He seems to be given less prominence this year for some reason. Iten, in this weekâs column he rearranges the Kilkenny team.
Examiner
throw it up.
PM OâSULLIVAN: The ball has hopped up for Limerick, they must strike
Friday, July 13, 2018
While soccer, courtesy of Croatia, is no longer winging home, hurling truths are dropping towards a roost.
The most beautiful game moves to its last six pilgrims. Tomorrow afternoon, Clare and Wexford go first in PĂĄirc UĂ Chaoimh. There is a sense in which this contest lay in the stars.
I am thinking of its almost Biblical cast, intimate against intimate, Davy Fitzgerald in one corner as Wexford manager, Pat Fitzgerald as Clare County Board secretary in the other one. This All-Ireland quarter-final might be the most intense occasion since Mick OâDwyerâs Kildare took on PĂĄidĂ Ă SĂ©âs Kerry in 1998.
Both teams are coming up a slope, recovering from a disappointment. Clare slumped to a Munster final loss against Cork, regret intensified by failing at the same stage to the same opposition two years in a row. Old weaknesses (poor decision making, attendant wides) still haunt their play.
I mentioned before Clareâs A-team hurling, frenetic shooting but scarce few dents on the scoreboard. The trait remains. Hurlers opt for low-percentage shots from strange mixtures of ego and self-doubt. Management need to address this knot in their psyche.
Up and down in the Leinster round-robin, Wexford disappointed in their last two serious outings, flopping to Galway and losing to Kilkenny. Had this team really progressed, for all the media hype?
There were glimmers. The trip to Nowlan Park saw a seven-point half-time lead, which swelled to nine points early in the second half. Then Kilkenny, never as bad since the mid-1990s, shook themselves and outscored the leaders by 0-15 to 0-5 in the subsequent half-hour.
This result led to Westmeath, who were beaten last weekend in a facile contest. Betwixt ups and between downs, the bookmakers do not fancy Wexford.
Most observers agree on Clareâs major weakness, their half-back line. This sectorâs sloppiness proved a major factor in the Munster final, posing a macro question for Wexfordâs management. Is going with five forwards, so as to muster seven defenders, best means of exposing said weakness?
Not that the question is single edged. A Wexford sweeper presents this opposition with dilemmas. Who acts as Clareâs spare defender? While Jamie Shanahan is best-suited candidate, this choice would entail one of the full-back line operating at wing-back, which pretty much rules out Jack Browne.
There is further nuance. Clare are likely to want SĂ©adna Morey, on grounds of pace, as David Dunneâs marker. If so, Patrick OâConnor might have to go wing back. These possibilities could leave Browne inside marking Conor McDonald or Rory OâConnor, which looks undesirable. David McInerney will likely be reserved for this task, which would leave Browne sweeper or wing back, a set-up far from ideal.
Ironically enough, a Wexford sweeper indirectly poses traps for this Clare defence. Such queries would not always arise but tomorrow is an exception. Marking jobs, especially with Conor Cleary and McInerney struggling for form in central defence, become unusually important.
There was mucho hoohah when Wexford beat a poor Kilkenny side in last Juneâs Leinster semi-final. Limp losers to Galway in 2017âs Leinster final, the county subsequently fell tamely to Waterford in the All-Ireland quarters. Two summers in a row, Wexford ran out of gas.
This arc posed a question about whether a Davy Fitzgerald-managed side could hurl deep into summer. His post-2013 Clare panels never got back to Croke Park. One view indicts unsustainable levels of training as a barrier to summer success.
This contest is hard to call. Although I fancy Wexford to come through, their manner of play, its lack of logic in part, dilutes confidence.
Kilkenny and Limerick go at it in Thurles on Sunday afternoon in a fascinating encounter, a team supposedly in transition and a team in the ascent. Before defeat to Clare in Munsterâs last round, Shannonside expectations had soared. Former great CiarĂĄn Carey remarked in May: âItâs going to take a serious team to beat Limerick this year.â
How serious are Kilkenny? Face value, they achieved significant progress in 2018, winning the NHL final and reaching the last six. During 2017, their league campaign spluttered and the championship selection, poor for the most part, bowed out in last eight.
Where are Kilkenny, in so many senses? The plus side of the scales contains that progress along with a drawn Leinster final. The minus side contains last Sundayâs loss to Galway (which included atrocious hurling in the first half and a 12-point deficit) allied to emphatic defeat in Salthill and erratic performances against Dublin and Wexford. All in all, the minus side is heavier.
Where are Kilkenny headed? Last Sunday, their puckout strategy in the first half was incoherent. As the puckouts went long, their midfielders stayed deep. Galway midfielders David Burke and Johnny Coen ran the show. I sense the camp is divided on puckouts, which harks back to Brian Cody gesturing fiercely to Eoin Murphy to puck long against Wexford.
