I put in a mesaage about Henry being finished in Galway but did not wade through the other posts here so apologies if Iâm repeating rameis.
In France, caught the first half on the phone and the second half in a bar. It seemed that Dublin only had one plan. Play KK like they did in PP and exploit the extra 10 metres in CP with their running game through Brian Hayes.
Kk obviously had learned their lesson. They brought bodies back to clog the middle. They turned over Dublin players and then had a plan what to do in possession. 1. Work the ball to Richie Reid/Mullen who delivered bypassing the Dublin sweeper. 2. Work the ball short through the lines with the extra bodies and shoot from deep.
I donât think the scoreline was a true reflection. Kk were wonderfully accurate. 20/26 in the first half. Sean Brennan unfortunately had one of his bad days and gave them two goals. However the paucity of tackling/workrate from the Dublin forwards made the KK job much easier. A lot of lads there are SIC quality in possession but junior B out of it. The individual tackle/turnover stats from both sides will tell that tale.
Iâd lay a lot of the blame with MD. He is a disciplinarian and little else. Hard to believe he is a disciple of EOS. There was no plan B. They were rabbits in headlights with Mullen and co dropping deep. Just do plan A with different players. The wheels very easily came off the Dublin wagon with KK in the advantage. Just look at Danny Sutcliffe in the 25-35 min period.
I truly believe there is a Dublin team capable of winning Leinster, however MD + co canât alienate good players ( Dunphy, Murphy, Crowe) and also not attend club games to pick players who should be there (Coffey, Walsh). The bench & extended squad is full of lads who might not be guaranteed a place on a starting 15 of the two best club teams in the county.
Well done to Kk. They came with a plan and executed it perfectly. Stiffer tests lie ahead.
Great summation, I couldnât get over the amount of time and space that they afforded KK to launch ball into the forwards. If they do that against Cork they will lose by a similar margin. If they did Iâd it against Limerick it could be 25+ points
When Kilkenny were dominating, they won 15 out of 18 Leinster between 1998-2015. From 1998 up until the day Kilkenny were dethroned in the 2016 All Ireland Final and their current drought began, Kilkenny won 27 out of 31 Championship ties against Munster opposition, a win rate of 87%. They had a 100% win rate against all of Clare, Limerick and Waterford and won 7 out of 8 against Tipperary. Only Cork troubled them really in that period, with Kilkenny winning 4 and losing 3 of 7 meetings with Cork.
Kilkenny are still tipping along at a good clip in Leinster since 2016, 6 wins out of 9 and a 5 in a row just brought up. Against Munster opposition starting with 2016 final though the tale is just 4 wins and 8 losses from 12, a win rate of just 33%. Waterford and Tipperary have both won 2 out of 2 against them, Limerick have won 3 out of 4, Cork have won 1 out of 2. The only solace for Kilkenny was meeting Clare as they won 2 out of 2, with a suspicion that Clare were a bit jaded both times from Munster Championship exertions.
Youâd wonder how Kilkenny over the last 5-6 years would have gone if they were in Munster round Robin. The suspicion would be, not very well.
Kilkenny are just not a very good side and havenât been for a while now which is understandable given the retirements and what not.
Theyâve only beaten Clare because of the format. We in 20 and 21 when there was a fairer structure in place
And they were beaten by Waterford and cork.
Kilkenny are not great. Theyâve serous problems defensively and in the middle of the field. Forwards are decent but TJ will be totally negated the next day.
Mullen is class but put a bit of pressure on him please like.
Walsh obviously learned from Teej buying frees against Wexford and wasnât as generous yesterday.
Theyâre a pale comparison to the now 2nd GOAT team of all time.
Iâd have no concerns playing them in a semi final. We certainly wouldnât be guaranteed to win it but it would be very doable.
Dublin were beyond pathetic yesterday and it was definitely a mental meltdown as much as anything. There isnât that much of a gap. These things happen in sport sometimes.
It was the worst Leinster final capitulation Iâve seen and Iâve seen a few crackers at close quarters.
KK didnât do anything spectacular and indeed were sloppy enough themselves.
Theyâve been dropping wing forwards very deep for 20 years and yet Dublin were totally unprepared for it. Trying to run the ball into a wall of stripey men. Foolish in the extreme.
Dublin were loose all over the field and made it easy for KK.
Some of the Dublin subs yesterday looked fairly raw.
You are right. I overlooked that 2017 win. The basic point still stands though. Kilkenny have maintained a high level of dominance in Leinster but their form outside of Leinster reflects that they have been average for a long time now.
Youâre comparing the current Kilkenny team against the greatest generation of any inter county team. Of course thereâs going to be a huge disparity. And of course Kilkenny would find it difficult in the Munster round robin. Same as every other team in it
The current Limerick team might well be better than be best Kilkenny team produced in that period but @ChairmanDan is referring to a 19 year period between 1998 and 2016 (if you include both years) where KK were in 16 finals and won 11 of them
I was very impressed with our hooking and blocking. There seems to be an emphasis on always have your hurl up to try and block handpasses and short passes. And they blocked a few of them. John Donnelly with the most obvious one. We completely powered down in the second half and just saw things out. You could see it early in the second half. Looking for unnecessary extra passes.
Iâd rather Limerick in the semi than the final to be honest. Not that weâre at all guaranteed to win a semi if Limerick win Munster but Limerick after losing to Clare and been through a presumably non walkover Wexford are a different proposition to them winning munster and their semi.
I think our best performances in recent years have been in semis. I think this team has one good 80 minute performance in them and Limerick in a semi final should bring that out of them. Maybe theyâd swat us away again. Maybe weâd make a good game of it.
Kilkenny sides always do the basics well and generally do the right thing and take the right option. I feel they are not strong over the field in a few positions outlined, are not of the size of Limerick and donât have the pace of Cork to provide a different sort of threat to Limerick. Having said all that, Kilkenny wonât be too far away this year.
Kilkenny are a very good team with some excellent hurlers. Fully deserved to beat Clare the last 2 years.
Yesterday was a non entity, the Dubs didnt show
Clare had a month between Munster Final and All Ireland semi. They had Dublin in between, who as you already said are a soft touch. If theyâre not right for an All Ireland semi thatâs on them.
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