Galway v Kilkenny All Ireland Hurling Final 2012

Sport
81

Cyril seemed very confident on the Sunday Game last night and he’s usually not that bullish. I’d look at it much the same way as I looked at the Tipp game before the event, Kilkenny’s upper limit will blow any Galway performance clean out of the water, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll hit that mark.

In terms of Galway’s actual performance, can Tannian and Smith really repeat their obliteration of the Kilkenny puckout with Michael Fennelly standing in their way? Can the Galway half-backline spoil and break the Kilkenny puckout with such consistency once again? And if Galway can’t do these things, can Donohue, Regan, and Coen really cope with the Kilkenny forwards taking them on? I don’t think they can but time will tell. If they can win the battle for breaks in that sector we might have an epic final on our hands.

82

So if we somehow manage to beat them your saying it will be tainted by the fact that KK didn’t hit their ‘upper limit’?

Its a Catch 22 WTB, KK only hit their upper limit when they are allowed to do so.

83

[quote=“Kinvara, post: 704581”]

‘Tainted’? No I don’t think it would be tainted whatever that means. Obviously Galway’s performance will shape how effective Kilkenny are, but independent of Galway’s performance, I think Kilkenny at their sharpest, best conditioned, and most organised will beat this Galway team. That’s simply because they’re the best team there’s ever been.

Kilkenny in the Leinster final, with Buckley and Hogan at midfield were not Kilkenny at their peak. That doesn’t mean the Galway performance was tainted. It was a great Galway performance no matter what Kilkenny did.

In this game though, I personally don’t think that the Galway defence will hold up without something approaching the platform/shield from the Kilkenny puckouts that was there in the Leinster final. If Galway can achieve and maintain that platform with Kilkenny hitting as hard and tackling as hard as they can, then it will be an incredible feat.

84

You can have mine after the Minor match.

85

Agreed. Its a huge ask, 75 minutes of focus, aggression and hard work.

Kilkenny did reach their upper limit against Tipp no doubt, but I believe they encountered a very harmless level of resistance from Tipperary. I would suggest that the Tipp team that left the dressing room at half time had little focus and KK will kill you stone dead in these situations.

86

He must really like what he has seen in training, because on a couple of occasions he said that if Galway can transfer it to Croke Park, they will have a great chance.

Michael Fennelly alongside Cillian Buckely, should prove a much more daunting prospect than the Buckley / Paddy Hogan partnership that Galway faced in the first half of the Leinster Final, although I’m not convinced that Fennelly is back to his marauding best of last year, due to the injury problems he has suffered this term. I’m actually more worried about the other Fennelly, Colin, who went off early in the Leinster Final but has come back to his best since, I feel he will be going out with a real determination to improve on his performance V Galway last time out.

With regard to Tannian, he faded a lot in the second half of the Leinster Final, and it took a belt form Cronin to wake him up in the Cork game. Also, apart from the superb ball into Joe for the opening goal V KK, his distribution in possession has been very poor at times over the last 2 games. He seems to be getting caught in 2 minds whether to try and find a man inside, or float over the bar, and ends up doing neither. For a guy who has played in the forwards for most of his career, he should be well able to split the posts from 40/50 yards out.

87

The aggression and energy Galway brought to the Leinster final was superb. Everything Kilkenny pride themselves on they turned it around and did it better. Ultimately though, the defence wasn’t properly stress tested because Galway won almost all the ball in the middle third. How good are Hynes and Regan as a 3 and 6 really? Especially Hynes. Paudie Maher and Paul Curran both delivered big performances in the 09 and 10 finals to keep Kilkenny at bay.

88

It’s not just transferring it to Croke Park. It’s transferring it to Croke Park in an All Ireland Final.
Who do they have remaining from the 2005 Final? Hayes and Regan. Is that it?

Galway’s shooting in the Leinster Final was almost perfect. Everything was going over in the first half.
How will they do with their shooting with the nerves of playing in a full house on All-Ireland Final day against a team that will play at a higher level than they have seen all year?

That’s the biggest question as I see it. This is the biggest match the majority of them have ever played.

89

Well yes, that’s what he meant. I’m sure it’s something that Anthony Cunningham has been thinking about that too and is doing his level best to prepare his players accordingly.

It is the first All Ireland for many of these players, only Hayes, Tony Óg and Collins survive from 2005. It will be interesting to see how Galway cope with the nerves, but not having been there before is not always such a bad thing either; as Cyril said last night, sometimes your first final can be your best one, and your tenth final can be your worst one.

90

Going back to the tickets topic.
We need 4. Looks like we have 7 with a possibility of 2 more.

Never seen supply like this so early.

Is there a chance it won’t be full?

91

CLD, in your opinion (being from Kilkenny), will it be difficult to get a few tickets on final day? Any tickets would suffice, a few terrace ones preferably.

