I donāt get that one? I know the saying but not the relevance
Tom loves the attention. Hes loves the limelight. In the midst of positivity, Tom will always go for the negative just to be seen to do so.
Told you they would be rattled
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Agreed the new money fans wouldnāt understand.
Iād never deride him the way some lads have done hereā¦ Itās sickening in a way to see our own turn on him. But youād also have to agree Tom is having a whinge for the sake of it.
Noone with their eyes open doesnāt realise that Tom did his bit. He tried to follow the Clare model if the time and to a certain extent it worked. He was also to stubborn for his own good and that stubbornness cost Limerick an all Ireland in 96. While he was primarily a good enough disciplinarian, as a a tactician he was totally useless. After the sending off in 96, Galligan was the ideal man to bring in but Ryan put his own ego ahead of his county and refused. Iāll most certainly give him credit for dragging Limerick out of the doldrums but his egotistical tendencies cost them one if not two all Irelandās and hes had a chip on his shoulder since
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A lot of it is to do with old age as well. Lads tend to glorify the past a lot. They donāt like change.
My grand father and his brothers used to harp on about cycling to thurles for these great games in the 40s and 50s going on about how great the hurling was but in reality when you watch the clips itās akin to a bunch of drunk farmers after 10 pints stumbling around the field.
Iāve chatted to a lot of people and they donāt like the way hurling has gone. Itās just the way of the world. Itās similar with Loughnane in Clare.
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Funny you should say that, my father who is 75 thought last Sunday was the best Limerick performance he ever witnessed
Watch any of the games on All Ireland goldā¦ It was woeful stuff for the most part in the 60s-80sā¦ Shinty more or less.
Personally I felt hurling was a better spectacle a decade ago when the top teams played where possession was valued but not the be all and end all it is today. I enjoy the game of hurling as it is but I do think that the directness and the one on one individual battles and two lads attacking a 50/75/100 yard ball bald headed be it low or high is one of the great and unique spectacles in hurling which is slowly but surely being eroded from the game. I have no real truck with Limerickās style as it plays to their strengths and has delivers consistent performances and would have more issue with the Davy/Derek McGrath default sweeper and short passing for the sake of it/risk averse approach which I think is a blight on the game and falls flat more than it delivers
I think a change to the steps rule to a more time based approach and the benefit of the doubt isnāt given to the man when he takes it into contact and a hand pass rule where there has to be two clear motions which is enforced along with the current fitness and skill levels of intercounty players would lead to a far more appeal game to watch.
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Hurling didnt really start to move on until probably the mid eighties. Until then it trundle along for better or worse. The first signs if tactics becoming more prevalent started when Galway dabbled with the third midfielder. You can argue whether it worked or not but the real change started to come when Clare made the breakthrough. Bug strong physical men with fitness to go the full 70. They powered their way to two all Ireland. The rest of the country tried to follow suit and truth be told it was Kilkenny that took the Clare temple and took it up a notch. Cork in 04 and 05 brought in the possession game and it worked for two years until Kilkenny came back in 06 and really brought in the hassle and harry game whereby the team in possession was nearly relieved to give it up for a bit of reprieve.
They powered their way to all Irelandās until 15 when the well eventually ran dry.
To me FWIW, Limerick have taken elements of the possession, physical and power game and mixed them together. They have obviously looked at football and taken elements of that as well.
Itās a progression no doubt. There is a lot of talk at the moment as to how they may or may not dominate for the foreseeable future. That may or may not happen. But some team at some stage will take the Limerick model and develop it another notch. That may happen next year or it may take 5 or 6 years, but it will happen
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The current rule is four steps or the time taken to take four steps.
I am always convinced if they clamped down on that rule it would clean the game big time.
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Couldnāt agree more. Ball in play time must be gone way down. Four stick passes and over the bar is unreal hurling when Limerick play it, but the best hurling is when players are contesting the ball and the game ebbs and flows up and down the field.
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I thought that hurling in the 80s was a far superior spectator sport than the 70 point shootouts and lads knocking sidelines and 120 yard frees over for fun,
Proper physical contests with men who worked with their hands and backs, not for the gym monkeys half way through a teaching degree
Iām not trying to make the argument that itās a better spectacle or not. Iām just looking at it from my perspective. For me personally the 1991 Munster final replay was the best game I ever had the honour to attend and still remains the benchmark for me if you will. The introduction of the qualifiers turned both hurling and football into a results sports. It took away the magic of a provincial win and made the all Ireland the be all and end all particularly for the si called stronger counties.
Wasnāt meant as a challenge to you, more do the lads who suggest there was no skill in the game back then, those boys could hurl but it was impossible to score like the lads do now, or even to move the ball around like they do now,
Correct. At one stage I would have been in favour of possibly increasing the weight of the sliothar in order to try and attempt to keep the ball in play longer. But that would make little or no difference now as the possession game and working it up through the lines had nullified that argument.
Iāve the 2018 Munster championship game between cork and limerick on. 54 mins and hego subbed off for David Dempsey. The long ball into Flanagan and him passing it off to cian Lynch is a thing of beauty.
Tom Morrissy is my HOTY. some man in a ruck but always gets the really tuff scores. Up Lmerick
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