Huh? I thought Tennyson was heroic today.
Thanks for the reply Locke - surely Shefflin is gone now though, serious injury for a lad in his thirties to recover from completely. Would have thought Brennan and Hickey might be thinking about retirement as well.
re: Castlemartyr, once we get hammered in the football championship next Friday, we’ll be probably playing Buttevant the weekend after before a senior club game.
I did say Hickey would be retired by Eoin Kelly today - Lar Corbett, same difference.
Cody and Kilkenny got caught in what I like to describe as a “five in a row fog”. There were two things constant during his reign - don’t pick a player who isn’t 100% fit and don’t pick a player out of form. He went against those two principles today by picking Shefflin and Tennyson (who it must be said again put in a heroic performance) and Brennan. I think the psychological effect of going for five in a row blinded even Cody. It will never be done in our lifetime.
TBF I think he probably just realised they wouldn’t beat Tipp by playing so many of the lads on the bench - they don’t have players to replace a half-fit Shefflin or an out-of-form Brennan, despite the media hype about KK’s bench.
Babs was in his hole right. Babs hasn’t a clue. He’s like that lad in Quantum Leap - leaping into the dark and always hoping that the next leap will be the leap home. It never will.
I think that’s actually a fair enough point. Shorn of Shefflin Kilkenny looked a far easier beast to tame. There are a good few lads there who look well on the way down if not finished. Richie Hogan for all the hype has done the square root of fuck all at senior championship level. It was Power and not much else for them up front.
I still think they’ll probably win the All-Ireland again next year when the likes of Reid will be expected to take on far more of a leadership role. But they won’t get five. Nobody ever will.
Here’s hoping that one day soon, Babs will make the leap home. So we won’t have to listen to the horrible oul fucker again.
Fair play to Tipp.
Sid, I find it strange you say that Kilkenny will “probably” win the AI again next year?
what would your ratings be:
Id go for
Cummins 5 - not great
Stapleton - 7 - didnt give Fogarty much of it
Curran 8 - not at fault for the goal and was very good in second half
Cahill 8 - He hardly expected Eddie brennan to be taken off before the game
Fanning 6 - hit plenty of ball but thought Larkin had better of him
O’Mahoney 6 - Nothing too bad but Rice was on the ball a bit
Maher 9 - Superb throughout. My motm
B Maher 7 - Picked up a good few breaks
S McGrath 6 - started very well but faded
G Ryan 8 - serious second half performance
Another Maher 5 - not in game really
John O’Brien 5 - very little ball came down his side in fairness
N McGrath 7 - started very well but faded I thought
E Kelly 6 - a little iffy on the frees and was quiet enough generally
L Corbett 9 - not on the ball much but looked a different class when he did get it
Callinan was superb when he came on. Young was decent too. Dunne and some other sub clipped over points but game was won at that stage.
Ryan 4 - Clinton Hennessy esque efforts at stopping goals
Dalton 7 - good in the air. Should have been moved to full back
Hickey 3 - absolutely hopeless
Tyrell 8 - very good game
Walsh 6 - Tipp made a point of keeping the ball away from his wing but he wasnt as sharp as usual anyway
Tennyson 8 - slow starting but very dominant afterwards
Delaney 7 - Excellent for long parts but his man hit a lot of ball in second half
Fitzpatrick 4 - anonymous
Fennelly 6 - very quiet in first half but dominant in second half. Awful miss near the end though
Reid 6 - stupid decision to make him captain. Was alright but should have done way better with goal chance in first half.
Rice 7 - decent impact when he came on
Larkin 8 - super run for the goal and provided a lot of leadership
Brennan 4 - badly off form
Power 7 - looked dangerous and finished goal superbly but I think 4 missed frees and didnt assume responsibility like I thought he would
Fogarty 5 - hardly saw him
whoever dressed the RTE panel - 3 . They looked like simpletons. Tommy Dunne in particular with an awful effort. Didnt think Loughnane looked that healthy.
