Cork GAA Discussion Thread

Cannot understand Denis Walsh at all !!! What goes through his head as a manager??

Just watched Padraic Maher pick up motm v Ballygunner on tg4. He was basically left unmarked for the vast majority of the game and he absolutely cleaned up. At times Ballygunner looked as if they were down go 14. The mind boggles. I would have put a man on him whose only job was to mark him. Or tried Crowding their half back line to limit their effectiveness. He decides to give him free reign?? Anyone else watch it and understand his logic?

danganabu wrote: »

They obviously felt that going man for man with the Thurles forward line and turning it into a shoot out would have been worse, the result will make this look like a mistake but to be fair there is definitely a logic to it. The problem with doing that is that the Thurles backs include three all stars and two other county players all of whom are very versatile so Thurles pretty much get to decide who the free man is.

TBF it very nearly worked and only for a few uncharacteristic free misses and a couple of goalkeeping errors they could have won, obviously we have no idea what would have happened if they went more orthodox but there is no guarantee the result would have been different, if you leave Aiden McCormack, Pa Bourke, Richie Ruth, Lar Corbett etc man for man in a shootout you are asking for trouble.

I think their best player and defender was Maher. Surely having a different player free would have been more advantageous, or no player at all. I also think if they didn't make an absolute mess of the pen, Thurles would have won by more.


It will be interesting if any other team think its a good idea to leave Maher free. Going toe to toe might be the only way to beat them. They are a serious team and I don't think they played as well as they could the last day.

danganabu wrote: »

But Thurles have the luxury of choosing which of their players is free because of the quality of their backs, the alternative is to pick a forward to mark a back and follow him at all costs, Lar Corbett tried that once and was rightfully ridiculed for it.

Agree with Thurles been better than last Sunday but the big fear is their lack of grafters and dirty ball winners in the forwards when space is at a premium, they have never replaced Redser O'Grady in that regard.

But Lar Corbett is a foward. Playing a more defensive type player on Maher would have worked. Don't think Lar has a defensive bone in his body, bad choice by the manager in that game.

For Thurles, playing on good pitches will help with their lack of dirty ball winners in the team, if they have a lack of them. Winter hurling on a tight, muddy pitch is a great leveller and the need for grafters is great. But playing on a dry sod helps to keep the ball moving.

They were worthy winners and I think they will beat Ballyea although that is in Cusack park.



Looking forward to see how the Glen get on. They have been poor in Munster but I've a feeling they might get a result v patrickswell. As glen teams go, I think they are average. I grew up watching some serious glen teams, that did not get the success of the current one due to the Far superior standard of club hurling back then. But they have a bit more experience now, and if Horgan keeps scoring, particularly his frees, they have a good chance of a win, but the Munster winner will come from the other semi I think, Thurles probably.

Great result for the glen. An interesting pairing for the final.