Scotstown installed as marginal favourites.
Even though Scotstown have half the Monaghan team I felt Kilcoo were by far the better side in last years clash before that late meltdown and Iâd fancy them to right those wrongs this year.
Be nice to see this current crop from Scotstown get their hands on an Ulster Title having given it a fair rattle for close to a decade now. The current team get some abuse from their auld fellas who dominated Ulster in the 1980âs.
Whatâs the draw for the senior club semi finals in both codes? ie which provincial winners play which
Tis easy done with the odd transfer here and there
Youâll get begrudgers everywhere.
Premierview having a predictable enough meltdown over Ballygunner.
Like a lot of things in modern life, people dont seem to know what their anger is based on - Is it the population angle? Is it their style of play? Is it because of their conduct on/off the field?
THEM.
Not Van Morrisonâs band, though heâs a cunt too.
You couldnât find a colder club in the coldest of gaa championships.
How though?
For all their population advantages, they are like most clubs in that they are still effectively at the behest of one family who run the show.
If you go back over the last decade, theyâve been involved in pretty much all the top club hurling games played in that period.
Teams in Rosenborg situations will never be the most popular mate.
Having said that, they were very impressive yesterday in terms of skill, teamwork movement and spread of scorers. They have all you would want in a team.
There would be serious comic value if they conspire to shoot themselves in the foot at some stage, which is in their locker too.
They are a super club and nobody likes super clubs.
I doubt there any good to the game of hurling either. Must be some serious excess players being lost.
Best club games now are junior b. Itâs what itâs really about. Local pride.
Who gives a fuck if ballygunner who have the pick of half a city can win games against vastly inferior teams.
People like Cuala because little Cuala arenât they great at least theyâre not Krokes good on little Cuala.
Even allowing for their Waterfordness, BG will surely have to win it out from here
In fairness I took an irrational dislike to cuala because of des Cahill.
They are very Leinster senior cup too. Hiring a dart for the day.
Everybody likes Des. They might claim not to, but they do.
Cuala should be applauded for their pro-public transport actions.
They work harder than 99% of other Clubs and it shows at this time of year.
As regards shooting themselves in the foot, I think too much is made of that. Theyâve only lost twice in five years, one of those being to a superior Ballyhale team and the other was on penalties to St Thomasâs in a game where they were effectively rode bareback by the officials.
Loughmore never raised a gallop yesterday.
Theyâve burned the candle at both ends really with the same pool of players so it was no surprise to see them hit a flat spot. There seemed to be no freshness or zip out of them. They are not helped by their lack of a goalkeeper. They might get away with it within Tipp but theyâve attempted to convert outfield players in the past like David Kennedy and now Aidan McGrath without much success. His puck outs were brutal, was at fault for the goal, got blocked down which should have resulted in another. But he wasnt the reason they lost. Ballygunner were just so much superior in every facet. Loughmores tactics were baffling. They kept it tight so 25 minutes or so. Onus was put on limiting Hutchinson and Fitzgerald inside to the detriment of conceding huge amounts of space to Hogan and Mahony who must have accounted for 10 points from play between the 2 of them. Its rare at any level that a forward can stand still and plant their feet and get a shot off without a hook or a block but Ballygunner did that time and again without even having to work a few phases to get the ball to shooter. It was incredibly naive and whats worse they still gave the inside men the freedom of the park. Ballygunner. Obviously have their minds set on a dynasty. Its a pity Doon werent afforded more time after their own county final win. Yesterdays result makes Borrisoleighs achievement of beating Ballygunner all the more remarkable now especially considering many of those same Ballygunner players yesterday would have been in their prime back then.
Could Slaughtneilâs running game be the biggest threat to Ballygunner? I think it could be. Slaughtneil were excellent Saturday night.
Iâd say Borrisileigh have a good giggle to themselves every time they sit down and watch some other team in Munster get hammered by Ballygunner.
That 2019 Munster Club win is made infinitely better because of who they beat in the final.
Loughmore never laid a glove yesterday which is most un-Loughmore like. Whatever they did since the County Finalâs just didnt work and its going to be very hard to lift it going down to Ennis for the Football next week.
Loughmore will need a new coach next year as Aidan Stakelum is going back to Holycross. He was getting much of the credit for their performance this year and is probably going to make a breakthrough into intercounty set ups over the next few years.
Theyâll have plenty of time anyway as they mightnât have anyone on county panel next season.