AI Senior Hurling- Liam McCarthy Cup 2018

Bonniedog

Motion to throw Rearg Dearg out of Dublin hurling temporarily suspended.

Was great atmosphere. Think the suits might have called this one right. Bums on seats. Well only stripey bottoms yesterday as Dublin county pass holders were barred from stand. A few old boys still complaining about their backs.

Bonniedog

danganabu wrote: »

You are right, Im not sure how I missed that part of his original post..........mondays dont suit me, having a mare as they say :-)

Apologies Gentleman Off the Pitch

Not like Tipp hurlers to be drinking on a Monday morning.

danganabu

Bonniedog wrote: »

Not like Tipp hurlers to be drinking on a Monday morning.

I'm usually fine when Im drinking its when I stop that things get a little cloudy

nice_guy80

as I said, Cody was in their ear

Realt Dearg Sec

nice_guy80 wrote: »

as I said, Cody was in their ear

Why anyone would take your opinion on hurling seriously I'll never know. But rest assured nobody here does.

nice_guy80

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Why anyone would take your opinion on hurling seriously I'll never know. But rest assured nobody here does.

more hurling snobbery

eg Why wasn't Paul Murphy shown a card for a blatant strike with the hurley to the faceguard of a Dublin player after he was introduced?

Realt Dearg Sec

nice_guy80 wrote: »

more hurling snobbery

This coming from the lad who once told me that people from hurling counties shouldn't be allowed to comment on football.

nice_guy80

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

This coming from the lad who once told me that people from hurling counties shouldn't be allowed to comment on football.

really? seeing as I played and coach both sports I doubt I took that view
anyway, how are your county football team getting on?
Cavan even managed to develop a hurling team

Realt Dearg Sec

Anyway back in grown-up land, there's a bunch of really interesting fixtures this weekend. Be interesting to hear how people from the counties involved think it will go.

Wexford and Dublin will be really interesting, but probably awful on the eye. Hard to see how Dublin pick themselves up so quickly after last weekend, a match they were obviously targeting since the fixtures were announced. Be difficult for them away from home and their forwards will get plenty of it from the Wexford backs (Rushe looked very threatening though, but I think Davy has the reading of that type of player). I think Wexford to win by four.

Kilkenny V Offaly is hard to get too excited about. Offaly showed they have some strong hurlers with plenty of hunger when they shocked Dublin in the league (the only match of theirs I've seen in its entirety unfortunately), but looking at the Galway match highlights at the weekend it looks like the top teams just have an extra gear on them. Kilkenny struggled last week with a sweeper but Offaly looked a bit more naive of an outfit defending against Galway and I think Kilkenny (especially if they have Hogan back) will be too much for them. Kilkenny by six for me.

Cork V Clare...I just can't call this. It seems like it could go either way, really interested in people's view of this one, on paper it looks like it could be a cracker. I'm going to go for a draw in normal time just because I'm chickening out of making a prediction.

Limerick V Tipp, Limerick look to be a much improved side, Nap Players slotting in, promotion out of 1B...they're playing a more disciplined game than in years past. But just looking at it on paper and the kind of skill the Tipp lads have playing direct hurling, they are hard to beat any day for any team. I hope I'm wrong but Tipp by four.

billyhead

I agree with all of your results apart from the limerick game as I really fancy them to have a big impact this year on the championship starting with a win on Sunday. I would love them to win the Ai. Not only due to strong Limerick blood in me but they have possibly the best supporter's in the country whom are starved of success.

Realt Dearg Sec

billyhead wrote: »

I agree with all of your results apart from the limerick game as I really fancy them to have a big impact this year on the championship starting with a win on Sunday. I would love them to win the Ai. Not only due to strong Limerick blood in me but they have possibly the best supporter's in the country whom are starved of success.

I hope you're right, but they have promised and disappointed a lot in the past. I agree, would be great to see them win an AI, they were very much the permanent bridesmaid in the 90s and it is far too long of a famine at this stage for a hurling county to endure.