Again, seven or so minutes left, management swapped left half back Robert Lennon and full back PĂĄdraig Walsh. That alteration might be a straw in a carrying breeze.
Does Lennon now stay full back? Is Joey Holden entirely out of this frame? Is there even a case for Paddy Deegan as a stopgap full-back, in that he spent plenty of time in 2018 on squareâs edge?
The point is not that Walsh has been poor at full-back. Generally sound in the position, Walsh produced a terrific performance in the drawn Leinster final.
The point is overall balance. Consider the difference between âboldâ and ârashâ. Managers must strive for boldness while avoiding rashness. The task is thankless because most people make the attribution solely on whether a match is won or lost.
Unless I am badly mistaken, PĂĄdraig Walsh will not be Kilkennyâs full-back in 2019.
Would it be bold or rash to accelerate this process?
Could you go with Walsh at midfield, with Conor Fogarty and Cillian Buckley the wing backs and Holden at centre back? Buckley looks frazzled at centre back. Lennon stays full back unless that chance is taken on Paddy Deegan (with maybe Conor Delaney at corner back). Risky moves at this stage. But will Kilkenny evolve into All-Ireland contenders via their current defence? Do you defer this process until spring? Or do you begin amid Championship knowledge, however harsh the information might end up?
Meanwhile, Limerickâs position is stark. Since they can win this game, they must win it.
There is this Kilkenny team in itself, its faltering nature, and there is the specific context, Kilkenny out for a third week on the trot in a heatwave. Yes, Limerick have used three full-backs in 2018 and need some fortune in this area. But could the ball have hopped up any better?
This group is striving for a senior title by 2021 at the latest. If they cannot beat this Kilkenny vintage, you would wonder about their ability to beat whatever side when it counts. For them, the stakes are not just progress but psychological health.
If not now, when?
1 Like
A load of shite
Thatâs as bad as Cummins yesterday. Thereâs no live for Limerick amongst the GAA correspondents anyway. They all appear to want to raise Limerick expectations as high as possible as if they will get some sort of twisted kick out of it if it doesnât happen for them.
Tears here on the scaffolding as I read out extracts of JTâs article to the lads around me. Aidas from Poland here is fucked after it, fit for nothing after the emotion of the article. That and the tin of Brutwurst heâs after savaging there in the last 20 mins.
2 Likes
Weâre being stitched up alright â If we dont win we are finished apparently.
Knowledgeable hurling men like PM have been pondering all week what way Clare will play Wexfordâs 5 forwards and whoâll they want as spare man. I expected it to be Shanahan given his excellent distribution as showcased against Limerick, and expected OâConnor and McInerney to man mark inside with Browne coming out to the half back line.
@Big_Dan_Campbell now indicates that OâConnor will be absent (injured?) and that Rory Hayes is likely to start. Mick, what role in defence will he assume? Would they not be more likely to start David Fitzgerald in the half back line with Browne and McInerney as the man markers in the full back line?
Wexford are likely to attack the Clare half back line in the air from open play and puck outs with Jack OâConnor (trying to reprise his league role - thanks Ger Canning) Chin and McDonald. Would Clare be comfortable with, say, Morey and Browne as the half backs and giving up a height and strength advantage?
So many imponderables before we even consider midfield and the situation (match ups, cc @mickee321) at the other end of the field.
I would expect Browne to man mark McDonnell myself even if OâConnor was fit. Hayes is an athletic man marker more than a natural hurler, he has been pushing hard for a start for a while after missing the league and was keeping Cian Dillon off the 26 for the last 4 games. Assume he might pick up someone like David Dunne.
The game will be decided by the work rate of the Clare forwards and whether they can disrupt Wexford playing and carrying it through the lines by putting in tackles and general harrying of the man on the ball. We have done it at times this year and our backs have dominated as a result but when it has dropped we have been filled at the back. See first half v Tipp and both second halves v Cork
I donât see anything wrong with either of those articles. It couldnât be set up better for limerick, if we donât win we have no excuses and will have to go back to the drawing board with this team.
We will wipe the floor with them.
We wonât, but we should win. Most Limerick fans agree we have the basis of team that will last a few years out together, but if we donât win this itâs tear it up and start again territory for this team.
But when the chips are down will ye have Mary from Mass and poor orphaned Tommy in the wheelchair willing ye over the line. Will ye fuck.
7 Likes
Tear it up? A couple of tweaks maybe but relax ffs ⊠the bones of that team are 20-23.
1 Like
Theyâll have genuine fans like me watching on TV willing them on.
2 Likes
+1, these U21s have done nathin, we need to go with the next U21s.
Put Quaid centre back and give him three years to settle in.
#Hannonisan11
A frequent guest on the Examiner podcast also