Liam Hayes' comments on Limerick footballers

grenache

Listening to Newstalk's GAA coverage on Off The Ball tonight and the discussion led onto the Limerick-Clare Munster Semi at the weekend. I've probably heard more disengenuous comments on a team before, but i honestly can't remember when. According to Liam Hayes, Limerick will offer ''very little'' in the final, and will be nothing more than cannon fodder to either Cork or Kerry :rolleyes: Tipperary apparently were the ''people's choice'' to make it to the Munster Final, they were the team on the up (based on league form - which as we all know is the be all and end all), and the average football fan in the country wanted to see Tipp make it to the final, not Limerick

We showed last year what we can do - after defeating Tipp, we left the Cork game behind us, out-playing them for large parts of the game, our keeper showing a pair of jelly hands in injury time to gift them two goals and the match. Perhaps Liam is still hurting from the beating we gave his beloved Royals in the qualifiers - afterall it must have been painful trailing us "footballing minnows" by 20 points with 15 minutes left on the clock

I really can't believe he thinks we are that bad! Yes we have made hard work of beating Tipp (who have improved immensely) and Clare, but we always play better as underdogs. This team contains 6 members of the side who beat Cork by 10 points in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 2003 and pushed Kerry all the way in the Munster finals of 2003 and 2004. We were a kick of a ball away from a Munster title in the latter year. We now have, in Ian Ryan and Ger Collins, something we didn't have back then - consistent scoring forwards. We may not win on July 5th, but it certainly won't be as cut and dry as this so-called expert is making out.

If I were Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, I would download that show's podcast and play Mr Hayes comments to his team of "no hopers" in the dressing room immediately before the Munster Final. It would be the best motivator by far!

Daysha

I really wouldn't pay much attention to what that man says. He's basically the GAA version of Eamon Dunphy, deliberately shít stirring just for the attention and make a name for himself.

This same man said 2 years ago before the Dublin-Kerry semi that the Kingdom were a pathetic, finished team and expected the Dubs to coast home by 7-8 points (An article that was actually used by Kerry at half time in that match to inspire them).

This same man also expected Mayo to win handy against Kerry in 2004.

Seriously, just pay no attention to him.

grenache

Daysha wrote: »

I really wouldn't pay much attention to what that man says. He's basically the GAA version of Eamon Dunphy, deliberately shít stirring just for the attention and make a name for himself.

This same man said 2 years ago before the Dublin-Kerry semi that the Kingdom were a pathetic, finished team and expected the Dubs to coast home by 7-8 points (An article that was actually used by Kerry at half time in that match to inspire them).

This same man also expected Mayo to win handy against Kerry in 2004.

Seriously, just pay no attention to him.

Seriously though, how does he get air time? I've heard him spout sh*t before but just kind of ignored him but since i have a vested interest in this Limerick team, i feel i have to stand up for them against this kind of nonsense.

*Now that we're on the topic of spouting crap, what about Ray Silke in today's Examiner, where he came out with this beauty.......

"Is there any team in Leinster even remotely close to sticking with the likes of Tyrone, Kerry or Cork? I don't think so"

Yes there is Ray, they're called Dublin and they've got pretty close to both Kerry and Tyrone in recent years (2008 aside). The guy comes out with such stupendous sweeping statements!

yerayeah

Have to say Ray Silke could be spot on there, welll maybe Dublin might stick with them on a good day but they haven't got a prayer of beating one of them. Hayes seems to exaggerate an awful lot, what he saying about Kerry before the Dublin and Monaghan games carried a fair bit of truth but he went way over the top and just made himself a laughing stock imo...

John The Bad

"Is there any team in Leinster even remotely close to sticking with the likes of Tyrone, Kerry or Cork? I don't think so"

I think that's a fair question. Sunday's match didn't say much for Leinster football.

blackbelt

Listen just take what Liam Hayes says and then reverse it and you'll have a pretty good idea of what is really happening although I have to agree with him about his statement on Leinster football somewhat.

