Offaly V Limerick

Jugs82

As an Offalyman, im delighted with the win - we have been written off by everybody for this match but many of us were quietly confident

I think this is great for the Hurling Championship and put alongside the Dublin performance against Cork,perhaps Leinster isnt as dead and buried as some believe - perhaps its just that Kilkenny are so superior to everybody at the moment

I think the addition of Galway to Leinster would be great for all concerned including Galway so hopefully in the near future this may become a reality.

A Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly, Galway, Dublin, Antrim championship - it could potentially throw up a few shocks if nothing else

Anyways, looking forward to the draw tomorrow

woody27

ya well done great result. Offaly battled hard for the entire game and showed great heart.
my only worry is they wont come out of the traps in their next game but hopefully they will and put a preformance like tonight in, the under 21s playing tonight have alot of resting to do now in a short space of time.

Pride Fighter

Jugs82 wrote: »

As an Offalyman, im delighted with the win - we have been written off by everybody for this match but many of us were quietly confident

I think this is great for the Hurling Championship and put alongside the Dublin performance against Cork,perhaps Leinster isnt as dead and buried as some believe - perhaps its just that Kilkenny are so superior to everybody at the moment

I think the addition of Galway to Leinster would be great for all concerned including Galway so hopefully in the near future this may become a reality.

A Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly, Galway, Dublin, Antrim championship - it could potentially throw up a few shocks if nothing else

Anyways, looking forward to the draw tomorrow

Well done to Offaly, I think they could take Waterford if they get them. I agree with you about the addition of Galway and Antrim to Leinster. What I would do next year is an open draw Leinster Championship. Pool 1 (the top seeds) would have Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford and Offaly. Pool 2 would have Dublin, Antrim, Laois and Westmeath.
Theroretical draw
Quarter Final
Galway vs Westmeath
Kilkenny vs Dublin
Wexford vs Antrim
Offaly vs Laois
Semi Final
Kilkenny vs Galway
Wexford vs Offaly
Final
Wexford vs Galway
An open draw like that above would be good, Galway could beat Kilkenny making Leinster less predictable. Dublin are at the same level as Wexford/Offaly and if they could draw either one of them could potentially beat them. That should be the format for Leinster next year IMO.

Jugs82

the under 21s playing tonight have alot of resting to do now in a short space of time.

Your right - its alot of action over 3 weeks but im still optomistic

cruiserweight

Pride Fighter wrote: »

An open draw like that above would be good, Galway could beat Kilkenny making Leinster less predictable. Dublin are at the same level as Wexford/Offaly and if they could draw either one of them could potentially beat them. That should be the format for Leinster next year IMO.

Dublin are improving, but are not quite as good as Offaly or Wexford yet. The addition of Galway and Antrim to the Leinster championship, would benefit both teams and the championship.

Jugs82

An open draw like that above would be good, Galway could beat Kilkenny making Leinster less predictable.

Thats the key i think - the potential of having a winner other than Kilkenny would revive the championship outside of Munster

Pride Fighter

cruiserweight wrote: »

Dublin are improving, but are not quite as good as Offaly or Wexford yet. The addition of Galway and Antrim to the Leinster championship, would benefit both teams and the championship.

They narrowly lost to Cork tonight, they should have beaten Wexford and they are in Division 1, while Wexford and Offaly are in Division 2. They are at the same level IMO.

TestTransmission

As an offaly man living in limerick,im very happy,even happier that i placed a tenner on offaly to win at 13/2 :D

woody27

Pride Fighter wrote: »

They narrowly lost to Cork tonight, they should have beaten Wexford and they are in Division 1, while Wexford and Offaly are in Division 2. They are at the same level IMO.

i agree with cruiser i still think they have a bit to do to catch up on wexford and offaly. while they do put up good performances against teams they just dont have that killer blow to finish teams off, which offaly proved they had tonight and wexford have shown through the past few years even though they then go out and get hammered.

woody27

jackncoke wrote: »

As an offaly man living in limerick,im very happy,even happier that i placed a tenner on offaly to win at 13/2 :D

wow great price well done

Jugs82

As an offaly man living in limerick,im very happy,even happier that i placed a tenner on offaly to win at 13/2

Good Stuff - Come on the Faithful :D

They narrowly lost to Cork tonight, they should have beaten Wexford and they are in Division 1, while Wexford and Offaly are in Division 2. They are at the same level IMO.

