Cork GAA Discussion Thread

Corcaigh Abu1

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Is there any reason why the Cork team/squad is practically identical to last year's squad? Are they hoping other teams magically turn crap or something? There needs to be new blood.

Exactly. Not one newcomer got a run out today. Same panel year in year out. And with the loss today it will mean pressure on to win next games so we might not see any new players next time either.
Is it just me or do people reckon Shane o Neill struggles with rising the sliothar. It can be 50 50 whether he gets it into the hand first time or not. It's a thing I've noticed with him over the last few years. Again today at times he needed the second effort to lift the ball cleanly.

Horse84

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Is there any reason why the Cork team/squad is practically identical to last year's squad? Are they hoping other teams magically turn crap or something? There needs to be new blood.

Yea definitely. He said he was going to give youth a chance but no it's just the same old same old. I alluded to it before Kingston got the job but there was a danger there that the older guys would be too comfortable with him. This was a team that needed a serious shakeup, fellas needed to know they weren't guaranteed their place anymore.

zetecescort

new blood sure but its not like Kingston can throw in lads with a few underage All Irelands. not until we start having success at underage will our seniors improve, whether that's in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

the way Kerry are going we will be the worst team in Munster soon

zetecescort

new blood sure but its not like Kingston can throw in lads with a few underage All Irelands. not until we start having success at underage will our seniors improve, whether that's in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

the way Kerry are going we will be the worst team in Munster soon

Andre 3000

zetecescort wrote: »

new blood sure but its not like Kingston can throw in lads with a few underage All Irelands. not until we start having success at underage will our seniors improve, whether that's in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

the way Kerry are going we will be the worst team in Munster soon

Certainly has worked for the likes of Waterford and Galway who's underage success has been decent but nothing like Clare and Limerick. I mean you know things are extremely f*cked when Cahalane still gets a game. He is a brutal hurler. Paul Haughney was well deserving of a start today. Conor Twomey of Newtown not even on the panel. Anthony Spillane a lad who can feel hard done by too.

zetecescort

but that's just it, Cork teams haven't even had decent success underage. How long is it since our minors were in Croke Park? I kniw its straight knock out but the u-21s haven't had a run of games in years too.

Rebel norrie

Cork backs terrible today. No leaders No passion. I know it's only Feb. But looking at de 2 matches on TV today we are miles behind.

BobBobBobBob

Lovely day up in Salthill, good atmosphere on the Prom!

Cork were poor today, Galway looked like they would score whenever they got the ball into the forward line. We won hardly no breaking ball and gave a lot of possession to their sweeper especially in the second half. I think we would be far better playing 15 on 15? Surely there are better players than Cahalane??

Well done Galway!

commonsense.

Andre 3000 wrote:

Is there any reason why the Cork team/squad is practically identical to last year's squad? Are they hoping other teams magically turn crap or something? There needs to be new blood.

Yes there is. The Cork system of developing hurlers as devised and fine tuned by Frank Murphy produces hurlers that are not capable of playing at the highest level. Kieran Kingston's panel is as good as there is out there.

Andre 3000

Lads where the hell is Rob O Shea btw?

Corcaigh Abu1

BobBobBobBob wrote: »

Lovely day up in Salthill, good atmosphere on the Prom!

Cork were poor today, Galway looked like they would score whenever they got the ball into the forward line. We won hardly no breaking ball and gave a lot of possession to their sweeper especially in the second half. I think we would be far better playing 15 on 15? Surely there are better players than Cahalane??

Well done Galway!

calahane wasn't the worst today. He even chipped in with a point. He done better than Walsh, who made one fine catch but other than that was poor

commonsense.

Andre 3000 wrote:

Certainly has worked for the likes of Waterford and Galway who's underage success has been decent but nothing like Clare and Limerick. I mean you know things are extremely f*cked when Cahalane still gets a game. He is a brutal hurler. Paul Haughney was well deserving of a start today. Conor Twomey of Newtown not even on the panel. Anthony Spillane a lad who can feel hard done by too.

Cahalane was one of the very few Cork players today who's performance approached acceptable. He's an easy target for anonymous hurlers on the ditch hiding behind keyboards. Any player who gives the kind of commitment these guys do for the Red jersey deserve better than "you know things are extremely f*cked when Cahalane still gets a game. He is a brutal hurler". Cheap cheap comment.

