Hurling Championship (1 Viewer)

[killy kill]

Cork to start the Rock on sunday against the Cats - bad bad move in my opinion.

yeah, stupid, senseless stuff. maybe they think he'll bring summat to the table back for Kilkenny but he was always mediocre at the best of times IMHO. I reckon McCarthy will get his game at half-time at least. the rock=me hole

 

[rettucs]

yeah, stupid, senseless stuff. maybe they think he'll bring summat to the table back for Kilkenny but he was always mediocre at the best of times IMHO. I reckon McCarthy will get his game at half-time at least. the rock=me hole

I think its great news.

C'MON KILKENNY!!!!!!!

 

[rettucs]

fuckin awesome stuff.

 

[CITY BABY]

awesome is the only word for it. A joy to watch but in the scheme of things its getting a bit monotonus. I think Tipp (who I reckon will bate waherfud) will pose a bit more trouble for killkenny in the full forward line, but other than that I can still see Killkenny makin shite of them. Although my predictions have been a mile off all year so heres hoping I got another one wrong.

 

[Franco]

Yeah, Kilkenny are just too good at the minute. As soon as they got to speed with the pace of the game yesterday they blew Cork away. Great team, and it's up to the rest of the counties to get to that level, but it's not good for hurling to have one team so far ahead of the pack. Hopefully they'll get some sort of game in the final.

Maybe Cody might fuck off after this year and the wheels come off. Unlikely though looking at their minors yesterday.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

i think Tipp will come through against Waterford but to be honest they will have to play out of their skins and more to beat Kilkenny. if a kilkenny forward or defender is having a bad day then there is a ready made sub to step in able to do as good if not better job.
watching it yesterday was depressing - kilkenny play a different standard of hurling and any questionable players in the cork team were exploited.
pa cronin simply is not good enough.
the jury is still out on Pat Horgan - he hasnt played many games but i dont know is he good enough either.

 

[Franco]

I would have had Neil Ronan ahead of both of those two.

 

[rettucs]

i think Tipp will come through against Waterford but to be honest they will have to play out of their skins and more to beat Kilkenny. if a kilkenny forward or defender is having a bad day then there is a ready made sub to step in able to do as good if not better job.
watching it yesterday was depressing - kilkenny play a different standard of hurling and any questionable players in the cork team were exploited.
pa cronin simply is not good enough.
the jury is still out on Pat Horgan - he hasnt played many games but i dont know is he good enough either.

theres no way Horgan should have been taken off yesterday. If they wanted to get him into the game they should have started playing the ball into him. He was the only one who showed some glimmer of threat to the Kilkenny full-back line in the first half.

Cork's forwards have been poor for years. Even when the game was deadlocked in the first 15 or so minutes, Cork were still taking scores from out the field, and were having to work twice as hard than Kilkenny were for theirs (almost like a role-reversal from the '04 final between the sides, though the gulf wasn't as great that day).

Next weekend will tell a lot about Tipp. They are not tested. They got carried away after winning a poor Munster championship. They will face their toughest test of the year next weekend, and I don't fancy them to come through it. If they have the same lapses that they did against Cork and Clare, Waterford will punish them. Eamonn Corcoran has never been able for Dan Shanahan who is starting to show a bit of form. Mullane is flying it this year, and I'd expect Prendergast to give more of a showing than he has done yet. Waterford need to get their shit together in midfield though to win, and they need to dominate their own half-back line, which I believe they will do. If they can control these 2 areas that should cut off a lot of supply into Tipp's full-forward line, who, if they are getting enough ball, will destroy WD's fullback line.

I don't think they should move Ken McGrath out of fullback at this stage. Tony Browne looks to have settled into center-back and should have the measure of Callinan.

It'll be interesting. And until the game finishes, we won't know what kind of shape the eventual winners will be in, in terms of being able to put it up to Kilkenny.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

great game today, well done to Waterford. Felt they were better in most aspects. As my original prediction was one of Waterford, Galway or Tipperary I'll tip them to beat the Cats.

 

[rettucs]

great game today, well done to Waterford. Felt they were better in most aspects. As my original prediction was one of Waterford, Galway or Tipperary I'll tip them to beat the Cats.

I fancied Waterford to win this game. They showed a lot of Tipp's inadequacies up, most notably in their forwards, and how inconsistent their midfield were. In saying that, Tipp should still have won. They should have had at least one other goal, and the shot selection at times was appaling.