I see your point and agree to some point but Dublin lost their nerve against Wexford the 1st Day - they need to develop that ability to kill teams off - a kilkenny type ruthlessness if you like...

cruiserweight

Pride Fighter wrote: »

They narrowly lost to Cork tonight, they should have beaten Wexford and they are in Division 1, while Wexford and Offaly are in Division 2. They are at the same level IMO.

While that is true, they haven't beaten Wexford or Offaly in the championship in a long time. Dublin almost beat Wexford the first day, but when Wexford stepped it up slightly in the second game they beat Dublin.

Pride Fighter

cruiserweight wrote: »

While that is true, they haven't beaten Wexford or Offaly in the championship in a long time. Dublin almost beat Wexford the first day, but when Wexford stepped it up slightly in the second game they beat Dublin.

They hardly beat them by a country mile though. The last 4 times Dublin have played Wexford there has been 2 draws and 2 wins for Wexford, one by 3 points, one by 1 point. Dublin have not played Offaly for a while so its tough to compare them. I still think Dublin, Wexford and Offaly are pretty much even.

woody27

Pride Fighter wrote: »

They hardly beat them by a country mile though. The last 4 times Dublin have played Wexford there has been 2 draws and 2 wins for Wexford, one by 3 points, one by 1 point. Dublin have not played Offaly for a while so its tough to compare them. I still think Dublin, Wexford and Offaly are pretty much even.

But they still cant beat them thats all we are saying they always seem to lack that little bit

phog

Jugs82 wrote: »

As an Offalyman, im delighted with the win - we have been written off by everybody for this match but many of us were quietly confident
I think this is great for the Hurling Championship and put alongside the Dublin performance against Cork,perhaps Leinster isnt as dead and buried as some believe - perhaps its just that Kilkenny are so superior to everybody at the moment

I think the addition of Galway to Leinster would be great for all concerned including Galway so hopefully in the near future this may become a reality.

A Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly, Galway, Dublin, Antrim championship - it could potentially throw up a few shocks if nothing else

Anyways, looking forward to the draw tomorrow

That confidence showed in the traffic coming down the N7 this evening for the match, how many Offaly fans turned up in Limerick this evening?

BTW, good win and well deserved they played well from start to finish but again Limerick let in 2 soft goals and you cant do that in Championship games and expect to win.

Kojak

Great performance by Offaly this evening. Their forwards put Limerick's defenders under a lot of pressure when they didn't have the ball and IMO this is one of the key factors why they won. They never stopped working.

Limerick seem to be in disaray again this year. It seemed that the "3 game saga" was the making of their season last year and when something of a similar nature didn't happen this year, well they were in serious trouble.

A big problem for Offaly next weekend is that the vast majority of their players will have played 3 championship games in the space of a week. As their U-21's (who, if I'm not mistaken, make up 2/3 of their senior team) have the final of the Leinster U-21 HC against KK next Wednesday and then will have to play again next Saturday. This could leave them vulnerable against Galway or Waterford.

But for now - well done to Offaly. They definatly deserved their win, and if they had been a bit more accurate from play, could have won by a lot more.

Mossy Monk

Entertaining performance from Offaly this evening but Limerick were hopeless. Will be interesting to see how they get on in the next game. A team for the future for sure.

ddddd

Fair play to Offaly, by far the best time on the night!!! But where do Limerick go now? Booed off by some of their own supporters!! Not a good sign!! Does anyone know if they now have to play to avoid relegation or what? This new championship system has me lost

lillywhite7

Yes well done Offaly watched the game on T V win well deserved. Young lads showed fierce pride in the Jersey. Best of luck with the upcoming matches.

CyberDave

Who would Offaly prefer to get in the qualifiers? I think they have a real chance against Galway considering the game between them in the league earlier this year. Bergin was class today and Kenny at full-back. What is Kennys club?

paddy462

If Galway and Antrim are brought into the Leinster Championship, is there really a need for a round robin competition and/or a drastic revamp of the Championship?
This year was: Dublin, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford, Westmeath
(Laois/Offaly v Kilkenny) v (Dublin/Westmeath v Wexford)

Surely Galway's/Antrim's additions, discounting Westmeath would be something like:
(Laois/Galway v Kilkenny) v (Offaly/Dublin v Wexford/Antrim)

3 teams won't make the provincial semi's plus one from Munster. Going by Munster this year, that would be Waterford.

