Yea shamrocks will be dissapointed to lose that despite missing so many. Kevin nolan made a few good saves in the clara goal.They led for most of the match and were about 6 or 7 up in the last 10 but a conor o shea goal woke clara up. They moved jack Langton up also who made a difference. Eoin cody had a handy enough free at the end to level it but missed it. The shamrocks still had a very solid team and will take alot of beating even if they're missing Colin and joey. Darragh corcoran,mullen at 11 and cody at 14 is a very good spine. They've a few young lads coming aswell. They had a shortall chap corner foward who was good.
Alot of teams who thought they were going well got bet and lads who were going poor won. There was no form going into the weekend.This weekend should bring on teams and teams will know more about themselves.
Performance of the weekend has to be Glenmore's 1-26 to 0-20 deserved win over the Village. Very impressive with their movement and passing. Shane Murphy impressive at wing back with Liam Hennessy and Alan Murphy doing well in the forwards but really a team performance. Cian Kenny did okay for the Village along with Tadgh O'Dwyer in the second half. The Village turned over ball coming out of defence.
I had expected Dicksboro, OLG and the Village to be contesting the top 2 spots with the Bridge, Ballycallan and Glenmore trying to avoid the bottom 2 spots but it looks like it will be a real dogfight in this section of the league. Should be fun when the city teams are taking each other on.
Shamrocks were missing Joey Holden, Richie Reid, Brian Cody, TJ, Joey Cuddihy and Colin Fennelly from last year's side but still looked comfortable for most of their game against Clara but got caught by a late Clara surge. Adrian Mullen scored 5 points from play, Eoin Cody looked dangerous and could have scored a couple of goals. Liam Ryan got 4 long distance points for Clara
The mostly fine weather helped to have 4 high scoring matches with plenty more in store over the next few weeks.
City cat opened his big mouth too soon another two gone from the championship, only one left.
Fogarty stepped down last year, you were at the match and didn't even notice he wasn't on the sideline 🙄
The €2 programme has all the managers and backroom teams listed. Excellent value with every fixture for the weekend and teams.
I had heard that Liam Blanchfield was due to emigrate after this year, would be a huge loss as he is a whole hearted player
Niall rigney over comer. The dunne Chap marking conor tonight hit him some shoulder underneath the shed. Conor got two nice points but his man was also involved and got a point.Mossy is a good target man for them
Yeah i agree about Deegan. Always under pressure and gets found out in the big games every year. I went to see Comer v Tullaroan. Comer pathetic. 13 points. Fogarty getting nothing out of them
I didn't attend the olg match and I know gbc were outplayed but I was talking to a few lads In clara who were at it and think the only place for him is up the field and away from the defence. I know its a huge difference between Club and county but I remember last year the first time Andy comerford put him in the attack was against Vegas in ballyhale but he improved every match last year.i wonder will new management try him up the field further.New management could entice Liam blanchfield back and maybe the break will have gave him a fresh hunger. He was dangerous today and caught a few good balls
Enda Cleere made one very good save and had another good block. I think that the Bridge got about 13 points from frees including 8 of their 10 points in the first half. Nicky Cleere is up with TJ as a freetaker and I thought some of the fouls by the Boro were unnecessary. I was delighted to see the Bridge win as they play a nice brand of hurling and it is very hard for the rural clubs to beat any of the city teams. I fully expect the Village to win with a bit to spare against Glenmore tomorrow
The scoreboard stopped before half time and the boro stopped hurling around this time also.The boro started well and plenty of movement from their attack. Bunching and breaking.Bill sheehan got a few nice points while the bridge were reliant on nickey cleeres frees. The boro will be extremely dissapointed with the 2nd half the bridge got a goal and it just sucked the life out of them. David and Liam blanchfield were good.
Tullaron pulled away from comer In the last 20 mins. Mossy got a goal in the first half and himself and delaney had a good tussle. Comer lacked any real threat again up front with mostly defenders converted.Young Tommy was good at full back.Tom brophy isn't the comer goalie anymore.He must of gave 25 years service to comer.
Alot of clubs missing players for different reasons. Stephen Murphy got married for olg.Cian loy is on army duty. Ballyhale are down a lot of lads. Richie and tj on holiday. Colin and joey are gone travelling and expected to miss the full campaign.
Richie Hogan on holidays.Conditions were very greasy today but €5 for a match and €2 for a programme its great value.
Not suggesting the Boro should have won by any means but to say they had zero goal threat isn't correct.
Their underage success at under 17 was in the last 3 years. That means the oldest would be 19/20. I'd be giving them another few years to mature before writing them off.
Paddy Deegan was played in the O'Loughlins forwards today which is the best place for him. I'm not saying he's a standout player in the forwards but he ain't a great back for sure. Hopefully the new management team take note. Heary may be developing into a fine player. Huw Lawlor is immense.
Have to agree. Bridge were deserved 9 point winners. Felt they did most of the better hurling even in 1st half but coughed up a few soft scores due to errors. They cut all these out in 2nd half and got on top of boro tactics and cruised home. Boro were surpringly poor. Zero goal threat.