I don't think there is much hope of a Leinster team delivering Sam but I've always maintained that a Leinster team could take a major scalp at some stage in the championship.Longford beating Derry in 2006,Meath beating Tyrone in 2007 and Wexford beating Armagh last year spring to mind.Sometimes a game can just fall into a teams hands and if a Leinster team like Dublin,Kildare or Wexford have a good day when a northern team like Tyrone,Derry and maybe Cork are off par,they have a chance.As for winning the ultimate prize,it seems further away than before.

I'm getting off the point here though.Grenache,I understand your gripe but I'd be calling the salt factory when reading Hayes.Of course Hayes will lamblast Limerick.It will take his little mind off the terrible performance Meath produced against Dublin and he can have a pop at Limerick finally as in reference to putting down Limerick he is inadvertently having a pop at his own county.I think the fact that he singled out Limerick was a roundabout way of saying "well if Limerick are atrocious,then Meath are completely off the map".

As for the reference to Tipperary,well there is some substance to what he is saying.It is always nice to see a team (primarily a hurling county) make progress in the other code and the status of being a minnow will lead people to route for the underdog.I honestly think Limerick will make the Munster Final a very competitive one.They've been more of a small thorn in the side of Kerry than Cork.They've given Kerry some real tests in years gone by and they should have put Kerry away in the Munster Final in 2004 and they should have beaten Cork comfortably last year.:eek:

Cork are the favourites to get by Kerry this Saturday and rightly so in my opinion.Kerry are without Donaghy and Walsh.Thats "route 1" severely limited.Gooch seems to be struggling against the Cork backs in the early going and Kennelly is still fitting into the panel.This means Kerry will have to rely heavily upon Galvin,Declan O Sullivan and Gooch.Brosnan will have to be at the races.This match in Pairc Ui Chaoimh will also play into Corks hands.

It will be interesting to see.I think if Cork make the Munster Final,Limerick will have a real chance.It has been evident that once Cork get past Kerry in Munster,they struggle against weaker opposition.Examples of this are Sligo in 2007 and Kildare last year when they let those two teams back into it.

patmac

In fairness people are giving him a lot of stick just cos he's a Meath man, just look at his management record I mean leading Carlow to the Leinster Championship just like he said he would.
Oh wait....

Old_-_School

He also said Kerry's defeat of Monaghan in 2007 was their lowest point in 30 years.
So winning a 1/4 final game is more of a lowpoint than...
- losing to Cork by 15 points in 1990 and establishing the most barren run ever for Kerry in Munster
- losing to Clare in 1992
- losing to Meath by 15 points in 2001?

Dr Sinnott

Hayes’ is a fairly pathetic and bitter analyst with zero credibility. I don’t know why newstalk and the Sunday tribune pay him money for his crazy rantings. At least Dunphy can be entertaining at times. I regularly buy the tribune but never ever never ever read the ramblings of himself or Neil Francis.

As for his comments here, I don’t know how we will perform in the munster final but we are there on merit as we were better than Tip and Clare on the day. He, like many others, has been fooled into thinking that Tip had a far better league campaign than we did. On the face of they did. They got promoted, we got relegated but there was only four points in the difference in the table. That was after Tip got a last minute goal to beat us in Kilmallock. But for that the sides would have finished level on points. And of course coupled with the fact that Tip haven’t actually won a c’ship match since 2003 it can hardly be a major surprise that Limerick beat Tip. And in all fairness what football people outside of Tip and Limerick give a toss who wins between the two of them?

People go on about him being bitter towards Limerick cause of what they did to Meath last year. I personally think it might have more to do with the hiding they gave his Carlow side on their own ground back in 2005.

lukin

Erra take no notice of that idiot. When he played with Meath he used to write for the (now defunct) Sunday Press and won a few awards and it went straight to his head. He used to write even more garbage then than he does now (hard to believe I know).
He was extremely critical of Kerry for the last three years, he had a kind of Eamon Dunphy/Ronaldo, "everyone else says they are great but I say they are crap" kind of thing with them.
He knows very little about Gaelic football in reality (his failed stint as Carlow manager proved that). He regularly gets predictions spectacularly wrong (like in 2006 he predicted Mayo would easily account for Kerry in the AI final).
He knows nothing.

