All Ireland Under 21 Hurling Championship - 2014

Sport
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No it’s not. Ring Road makes it a pure gift. Try Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Fitzgerald Stadium if you think GG is bad.

It’s actually scary how talented that Clare team was tonight – after about 3 minutes of play, the gap in quality between the two sides was evident. Kelly & Galvin could score from anywhere. The two Duggans were a constant threat. Cleary caught every ball at 6. Seadna Morey won every tussle at corner back. Jamie Shanahan got forward very well at times and stroke a couple of lovely points. Eoin zen right another lovely wristy hurler. Their first touch was better than Limerick’s, they supplied better quality ball to their forwards. A man in possession always had another running off his shoulder. Most impressive was their work rate, they hunted in packs and forced Limerick into coughing up possession numerous times. They actually did to us what we did to Tipp last Sunday. Really can’t see anyone touching them.

It’s a relatively young and and inexperienced team we had out there tonight. I’m not going to get too down about it. Kevin O’Brien, Cian Lynch, Mark Carmody & Richie English were our best performers. Pat Ryan, David Dempsey and Dan Morrissey did alright. Fitzgibbon ran himself into the ground. The rest were off the pace. What annoyed me was our lack of a first touch and the constant surrendering of ball. Our HB line coughed up possession much too easy, I don’t understand the idea of passing to a player 5 yards away who’s already being marked. We had an inability to field any high ball too - only Kevin O Brien caught anything. The effort from the guys was there, we just played naive stuff - pumping high balls in on top of a well beaten Liam O’Sullivan for Seadna Morey to gleefully gobble up, being one example. The team needs maturing, Clare were 2 years ahead of us in terms of physical maturity - this will hopefully will come for us in time. There was too much youth in there tonight to expect too much too soon.

Clare will walk the All Ireland.

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[QUOTE=“glasagusban, post: 955122, member: 1533”]That pretty much sums it up.

Mark Carmody at 5, super game, on the senior panel, played early games of the league at corner back, not in the match day squad any more. 11 is David Dempsey, brother of Alan, just off last years minor team, super hurler.

Clare are literally years ahead of limerick, we had a very young u21 team. Lynch at midfield is 17 and while he is brilliant he was lumped out of it a lot. Clare were bigger all over the pitch. I think chewy pointed out their superior coaching in support play, but they also had a lot of tackling practice and holding the hand or the hurley was a clear tactic they got away with all evening. Kevin O’Brien brother of tommy at full forward was good and had a good battle with jack Browne. Think the Clare lads overrate Browne a bit, should have had a lot more frees blown against him and Kevin gave him a lot of difficulty.

I hope Ciarán stays on as manager for another year. I think he did an alright job with limited resources and while Clare were missing lads too, a few players we didn’t have today would have made a big difference. The difference in coaching was visible and limerick need to turf out Tom Ryan and get ger downes or someone in as a coach.

Finally, Dowling was the best limerick player in the classic Munster final v cork when he was 19. Today he was useless. He was a better player two years ago. He should have been lording it at this level and should have been a leader for the limerick team. He wasn’t drinking after the tipp game and he should be recovered plenty since Sunday. Needs a serious attitude adjustment.[/QUOTE]

Ciaran Carey is the manager.The buck stops with him.This is Ciaran Careys failure not Tom Ryans.

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[QUOTE=“glasagusban, post: 955122, member: 1533”]That pretty much sums it up.

Mark Carmody at 5, super game, on the senior panel, played early games of the league at corner back, not in the match day squad any more. 11 is David Dempsey, brother of Alan, just off last years minor team, super hurler.

Clare are literally years ahead of limerick, we had a very young u21 team. Lynch at midfield is 17 and while he is brilliant he was lumped out of it a lot. Clare were bigger all over the pitch. I think chewy pointed out their superior coaching in support play, but they also had a lot of tackling practice and holding the hand or the hurley was a clear tactic they got away with all evening. Kevin O’Brien brother of tommy at full forward was good and had a good battle with jack Browne. Think the Clare lads overrate Browne a bit, should have had a lot more frees blown against him and Kevin gave him a lot of difficulty.

I hope Ciarán stays on as manager for another year. I think he did an alright job with limited resources and while Clare were missing lads too, a few players we didn’t have today would have made a big difference. The difference in coaching was visible and limerick need to turf out Tom Ryan and get ger downes or someone in as a coach.

Finally, Dowling was the best limerick player in the classic Munster final v cork when he was 19. Today he was useless. He was a better player two years ago. He should have been lording it at this level and should have been a leader for the limerick team. He wasn’t drinking after the tipp game and he should be recovered plenty since Sunday. Needs a serious attitude adjustment.[/QUOTE]
Browne is a corner back filling a gap, tough job to do at this level but once settled he hurled well in the second half. O’Brien is a decent player though.
I would be utterly disappointed if I was Carey for giving Dowling the captaincy. He just didn’t want to be there.

