Do you actually remember 2014? The finals were good, there was a great semi-final between Limerick & Kilkenny but the other semi-final was a joke. Both quarter-finals were washouts.
Leinster final was very poor, Munster final was okay. There was a big shock in the qualifiers with Clare getting knocked out and Limerick beat Tipp earlier on.
2018 had Limerick vs Cork x2, Galway vs Clare x2, Galway vs Kilkenny x2, Limerick vs Kilkenny. Then you had the exciting final day in Leinster, where Dublin lost to Galway by a point and were knocked out. Dublin vs Kilkenny on the opening day was some contest aswell, Blanchfield’s goal turning it around. Tipp & Clare aswell with Galvin’s goal knocking out Tipp. Tipp’s comeback against Cork, the Waterford ghost goal.
Two good years but 2018 edges it just because there were more good matches.
Tipp v Limerick, Tipp v Galway, Tipp v Kilkenny x2 all great games.
Limerick v Cork, Limerick v Kilkenny.
Wexford v Clare x2 and even Wexford v Waterford was a great occasion.
Dublin v Wexford even had a proper championship feel to it. Kilkenny v Galway in Tullamore x2 had a storyline surrounding it.
Even Austin Gleeson’s wonder goal on Day 1 was class.
The quarter finals were a let down alright.
There was no excitement in the final day in Leinster in 2018. Dublin were already out. KK played Wexford for a place in Leinster final.
There was nothing memorable about either Leinster or Munster finals that year. Clare v Galway was overrated stuff.
I suppose where they position Hayes will determine that. Do they keep him inside to see how Clare want to match up with him, Flanagan and Gillane or do they put him at 11 and try to test Conlon physically or does CON go to 11 and look to drift from sideline to sideline.
Maybe it is the hamstring but Hayes hasn’t quite looked himself in the full forward line and from a Clare POV I’d prefer him there rather than at 11 or 7. Kiely said last week that they were unhappy with the amount of time Clare backs got on the ball and it was something they were very much looking to rectify which would make you think that Mulcahy may well get the nod to start.
Limerick are deserved favourites but I think it will be a decent contest. Clare have closed the gap and will have 13 lads on the field who are in form and have put together some really good performances over the last 6 weeks or so.
Limerick played in snatches in the round robin and I don’t think you could say that they are operating at a level above what they were at in 2020 or 2021 but probably aren’t too far off it either and probably feel they will get better with every game.
Clare were at a low ebb in 2019 and 2020 and Limerick utterly dominated both games but are very much in an upward curve and have the athleticism and size in the middle third to live with Limerick for long stretches. They have a manager who has a lot of the real positive traits that Ger Loughnane had without some of Ger’s negative ones and he will have Clare primed for this and I don’t doubt as a group that they feel they are capable of winning this game. I think they will be aggressive and try and play with 3 in the inside forwards at times and trust that the full backline can hold up at the other end.
You would think that Limerick will have a kick in them as all great multiple A/I winning teams do and will hit a gear in the last quarter and pull away to win but if they don’t have that gear to go to for whatever reason I think it could be a very close contest.
I don’t know what prism you’re looking at this through. All my life I’ve been hearing hurling is about to die. In the 80’s it was absolutely fucked sure.
I think we’re in unfamiliar territory and many lads are completely discombobulated by it.
In the 90’s when Clare, Offaly, Wexford were wnning All Ireland’s, the trad counties were still there, competing and competitive. They hadn’t gone away you know.
Now it’s Limerick flaggelating all in sight and the trad 3 (with the occasional exception of Cork) not really in the conversation, replaced in the second tier by Clare and Galway. We’re talking about our shock at how Waterford have folded after most expected them to be parading around Croke Park on July 17th. They’ve kind of gone away you know.
Hurling now is as exciting as it’s ever been and the media, podcasts, coverage available now makes it more compelling than ever (with the exception of RTE match day analysis which has gone to utter shite).
We don’t know we’re born here and our expectations have manifoldly increased.
As have the “this is shite, I remember seeing Mick Mackey, that was rale hurling” brigade. Who are witheringly boring.
The handpass needs to be enforced in the spirit of a border guard on the 38th paralell. So we have a few shite games until they cop on, problem solved after that.
Naturally Kilkenny will go on to win the All Ireland now I’ve said this.
Kyle was asked to do Gillane’s role last time, and he is not Gillane, he just isn’t the same threat as an inside forward. No shame in that. I think Kyle will be asked to do Mulcahy’s role this time, which he is much more suited to, working his socks off, winning dirty ball and, ready to run at goal if he can collect a ball off the inside two. But that will rely on an improved performance from Flanagan too, we can’t just have one outlet inside.
DOD will make a big difference too, as the linkman in midfield that we were probably lacking the last day. I thought Hanley did well work rate wise and we hounded Clare in the middle, but Clare did the same to us and we maybe lacked a bit of fluidity around there.
We’ll need to do better on Clare puckouts this time; in the first half, Clare got way too much joy with simple enough moves & runs and that will have annoyed the management. A lot to improve on, I’m sure Clare feel the same way, probably didn’t make as much use of the extra man as they would have liked and found it harder to score in the last 10-15 minutes than they had in the opening half and will probably need more from Duggan or SOD. To me, it would make sense for Duggan to do a bit more around half-forward this time, I just think he’s better there. Okay, he might catch a ball at 14 which could lead to a goal but if he’s rotated out, he can get through a lot of work out the field.
This cork team are a figure of comedy for many and are considered one of the worst cork teams of all time and I’d say there’s a good chance they end up in the all Ireland final for the second year in a row after losing a league final but yet the game is in a great place.
Yerra, I threw Galway in there so the coven wouldn’t be upset with me.
Clare though. Now Clare are as good a team as I’ve seen in years. Great hurlers, playing intelligent hurling that comes from a man I think is the best coach by a country mile in the championship. And a tremendously likable bunch to boot.
Fair points, but I don’t think it’s a certainty that Flanagan even starts. He was well off the pace in Ennis and was withdrawn rather than being given more gametime.
When he’s on form he’s one of our most important players and would be in my team every day, but Kiely will go with those who have been producing the goods in training. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Reidy getting the start either.
I know this thread has gone in a different direction but I found out during the week I’m related to 2 lads on the Limerick panel. I’m still not sure which 2 though as my Dad was getting awful confused by the surnames
He’s still not sure if they’re brothers or cousins but they have either an uncle or a father who is a first cousin of him, or his father.
I think Duggan will stay at 14 for the simple fact that if we are under pressure, which we will be many times then the possibility to clear our lines and put it down on top of him is there. He will at the very least break it or harry his man and slow it coming back down the field.
Given how much he missed over the last couple of years I don’t know if he has the engine for the half forwards at the minute.
He rang me so excited to tell me the news and a small bit of gentle probing revealed he’d obviously been told by someone else and knew fuck all about them
