All-Ireland SHC 2011

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Predictions on who'll win...

spiralism

gonna really go out on a limb here and say Tipp... :pac:

seriously though, the SHC has turned into the SPL if anything. Only 2 teams can win it, as good as Galway are looking i cannot for the life of me see them dispatching Kilkenny and Tipp one after another(or vice versa), which would be the task they'd be looking at.

Kojak

spiralism wrote: »

the SHC has turned into the SPL if anything. Only 2 teams can win it, as good as Galway are looking i cannot for the life of me see them dispatching Kilkenny and Tipp one after another(or vice versa), which would be the task they'd be looking at.

The same could have been said a few years ago about KK and Cork being miles ahead of everyone else (including Tipp) and how no-one can compete with them. But Tipp, and to a lesser extend waterford closed the gap and were then able to beat both of them (moreso Cork than KK). I'm not suggesting that it won't be a KK Tipp AI final, but to suggets the SHC is like the SPL is stretching it - they haven't had a winner outside the old firm in a 1/4 of a century. I'd say in about 5 years (max) someone besides Tipp and KK will win Liam. That mightn't be much good if it was Cork, but any of the other teams would interest the neutrals.

As for this year, imo its Tipp's to loose. KK seem to be playing well but I think that Tipp have their number at this stage and seem to have improved on last year's AI. Galway, I think, will win against Waterford this weekend and have the potential to beat one of Tipp or KK, but not both.

mags85

I think it will be a mix of Tipp/KK/Galway. On a good day Galway have the beating of tipp/kk, they almost beat tipp last year in quarter final.

If tipp cant win i'd like to see Galway get it, but they are too inconsistent so hard to know.

Going on matches so far this year it looks to be Tipp vs KK though.

flahavaj

Tipp and KK to keep rasing the bar and for the third year running produce the greatest final ever, with Tipp coming out on top. I don't think even the KK backs can hold those forwards, whereas I think the Tipp backs are better equipped to handle Kilkenny's.

Skyrim

Curran and Cahill in the tipp backs have impressed me this year, i feel cahill is underrated but he does his job effectively. Paudie Maher has been in great form so far. I think tipp will win it, whatever it is about being all ireland champions but they look a lot better and have more confidence. As long as they don't get over-confident, but cummins,kelly and corbett won't stand for that so hopefully it won't happen. Roll on August 14th!

aidan24326

For Galway to win it we'd almost ceratainly have to beat Tipp AND Kilkenny. That's a tall order. It would mean a win sequence of Clare, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Tipp. No Galway team has ever done that. (I'm saying KK in the semi as I think Dublin will beat Limerick).

As others have said I could see us beating one or the other but both in succession is unlikely. It would be a great one to win though as it certainly could never be called a soft All-Ireland that's for sure.

For me a Tipp-KK final again is pretty likely. I think Tipp are an absolute certainty to be there and then it's just a matter of whether Gakway can take Kilkenny, which is possible (I'm not dismissing Waterford completely but I do think Galway will beat them)

At the moment Tipp look the most likely winners.

calvin_zola

aidan24326 wrote: »

For Galway to win it we'd almost ceratainly have to beat Tipp AND Kilkenny. That's a tall order. It would mean a win sequence of Clare, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Tipp. No Galway team has ever done that. (I'm saying KK in the semi as I think Dublin will beat Limerick).

As others have said I could see us beating one or the other but both in succession is unlikely. It would be a great one to win though as it certainly could never be called a soft All-Ireland that's for sure.

For me a Tipp-KK final again is pretty likely. I think Tipp are an absolute certainty to be there and then it's just a matter of whether Gakway can take Kilkenny, which is possible (I'm not dismissing Waterford completely but I do think Galway will beat them)

At the moment Tipp look the most likely winners.

Waterford will have something to say about that

Skyrim

If we keep the full squad fit and healthy i'd be very confident, i just hope the players don't get carried away given what happened last weekend, declan and tommy will do their best to keep them ground i just hope it's enough. Hope bonnar maher keeps up his form, he's in line for an all star but given the fact he's not stylish he'll probably be overlooked.

tomplaya

tipperary to retain the title

Shark7

Has to be Tipp. No team can live with their forwards and the backs are improving.

rosskind

Tipp.

evo20

Has to be a repeat of last years final, with Tipp to win.

Fergus_Nash

No it's going to be Kilkenny. They would have won it last year had Shefflin and either Brian Hogan or John Tennyson been fully fit. The Kilkenny forwards work extremely hard and will stop the Tipp backs from hitting the quality ball that rained down on the Waterford fullback line last weekend.

Also, as Cyril Farrell asked in the Independent on Saturday, if a better team than Clare were to start against Tipp like Clare did, how would Tipp reply? The final will be a repeat of the two classics we have had for the past two years with Kilkenny just edging it and I feel compelled to insert a cheesy cliché by saying that the real victors will be the viewers and spectators:P. I'm sorry for that.

By the way next week Galway will cruise past a downtrodden Deise while Dublin will power their way through a young Limerick side (can't wait for Kevin Downes and Declan Hannon in the future though).

That will leave the Dubs clashing with Tipperary and Galway against Kilkenny. Canning and co. have the firepower to trouble Kilkenny but their backs won't be able to cope with Shefflin and his colleagues. Tipp will quite simply outclass Dublin leaving us with an eagerly awaited rematch.

corny

Fergus_Nash wrote: »

No it's going to be Kilkenny. They would have won it last year had Shefflin and either Brian Hogan or John Tennyson been fully fit. The Kilkenny forwards work extremely hard and will stop the Tipp backs from hitting the quality ball that rained down on the Waterford fullback line last weekend.

