win for kilkenny preperations already been made for No 31

blackhead

Well done KK.

It wasn't a suprise really, there seems to be a massive gap between them and the rest of the country in terms of ability and talent at the moment.

I know they had aneasy ride, but I still coudlnt see Cork/Waterford/Tipp beating them this year.
Or next year if I'm honest.

In fairness to Limerick they never gave up, but KK were taking it easy, it was like a practise game to them, they are some team!!

The speeches at the end were really touching:)

Erin Go Brath

Congrats to Kilkenny, probably the best hurling team i've seen in my lifetime. They really gave us a serious hurling lesson. What can you say about a team whose two best players come off (Hickey, and Shefflin) and still it didn't upset them in the slightest.

I'm disappointed that Limerick couldn't get closer than about 5 or 6 points and the outcome was never really in doubt. The contest was poor really, but that was down to one quality team of supreme hurlers showing their stuff on the day.

Limerick tried the long ball into Begley all day. It was hit and hope stuff really. It didn't work as the Cats always had an extra man back there to mop up. There was no real Plan B and that was a disappointment to me. It was these players first final and it showed. I thought the occasion got to them a bit, and they didn't really do themselves justice.

Looking forward; Kilkenny are by far and away the best team in the country. It'll take some team to take a huge leap forward to prevent the three-in-a-row. Limerick hopefully will take some solace from a good year. They'll be back with more experience next year which should stand to them. Waterford, Cork, Galway, Tipperary will all be contenders next year. They'll all be back next year to give it a good go, and one of them might make the breakthrough then!

Duiske

Don't think there was a dry eye in my local when Sheff let young Daragh McGarry raise the cup. Not the best final i have ever seen, and as others have said, Kilkenny won it without having to hit top gear.
One thing that should be looked into is the conduct of the ref. This thing of refs awarding "sympathy frees" to teams that go behind early on is a disgrace. The ref yesterday did not even try to hide what he was doing.

Anyway, off to Langtons about 4 to get the early seat, and have a couple to ease this god-awful hangover.:o

col16

Congratultions to Kilkenny, but i think we handed the cup to them in the first five minutes. That's the second all ireland we have lost now in a five minute spell.The game was over as a contest after Shefflins goal. Very hard to give the cats a 9 point lead. Saying that , we would have still had to play out of our skins to have won it.

Young Hickey tried hard but seemed to be overawed a bit and gave Brennan far too much room(1-5). Lawlor on the other side of the field tried hard too but was still conceding easy scores to Eoin Larkin.(0-4).To be honest Kilkenny were the much hungrier and that should not have been the case as we are so starved of success that fellas should have been willing to die out on that field to win. But we were second to every break. Lucey ,Foley , O Grady and Ollie Moran were the only players that could really say they played well, and for the first time this year questions would have to be asked about some sideline decisions. How Brian Begley stayed on the field for the full seventy was a complete mystery to the 40,000 or so limerick fans and probably the other 42,000 aswell. It just wasn't his day.Donie Ryan shouldn't really have taken off either but should have been moved back into the edge of the square to try and give us some kind of a fighting chance with 3 against 3. I could add a few more but I suppose hindsight and not to mention the fact i sound like the (The Hurler on the ditch) its easily written here after the match the real fact is we just didn't have the strength in depth or the skill levels that the Kilkenny lads did and fair play to them . Its going to very hard to get the Mc Carthy cup away from them and a lot of counties will have to raise the bar a lot to reach their level and prevent them from doing the Three in a row.

Looking back at the whole year i think Richie and his troops and all the Limerick players have given us untold enjoyment and joy and a couple of near heart attacks throughout the championship and it seems a pity for them to string such a good campaign together after all the barren years and still have nothing to show in the Trophy cabinet.Next year we definately have to find a couple of new young forwards to strengthen the panel. Hopefully now the players will really start to believe in themselves and realise an All Ireland can be won and harness the massive support and buzz around the county and go one step futher.....

Luimneach 2008.

patmbrenn

Great win for KK yesterday by far the best team in the country, I was at the game and I have to say the referee was extremely poor, Eddie Brennan should have been booked in the first few minutes for a bad challenge, subsequently KK got no decisions, the challenge on Shefflin for the second goal was typical of what was happening during the game and IMO KK would not have got a penalty if shefflin had not scored.
Is it time for two ref's in hurling? at times they are so far behind the play they cant make proper decisions

Limerick have had a great year and should take heart from their performances, you deservedly beat Waterford regardless of their excuses.

Waterford people should wake up, they have lost 5 AI semi finals under Justin Mc, would this be accepted in KK or Cork, I think not, but ultimately that’s the difference between winning 30 AI titles and not being in a final for 50 years.

rondeco

Who got motm in the end?

Kojak

rondeco wrote:

Who got motm in the end?

Eddie Brennan

Amazotheamazing

Congrats to Kilkenny, much better team and I doubt there's a team in the country that can live with them at the minute. The thing about Kilkenny is their pace. they do everything faster than other teams.