Mantis Toboggan

Very hard to know how Limerick - Tipp will go. Limerick have some serious young players coming through and I think they'll have a great chance to win the Mccarthy Cup over the next 2/3 years. Tipp have a lot of players coming back from injury and its not always easy to get upto championship pace right away. There was nothing between them in the league and with the game in the gaelic grounds I can see why alot of people fancy Limerick for this one. I just think the experience of the tipp lads will get them over the line by a point or two.

The munster championship has the potential to be fantastic, most games I'd make 50/50. Leinster seems alot more straightforward. I'd expect kk to win by 10 this weekend and wexford by 5.

lim4ev

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Very hard to know how Limerick - Tipp will go. Limerick have some serious young players coming through and I think they'll have a great chance to win the Mccarthy Cup over the next 2/3 years. Tipp have a lot of players coming back from injury and its not always easy to get upto championship pace right away. There was nothing between them in the league and with the game in the gaelic grounds I can see why alot of people fancy Limerick for this one. I just think the experience of the tipp lads will get them over the line by a point or two.

The munster championship has the potential to be fantastic, most games I'd make 50/50. Leinster seems alot more straightforward. I'd expect kk to win by 10 this weekend and wexford by 5.

Tyson you're correct re limericks young players even so you couldn't back against tipp as a limerick man it galls me to say it but traditionally you can't trust us however there seems to be something different about this crop so I think we've a chance the league was good for us and if it was to follow suit we'd be in a healthy position but I'm kind of nervous are our improvements real after seeing dub v Kk Sunday I think and hope they are. What I'd give to come out of Gaelic grounds Sunday with a win but if that can't be done a performance that suggests it's close might suffice so that'd we'd have hope for the next 3 games afterwards

MfMan

Certainly Cork/Clare is a hard one to call and its result may provide some insight into how Meyler is progressing with the Cork squad in the absence of Kingston. While the KK/Dub game may suggest that the league has no bearing on the c'ship, I still think to an extent that there's 'no smoke without fire', that Cork and Waterford have regressed a bit since last year; for this reason, I had tipped both not to emerge from Munster. On this basis I'll go for Clare on Sunday.

Lk/Tip is also hard to call and the home side will be razor keen to storm out of the blocks. Yet, if Galway were minding their business they would have done a number on them in Pearse stadium; similarly Clare really let the league quarter final slip away rather than Lk winning it. Tipp's explosive scoring potential should see them through.

KK should have enough in hand *at home* to beat Offaly, who have some good stickmen.

Wx/Dub is a bit of like meeting like; again, home advantage is big here, and Dublin don't look to have the resources to be without Keaney or any other first choice player at this level.

danganabu

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Anyway back in grown-up land, there's a bunch of really interesting fixtures this weekend. Be interesting to hear how people from the counties involved think it will go.

A lot of very worried people in Tipp about this game to be honest.

If Im perfectly honest myself I'm not overly worried and think we will win, maybe not comfortably but without much panic. If history has taught us anything is that Limerick are at their worst when expectations are high and Tipp are at thier best when the expectations have been lowered slightly.

Tipp have problems at full back, wing back and finding a settled mid field partner for Brendan Maher. But all are fixable imo, Barry has looked extremely vunrable but to be fair to him the cover in front of him has been poor and when Padraic Maher plays centre back Tipp look more exposed, Ronan should return there and Tipp look more solid when he plays at 6 and Padraic at 7. Barry to be fair has never let us down on the bigger days, last years Galway game a perfect example of where there were serious question marks being asked and he undoubtedly gave his best performance of the year. Flanagan looks really promising but also awful green he will need to be a lot more clinical than he was in the league semi, and indeed in the U21 game v Clare.

The second wing back spot is still a question mark with Barry Heffernan seemingly the man in possession of the jersey, I remain to be convinced to be honest and dont think he is aggressive enough or dominating enough, Paudie Feehan looked a real contender to me but seems to have fallen down the pecking order, Seamus Kennedy is woefully out of form and the only other viable option who I actually think would be the best is Joe ( Mouse) O'Dwyer but he has missed a lot of hurling through injury, I expect Heffernan to start and think Heggarty to get a lot of joy from him for the reasons above.

