Hurling League 2014

Sport
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The ref chewie, the ref bate em

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I thought after last year youd be starting to get used to that @Fran

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Ah lovely lovely lovely. A few years ago a Laois man in the know said that by 2013-4 we’d have Offaly number at underage level for years to come, I just didnt see it coming at senior level as quickly. At U14/16 level Laois won’t even play Offaly anymore due to the lack of competitiveness. Its not a slight on Offaly, a county I have great regard for (fuck off @Bandage, they’re not the worst sorts, unlike those Kildare cunts), but its where Laois hurling has been going over the past 10 years. Laois hurled the shite out of Offaly today, Kelly kept them in it with frees which Joe Bergin gratefully hammered over, but Laois’ touch all over the field was imminently superior. Two late Offaly goals put a huge gloss on the scoreline, but Laois were not to be caught today. All the narrative will be about Offaly missing players, but here’s a list Laois were missing from the Galway game last year

Zane Keenan
Gearoid Burke
Cahir Healy
Willie Hyland
James Walsh
John Brophy
Brian Dunne
Darren Maher

So pay no attention to the Offaly absentees. Today was a good day. Cork next weekend will be senior hurling however, but a boost is a boost, good to have it. Hon ta fook Cheddar boy.

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Jesus, i didn’t realise hyland and Keenan weren’t playing, are they injured ?

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[quote=“myboyblue, post: 904360, member: 180”]Ah lovely lovely lovely. A few years ago a Laois man in the know said that by 2013-4 we’d have Offaly number at underage level for years to come, I just didnt see it coming at senior level as quickly. At U14/16 level Laois won’t even play Offaly anymore due to the lack of competitiveness. Its not a slight on Offaly, a county I have great regard for (fuck off @Bandage, they’re not the worst sorts, unlike those Kildare cunts), but its where Laois hurling has been going over the past 10 years. Laois hurled the shite out of Offaly today, Kelly kept them in it with frees which Joe Bergin gratefully hammered over, but Laois’ touch all over the field was imminently superior. Two late Offaly goals put a huge gloss on the scoreline, but Laois were not to be caught today. All the narrative will be about Offaly missing players, but here’s a list Laois were missing from the Galway game last year

Zane Keenan
Gearoid Burke
Cahir Healy
Willie Hyland
James Walsh
John Brophy
Brian Dunne
Darren Maher

So pay no attention to the Offaly absentees. Today was a good day. Cork next weekend will be senior hurling however, but a boost is a boost, good to have it. Hon ta fook Cheddar boy.[/quote]
Team today @myboyblue ? Result of the day without a doubt. :clap:

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Hyland broke a finger in training last week, came on as a sub with 15 or 20 to go and hurled over a point. Keenan can’t commit this year due to family and work committments, very sad to see as he’s different class, but so be it. There’s some cracking young hurlers coming through, god bless Pat Critchley.

Eoin Reilly
Brian Stapleton
Brian Campion
John A Delaney
Matthew Whelan
Joe Fitz
Patrick Whelan
Ciaran Collier
John Purcell
Dwane Palmer
Stephen Maher
Neil Foyle
Cha Dwyer
Tommy Fitz

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[quote=“myboyblue, post: 904360, member: 180”]Ah lovely lovely lovely. A few years ago a Laois man in the know said that by 2013-4 we’d have Offaly number at underage level for years to come, I just didnt see it coming at senior level as quickly. At U14/16 level Laois won’t even play Offaly anymore due to the lack of competitiveness. Its not a slight on Offaly, a county I have great regard for (fuck off @Bandage, they’re not the worst sorts, unlike those Kildare cunts), but its where Laois hurling has been going over the past 10 years. Laois hurled the shite out of Offaly today, Kelly kept them in it with frees which Joe Bergin gratefully hammered over, but Laois’ touch all over the field was imminently superior. Two late Offaly goals put a huge gloss on the scoreline, but Laois were not to be caught today. All the narrative will be about Offaly missing players, but here’s a list Laois were missing from the Galway game last year

Zane Keenan
Gearoid Burke
Cahir Healy
Willie Hyland
James Walsh
John Brophy
Brian Dunne
Darren Maher

So pay no attention to the Offaly absentees. Today was a good day. Cork next weekend will be senior hurling however, but a boost is a boost, good to have it. Hon ta fook Cheddar boy.[/quote]

Are they injured? What’s Hyland’s story?

