Kilkenny GAA thread

Stephen Donnelly (2012)

As discussed above.

Not unless there has been a recent change in his technique. I saw SD in the past taking frees. He took them rhot and backhanded.

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Ironically enough, Thomastown are the first Kilkenny champion side I can recall who started 15 rhot hurlers.

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JonJo is 34 now but did well when called up. I don’t know much about Stephen Donnelly except that they are all first cousins. Their grandmother was a Hennessy from Tullaroan.

SD in 2022. Still orthodox rhot striking.

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And yet not one Power :person_shrugging:

Cack handed hurlers?
Taggy
Big Walter
JJ

Johnjoe Farrell
Bill Sheehan

Did I read something one time about TJ changing grip as a teenager?

JJ Delaney…? Not remotely. Lefthanded and fully lhot.

There is a world of a difference between lhot and grip changing.

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Not at all. JJF and BS are both righthanded, fully rhot and backhanded.

TJ was always lhot and a forehander. Never deviated.

JJ??? :astonished: :astonished: :astonished:

I stand corrected.

His strike could still do with some work off his right as you said.

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Informative.

Thats a serious Bloodline.

Which ones would you consider Waterford?

It’s as Mooncoin as could be, even Dunphys and Delahunty’s in the squad.

Any residual Murphys or Mackey’s yet to be released?

I thought that myself, Doyles, Heneberys, Hogans and Crowleys there also

Next generation of Mackeys a little bit off yet.

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The difficulty lies in knowing whether a player is lefthanded or righthanded, something you cannot know for definite unless you see a player writing, say, an autograph.

TYPES OF HURLERS

RIght Hand On Top
1a Righthanded and right side (forehand) orientated for dead balls: majority of players (Joe Canning, Austin Gleeson, Eoin Kelly x 2, Henry Shefflin).

1b Righthanded and left side (backhanded) orientated for dead balls: significant minority of players (Aaron Gillane, Tony Kelly, John McCaffrey, John Mullane, Pádraig Walsh, Tommy Walsh). You also have rare birds such as Rónan Maher (takes frees off left side and sideline cuts off right side) and Jackie Tyrrell (takes frees off right side and sideline cuts off left side). Ollie Canning took sideline cuts off both sides.

1c Lefthanded and generally left side (backhand) orientated: small but significant minority of players (Brian Concannon, John Conlon, Darren Morrissey, Eoin Reid, Richie Reid).

1d Lefthanded and right side (forehand) orientated for dead balls: tiny minority of players (Ballyhale Shamrocks’ Brian Cody, Aisake Ó hAilpín).

Left Hand On Top
2a Lefthanded and left side (forehand) orientated for dead balls: significant amount of players (Jimmy Doyle, Paul Kelly, Shane Kingston, Gary Maguire, Pádraic Maher, Kevin Moran, Declan Ryan).

2b Lefthanded and right side (backhanded) orientated for dead balls: significant minority of players (Lar Corbett, Brendan Cummins, Joey Holden, Eoin Larkin, Cian Lynch, Jake Morris, Ger ‘Redser’ O’Grady, Lester Ryan).

2c Righthanded and generally right side (backhand) orientated: significant minority of players (David Blanchfield, Mikey Butler, Diarmaid Byrnes, Jonathan Glynn, Brian Hogan, Peter Kelly, Diarmuid Lyng, Brendan Lynskey, Gearóid McInerney, Gerry McInerney).

2d Righthanded and left side (forehand) orientated for dead balls: miniscule cohort of players (Ballyhale Shamrocks’ Donnchadh Fitzpatrick, Aidan McCarthy, TJ Reid).

Grip Changing
3a Righthanded, rhot to grip and lhot to strike: significant minority of players (Richie Bennis, Pat Delaney, Aidan ‘Taggy’ Fogarty, Barry Foley, Kevin Hennessy, Gary Kirby, Paddy Mullally, Éamonn O’Donoghue, Walter Walsh).

3b Lhot to grip and rhot to strike: miniscule cohort of players. I can only recall Paul Braniff (Down), Frank Foley (Mount Leinster Rangers) and Conor Kavanagh (Kinvara/Liam Mellows) in this category. CK told me he is righthanded. I do not know with which hand PB and FF write.

Pan Forehand Orientated
There was a strong tendency in 19th century hurling to play strokes lhot when striking off left side and rhot when striking off right side. I imagine this practice originated due to the lack of space in the 21 a side game. There is evidence that the great Tubberadora team of the 1890s hurled in this fashion. The pan forehand tendency was so pronounced that the gifted Jamesy Kelleher was warned off doing so when he went in to hurl with Cork around 1900. Timmy Ryan, tremendous Limerick midfielder of the 1930s and 1940s, was a relic of this style. Michael Haverty (Loughrea) seemed to my eye another possible relic during his playing days.

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I’m a stickler for trying to correct grips on players. I’d give it a go for as long as the player would try themselves, but sometimes there is no hope with them. My biggest issue is that they get away with it young, but when the game speeds up and players get bigger, they then dont progress as quickly as their peers because of their hindering grip/swing. Obviously there are lots of players who make it to the top with awkward grips, but they are in the minority. I think once its gone past the point of no return, its trying to work with it as best as possible and develop other skillsets to ensure their striking doesnt define them.

I had more this year with right handed players, RHOT to take possession but LHOT swinging on their right to hit the ball, so 3a in your assessment above, than I have ever had to coach. I pointed it to parents of the children and they didnt even notice that their kid was doing it. The kids themselves very open to changing and working on it tho. We’ll see next year when they come back.

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Then you have the kids/players who are hitting across themselves, but throw the ball up over the hurl and not from beneath, need to stop that quickly. I was absolutely disgusted with the brother when I went for a few pucks above on the Green with my nephew and he was doing this. I mean the boy is nearly 12 ffs!

I think you all need to get out more.

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