I thought Dublinâs Sean Moran was the best player on view over the two games today. Whatâs the story with Liam Rushe?
Back for the summer.
OâDonnell was also excellent.
Were Dublin wise to play sweeper today fagan ??
. He is consistently excellent
If cork had o Donnell at 3 & Moran at 6 they would be looking at 3IAR . If my aunty âŚ,
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No. They seemed to have the ability to find Tom Condon with unerring accuracy with their clearances. They were going to find it near impossible to score goals the way they set up.
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I think so , particularly with a few passengers in the forwards as well . The Dublin defenders had the physical attributes and legs for their immediate men today . I am still uncertain if they will finish in top 3 in Leinster but they wonât be easy beat .
Even if they equal their league result and avoid defeat youâd fancy Carlow will take one pasting at least this summer and Galway will have the better scoring differential
Galway play Carlow opening weekend in Salthill. Carlow at home to Kilkenny second weekend. Carlow will probably be at their most competitive over the first two matches and with a few injuries and suspensions for their obligatory straight red card every match (cc @myboyblue) tail off badly last two matches. Always best to face the cannon fodder towards the end of round robin format to boost scoring difference.
Didnt even know he was on the field.
This coming from Didsburyâs own Denis Nielsen always inviting strangers to stay in his gaffe.
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We werenât hectic today. I felt we got on top of Galway after 20 minutes I thought we would win from that point on. Plenty of players to come in and a few players still looking for form. Good to get a win. We can test ourselves v Limerick next day. Limerick seemed to win in second gear today.
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I think you need a little sleep.
Not as much as you do
Calm down dear 
Why are Galway worried after having only about half their best team out?
West of Ireland ochoning .
An enjoyable couple of games today, if not exactly high quality.
I was looking forward to seeing Dublin and while they are well advanced from the last time I saw them live (last yearâs League), I was actually slightly disappointed. Have they been playing a sweeper like that the whole league?
They are certainly well-organised and made life very difficult for Limerick, but I donât think it ever looked like they were going to win. I would have always said Dublin had good backs- OâDonnell, Moran, Crummey, Barrett; they are good players. Do they really need the extra protection of a fella sitting in front all the time? The best teams will counteract that sweeper and use their own spare man to good effect too.
I just donât know if Dublin have the forwards to play such a system and beat the better teams. Sutcliffe is class and scored some super points, that Trollier fella was lively today but there wasnât enough threat from the inside line. They might have a couple players to come back (Donal Burke?) but forwards still seem to be lacking and I donât know if that system helps them.
I was certain Galway were going to win at half-time; they looked much sharper and had the wind to come. But they were fucking awful in the second half; after the red card, it looked like they were trying to lose on purpose. Braindead stuff. Their corner-backs are not comfortable on the ball at all and they didnât have a clue how to use the extra man. Joe was the only forward who really came out with any credit; Glennon & Concannon looked lively at times in the first half but went very quiet. Whelan is a shadow of the player he was in 2017⌠is he carrying too much weight?
I do like Cathal Mannion, heâs a beautiful striker of the ball. But the use of the ball for Galway has to be the key thing to work on for Championship- not sure the returning players will really help that.
Waterford were poor with the wind, really struggled on their own puckouts. But after the red card, they dug in and brought some seriously impressive work rate. Prendergast impressed me a lot from the bench, his work rate was top notch, Hogan was very lively. Stephen Bennett was excellent when he went out the field. They fought like dogs for everything, Pauric Mahony scored a couple of big, big points; Lyons came forward and hit one too (Tommy Ryan probably had the score of the day on the run off the hurley from the right side).
I thought Aussie was shit tbh. So much talent, but his head seems to drop very easily⌠tries spectacular things and if they donât come off, he gets a bit downhearted. Has loads of talent, maybe just needs to keep things simple sometimes. Was it Kevin Moran who hit Joe? Massive hit, impressive in itself, Joe had waltzed through their defence up to that. Be a good match next weekend.
Jamie Barron is unreal aswell, what a hurler.
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