Also, as Cyril Farrell asked in the Independent on Saturday, if a better team than Clare were to start against Tipp like Clare did, how would Tipp reply? The final will be a repeat of the two classics we have had for the past two years with Kilkenny just edging it and I feel compelled to insert a cheesy cliché by saying that the real victors will be the viewers and spectators:P. I'm sorry for that.

By the way next week Galway will cruise past a downtrodden Deise while Dublin will power their way through a young Limerick side (can't wait for Kevin Downes and Declan Hannon in the future though).

That will leave the Dubs clashing with Tipperary and Galway against Kilkenny. Canning and co. have the firepower to trouble Kilkenny but their backs won't be able to cope with Shefflin and his colleagues. Tipp will quite simply outclass Dublin leaving us with an eagerly awaited rematch.

I'd see it much the same except i think Waterford will ambush Galway this week.

Dublin to edge Limerick but lose decisively to Tipp. KK to win against Waterford (they'll put up a good showing though) and beat Tipp in the final.

aidan24326

calvin_zola wrote: »

Waterford will have something to say about that

I'm sure they will. Look I'm not suggesting for a second that Galway will beat Waterford easily. I'm around long enough to know better.

But on current form I think it's a game that Galway should win, and I think we will. Waterford's golden generation are now either retired or nearing the end, and as great a team as they were I think they missed the boat. They had their chances but maybe they were unlucky that their golden era coincided with an unbelievably good Kilkenny team.

Galway will beat Waterford on Sunday though I still think the All-Ireland is a toss-up between Tipp and Kilkenny.

Fraher91

Tipp to win, i'm sure they're sick of this crap that a fully fit shefflin and co would have made a difference, so sick of hearing that, that should be their motivation this year along with achieving two in a row.

DoctaDee

Tipp to win for me, toughest game will be their S/F against the Dubs

Oh and they have to right a few wrongs too ... there was a nice "rub" from Christy Heffernan in the Indo a few weeks back .. along the lines of a back door AI is a bit of a lesser achievement ... and KK have won all 32 "the proper way" ... lol

premierstone

DoctaDee wrote: »

Tipp to win for me, toughest game will be their S/F against the Dubs

Oh and they have to right a few wrongs too ... there was a nice "rub" from Christy Heffernan in the Indo a few weeks back .. along the lines of a back door AI is a bit of a lesser achievement ... and KK have won all 32 "the proper way" ... lol

It was a poor effort at trolling from Christy tbf, and if the Munster championship was as uncompetitive as the Leinster one was for so many years then there might be some credence to it. Every AI won is won the proper way, no mather what route is taken.

DoctaDee

premierstone wrote: »

It was a poor effort at trolling from Christy tbf, and if the Munster championship was as uncompetitive as the Leinster one was for so many years then there might be some credence to it. Every AI won is won the proper way, no mather what route is taken.

... ah yeah but ya know .. Munster and AI Champs beating KK in the final .. don't tell me that wont be stick better both sides of the divide than last years win :rolleyes:

premierstone

DoctaDee wrote: »

... ah yeah but ya know .. Munster and AI Champs beating KK in the final .. don't tell me that wont be stick better both sides of the divide than last years win :rolleyes:

No I actually think it would be very difficult to top last year it was very special indeed, the heartache of the year before, the 5 in a row, Tipp and KK it was just one of those magical, the first ever intercounty game I was at was the munster final replay in Kilarney in '87 and I never ever thought anything would come close to that but somehow last September actually eclipsed it imo, quite honestly whether we came in the back door, side door, the attic whatever it didnt take away one single bit from it.

DoctaDee

premierstone wrote: »

No I actually think it would be very difficult to top last year it was very special indeed, the heartache of the year before, the 5 in a row, Tipp and KK it was just one of those magical, the first ever intercounty game I was at was the munster final replay in Kilarney in '87 and I never ever thought anything would come close to that but somehow last September actually eclipsed it imo, quite honestly whether we came in the back door, side door, the attic whatever it didnt take away one single bit from it.

Yeah I know what yer saying .. funnily enough I had a conversation somewhat similar with a Tipp fella in work with regards to the '89 win v Antrim or '91 v Kilkenny. His take was it didn't matter who they beat in '89 as it shored the gap back to '71 so it was always the special one in his eyes.

Skyrim

The father is old enough to remember the times when tipp were at their height in the 50s and 60s, he maintains last year's win was the best of all, he believes this the best tipp team since the 60s a lot of his generation would have the 60s team as the best tipp team of all. He's a bit nervous this year though as tipp never win liam back to back.

flag123

Waterford could give it a fair shot in my opinion!

jive

I had Waterford down to beat Galway and Dublin to beat Limerick. I think Tipp and Kilkenny will win their semi finals with relative ease and I think the final will be a toss up. Tipp seem to be hotly fancied and they've been playing well but they haven't really been tested and won't be until the final which will give Kilkenny an advantage.

KK got beat by Dublin and they were a shambles that day. Waterford will do much much better against KK than they did against Tipp and will at least give Kilkenny a game. I fancy KK to win by around 7 all the same and Tipp to win by more than that against Dublin who are missing a couple, Keaney in particular is a big loss.

Has to be KK for me even though Tipp are looking in better shape at the minute. The final really is a toss up though and could come down to a bit of luck or a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions on the day. I think KK having Waterford (who IMO are superior to Dublin) in the semi final gives them an edge but it's anyones guess really.

I'd love to see a surprise in the semi's but I can't see it happening at all. Maybe Waterford will run KK close but I don't think they will and I see Dublin being whiped out of it but they've had a good year so maybe they can keep it going, fingers crossed they can anyway as I'd like to see one (or two ) of the big guns thrown out before the grand finale!

Mountainlad

I know it's unlikely, but if one of the underdogs wins I hope we don't have any pudits complaining about not getting the dream final.