Who to partner Brendan is the other question mark and my prefernce would be Dan McCormack who woul dbe the perfect foil for Brendan, a bit like Eddie Enright used to do for Tommy Dunne - a classy hurler midfield is only as good as the lad beside him doing the heavey lifting if you like! Again the other options are Michael Breen, Seamus Keenedy and Noel MGrath, the former two are both out of form a good while and Noel is not the type of hurler needed, I much prefer Noel at centre forward dropping deep and pulling the centre back out of position or popping over points because the centre back holds the centre.

Overall I think there are far more question marks over Limerick and people are putting far too much stock into their league perfromance's, last week showed how futile that can be, but I will add that Kiely is definitely the right man for the job and has undoubtedly improved them, I just think the process may take another 14-24 months before they are at the top tier, I do however think they will qualify in the top 3 from Munster, which together with League promotion would be a good year for them.

P.S. I'm really getting giddy now about this 4 Munster Championship games in four weeks, back in the 70's/80's Tipp people had to wait 4 years for that and they all would be defeats!!

lim4ev

danganabu wrote: »

A lot of very worried people in Tipp about this game to be honest.

If Im perfectly honest myself I'm not overly worried and think we will win, maybe not comfortably but without much panic. If history has taught us anything is that Limerick are at their worst when expectations are high and Tipp are at thier best when the expectations have been lowered slightly.

Tipp have problems at full back, wing back and finding a settled mid field partner for Brendan Maher. But all are fixable imo, Barry has looked extremely vunrable but to be fair to him the cover in front of him has been poor and when Padraic Maher plays centre back Tipp look more exposed, Ronan should return there and Tipp look more solid when he plays at 6 and Padraic at 7. Barry to be fair has never let us down on the bigger days, last years Galway game a perfect example of where there were serious question marks being asked and he undoubtedly gave his best performance of the year. Flanagan looks really promising but also awful green he will need to be a lot more clinical than he was in the league semi, and indeed in the U21 game v Clare.

The second wing back spot is still a question mark with Barry Heffernan seemingly the man in possession of the jersey, I remain to be convinced to be honest and dont think he is aggressive enough or dominating enough, Paudie Feehan looked a real contender to me but seems to have fallen down the pecking order, Seamus Kennedy is woefully out of form and the only other viable option who I actually think would be the best is Joe ( Mouse) O'Dwyer but he has missed a lot of hurling through injury, I expect Heffernan to start and think Heggarty to get a lot of joy from him for the reasons above.

Who to partner Brendan is the other question mark and my prefernce would be Dan McCormack who woul dbe the perfect foil for Brendan, a bit like Eddie Enright used to do for Tommy Dunne - a classy hurler midfield is only as good as the lad beside him doing the heavey lifting if you like! Again the other options are Michael Breen, Seamus Keenedy and Noel MGrath, the former two are both out of form a good while and Noel is not the type of hurler needed, I much prefer Noel at centre forward dropping deep and pulling the centre back out of position or popping over points because the centre back holds the centre.

Overall I think there are far more question marks over Limerick and people are putting far too much stock into their league perfromance's, last week showed how futile that can be, but I will add that Kiely is definitely the right man for the job and has undoubtedly improved them, I just think the process may take another 14-24 months before they are at the top tier, I do however think they will qualify in the top 3 from Munster, which together with League promotion would be a good year for them.

P.S. I'm really getting giddy now about this 4 Munster Championship games in four weeks, back in the 70's/80's Tipp people had to wait 4 years for that and they all would be defeats!!

Re your comments on Limerick I think they were fair you'd have to back tipp but if league form follows to championship we have a chance really hope we put in a performance a bad beating might not be recoverable for the next 3 matches after this game. Like you I can't wait

castletownman

Can see Wexford-Dublin being dour enough for long stretches, but expect Wexford to eventually pull away down the home stretch on familiar ground.

Keaney is a big loss for Dublin, and while Rushe cut KK to ribbons the last day, I had forecasted that when I seen the line-up as I don't think KK's backs have improved commensurate to how the team as a whole have improved. Still vulnerable when directly ran at and haven't found a settled number 3.

Thinking about it, many of the "top-tier" counties have problems at full-back, but thankfully I think Wexford are fine in that area with Liam Ryan quietly becoming one of the best in the game in that position. He should have the physical strength to curb Rushe's directness. The sweeper should help here too.