92

Hurling finals never sell out. Always tickets available on the day.

93

Yeah there are usually tickets floating around as long as Cork aren’t involoved.
When Cork are involved things get a bit tight.

94

CLD or anyone else reading, i am looking to buy three tickets. If any of ye are overstocked and anxious to get rid of a few tickets contact me by PM and we should be able to come to an agreement. Preferably three stand tickets beside each other or failing that terrace tickets.

95

My brothers are in control of any tickets that we have.
I’m useless when it comes to All Ireland’s as I’m not playing with a club any more.
If we have anything left later in the week I’ll let y’all know.

Again though it seems as though there is a lot of early supply.

We’ll see how things pan out.

96

It mildly irritates me when people say that this is the greatest team that ever played. This is quite a different Kilkenny team to the one that won 4 or 5 years ago. So there.

97

But how do you differentiate the KK teams over the last 12 years Appendage? Same bainisteoir, same ethos, same style of play with some tweaking. The spine of the Kilkenny team now is not too far different from 4 years ago and you can also argue that the sign of a great team is how it develops and introduces new talent, which Cody has done mercilessly. The greatest team is a generic term really, as they have been at that point for so long now. When will it end?

98

Good Article

Some voices sing louder in chorus of disapproval
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Sunday September 02 2012[/size][/font][/size]