The qualifiers should be beaten provincial semi-finalists seeded vs the round 1 losers.
(Laois, Offaly, Antrim, Waterford) vs (Cork, Limerick, Dublin, Galway)

That would leave four which should be cut down to two after another round to take on the beaten provincial finalists.

Going by this year the quarter finals would be:
Clare vs Cork/Galway
Wexford vs Offaly/Waterford

Jugs82

What is Kennys club?

Belmont

That confidence showed in the traffic coming down the N7 this evening for the match, how many Offaly fans turned up in Limerick this evening?

Your right - the Offaly support was poor, shockingly poor in fact considering Limerick isnt exactly that far - next week, the number will probably multiply significantly

lanod2407

The worst performance I've ever seen in a green jersey - and all the worse after I'd gone and bought the replica 73 jersey!!!!

Well done to Offaly for coming down and playing with their hearts for the full 70 - Limerick didn't turn up.

I never agree with booing, and the laughter and derision that followed each Limerick point in the last 10 minutes was also wrong - not what I want my 12 and 10 year olds to see at Championship matches - or any other for that matter.
BUT - the derision and boos didn't start on the terraces and stands - they started on the pitch. It's a fair comment to say that many of the players simply didn't turn up on Saturday, and that the management decisions in both picking the team and failing to make the required changes were poor. I've never seen so many players not bothering to perform - second to the ball, losing the 50/50's, wayward passes, and general apathy.

What other top 8 Inter-county team would have Donie Ryan and Wayne McNamara in the starting 15? And how did McNamara stay on for 15 minutes, never mind the entire 70???

It's plainly obvious that Limerick are back beyond "square one" - there doesn't appear to be a third-cousin to a Full Back or Full Forward to be found in the county, and we'll see a few hanging up their boots now that the season is over ---- one or two had them hung up before 7pm last Saturday!


It's time for Limerick to go professional like Cork and appoint a proper and epxerienced manager - we must go outside the county to get a proven hurling manager, and he must be given the scope and space required to do the job - that last bit is aimed at the County Board!!

Thanks to Richie for giving us an exciting season last year - but he's not the man to engineer the changes and systems required to get us back on track.

From coming 2nd last year we're now outside the Top 8 for the first time in a long time. To be accurate I'd say we're 10th, losing by 10 points where Dublin only lost by 5 at the weekend. If people want to contest that then let's play Dublin for 9th place ......... then again, maybe we wouldn't want to go there!!!:eek:

That's the end of my litany for now - I'm annoyed and pi**ed off this morning, in case some haven't noticed!!!!


What chance the Gaelic Grounds getting the Cork match next weekend?

ddddd

Ya it would be great to see the Qualifiers in Limerick next weekend but I very much doubt it because I think the Limerick and Meath football match is being played there on Saturday eve so..

connundrum

Anyone know times & venue for the Waterford game?

Gaa.ie doesn't have much on it.

CyberDave wrote: »

Who would Offaly prefer to get in the qualifiers? I think they have a real chance against Galway considering the game between them in the league earlier this year. Bergin was class today and Kenny at full-back. What is Kennys club?

The only thing I'd worry about is Bergin as he is due to captain the U21 team against Kilkenny this weekend - which would surely put him out of the Waterford game?

Pigletlover

connundrum wrote: »

Anyone know times & venue for the Waterford game?

They haven't been announced yet, but are expected to be in the next hour or so, should be on 2 o'clock sports news bulletins I'd say.

patmac

Galway to Leinster is not guaranteed, mainly because of the underage structure. Galway currently enjoy a straight run to the AI semi-finals in both minor and U-21 which would be taken away from them if they were to end up there, in fact they could concievably draw Kilkenny in Round 1 and be eliminated, this I believe is the reason it was stopped the last time and could be the stumbling block this time.

Oh and BTW great win for the Biffos after a bad few months on the GAA and political fields.

Bogger77

connundrum wrote: »

Anyone know times & venue for the Waterford game?

Gaa.ie doesn't have much on it.



