Limerick GAA Discussion Part 2

PeggyShippen

Reidy is a disappointment. Lots of buzzing around with no real incision. He looks weak enough physically. Id have to agree with everything said about Cathal O Neill. Great talent and all but he's low in confidence. He got put on his arse yesterday and threw the ball up without looking.. wexford scored off it..he under hit an easy pass aswell and just didn't impress. Morrissey if he isn't totally up for it can be brutal. Himself and Gillane will be grand. Over all it just shows how much the starting guys are ahead. Like Hayes is an enormous loss as is the steady influence and passing game of Donal O Donovan. So no need to get concerned at all but the subs are an issue ...Boylan ,Ryan , Reidy all not pushing on . Oisin O Rielly did try hard when he came on...no success though. There's no one yo replace Peter Casey . It's definately not Pat Ryan...hes shockingly rash with his shots..striking is poor. He's like a man under pressure...He's been told 'Pat there's a place there ,go get it ,nail it down'. He was taken off the last 2 games...loads of possession..absolutely zero end product .

billyhead

Will Adam English not get a run out in the league. He's another serious talent. Agree about Cathal O'Neill. He gave the ball away a number of times and was ineffective throughout. Hopefully he kicks on from here. He has the ability.

Iecrawfc

It takes a while to get up to the speed and physicality required for senior inter county, As CON is hurling junior probably takes a little longer again, thats ok he has plenty of time and talent, could do with coming off the bench a few times so pressure is not as great.

I think we'll struggle to replace Peter Casey easily, Graeme Mul, Pat Ryan, Dave Reidy i would class as impact finishers so unless Darren O'Connell, Adam English or Paddy O' Donovan step up quickly it might need some outside thinking from Kiely to solve that particular conumdrum, certainly outside the 17 players we're about the same as any other county in terms of talent, all this talk of strength in depth is only that, talk.

lim4ev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118597841#Comment_118597841

couldn't agree more if for nothing else yesterday might undo this crazy talk that we have a huge panel of players good enough to start we don't but in fairness we have serious options. o Neill needs time not many would be shooting the lights out at 19 or 20 yrs of age. wouldn't be worrying one bit but would like the likes of pat Ryan more relaxed on the ball. Breen and d Dempsey if fit for me would be better options on panel than some of them already there

billyhead

Conor Boylan is another option of the bench. Hopefully Casey will be back to play some part in the Championship.

PeggyShippen

Boylan hasn't scored in his last 2 starts at wing forward for UCC. He doesn't score heavily even when he's playing great.

C4000

Very poor performance yesterday. Cork were sharper in all aspects of the game and Limerick have a serious job to do to reverse the form when they meet again on Easter Sunday.

I think the management will be looking for a reaction next week and I'd expect a strong, if not full strength, team to be picked.

Looking ahead to championship, it will be important to get our strongest possible 15 on the pitch. Outside of Hegarty, Gillane and, in the last couple of matches, Cathal O'Neill, the forwards are struggling badly. Tom Morrissey is working hard but things are not falling for him at the moment.

None of the other forwards that have been tried have done enough to win a starting place in the championship team...eg Boylan, Ryan, Reidy, O'Connell. Mulcahy has been a fantastic servant, but hasn't had the same impact on matches over the last 18 months or so.

Richie English looks very sharp and back to his best. I would start him at 4. Despite Kyle Hayes' spectacular contributions from wing back over the last couple of years, I would give serious consideration to reverting him to the half forward line for now.

As no one has made a convincing case to get the 15 jersey, I would start Cian Lynch there and give him license to drift out the field, in a similar role to what we have seen from Tony Kelly at times.

The other option is to pitch Adam English in but I think its a year too early.