grenache

Well i agree with most of the comments here, he does seem to have it in for Munster counties in particular! His criticism of Kerry is pathetic. As for writing off Cork last week before Sundays game, Maybe he's still sore from the double beating they gave his Meath team in 89 and 90! If Limerick do lose the final, i would love nothing more than to draw Meath again in the qualifiers, give them another good pasting and shut this fool up.

grenache

John The Bad wrote: »

"Is there any team in Leinster even remotely close to sticking with the likes of Tyrone, Kerry or Cork? I don't think so"

I think that's a fair question. Sunday's match didn't say much for Leinster football.

cant judge a team on one championship match. to be fair to the Dubs, they have competed very well in recent years, getting within a couple of points of Kerry in their last two championship meetings. I think if they could make the breakthrough at all, they could win 2 or 3 All Irelands.

homerjay2005

liam hayes is a clueless ****. that is all.

John The Bad

grenache wrote: »

cant judge a team on one championship match. to be fair to the Dubs, they have competed very well in recent years, getting within a couple of points of Kerry in their last two championship meetings. I think if they could make the breakthrough at all, they could win 2 or 3 All Irelands.

I'm not judging them by one match, I'm going by last year also. No getting around that Tyrone game.

Colm R

I wouldn't be too worried about what that man says.

Limerick deserved to beat us last year, and nobody will deny that.

If Cork win, Limerick play us in Cork.

If Kerry win, its in the Gaelic Grounds. If I was a Limerick fan, I would be quietly hoping Kerry win on Saturday.

soccymonster

Nah, i personally hope cork trash kerry, never liked them for some reason?..
and we'd have a better chance of beating cork in my opinion...
limerick do have to change some tactics though if they ever have a chance to win like the short hand-passing.??

LeoB

Its pretty obvious to anyone that Liam Hayes is the Dunphy of G.A.A. or wants to be. Dunphy can be funny Hayes cant he is just a bit thick.

As for his comments about Leinster, I think Dublin can beat either Kerry or Tyrone. Dublin are not a bad side. Last Sunday was pure muck but in Fairness to Dublin the Tyrone game last year was the only bad beating they got in the Championship in a few years where you can say they were outclassed or didnt have the stomach for a dog fight.

If they did manage to win 1 All-Ireland they could very well win a few

grenache

Colm R wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about what that man says.

Limerick deserved to beat us last year, and nobody will deny that.

If Cork win, Limerick play us in Cork.

If Kerry win, its in the Gaelic Grounds. If I was a Limerick fan, I would be quietly hoping Kerry win on Saturday.

I really don't think the venue would matter, we'll bring as many fans down to Cork as we would have in the Gaelic Grounds. I'm hoping its Cork. We have at least beaten them in recent times in the championship, the Limerick players themselves would feel they would have a realistic chance of beating Cork. The players also don't have bad memories of Cork beating them in Munster Finals either. But with Kerry we just know, that no matter how well we play, they will do just enough to beat us, without even reaching 4th gear.

phil

The Dublin team that played last weekend barely resembles the team that lined out for most of the championship matches last year. Considering that, I've no idea how you can use previous years as a judge for this current side. What we have to go on is the league campaign and last Sunday. The jurys still out on this Dublin side definitely, but considering how many newcomers they have, that is to be expected.

Staying on topic ... I reckon Limerick definitely have a better chance against Cork. They aren't good enough to do to Kerry what Cork did last weekend, but a Cork match would suit them better even if it was away.

grenache

LeoB wrote: »

Its pretty obvious to anyone that Liam Hayes is the Dunphy of G.A.A. or wants to be. Dunphy can be funny Hayes cant he is just a bit thick.

As for his comments about Leinster, I think Dublin can beat either Kerry or Tyrone. Dublin are not a bad side. Last Sunday was pure muck but in Fairness to Dublin the Tyrone game last year was the only bad beating they got in the Championship in a few years where you can say they were outclassed or didnt have the stomach for a dog fight.

If they did manage to win 1 All-Ireland they could very well win a few

Exactly my thinking on the whole 'are Dublin good enough' debate. It was Ray Silke who made the comment about Leinster football though, not Liam Hayes - he only hates Munster teams