Limerick GAA Discussion Part 2

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Fellas done more to get off the team sadly, Graeme plays a half and is still our best forward, Kyle worked like a dog was gassed on 60, Dan's legs were like lead on 50 mins, don't think the game lacked intensity as said on radio

Byrnes and pat Ryan only ones to run at the opposition and cause them trouble

Passing and handling by backs and midfield was dire (Flanagan's touch was criminal 😂)

We'll win in 2 weeks but don't think we have solved any problems

Could wod be our 3rd best half back? He's in trouble when he goes forward but is great to win ball

Sloppy enough today, the ball really didnt stick in the forward line at all, Casey, Flanagan, Dowling and Morrissey were poor today, and the delivery was not up to par..you could see when boylan was sent out rather than hegarty that kiely was not going 100% for this today, we'll see a different level of intensity next day, when theyre in the final they'll want to win it.
Great to have a home munster final with minors and seniors in it, 2 munsters would be great, enjoy it when we can!

PhuckHugh wrote: »

Great training session yesterday - Kiely learned a lot..... Sheedy was on the sideline going crazy shouting his players on for about 50 mins and then when he saw the Limerick subs he finally twigged Kiely was only treating it as a challenge game. 2 big injuries for Tipp and their hand as good as played - Kiely will be very happy. There's certainly another gear in Tipp and they still have the best stick-men in the country, but there's an awful lot more to come from Limerick - they were strolling around yesterday.

Don't think either side were going full tilt to be fair. Very unfortunate for Bonner Maher yesterday . The Munster final will be a much tougher game for both sides, I don't subscribe to the notion that it's advantage Limerick after yesterday. It's dangerous talk- Tipperary certainly have the forwards to put up a big score and win it

Good post...think Kiely will be disappointed with how the changes from Clare game performed, those lads will be disappointed themselves as well. In fairness Tipp are slick with the ball and the way they free lads up for scores, very quick hands and little flicks....and that will only improve as summer goes on. I expect a ding dong battle in two weeks.

Excellent post & 100 % spot on

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Will there be stand tickets for sale this week?

Heard today there will be none on general sale

I think pat ryan did well probably only one of the normal non starters to do so. We can say what we want about wanting to win or not but how can we explain him not starting some of our top guys?? Just doesn't add up if they were gung ho to win this match

paddy no 11 wrote: »

A lot of the problem on sunday was flanagans touch, a large part of the game was to isolate him 1 on 1 which they did but he fluffed everytime and the ball was cleared, even going back to the al ireland where he played well his touch was still dire, one of our goals came from him spilling the ball to Tom morrissey!

We onlt won the knock out games last year by 2, 0 & 1 points so as said the notion we have a divine right to win is fanciful, that said we can still do it but need to adjust a few things

Teach richie english how to hand pass the ball (seriously if they have to get Dj carey in then do it)
Sort out the over passing, Dan, POL, Richie, WOD overdo it and are laboured need to be getting quicker ball in, corner backs be stuck to their men by time we play it in


Dowling is a FF if starting only
Pat Ryan needs to be told he can also pass to free men in the square or lash over a point
Boylan needed to turn and take his man on and win frees or score a la hegarty
Collectively needed to take on the opposition or deliver quicker ball

Flanagan broke a finger early did he not?

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Fair enough if he did........bad run of luck for him if so

He'll be fine for the next day.

He should have hand passed that goal chance all the same.

PIORUN wrote: »

Verney on Off the Ball reckons Cian Lynch was dropped and not rested against Tipp. As he was bad the previous week. Madness...

Dont mind that langer.

Christ, was crazy this morning for the tickets, I heard the site crashed after a few mins I was in the queue but gave up after an hour online. I see the city terrace is gone already. I hope they don't take up that whole section in it just got that horrible box that rte were using the last few matches. They had a good area taken up with the bloody thing in the corner! Joanne can annoy us from croke park instead!

BloodyBill wrote: »

I reckon there wont be a box the next day as the rte team will be in Croke Park. I would think the commentators will be high in the birds best in the Mackey Stand

They'll be in what birds?

I saw a green flare go off at the last home match against Clare after got the goal, im wondering will there be loads on the city end terrace on sunday week, the green smoke bombs dont really do the job!

A supposed sellout for the Munster final. Any idea of attendance?

Pogue eile wrote: »

So basically you encountered two idiots from Tipp and you decided that you would return the favour??

You dont agree with my opinion so...... it is an opinion shared by most people i have spoken with that limerick will beat tipp on sunday.... its a worrying trend this confidence🙄

Any injuries for Sunday or is everyone available for selection?

