Top 2 in the group go into the divisional semi-finals. Win that and weāre promoted.
Bottom 2 into the relegation semi-finals. Lose that and weāre relegated.
Guaranteed at least 4 games, but in a good position now.
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Who is fodder for the Billy boys next
Away to Offaly next Saturday.
In my opinion John kiely would be well advised to keep his mouth closed about the opposition. Iāve no idea what the angle was but it came off fairly petty to me.
I wonder does he regret the comments as being honest I didnāt see anything from Galway yesterday that I havenāt seen before on the pitch so Iām not sure why he was surprised or worked up about it.
Anyway lock down is a terrible time and maybe it was something else bothering him.
The refs are clearly clamping down on the three man tackles and itās standard enough in the league for refs to go mad blowing fouls before easing off in championship. Itās better limerick get blown off the field in the league than a championship game.
Itās much easier learn from defeat too but it is important to keep the focus and not get side tracked anyway. I was surprised by the reaction to the result a little.
It still looks to me our starting 15 will be a combination of the starting 15 from 2018 plus Nash, wod and Casey. The other lads are of a good standard but arenāt really putting their hands up yet. We are still reliant on that core group. That was my takeaway from yesterday anyway. We need those lads in form.
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Hannon back to centre changes the whole teamā¦ Hayes back to the wing in some formatā¦
Throwing in the young lads yesterday was a good move from Kielyā¦ They now know the standard they have to reach. Sink or swim.
Whereās Mul at? And is Mike Casey back training?
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Iād agree with all that.
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Mul has a twisted ankle, he will be grand. By God ye need him back quick
Same half back line as last year & weāll be the finest. Nash might have to be first off the bench. Like to see Cian back midfield
There isnāt really a great opportunity to get the championship starting XV out there and firing the way the fixtures have fallen. Waterford next up probably the game to start all the regulars. Need to do some shadow boxing against Cork so a game to give another run to Dempsey, Costello, Reidy and maybe the two lads subbed off today. Westmeath to finish will be a tune up.
That and the half forward line. Thereās a pattern of our half forward line being far less prominent in the games where we have underpormed.
Iām not sure why they arenāt playing the starting fifteen a bit more. Game time is crucial youād have presumed. Obviously everything is up in the air with covid I guess.
I remember ronan o gara saying to win knockout games you need have incredible trust and familiarity with your team mates to win. When the pressure is really on that is crucial.
Sometimes having loads of options isnāt a good thing. A lot of successful teams like Barcelona under pep had a small core group.
Iāve heard some people say leinsters undoing in the past two seasons is theyāve so many options they donāt get their best fifteen on the pitch at the one time enough and it catches them out. Might be something to keep in mind.
I hope come championship we know 13/14 of our starting team and theyāve a couple of games under their belt anyway.
Limerick have never defended the Liam McCarthy cup. We simply canāt have a repeat of 2019.
I can tell you 13 of the starting team now mate assuming all are fit. 13/14 of the team that started the AIF last year will start the munster semi. They couldnāt be more settled
Iād be curious to know why they arenāt they playing them. I thought theyād want a couple of a games together to blow the cob webs off. Surely game time is going to be key.
They are giving lads a run out mate. Its hardly rocket science.
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Well thatās complete rubbish. We need to be match fit for the cork game.
Has anyone told Kiely?
If we played the All Ireland winning team in all league games fellas would be saying we are predictable and that Kiely isnāt giving lads a chance.
That said Iām surprised Galway in Salthill had two lads making their debut. Maybe thereās an element of looking back to the league game there in 2018 where many of the lads with 2 medals came of age.
With the retirement of the Dow and Pat Ryan falling from favour a bit, ideally this league would identify three or four game changers off the bench. As it stands, P Casey and Nash are likeliest to fit these roles but ideally Reidy, OāNeill and Dempsey would kick on.
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Well time is at a premium is my point. It isnāt a usual season where youāve nearly 6 months to prep for championship.
Weāve played about 10 of our āstarting teamā in each game so far Iād say. Thatās plenty i think, and I think itās good we are running the panel a bit more. We have a very settled team thatās well established in its patterns of play, we donāt need to put them out en masse every game. It might even be counterproductive. Competition for places is good.
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Kiely is being intelligent here. Lads havenāt played anything in 5 months. He knows fellas will be getting niggles here and there. He wants as many of his players getting minutes as possible in case a lad goes down. If the next man in had no minutes and nothing done in 5/6 months, big problem
Very pragmatic and clear headed