OLG look like they will have a serious say this year on todays performance. Huw Lawlor immense. Good wins for Tullaroan and Lisdowney also. Going to be a hectic few weeks for club players
Hm. I thought the Bridge were full value for their win. Nicky Cleere was awarded a 21 for what I thought was a stone cold penalty in the second half. The first half was close but the Bridge were by far the better team in the second half. Blanchfield (D) and Nicky Cleere were flying for the Bridge. Buckley looked very ordinary in my opinion. Gaffney was the only Boro forward to make an impact.
It's some indictment of the Boro that they can look so ordinary with all their underage success. Maybe Mickey is holding them back or maybe he had them running up sand dunes this morning. On that display they won't put it up to the likes of Shamrocks, Loughlins or the Village this year.
OLG had a 4-19 to 3-13 victory over GBC. They raced into a 3-8 to 0-1 lead after 17 minutes and the match was effectively over. They looked a well balanced team but Huw Lawlor was a class apart at centre back. He got good assistance from Conor Heary. Sean Ryan was best for the losers. OLG were impressive but took their foot off the gas. Billy Ryan scored a good goal but struggled to get ball. GBC have a few lads out with injury and could find it tough.
The Boro had a deserved 1 point lead at half time over the Bridge with the Boro forwards finding plenty of space and Bill Sheehan among others scoring nice points. The Bridge were dependent on frees to keep in touch and were guilty of overplaying the ball.
In the second half, the Bridge backs got on top. Liam Blanchfield scored a goal and set up another whilst the Boro had a couple of goal chances well saved. David Blanchfield played well while Cillian Buckley battled to the end. Bridge were flattered by a 9 point winning margin with some of their frees being of the soft variety.
I see from the programme that TJ, Joey Holden, Joey Cuddihy and Colin Fennelly are not listed for Ballyhale nor is Richie Hogan for Danesfort. Can't see it happening but it would be no harm for Ballyhale not to win the County Championship and to give some of their players a break
Thanks Alonzo for your generous comments and good luck to all Hurling men. It Is an amazing game to play or follow.
Well if not Bolger someone is helping them out to almost Limerick levels.
If those figures are reflective of most years it really shows the uphill struggle Kilkenny have (although outgoings would also be lower in a small county).
Jim Bolger helps in the background in Wexford but not to JP levels, streaming service for club games over Covid did well too but don't think it explains that much of a surplus.
excellent post we might not be the most successful but in the main are always competitive. in general we'd have team every 10 to 15 yrs capable of winning an all Ireland but generally failed for whatever reason.
of course we're no kilkenny but even for kilkenny the yrs slip by very quickly
In reality Limerick probably should have the best finances after Dublin Cork and Galway although this isn't how it actually works out. Ya Limerick and Galway are level both both above Cork and below Mayo and Kerry last year.
Unless you change the whole way sponsors work in GAA Kilkenny will never bring in the money of the big counties in sponsorship, jerseys or gates unless it gets a sugar daddy (which I assume Wexford must have)
Maher wasnt actually manager, solely coach, incredibly he didn't even have a say in team selection.
Cody is actually an outlier, Pat Henderson and Ollie did about 5-6 years each but outisde that it was fairly short stints, you win an AI in two years or you ship out
IMO anyone who has aspirations to manage the Kilkenny Senior Hurling team will not turn down the job. They may never get another chance. Fr Tommy was there for over 20 years and Brian 24 years.
I thought Tallis was minor in 2020 which would give him one more year?
Edit: Nope, a Minogue chap was
I think its only 4 overage next year. Tallis,Purcell,moylan and hickey. Beirne and Hughes were injured this year and will be an addition next year. Danny glennon and a few others will hopefully be thereabouts.
I heard Derek refused the senior job so that probably throws a little spanner in the works. I hope the county board have their finger out and a committee set up interviewing candidates.Rumours of Eddie and fennelly being linked with the Waterford job and dublin and Laois also have vacancies.
Joe Fitzpatrick, Paddy Langton, Kieran Doyle, Denis Walsh, Timmy Clifford, Niall Rowe, Billy Drennan, Harry Shine and Gearoid Dunnebare are all underage next year. Add to that list Bill Hughes, Cathal Beirne and Zach Bay Hammond and some of the subs like Ted Dunne & Jack Walsh from this year.
Ger is still around.
Whatever gets you over the line Ger.
Loughnane is some piece of work, but he isn't wrong about the ego.
Too harsh, Limerick have rarely been in the doldrums, bar a few years here and there, they have been at least competitive for their entire history. They should probably have 14-15 All Irelands, so there is a certain justification in them now piling it on as it balances the books for a lot of bad luck.
Their head to head with Tipp is 28-32 which shows Limerick have always been there or therabouts and way ahead of Waterford and Clare
They were very unlucky the amount of times they got out of Munster and ran in to either great teams (Wex 55, Kilkenny 74, Offaly 94, Kilkenny 07) or teams who actually had an insane will to finally win even greater than their own (Wex 96, Galway 80)
btw Think you meant Father Tommy Maher in a previous post, but otherwise post is spot on and very honest, winning has its own momemntum.
A positive outlook then... 👀👀
