Odd choices
North Cork Mafia sticking together.
Cork won’t make it out of munster
Coughed up two all Irelands and now looking at a sort of rebuild again.
Such fine margins.
A fine down hill cyclist with the wind at his back.
Cork and Tipp not to make it out of Munster would be a decent bet.
Tipp and Limerick Munster FInal you’d feel; they seem to be more settled than the rest
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All teams have a few key older players. Hard to judge whose legs will go and who’ll still be competitive.
I think it’s wide open. Nothing would surprise me.
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Who would you have picked?
Isn’t many standouts
Hayes.
The way he boxed Hoggie at half time in the All Ireland shows he has it.
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What have Waterford done in recent times to suggest they will qualify. Aussie opting out? Ballygunners run to club final?
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Spot on. Waterford probably the least likely to come out but wouldn’t be surprised by any of the other 4 dropping out.
All five teams have question marks over them really.
Tipp won a suprise all ireland and have a tonne of underage coming but b2b is a problem.
Cork obviously have a lot of baggage. Not sure they have many players to improve their side, maybe O’Sullivan at corner back might be an upgrade on O’Leary. I have been underwhelmed by Ben Cunningham thus far. Alan Walsh might be Brian Hayes part 2 with slightly more hurling.
Limerick obviously have a lot of miles on the clock although would still be my faves.
Clare, miles on the clock and their young players probably a year or two off being ripe bar maybe Jack O’Neill.
Waterford are Waterford.
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Ben Cunningham isn’t even the best wing forward on his club team so William Buckley will surely come into the reckoning for Cork. Alan Walsh is another who could feature. Micheal Mullins and Cormac O Brien especially will surely start pushing for a starting berth. While Kingston and O Sullivan might provide some depth in the back line. Dont think they need wholesale changes.
Clare are obviously still going to be very reliant on the old guard. Conlon nearly lost his finger in an accident not so long ago. Not sure what shape he is in now or if he’ll be able to hurl. Mcinerney was travelling before Christmas. Think he might be just back. Cleary has been bedevilled by injuries. O Donnell, Duggan and Kelly do they have one last kick in them. Clare need freshening up and need to blood 3 or 4 in the league with a view to be starting them in the championship.
Limerick marginal favourites for All Ireland again according to Paddy Power. Currid is back. Huge motivation there after the way the season ended last year with that loss to Dublin. They havent really lost anyone bar Hannon so all the older guard you’d assume will have a role to play unless Kiely wields the axe. Having Quaid back from the get go is important. Will Darragh O Donovan be more involved and does Kiely persist with likes of Finn, O Donoghue, Morrissey and Hegarty to same extent as other years.
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How good is Alan Walsh - from the little I’ve seen of him he could start before Connolly ?
Is he going to be as good as Hayes?
He is a brilliant ball winner if he gets the right ball. He has exceptionally long arms! Very good at club level at least of having his man turned before ball is even in his hand
Haven’t seen him dominating club games from start to finish though like his club mate Brian o Sullivan does. But he isn’t anywhere close to his full potential yet
No, different kind of player. Connolly has more hurling too, Walsh is fairly one sided.
Is Walsh more suited in a half forward line? I think his hurling is too slow closer to goal. Serious man to secure aerial ball
Connolly doesn’t want to know about it once the physical stakes are upped.
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I don’t see him as a half forward line player myself. More of a target man inside in the ff line. He could cause problems but I think he could need a year to bed in to the heightened level before getting near the team.
This is the year for the likes of O’Brien, Mullins, Healy to push on and nail a place - to be fair, Healy and O’Brien can be happy with their displays last year. I’d include Power in that too if his recovery improves.
I’m happy Hugh O’Connor was picked on the 36. Think he has a lot of potential.
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Waterford took 3 out of 4 points from Cork and Tipp at home 2 years ago. No reason they cant take 4 this year.