That highlights how silly lads like @Perez2017 are to judge limericks squad on killmallock.
People always feel that even if a team from a weaker county has put up credible performances over the years, a total shellacking is always inevitable sooner or later. These teams do not compete regularly at the level of teams from stronger counties and have to massively raise their game if they want to compete.
The Antrim hurling team of the late 80s/early 90s was an example of this. They had a few “credible” performances where they ran overconfident stronger teams to anywhere in the region of 5-10 points, one very credible performance where they lost to two very late Kilkenny points after having got level late on, and one famous upset victory over a bloated and arrogant Offaly team. In the final they were completely out of their depth.
In 1993 Antrim led Kilkenny by three points in the All-Ireland semi-final. They scored one point in the second half and lost by 18 points. The collapse is never far away.
If say that was more to do with the squawking from @thelimericks about their club championship being the best in the country by a mile
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Lookit, people thought Killmallock would put it up to Ballygunner and look what happened. Ballygunner themselves know they won’t have a better chance of an AI after all the nearly misses. You can bet your house on it they’ll be primed, focused and ready with a game plan to beat Slaughtneil.
Would Slaughtneil be better than Kilmallock? They gave a good account of themselves against Ballyhale two years ago alright but Ballyhale always had them at arms length. A strange sort of relatively tight game. Lads overestimate now close they got to NAP in 2018 in my opinion. 8 points was a comfortable enough margin in the end. Ballygunner seem to be hurling extremely well. I can’t see Slaugtneil beating them. Must be said that Slaughtneil are a tremendous GAA club though.
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Would Slaughtneil get 7 on Limerick panel? Doubt it. Theyd beat Kilmalock though.
Ballyhale had to play very well to beat Slaughtneil in 2020. Fergal gave them all the marginal calls too.
The 2018 Na Piarsaigh game was a funny one in that Slaughtneil should have been out of sight but then completely froze. I’d say they barely scored in last 20 minutes. The Dow and Ronan Lynch hurled up a storm in the second half.
On their Munster Final performance, Slaughtneil of 2018 & 2020 would surely have beaten Kilmallock.
If Big Brendan Rogers and Big Chrissy McKaigue get their danders up they’ll be there or thereabouts on Sunday. Yer man Cormac O’Doherty is a great player too. He brings the wrists to the operation.
Parnell Park is great little ground. It’ll be rocking on Sunday. Both clubs will bring a lot of noise and colour.
I’m humming and hawing about making a weekend of it in Dublin.
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A lovely Canice Picklington style performance from some Ballyhale guy on OTB last night cc @Cheasty
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For me Ballygunner’s performance against Loughmore is more relevant to this Sunday than the Kilmallock game. Killmallock didnt perform and they gave too much room to the Ballygunner forwards. The Parnell Pk surface will be more like Dungarvan than Pairc ui Chaoimh and even going a man down in the 1st half, Loughmore closed Ballygunner down and were still in it until John McGraths sending off.
Slaughtneil always drop Gerald Bradley back in front of the full back line so there wont be the space in front of Dessie that he got in Cork. The Slaughtneil half forwards also drop deep so they will be trying to close down Hogan and Pauric Mahony who drop deep and try to deliver the good ball ball into Dessie. If Rogers and Brian Cassidy can get going up front they could stay in contention. However, i always get the feeling that Slaughneil are good at shutting teams down but they just dont have enough top quality hurlers to get them over the line at this level. Best of luck to them anyway and i have my ticket for it so hope its a good one.
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This has Mount Sion/Dunloy vibes written all over it.
The Waterford mindset is never too far from a capitulation
That’s excellent analysis.
Somebody made a good point during the week (might have been Verney) that Parnell Park is the type of claustrophobic ground that if Slaughtneil get ahead, Ballygunner will feel like their their whole world is crumbling in around them.
Spot on there :
A big strong team with a load of footballers? Course they would
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Ballygunner’s tradition is epic defeats in big matches. Slaughtneil are the living embodiment of the old Spartan warrior republic. They’ll bring war.
Kilmallock were awful both on and off the field the last day . PUC really suited Ballygunner.
Sunday will be on a smaller & softer pitch and Slaughtneil will set up smarter
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Great to see 2x outrageously ambitious clubs meeting at this stage in the competition.
A real clash of cultures too.
Interesting to see which game Brian Tyers will be at on Sunday. I’ve a feeling he’ll be in Thurles with Marcus O’Buachalla or Cuan O’Flatharta on duty in Parnell Park.
Ah they would in their hole.
Kilmallock and Patrickswell could give 2 fucks about munster club is the strong sense I’ve always had. You could put Blackrock in Cork with that as well and most Tipp champions. Its the more zealous Kilkenny crowd.
The Well and Kilmallock would each love to win it but we both well beat by Ballygunner which is no disgrace
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