Thereâs more to life that slavishly following order of school teacher power obsessed intercounty managers.
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I think weâll be stronger next year with injured players back and possibly with one or two younger players breaking through. But we are on the ropes right now.
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I would agree with a lot of that but if the right environment/culture is present, the hunger is sustainable.
Hunger is unsustainable for the vast majority. At some point, most people will find their appetite sated. Its the exceptional ones that will find the fires still burning long after they shouldnt. I suppose thats what makes those particular people the winners they are.
Saying that, I imagine they wouldnât be as eager to back again and again if the set up was great but they were still a lower tier county.
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I think Lynch is a massive loss. He creates so much space for everyone else. He is so unique, that he is irreplacable. I also think that Hayes not playing half back is another reason performance is not where it was last year.
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Iâd disagree here. This performance was a total outlier in Galwayâs season.
If Galway want to put in a consistent 70 minute performance they need to play like this on a regular basis. Then wonât make mistakes in the final five minutes. I donât think it had much to do with shefflin. Managers influence at this point in a game are overrated.
Adam Scott is a very handsome man.
Heâs the glue that binds it together. Heâs literally a game changer⌠To be without him and Casey was a lot.
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In fairness, Limerick were hardly handed their arses in 19â, KK absolutely fell in and were extremely lucky. Bar that aberration, and it was, Limerick would be going for 5-in-a-row.
What happened between Kerry and Tyrone was completely different.
The thing about systems is that they should reduce your dependency on any one player. However, Lynch brings so many intangibles, that the system is so much weaker without him.
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Coughlan looks like heâd do well to stay off the weights for a while.
Our best young prospect Ben O Connor whoâs all but certain going down the pro rugby route anyway was slow as an artic this year due to bulking up so much for rugby.
You are correct in what you say but there is context as well. Going down the stretch Shefflin seemed to be trying to extract every last drop from 12 or 13 lads who were exhausted, while Limerick were relying on the impact of fresh legs. Of course its always best to remain composed, but when lads are as in the red as Galway were for the final 10 minutes then just pure adrenaline can be the solution.
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I think youâre correct on both counts. Lynch has probably been the best player in Ireland over the period since 2018, itâs silly to think Limerick wouldnât suffer in his absence. Youâre also correct on Hayes wing back. Though I think he dragged us over the line yesterday in the final quarter, he was like a man possessed.
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Main problem for BOC this year was his touch was a mile off as he was not hurling. When your touch is off, you can look slow. He is not slow.
Having seen him playing rugby in the flesh I woukdnt have thought he was that bulked up at all.
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I donât know what that match was like for the neutral, but there certainly was a real Championship intensity to it. I think both sides made mistakes, hit a lot of wides, but there were also moments of unreal skill and it really was there for either side coming down the home straight. In recent years, as a Limerick supporter, we have generally felt âwe wonât lose thisâ in these tight games but we made some uncharacteristic errors yesterday. Obviously, that was forced by Galway and they definitely disrupted as much as anyone has. In the end, we just about had the composure to see it out and I guess thatâs what experience brings you.
If Iâm honest, Galway played a level above what I thought they were capable of. I expected them to be a lot better than they were against Cork & Kilkenny but I did think there were question marks about them tactically. But they set up very well, they absolutely cleaned us out on breaking ball on their long puckouts which is very very disappointing. Thatâs an area that we pride ourselves on and they obliterated us. Credit to Ăanna Murphy obviously, he was absolutely class, but our MF/HFs bar Kyle were not winning those breaks. Itâs happened a couple of times this year and they obviously spotted that & exploited that.
And they were also much more comfortable working it out than perhaps we would have expected. There was a lot less booming shit ball into Whelan, they picked out passes to Mannion, Monahan, Glennon in midfield and took their scores from distance. David Burke was superb. If Cathal Mannion gets space around the middle, he will punish you. Now, Whelan was working off very limited supply, I guess we kinda dealt with that threat and Concannon didnât do much bar the goal (which was class). We needed to apply more pressure to the shots from midfield, and we didnât do that enough early on⌠we did in the final 10 and perhaps that was the difference.
So much to work on from a Limerick pov. There are question marks over starting positions for a few players. If we get destroyed on breaking ball against Kilkenny, we will lose the game. 100%. Now, does Eoin Murphy have the same range as Ăanna Murphy⌠maybe not.
Seanie Finn was unreal, two monstrous performances back-to-back. Butler & Nash may be slightly ahead in the All Star committeeâs mind but Finn is sheer class.
Nash was majestic aswell; his use of the ball is second-to-none, the little flicks and blocks to dispossess and, most importantly, his calmness and composure on the ball. A joy to watch him play.
Hannon stormed into it in when we needed him, winning breaks, playing little passes.
We were up against it at the start of the second half and it was Byrnes in that period who dragged us back into the game. Mainly from frees but none of them were easy, and he nailed them.
Kyleâs work rate is off the charts. When we were really struggling to win breaks, how many dirty balls did he come out with? How many times did he stop a Galway player pick a ball and set up an attack? Add three points, a big big performance from someone who has been asked to play a few different roles.
Gillane inside⌠just an incredible inside forward. Top scorer from play in Championship having missed Ennis. We just didnât get him enough ball in the second half. Everything he touched in the first half turned to gold, his first touch was unbelievable every time. We played maybe two decent balls into him in the second half.
I thought Mulâs work rate was again unbelievable, and he was responsible for a lot of turnovers but needed more support from his teammates imo. Looks like heâs not a real scoring threat anymore, just lost that yard of pace to get away from the defender but Iâd keep him in there as he is still the best tackler in the squad and we need those turnovers. Flanagan started really well but faded, just struggled to get on the ball and I donât know if he got as many tackles as youâd like either.
Reidy made a massive impact, obviously. Not just the three points, but just getting on ball when we were under a bit of pressure. He also won the free to go three up and just got his hands on loads of ball. A really really good player.
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Ronan o gara done a great interview after Munster lost to 2013. I remember a journalist said to him a few mistakes cost Munster and he just said what cost Munster was theyâd trained poorly all year and had been completely inconsistent from game to game. When the pressure came on they made mistakes.
Limerick just like the Dublin football donât make many mistakes under pressure and if they do make a mistake they never compound it with another error.
All goes back to the coaching.
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Thats interesting. With the absence of water breaks, white boards and seamless communication to every pocket of the field in empty stadiums, have they lost an inch in tight contests.
No doubt they are a very slick outfit. The first 5 minutes yesterday was as good as Iâve seen but what reliance have they on Kinnerk in match day situations. He was visibly frustrated yesterday.
Beware this rugby attitude lads.
He reminds me of the professor in money heist.