Waterford are far from the finished article. They don't lack heart thats for sure, but I think they're gonna need more than heart to overcome Kilkenny. The only way I can see them beat the cats is by KK turning in an incredibly below-par performance. Waterford have 2 forwards. They had next to no midfield yesterday. They had a solid half-back line, but a porous as hell full back-line. Kilkenny on the other hand..........

Like I say, I can't see how Waterford can win this, and its a stretch to see how Kilkenny can lose it.

But then, this is championship, and stranger things have happened I guess.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

will Paul Flynn ever start again for Waterford?

he could certainly be brought on a bit earlier.

 

[rettucs]

will Paul Flynn ever start again for Waterford?

he could certainly be brought on a bit earlier.

nah, I'd say september will see the last of the great Paul Flynn. I doubt he has 70 in the legs, and he'd be better brought on than starting.

And whatever happened to Paul O'Brien. One slip against Kilkenny that time and his career seemed to come to an abrupt halt. He seemed a great prospect to me. Just hard for a young lad like that to break into that clique that is the Waterford forward line.

 

[Unicron]

"Brick" Walsh is from my mother's home village. It's actually as close to a football stronghold as Waterford gets, I don't think they even play hurling seriously there. I asked my sister who spends a lot more time down there than I do and I asked her over the weekend why he's called The Brick.

"It's because he's The Block's little brother".

I didn't bother with the obvious follow up question.

 

[rettucs]

awesome.

fucking awesome.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

awesome.

fucking awesome.

worryingly awesome

 

[nlgbbbblth]

next year

Munster
QF
Cork v Tipperary

SFs
Clare v Cork / Tipperary
Limerick v Waterford

"Leinster"
QFs
Galway v Laois
Antrim v Dublin
Offaly v Wexford
Kilkenny bye

 

[Franco]

justin mccarthy v davy fitz....spicy

 

[rettucs]

how the fuck is Galway vs Laois going to help hurling?

what a crock of shit. Fuck galway. This is a serious retrograde step. Dublin, Wexford and Offaly have been shit on in a big way just so fucking galway get more games.

How is their playing Laois, Offaly and Kilkenny any better than when they were in a group with say, Laois, Waterford and Offaly?

Hurling Development Committee my hole. Galway Development Committee more like.

 

[Franco]

I think it's a valid experiment. The status quo in Leinster is a ropey anyway. What's the harm in trying it? Galway is a good hurling county, one of the few remaining and if it was left to rot on the margins would that be any better? They deserve support as much as any of the smaller counties who may or may not come good (hello dublin).

Wexford/Offaly might miss out on their annual whupping in Croke Park, or they might beat Galway in a tough game and be better prepared for the leinster decider.

In the end kilkenny will win the all ireland anyways so you'll be happy.

 

[rettucs]

I think it's a valid experiment. The status quo in Leinster is a ropey anyway. What's the harm in trying it? Galway is a good hurling county, one of the few remaining and if it was left to rot on the margins would that be any better? They deserve support as much as any of the smaller counties who may or may not come good (hello dublin).

Wexford/Offaly might miss out on their annual whupping in Croke Park, or they might beat Galway in a tough game and be better prepared for the leinster decider.

In the end kilkenny will win the all ireland anyways so you'll be happy.

ah I don't blame Galway for this. They do get a bit of a raw deal and its no fault of theirs that no one else in their province is competitive. I don't see this as the solution. Sure, give it a rattle by all means, and I don't see it making a jot of difference to Kilkenny's prospects. I do, however, give credence to complaints by Wexford and Dublin. Dublin in particular have been setting their sights on that number 2 spot in Leinster for some time now. I guess its time to readjust that to number 3 because they're not gonna be able to compete with Galway in championship anytime soon, unfortunately.

It just seems to me that these reforms are all made with Galway in mind, and not with hurling in mind. Its where the back-door group stages came from. At the time they seemed very valid too, but turned out to be predictable and little better than the league. I just don't see how this is any better.

If you want someone to blame, then look south. The Munster championship is fast becoming as uncompetitive as Leinster. Sure there are more decent teams, but no one gives a shit about it. Tipp were the only ones this year who did, and look what happened there. After winning they turned out to be the third best team in the province.

Its time to do away with the provincials altogether. They serve little purpose. And the only ones blocking it are Munster.