At the other end, Crummy is one of the most under-rated wing-backs in the game (consistently among Dublin's best performers each day), and is coming into the game on the back of a MOTM award the last day. He has the height and ball-winning capability to completely nullify the aerial threat of Jack O'Connor, who was targeted from Wexford puck-outs for long chunks of the league. On that basis, I wouldn't start JOC as I feel he doesn't offer enough from general play if he doesn't have his tail up catching ball.

The route-one approach has traditionally been an Achilles heel for Wexford (and was last year versus Kilkenny in the Leinster semi), but perhaps the fact that Dublin have resorted to that tactic, and called a 35-year old out of retirement to be a key cog in it, points at them lacking the fire power up front otherwise. Maybe I have my purple and gold tinted glasses on here, but I feel the athleticism of Lee Chin, Rory O'Connor, Kevin Foley and Dee O'Keeffe should see the home team get the job done after a slog-fest.

C__MC

I don’t understand the GAA logic in relegating Offaly or Dublin-
Serves no purpose for them in joe mc donagh cup?

Mantis Toboggan

C__MC wrote: »

I don’t understand the GAA logic in relegating Offaly or Dublin-
Serves no purpose for them in joe mc donagh cup?

Well you could say the same about the top teams in the Joe McDonagh. There needs to be the possibility of promotion to provide incentive.

I do think though a better system would be for the two bottom group teams to play off in a relegation play off, with the loser then taking on the winner of the Joe McDonagh for a place in the championship.

Worst case scenario the team gets relegated and if they're good enough they'll win the Joe McDonagh and they'll be back in an all Ireland quarter final.

Bonniedog

C__MC wrote: »

I don’t understand the GAA logic in relegating Offaly or Dublin-
Serves no purpose for them in joe mc donagh cup?

Adds a bit of spark to the whole thing. Cody was going about it on Sunday, but it's not as if he is going to be losing sleep over ourselves or Offaly being relegated!

It is better system than weaker teams trotting out for embarrassing hidings. Whoever wins McDonagh deserves to get a chance.

Joe_ Public

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Well you could say the same about the top teams in the Joe McDonagh. There needs to be the possibility of promotion to provide incentive.

I do think though a better system would be for the two bottom group teams to play off in a relegation play off, with the loser then taking on the winner of the Joe McDonagh for a place in the championship.

Worst case scenario the team gets relegated and if they're good enough they'll win the Joe McDonagh and they'll be back in an all Ireland quarter final.

I actually tend to agree with Brian Cody on this. Munster should be included in the relegation process (and not just if Kerry were to win the secondary tier). Not any team in Leinsters fault they dont have the balls to break up the provincial system.

Bonniedog

Point about Munster teams given an extra chance, two in fact!, as made by Duighnan and Cody is good one.


Be some crack if Kerry do win it. We'll hear the traditionists then.

Laois are fked but probably still be "Leinster" team. Counties that don't have competitive hurling should not have a vote on hurling.

danganabu

Bonniedog wrote: »

Point about Munster teams given an extra chance, two in fact!, as made by Duighnan and Cody is good one.


Be some crack if Kerry do win it. We'll hear the traditionists then.

Laois are fked but probably still be "Leinster" team. Counties that don't have competitive hurling should not have a vote on hurling.

Duignan and Cody are certainly right and the assumption that the last team in Munster will definitely be stronger than the Leinster equivilant while based on solid evidence is over stepping the mark, and if they are always going to be stronger let them prove it on the field.

Nothing againt the others but I hope Kerry do aswell just to see the shi* storm is causes and highlight the ludicrousness of the entire structure.

I totally get what you are saying about non hurling counties and the idea that despite a substantial majority of the Liam McCarthy teams being against the new structure we are stuck with it, but the suggestion than non competitive counties should have no vote would be extremely divisive and hard to implement - my proposal and I actually proposed it at a County Convention and it was not accepted to be put to congress, was that the voting should be weighted depending on the tier the county competes at - I have a feeling if I propose it again it might get the neccessary support considering what happened at last years congress.

nice_guy80

Bonniedog wrote: »

Adds a bit of spark to the whole thing. Cody was going about it on Sunday, but it's not as if he is going to be losing sleep over ourselves or Offaly being relegated!