The only thing I'd worry about is Bergin as he is due to captain the U21 team against Kilkenny this weekend - which would surely put him out of the Waterford game?

U21 match is fixed for Tullamore on Wedesday evening.
Be interesting to see how fair the Leinster Council are to Offaly, an earlier match was postponed because Wexford had to play Senior the following weekend, what's the chances some of our guys will be forced to play 3 times in a week.(sat-wed-sat)

Jugs82

Be interesting to see how fair the Leinster Council are to Offaly, an earlier match was postponed because Wexford had to play Senior the following weekend, what's the chances some of our guys will be forced to play 3 times in a week.(sat-wed-sat)

Theres the answer :mad::mad::mad:

lorweld

-- Saturday July 19th --

GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship Qualifier Round 4
Thurles 5.00pm Uíbh Fhailí v Port Láirge Live RTE
Referee: TBC
[E.T. if Necessary]
Thurles 7.00pm Corcaigh v Gaillimh Live RTE
Referee: TBC
[E.T. if Necessary]

http://gaa.ie/page/hurling_championship_2008.html

flahavaj

lorweld wrote: »

http://gaa.ie/page/hurling_championship_2008.html

Anyone know if ticketmaster are going to put tickets for this up for sale during the week? Or would I be OK just buying at the gate? I'm a Waterford man living in Dublin so these are my only two options.

grenache

I did not want to reply to this thread on Saturday evening as i would only have written some inflamatory remarks, such was my anger and disgust at Saturday nights performance. But i really should not have been all that surprised, its what i've come to expect from Limerick hurling. Congrats to Offaly, you were immense on Saturday night, i can't remember when last i saw a side play with such desire and committment. And no little amount of skill either, the swagger could be coming back into Offaly hurling, and i genuinely hope you are on the way back to being the power you once were.

As for Limerick, Saturday nights result was the culmination of a poor management, and lack of application and interest from the players. Now i know that no player goes out to play bad, but honestly, some of the those players in green were not one bit interested on Saturday night. The only two to come out with any dignity intact were Mark Foley and Brian Geary.

Bennis and Co. made some very strange tactical decisions, such as:
1. Introducing Denis Moloney, a half back by trade, to half forward. Pointless beyond belief!
2. Moving O'Shaughnessy to half forward where he could do little or no damage, that fact that he had NOT EVEN ONE ACCURATE LOW BALL aimed in his direction all night didn't help.
3. Starting Wayne McNamara at midfield when he is clearly out of his depth at inter-county level. :eek:
4. Waiting until the 60th minute to replace Stephen Lucey, when Bergin had already scored 3-3 off him and the damage was done! :rolleyes:
5. Starting the likes of Seanie O'Connor and Donie Ryan ahead of Pat Tobin, when the latter has continually shown himself to be a natural tallysman, scoring 0-5 when introduced on Saturday night.
6. The persistence of sending high ball into Seanie O'Connor when it was clear after ten mins that Kenny had the beating of him??!!!! Why not change strategy and play a two man full forward line and play low ball into them???
7. The decision not to send in Eoin Ryan and Gavin O'Mahony, the star players in our current U-21 side? What did we have to lose? They could not have played much worse than those who were already on the field!

Its time for Richie Bennis and Gary Kirby to bow out, they've been magnificent servants to Limerick hurling, they've done everything they could, but we find ourselves back at square one with no silverware to show for our efforts. I would like to see an outside name like Nicky English, Donal O'Grady or Pat Fleury brought in, managers who have won silverware and who will know how to get the best out of the Limerick players. The current tactics of 'hit and hope' will never succeed, the likes of Tipp and Kilkenny will outsmart us every day at that game. Unless Limerick start hurling with their heads, as well as their hearts, they will continue to be the also-rans.

Bogger77

flahavaj wrote: »

Anyone know if ticketmaster are going to put tickets for this up for sale during the week? Or would I be OK just buying at the gate? I'm a Waterford man living in Dublin so these are my only two options.

I'll have to get on to my usual sources, as an Offaly man living in Cork, I feel your pain.

Bogger77

grenache wrote: »

As for Limerick, Saturday nights result was the culmination of a poor management, and lack of application and interest from the players. Now i know that no player goes out to play bad, but honestly, some of the those players in green were not one bit interested on Saturday night. The only two to come out with any dignity intact were Mark Foley and Brian Geary.