PhuckHugh wrote: »

Limerick will walk all over Tipp on Sunday.

doubt it very much but I do expect them to win

"On Sunday morning the influx of Tipperary hurling fans into Limerick City will begin. As most have their Christening money, staying overnight is not an option. So all along border towns where the 1980's becomes 2019, the Blue & Gold army will traverse from the Game of Thrones era to modern Ireland. There is a misguided perception that some Tipperary fans drive 1970's Ford Cortinas with cassette tape players blasting out Susan McCann's 'Blanket on the ground'. The truth is most of them do. For Limerick and Tipperary people, hurling is a way of life but make no mistake, this is a David & Goliath clash. Tipperary with 27 All-Ireland's, 42 Munster titles, 19 National Hurling Leagues face minnows Limerick with 8 All Ireland's, 19 Munster titles and 12 National Hurling Leagues. In true James Bond style, they gave us the evil Babs Keating and we gave hurling Richie Bennis. They have tin foil sandwiches and we have Donkey Ford's. They are coming to conquer, make no mistake about that.

Nightmare Stuff
The worst championship experience ever at the hands of Tipperary was 1991. As they dished out a beating to us in Thurles, John Leahy got a ball near where the sideline at the old stand meets the town end line. With Tipperary over ten points up, he curled the most beautiful shot over the bar. The place went nuts. Straw hats, tin foil, brake fluid and small babies were thrown into the air as the Premier marched relentlessly towards the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Along the way Limerick have taken punishment at their hands. A young spritely Ciaran Carey was inspirational at wing forward in the 1989 Munster semi in Cork. A young and fresh Limerick went in at half time 1-7 apiece. Rumour has it that Babs told a story about being overcharged for a 'knobba black puddin' in Limerick City one day and the Tipp lads tore Limerick to shreds in the second half. The final score was 4-18 to 2-11. The era between 1984-1993 was hard to watch.

Famine
What most younger hurling fans don't realise though is the mighty sandwich eaters went ten years without a championship victory. Limerick beat Tipperary in the 1973 Munster Final and it wasn't until 1983 when they beat Clare in Limerick, that Babs' babies won another game. As a young lad, I was at that game and witnessed the outpouring of emotion when Tipperary beat Clare 2-11 to 1-11. One woman confessed to keeping her son back from first holy communion until Tipp finally won a game. Little Jack, now 17 and an electrician, could take his place with the schoolkids the following week. Tipperary as a county flourished after that win. Local bread manufacturers reported a 5000% rise in sliced pan sales. Shares in cling film sky rocketed and blue and gold rosettes were handed out at mass. Great times to be a Tipperary fan.

The nineties
Limerick had a great team in the 1990's but ended the decade with no all-Ireland's. Tipperary had a relatively poor decade but ended with one. The Green & White triumphed in the 1992 National Hurling League Final as well as the 1995 & 1996 Championship meetings. But by 1997 Tipp were back to winning ways and usually when they win, it is by a big score, when we win it is a close run thing. As one Tipp lad said to me 'arrr floor is yuuur seeelin'. When I pointed out to Mick Pat that he lived in a bungalow he looked perplexed.

The 00's
Nicky English set about expelling all arrogance from the Tipperary mindset. As Manager in 99 he had gone close to beating Clare and in 2000 Tipp fell just short in the quarter final to Galway. 2001 was Tipp's perfect year winning 18 and drawing 1 of the games they played. Tipp played with an honesty, as though every player had gone to confession and told of the sins they'd committed. 'Faddder I kished a Limerick girl one night and never phoned her again hee hee'. Tipp beat Limerick in a classic Munster Final in July. Both teams had chances to win it but Declan Ryan's strength proved to be the difference between the teams. After beating Wexford in the semi final they got past Galway in the final. Again the flood of joy was something to behold with Tipperary town rocking to the tunes of Bon Jovi. When local youngsters started chanting 'Def Leppard' council offiicials phoned Dublin Zoo for advice, thinking there was an alert of some sort. As good a hurling team as Tipperary were, they couldn't win the famous trophy back again that decade. The trilogy of games between Limerick & Tipp in 2007 captured the imagination of the public. Ultimately Limerick would lose the All-Ireland final but what a year it was from Richie Bennis' men. Limerick were Limerick - fine hurlers, fine teams, but couldn't stitch it all together. More's the pity. 

