Match Thread - Limerick v Clare All Ireland Hurling Semi Final

The_Kew_Tour

PWEI wrote: »

The same supporters who didn't get behind their team today? I was shocked at how quiet the Limerick support was today.
They outnumbered Clare at least 2 to 1 but it was as if it was the other way around. They never got behind their team & even when Niall Moran tried to get the crowd going they didn't react. The song "sing when you're winning" springs to mind.

ah well in fairness what had they to shout about...wides?

Browney7

Drico wrote: »

The Limerick fans are more paralysed by continuous failure than the team. It was similar in the Munster final - a huge crowd, but the tension was palpable.

Put simply, Limerick people are neurotic from their hurling team's repeated inability to win on the big day when it really matters.

This. I watch the games through my fingers and usually wait for them to get beat. I usually dont believe we've won until the sunday game is over at 11 oclock that night.We don't know what to do when we win.

Rightwing

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

ah well in fairness what had they to shout about...wides?

Exactly,,,,shout when someone misses a sideline cut ,,,twice? :rolleyes:

Rightwing

Browney7 wrote: »

This. I watch the games through my fingers and usually wait for them to get beat. I usually dont believe we've won until the sunday game is over at 11 oclock that night.We don't know what to do when we win.

I think Limerick are great supporters,,,,all the disappointments,,,the heartbreak, and we still turn up in huge numbers full of belief and optimism.

Amprodude

Rightwing wrote: »

Exactly,,,,shout when someone misses a sideline cut ,,,twice? :rolleyes:

Shocking stuff alright.

The_Kew_Tour

Rightwing wrote: »

Exactly,,,,shout when someone misses a sideline cut ,,,twice? :rolleyes:

When I saw that I really just thought to myself this aint Limericks day.

PWEI

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

ah well in fairness what had they to shout about...wides?

Well if they had shouted their team on it might have given them the lift they needed & after that who knows. Don't care what anyone says, having your supporters get behind you does help & can spur a team on. The crowd have to play their part also & you'd have never got Cork fans (for EG) going quiet like the Limerick supporters did today.

Rightwing

PWEI wrote: »

Well if they had shouted their team on it might have given them the lift they needed & after that who knows. Don't care what anyone says, having your supporters get behind you does help & can spur a team on. The crowd have to play their part also & you'd have never got Cork fans (for EG) going quiet like the Limerick supporters did today.

Cork fans were very quiet in the munster final ? :rolleyes:

awec

The Limerick fans were very noisy at the start of the game and the start of the second half when the mini-resurgence appeared to be happening.

But they got quiet when it was evident their team wasn't performing at all.

InchicoreDude

Clare was wonderful today. It was a pleasure to see some of the points they scored. Their quality of hurling was far far superior to Limerick's. Ryan's free taking was as good as you will ever see. Where ever the free was, it didnt matter to him. Podge Collins was lively and really gave McNamara a torrid time. I was very disappointed with Conlon though. Thought he did well in first 10 minutes but wasnt surprised when he went off. I am a big fan of him as a player but today things didnt go his way at all. Did he pick up a knock I wonder? This is a big thing to say but is Tony Kelly gonna be the Henry Shefflin of the next 10 years? His performance today suggests he could be.

I think the forwards in this Clare team usually get all the plaudits. However, today, your full back line were absolutely superb. Their determination to be first out to the ball was brilliant to see. I dont think they are getting enough credit at all. Hannon & Tobin were both taken off which is a reflection on just how strong they were.

For Limerick, I would have taken Hannon off frees after 3rd miss. However, despite the missed frees, I still feel Clare were just the better team today and would probably have gone on to win.

Browney7

PWEI wrote: »

Well if they had shouted their team on it might have given them the lift they needed & after that who knows. Don't care what anyone says, having your supporters get behind you does help & can spur a team on. The crowd have to play their part also & you'd have never got Cork fans (for EG) going quiet like the Limerick supporters did today.

After half time when we put up two scores the hill got behind them. It seemed every time we got a head of steam up Clare scored a point from another parish or else we hit a morale sapping wide. The team have to give the fans something to get behind them.

For a county that has won jack sh1t for years we've an amazing support. Consistently more supporters in Munster championship than Waterford and Clare. Fat lot of good it did. It probably inspired Clare to be honest

The_Kew_Tour

awec wrote: »

The Limerick fans were very noisy at the start of the game and the start of the second half when the mini-resurgence appeared to be happening.

But they got quiet when it was evident their team wasn't performing at all.