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Can you put clubs to the players please, interested to see the spread.

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This is great, I’ve been waiting for what seems like an eternity for the hurling to kick off again.

I stood in front of the telly for the last ten minutes with the child roaring non-stop in my ear, glued to the screen and it’s only the league

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Eoin Reilly Lazerians Abbeyleix
Brian Stapleton Borris Kilcotton
Brian Campion Rathdowney Errill
John A Delaney Clough Ballacolla
Matthew Whelan Borris Kilcotton
Joe Fitz Rathdowney Errill
Patrick Whelan Borris Kilcotton
Ciaran Collier Camross
John Purcell Rathdowney Errill
Dwane Palmer Camross
Stephen Maher Clough Ballacolla
Neil Foyle Borris Kilcotton
Cha Dwyer Ballinakill
Tommy Fitz Portlaoise

Zane Keenan Work commitments
Gearoid Burke Same as above
Cahir Healy Travelling
Willie Hyland Broken finger
James Walsh Minor surgery
John Brophy Minor surgery
Brian Dunne Minor surgery
Darren Maher Picked, but didn’t start due to injury

To the best of my knowledge

Look, we have a long way to go yet, and you can’t judge yourself off an Offaly team who were missing that many, but the touch and skills that are there now are far from anything I’ve seen in a Laois shirt for sometime.

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[quote=“myboyblue, post: 904376, member: 180”]Eoin Reilly Lazerians Abbeyleix
Brian Stapleton Borris Kilcotton
Brian Campion Rathdowney Errill
John A Delaney Clough Ballacolla
Matthew Whelan Borris Kilcotton
Joe Fitz Rathdowney Errill
Patrick Whelan Borris Kilcotton
Ciaran Collier Camross
John Purcell Rathdowney Errill
Dwane Palmer Camross
Stephen Maher Clough Ballacolla
Neil Foyle Borris Kilcotton
Cha Dwyer Ballinakill
Tommy Fitz Portlaoise

Zane Keenan Work commitments
Gearoid Burke Same as above
Cahir Healy Travelling
Willie Hyland Broken finger
James Walsh Minor surgery
John Brophy Minor surgery
Brian Dunne Minor surgery
Darren Maher Picked, but didn’t start due to injury

Look, we have a long way to go yet, and you can’t judge yourself off an Offaly team who were missing that many, but the touch and skills that are there now are far from anything I’ve seen in a Laois shirt for sometime.[/quote]

We are all rooting for yous, mate.

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Any day Offaly lose is a great day and better again with Whelehan in charge.

Are you a man short, @myboyblue? Or did you play with 14 men in tribute to Laois teams of the past?

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There will only be weak KK teams from here on out.

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[quote=“Bandage, post: 904380, member: 9”]Any day Offaly lose is a great day and better again with Whelehan in charge.

Are you a man short, @myboyblue? Or did you play with 14 men in tribute to Laois teams of the past?[/quote]
I am indeed @Bandage, well observed. Conor Dunne of The Harps, Brians brother was left half back. Laois did indeed finish with 14, Brian Stapleton was sent off before the 2 late goals went in for two yellows.

As for Whelehan…

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/w540/Library/SF203/834368.jpg6

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The living legend is back and raring to go in 2014, and here you can read his thoughts in the first in a series of columns, exclusive to thefreekick.com, Sliotar Magazine, and the Mullinavat Bugle (incorporating the South Kilkenny Standard).

[B]Canice’s Corner - The Canice Picklington Column

A narrow loss but we’re happy with where we are right now

February 16th, 2014[/B]

Well, the pleasantries have been dispensed with, and the real business of hurling in 2014 has begun.

We started off our defence of the Allianz National Hurling League title with a trip to face Clare today at Cusack Park in Ennis, a real glamour tie and one I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. Sadly, I wasn’t able to tog out for the match as I dislocated an elbow on Wednesday night inside in the Park helping up with the clean up efforts after the big storm. There was a bit of the roof still sitting precariously up on a stanchion, and I stupidly volunteered to climb up and remove it, and stretched too far and over extended my elbow. I was quite lucky to make it down in fact. It was a particular disappointment to miss out today as I’d been flying in training. But such is life - you have to take the ups with the downs.