The 10's
The decade started with Liam Sheedy's men producing the most wonderful all Ireland performance of all to stop Kilkenny's quest for five in a row. Just like Nicky English in 2001, Sheedy's third year at the helm proved fruitful. Lar Corbett set the tone early on with a super goal and finished with 3-3. Whisper this quietly but when he scored his third, the Limerick pub I was in actually cheered for Tipp. I didn't see any stripper in the place so I'm pretty sure it was actually a chant in admiration of our near neighbours. Still after all this brilliance though Tipperary's fans refused to eat in normal fast food joints and gathered at the boot of their Skodas to wolf sambos and warm their faces in fleshly open flashks-o-tae. Tipp didn't follow up on that win and in 2014 Limerick beat Tipperary in championship hurling in Thurles for the first time since 1973. TJ Ryan's men inspired by Shane Dowling and Donal O'Grady produced a classic late victory. Limerick ended the season with an epic 2-13 to 0-17 loss to Kilkenny in the Croke Park rain while Tipp took the cats to a replay before also succumbing to Cody's Charges.

In 2016 Tipperay were rightly asking themselves two questions. (i) Why can't this excellent band of hurlers follow up an all-Ireland win with repeated success? (ii) why do we love eating ham sandwiches? The second one there goes alongside Jimmy Hoffa, Lord Lucan and Shergar but the first was solved by Micheal Ryan. Tipperary simply swept Kilkenny aside in the All-Ireland final. I travelled to the game with my brother and there we sat, two lads, Limerick to core as we listened to what seemed like a Bookmaker's office on steroids. 'Tipp, tipp, tipp, tipp, tipp'. Jesus Christ repeat that a thousand times and you'd be fit for vodka. But credit to them, Tipperary were fantastic and seeing players like Seamus Kennedy locating his family in the crows for photos brings home just what hurling means to people in this part of the world.

No self-respecting sports article could ever be complete without mentioning 2018. The most beautiful year of hurling with the best team winning the best competition with the best hurling. I'm not biased, but Christ Limerick were brilliant. Any team who beats Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny and Galway to win Liam MacCarthy deserve saintly status. As most Limerick people know, the injury time in the final was cruel. Imagine your first pint after lent or getting your first Pirelli calendar when you are 18. Multiply that by a million, add the Donkey Ford's challenge (fish, chip, 4 battered sausages & a canna shtuff) and that is about 10% of what it felt like to be crowned all Ireland champions after 45 years. But that is the past and now comes Sunday ……………

Leads
History suggest that if Limerick go behind to Tipperary we can pull the game back. We did it in the 1981 Championship, going thirteen points down, forcing a draw and winning the replay. We did it in the 1992 National Hurling League Final, going nine points down and winning a goalless game by one. We also famously did it in 1996 when Tipp led by ten points at half time before Frankie Carroll came off the bench and scored the equaliser allowing Limerick win the replay with Owen O'Neill kicking in goals as quick as a ham & cheese disappears in Clonoulty …………

Little Known Fact 1
In 1980 Mossy Carroll played in the All-Ireland Final for Limerick. In 1981 he had transferred to Tipperary and played in the draw and replay against Limerick. If a player transferred from one to the other today it could lead to social unrest. Swapping the beautiful Green & White for the Blue & gold is such a serious offence that you'd lose access to the Chicken Hut, Thomond Park, you'd have to give back any Rubber Bandits media that you have.

Little known fact 2
A Tipp man I know who plays with a non-Tipp Town club, was recently chatting to a girl on Tinder. He asked her where she was from and she said 'Tipperary Town'. He told me 'I didn't think they had technology down there'. If people from county Tipperary are saying that about people from Tipperary Town, it speaks volumes. I just hope for both their sakes their marches, banners and protests do bring them electricity across the county and they can continue with a blossoming relationship.

Sunday
The final game in the Munster Championship round robin series was somewhat of a shadow boxing contest. All-Ireland champions Limerick were in the home of hurling and Tipperary didn't want to lose this one. It is difficult to know if both sides went at it with the vigour they can produce. Sunday is mouthwatering. We welcome a team with a 100% championship record so far without the superb Patrick Maher. Maher's work rate for Tipperary has been a launching pad for success for many a year. It was genuinely disappointing to see such a great player get a serious injury and sincere best of luck to him in his recovery. For Limerick, a number of players should be restored which will make this a different game to the Thurles slugfest. The prospects of losing are sickening. Tipp FM will probably raise their transmitter 40 ft higher into the air to reach all parts of Limerick. Babs Keating will probably claim that he masterminded the victory and Niall Quinn will appear out of nowhere on the terrace with a Tipp shirt. 

Bucket there please .....

Verdict
Despite all the slagging between the counties, Tipp fans are just like us. They want their team to do it, we want Limerick to crush them so bad they give a bye to their quarter final opponents out of embarrassment. But this is hurling, the greatest game in the world. May the best team (Limerick) win.

Luimneach Abú"