True,

thats like any fans though in GAA.

mitresize5

Proud Limerick man but a city boy so rugby/football are my thing, having said that keep an eye on the hurlers/GAA every summer and was caught up in the excitment of the last few weeks and was really looking forward to this match as Im living in Clare

Im not going to comment on the match as to be honest I dont know enough about the game

What I will comment on though is some of the digraceful comments over the previous pages on this thread, words like 'lacking courage', 'bottling it', 'no fight'. 'disgraceful' etc .....

The same contributors were probably on the pitch crying like babies a few weeks back after bridging a gap of 17 years.

Spare a thought tonight for the likes of Declan Hannon who probably wont sleep for a week and will be tormented for years, Niall Moran who knows he'll probably never get another chance after all these years and Seamus Hickey who looks to be facing a long rehab .....

Its easy though to say these boys lack courage from behind an anon keyboard.

awec

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

True,

thats like any fans though in GAA.

For sure. As much as it's up to the fans to lift the players it's also up to the players to lift the fans.

Royal Legend

mitresize5 wrote: »

Proud Limerick man but a city boy so rugby/football are my thing, having said that keep an eye on the hurlers/GAA every summer and was caught up in the excitment of the last few weeks and was really looking forward to this match as Im living in Clare

Im not going to comment on the match as to be honest I dont know enough about the game

What I will comment on though is some of the digraceful comments over the previous pages on this thread, words like 'lacking courage', 'bottling it', 'no fight'. 'disgraceful' etc .....

The same contributors were probably on the pitch crying like babies a few weeks back after bridging a gap of 17 years.

Spare a thought tonight for the likes of Declan Hannon who probably wont sleep for a week and will be tormented for years, Niall Moran who knows he'll probably never get another chance after all these years and Seamus Hickey who looks to be facing a long rehab .....

Its easy though to say these boys lack courage from behind an anon keyboard.

Well said.

InchicoreDude

awec wrote: »

For sure. As much as it's up to the fans to lift the players it's also up to the players to lift the fans.

Fans will nearly always react to what is happening on the pitch.

The only time I have seen fans support a losing team in a major way was at the Euros when Ireland were being mauled by Spain. And as some people noted, why should you be singing when you are losing?

Royal Legend

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Fans will nearly always react to what is happening on the pitch.

The only time I have seen fans support a losing team in a major way was at the Euros when Ireland were being mauled by Spain. And as some people noted, why should you be singing when you are losing?

Istanbul 2005

Drico

mitresize5 wrote: »

What I will comment on though is some of the digraceful comments over the previous pages on this thread, words like 'lacking courage', 'bottling it', 'no fight'. 'disgraceful' etc .....

I really don't get this point at all. People are discussing the game. In sport, professional as well as amateur, sportsmen and women, being human beings, sometimes find the occasion too much for them. Call it "lack of bottle", "lack of courage", "inexperience", or plain old "****ting it", but it happens.

Was it "disgraceful"? No, not at all. However, it's a terrible thing to happen to a sportsperson on the big day. It's usually too much to recover from on the day when it hits, but it happens.

Today, that happened some of the Limerick players. In any analysis of the game, that has to be mentioned. When you get the glory for the wins, you must accept the criticism in defeat - especially if you haven't done yourself justice.

Declan Hannon didn't do himself justice today. The occasion was, seemingly, too big for him. It's inexperience. In all likelihood, he'll come back a stronger player. But, for today, it debilitated his performance and that of his team.

To make that point is to analyse the match as fairly as possible. If people don't want their performances analysed, I'd suggest they avoid high-profile sports.

angelfire9

Cannot express how happy I am this evening
I'll do my analysis in the morning

Drico

And just to be clear, the mental side of sport is as much a factor as the physical. Sometimes people or teams just don't show up. It happens.

I make no bones about it as a Limerickman. We didn't show up today and Declan Hannon, unfortunately, was as affected as most.

That's a sporting tragedy for him, not something that you could feel anything other than sadness for him over.

If people are abusing him over that, then I think they need to take a look in the mirror. However, people are entitled to consider the mental side of the game when raking over the coals of this one, and Limerick most certainly had a dose of big game nerves.

They - and Hannon - may well get over that and will chalk this one up to bitter experience. On the other hand, they may never recover if it's a part of their make-up.

It's part of what makes sport utterly human and sometimes morbidly fascinating.

Irishman99

Rightwing wrote: »

I think Limerick are great supporters,,,,all the disappointments,,,the heartbreak, and we still turn up in huge numbers full of belief and optimism.

Totally agree. Limerick fans always have great belief and hope, mostly as underdogs! Favourite tag never suited us but we will be back and every Limerick person still believes that we can get that 'Big Win'! Our day will come, hopefully sooner rather than later. :cool:

InchicoreDude

Drico wrote: »

And just to be clear, the mental side of sport is as much a factor as the physical. Sometimes people or teams just don't show up. It happens.

