Iâve been to maybe 6 All-Ireland football finals as well.
Kerry finals. 1997, 2000 replay, 2002. The more recent ones kinda run into each other.
2005, 2006, 2007 as well I think.
How many All-Ireland hurling finals must one have attended to be conferred with the mythical and respected status of âhurling manâ. Bearing in mind that one cannot consider themselves âa hurling manâ, they can only considered as a hurling man by other âhurling menâ.
Is there a gradutated scale? How many do you need to be considered âa hurling man through and throughâ, âa hurling man to his fingertipsâ or âa dyed in the wool hurling manâ?
What other criteria are needed to be âa hurling manâ?
id say going to 1 league game trumps 10 finals
At least 25
Yes
The graduated scale will determine that
Not being from Dublin
The âtrue hurling manâ must be of the soil. But it must be good soil. Fertile soil. Therefore no Galway or Clare people qualify to be âtrue hurling menâ either.
Aye, this is true.
The âreal hurling manâ thinks Croke Park should be demolished and the All-Ireland final moved to Semple Stadium. And every football in Ireland forcibly burst.
If you saw the size of Willie Kavanaghs spuds this year youâd conclude otherwise mate.
The âhurling man to his fingertipsâ must be from Munster. That rules out Kilkenny people then.
All true, Sid. A âdiehard hurling manâ must be from the âHome of Hurlingâ. That rules out everybody except Tipperary people
The âpeerless hurling manâ writes 29 page reviews of games that nobody has ever seen and that nobody ever reads in flowery prose with references to at least six ancient English poets and a minimum of three Latin phrases. He doesnât write about hurling. He soliloquys about a warrior art. He considers the use of an expletive in print to be vile and uncouth. In person he is gruff and unapproachable, generally preferring to remain alone, resorting to expletives when disturbed.
On the Line: DĂłnal Ăg Cusack on HurlingWednesday, September 05, 2012
A friend came to me the other day quite pleased with himself. Heâd checked the bookies. The All-Ireland hurling final. Heâd invested. He looked at me for a reaction. I tried to keep the face neutral. Galway to win? Hmmm. Eleven to four, he said. My eyebrows went up. Really? Where?
Thereâs one reason why Kilkenny could reduce Galway to 15 punch bags on Sunday: Kilkenny are Kilkenny. And there are a few reasons why Galway could win.
First reason: history is history. Nothing more. Donât carry it with you unless it suits you to carry it. Last Sunday as Dublin came back at Mayo I could sense Mayo people around me wondering if this would be the worst ever collapse. Another day when they arrived in the Theatre of Dreams and left the Temple of Doom. All Galway have to remember on Sunday is two things. One: this Galway team has done it to Kilkenny once, they can do it again. Two: what happened to other Galway teams over the years has nothing to do with them. If the Galway of a few years ago hadnât got two big performances in them, thatâs not a genetic defect. Itâs history.
If they want they might also remember that they took a hammering from Kilkenny in the league and then beat them in the Leinster championship. That tells Galway all they need to know about themselves and their ability to go against the pattern. This is their own path, their own destiny.
Second reason: Galway are playing a team and not their aura. Kilkenny have what all great teams have - a big, fat aura. Nothing gets inside the head of a player like an aura. Itâs not just the years and years of winning that make the aura, itâs the other things that Kilkenny put out there.
We donât do tactics. We hardly ever do media. Our toughest games are in training. We play on the edge. Itâs a manly game. Anybody who says otherwise is trying to influence the referee and to upset us.
The aura means that with only a few minutes left in the Leinster final we still wondered if Kilkenny might win it. What matters this Sunday is how Galway saw it. At half-time, 15 points up, were Galway as worried about the backlash as Kilkenny were about the gap? In those last few minutes did Galway feel that they had the lid nailed down or did they expect Kilkenny to rise from the dead?
When it was all over, did Galway feel theyâd done what they came to do or did they worry that there was going to be hell to pay for embarrassing Kilkenny? When they heard that Kilkennyâs traditionally open training sessions were now being held behind closed doors did they shudder and imagine Tommy Walsh wrestling with US Navy Seals?
Third reason: Galway shouldnât play the occasion. For Galway itâs important on Sunday not to see this All-Ireland final the way the rest of us see it. For us itâs an All-Ireland final. For Galway it has to be another game in a sequence of games.