If I had to pick a championship team now it would be:

Quaid

Finn Morrissey English

Byrnes Hannon Nash

O'Donoghue O'Donovan

Hegarty Hayes O'Neill

Gillane Flanagan Lynch

Forward Subs: Mulcahy, Morrissey, Ryan, English, Reidy

Back/Midfield Subs: Costello, Coughlan, O'Loughlin, Hanley, O'Grady.

lim4ev

not much interest on here recently a chastening performance yesterday I didn't expect to win considering both teams that were selected but they ripped us apart at ease.

all and all not overly worried some of the guys that started yesterday will do a job for 10 minutes or so but won't start need to get our first 15-20 potential starters right if we do we'll still be formidable I just hope the hunger isn't fading I genuinely don't believe it is.

cork upped the physical stakes yesterday and good luck to them they needed to some of the challenges were a bit reckless it's a physical game hopefully we'll be a different team when we meet them again

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118707670#Comment_118707670

It's 16 to 20 I'm starting to worry about. Not sure we have a Dowling or Casey to pull off the bench anymore. Our regular full backs looked good last night despite the score but outside themselves and Gillane we were off the pace big time.

billyhead

Don't worry Kiely will have them performing to their capability come championship time.

billyhead

LMK

Limerick not clicking together so far and I believe that's a good thing I'd be more concerned if they were humming at this time of the year,

It's obvious the back ups aren't as good as they look when they are coming on with the games already won, still Cathal O' Neill is the real deal & Ritchie English is back.. Brian O' Grady & Adam English look as if they can perform at this level, I feel as if Colin Coughlan will figure it out too..

It seems as if the puck out tactic of landing down on top of the half forwards is saved until we have Morrissey Lynch & Hegarty on the field,

It's a big ask to do 3 AI's back to back but I'm looking forward to the attempt they'll make at it.

lim4ev

I agree guys I think that beating yesterday could turn out to be a good thing I tell you one thing pairc ui chaoimh on April 17 won't be a place for the faint hearted plus it'll be a sell out

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118711702#Comment_118711702

It's gonna be pretty rough. Cork will be all out again to get players sent off with fouling and diving.

The second Gillane came on they were out to start a fight with him and I'm getting pretty sick of umpires standing around doing nothing about it. Their official role really needs upgrading.

windy shepard henderson

an awfull echo around the place here at the moment , do any of ye use this any more ?

or are ye all just pulling a big john kiely and pretending ye dont care about this time of year 🤣

Tommysocks11

Hopefully we are training hard and not forcusing on hurling yet because we look well off the pace during the league so hopefully things start coming together for us for Easter Sunday in cork, suppose its fierce hard to maintain high quality all year round and league is only league but we do look sluggish and my discipline is poor

moby2101

Like JC we will rise on Easter Sunday 😎

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118743346#Comment_118743346

What's to say really? The way the league runs into the Championship this year makes it a weird year for all the teams. You need to be hitting some serious form in April to avoid being knocked out early such is the competitiveness of Munster, whereas in Leinster we all know it'll (almost certainly) be Kilkenny, Wexford and Galway going through.

Limerick, afaik, have changed their team the most week on week in the league, which means it's hard to build consistency and also shows Kiely knows our depth isn't as good as we'd like it to be. Very few of the lads given their chances have really seized them though. If we'd started with the same 14 from the AI final (allowing for Peter Casey's injury) each week we'd probably be better placed to win the league (though who knows, form appears to be way off for a few of them) but we'd be no nearer to building a competitive squad for the Championship.

I called it wrong last year (I thought we looked shot in the league and blamed the late AI the previous year) so I don't pretend to have any great insight into how we'll go in 5 weeks time. I never fancy our chances away to Cork or away to Clare tbh, but a lifetime of hurt has taught me to be a pessimist when it comes to Limerick hurling. I can see us losing at home to Waterford too (who've run us close a few times over the past 4 years....)

As for the relative lack of players coming through, if you were to compile the Fitzgibbon team sheets for Mary I, UL and TUS, you'd be surprised how few players from Limerick made the panels. Anyone who watches Limerick closely knows this is our golden generation, we may never see a Limerick team this good again. I certainly don't think we'll be seeing another Cian Lynch for about 20 years (which seems to be about how often Limerick produces one true hurling genius. I'm not a historian of the game but Lynch now, Carey in the 90's, Cregan in the 70's and Mackey in the 30's?).

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118707658#Comment_118707658

I suspect you're very close to calling the big moves Kiely will make alright, think his hand is being forced to some degree.