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[QUOTE=“Bad Winner, post: 955160, member: 2406”]Browne is a corner back filling a gap, tough job to do at this level but once settled he hurled well in the second half. O’Brien is a decent player though.
I would be utterly disappointed if I was Carey for giving Dowling the captaincy. He just didn’t want to be there.[/QUOTE]

We got really lucky in 2012/2013 with David Mc practically coming from nowhere to be one of the stand-out full backs in the country. We’re unlikely to get that lucky again for a while.

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Clare power and class too much for Limerick

The turnstiles were clicking merrily at the Gaelic Grounds last night for this Munster hurling U21 opening round match, so much so that throw-in was delayed 15 minutes, to 7.45pm, as 6,000 fans made their way in .
Understandable also — lovely summer’s evening, two counties on a high, Clare the reigning All-Ireland champions at both U21 and senior, Limerick reigning Munster senior champions and victors over Tipperary last Sunday.
One of the heroes of that Limerick win was sharp-shooter Shane Dowling and as captain of this team he was back in action again last night and back on song. Six points Shane scored in the opening half, all from distance into a stiff breeze as Limerick looked set fair for a surprise win, only trailing 0-10 to 0-8.
Just past the three-quarter mark Dowling again featured, a quickly taken free from just inside the 45m line against a Clare defence that had momentarily lost concentration, ended up in the back of the net. Fortunately for Clare referee Johnny Ryan disallowed the goal on the grounds a Limerick substitution had just taken place. Shane did point that free, eventually, leaving Limerick trailing by four (0-17 to 0-14). !That was that really for the home side, their last chance.
Clare started with six of last year’s All-Ireland winning senior panel, half a dozen more on the fringe of this year’s extended panel and that power and class eventually told.
One of those Clare heroes from last year Tony Kelly, like Dowling, also lined out last night, also as team captain and he too was on song. Four points Tony scored, two in each half, sparkled from start to finish as did Seadna Morey, Conor Clancy and Jamie Shanahan in defence, Colm Galvin in midfield, Peter Duggan, Shane Glennon and Aaron Cunningham up front.
On this night though another fledgling Clare star really made his mark, teenager Bobby Duggan, coming off three years as a starter with the minor team.
Six points he notched in the first-half, two from play; two more he added in the second but also set up Cunningham for Clare’s opening goal, 50th minute; perfect pass, perfect finish, Aaron lobbing the advancing Darragh Stapleton. That score put Clare out of sight, nine points in front (1-19 to 0-13), just ten minutes to go.
It was about to get worse for Limerick, centre-back Diarmuid Byrnes then sent off for a second yellow-card offence, leaving them with an impossible job.
The icing on the cake for Clare came in the 56th minute, the giant Peter Duggan controlling a fine Jamie Shanahan centre !, then giving Stapleton no chance from point-blank range.
It came at a cost, however, the unfortunate Aaron Cunningham crumbling under the same high ball and subsequently stretchered off with a suspected cruciate injury.
A pity for Limerick it ended as it did; they had put up a worthy stand, had their own stars in full-back Damien English and Dan Morrissey on the wing, but they needed everything to go right on the night. It didn’t. Didn’t help their own cause with a few missed opportunities, that sending off, weren’t helped either on the night by some questionable refereeing. Overall however they were simply beaten by a better team, a much better team. On this evidence, Clare are again the team to beat at this level. Perhaps at any level.
Scorers for Clare: B Duggan 0-8 (5f); T Kelly 0-4; A Cunningham 1-1; P Duggan 1-1; S Gleeson 0-2; J Shanahan 0-2; C Galvin, S Morey, 0-1 each.
Scorers for Limerick: S Dowling 0-8 (8f); K O’Brien 1-0; M Carmody, D Morrissey, C Lynch, M Fitzgibbon, P Ryan, D O’Donovan, 0-1 each.
CLARE: K Hogan; J Colleran, J Browne, S Morey; G O’Connell, C Cleary, J Shanahan; C Galvin, E Enright; P Duggan, T Kelly ©, S Gleeson; A Cunningham, D Reidy, B Duggan.
Subs: S McGrath for Gleeson (54); S Taylor for Cunningham (inj. 58); S O’Brien for Colleran (58); N O’Connor for O’Connell (60); S Ward for Kelly (61).
LIMERICK: D Stapleton; M Callaghan, R English, S Irwin; M Carmody, D Byrnes, D Morrissey; W O’Donoghue, C Lynch; S Dowling ©, D Dempsey, M Fitzgibbon; L O’Sullivan, K O’Brien, P Ryan.
Subs: D O’Donovan for O’Donoghue (37); D Coleman for O’Sullivan (42); B Griffin for Fitzgibbon (47).
Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).

