Mod note Post #1 - All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2022 (Liam McCarthy Cup)

This championship has the makings of being something special or crazy or both. I dont buy the talk that Tipp or Clare are both going to struggle this year, I feel 1 of them will make it out of Munster.

Now Cork could beat Limerick, Limerick could beat Waterford, Waterford could beat Cork and all 3 end up on 6 points each, but momentum is a big thing, venue is a big thing, schedule is a big thing, there more to this than some people think!

Iv looked at the Munster championship fixtures and can see some real difficulties for Waterford, Cork and Limerick based on everything going on; schedule, form, fixtures etc. I havnt looked at Leinster yet. But in Munstre, by taking a negative view of what might happen to the 3 favourite teams here individually, its very easy see how things may fall apart for one of them.

Tipp have Clare and Cork at home, two winnable matches. They also face Limerick after Limerick have played Waterford and Cork. Limerick could be on their knees by then.

Clare have basically 1 away game, 1 neutral and their final two games are at home. They have a good record in Ennis.

Looking at how things can fall apart for the other 3.

1. Limerick - coming in off a very poor league run, with low scoring, low goal scoring, poor discipline and poor results, have to head down the road to Cork for the 1st round. A Cork side who have grown over the winter and many have much better placed now to beat us. They trounced us a few weeks ago and will want to make the most of their only home game. Let say Cork win that. What do Limerick face next? Waterford. All be it in the Gaelic Grounds, we face a side some have labelled as having the best squad in the country. It is very possible that after 2 rounds, Limerick will have lost two. And will face having to beat both Tipp and Clare to advance. People might say they would be nailed on to do that, but in the context of a bad league plus 2 more losses in Munster one after the other, doubts would be there that Limerick could do this. At that stage, the desire might be outweighed by doubt. A trip to Ennis, or a talented Tipp team with blood in their nostrils isn't an easy prospect. One more slip up, even a draw and we're out.
2. Cork, facing Waterford in a league final, where a good performance is a necessity only have a short period to prepare for Limerick. Lets say Limerick go down and beat them in the first round of the Championship. Many believe winning your home games is necessary to advance. Losing one makes things very difficult. Cork only have 1 home game. They then have Clare in a neutral venue. A ridiculous situation. Clare nearly knocked them out last year. Even if they get over that, they then face Waterford again in Walsh Park. Cork could very easily find themselves 3 games in and only 1 win. Last round, Tipp in Thurles to get through. Not easy.
3. Waterford, like Cork, have a short turn around from league to Championship. Built up to the hilt, they have some injury concerns and will carry the expectation of the county into this year. They have flopped recently with this expectation. Against Clare in last years Munster qf and against Limerick in the AI sf where many had them as best placed to actually beat Limerick. Lets say they lose that game, which is absolutely possible, they then face Limerick away and then Cork come at them, it could be all over very quickly for them. Even if they win round 1, it is very possible that they go into the final round with only 1 win and a long trip to Ennis to make it out. All it takes is a Tipp ambush when Waterford will be under the most pressure and at their most confident, or a dogged Clare in Ennis. A dangerous place to be. So even with a rd 1 win, things dont get easier for Waterford, they get harder.

Tipp and Clare face each other in round two. Whoever wins that then has a chance. Tipp with a home win under their belt get a crack at Limerick knowing they have Cork at home. Cork at home in Tipp is winnable no matter what the year. Clare beat Tipp, they have an away win under their belts, next match is neutral and then 2 final matches at home, in Ennis which is a tough spot especially when not taken as seriously as needed, knowing 1 win there may be enough to get through.

By Round 2 of 5 Limerick will have played Cork and Waterford. By Round 4 of 5 Cork and Waterford will have played. 1 of these teams can very possibly be on 0 points and basically out of the running leaving a place open for Tipp or Clare. With the way the fixtures have presented themselves, I can definitely see Waterford, Cork or Limerick basically being knocked out by just playing eachother, possibly by round 3 of 5 with Clare or Tipp ready to deal the final blow when the damage has been done. So even if we have 3, in my mind, no so clear favourites to get out of Munster, the fixture layout has evened up proceedings greatly.

Just my thoughts on it. Its going to be great.

The 6th place team in Leinster will be relegated. Munster has no direct relegation fear. A compromise solution sees everyone gain something.

the only thing definite in the munster championship is there's nothing definite. Nothing!!

I would say its 100% certain that if Kerry won Joe they would be allowed straight in as no.6 after a bit of public pressure.

That's a strange take on previous post. No body is looking for a free taking competition but throwing of the ball is a blight on the game at present and if refs properly clamped down on it for the first two weeks of championship, players will be more inclined to show a definite strike of the hand.

Gotta disagree with you there on every point.

Cork have a tougher route out of Munster than Waterford and Limerick. 1 home game, AI champions in just 2 weeks, right after a league final. Waterford and Tipp away last day with both possibly fighting for a place in the 3. Of the 3 favs Id have them most likely to lose out if you held a gun to my head.

I also think Tipp are probably being given too little respect this year which makes them a dangerous unknown. Waterford and Cork being built up without having won anything...until today. Tipp will probably put out a team with 10 to 12 All Ireland winners starting, of which at a guess 6 will be two time winners! Clare and Tipp are being written off based on league form which is a foolish thing to do, but Tipp having Clare at home edges them as more liekly to make it out.

That Cork performance gives me the feintest hope that we (Tipp) could sneak out in 3rd place. Still a massively long shot and I'd have us being beaten very handily by Waterford and Limerick, but if we could sneak a win against Clare (who I think are better than us too) then it would probably come down to the final day vs Cork (who while better have zero fight in them when they are up against it).

4 points is typically good enough, SD dependant.

Well enjoy today and save the worrying for another.

I get where youre coming from but thats not workable for the simple reason that when push comes to shove, the rules set will not be followed through on if one of the top 5 Munster teams finds themselves in 6th spot in Munster. And honestly, I wouldnt want them to be followed through on if that was the case because we'd all be the worst for it.

It would be suicide for the championship to allow any of the top 9 teams be let slip out of the championship at a time when we are scrambling to lift other teams up to their level. To push one established team down would be madness.

To finish 6th in Leinster as an established top 9 team, you need to not only be worse than your 3 main competitors, but you then also have to be worse than two lower level teams also. There's an in build insulation in that structure. You have 3 goes at the top teams and still then have 2 goes as lower teams to save yourself.

To finish 6th in Munster, you might even beat one of the top teams in the country, lose by the bare minimum to the rest and lose in a freak result to Kerry by a terrible refereeing performance you find yourself relegated. No room for mistakes at all. No 2nd chance. They are not the same environments.

Where would we be now if say Waterford were relegated in 2019?

The GAA isn't the best at meritocracy though. They are forever bending rules to keep teams happy

I really couldn't care about the provinces being imbalanced. If you are not good enough to get out of Munster then you probably were not gonna win the AI anyway.

But yet Munster teams have won both the Round Robin years so I don't buy the timing thing especially when you consider getting out of Leinster is no guarantee either.

Probably closed to the last option. I think a team good enough to win the AI can be in enough form to get out of Munster and win the AI which Limerick and Tipp both done.

The time to get rid of the provinces was way back before the back door when it was hugely unfair to have good teams knocked out after one very hard game and the likes of Galway sauntering into an AI semi. It's insane how long such a sht system lasted. I do think Limerick, Clare and Waterford could have won more in an open draw straight knockout.