If Limerick in their current guise resorted to the old hip it and whip it they would still win the All Ireland given the fitness, skill and athletic advantages they have. Maybe after the 5 in a row it would be worth a try
Right, and the status quo mediocrity persists.
Well, every sort of amen to that statement.
To my mind, yes – alas.
The handpass isn’t enforced as the ref is consistently so far of the pace he can’t see it clearly enough to call it. So, as I’ve suggested for years, let the linesmen who provide no real value as is ref inside the 40 on either end and the ref do the middle, scores, subs timekeeping etc.
Watched the Harriers vs the Anne’s last night. Hurling’s biggest problem from what I can see currently is the ruck that occurs when there’s a throw in. That of course is the referee’s fault, in this case John Carton. 2 players should only be allowed to compete, the other 13 should stay at least 5 metres away.
Smaller bas a factor?
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Johnny Murphy was doing the line for our game against Ballylanders last year. He is from Ballylanders and wasn’t doing it in an official capacity just a pleb with a flag. He got one of our lads sent off. Outrageous stuff.
The game is now a possession based game supported by players allowed to break tackles illegally using 7-12 steps and 75+ throws off the ball.
Terrible shit really but the PJ McManus supplemented media machine are afraid to call it out or clowns like Donal Og who support handball type hurling.
It was aply summed up by Westside this week: “
The referee penalised five hand-passes during the game, three against Tipperary. This is part of the great pretence among hurling referees. Here we have the match officials trying to convince us that they’re enforcing an unenforceable rule. It’s a con job and Croke Park needs to man-up and tackle this issue rather than off-loading it to others.
Gaelic Stats recently completed an analysis of the experimental rules that were trialled in the third level Freshers’ league and their findings are interesting. Critics of the Conor O’Donovan proposal claimed that it was unworkable, but the trial of the rule tells an entirely different story. Players, with very limited preparation, adapted remarkably well to the new strictures; there was no chaos, as some predicted.
Over nine games the study found 190 hand passes were performed correctly according to the new rule and in 88% of cases possession was retained. That retention rate is only slightly less than the 95% retention rate for last year’s inter-county season when throwing featured strongly.
Another interesting finding was that the new rule improved significantly the ratio of stick passes to hand passes. In last year’s inter-county championship, the ratio was 1.5 stick passes to every hand pass. In the freshers’ league it was 8 to 1 in favour of the stick.
Surely that’s something to be welcomed. After all, it is a stick and ball game; if it’s handball you’re after, go to the alley.”
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Would anyone disagree with this? I presume there is two passionate camps on tfk but seems a no brainer to me
The upper echelon of hurling coaches and pundits like Derek, Donal Og, Dalo etc etc carry huge weight and they think the game is fine. Some of their comments on the matter have been so condescending to those who raise the issue.
Many then use it as a stick to beat the current limerick team with which is simply not true. Limerick would win in any form of the game.
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Cork in the mid 2000s started the short hand passing game.
Once hurling turned into a possession based game it fundamentally changed forever.
Why not change it back? After all it is a stick and ball game, not handball.
I thought Galway in the 80s did a lot of handpassing? Cork were more a running team I would have thought than a ‘working the opportunity’ team with handpassing. The examiner podcast madness of football is brilliant with regard to how football has changed and breaks down the stats etc for big matches over the last 50 years. Be interesting to see similar done with hurling.
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Before my time
I’m not sure how you change it back tbh?
Golf is sort of comparable given the improvements in equipment, pitches and the physical development of players.
Only handpass off the hurl
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