It is better system than weaker teams trotting out for embarrassing hidings. Whoever wins McDonagh deserves to get a chance.

a decade ago Westmeath were beating Dublin. they should have beaten Offaly last year
they don't get enough chances to play the top teams

Bonniedog

In 2006 Congress voted not to allow Dublin be promoted after winning 11 straight games in Division 2. Did same to Louth footballers. It was people from hurling counties that pointed out the absurdity of it. But still did same to Westies the next year, and Carlow I think in CR.


Westmeath, Dublin, Laois, Antrim have been closest rivals for 30/40 years. No Dublin hurling person going to be claiming any sort of privilege over anyone. If we go down, then so be it. Such it life.

nice_guy80

Traditional counties are like that- it's all about promoting the game etc
But once the apple cart and status quo is threatened they circle the wagons
E.g. minor games getting precedent over the Christy Ring finals (Sean Kelly had them on before the AI semi finals) when he was in charge)
I remember bringing an underage team down to a tournament a few years back and a Kilkenny club were disgusted a club from a non hurling stronghold could beat them.
Same with a club from limerick at another tournament

Realt Dearg Sec

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Traditional counties are like that- it's all about promoting the game etc
But once the apple cart and status quo is threatened they circle the wagons
E.g. minor games getting precedent over the Christy Ring finals (Sean Kelly had them on before the AI semi finals) when he was in charge)
I remember bringing an underage team down to a tournament a few years back and a Kilkenny club were disgusted a club from a non hurling stronghold could beat them.
Same with a club from limerick at another tournament

What?! They didn't like losing? And to a team they might have expected to beat? Well Jesus they must have been awful people altogether. They should have been delighted.

Anyway what has your anecdote got to do with the price of spuds?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Gentleman Off The Pitch

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

What?! They didn't like losing? And to a team they might have expected to beat? Well Jesus they must have been awful people altogether. They should have been delighted.

Anyway what has your anecdote got to do with the price of spuds?

I'm astonished that he gave a Kilkenny club as an example...

PTH2009

The real summer starts this weekend with Munster starting but it doesn't feel the same with this new structure

Waterford not out til next week and I'm already nervous about our chances for this summer. We're not the same team we were the last 2 years and we had a terrible league

Mantis Toboggan

PTH2009 wrote: »

The real summer starts this weekend with Munster starting but it doesn't feel the same with this new structure

Waterford not out til next week and I'm already nervous about our chances for this summer. We're not the same team we were the last 2 years and we had a terrible league

Think it's a bit early to be writing off Waterfords chances, they're notoriously slow starters and don't put much heed into the league. Losing home advantage is a negative even if the field doesn't suit. Fancy Austin to have a big year and they won't be far away.

dastardly00

The build-up to that Tipp goal demonstrates why hurling is the best sport in the world!!

dastardly00

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Think it's a bit early to be writing off Waterfords chances

You do realise it was PTH2009 who was being pessimistic about Waterford

Mantis Toboggan

How many frees does seamus hickey need to give away to get a yellow card. 4 fouls, no card.

Ompala

You would be very worried as a Tipp person watching this....

Blondie919

Tyson Fury wrote: »

How many frees does seamus hickey need to give away to get a yellow card. 4 fouls, no card.

And yet John McGrath gets a yellow for one.

shauna17

Score line way too close for my liking think it’s going be a tight match till the end

dastardly00

Blondie919 wrote: »

And yet John McGrath gets a yellow for one.

I don't think any of Hickey's fouls involved giving an opposition player a dig in the ribs

4Ad

Brutal game..

tayto lover

Very poor game with lots of bad misses.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

MfMan

Lk a mile the better team but killing themselves big time with loose play. How many scores have they conceded through silly passing, mishandling or overcarrying?

Mokuba

Referee is a complete joke.

The White Feather

Ref waving play on after a serious injury. WTF?!!!

BoJack Horseman

Mokuba wrote: »

Referee is a complete joke.

some ale gut the little fella

dastardly00

Blow for Limerick losing full-back Hickey

KevIRL

No score since the goal. Get the feeling the next score is huge

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

The White Feather

Clear foul on the Tipp player there

LuckyGent88

James Owens having a mare.