Leinster Hurling Semi-Finals

CyberDave

Good draw. From a Galway perspective it gives us a good hard championship match early in the year, the whole point of us moving into Leinster. I expect us to give Kilkenny a good challenge at least. Apparently, Noel Hickey was back playing County Championship with Dunnamaggin last weekend. It will be some battle between himself and Joe Canning i indeed that matchup does materialise. I think I fancy Dublin to come through on the other side of the draw despite a slow start today against Antrim. They won't be afraid of either Galway (after beating them in the league) or Kilkenny (running them to a point in Nowlan Park) in the final.

portumna

I was hoping Galway would avoid Kilkenny just so they'd get another game under their belts before meeting them. But realistically this is the game we wanted to move to Leinster for. We need to play them and with the fall back of not being out of the Championship if we lose is a huge bonus. Hopefully we'll run them close but unfortunately i can't see us beating them.

I forsee a very close game in the other semi but i think Wexford will come out on top. It'd be great for hurling to see Dublin in a Leinster final though.

Diabhal Beag

I hate having this big match so soon when a bad (lets be honest) team like Wexford have a chance of getting to a Leinster final that we have known for years that they cannot win.

C'mon Galway and Dublin.


Why the **** is this match on a Saturday :mad:

cruiserweight

Little Shyte wrote: »

I hate having this big match so soon when a bad (lets be honest) team like Wexford have a chance of getting to a Leinster final that we have known for years that they cannot win.

C'mon Galway and Dublin.


Why the **** is this match on a Saturday :mad:

Wexford a bad team? Sure we have gotten a bad reputation over the last few years because most people just watch the games against Kilkenny. The two teams to beat Wexford in last years championship were the two teams that made the all-ireland final. The year before Wexford made the semi finals in both the league and championship, and were beaten by Kilkenny in both.

portumna

Little Shyte wrote: »

I hate having this big match so soon when a bad (lets be honest) team like Wexford have a chance of getting to a Leinster final that we have known for years that they cannot win.

C'mon Galway and Dublin.


Why the **** is this match on a Saturday :mad:

And why the fcuk is it on in Tullamore. I thought they only used that for U21 finals in the mid 90's.

O.A.P

I voted Dublin v Galway but I used the head for the first choice and the heart for the second.

LeoB

Anyone who thinks Wexford are a pushover should think again. They are unlucky in that in the past few years they have had to try to handle the best team in Hurling.

The draw is good for both Dublin and Wexford in that if Dublin beat Wexford it will bring them on so much and to play in a Final will be good for Hurling. Good they won today but think they can improve on a few basics, passing and shooting the main 2. With a little polish they could have won by 20 points today, while if Wexford win I think they will benifit from a huge amount from the regular championship games more than anyone.

Portumna, would ye play in Nolan Pk? Where else in Leinster is suitable? Navan or Portlaois? I can see you Galway winning this game, the question is will Galway be overhyped for it after waiting so long and then if ye lose will they have stomach for qualifers? As i said in a previous thread Kilkenny can be beaten by any team in the top 5 or 6, but can they be beaten twice? In the same year.

cruiserweight

LeoB wrote: »

The draw is good for both Dublin and Wexford in that if Dublin beat Wexford it will bring them on so much and to play in a Final will be good for Hurling. Good they won today but think they can improve on a few basics, passing and shooting the main 2. With a little polish they could have won by 20 points today, while if Wexford win I think they will benifit from a huge amount from the regular championship games more than anyone.

I would say that is is a good draw for Dublin, as they probably feel that Wexford are the team that they have the best chance of beating and they may feel that they owe Wexford one after the last couple of close results. A draw that I would have liked to avoid.

A bad draw from a Wexford point of view, in that we are on a hiding to nothing. Win and it will be all about Wexford maintaining status quo, not being that good and being lambs to the slaugther for the final. Lose and it wil be all about the decline in Wexford hurling etc.

LeoB

cruiserweight wrote: »

I would say that is is a good draw for Dublin, as they probably feel that Wexford are the team that they have the best chance of beating and they may feel that they owe Wexford one after the last couple of close results. A draw that I would have liked to avoid.

A bad draw from a Wexford point of view, in that we are on a hiding to nothing. Win and it will be all about Wexford maintaining status quo, not being that good and being lambs to the slaugther for the final. Lose and it wil be all about the decline in Wexford hurling etc.