While the players may not have performed, I thought that some of the abuse being given towards individual members of the team from the supporters was uncalled for, I was glad that I wasn't with my usual companions at the match, which usually include a 5yr old. Likewise, the boo-ing at half time, was sickening and embarassing to hear as a sports fan, no matter how bad the team are doing, and with Offaly, we've had some bad outings in both football and hurling over the last few years, I cannot recall a case where they've been booed off, we may have been quiet, etc, but never booed.
I was on the uncovered seating area, surrounded by Limerick fans, and a lot of the older fans, were disgusted too, by the behaviour of their "fellow" fans.

lanod2407

Bogger77 - agree fully with your assessment - there's no place in the GAA for booing - no matter how badly the team plays.
I had 2 lads with me - 12 and 10 - and wasn't a bit happy with the booing. TBH the jeering cheers whenever a Limerick guy scored a point in the last 15 minutes was worse .......... sickening stuff that needs to be removed from the sport.

Grenache - I share your pain - never have I seen a team so ill-equipped or lacking in desire. If the Munster team showed the same lack of passion up the road they'd soon lose their support!!!

mccutchie

Its as simple as this, Limerick were a shambles against Clare and a bigger shambles against offaly. Swagering around with the attitude that things would just fall into place. Last year happened because of alot of hard work, a no lie down and die attitude and plenty of guts and skill. What we saw this year was a trip back in time to when Clare destroyed us in Cisack Park.

Where has the pride gone in the Limerick jersey, where has the ambition and will to win gone.

Finally, a goalkeeper that stands tall and commands his area, is worth his weight in gold. Brian Murray had a good season last year, but his confidence was gone after the Calre game and both Offaly and Clare knew that. Should have been changed after the Clare game, the backline need to have confidence in their netminder.

grenache

lanod2407 wrote: »

there's no place in the GAA for booing - no matter how badly the team plays.
I had 2 lads with me - 12 and 10 - and wasn't a bit happy with the booing. TBH the jeering cheers whenever a Limerick guy scored a point in the last 15 minutes was worse .......... sickening stuff that needs to be removed from the sport

i agree with you totally lanod, i was very annoyed by the performance or lack of, but even more shocked at the three ''supporters'' behind me who booed continually for a good minute at half time. Amateur players who put in so much time and effort should never be treated in such a manner.

Amazotheamazing

grenache wrote: »

I did not want to reply to this thread on Saturday evening as i would only have written some inflamatory remarks, such was my anger and disgust at Saturday nights performance. But i really should not have been all that surprised, its what i've come to expect from Limerick hurling. Congrats to Offaly, you were immense on Saturday night, i can't remember when last i saw a side play with such desire and committment. And no little amount of skill either, the swagger could be coming back into Offaly hurling, and i genuinely hope you are on the way back to being the power you once were.

As for Limerick, Saturday nights result was the culmination of a poor management, and lack of application and interest from the players. Now i know that no player goes out to play bad, but honestly, some of the those players in green were not one bit interested on Saturday night. The only two to come out with any dignity intact were Mark Foley and Brian Geary.

Bennis and Co. made some very strange tactical decisions, such as:
1. Introducing Denis Moloney, a half back by trade, to half forward. Pointless beyond belief!
2. Moving O'Shaughnessy to half forward where he could do little or no damage, that fact that he had NOT EVEN ONE ACCURATE LOW BALL aimed in his direction all night didn't help.
3. Starting Wayne McNamara at midfield when he is clearly out of his depth at inter-county level. :eek:
4. Waiting until the 60th minute to replace Stephen Lucey, when Bergin had already scored 3-3 off him and the damage was done! :rolleyes:
5. Starting the likes of Seanie O'Connor and Donie Ryan ahead of Pat Tobin, when the latter has continually shown himself to be a natural tallysman, scoring 0-5 when introduced on Saturday night.
6. The persistence of sending high ball into Seanie O'Connor when it was clear after ten mins that Kenny had the beating of him??!!!! Why not change strategy and play a two man full forward line and play low ball into them???
7. The decision not to send in Eoin Ryan and Gavin O'Mahony, the star players in our current U-21 side? What did we have to lose? They could not have played much worse than those who were already on the field!

