Bulk and strength arenât the same thing.
Nah that makes no sense. Body weight is fine but it doesnât cut the mustard and certainly isnt optimal. You have to put your body under strain for it to repair stronger and bigger. Obviously there is a point where you get diminishing returns, i.e. strong men and bodybuilders but good luck to ya if youâre just going basic pushups and bodyweight squats.
Limerick did their best hurling last year when they got to Croke Park, they werenât firing on all cylinders during Munster. I wouldnât imagine they are being trained towards peaking this early either. Bit soon to make definitive statements on their decline.
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I donât know if itâs that, mental tiredness, pressure, or hunger.
They werenât putting teams away last year but they pretty much dominated the last ten minutes or so against Waterford,Tipp, Galway and kilkenny when questions were asked and extra time v Clare where they made no real errors and their decision making was flawless. You couldnât say the same based on the last two weeks. They are still worthy all Ireland favourites but it will be a tougher road now looking an injuries and form
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They were clinical in the way they closed out games last year, but the few missing cogs yesterday were noticeable. Finn especially won hard ball in each of those games when teams were going for broke and driving it long.
Leinster have no bulke slow fellas. Maybe Jenkins but all rest are quick powerful agile athlete spec
Jumping in a bit cold here, but thatâs some stat.
It is the first time Clare have beaten the Shannonsiders in a championship game in a Limerick city venue since 1901.
Obviously very disappointing to lose last night. No complaints with the result, Clare were the better team and, to be honest, we were probably lucky to even be in with a shout of drawing the game at the end.
Clareâs team does seem built to take on Limerick; we saw that last year and they got over the line yesterday. The quick puckouts, the pace running from deep from the likes of Fitzgerald, Taylor, Kelly as well as the physical strength in the likes of Malone, SOD, etc to hit hard and stop Limerick in their tracks.
The disappointing thing would be that even when we got a handle on some aspects of that, we struggled with some of the basics that we pride ourselves on. Winning breaking ball, we were way off it. The tackle count of our half-forwards and midfielders, I would suggest was way off where it needed to be. Our half-back line just didnât play well, they looked sluggish.
And thatâs probably the word that youâd use to describe the performance in general. It just never clicked. We kept making poor decisions which led to basic errors, putting each other under pressure and not exploiting the advantages that we did have. For example, there was a load of space in front of our full-forward line and I thought Gillane & Flanagan generally were on top, but they got absolutely no ball. Our half-back line just didnât deliver even though the space was there. We were looking for the extra pass all the time, and actually bringing the ball into congested areas. Not a smart move against a big, strong Clare side.
I really think that taking off DOD was a major mistake. He may have been hooked a couple of times, but he was the only one winning dirty ball and we just had no one doing that after he went off. We struggled on Clareâs puckouts and thatâs supposed to be an area of strength for us. Similarly, Tom got hooked/blocked a few times and hit a couple of awful wides but he was really really good. His determination to win the ball is what you associate with Limerick at their best, but maybe wasnât replicated across the board.
Now, you could say we hit some awful wides, including missed frees and had enough chances to win the game. I, personally, donât think we ever looked like winning that game. I think we could have dug out a draw with a bit of luck but I just feel like, even if we had got those scores, Clare would have responded. Games take a life of their own and hurling is really how you respond to the moment that has gone on before, and generally they did that better than us (although we did really well to respond to the goal by getting 4 points in a row). I think if we had sneaked something, it would actually have been papering over the cracks a little bit. Thatâs two sluggish performances in a row which I donât think weâve ever had under this management team in Championship.
I donât think Clare were exceptional but they got a lot of their tactics right, and they worked really really hard. And that is the disappointing thing, to be outworked.
Nash was superb, arguably the best player on the pitch from both sides. He looks sharp & fresh, which some of the others donât. I thought WOD was really good in the first half, but he ran out of steam towards the end, maybe we should have had a replacement for him because he gave everything. And then Tom was the best of the attack. Although, I do think the inside two did the best they could off limited ball.
As the team has aged a bit, we do lack a little bit of raw pace in the middle third. Weâre not slow but we donât have any absolute rockets in the team bar Kyle. Clare have three players with ridiculous pace in that area and they made the most of it. Now, do any of the other teams have that? Iâm not certain; maybe Cork, but do Cork have the other thing Clare have- the physicality and ballwinning ability to go toe-to-toe with Limerick.
