2010 National Hurling League

Sport
401

Disappointing stuff from Laois there on Sunday, not the first time Laois hurling supporters have gotten their hopes up only to see them dashed. Far too many players underperformed, Matthew Whelan, Willie Hyland, Tommy Fitz, Eoin Costelloe and Neil Foyle and Zane Keenan to a lesser extent then. Reilly weas very shaky in the goals too, but could do little about the one that did go in.

I wouldnt have taken off Foyle personally, Costelloe was rubbish and could have gone after 10. I thought John A Delaney had a great game, Joe Fitz was decent enough and Mick Mc hurled a lot of ball (albeit not very well at times). I counted just one high clean catch in the Laois forwards over the 70 mins, that just wont do. The Wexford half back line hurled a world of ball and did what they liked for 10 mins on either side of half time.

That Wexford centre forward looked in a very bad way when he went off, was over on the terrace side and when he turned toward the terrace the whole place turned away in disgust, the bone was splintered off the the elbow and spiking out at a right angle, pretty horrific looking stuff. The poor fucker. Any word on him lads?

402

Imagine if Limerick bate Dublin next weekend and stayed up.

403

:clap: Twould be tremendous.

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[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 434165”]
He was very good, but got caught in possession twice, something Cusack never does. Cusacks speed of delivery is faster, he is a calmer player, a better organiser and probably of similar standard of shot stopping as the other 2. Coleman is an excellent back up.

Your opinion on Cusack stinks of judging him on other matters Link. You even admitted as much by saying you disliked him even more after the strikes. Also if you really are as in touch with the South Killkenny hurling world as you suggest then you would definitely know Donal Og was gay long before last year. Most hurling people knew it. I believe this has clouded your judgement intensely.
Your clearly worried about Cork, already coming up with the referee shite. I know Declan Fanning, and i know well he was play acting there, the fucker, it was a tap, but deserved a yellow in fairness. Pauric Maher should have got a yellow for doubling on Aisake, but didn’t, nobody complained. Its a Cork-Tipp thing Link, you wouldn’t understand.

But shit stir away, your clearly rattled.
on the game itself. Great application from Cork against the wind to win. Still a few of the old problems, but at least Naughton has become a scoring forward, which is great. Paudi Sull didn’t get alot of ball, but he should have scored 1-1, jury still out. Hoggy is flying and might just be the replacement for Deano in the scoring stakes. He’s more suited to the more power driven modern game as well. Aisake was good, and i thought it was very smart in hindsight to move him off Maher. The doubts are there now for Maher come championship. Aisake is justifying being involved, but will have to score a bit, and get consistant. Tadgh Og is still a bit away physically, but is a smart hurler.

Midfield was good, probably broke even with a strong Tipp midfield. McGloughlin will improve, but is probably not ready yet, despite some good stuff.

Backs were solid, Brian Murphy aside who had a poor outing. Cadogan is improving every game and was too strong for Hammersley. Curran played well as did Gardiner. Sean Og is struggling a little, but has at this time of the year many times. he’s looking bulky like he always does in April, so i expect his game to improve steadily over the next 2 months.

Denis Walsh seems to be a smart manager, and has done an excellent job with the laegue. Hopefully he can keep that going. Overall its very encouraging.[/quote]

If Cusack wants to push dung thats his own affair,i couldnt care less,it doesnt have anything to do with hurling in South Kilkenny as far as i know.

Padraig Maher wont worry one bit about marking Aisake in the championship,we’ve seen these league roastings a million times before,Aisake cant hurl at inter County level,Maher can so he should be fine,surely Cussen will be Corks go-to beanpole for the championship anyway??,hes scoring which is what a full forward is supposed to do.

Denis Walsh knows the score,im expecting him to start Coleman for the league final.

Thats a fairly rattledy post from you there Kev.

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Ooga chakka ooga chakka

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Colm Bonnar is looking for the return of a two up-two down promotion/relegation system for Div 1 & 2. I don’t know if I agree with him. An obvious criticism of the current system is the situation Wexford are in, where they’re at a near permanent disadvantage in battling a team used to division one hurling for promotion every year. Does that argument really hold up though in the light of the Wexford/Carlow result? As well as that, the choice to play finals gives the second placed team a chance to fuck up and still get a shot at a winner take all clash (Bonnar also has a problem with this).

The flip side then is the reality that the leagues have been much more competitive under this new system. The ridiculous mis-matches are far fewer in number and getting relegated is now a very big deal because coming back up is no longer a certainty. As well as that, two teams being relegated would give little or no chance of staying in division one to the likes of Carlow or Laois if they made the breakthrough.