I make no bones about it as a Limerickman. We didn't show up today and Declan Hannon, unfortunately, was as affected as most.

That's a sporting tragedy for him, not something that you could feel anything other than sadness for him over.

If people are abusing him over that, then I think they need to take a look in the mirror. However, people are entitled to consider the mental side of the game when raking over the coals of this one, and Limerick most certainly had a dose of big game nerves.

They - and Hannon - may well get over that and will chalk this one up to bitter experience. On the other hand, they may never recover if it's a part of their make-up.

It's part of what makes sport utterly human and sometimes morbidly fascinating.

Every free taker has their good days and their bad days. Today, Hannon had a bad day and Ryan had a good day. I am sure Ryan has had bad days on the frees too in the past. Hopefully, today will just make Hannon even more determined to come back stronger. Sometimes, it is days like today that makes a player a better player.

shawnee

Yeah Declan is only a young fellow and will shine in time. However sideline should have acted quicker , that's their job

SAXA

Neutral here from Galway. Watch Mulcathy effort in first 5 minutes was it a penalty? Was Clare goal a free out . Honan pushed Limerick back into goal to get touch ? Huge decisions that set the tone of game. Allowed clare team build a lead and not have to change tactics. Overall Clare better team but scores build confidence

Dampintheattic

SAXA wrote: »

Neutral here from Galway. Watch Mulcathy effort in first 5 minutes was it a penalty? Was Clare goal a free out . Honan pushed Limerick back into goal to get touch ? Huge decisions that set the tone of game. Allowed clare team build a lead and not have to change tactics. Overall Clare better team but scores build confidence

Neutral????

Pandiani

Mountainlad wrote: »

and also you see the facilities in a place like UL now with the all weather pitch and would think that can only be good news for development squads and indeed for the college/QUOTE]

Just a comment on this Mountainlad, nothing to do with the match, the new all weather pitch is actually in Co Clare and Clare did the bulk of their training there in the Spring not Limerick. I saw them training there many nights early in the year.

angelfire9

Tis the morning after the night before and I'm a happy woman
I think the people here who said Clare's U21 experience in Croke park wouldn't stand to them were very very wrong

The Clare lads were firing on all cylinders the "occasion" didn't get to them, the pitch in croker is as different from the Gaelic grounds as you could find and the limerick lads seemed to freeze

The crowd were good natured, the banner were out numbered two to one but we made ourselves heard with every point and after 25mins the limerick crowd went to sleep

Allen seemed to panic limerick used all their subs and I think only one was forced by injury
Hannon should have been switched earlier 10 wides in the first half did limerick no favours

The hype and the favourite tag can't have helped limerick
Three all Ireland songs on limerick fm last week... THREE! Bit cheeky :rolleyes:
Of course it suits Fitz to be an underdog so I'm not complaining

So that's ^^ where limerick went wrong

Clare played like a team obsessed very few wides, Ryan was excellent Kelly was inspired, Podge played a blinder, the goalie saved a very important chance at goal for limerick
Everything came together for Clare and fell apart for limerick

Great to see a game without red cards though the limerick no.22 came close at the end

I don't think Clare will fear Cork, hopefully the U21 panel gets through next Saturday without injuries and we are set for a cracker on September 8th

Mountainlad

Pandiani wrote: »

Just a comment on this Mountainlad, nothing to do with the match, the new all weather pitch is actually in Co Clare and Clare did the bulk of their training there in the Spring not Limerick. I saw them training there many nights early in the year.

Is the University technically in Clare?

G2ECE

The recently built sports campus is on the Clare side but the main campus is in Limerick, there are a few bridges joining it up.

Clarehobo

Mountainlad wrote: »

Is the University technically in Clare?

No - but parts of the campus are over the river in Clare.


At the match yesterday: to be honest I felt sorry for the Limerick fans. From where I was sitting they easily outnumbered us 3:1. They travelled, they believed in their team.

But God I was overjoyed when the final whistle went! I had gotten up yesterday morning adamant that we could do it, but I thought it would be tighter than it was.
We have all had days like Limerick had yesterday: nothing went right for them. The Clare lads didn't even have to look and they scored.

Clare are constantly improving. They are learning something new with every game and Davy seems to have some unreal ability to put strategies in place.
I think Davy's passion will be his undoing on the sidelines - he needs to start learning a bit of control. It is great to have someone with so much passion managing our county, but a lot of people don't like him as a result and it won't endear us to match officials.

I am going to enjoy this win for the next 3 weeks and worry about Cork on the day.
I thought last week that whoever got through would give Cork a walkover, but I am slowly starting to believe that these boys have it in them...