Yeah Clare werenât beaten in Croker that year either though was my point. 15 years since theyâve been beaten in hurling championship in HQ.
Thatâs inflation for you.
In fairness, theyâve only played four games at HQ in those 15 years, and two of those were draws.
What do you think of Mullen midfield?
Iâm not a fan. Itâs classic Cody robbing Peter to pay Paul stuff that weâve seen for the bones of a decade. I think heâs a natural half forward.
I havenât quite figured Mullen out yet, he looks like someone who could play anywhere across the half forward line or even full forward. We are badly in need of a Michael Fennelly / Derek Lyng type of midfielder but I donât think he fits that bill. @Malarkey will know him better than most of us Iâd suspect
His workrate is phenomenal, thatâs exactly what you want from midfielder. I think he has done exceptional in the role.
Iâd agree. The way itâs going in a lot of systems the half forwards are nearly defensive players. At midfield youâve much more room to find space.
Saturday evening will be interesting to see how Kilkenny go about things. They have been a bit of a hodgepodge tactically so far this championship from what I have seen of them. They were way too direct against Wexford and struggled to create scores as a result while they used the ball far better v Galway as a result and looked a better balanced side, albeit Galwayâs use of only 5 forwards meant they had more time to pick passes.
They will have seen how two big men inside worked at times for Wexford. It is an interesting one as Lohan seems to have little interesting in playing a spare man or sweeper, he much prefers to commit bodies to the middle third and slow/pressure the ball which is going to be hit in and trusts that his two men in the full backline will be tight to their men and attack the ball. It has worked fairly well so far but it is something that always has the potential to backfire on you especially if you are up against quality inside forwards.
Talk of Walter Walsh playing in the full forward line seems a bit amiss to me. Aside from his debt performance in the 2012 A/I replay, I donât think he has ever been overly effective there. His technique means he struggles to play with his back to goal and in tight spaces, he is far more effective at a half forward bounding towards goal and building up a head of steam.
Iâd expect the Clare forwards to be unchanged and Rodgers, Shanagher and Meehan held in reserve for the last quarter. Will be interesting to see where Clare position Kelly, he spent a lot of time as an inside forward v Wexford who did a very good job of positioning OâKeefe in the channels and space he wanted to run into. I wouldnât be surprised to see him start at 11 and see do Kilkenny send Conor Fogarty rather than Bulter after him but as has been the way you would expect that David Fitz will play half forward and Ian Galvin inside and the remainder will rotate at different points throughout the match.
Fellas saying how well hes going by quoting stats from a game against Laois would want to catch themselves on anyway for a start.
He was half-forward against Galway though and did quite well?
Mullen will cut loose on Saturday evening scoring at least 6 points from play and will be pivitol in our defeat by Clare
Cody is preparing for Limerick all year.
He has figured out that this playing through the lines nonsense doesnât work against those big, bad bullies/robots that Limerick play in the middle, so the aim will be to bypass that area and get the likes of Eoin Murphy/Paddy Deegan and Mullen coming deep, winding up and launching bombs down on top of the square and have TJ inside and cause a bit of chaos/havoc.
Its a simple gameplan, but i have a feeling it will work. Thereâs not half enough bombs being launched in on top of the edge of the square these days. The last few weekends have told us between Football and Hurling have shown, Plan B is often more effective than Plan A.
Iâd love to see a hurling team try a Derry style five man full forward line.
Players are so poor at defending high balls nowadays. As a tactic, it can be very effective but if you do it as your only tactic, it becomes ineffective as teams will adapt.
Kilkenny got no joy in 2019 with this tactic against Tipp, but the Tipp lads would have been far better high fielders than this current crop from Limerick.
KK got a bit of joy against Limerick doing it in 2019 and Tipp for 35 minutes last year did something similar before our hall of famers blew up in the intense heat.
Thatâs what he done in 2019. He targeted limericks lack of height and he allowed Limerick to hit short pucks out to the likes on Richie English and Mike Casey. The ball was like a hot potato that day. Limerick launched the ball aimlessly into a very small full forward line which included Casey and mul. Gillane was double marked and allowed him shoot of his weaker side.
The basic skills of the limericks backs has seriously improved. Barry nash is like a second play maker too and with Flanagan back hitting long aimless balls isnât as bad as an idea as it was in 2019.
The fullback like arguably lacks a bit of height when Kilkenny can put a few big units inside alright but they can always put dan morrisey back at 3 If needs be.
You talking bout the one in a row Tipp side?
Every All Ireland winning Tipp side was 1 in a row, youâll need to be more specific.
Are you expecting a shoot out? KK obviously canât win a shoot out.