Cork/Kilkenny All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final

Cork are fucking useless mate, that’s what they are.

They gave Tipp a nice trimming though didn’t they?

http://dynimg.rte.ie/000232e7189r.jpg

Tipped him for this on another forum…my favourite hurler to watch in the country at the moment…Shame he is hurling for Kilkenny, because with any other side he would be the marquee forward and would see far more ball

You said the same thing against Waterford and they still fucking lost.

That is a hugely accurate description of yourself from last Tuesday.

Cork will not score 1-16. I’ll go
Kilkenny 1-16
Cork 0-11

My prediction of a relatively low scoring game has been informed by this weather forecast:
There will be more rain for much of the country as a band of rain crosses Ireland during Sunday. There will be some locally heavy downpours and it will be quite mild and humid with maximum temperatures ranging from 16 to 19 degrees.

kilkenny are a far better outfit than they were last year. the return of noal hickey has allowed jj delaney back to his best position at half back. if tommy walsh was’nt around people would be hearlding jj has one of the greatest half backs of all time.

michael rice has added a new dimension to their midfield. he has the skill of cha but the workrate of fennelly.

tj reid has improved and is starting to show his club form on the biggest stage.

Kilkenny are the dominant force mainly because they possess the best forwards, and by the best i mean they are in a different planet to any other forward sextet in the game today.

Cork are up to the required standard from 1-9. after that we are in trouble. only niall mccarthy is playing at the level required. if we possessed 3 of the kk forwards it would be a 50/50 match. the problem is we dont and the forwards we do have are miles off the required standard.

I’m not sure about that to be honest. The likes of Paudie O’Sullivan, Pa Horgan, and Ben would make any team except Kilkenny’s. Each of them would get a fair crack at the Tipp team. The difference with Kilkenny is that their forwards will win any sort of ball. Cork are off the back of nearly ten years of ‘possession’ hurling and have now taken to lamping 70 yard balls towards the edge of the square. There are fuck all forwards alive who would thrive in that environment.

You’d have to expect Walsh to have some alternative planned for Sunday. Surely no one anywhere thinks it’s a good idea to make their forwards live off 50/50 ball against Kilkenny’s backs. Unless of course the objective is to embarrass and retire half the team.

ben is shadow of the player he was. ben o connor of 2003-2008 would walk on any inter county team. problem is father time and injuries have caught up with him. paudie and pat horgan have potential but are not proven as of yet and to be honest i dont see paudie ever reaching the heights of any of the kilkenny forwards. his workrate is terrible and doubt he would even make a kilkenny squad.

i have great time for horgan. i would rate him as the best forward currently in cork. he probably wont start sunday though. with regards to highlighted statement kilkenny forwards dont seem to have any trouble dealing with this type of ball.

Exactly. That’s what sets them apart. Tipp wouldn’t be able to play like that. Nor would anyone else for that matter.

sorry wtb, took you up wrong.

Agree with you re Michael Rice, he is a key player for them and his role is very understated…He was a super minor, think he captained them in the 2002 minor final, but AFAIK he is struggling with injury and could miss the Cork match

Cork team

  1. Donal Og Cusack
  2. Shane O’Neill
  3. Eoin Cadogan
  4. Brian Murphy
  5. John Gardiner
  6. Ronan Curran
  7. Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
  8. Tom Kenny
  9. Cathal Naughton
  10. Michael Cussen
  11. Kieran Murphy
  12. Niall McCarthy
  13. Pat Horgan
  14. Aisake Ó hAilpín
  15. Ben O’Connor
    Subs
  16. Martin Coleman
  17. Shane Murphy
  18. Ray Ryan
  19. William Egan
  20. Jerry O’Connor
  21. Lorcan McLoughlin
  22. Graham Callanan
  23. Paudie O’Sullivan
  24. Cian McCarthy
  25. Anthony Nash
  26. Eoin Dillon
  27. Pa Cronin
  28. Michael Walsh
  29. Mark O Sullivan
  30. Luke O’Farrell

im disappointed with that. not withstanding my comments on paudie above i’m amazed he has being dropped as he did more than enough against antrim to justify his selection here. against antrim it was our half back line that struggled. i’m disappointed that shane murphy is dropped. same old shit, lads being picked on reputations rather than form. i despair, i really do.

Paudi not playing is criminal.

This is not going to be nice, kinda wish i wasn’t going.

maybe a dummy team but i doubt it.

He’s never done that if i remember correctly. I have great time for Sars and all, but they have a few lads involved that really makes me wonder where we are. Fraggie is no threat at all and ray Ryan is probably 1st half back on.

You know when you say your going up more in hope than in confidence, would someone please throw me a bit of hope.

I agree with the lads above, KK are potentially better this year than last. I am still to be convinced by Noel Hickey (in recent times now i must stress) but the 2 half backs are awesome, their midfield is better than it ever was and they have 3 or 4 of the best forwards there is.

On a slight aside, i can’t believe the size of Fennelly, jesus he’s machine lokking at him, he was in a photo shoot recently and was absolutely miles above Ken Mcgrath, who isn’t exactly small.

Kevin, I genuinely think there are several Kilkenny players looking noticeably slower this year. I know it’s a cliché but there’s some who’ve lost that half yard or yard of pace. Most people will agree that they’ve got a soft Leinster for the second year in a row by avoiding Wexford yet again and they weren’t tested by embarrassingly inept Dublin and Galway teams. Michael Rice, their best player this year, is also injured. Those who can be exploited for pace in the defence are Hickey (Rushe beat him by 10 yards in a 30 yard sprint), Hogan and Delaney. Comerford was miles off the pace and couldn’t get near the ball he was so slow. Shefflin is slower and Brennan has lost a bit. I think they were far stronger in 2007 and 2008 than they are this year.