Its time for Richie Bennis and Gary Kirby to bow out, they've been magnificent servants to Limerick hurling, they've done everything they could, but we find ourselves back at square one with no silverware to show for our efforts. I would like to see an outside name like Nicky English, Donal O'Grady or Pat Fleury brought in, managers who have won silverware and who will know how to get the best out of the Limerick players. The current tactics of 'hit and hope' will never succeed, the likes of Tipp and Kilkenny will outsmart us every day at that game. Unless Limerick start hurling with their heads, as well as their hearts, they will continue to be the also-rans.

The problem isn't at senior level, it goes right through the structures in Limerick. Ambitious players are not staying with Limerick hurling, it's a joke shop and hence we are losing players to other sports.

The standard of club hurling in Limerick is a joke, the standard of hurling in the city is a joke, the skills aren't being addressed at an early enough age.

We can continue to change the management, but unless we get someone to re-do the entire structure of Limerick hurling from the schools up, we'll never be truly competitive.

IrishMike

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The problem isn't at senior level, it goes right through the structures in Limerick. Ambitious players are not staying with Limerick hurling, it's a joke shop and hence we are losing players to other sports.

The standard of club hurling in Limerick is a joke, the standard of hurling in the city is a joke, the skills aren't being addressed at an early enough age.

We can continue to change the management, but unless we get someone to re-do the entire structure of Limerick hurling from the schools up, we'll never be truly competitive.

Dont see that at all to be honest.
How can a county win 3 back to back U21 all irelands without proper structures in place?
The problem is how players like Owen Foley, Mark Keane, Willie Walsh, Peter
Lawlor etc can go from outstanding U21s to poor senior hurlers.
Owen Foley cant make the Patrickswell team now for crying out loud.
If it happened to 1 or 2 players you would say mitigating circumstances but
its happening to so so many you would have to worry.
I personally dont think its a structural or an underage issue to be honest.

Another point is the issue of management.
People constantly say Limerick have had 5 managers in 6 years or whatever it was.
But looking at the calibre of those managers they leave a lot to be desired.
A modern coach with a modern approach like Donal O Grady or Nicky English could
do wonders with this group of players in my opinion.
People say the team are lacking skill but how are they meant to be skillfull when
the training they were doing was boderline farcical?

shnaek

IrishMike wrote: »

Dont see that at all to be honest.
How can a county win 3 back to back U21 all irelands without proper structures in place?
The problem is how players like Owen Foley, Mark Keane, Willie Walsh, Peter
Lawlor etc can go from outstanding U21s to poor senior hurlers.
Owen Foley cant make the Patrickswell team now for crying out loud.
If it happened to 1 or 2 players you would say mitigating circumstances but
its happening to so so many you would have to worry.
I personally dont think its a structural or an underage issue to be honest.

Galway had a similar problem. They've won a lot at under age over the past 15 years, but that success hasn't translated to senior level.

As for tickets, I heard last night tickets are on the gate.

IrishMike

Tickets for what exactly shnaek?

Amazotheamazing

IrishMike wrote: »

Dont see that at all to be honest.
How can a county win 3 back to back U21 all irelands without proper structures in place?
The problem is how players like Owen Foley, Mark Keane, Willie Walsh, Peter
Lawlor etc can go from outstanding U21s to poor senior hurlers.
Owen Foley cant make the Patrickswell team now for crying out loud.
If it happened to 1 or 2 players you would say mitigating circumstances but
its happening to so so many you would have to worry.
I personally dont think its a structural or an underage issue to be honest.

Another point is the issue of management.
People constantly say Limerick have had 5 managers in 6 years or whatever it was.
But looking at the calibre of those managers they leave a lot to be desired.
A modern coach with a modern approach like Donal O Grady or Nicky English could
do wonders with this group of players in my opinion.
People say the team are lacking skill but how are they meant to be skillfull when
the training they were doing was boderline farcical?

I'm just going on what I heard about the underage structures being lightyears behind Kilkenny's, Cork's, tipp's and Galways. Everything I've heard about points out that it seems to be an exercise in sending poorly trained teenagers off the to be badly beaten by the other teams.