Limerick will be sorry for the mistakes they made, too many for an AI final but we'll hopefully be back. This has been a huge year, a lot of players will be better players for the 2 defeats. Limerick Abu.

Zzippy

Kojak wrote:

Eddie Brennan

Sure he played a great game, but I wouldn't give it to him for the "tackle" he made on Lucey in the first few minutes. To stick the butt of the hurl into the face like that was a really dirty stroke that deserved at least a yellow card and maybe a red. There was also a loose elbow later on into the face of another Limerick player (can't remember who) when they were both chasing a ball, but of course RTE didn't show the other camera angle. Missed the Sunday Game last night but I'd bet money neither incident was shown. If it was football and Graham Geraghty or Paul Galvin or Ciaran Whelan had been involved you can bet it would have been highlighted :rolleyes:

Heln

Well done to Kilkenny, there's no doubt that they deserved their victory over Limerick yesterday. The sad thing is though, that it seemed to mean nothing to the Kilkenny fans. I felt like I was at a wake walking out of Croke Park yesterday. I don't think Kilkenny played to their best yesterday but if I think their supporters could have at least stuck around to see them lifting the Liam McCarthy. But that's not to take from Kilkenny, they were the better team on the day.

I had hoped that Limerick would go out with the passion and intensity that they did against Waterford but the two early goals just seemed to knock them for six. They will be disappointed that they didn't put up more of a fight yesterday but they have had an incredible Championship. They proved all the sporting pundits wrong by deservedly making it to an All Ireland Final. Everyone was looking to a Waterford Kilkenny Final. Waterford got carried away after their vicory in the Munster final but what people seemed to forget was that Limerick were going straight into that game on the back of three hard fought matches against Tipp, two of which had gone into extra time. But that's hurling and it's always good to see the better team winning and that's what happened when Limerick came out on top in the semi final.

Orizio

Limerick put up plenty of fight, the reality is some of their players haven't gotten the skill. The likes of Donie Ryan, Begley and O' Connor always give it their all but in reality they would struggle to make the Kilkenny squad, nevermind team. Effort and determination can only bring you so far, after a while the skill and sheer physical power of Kilkenny will drag you down.

Just be proud of the heart and effort your team has, and hope that at the underage level Limerick will keep producing fantastic players like Hickey and Shaughs.

oh

Agree with Heln that KK people should hang around for the presentation of the Liam McCarthy as the team give 150% 24/7, it's the least we can do to. Still, given the crowd on the pitch afterwards (I was with the gods in the upper hogan), you can see KK supporters are def not blase about winning.
as a KK person living in Cork last year was a whole lot sweeter but it's fair to say that matching their 30 AIs yesterday was a nice bonus.

Well done lads! Here's to 2008!!

kevmy

Yeah Limerick put up plenty of fight no doubting that.

But you got the feeling in the 5-10 mins after Ollie Moran got the goal when Kilkenny weren't at there best they should have pushed on. The players seemed to lose there heads a bit. The continued pumping long ball into to Begley when they should have played in more low ball. I was particularly disappointed with Geary and Mark Foley they were supposed to be the experienced ones there but they were probably the biggest offenders in those 10 mins for pucking away ball by sending it in too high and too long.

Overall though Kilkenny clearly deserved victory but you do wonder how much it truly means to them. It would have really livened up hurling if Limerick or Waterford won it.

soldering iron

D. Coughlan wrote:

Well done to Kilkenny, the rebels will be back next year to stop the three in a row, again!!!!!!

they will have to get passed Waterford first, do'nt count your chicken before they are hatched.

UP the deise

Utopia Parkway

Congrats to Kilkenny yet again. They were excellent all Summer. Some team in fairness.

Hurling though badly needs a Waterford or Galway (or even a Tipperary at this rate) to go all the way and win the thing soon. You could throw Limerick in there too but I think the others would actually have a better chance of actually winning a final.

Not Kilkenny's fault of course but people do get sick of the same teams winning and the past 8 years or so have almost exclusively belonged to Kilkenny and Cork.

Amazotheamazing

I really don't know about Galway, they should be up there with Kilkenny, they should have the players but every year they fall short.

I think there's a great Tipp team coming through though.

Tanabe

patmbrenn wrote:

Great win for KK yesterday by far the best team in the country, I was at the game and I have to say the referee was extremely poor, Eddie Brennan should have been booked in the first few minutes for a bad challenge, subsequently KK got no decisions, the challenge on Shefflin for the second goal was typical of what was happening during the game and IMO KK would not have got a penalty if shefflin had not scored.
Is it time for two ref's in hurling? at times they are so far behind the play they cant make proper decisions

First of all, welcome to boards.ie patmbrenn!

The better team definitely won yesterday. Well done to The Cats.