For Kilkenny, the whole All-Ireland final environment and sideshow is familiar. The only surprise is that they never get bored with it. Galway need to shut everything out. The entire sideshow. All the talk. Get back to that state of mind they had earlier in the summer. Sitting in a dressingroom, knowing they have a job to do and the tools to do it with. Nothing else.
Take the game as part of a sequence and for Galway that sequence looks favourable. After reaching a peak in Leinster they had sort of a warm down when they played Cork. In Cork we would say that we are a work in progress but we gave Galway some things to think about. Galway went away without having reached the intensity of the Kilkenny game and with a few things to work on.
For Kilkenny the sequence is very different and thatâs the reason why maybe this is the right time for Galway. Even Kilkenny have a limited number of great performances in them every summer. This year though they have never been too sure when they might be facing an ambush so theyâve gone to the well a lot.
Kilkenny were psyched and prepared for a big show against Dublin. They won big but they had invested big. Then they had a tough day at the office against Galway. And the pressure went up. The training sessions were closed. They had to regroup and produce a performance against Limerick and then build back up to All-Ireland final intensity for Tipperary in the semi-final.
If Galway had played Kilkenny a week after the Leinster final they would have suffered. This is different.
Fourth: Galway have to discipline themselves not to worry about the referee and hope that the referee disciplines himself not to worry about all the pressures, visible and invisible being placed on him this week.
Which brings us to number five: gameplan, tactics. Galway have a gameplan. The hurling mindset for a long time has been dominated by the idea that there are no tactics but if you have teams of 15 players each and goalposts at either end of the pitch everything afterwards is tactical. From the players you put out, to the way you set them up, to the way you transfer the ball and to the movement you expect and space you create and the space you cover off. Without tactics every ball is a 50-50 ball. If that is a method it could be argued that this is a tactic in itself. A tactic moves the odds a little bit your way. Thatâs how games evolve.
To date, Galway have shown fierce strength in sticking to their gameplan under pressure and in how fluid they are tactically. Against Cork in the semi-final the game was more intensely tactical than it was intensely physical but they crowded out our attack when they needed to and moved the ball quickly. That ability to defend fiercely at times is important when you are facing Kilkenny, who have the habit of giving you the double dart of a couple of quick goals. If one goal goes in, Galway have to be on their feet and battling again straight away. I think they have that strength and intelligence and with it they go into this final better equipped than any Galway team that I can remember.
In Joe Canning they have a player who can win the ball and hold the ball up till the cavalry arrives. That gives great encouragement to the defence. Thereâs nothing worse than clearing ball and having it straight back down on you. Itâs important that Galway donât just put Joe on the edge of the square or somewhere to make him a target. Kilkenny would love that.
It will be interesting to see how Kilkenny go at a team who are as defensive as Galway can be. Cody likes to put Henry Shefflin on a man he thinks might be exposed. The more ball Henry has the more mayhem there will be. Look at that handpass the last day. Brilliant. But who are the obvious targets in the Galway back line? At the other end, how will Kilkenny mark Canning? In the Leinster final they didnât seem to know.
Sixth reason: Kilkenny do what it says on the tin. They are tactical and physical and ruthless. No excuses, Galway know what to expect.
Kilkenny still have the hunger and the ruthlessness they had ten years ago and thatâs maybe Brian Codyâs greatest miracle. He keeps them interested and when they fade away he replaces them with replicas. Colin Fennelly hasnât Eddie Brennanâs assassin ruthlessness yet but he has the same instincts when the ball is in his hand. Or take Eoin Larkinâs goal against Tipperary - Iâd say 90 per cent of inter-county forwards would have taken a point. Ninety-nine per cent.
Galway know whatâs coming. Theyâve shown once that they have the ability to stop it. A lot comes down to nerve. I canât help thinking about the game this week without thinking of the âkeepers. Starting there. If golfers drive for show and putt for dough then goalkeepers know that there is a big difference between the half a dozen flash saves that get you an All Star and the bread and butter business of game management and puck-out strategy.
For puck-outs (donât forget a goalie might take 30 or more puck-outs in a game, the only player to get 30 uncontested possessions) Kilkenny have the easier task. Across the line they are good in the air so their strategy is dictated by their ability to win high ball. Of the two âkeepers, James Skehill has more ability to vary his striking and Galway will need that.