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Lads are been too hard on Dowling. Few here have played senior intercounty championship, but many I’d imagine have played club matches at a decent level.

To say that Dowling should be recovered from his exploits on Sunday fails to understand the physical and mental exertions of such a match.

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[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 955189, member: 276”]Lads are been too hard on Dowling. Few here have played senior intercounty championship, but many I’d imagine have played club matches at a decent level.

To say that Dowling should be recovered from his exploits on Sunday fails to understand the physical and mental exertions of such a match.[/QUOTE]
The treatment and placement of the U21 Championship is beyond a joke. There may be merit in the amalgamating of minor and U21 at this stage, there just isn’t room in the calendar for all these grades. The Dowling case, the Laois case last week, the fact that a chap doing his leaving cert was made hurl last night in a game they had little chance of winning, its absolute lunacy. Something needs to be done.

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[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 955189, member: 276”]Lads are been too hard on Dowling. Few here have played senior intercounty championship, but many I’d imagine have played club matches at a decent level.

To say that Dowling should be recovered from his exploits on Sunday fails to understand the physical and mental exertions of such a match.[/QUOTE]
His movement off the ball was minimal and he offered nothing other than frees. He was much the same against tipp bar when he went ff. Nothing to do with a lack of energy

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Poor enough game I thought and a result that was inevitable once Clare upped the pace. Limerick could arguably have led at half time had a couple of goal chances been taken. We looked best when running directly at Clare but the lack of support play and poor first touches all around knackered that tactic. Our own puckout was dire and we did far better on Clare’s.

I was surprised in that we looked poorly-drilled. I expected a bit better but maybe nerves played a part with a few of the lads out of minor struggling to make an impact. Kevin O’Brien was decent but suffers from a lack of finish. David Dempsey battled hard on what was a difficult day for him having buried his grandmother yesterday morning. Byrnes has no discipline and was rightly sent off. His third incident in about 6 weeks. Shane Irwin has plenty hurling but didn’t go well last night. Carmody and Morrissey improved as the game progressed.

Clare are a fine team. Well coached, intelligent and crisp in their hurling. They’re cute as well. Fouling under every dropping ball but just smart enough to get away with it. Kelly in full flow is a joy to watch.

Not a good day for Johnny Ryan though I’d agree with the disallowing of Dowling’s goal as (a) it was taken from the wrong place and (b) Ryan hadn’t blown to restart play. Otherwise he missed blatant fouls, awarded some strange ones and got it completely wrong when he penalised Dowling after the catch.

Coleman should have come in earlier as O’Sullivan was ineffective throughout and Barry Lynch was surely meriting of a place in the 24 at least.

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[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 955189, member: 276”]Lads are been too hard on Dowling. Few here have played senior intercounty championship, but many I’d imagine have played club matches at a decent level.

To say that Dowling should be recovered from his exploits on Sunday fails to understand the physical and mental exertions of such a match.[/QUOTE]
if last night was a once off I would agree, but it wasnt

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As long as he keeps putting up 2-10 with that minimum effort I’ll be happy.

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he’ll do that as long as he’s playing against those windy tipp lads

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With regard to Dowling;

The absolute best thing the youngfella could do at the end of this season is take a well deserved sabbatical from hurling. Don’t pick a ball again for the year. Not being bad but hope Na P have an early finish up this year, and thanks be to God he is gone from underage hurling now. He literally has been hurling 12 months of the year since he was 17, four years in a row, with either Ard Scoil Rís, his club Na Piarsaigh and Limerick. No extended break whatsoever. Would love to see him go away travelling for a year or something and come back. He won us that game on Sunday, but it is his hunger for the game that has declined, not his fitness, diet or interest or his desire. Sometimes that can happen. Dowling needs a very long break from hurling, and come back refreshed. He is hurling non-stop since 17 years of age, and a lad of his natural physique can often lose his hunger for it. Anyone who knows him knows how hard he is working to keep in shape and who badly he wants to play with Limerick. Longest break he has had in 4 years is about 2 months without hurling at a savagely competitive level. As much as he wants it, the reactions and the workrate have dropped because the hunger and appetite for the game has just declined.

He will still be a vital player for our Seniors this year though. However, as i said previously when Barry Nash, Ronan and Cian Lynch advance up to Seniors next year as i would expect, his importance to us may not be as vital. Thats my genuine view on him. An absolute class act who needs to take a break from it for a year.

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First person to make a joke out of my use of the words “hunger” and “appetite” gets stabbed…:mad:

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Stabbed, oldskool yo :clap;

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[QUOTE=“Gary Birtles Lovechild, post: 955126, member: 2585”]No it’s not. Ring Road makes it a pure gift. Try Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Fitzgerald Stadium if you think GG is bad.