Regarding Conor Twomey and Anto Spillane, yes they are unlucky not to be in the panel but you could replace 10 or 15 guys with 10 or 15 others and it would make no difference to the panels strength. As I said above, our system no longer produces enough players capable of playing at the highest level.[/quote]

Figsy32

commonsense. wrote: »

Regarding Conor Twomey and Anto Spillane, yes they are unlucky not to be in the panel but you could replace 10 or 15 guys with 10 or 15 others and it would make no difference to the panels strength. As I said above, our system no longer produces enough players capable of playing at the highest level.

That's exactly it. We have so many players of the same standard who are just short of good enough for this level.

It's easy to say throw in the kids but we've barely won a game at minor or 21 level in the last 4 or 5 years. The three best prospects in this period (Sweetnam, O'Callaghan and Mikey Cahalane) are all not available for a variety of reasons. I don't see many people knocking down the door at club level. The one lad I noticed at club level this year is on the panel now and that's Will Leahy. I think the Glen lads can feel a little hard done by but I really don't think they're appreciably better than what's there unfortunately.

Comparisons to Waterford are crazy. We simply don't have anybody the quality of Glesson, Curran and the Bennetts. It was well flagged that these lads were going to be excellent hurlers, they haven't exactly come out of nowhere.

Orizio

You know lads weren't actually paying attention when they are giving **** to our best defender - Cahalane - who has basically turned into the new Timmy Mac. Getting **** regardless of what he does.

Anyway it's the same old same old. Defence with little to no speed, two corner backs hurled off the pitch, half back line neither marking men or helping the full back line, half forward line can't win ball and the full forward line offering zero goal threat. Giving the ball to O'Farrell near the sideline is a waste, no speed to beat anyone and can't point from tight angles.

And most of all, god awful distribution. Ten yard passes going to people's feet. Five year hand passes going to people's feet. Long range passes going to unmarked Galway half backs.

Andre 3000

Cahalane never was and never will be our best defender. I'm glad to see he had a token one good game. The man is a liability with a hurl end of story.

Orizio

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Cahalane never was and never will be our best defender. I'm glad to see he had a token one good game. The man is a liability with a hurl end of story.

He played well in a number of games last year, but he doesn't look like a 'hurler' and unfortunately that is all you need in Cork to be damned.

BobBobBobBob

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Cahalane never was and never will be our best defender. I'm glad to see he had a token one good game. The man is a liability with a hurl end of story.

Well said kiiiid!

Corcaigh Abu1

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Cahalane never was and never will be our best defender. I'm glad to see he had a token one good game. The man is a liability with a hurl end of story.

Very unfair comment. Calahane is becoming the Timmy Mac of this team. Most good hurling people can see what he offers. Apart from one occasion when he failed to rise the ball first time and one bad pass near the end he put in a solid shift. A lot better than the other backs.

McDonnell went down to rise the ball on one occasion and only came up with a sod of turf from Pearse Stadium. O neill the same. Egan hit aimless ball even when he was unmarked and Walsh looks headless out there. Calahane had a solid year last year so at least we can see the upward curve in his performance over the seasons. the rest however seem to be regressing.

Andre 3000

Timmy Mac actually had decent skill, always was honest and worked extremely hard as part of a unit. Cahalane is a headless chicken with extremely limited hurling ability. He's only on the hurling team based on name alone. Worthy of his place on the football team but shouldn't even be on the intermediate hurling team.

Corcaigh Abu1

Timmy Mac was a work horse. Great at getting the ball from rucks, taking on his man drawing fouls etc. But by no means would u say he was a skillful player. My point is he got unfair criticism constantly from cork 'fans' but was vital to that teams success. these same 'fans' have now turned their sights on Calahane. Any mistake he makes is highlighted and he has become the scapegoat for this. the facts of the matter are that he was played in a position (FB) that did not suit him and took him a while to get into the groove of senior inter county hurling.
Last year he was solid and was one of our better defenders in that hammering against galway and again yesterday. Dropping Calahane is not the answer to corks woes. The lad is strong and brave and can hurl. He is proving that he is developing as a player with each game as he has been a lot better since his first disastrous few outings. This unfortunately cannot be said for other players who escape criticism and have shown no clear sign of progress but are still on the panel after numerous chances.