Kilkenny seldom go short on puck-outs. I looked at three games in the spring, including the league final against us, and of 74 puck-outs only two went short, and they lost primary possession on each. Against Dublin in the championship they didnât go short at all. They donât have to. As for their movement, six of their 18 puck-outs against Dublin went to the right half- forward spot and three different players contested those six balls. Another six went to left half-forward and four different players contested those.
Of the teams we played this year in the league, Galway won the least primary possession from Cork puck-outs (seven per cent) but won an above average number of secondary possessions from our puck-outs (39 per cent).
(In our two league games against Kilkenny this year, including the final, they won 17 per cent and 22 per cent primary possession from our puck-outs, an average of 19.5 per cent, and 33 per cent and18 per cent of secondary possession, an average of 25.5 per cent).
Galway can vary it more and they need to. Even in the Leinster final their return from 20 puck outs was just below 50 per cent, winning primary possession just twice. Not surprisingly Joe Canning (five) and Niall Burke (four) were the main targets with Tony Ăg Regan being the main option when going short.
After that it comes down to mental strength. When the bombs are going off and the air is thick with smoke, and the noise is deafening, as a goalkeeper you either love it in there or you pray to get through it. Itâs fight or flight. The goalie who can keep his defensive lines organised best and give off the most confidence can influence a tense occasion like this.
James Skehill has had a good year and he will know that for Henry Shefflinâs goal in the Leinster final he needed to be more aggressive. A high ball from the right wing is the best for a right-handed âkeeper. You catch with your left and hold the forward off with your right. Henry got that one too easy. That shop should be shut this time though.
Lastly, the odds donât matter. Barry Kelly throws in the ball and itâs just two teams. You canât call favouritism in off the bench. You donât have to play an underdog at centre-back.
Plenty of reasons why Galway can win. One big reason why Kilkenny can. Kilkenny are Kilkenny. The verdict? Youâre on your own. Eleven to four is generous and after that you pay your money and you take your chances!
This is the fifth of DĂłnal Ăg Cusackâs exclusive âOn The Lineâ hurling columns, which will feature on GAA.ie throughout the summer. The opinions expressed in this column are personal and are not necessarily those of the Association.
http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/columnists/0509121142-on-the-line-donal-og-cusack-on-hurling/
Kp, one question, do you think that was the real deal you played in the Leinster final?
[quote=âMullach Ide, post: 704619â]
He has a thinly disguised abhorrence of Tipperary, the 1995 U21 final seemed to have a profound effect on him. Whilst his offering after the semi-final made some valid points it was unecessarily sneery in parts.[/quote]
Agree, he really enjoyed putting the boot in.
Are you asking me the Kilkenny we met in the LF were the real deal? If so, yes I believe they were the real deal at the time. Granted JJ was a big loss that day likewise Fennelly. They reminded me of a champion heavyweight boxer if you like who took a punch to the face in the first round and never really recovered for the remainder of the fight.
Or maybe your asking me, was the Galway performance the real deal? Absolutly it was, I watched the first 15 minutes again today and had forgotten we actually hit 3 wides in the first 5 minutes. Herrity hit at least 6 puckouts in the bit I watched and whilst we didnt win primary possession cleanly we made the ball ours on all 6 occasions.
So Kid, what do you think really happened in the LF? :strokechin:
Kid is simply seething that Clare could never ever do that to KK
I think I was the only non Galway person on this board who predicted Galway would beat kk in the leinster final
- inevitable complacency
- the knowledge there was no finality to the game
- no jj
- no rice
- no Fennelly
- no hogan
Shefflins 2nd game back
And of course Walsh was still eating the last of his Easter eggs, if Galway have improved another 25% it might be competitive but the manner in which they dispatched the worst cork side in recent history would lead me to believe your boxing analogy is very apt. The kk Galway played was like the Roberto Duran sugar ray leonard fought , heâd been on the piss for 6 mths. That coupled with the absolute brain dead approach of Cunningham in the u21 game where actually had a team of better hurlers but insisted on lobotomising them before they took they field gives me little hope of that progression. FFS if Westmeath played kk 10 times they wouldnât get 4 goals on them
[quote=âKid Chocolate, post: 704677â]FFS if Westmeath played kk 10 times they wouldnât get 4 goals on them
[/quote]
So what your saying is Galway canât beat Kilkenny because they conceded 4 goals against Westmeath
No read the full post above you imbecile