It’s actually scary how talented that Clare team was tonight – after about 3 minutes of play, the gap in quality between the two sides was evident. Kelly & Galvin could score from anywhere. The two Duggans were a constant threat. Cleary caught every ball at 6. Seadna Morey won every tussle at corner back. Jamie Shanahan got forward very well at times and stroke a couple of lovely points. Eoin zen right another lovely wristy hurler. Their first touch was better than Limerick’s, they supplied better quality ball to their forwards. A man in possession always had another running off his shoulder. Most impressive was their work rate, they hunted in packs and forced Limerick into coughing up possession numerous times. They actually did to us what we did to Tipp last Sunday. Really can’t see anyone touching them.

It’s a relatively young and and inexperienced team we had out there tonight. I’m not going to get too down about it. Kevin O’Brien, Cian Lynch, Mark Carmody & Richie English were our best performers. Pat Ryan, David Dempsey and Dan Morrissey did alright. Fitzgibbon ran himself into the ground. The rest were off the pace. What annoyed me was our lack of a first touch and the constant surrendering of ball. Our HB line coughed up possession much too easy, I don’t understand the idea of passing to a player 5 yards away who’s already being marked. We had an inability to field any high ball too - only Kevin O Brien caught anything. The effort from the guys was there, we just played naive stuff - pumping high balls in on top of a well beaten Liam O’Sullivan for Seadna Morey to gleefully gobble up, being one example. The team needs maturing, Clare were 2 years ahead of us in terms of physical maturity - this will hopefully will come for us in time. There was too much youth in there tonight to expect too much too soon.

Clare will walk the All Ireland.[/QUOTE]

I’d have Galway ahead of them and Waterford and Dublin level.

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[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 955189, member: 276”]Lads are been too hard on Dowling. Few here have played senior intercounty championship, but many I’d imagine have played club matches at a decent level.

To say that Dowling should be recovered from his exploits on Sunday fails to understand the physical and mental exertions of such a match.[/QUOTE]
Nice sentiment Fenway but it’s not as if he ran himself into the ground in the Tipp match. There’s no way he should have been still exhausted by wednesday.

@Breaking my balls, you’re right in that the length of the season he has played for a few years could be an issue. However, he is now a shadow of the player he was at 19. About those that know him know how hard he’s working, maybe now he is making an effort. But it shouldn’t be such a slog for him now, the fact is he has not been good to train.

I would add that when you mention he may not be as important to the limerick team in a couple of years when certain upcoming players join the panel (presumably in terms of frertaking) that that is a poor reflection on him. This guy is probably the most talented player in limerick. If he was getting the most out of himself there is no way that his starting position should be in question for the limerick team for the next 10 years, probably any team in the country, he is that good. Thats why I’ve lost patience and am a bit critical of him -the guy has the raw talent to be one of the top players in the country.

Anyway, leave him at full forward for this season. He’ll slot the frees and fire home a few 21s and if he latches onto a loose ball he should make good use of it eg the goal and the pass to downes last Sunday.And hopefully his fitness and hurling will improve as the summer goes on.

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[QUOTE=“glasagusban, post: 955471, member: 1533”]Nice sentiment Fenway but it’s not as if he ran himself into the ground in the Tipp match. There’s no way he should have been still exhausted by wednesday.

@Breaking my balls, you’re right in that the length of the season he has played for a few years could be an issue. However, he is now a shadow of the player he was at 19. About those that know him know how hard he’s working, maybe now he is making an effort. But it shouldn’t be such a slog for him now, the fact is he has not been good to train.

I would add that when you mention he may not be as important to the limerick team in a couple of years when certain upcoming players join the panel (presumably in terms of frertaking) that that is a poor reflection on him. This guy is probably the most talented player in limerick. If he was getting the most out of himself there is no way that his starting position should be in question for the limerick team for the next 10 years, probably any team in the country, he is that good. Thats why I’ve lost patience and am a bit critical of him -the guy has the raw talent to be one of the top players in the country.

Anyway, leave him at full forward for this season. He’ll slot the frees and fire home a few 21s and if he latches onto a loose ball he should make good use of it eg the goal and the pass to downes last Sunday.And hopefully his fitness and hurling will improve as the summer goes on.[/QUOTE]

A break would be nice for the lad but you’d wonder what way his size/fitness would go…Perhaps a bit of competition would be no harm for him. But I have heard he is not fond of the auld core work still at Limerick sessions… but still, I think he will do a decent job at FF for now.

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A break from hurling would be good. Won’t happen though as Na P will win limerick again. Anyway, a break would be great if he had a rest and then got a decent preseason under his belt, not if he came back like a well wintered later years mark foley. A job at ff for now, yeah. But he should be so much better than that, in terms of talent he is probably the best in limerick.

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he has bad feet full stop…they need to work on his foot speed and mobility. I suspect that’s been neglected due to his size/skill through to now