Think there's a bit of doom and gloom still after the 20's match, but hopefully Sunday will give the county a boost.
I wouldn't be worried about having most of the same team from 22. That was a decent performance in that final and the age profile was young, so it can be argued we have matured since. I don't see anybody knocking the doors down in club hurling who isn't involved, so we have who we have and that's it.
Sunday will tell us a hell of a lot about where we are. Galway have improved and will be a test so we'll need to be at full pelt to win. I think we're well good enough and if we can lift the Cup Sunday and get Cody back fit and the likes of Shane Murphy back at 100% as well, we'll have a right cut yet.
I can't understand how you can be happy with young players getting very little time and then it's the players fault. They are not up to it. It's always seems to be the players not good enough the players not up to it
What about the manager and his team not good enough
Worth noting ye have a very good age profile. That was a young team that lost to Limerick in 2022, lot of them hitting their prime so maybe there is merit in sticking with many of them.
They might have got some time anywhere from 10 to 30 mins. That's about the size of it. How can players develop if they get a couple of minutes. Where are the players gone from our last good bunch which lost a minor all Ireland to an excellent Galway team. Limerick have gotten at least 6 players if not more from the losing u20 team because time was given to them. Where are the players from the our U20 team?
Those minor players you talk about developing I hope Derek Lyng is well gone or the same will happen them as happened previous players
Four changes to an all Ireland winning team that has won much more since then seems about right though. And their bench has about six players that would be starting for any other team in the country as well. The whole conversation after 22 was that we needed a revamp but we just aren't producing the players to challenge for places, which is bad for the starters as well.
As I say, I was quietly confident this year, it felt like we were making progress in terms of bringing in a few new players, and we were playing a better brand of hurling, but when push comes to shove we really aren't getting new players in (to me these are the best players available, you could argue there's a need to throw some younger players in and give them a chance, but down in Wexford they had plenty of chances to put their hands up and didn't).
I think Galway are a lot better than they were at the start of the championship and hopefully there's a better match in both teams on Sunday. What I really want to see, and I'm sure everyone does, is a return of the kind of decent distribution from puckouts we were seeing in the league (Murphy has gone backwards again in this regard), more crisp movement of the ball through the middle eight (would imagine Mullen will play fairly deep to help with that) and a good distribution of scorers.
I would say Billy Ryan is a much better player than he was a few years ago and gives is a real speed that we didn't have back then, and mossy is also a much better player than he was as well. Our midfield pairing is also much more convincing and settled than it used to be. So it's far from Doom and gloom, and I think we have the beating of Galway and could well take a scalp in the semi. But still...
Limerick have only 4 changes for the Coke game this weekend since the final in 2022, albeit that was a winning team. The thing for Lyng is he hasn’t unearthed any game changing forwards, they were all there under Brian Cody already.
Cody was always able to unearth a forward who could change a game.
Mikey has had some very good games and looked back to his best at times this year and there is no issue with him starting
Any player worthy of a look has been given a chance. If Eoin Cody and Tom Phelan were available that would be the very best we have. We have gone through a very lean time in underage and I think this years minors might be a concrete sign things are getting better on that front, so patience required. Blanchfield's form has dipped whether at 5 or 6. Taking too much out of the ball and like scruff's puckouts ,delivery too late. I am sure his form will pick up , Tommy Walsh had a similar dip but is back in form and deserves to start IMO. The current management have to make do with the players they have, I for one don' t see any better. No point spitting out the dummy.
Who should be starting instead? If Shane Murphy was fully fit he starts, Blanch has been really off the pace which is disappointing but plenty of younger lads of got games and not impressed
Jesus. That's sobering looking at that. It hadn't dawned on me that the team was still effectively the same.
I am very disappointed to see Davy Blanch dropped and other players who are not playing well this year still in the team. Mikey Butler has been very poor this year behind Davy. Paddy Deegan gets to play in a different position in every game but is very erratic and adds nothing. Mikey Carey has been poor also. Its probably all based on statistics which is wrong. I agree with other posters that Derek has not done much restructuring of the team and is very conservative. New players need 5/6 matches to be blooded at inter county level but that is not happening. We should beat Galway but I would think we will struggle against Cork or Limerick in the semi final.