We can dream all we want about those u-21's, but they came from nowhere (ie, we weren't getting great minor results) and they've gone back to nowehere. Most commentators described them as well balanced teams but not necessarily hugely skillful.

I remember chatting to a guy who'd done some coaching out in Moyross with Tom Ryan last year, Ryan reckoned one of the 10 year olds was the best he'd ever seen for that age (not that in itself means much) but the local teacher just pointed out that that kid will never make to secondary school, and if he does, he'll be doing drugs by the time he's there. The kid will probably quit the sport soon. It's an extreme example, but it just shows the things Limerick city hurling has to put up with.

That being said, maybe I'm over pessimistic on this. Any good young players coming through, saw my old school (Ardscoil Ris) has a few young lads coming through.

shnaek

IrishMike wrote: »

Tickets for what exactly shnaek?

Tickets for the 6pm showing of 'The Mist' in the Gate in Cork :P

Actually I was responding to flahavaj above about tickets for the double header in Thurles.

IrishMike

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I remember chatting to a guy who'd done some coaching out in Moyross with Tom Ryan last year, Ryan reckoned one of the 10 year olds was the best he'd ever seen for that age (not that in itself means much) but the local teacher just pointed out that that kid will never make to secondary school, and if he does, he'll be doing drugs by the time he's there. The kid will probably quit the sport soon. It's an extreme example, but it just shows the things Limerick city hurling has to put up with.

That being said, maybe I'm over pessimistic on this. Any good young players coming through, saw my old school (Ardscoil Ris) has a few young lads coming through.

No offence but i wouldnt believe a word on Tom Ryans radio let alone
anything that comes out of his mouth.
Lets just say he has a strange slant on what is actually happening!
There is huge work being done at underage level throughout the county.
People like Eamonn Creegan, Tony Hickey, Eamonn Grimes etc call to
primary schools throughtout the county on a regular basis and take the
kids out hurling to try and do their bit to help the cause.
Clubs like Na Piarsigh Doon and Ahane have underage structures that clubs
throughout the country would die to have.
Killmallock have 6 forwards on their senior team with an average age of 20 or 21.
All is not as bad as is being made out, there is plenty of hope for Limerick
hurling its just a pity a top class manager has not been put in place to
utilise the talent.
Limerick have a big panel of committed players, money to burn and a big
following - all thats missing is a man to lead them.
Knowing the idiots we have on the county board that will appoint someone
like Ciaran Carey or Mike Houlihan when we actually need a Ger Loughnane or
a Donal O Grady.

premierstone

IrishMike wrote: »

All is not as bad as is being made out, there is plenty of hope for Limerick
hurling its just a pity a top class manager has not been put in place to
utilise the talent.
Limerick have a big panel of committed players, money to burn and a big
following - all thats missing is a man to lead them.
Knowing the idiots we have on the county board that will appoint someone
like Ciaran Carey or Mike Houlihan when we actually need a Ger Loughnane or
a Donal O Grady.

I actually had a very interesting conversation with an ex Limerick hurler a while back and he actually put the other side of this story and he reckoned that Limerick will never win anything with the current players as their attitude is all wrong and they believe themselves to be far better than they actually are and im starting to think he has a point, im no fan of Richie Bennis tbh but its seems to be a re-occuring theme in Limerick - sack the manager it must be he's fault.

Amazotheamazing

IrishMike wrote: »

There is huge work being done at underage level throughout the county.
People like Eamonn Creegan, Tony Hickey, Eamonn Grimes etc call to
primary schools throughtout the county on a regular basis and take the
kids out hurling to try and do their bit to help the cause.

Clubs like Na Piarsigh Doon and Ahane have underage structures that clubs
throughout the country would die to have.
Killmallock have 6 forwards on their senior team with an average age of 20 or 21.
All is not as bad as is being made out, there is plenty of hope for Limerick
hurling its just a pity a top class manager has not been put in place to
utilise the talent.

Limerick have a big panel of committed players, money to burn and a big
following - all thats missing is a man to lead them.
Knowing the idiots we have on the county board that will appoint someone
like Ciaran Carey or Mike Houlihan when we actually need a Ger Loughnane or
a Donal O Grady.

Agree if we are to replace Bennis it needs to be proven manager and not a local. Those type of managers are few and far between though.