I still thought nothing of travelling to Ennis today to give my support to the team - I wouldn’t have it any other way, in fact. Giving a guard of honour to Clare as they ran onto the pitch was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do as a Kilkenny hurler. You take it personally - these are only young lads, and when you hear the media calling them “All-Ireland Champions”, it just feels wrong, like an affront to your manliness. Have no doubt, that moment will be at the forefront of our minds all year in our bid to reclaim what is rightfully ours - our All-Ireland title.

We lost out by a point - but we were very happy with the performance. John Jo Farrell had a fine game at corner forward - I like his style of hitting the ball - very similar to Taggy and Welter, and if John Jo can turn out to be half the player they are he’ll be one to watch.

Henry was back to his brilliant best, and I particularly liked his little dance during the first half - the man is pure passion, and he’s a hell of a mover as well, both on the pitch and on the dancefloor. I’m only sorry I couldn’t have joined him out there today.

Padraig/Padraic/Pauraic/Pauric Welsh had a promising debut at centre-field - I think he can be even better than his brother. That was a lovely point he scored in the first half. I was also very impressed with the performances of Michael Welsh, Brian Kennedy, Joey Holden and Mark Kelly - it just shows the production line of young talent in the county is as good as ever, and I’ll have a hell of a battle to get back in the team with the likes of them around.

Fair play to Clare - they just about deserved to edge it. However we’re very happy with where we are now.

It’s been a good start to the year for us, with another Welsh Cup already in the bag. The training this winter has been the toughest I’ve ever experienced. There’s a fire burning inside of Cody like I’ve never seen before. Beating Galway in Freshford was a great way to get the ball rolling - a day for real hurling men, a passionate and knowledgeable crowd turning up in difficult conditions, but the kind of conditions I love. While I was happy with my five point haul that day it was the return of the King that stole the show. The love that people in Kilkenny have for Henry is unbelieveable. And it’s not just down Noreside way either - I was talking to Aaron Kernan who had come down from Armagh just to see the great man’s return, and he told me that the respect that true Gaels up north hold for our team has to be seen to believed. That’s always nice to know.

The final against Dublin felt like a return home. We hadn’t played in Croke Park since the All-Ireland replay against Galway. It felt like it was light years since we’d played there, but it also felt like we’d never been away. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but that’s how we all felt. People may say it’s only the Welsh Cup, but it meant a lot to us to win it - you never tire of winning trophies

There’s been a lot of good hurling action since the start of the year. I was delighted to see the Rower Instioge win the All-Ireland Intermediate title and I dropped down to the Spots for a couple of pints that night before I drove home and left the Rower lads to it. I didn’t stay too long as I didn’t want to be seen to be gatecrashing the celebrations but I heard they went on long into the night, and I’m sure there were a lot of sore heads the next morning.

'Tis also great to see the success that Tom Mullally has had with Mount Leinster Rangers. Tom is a Kilkennyman of course and we’d consider Mount Leinster Rangers success to be almost an extension of our own.We’ll certainly be shouting them on come St. Patrick’s Day.

There’s been a lot of controversy about the comments of Brian Cody and Eddie Keher, but I don’t know why. Look it, they’re just telling it like it is, and calling it as they see it, and I know real hurling people would be in agreement with them. Hurling is a man’s game and we need to keep it that way. I don’t know, perhaps with new teams coming along, the D4 media has latched onto hurling and is trying to make it more like soccer. That shouldn’t be allowed happen - the traditional values of the game should be sacrosanct. Daithi Regan called it spot on on Newstalk the other night - hurling doesn’t have a problem with its rules, although like Eddie I’d like to see the abolition of the red and yellow cards. They’re against the spirit of hurling and aren’t needed.

Canice Picklington was in converstaion with PM O’Sullivan

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[quote=“Fran, post: 904375, member: 110”]This is great, I’ve been waiting for what seems like an eternity for the hurling to kick off again.

I stood in front of the telly for the last ten minutes with the child roaring non-stop in my ear, glued to the screen and it’s only the league[/quote]
Good man for braving the elements in feb , I’m sure des Kelly ( couch ) is delighted to count you amongst his supporters

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I wouldn’t be caught dead in Ennis, absolute shithole

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Maybe so, we have to have some sort of hope, I’m sure you can appreciate that

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A lot of shit passed through it today that’s for sure , what’s that cack handed rcf called ? Jo jo?

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:smiley: John Joe Farrell / Water Walsh / Aidan Fogarty