N20

Corcaigh Abu1 wrote: »

Timmy Mac was a work horse. Great at getting the ball from rucks, taking on his man drawing fouls etc. But by no means would u say he was a skillful player. My point is he got unfair criticism constantly from cork 'fans' but was vital to that teams success. these same 'fans' have now turned their sights on Calahane. Any mistake he makes is highlighted and he has become the scapegoat for this. the facts of the matter are that he was played in a position (FB) that did not suit him and took him a while to get into the groove of senior inter county hurling.
Last year he was solid and was one of our better defenders in that hammering against galway and again yesterday. Dropping Calahane is not the answer to corks woes. The lad is strong and brave and can hurl. He is proving that he is developing as a player with each game as he has been a lot better since his first disastrous few outings. This unfortunately cannot be said for other players who escape criticism and have shown no clear sign of progress but are still on the panel after numerous chances.

Im inclined to agree - not the most polished hurler but hard working, physical, fit and commited. Im happy enough with him either half back, or perhaps midfield, given whats available to Cork at the moment

One of our most skilful hurlers was the lad id have replaced first yesterday and that was Paidi - lost at 11, great on breaking ball and scored a lovely point but a more physical more agressive player needed- ideally Harnedy

Begs the question with his brother a selector, will he always be getting the benefit of the doubt ? - thought Cadogan very unlucky to be called ashore ahead of him

Corcaigh Abu1

Yeah I agree. Paidi is lost at centre forward. He seems to me like a luxury we can't afford. Maybe in certain games like v Clare where those games seem to be very open paidi can make an impact. But he won't do in a dog fight.. Which we will see v Waterford in the next game.

I know it's early days but Waterford seem to have made more progress over the winter. They were hunting kk in packs and gave them no time on the ball. Haven't seen many games where kk didn't create a real goal chance. Galway however cut through our defence way to easy for that goal and should off had another. We need serious training with the backs. When they did produce some nice passing to work the ball up the field our forwards couldn't capitlize on it.
Without Harnedy now for the next day we will struggle big time. Leahy should be given a run to stenghten us up a bit. What do people think of trying Walsh at centre forward if harnedy is out. At least he will be another puck out option.

TheNap

Is Shane Kingston on the Cork hurling panel this year ?

MfMan

For all the despondency around Leeside about the latest result, youse were playing a fast, fluid team on their home sod on a good pitch. KK (and maybe Waterford) may be defensively more solid than Galway and Tipp', but the latter 2 have way the better sets of forwards. For all their dominance, Galway were never completely home and dry last Sunday until the final few minutes; Cork may have their weaknesses in defence but I don't think Waterford have quite the forwards (or approach) to exploit them fully and Cork are fluid enough on their own to trouble the Deise at home at the weekend. PPs odds of 11/8 for a Cork win is a pretty good bet IMHO, as are Tipp' to win in Nowlan Park. Dublin may have their moments in Parnell park, but are genuinely useless overall, and Cork should at least finish ahead of them in the league and be capable of overcoming them in the Croker fixture. Where is the KK game fixed for? If at home, then Cork are also well-capable of winning it, if they have enough self-belief. Think a win over Tipp' is out of reach for the moment though...

Figsy32

TheNap wrote: »

Is Shane Kingston on the Cork hurling panel this year ?

Doing the Leaving Cert so not on it at the moment anyway.

Orizio

How many will get relegated to 1B? Thank **** for Ger Cunningham and Dublin if only one team goes down.

limmyhulk

who d'ya think will win harty now?

N20

limmyhulk wrote: »

who d'ya think will win harty now?

Id like to see Templemore win it - a team built from scratch from local lads and their clubs

Who do you think yourself ?

And the Hogan Cup - who do you think will win that ?

Id reckon either KilKenny CBS, St Kierans or maybe Templemore

cul beag

Any thoughts on the game next Saturday night? I am really looking forward to it as the games between us are normally close and exciting. If Harnedy is out that is a big blow for ye he is an exceptional player. From our perspective I would be interested to see will ye go with a sweeper system or stick to the traditional system like JBM and how ye try to stop our running type game.

Orizio

cul beag wrote: »

Any thoughts on the game next Saturday night? I am really looking forward to it as the games between us are normally close and exciting. If Harnedy is out that is a big blow for ye he is an exceptional player. From our perspective I would be interested to see will ye go with a sweeper system or stick to the traditional system like JBM and how ye try to stop our running type game.

Look like we played three men at midfield the last day but don't think Egan was a sweeper like Ellis was last year. Lehane will surely play if fit; otherwise probably will be the same team.