I donât like how deep we were. The gap between the full-forward line and the rest was too big. I understand the gameplan but we actually made it easy for Clare to turn us over because we were actually bringing the ball into bodies, rather than attacking space. The gameplan relies on perfection skills-wise and when youâre off it, you will get turned over.
The three weeks off will do us good. Sometimes, after a bad performance, you want to get right out there immediately and make amends. But I think we need to sit down, reflect, re-assess. There are some concerning elements and we might need to look at freshening things up. The loss of Finn is a massive, massive blow. The man is pure class and although Mikey Casey is a great replacement to have, heâs no Sean Finn. It also means the management are less likely to make an adjustment with the positioning of Nash who is absolutely flying. I would potentially look at the positioning of Kyle; and I think we might need to look at whether Boylan & Reidy deserve starts.
Sometimes a positional adjustment or two can freshen up the entire team, give them a new lease of life. I wouldnât be ripping up the gameplan after one defeat in four years but I wouldnât ignore the poor performance and just hope that everything will be okay either. However, I do trust the backroom to examine what wrong and to fix the problems over the next few weeks. Whether that will be good enough to go all the way, I donât know. We still have top class players, itâs just a case of getting them back into form. And if takes a dropping or two, fair enough.
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Tenchically 3 away wins out of 3 so far in Munster
One final point, Nickie was a bit unlucky with the goal. He thought he had it covered, just hopped up off the wet surface. Made two unbelievable saves before that. The one from Duggan was sensational. Got a bit of luck with the Kelly one, but he made the block.
I felt his puckouts were slightly below his usual top-notch standard; although the trajectory remained good, wasnât helped by a slightly non-functioning middle 5.
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Limerick Minor Hurling team vs Clare in the Munster GAA Hurling Minor Championship Semi Final this Tuesday evening at 6pm in Cusack Park Ennis is announced:
- Joe Fitzgerald (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
- John OâKeeffe (Na Piarsaigh)
- Conor Bickford (Ahane)
- Sean Morrissey (Dromin/Athlaca)(Captain)
- Jack Cosgrove (Ahane)
- Sean Casey (Bruff)
- Darragh Gleeson (Adare)
- Diarmuid Lyons (Newcastle West)
- Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen)
- Robert O Farrell (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
- Dara Ferland (Monaleen) (Vice Captain)
- TĂĄdgh Boddy (Bruff)
- Hugh Flanagan (Garryspillane)
- Michael Leo (Knockainey)
- Darren Collopy (Murroe/Boher).
Substitutes:
16. Conor Crowley (Mungret/St. Pauls)
17. Declan Heavey (Garryspillane)
18. Cian Scully (Monaleen)
19. Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh)
20. SeĂĄn Duff (Mungret/St. Pauls)
21. Jack Fitzgerald (Bruff)
22. Cian Barrett (Kilmallock)
23. James Coughlan (Ballybrown)
24. Patrick Kearney (Adare).
Bit harsh on Kearney, I think. He was lively when he got any good ball the last day but was too isolated.
Hadnât spotted that it was on at 6. Ridiculous.
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Was Kearney the small lad inside with the yellow helmet? Thought he, Boddy and Flanagan were all quality.
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Is it definitely on at six? Is it school holidays this week?
So Cork are the business this year again.
Our game with Tipperary is crucial.
Kiely and Kinnerk might need freshen up the team.
I think you are spot on on a of that. One thing is that wheb DOD is nullified our ball in to the inside line dissappears. I really think we need to develop more options to cover this.
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Move lynch back to midfield maybe.
What can Kiely and Kinnerk do?
DOD has been exceptional to date. However the pace of Fitzgerald, Taylor and Malone cause huge trouble for himself and WOD. We were second best again.
We lack pace in middle 8 - might be time to try Lynch in the Casey role and ask him to play as a third man
Kyle was really poor yesterday - a possible switch back to 11 might help with puck outs where we have been cleaned out in first two games.
Iâd go with following team assuming Finn is done for year
Quaid
English Casey Nash
Byrnes Hannon Dan M
WOD DOD
Tom Kyle Gearoid
Gillane Flanagan Lynch
Cathal O Neill is another player who was running on quick sand. Lacks pace unfortunately
I canât see how Hegarty starts unless he shows major turnaround in form in training. I would absolutely stick with CON, thought he did well enough.