Why not criticise Lyng surely it's his job as manager to give game time to young players try to develop young players. He's going with Codys team he has done absolutely nothing to put his own stamp on a team
Absolutely shambolic in my opinion
What has he done in 3 years sweet f…k all
Three changes from the team that started in the all Ireland final in 2022, and one of those is just because of injury. Not really criticising Lyng here, I think he has picked the best team available to him, but it's very worrying that three years out from a horrible loss in an all Ireland, we are playing almost the same team, the exact same back line, and a weaker bench
I'd have to agree, think Management have messed him around a bit. He was decent in 1st 2 games of the year at centre back I thought, showed plenty of potential in making that position his if they stuck with him. I'm sure whisking him out after 2 games affected his confidence going back to the wing. His main issue this year has been wayward shooting from distance and some poor ball to forwards. All easy things to coach out. We're not winning the All Ireland without him on the team. Not going to find form on the bench
Blanchfield in current form slump would still be better than Reid or Deegan.
Yes i agree, but to be so out of form that he cannot make it ahead of some of the starters shows how far he has fallen unfortunately. We will need another colossus game from Lalwor on Sunday again because imo all other 5 backs can be got at. While last year Lawlor and Blanchfield were 2 of our best by distance, Blanchfield out of form is a massive loss, equal to Limerick losing Hayes imo. He was great in the air, good going forward, he completely shut down the right side of defence and had plenty pace to cover back, while good for a couple of points also. Such a dip of form is baffling, that move to 6 really set him back.
In fairness to Blanch he's been one of our best players the last few years, so a dip in form was inevitable at some point. Lyng has tried to give him game time to work his way out of it but hasn't been able to reverse it so far. Maybe being dropped is what he needs to give him that bit of hunger to get his place back and regain form.
Very disappointing that Blanchfield cannot make that line up. He was our shining light to step up to the massive void at number 6 for us after last year, now he cannot make the team. Comparing to last year i think we are genuinely weaker this year.
Good tickets available now, if you're bringing the kids. Got around the halfway line in the Cusack. This morning they were showing the corner of the Davin for the same selection.
30 thousand in semple Stadium for Galway kk Would have ten times as much atmosphere as 35 in croke Park..its neutral and people love going there. Easy get out of it too . .I just can't take to a match in croker unless its semi finals or final
Is there an age limit for Hill 16 ? Asking with regard to a 14 year old.
As good a team as Lyng could pick. E Cody must not be over his injury and Blanchfield still out of form in Lyngs eyes.
The difference between Limericks bench for the weekend is actually frightening.
Cody's injury is obviously worse than thought, so disappointing to go into the game without him. Interesting to see Blanch get dropped, no harm in not picking players who are out of form for too long it's been harder to get off the team than on it. Good to see Shane Murphy, Shine and Hogan back fit and on the bench, interesting to see if Marty Murphy gets a run.
KKvGAL EMurphy MButler HLawlor TWalsh MCarey RReid PDeegan CKenny JMolloy JDonnelly AMullen BRyan SDonnelly TJReid MKeoghan Subs ATallis PMoylan DBlanchfield SMurphy KDoyle ZBayHammond FMackessy HShine LHogan LConnellan MMurphy Text kindly sponsored by Murphy Jewellers https://murphyjewellers.ie/
Will the team be announced this morning or after training ?
The price wracks up fairly quickly when you've a few going.
As far as I know they had to be applied for by/through the clubs, and applications closed today....I think.
How would one get their hands on a few of these free tickets for youngsters, I know they are only €8 per ticket but I am bringing 4 kids and €32 would pay for two thirds of a star hurley (i have a path beaten to their door as hurleys keep getting broken this weather)
As a spectacle in croke Park, anything short of 35,000 is a disaster. At least if the lower hogan, cusack and davin are full it will generate a good atmosphere but personally i would much prefer a tullamore, portlaoise or even a home/away fixture to try and have a serious atmosphere.
The day out is great in Dublin, family meeting in o connell school, the tae amd sandwiches, expectations. The only let down is a half empty stadium.
Willie Maher was on The Hurling Pod the other week and was suggesting that unless there's 40k + at this years Leinster Final the Leinster Council will be looking to move it out of Croke Park in future. That's one of the reasons they have 20,000 tickets available for kids in clubs, trying to push it.
Willie wouldn't be the authority on that but that was his take on it. That was about 2 weeks ago, and I think 1,000 of those 20,000 free tickets had been taken up. It's a great opportunity to get kids to the game and hopefully plenty from Kildare and Laois too. But it's also a fair reflection of where Leinster attendances are at.
A 3 quarters empty Croke Park is sh!te, sucks the atmosphere out of the game.
While I agree that the likes of a Kilkenny-Galway final would be good in Portlaoise (or Tullamore, or even a home-away arrangement), the men in suits in the Leinster Council are not going to give away their big day out in Croke Park. There is a lot of handshaking to be done whilst having sandwiches & hot food before the match, at halftime, and after the match. And then there are the cushy seats as well 🤷♂️