[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Brian Cody’s status in hurling means that his opinions are very difficult to challenge, writes Dermot Crowe[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]YOUR name is Anthony Cunningham, this is your first year in charge of the Galway senior hurling team and here, in a school in Loughrea of an autumn day, is your first All-Ireland final media night. Your first question will be along any moment now. It’s seven years since Galway reached a final but the first question has more to do with the nitty-gritty than the bells and whistles. Refereeing. You have to talk about the referee. Because Brian Cody has talked about the referee. And he has talked about the referee many times before.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]“I didn’t see the comments,” you respond, somewhat implausibly, “we don’t follow the press that closely because we’re busy training.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Hmmm. Anyway, you go on: “The games Kilkenny have been involved in, winning eight All-Ireland titles since 2000, those have been fantastic spectacles. There hasn’t been any mean play, any dirty play, they play it hard and they play it fair and I don’t think it’ll be any different the next day.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]They watch to see if your nose has grown in the length of time it took you to compose those last few sentences. You can hardly state the opposite, true enough, but compare that bit of diplomacy with the observations of your Kilkenny counterpart.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Asked if he thought Barry Kelly might be unduly influenced by reaction to Cathal McAllister’s lenient handling of the recent semi-final, Cody let fly. “I do absolutely. I think there could be a stupid reaction now. The last three All-Ireland finals were played and the game was let flow. They were outstanding games. Suddenly, there could be this crazy reaction to a couple of instances from last Sunday which should have been dealt with last Sunday, not in two weeks’ time. And suddenly: yellow card, red card for nothing.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Red card for nothing. As if.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]But Brian Cody says it and people take stock. He’s good at it, peddling the line that he’s for the greater good. Referees, rule-makers, rule enforcers, they’ve all heard it before. Usually this is either in the form of an outburst against the latest package of experimental rule changes, or when voicing his concerns about referees being too soft and squeamish. You can argue that this is genuine concern for hurling, you may argue that it is cynical manipulation, but he is no fool – he does not comment lightly.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]It is hard to think of a more powerful and influential voice in hurling now than Brian Cody so his words may not win friends but they can certainly influence people. This is not entirely his fault. Part of the problem with Cody’s addresses to the nation, and the dire warnings that we are legislating beyond our means, is that he is now virtually a sole voice. There is nobody, it seems, in the game or in administration, willing to or capable of challenging him. To keep him in check. Ger Loughnane, perhaps, at one stage. Who else? If we’re all essentially passengers on the same hurling bus who is in charge of the wheel?[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]A playing rules committee established by former GAA president Christy Cooney includes Cody and Dónal óg Cusack, among others, but all the ideas it generated for reform have beenfootball ones. And it has met irregularly. Cody is repeatedly on the record saying hurling needs no reform – he was an unusual choice for a committee like that. He is also a vested interest. So where is the debate? If hurling has a problem with refereeing, be it too lenient or too officious, then who is looking after the game’s welfare in an objective way? And why don’t we hear more from them?[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Some exception might be made for Cusack who recently penned a column highlighting one of the scourges of contemporary hurling, the illegal use of the free arm. This has, through evolution or design, become a salient feature of Kilkenny defensive play and has its roots in the pivotal 2006 All-Ireland win over Cork, when Cody’s own future hinged on the game’s outcome.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Having failed in the two previous years, they went back to the top through an insatiable hunger and a game plan plagiarised from the Gaelic football coaching manuals. Crowding tactics were unheard of in hurling. Kilkenny changed all that and with the crowding came the fouling, the spare hand now a useful tool in stalling an opponent and forcing turnovers. Only now does it appear that there is a wider and fuller awareness of how this is poisoning the game; it is now employed by virtually all teams, to some degree, inevitably. Gaelic football has long had disciplinary issues and hurling has them too in spite of what the game’s most successful manager might say.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Witness his recent line on players squaring up off the ball. "The shenanigans, call it what it you like – it’s stupidity, we certainly don’t encourage it – (but) a fella goes out and there is tension, it’s a big day, a big match, the game is on. He goes past a fella and they brush off each other and there is a jostle. That’s not the end of the world is it?[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]“But when it goes beyond that, it become dirty, by all means . . . But what I’m saying is that if the referee is going to start producing cards for that sort of thing, the stupidity at the start of the game, then it become messy.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]This is an ambiguous line – it leaves much room for interpretation as to what is acceptable and what is not. The rules are pretty clear and unambiguous and so are the penalties. Barry Kelly presumably knows that much and doesn’t require distracting noises in the week of a major appointment like this one.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Cody also commented on protecting the game’s physicality before this year’s league final against Cork. James McGrath, the match referee, allowed much foul play go unchecked. It is estimated that around 30 fouls went unpunished, and of those, Kilkenny benefited two-to-one.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]There have been stark and hellish pronouncements in the past from Cody. In 2005, he said hurling would die within 12 months if experimental rules introduced at the time in the Walsh Cup were made permanent. Imagine the impact that had on the reforms’ prospects with the majority voting being of a football disposition and less capable of making an informed decision.[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]Two years later, he described the system of referee assessors as “lunacy”, commenting: “I’m not sure what it’s got to do with discipline at all and I’m not criticising the referees, no way. I don’t understand the whole thing. But what I do know for certain is that there are assessors in the stands screwing referees.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]During the 2005 experimental phase, after a league match, he remarked. “The new rules are a disgrace. We have been asked to give them a chance but I can’t do that because it’s clear that they are ruining hurling. James Ryall and JJ Delaney were sent off today and neither of them have a clue why and, to be honest, neither have I.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]And before that year’s league final, appealing for “common sense” from the match officials, he had this to say. “The reality of the league as it panned out is that some referees started to drift back to the old rules as much as they possibly could. I just hope, that in Monday’s final, common sense will prevail as well. The new rules weren’t even brought to Congress for ratification and we just washed our hands of them essentially. It would be a shame if yellow cards were to be flashed next Monday for very technical and minor offences.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]In April 2009, on another batch of experimental rules introduced in hurling, he opined: “I would prefer if it was left as it was. I don’t think there was any problem in the game. It’s a shame to see a fella get a yellow card after five minutes of a game. It could happen in a Leinster[/url] or[url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Munster_Rugby”]Munster final or an All-Ireland semi-final or final, for what may be a clumsy challenge. I don’t think players go out to do any any kind of stupid dirt. They are honest players. There is no dirt in the game as far as I’m concerned.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]That summer Kilkenny met Galway in the Leinster championship in Tullamore. Tommy Walsh[/url], already on a yellow card for pulling across Damien Hayes’ hand, wasn’t sent off when soon after he dragged down [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Andy_Smith_(footballer)”]Andy Smith as he closed in on goal. Cody’s view: “I don’t know, there seemingly was a lot of talk about that. I would say for certain if that happened out the field it wouldn’t have been a free. I saw several examples of it happening throughout the field and it wasn’t a free. If referees are allowed to officiate the thing in the spirit of the game then it makes for great games. I think the lasting thing from the Galway match and from the Tipperary league final as well is the sheer, absolute brilliance of both games. It’s a physical game – you can’t say it’s a man’s game because people start talking about ‘what’s a man’s game?’ But it was all very genuine, all very honest.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]After winning the All-Ireland that year, when loose refereeing attracted much attention, Cody again became animated by a familiar subject. “I had listened to an awful lot of rubbish in the build-up to the game about refs, what they should watch Kilkenny do and don’t do. The reality is that there is an agenda there the whole time for the past while about influencing referees against Kilkenny. The Tommy Walsh witch-hunt went on and Tommy Walsh rose above everything and proved the kind of player he is.”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]He added: “After keeping my mouth shut about it and to be in pretty good form after winning four-in-a-row, to go in (to the interview) and listen again about referees . . .”[/size][/font][/size]
[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2]This was the famous interview moment with Marty Morrissey, following a perfectly fair question in the circumstances of a controversial decision that swung an All-Ireland. It was ironic that his beef was about having to listen to questions about referees. Because for the last seven years nobody has talked as much about them.[/size][/font][/size]

99

No it’s not

100

Jaysus Crowe peddles the same anti Kilkenny shit every year.