I disagree about the underage though, it is a shambles, even if it is slowly being addressed, we need more than former greats visiting schools, we need a dedicated schools programme working with players week-in, week-out.

I think you over-rate how good our panel is, how many would make Kilkenny's, Cork's, Tipp's or Galway's panel? They might have had potential to be great once but they frittered it away. It's not as simple as saying "he was great when he was 20, is should be great now", when the fact is, that in most cases, whatever talented he had has been cashed in behind every other bar and pub in the county.

I think you are most wildly off the mark when it comes to commitment though. All year we've hearing stories of how things weren't going well in the panel, guys weren't pulling their weight, guys weren't taking it seriously.

IrishMike

premierstone wrote: »

im no fan of Richie Bennis tbh but its seems to be a re-occuring theme in Limerick - sack the manager it must be he's fault.

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I think you are most wildly off the mark when it comes to commitment though. All year we've hearing stories of how things weren't going well in the panel, guys weren't pulling their weight, guys weren't taking it seriously.

May i ask what stories did you hear?
3 of my clubmates are on that team, a relation of mine is a selector and
i am friends with most of the rest of the team and i didnt hear a single
whisper about things not going well in the panel.
The team trained at 6am running on the roads outside UL and they trained
3 weeks after the all ireland final in the gym in UL 2 nights a week till now.
They have basically trained non stop for 2 years with 4-6 weeks of a break
and you are questioning their commitment?
Premiership players get longer holidays
Commitment is the one thing they are not lacking, what they are lacking is
a coach/manager who can improve their sharpness and skill and also
devise a team tactic that will work for the players at his disposal.
The team has no tactics of any description and most of the teams training
is centred around physical and not the skills of the game.

I think you over-rate how good our panel is, how many would make Kilkenny's, Cork's, Tipp's or Galway's panel? They might have had potential to be great once but they frittered it away. It's not as simple as saying "he was great when he was 20, is should be great now", when the fact is, that in most cases, whatever talented he had has been cashed in behind every other bar and pub in the county.

To be fair how many of the current Cork or Tipp squad would get into the Kilkenny squad?
You could count them on one hand for either team id imagine.
The step up in class between Kilkenny and everyone else is just scary.

Amazotheamazing

IrishMike wrote: »

May i ask what stories did you hear?
3 of my clubmates are on that team, a relation of mine is a selector and
i am friends with most of the rest of the team and i didnt hear a single
whisper about things not going well in the panel.
The team trained at 6am running on the roads outside UL and they trained
3 weeks after the all ireland final in the gym in UL 2 nights a week till now.
They have basically trained non stop for 2 years with 4-6 weeks of a break
and you are questioning their commitment?
Premiership players get longer holidays
Commitment is the one thing they are not lacking, what they are lacking is
a coach/manager who can improve their sharpness and skill and also
devise a team tactic that will work for the players at his disposal.
The team has no tactics of any description and most of the teams training
is centred around physical and not the skills of the game.

Just the usual about them still drinking, not going well in training and the same old fall-outs etc. I'm happy to be proved wrong on it, but I just don't see how even allowing for poor management we were comprehensively beaten by two fairly average teams. It has to come down to the mindset, imo.

So, considering you're obviously more up on this than me, who's going to come through from this years u-21's team to save us next year?

premierstone

IrishMike wrote: »

To be fair how many of the current Cork or Tipp squad would get into the Kilkenny squad?
You could count them on one hand for either team id imagine.
The step up in class between Kilkenny and everyone else is just scary.

You honestly believe that no more than five of the Tipp team would make it onto the KK squad, good one:D

IrishMike

premierstone wrote: »

You honestly believe that no more than five of the Tipp team would make it onto the KK squad, good one:D

Brendan Cummins, Conor O Mahony, Shane McGrath, Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett, Paul Curran and Eamonn Corcoran

I have 7 fingers on my right hand

premierstone

IrishMike wrote: »

Brendan Cummins, Conor O Mahony, Shane McGrath, Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett, Paul Curran and Eamonn Corcoran

I have 7 fingers on my right hand

Thats nice, you must be very popular with the ladies

Just on a side note off topic i know apologies etc, but 3 of the players you named there (and i agree with all of them) were all on the bench last year when we played Wexford and babs thinks he was harshly treated :rolleyes: