AI Senior Hurling- Liam McCarthy Cup 2018

Speakerboxx wrote: »

100 % . you hit the nail on the head there. He was usually frustrated when he lost with Clare but he was smug and happy after the game the last day. Wexford should give him the boot fast.

Was thinking the same thing watching Davy, when asked about Wexford he kept bringing it back to Clare and got in the dig about 'his style' of hurling they were playing with the little smirk. He's brought Wexford back a bit from Liam Dunnes time imo, apart from their exuberance in the league. That game did Clare no favours at all I reckon Galway will beat them in 2nd gear. Hope I'm wrong but can't see them living with Galways physicality.

A Galway Limerick final is on the cards for me, hard to see Cork overturning them based on form, aside from the Ennis game. One area Limerick could get caught is their discipline, they've been playing on the edge lately and another ref may have sent them down to 14 yesterday. And Cork always seem to have the ref on their side too.

What a game yesterday though, Limerick showed real spirit. And they will certainly trouble Galway if they carry that form to croker. Thought kk were a bit naive at times and could have been a bit cuter with fouls when Limerick were in control. Ironically they seem to be too clean for their own good this year, they seem to be giving away less frees than their opponents.

Twas an awful pity there wasn't a double header. I think Wexford would have travelled and it could have been a full house with a proper atmosphere, those are the days that kids remember.

terryrogers wrote: »

Thought kk were a bit naive at times and could have been a bit cuter with fouls when Limerick were in control. Ironically they seem to be too clean for their own good this year, they seem to be giving away less frees than their opponents.

They weren't naive when it came to pulling the hurley out of an opponent's hand.
I counted at least 5 times where Paddy Deegan yanked Aaron Gillane's hurley off him. Would have been funny if it wasn't so obvious. Neither ref nor linesman seemed to cop it, bar one free given near the Kinane Stand in the first half.
Of course when Deegan wasn't pulling Gillane's hurley, he was digging him with his own hurley - he was a very lucky boy to stay on the field.

Bonniedog wrote: »

Eir showed the 1994 final between Offaly and Limerick this morning. Amazing finish. Offaly had 11 point turnaround in last 6 minutes!

Most noticeable thing about the game was that defenders never tried to burst out through tackles. They took a step back and fired it over their shoulder. There were lots of big tough men on both sides but you can see from them that none of them were probably doing gym time.

Beginning of the high intensity training and emphasis on physicality was Wexford under Griffin and Limerick once again were the bridesmaids.

I would have thought loughnanes Clare were the first real super fit and athletic team from that era.

Bonniedog wrote: »

Good point. Had overlooked them.

Amazing to recall how long it took Kilkenny to cope with the new type of game. Of course when they did, they became the masters of the more physical approach.

I think the semi final loss to us in 01 really drove them on from there

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Garbage comment

:rolleyes:

Clareman wrote: »

I'm loving the old matches on Eir, total surprise when I flick over. The biggest change (besides fitness) is the size of the hurleys, j@ysus they were long thin things back in the day

Was thinking that myself this morning! I still have one from around that time, before in fact, and is an awkward oul yoke. Some of the skills were as good as anything you would see now, and some of the misses you would have to put down to the stick and sliothar. Great to see likes of Carey and the Dooleys, Pilkingtons and Frankie Carroll again. Carroll played at some level with Garryspillane until recently enough I think?

Great idea by Eir but I can't find any schedule that tells you when they are showing the games.

Makes sense, the game is about ball control and possession now instead of ground hurling, same reason the bas is bigger I suppose.

I remember around the turn of the century and a little later the Cork players started showing up with bigger bas hurls (hurleys to the southern lads), and more of a heel on them. The O'Connors in particular.

Would people still think of the hurls as differing a bit regionally like they used to? It was common enough back then even to refer to a "Kilkenny style" hurl and a "Cork style" one. I suppose to some extent that's gone now.

Clareman wrote: »

In my day* you'd stand up and have a 28", 30", 32" hurley next to you and whichever was closest to the hip you got, you always got the slightly bigger 1 cause sure you'd grow into it. I remember in training once being drilled about shortening the grip and how you didn't need a long swing to have a long puck, I asked why we didn't just have a shorter hurley then, the trainer couldn't answer it. Back then training often involved lines of 3 across the pitch where the lad on the middle had to pull on the ball to keep it as it was passed by the guys at the end, had to use both sides of course.




*Yes, I am old

We did the same thing (I am also old). When I went back to hurling (in the noughties) the manager of the junior team realised that given a lot of players couldn't get ball into hand easily it would be worthwhile to try and improve the ground hurling so that if a ball was loose you could always pull on it. So he had us doing the old ground hurling drill you describe. All men in their twenties doing it, but we were catastrophic at it. It's just not a skill players are cultivated to do anymore. But it's such a handy skill in a match where the players' skill levels are a bit low. Not much of a loss from the game at a higher level, though, too much hit and hope stuff in the game back in the old days for my liking, and ground hurling was a big part of the problem.

Game has certainly evolved. It is a long way from great backs like Sylvie belting the ball up the field without anything other than hope that Lynskey or Cooney would beat their man assuming it came their direction, to the way Tommy Walsh used to take a second and try to pick out a man. Old games are great to watch but much better game now I think.

I must be very old but I'd still maintain there's room for the odd bit of ground hurling in the modern game!!

I says wrote: »

Refs would have a heart attack if ya went into the pack of players trying to rise the ball and ya ploughed in like a thundering hoare swinging the hurl wildly pulling on the first thing that moves.
As the old saying went if it moved pull on it and if it doesn’t pull anyways.
Ground hurling or doubling on the ball would nearly get ya sent off now for dangerous play.

Sure you cant pull the ball when its thrown in by the ref nowadays

I see it with the young lads underage. They're so used to the ball pinging about in the all weather that when they pull on a ball on the grass, they look at it as if something is wrong that it only went 10 feet!

I says wrote: »

Refs would have a heart attack if ya went into the pack of players trying to rise the ball and ya ploughed in like a thundering hoare swinging the hurl wildly pulling on the first thing that moves.
As the old saying went if it moved pull on it and if it doesn’t pull anyways.
Ground hurling or doubling on the ball would nearly get ya sent off now for dangerous play.

There were some particularly bad examples of that when Cuala played Mellowes. Callaghan and at least one Mellowes player were booked for pulling on the ball Should be easy enough to see if a player is genuinely playing the ball and pulling late or high to cause injury.


Another thing that jumped out from the 1994 final was amount of lads with gashes to the head. None of them were wearing helmets, so even though I gave up when they became mandatory - not from any Rock like machismo but because I just couldn't get used to the heat and restricted vision - they are a good idea.

Anyone remember when lads started to wear them? I have vague memories of some Kilkenny players including perhaps Keher who was regular target for head shots, wearing them in the 70s. I know that some Dublin players did, including the great Joey Towell a prolific goal scorer who was constant target of assassins at club and county.