The competitiveness of Clare, Wexford, and Laois in the championship against the lower half of division one will give us the best idea of whether the current system is helping or hurting. Ultimately though the GAA has to walk a fine line between providing enough of a risk to make the teams take the league seriously and enough opportunity to give the weaker teams hope. Regardless of the other downsides the current system seems to do that pretty well.

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See WTB’s answer below. He didn’t really go into it enough for me. Just saying the corner backs are faster isn’t really a scientific breakdown. To me he looked at stats, and nothing else.

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This wasn’t Cusack, it was Ben O’ Connor and John Gardiner. So your wrong…again.

And again you miss the point, i wasn’t asking for ignoring of the rules, the point was, which you completely missed again, is that Cork and Tipp wouldn’t be making a big deal of it especially in a league game, its everyone else seems to be making a big thing about it.

409

Read his book…he gives it an airing there again.

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We’ll see. None of us can see the future, but i think Cork will have some pain for ye in the next few years.

Your continued valuation of Cusack only takes away from your obvious interest in hurling. I don’t particulary like the way he’s done certain things either, but it doesn’t mean he’s not a good shot stopper/goal keeper.

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It was Ben O’ Connor who brought it up way before the book, in the middle of the crisis. I’m sure more than one player was pissed off with the unprofessionalism.

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I think the stats say plenty by themselves.
Cork have an obvious goal scoring deficiency when compared with other contenders.
It was all well and good when they were very tight defensively and scored 20+ points per game but that hasn’t been the case for a few years.

The real problem is Cork are short a couple of players who think goal first in a way that a number of players from other counties do.
Deane had 10 goals in a career that started in 1996.
Ben started playing for Cork in 1999 and since then has only 6 goals to his name.

Compare that with Mullane, Brennan, Shanahan, Eoin Kellys, Shefflin, Niall Gilligan, Comerford, Corbett and Carey in the same period
Joe Canning already has more goals than Ben.

When Cork do score goals they tend to be from anywhere and everywhere.
Neil Ronan, Fraggy Murphy, Hero Murphy, Niall Mc, Timmy Mc, Garvan Mc, Aisake, Setanta, Horgan, Naughton.
It’s like a revolving door of one hit wonders.

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Well well well. Looks like this thread will be base camp for me for the next week. Oh I’ll enjoy this I tell ya.

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Great to have you on board Flano. What do you think your chances are next Sunday? After things starting so brightly for ye, it must be a major disappointment to be staring down the barrel of relegation. That said I think ye’ll beat us handily enough, Daly will have them fired up to the hilt and the players will have a big point to prove.

415

I was over on the terrace too, MBB, and Doran’s arm was a sickening sight all right. Thankfully he was wearing the now mandatory helmet and faceguard so we weren’t presented with a clear view of his face - that’s not a very pretty sight either. I have heard from a reliable source that he was in severe pain - in fairness he was wailing in agony - but that he’s okay now. He’ll obviously miss quite a bit of time and I believe he’s going to focus on his career over this timeframe.

416

What about the mandatory right guard?

http://newsbusters.org/static/2008/07/Right%20Guard.jpg

Siissssh sisssshh.

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He had a 50% strike rate!!! Garvan Mac played one game, he didn’t make Sars 2nd team 2 years ago, enough said. Hero rarely played. Naughton is a half forward/midfielder, Horgan has only played one year. I don’t get you point really. Neil Ronan and Fraggy are hardly one hit wonders, Fraggy still plays and Neil Ronan played for 8-9 years and was very good when coming on as a sub. Fraggy is limioted in the modern game i think, as while he’s a lovely hurler, he’s not fast enough and powerful enough to do too much damage, he could be a good full forward with 2 very good corner men though.

Of course the stats matter, but there is more to it than just that. Nobody in Cork will deny that there has been a lack of a goal scoring threat, i just think its a poor article. Did you write it or something, cos your awfully upset about it. :smiley:

Donal O Grady did the right thing by changing the style, it suited the players Cork had. That took away the guts of 6-7 years of going for goals. Its caught up on us, but there you go. Anything donw within the Ger Mac reign should have an astrix beside it.

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Good to see you foresake/foresook, didnt go to the stand this time on your visit to O Moore Park Bandage. I trust you werent too uncomfortable with the crowds on the terracing?

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Snadwiches oh sanwiiiiiiiicheizzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh yeah and tea too teaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa tea for ye.

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You gotta keep the calorie intake up flano when your going to a match, lot of energy expanded. The carbs in the bread will get you through the day. The tea will keep you alert, especially when there are young fellas in dublin asking to watch your car. Have to be aware of those little fuckers.

You’d know all about the value of eating anyway.