Agree with part 1.
Part 2 ???? I see where you are coming from but Wexford are not on a hiding to nothing, 1) If Dublin are progressing the way we are lead to believe. 2) If Dublin have improved surely its a good scalp for Wexford. From a Wexford point of view they might be better off being talked down?

netwhizkid

Could Galway and Kilkenny meet? I voted Galway and Dublin too late as I thought it was themselves and the cats as I read it too fast!

ccosgrave

netwhizkid wrote: »

Could Galway and Kilkenny meet? I voted Galway and Dublin too late as I thought it was themselves and the cats as I read it too fast!

It's Galway v Kilkenny in the semi-final, Dublin v Wexford in the other.

Any news on where the Wexford game is being played? Nowlan Park, I presume? Probably a good draw from our point of view - I'd like us to get another game under our belt before trying to pull a big performance out of the bag for someone like Kilkenny or Galway. Dublin probably should have beaten us last year and will be well equipped to beat us this time, probably moreso than we will be. I think they'll be rather unfortunate to lose considering the year they've had so far. I'd actually quite like them to succeed, I think it'd be great for hurling everywhere if they managed to do well this year. Hopefully it won't be at our expense. I can see us having quite a bit of trouble though.

CyberDave

LeoB wrote: »

Where else in Leinster is suitable? Navan or Portlaois?... As i said in a previous thread Kilkenny can be beaten by any team in the top 5 or 6, but can they be beaten twice? In the same year.

Portlaoise has a higher capacity than Tullamore.

Beating Kilkenny twice in the one year would really mean you have earned the All-Ireland, but Kilkenny usually don't pass up on a second chance. Chances are, regardless of who wins the Galway / Kilkenny game, they could meet again later in the championship. The reward for knocking Kilkenny out of Leinster could be a hammering in the All-Ireland Semi-Final.

ADTR

Kilkenny vs Wexford.

Orizio

KK/Wexford unfortunately.

ibuprofen

Voted Dublin v Kilkenny.

I think Dublin could just have the edge over wexford because they competed in Div 1 this year and have stayed up. They've played a lot of top quality matches.

I think it's a great game for Dublin and gives them the chance to make amends for the championship replay last year. Think they've come a long way since then but anything can happen in a knockout competition...

Either way it'll be fiercely contested, gonna be a great match.....:)

cruiserweight

Wexford team for Sunday has been named. I am a bit worries about DOC up against O'Callaghan, if it is going badly Rossiter could be on pretty quickly, but I do not think he is up to 70 minutes of championship hurling.

Team: SH (Wexford v Dublin) 1. Damien Fitzhenry, 2. Malachy Travers, 3. Paul Roche, 4. David OConnor, 5. Michael Jacob, 6. Ritchie Kehoe, 7. Ciarán Kenny, 8. Diarmuid Lyng (Capt.), 9. Peter Atkinson, 10. Willie Doran, 11. Tomás Waters, 12. Rory Jacob, 13. David Redmond, 14. Stephen Banville, 15. Stephen Doyle.

aidan24326

CyberDave wrote: »

The reward for knocking Kilkenny out of Leinster could be a hammering in the All-Ireland Semi-Final.

True, but then again we could get hammered by them both times! So if Galway win on Saturday we'll take that for now. A Leinster final against Dublin would be great, with the possibility of a big crowd and a Dublin team who are very far from the pushover they might have been a few years ago.

Of the 4 teams playing in the semis this weekend though I think Dublin are the team who need a win the most. They've been knocking on the door for a couple of years now but have to go and actually win one of these games before they can be taken seriously as a major team rather than just a team with potential.

cruiserweight

Well we know one of the finalists. Judging by the poll a slight majority of people here think that Dublin will join Kilkenny. Both teams are missing key players, but I am going to back Wexford (unbiased of course)

As I have said in other posts, Wexford are on a hiding to nothing in this game in relation to the media coverage that they will receive. Lose and the stories will be about Dublin replacing Wexford as the second best team in Leinster. Win and it will be about consolidating their position and about the hiding that they will get from Kilkenny. I think there is more pressure on Dublin in this game, there is a lot expected, a win would help their progress.