I'm really hoping Mike Casey can be fully fit for April though, think he is (or was) a super player.

lim4ev

we do seem to be struggling just hoping the sole focus is on Easter Sunday and I believe it is if we win down there we'll take stopping lose and then we're struggling in a way it might not be a bad thing at all for us kind of **** or get off the pan type of scenario. I think we have options now with English looking like he's back to his best plus m casey is fully fit we could move some players around plus cathal o Neill is a major plus adam English is going to be very good but needs another year probably but could do something for us for 10 or 15 minutes this yr. all in all I think we will be fine

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118748691#Comment_118748691

No point looking at college teams as a marker for any county. It could be possible in any given year that there are more Limerick fellas in NUIG or UCC than in UL and same goes for every county. Ard Scoil are in the All Ireland final which is good for both Limerick and Clare who have a few lads there too.

PeggyShippen

I do like the idea of getting Nash on the ball more at wingback. English is playing very well (iv reservations over his distribution and decisions on the ball).

The problem with moving Hayes up is that 1. He doesnt eally want to play there. 2. His scoring stats are way off..shooting is atrocious for the last year. Technically poor. If it did work then yeah what a move.

Iv an issue with the full forward line. Flanagan should be taking on his man more rather than running away from goal for the 'over the shoulder' shot.

2 very tough games at the start of the Munster Championship. Cork away and I think Waterford will want to hole Limericks ship below the waterline.

It's very hard to question Kiely and Kinnerk . They've always timed their run perfectly but judging on what we've seen so far Limerick will be fighting for 3rd place with Tipp and Clare. And thats ok too. The team don't owe anyone anything.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118755190#Comment_118755190

Where has Hayes been shooting from the last year. I doubt many wing backs have amazing returns

PeggyShippen

Well Kyle hasn't scored in a long time. I think its the Munster final of last year. The all Ireland Final..I think he had 4 wides.. 3 bad ones. This year he hasn't scored. He had one shocking effort off his back foot ,head up as he hit the ball. He gave himself no chance..

It's an easy fix. He's a great passer of the ball from distance. He does it on his front foot ,head down for the strike. He just needs to be told to do the exact same thing when shooting. Even the best if players need abit of coaching.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758651#Comment_118758651

How many games has he played for Limerick this year. I can only remember the one but maybe it was 2 as the Galway and Cork games blend together a bit.

High bike

There was nothing wrong with his shooting in the 2018 final,form is temporary class is permanent

Iecrawfc

I actually think Kyle can do more damage from wing back attacking through the middle than up in the half forward line, i think Barry Nash would do a good job at centre forward, a different threat to Cian, could even alternate with him in the roving Casey role...I'm sure he hasnt lost the forward instincts since minor/u21, you get the feeling the forward line needs an injection of something.

The league this year is very hard to guage, so close to the championship with 4 high intensity games in a few weeks...cetainly Limerick have timed it to perfection in the last few year so won't judge them yet,

C4000

A satisfactory performance yesterday in a game that bore little or no resemblance to what Limerick will face in the Munster championship.

The biggest positive was the return of Mike Casey. He didn't look anything like a man who had missed two years of action and slotted back in seamlessly. He's a real defensive craftsman and hopefully gets a clear run at it now.

Mulcahy and Gillane were sharp up front and Barry Nash was excellent. Gillane's tendency to drop his hurley was back on display, three times he ended up on the ball with no hurley! There were several frees awarded for illegal handpasses in the match. Some of the Limerick ones were very sloppy and there's no excuse for getting blown for it given how much it has been highlighted.

I don't entirely agree with the idea repeated by many pundits that Limerick had no interest in the league and weren't really trying to win matches. While it obviously wasn't the number one priority and there was a lot of experimentation, I don't think management would have been happy with some of the performances, particularly being 14 points down to Cork at half time.

I thought there was lots of physicality and workrate on display throughout the campaign. What was missing was sharpness, touch and fluency. Plenty of misplaced passes and bad wides etc. They looked a lot sharper yesterday, albeit against overmatched opposition.

There was a family from Offaly sitting a couple of rows down from me. If they were at this match, they probably were at all Offaly's games. It's tough going when you're in against teams that are at a much higher level and where you have no realistic chance of winning....it takes serious dedication to keep following your team in those circumstances.

Roll on Easter Sunday.

breezy1985

After beating Laois away on Saturday the other results in Div 3 went the way Limerick needed them to.

Promotion is in their own hands now and a win at home is needed with 3rd and 4th playing each other.

breezy1985

Great day for the footballers today. Promotion and div 3 final booked and even better we get to play the Dubs next year.