Hurling League 2014

Itā€™s been many a year since Kk finished a game with half their forward line who canā€™t strike the ball on their weaker side

welcome to the big leagues

Jesus you are taking this badly ?

I am seething

Not like you

:smiley:

No shame in being beaten by a point against the full AI winning team from last year. In fact considering the KK team that lined out and finished I would be a little concerned with the winning margin if I was from Clare.
Now if those no hopers below in Waterford start to beat us then weā€™ll have problems. Thatā€™s unlikely however

Iā€™ve had a tough week

Revenge in the League Final is something to look forward to, no?

Your boys took one hell of a beating.

[quote=ā€œthe mixer walsh, post: 904425, member: 245ā€]No shame in being beaten by a point against the full AI winning team from last year. In fact considering the KK team that lined out and finished I would be a little concerned with the winning margin if I was from Clare.
Now if those no hopers below in Waterford start to beat us then weā€™ll have problems. Thatā€™s unlikely however[/quote]

Davy will be very concerned.

This, Liverpool getting knocked out of the cup and a sick child all week long. It can only get better from here Mark

[quote=ā€œthe mixer walsh, post: 904425, member: 245ā€]No shame in being beaten by a point against the full AI winning team from last year. In fact considering the KK team that lined out and finished I would be a little concerned with the winning margin if I was from Clare.
Now if those no hopers below in Waterford start to beat us then weā€™ll have problems. Thatā€™s unlikely however[/quote]
Iā€™m sure Davy is sitting at home tonight thinking about the worry of it all :smiley:

Iā€™m always here for you, mate.

Thatā€™s nice to know, thanks mate

[quote=ā€œSidney, post: 904383, member: 183ā€]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]Caniceā€™s Corner - The Canice Picklington Column

A narrow loss but weā€™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 Iā€™d been looking forward to for quite some time. Sadly, I wasnā€™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 Iā€™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 wouldnā€™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 Iā€™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 ā€œAll-Ireland Championsā€, 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 heā€™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 heā€™s a hell of a mover as well, both on the pitch and on the dancefloor. Iā€™m only sorry I couldnā€™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 Iā€™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 weā€™re very happy with where we are now.

Itā€™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 Iā€™ve ever experienced. Thereā€™s a fire burning inside of Cody like Iā€™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 itā€™s not just down Noreside way either - I was talking to Aaron Kernan who had come down from Armagh just to see the great manā€™s return, and he told me that the respect that true Gaels up north hold for our team has to be seen to believed. Thatā€™s always nice to know.

The final against Dublin felt like a return home. We hadnā€™t played in Croke Park since the All-Ireland replay against Galway. It felt like it was light years since weā€™d played there, but it also felt like weā€™d never been away. I donā€™t know if that makes sense to you, but thatā€™s how we all felt. People may say itā€™s only the Welsh Cup, but it meant a lot to us to win it - you never tire of winning trophies

Thereā€™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 didnā€™t stay too long as I didnā€™t want to be seen to be gatecrashing the celebrations but I heard they went on long into the night, and Iā€™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 weā€™d consider Mount Leinster Rangers success to be almost an extension of our own.Weā€™ll certainly be shouting them on come St. Patrickā€™s Day.

Thereā€™s been a lot of controversy about the comments of Brian Cody and Eddie Keher, but I donā€™t know why. Look it, theyā€™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 manā€™s game and we need to keep it that way. I donā€™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 shouldnā€™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 doesnā€™t have a problem with its rules, although like Eddie Iā€™d like to see the abolition of the red and yellow cards. Theyā€™re against the spirit of hurling and arenā€™t needed.

Canice Picklington was in converstaion with PM Oā€™Sullivan[/quote]

I believe this may be made up - I did not see the phrase ā€œI supposeā€ once in it.

Sunday Sport didnā€™t show Touhyā€™s save in the 2nd half but showed about 5 frees from each side?

WTF

Eddie Keher was on the radio with Sean Oā€™Rourke just now talking more utter shite.

[quote=ā€œSpecial Olympiakos, post: 904689, member: 366ā€]Sunday Sport didnā€™t show Touhyā€™s save in the 2nd half but showed about 5 frees from each side?

WTF[/quote]
Iā€™m intrigued by the amount of wides, frees and breaks in play that often feature in GAA highlights packages.

Go onā€¦