2 ref's wouldn't be a bad idea at all! What the game needs is younger ref's & linesmen too. 20/20 vision required!

patmbrenn wrote:

Limerick have had a great year and should take heart from their performances, you deservedly beat Waterford regardless of their excuses.

Who's making excuses?????

patmbrenn wrote:

Waterford people should wake up, they have lost 5 AI semi finals under Justin Mc, would this be accepted in KK or Cork, I think not, but ultimately that’s the difference between winning 30 AI titles and not being in a final for 50 years.

A lot of talk about this but ultimately it's the players who win or lose games. The Waterford panel has nothing but respect for Justin McCarthy and stand by him all the way.

Heln wrote:

.......I had hoped that Limerick would go out with the passion and intensity that they did against Waterford but the two early goals just seemed to knock them for six.

It's ironic that the very thing Limerick killed Waterford with is the very same thing Kilkenny murdered Limerick with yesterday - 2 early goals! It's very hard for a team to make their way back after that, they're chasing the whole game from there on in.

Heln wrote:

They will be disappointed that they didn't put up more of a fight yesterday but they have had an incredible Championship. They proved all the sporting pundits wrong by deservedly making it to an All Ireland Final. Everyone was looking to a Waterford Kilkenny Final. Waterford got carried away after their vicory in the Munster final but what people seemed to forget was that Limerick were going straight into that game on the back of three hard fought matches against Tipp, two of which had gone into extra time.

Limerick certainly had the incredible Championship you describe. They did prove all the pundits wrong by making it to the AI final. But Waterford were NEVER carried away after the Munster Final. In fact, they didn't even celebrate it. They always had the bigger goal in their foreminds. Not taking in the slightest from the Limerick V Tipp matches but Waterford had hard fought matches against Cork too don't forget.

Heln wrote:

But that's hurling and it's always good to see the better team winning and that's what happened when Limerick came out on top in the semi final.

It is always good to see the better team winning and that's exactly what you saw yesterday again.

run_Forrest_run

Amazotheamazing wrote:

I think there's a great Tipp team coming through though.

well if their minors are anything to go by then yes, Tipp will be ones to watch over the next few years.

Anyway, congrats to the mighty Cats..a great bunch of lads. Hard Luck to Limerick but it's looking up for them in the future.

Amazotheamazing

What's going to terrify waterford from here on out is, what can they do better next year to get to the final?

Limerick just wanted to restore pride in the jersey, which they did, they beat Waterford for revenge, not to get into an AI final. When they got there, they didn't really know what to do. Hopefully, they'll go home, watch the match and get sore at the mistakes, get bitter about the digs, get angry that they fell short and go out next year to win it.

bill_ashmount

Congrats

Heln

Amazotheamazing wrote:

I think there's a great Tipp team coming through though.

I really hope so. I think with the right manager Tipp will go a long way next year. They are better than what they showed this year but they seem to have lost their drive. The minor team is a class act and it would be great to see them progress through to senior level.

Tanabe

Amazotheamazing wrote:

What's going to terrify waterford from here on out is, what can they do better next year to get to the final?

Nothing is "going to terrify" Waterford (as you put it). Fifth time they've reached the AI Semi-finals in the last couple of years, nothing new to them there. Keep knockin' long enough & they'll get there! Your statement in itself it testament to what a great side Waterford actually are.

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Limerick just wanted to restore pride in the jersey, which they did, they beat Waterford for revenge, not to get into an AI final. When they got there, they didn't really know what to do.

It was a pity to watch Limerick at times yesterday "really not knowing what to do" as you say, maybe getting even with Waterford after the Munster Final was all they could see in front of them back then, but Waterford would still be favorites to beat Limerick come next year.

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Hopefully, they'll go home, watch the match and get sore at the mistakes, get bitter about the digs, get angry that they fell short and go out next year to win it.

Exactly the same as Waterford have been doing since the Semi-Final, BEWARE!

Daysha

Just to clear up patmbrenn, Waterford have lost the last 4 semis under Justin McCarthy, the 1st one back in 98 was when Gerald McCarthy was in charge. And, while trying not to sound bitter here, having to win the Munster Championship TWICE in one year to get to an AI final does sound a tad harsh on our part dont you think?

MrJoeSoap

Congratulations Kilkenny, great to see them dedicate the win to James and Darragh McGarry after what have been a nightmare few weeks for them. A really touching speech by Shefflin at the end, there was hardly a dry eye in the house. Brennan, Tyrell and Delaney were outstanding as usual, and despite reasonably quiet games from Comerford, Lyng and Fogarty, Kilkenny had this one won within ten minutes.

Cody was magnanimous in victory, something which Richie Bennis might learn from for next year. Its one thing to be a sore loser, but being a sore winner means more people will take pleasure from seeing you beaten.

Amazotheamazing

Woah, calm down Tanabe. Waterford are a great team, but what will they do differently next year to make them win a semi, should they get there? There's only so much players can sacrifice, there's only so many times you can push yourself on, especially when you've fallen at the same point every time.