James Skehill; Adrian Tuohy, DaithĆ Burke, John Hanbury; Padraic Mannion (0-01), GearĆ³id McInerney, Aidan Harte; Johnny Coen, David Burke (0-03); Joseph Cooney (0-03), Joe Canning (1-10, 1-5f, 2 ā65sā) Jonathan Glynn; Conor Whelan (1-0), Conor Cooney, Cathal Mannion.
Subs: Niall Burke (0-01) for C Mannion (46), Paul Killeen for Hanbury ( 56), Jason Flynn for C Cooney (57), Fearghal Flannery for Skehill (61).
Many of them over 30? A right good few of those players are as good or better than what the rest of the country have available at their best. For the problem has been that many of those players are streaky and can show ability to shoot the lights out or go off the boil altogether. What I keep saying is that if a manager can get most of them back to the form that theyāre capable of then they have the beating of anyone. Without any exact knowledge I would hazard a guess that the general age profile of that team is a couple years younger than Tipp this year. Looking at Tipp this year compared to where they were last year there is certainly no reason why Galway shouldnāt be able to achieve the same regain of form. I still think thereās the makings of an extremely good team there with very little surgery needed.
Daithe Burke, P Mannion, McInerney, Coen, David Burke, Joe Cooney, Canning, Whelan, Conor Cooney, and Cathal Mannion is ten players as good or better than what most teams can put out. Thatās not a team that needs radical change.
The form of a lot of the lads you listed fell off a cliff after the all Ireland win and by all accounts hasnāt improved in club championship. The new manager is unlikely to get a reaction either.
Possibly but thereās a lot of mileage on the main men. Out of the newish lads Whelan is the only lad to stand up. The minor teams donāt seem to have many stand out forwards which is what we need.
Scutter. Which match did the young guns win? The one where Wexford beat the shit of ye but had a collective brain fart and blew it or the one where an over the hill 14 man Kilkenny failed to turn up?
Tipp have four or five youngsters of the highest quality coming through, some of whom have already done it on the biggest stage. They have a hardy and talented oul bastard of a spine, and a bench full of talent.
Galway have no bench, and Iāve not seen much coming through.
The team were great, and still can be occasionally, but I just donāt think the comparison to tipp stacks up.
They spent too long with kk rent free in their heads, when they should have been relishing taking them.
the fact is the likes of niall burke, flynn even glennon are still the stand out players in the club championship. Who isnāt starting that are better forwards? Haran??
They just have too many miles up and Thomasās getting to club finals drained the shit out of david burke and cooney (and corofin daithi) who are vital really.
They have to pace themselves which in fairness they tried to do last year but the injury to canning meant that blew up only drawing with minnows wexford in salthill, theres a kick in them and they out hurled tipp three times 15-18 so theres plenty of talent still, just need the man management and preparation that the money they dont have can buy. Tipp were in a similar situation last year, opened the cheque book, blooded a few and turned it around. But im pessimistic
Nail on the head. A lot of those Galway players were serious athletes too and very good hurlers on top of it. Theyāve serious miles on the clock and The legs are beginning to go which is fairly normal. Tipp have 5 or 6 lads who first and foremost sensational hurlers. When tipp get their work ethic and fitness in order they take serious beatings. Waterford, Wexford, limerick and Galways style of hurling means youāll probably get 3 or 4 years out of a seriously committed bunch but after that they fall away. They simply canāt keep going back to the well.
I thought this lot were good enough to win 2 All Irelands but unlikely now. O Neill will have some big decisions to make and can expect to make a few enemies if results go against him
Yes Galway should have two with side but they probably should have won their first all Ireland before 2017 too. The Galway job is very difficult for o neill who is relatively young, unproven and not from the county. Is he going to rebuild? I doubt heāll hope he can eek a little more out of the current group. Maybe after a short campaign last year theyāll be fresher but itās near on impossible for him to start a rebuild. If Galway have a poor league the knifes will be out for him.
Heās as well off going with the bulk of the current crop. They should have the bit between their teeth after not even getting out of Leinster this year, that should obviously be a massive motivating factor in itself. If they build up a head of steam and get lucky with injuries who knows what might happen. If he comes in weiling the axe he will be up against it from the off, best save that for year 2.
The key positions he needs to fix are 1 3 and 6. GearoĆd Mac has become a liability at Centre and Daithi was even struggling at full back this year. A straight swap would be worth a trial for a game or 2