Who won MOTM on the Sunday Game does anyone know?
Lar Corbett
Babs maintained Cummins puckouts were poor and it was proved right in the first half and on occasion in the second. to babs.
He was very good (had him at 25/1 to get MOTM before the game) but you’d imagine if both he and Hogan were available then the Hickey problem may have been solved yesterday.
On the performance yesterday, Tipp deserved the win by a mile.
As I say, an asterisk Al-Ireland for me though.
As pikeman says, it was a good day out yesterday, 2 good finals, and the senior one was closer than the final score suggests, even tho Tipp should have won a lot easier. Kilkenny were rubbish yesterday, and only for a few soft frees and a bit of naivity from Tipp let them back into it at times.
The one big difference for me tho, and as much of a cliche as it is, was the hunger of the Tipp players. They went and won their own ball. and werent found waiting or standing back. 2 instances of this early on were a couple of high balls into the Tipp penalty box. first one Brennan tried get in behind Cahill and get an easy goal chance if Stapletoon missed it. He didnt, Caught it clean and cleared. Then Fogarty on the next high ball did the very same thing. Stood behind the man and hoped it would drop in behind. It didnt. A high ball was ent in to Corbett at the other end and he drove into Hickey and won his own posession clean.
The intensity of the Tipp players tho was unreal. I didnt think they’d have the pace and energy to keep that up for the 70 minutes, but they sure did.
Tactically, they completely and utterly dominated KK. Corbett was roaming about and dragging Hickey out of position. And the corner forwards were clearing the space in behind too. For all the goals, there was terrible marking/positional sense from the KK backs. Hickey was left completely isolated for the first goal. The second one, albeit from a super pass from McGrath, but again, it was Corbett after miving deep and comoing onto the ball at speed left him an open goal. The third one, there is no way a dropping ball on the edge of the small square should be left unguarded. Thats a full backs ball every time, but the full back was no where to be seen. Last one much the same, but t’was game over by then anyway. Contrasting to Tipp who everytime the KK players were attacking at them, their backs to a man ran in towards goal and crowded it out. They either pulled back the man running then, or else just bottled it up. KK were caught out bad, and instead of bringing the ball back out towards the 45 where they had an amount of space, they ran down these cul de sacs and lost posession.
What suprised me most was the persistant raining down of aimless high balls on their forwards. Delaney, for as good a game he had, and Tennyson and Walsh kept hitting aimless high balls without trying to finid a man. And Brennan and Fogarty had no intention of competing. Power tried, but he was outnumbered everytime going for a high ball. But yet KK kept doing it. There was no creativity and no message to hit low balls in, or work it up or anything. Right up to injury time they were still hitting the ball over the shoulder with a spectacular looking clearance that came straight back.
Tipp were by far the better team. Played a better game of hurling, and completely played to their strangths and nullified KK.
That was a great day out.
We stood up after the last goal and looked 360 round the stadium. The place looked alive with everyone on their feet while the nosie and outpouring of emotion physically shook us.
If only it were Limerick …
And he is the 1st choice as well, just got injured.
Why?
Because of Shefflin? Sure every county has to deal with injuries. They wouldn’t have won with him either, Tipp were awesome yesterday. They picked the game plan they wanted and stuck to it. Tipp realised a long way back that if you match the intensity you could beat KK. Once they did that i actually believe they have the better hurlers overall, better stick men, better forwards.
Thats how it proved.
Oh right and you’re so sure of that.
Remember this is the player you rate as the best of all time now.
Shefflin at full belt could have taken that by the scruff of the neck, but we’ll never know. That’s why that asterisk will always be there for me.
How is Tennyson the 1st choice centre back? Hasn’t played there in the championship since Hogan took it from him
I don’t buy that at all. Kilkenny should have one by their title last year too then for the phantom game changing penalty.