Sheffield utd under that wanker Warnock were as defensive as they come, they canât say much.
Thatâs completely true
Probably considered sour grapes for Cork to make that suggestion, I was quite shocked that the 10 or so pages given over to the game on Monday nights echo were so 100% gracious,
Cork finished very strongly against Waterford the first day, the game on Sunday was completely in the balance, I wouldnât have called a winner.
I agree too. However going on about Roundheads and Cavaliers is a strange fucking way of making a simple one line point.
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I havenât a clue what youâre on about only quislings follow English soccerball.
I donât think anyone is questioning that you âcanâ win the All-Ireland with a sweeper. Shur didnât Clare win in 2013? I know they dropped it for the final but it was crucial in the wins over Galway and Limerick.
I thought Waterford were better all thru and would have won anyway
Oh right ya, I took you up wrong. I didnât read the article myself
Thereâs been plenty out there who have said this year alone that you cant win with a sweeper. I dont think a sweeper matters a fuck really in the scheme of things if you have a good team. Shit teams will still be shit, sweeper or no sweeper. Good teams will be good, and maybe the addition of a sweeper gives a tactical battle another dimension to a team who may be slightly weaker than their opponents. IF Waterford went man for man on all the teams they played this year, I dont think any result would be different.
Waterford have a lot of questions still to answer in my opinion. If you draw a line through the form guide it doesnât inspire confidence.
They limped over the line against one of the worst Kilkenny teams in years. A kilkenny team who struggled against Limerick at home in Nowlan Park which is always worth 4 or 5 points to Kilkenny. Only for Walter Walsh the outcome could have been much different.
The short turnaround and rude awakening allied with a long trip to Cork meant that they scrambled over a Wexford team who misfired on the day and gifted the game on a platter with a brainfart from Eoin Moore just before half time.
Cork were finding scores a bit easier from the 35th minute to the 51st minute in Croke park up to the sending off. You got a sense they were building ahead of steam and had not had a proper purple patch yet. Harnedy and Lehane were growing into the game and Fitzgibbon was threathening to win the game on his own with surging runs forward.
You can pick holes all day but there is not a whole pile in the debit column for Galway apart from a lack of goals. You feel those opportunities will come and they will be working on going for the jugular. All hurling matches are won by who can win the most primary possession. The ball is in the air most of the time and Galway will win the aerial battle.
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Think they would have won regardless. Waterford looked the better team even a point down, they have a much better bench and there is no reason to think that second goal - at the very least - wouldnât have gone in 15 vs 15. The counter-point is that Fitzgibbon was coming into it but we would have needed a lot more from the likes of Cadogan, Lehane and Harnedy and that didnât look forthcoming.
There is no reason that itâs impossible to win with a sweeper. But it definitely does limit your attacking options. When you come up against a team that have 6 forwards who are comfortable taking their own score and somewhat fluent in attack, it will be difficult. But then, I suppose a sweeper system is designed to limit exactly limit those teams.
But of course it makes a difference, any major tactical decision will have an impact when there wonât be more than a few points between the teams. Some teams find it very hard to break down a sweeper and in those cases you will probably dominate possession and that might get you over the line.
Anyway, Kilkenny practically won the All-Ireland with sweepers in the past. It was fluid enough but when they had to, they dropped everyone right back and had 2 midfielders and a wing-forward floating between the lines.
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ssshhhhh. Kilkenny dont do tacticsâŚ
I did indeed pick up on that undercurrent throughout the article but itâs not Kilkenny bitterness or snobbery - sure OâLoughlin Gaels U14 team used a sweeper this year.
I really donât get why some hurling men are so put out by a sweeper system. As @Aristotle alluded to, the starting position of this defender seems to drive them demented. Itâs extremely odd. A centre back dropping into a deep position a little after throw-in with midfielders who in turn drop back and the wing forwards doing likewise is okay. But a spare defender explicitly playing around the D from the outset is fucking out of order.
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Did Davy have Shaun Murphy stationed around that area in the Leinster final?
For what itâs worth, I would prefer never to utilise a sweeper if I was in charge of a team. I think youâd have to be seriously worried about leaking goals,in which case a well-worked sweeper system can snuff out the threat.
Itâs leaving yourself short up front that would irritate me- no matter how much you train, thereâs always some fucker who just closes his eyes and drives the ball on top of the opposition free man. I would always prefer to just drop your centre-back deep and keep 6 men in attack.
But I wouldnât ignore a potentially viable tactic out of some weird snobbery. Winning is most important, you have to choose a tactic that maximises your own particular teamâs chances.
Youâd be a roundhead yourself I presume?
What relevance has the Kilkenny preformance in a Kilkenny v Limerick first round qualifier match to a Waterford v Galway, All Ireland Final? Are you suffering from withdrawal symptoms as well from Kilkennyâs absence from the Championship?
Waterford effectively hammered Kilkenny twice. They were cruising along with an 8 point lead when they fell asleep in the last few minutes but it took just a matter of minutes in extra time to restore a 7-8 point lead.
Waterford were in control of the quarter final against Wexford from first whistle to last. Wexford were never ahead in the game and a Jack OâConnor goal with the last play of the game reduced a losing margin of 7 to 4.
The sense I got was of a game dictated on Waterford terms from the very start. Waterfordâs physicality was wearing down Cork and with Waterfordâs stronger bench, even without a sending off, they were the more likelier to produce a stronger finish.
And a championship record of 10 defeats from 10 previous championship meetings against Waterford.
Yea Iâm sure Joe Canning and the Cooneys et al are going to really worry about some of those losses in 1938, 1948 and 1957 etc etc. That will have a huge bearing on the outcome alright. 
The ghost of Cheasty haunts Galway .