Bizarre Limerick optimism
Not really. Theyāve been competing at minor level for the last 5 years and won two 21s. Theyāre for the first time since 2013 fighting fit and have a good management team in place. The top two (Galway and tipp) are miles clear. Any of kk, clare, wexford, waterford, cork and limerick probably fancy themselves to be the 3rd best team so itās easy to be optimistic.
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Some good points around the venues. There is a feel good value around going to certain venues too that can stay with players and supporters. For instance, I always like going to Cork - Iāve seen many good days for Limerick down there, epic days in 1996 and 2001 in particular, that are on par with the defeats suffered. Ennis has been kind to me and a good few of the current Limerick squad in recent years who can look back fondly to the League Final and U21 ties in 2011 and 2015, games that had a fine crowd with a big atmosphere. Thurles on the other hand was a litany of routine beatings for a good while although this is gradually beginning to turn somewhat. Croke Park, wellā¦
Another thing will be how certain teams will suit other teams.From what I have seen Limerick have stepped up physically this year and are back playing this āin your faceā style of hurling that Cyril Farrell raves about, after a few years of sheer listlessness. I donāt think Clare are suited to that kind of game. Tipp will be faves against us and always have the class to pick us apart, but it being the first day out gives us a shot. Cork is 50/50, similar to Clare a physical game is not suited to them but Cork have the speed to avoid getting dragged into that. Waterford at home would be the one I would be most worried about as I can see us making heroes out of De BĆŗrca and Gleeson all day long and not really having the gumption to change anything. Although the DĆ©ise have a poor enough record in the GG.
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I think limerickās chances are reliant on four players being fit and at their best. Hannon and Hayes being fit as in not injured and ready to go, and McCarthy and Dowling being physically fit and at their best. A few will scoff at the second two, but at their best we have no one as good as McCarthy or Dowling for those positions.
There will never be anyone better than McCarthy if they donāt try someone there in the Championship.
Il have an even 250 with you that cork will finish above Limerick in the round robin?
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Done deal.
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Ah lovely
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Can you stick to the liemrick thread and stop embarrising the entire county in the National threads with this crap.
You do enough of that yourself young lad.
Would you trust hickey or English at full back?
Can anyone say Hey or Nay until they are tried there? McCarthy is not a Quality FB imo.
Iād take him over Barry any day of the week, over what most teams have bar Burke or McInerney.
Tip 3 from Munster?
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To some extent a five week round robin in which each team has four games could even see a re-evaluation of what championship hurling is. Despite the games not being knock-out, the consequences of losing are greater than they were in Munster quarter-finals and semi-finals from 2002 to 2017.
There have been round robin stages in hurling championships before, but those groups were lopsided, with generally two strong teams and two weak teams which made them almost a fait accompli in terms of who would qualify.
A round robin between five teams, any one of whom could qualify, at championship intensity, is an entirely new departure in GAA.
Itās difficult to bring an āin your faceā, physical style four weeks out of five, or four weeks in a row as it will be for Waterford and Tipperary.
It should suit those with deeper squads, but there are questions about the style it will demand that are yet unanswered - it could well demand a different style of hurling to that demanded in knockout ties at the business end of a championship, probably a less physical, more skill and pace focussed game. That could suit Tipperary, Cork and Clare, maybe Waterford and Limerick less so.
Certainly if Waterford turn up in anything like the same shape they were in against Cork in Munster last year, they will be in trouble.
Each team will have to be at top pace from the word go - while you get four matches, there is no way to āplay your way into the championshipā in Munster this year in the previously accepted sense of the term - before now you might have got five or six weeks of a break if you lost your first match and a handy tie or two in the qualifiers. Lose your first match in this and youāre up against it, lose your second a week later and you could be effectively two and out.
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Rate the full backs around so lad.
In limerick? Hickey, English and then McCarthy. Now please stop embarrassing yourself.