I donāt think thereās anything to be gained by hammering the shite out of teams in August. Better off keep your powder dry for September when the real hurling starts. Iām a big believer in not āpeakingā too early.
I havenāt really posted about our game on Friday night, because it was just really disappointing, arguably even moreso than the Ahane game.
Because I thought we played fairly well and we worked really really hard, but still ended up losing by 9 points. Thatās fairly disheartening, Iām not going to lie. Now we definitely got a few things wrong, our setup probably didnāt take account of the huge advantage that we had and we were a bit slow to make the necessary changes. On the field, we made a few basic errors, rustiness probably hurting a couple of our players and Na Piarsaigh ruthlessly punished our errors.
Once we pushed Kyle on, we had the better of the remainder of the first half, outscoring NaP by 4 points or so. But Boylan had already grabbed the goal at that point and we went in at half-time a goal down, and we almost certainly needed to be ahead to have any chance, considering the strength of the breeze. In fairness Kyle was absolutely superb, as was Darren. Both their points were of a very high quality, Davy Fitz & Liam Griffin picked off nice scores after pressing Dowlingās puckout and young Conor Mac also got on his first Championship start.
But we struggled to contain NaPās inside line, Peter Casey is pretty much unmarkable. The only way you stop him is to cut out the supply or get to the ball first every time. Once the ball is in his hand, itās a score. We had him pushed out to the sideline under pressure and they were still landing over the black spot. Itās a pity we werenāt as tight on Breen who just found way too much space.
And, second half, we just didnāt take enough shots whereas Na Piarsaigh just had enough shooters from outside. Vince Harrington was impressive, heās gone some size and his striking is good, he got two fine scores from inside in his own half. And thatās the thing, we would work hard, tackle after tackle but they were just that bit more patient than us and would recycle and recycle until they got the ball to someone who could shoot. We managed to stop the likes of Lynch, Dempsey & Henn from getting shots off from out the field but the young guns in Kearns & Harrington hurt us instead.
I would say they played the ref better than us too. Johnny just decided he wasnāt going to ref the steps rule. And Na Piarsaigh definitely made better use of that than us, we were a bit too hesitant when on the ball, taking touches on the hurley going into contact whereas they would just put the head down, run and run until he gave them a free. He almost always gives the free to the man in possession, very rarely giving it for overcarrying and they were smarter than us in that regard, the ref is something you have to play, just like the conditions.
Kyle almost cut through for a couple of goal chances but was hauled down; again, they were cute in rotating their foulers. McEvoy, Boylan, Downes & Henn were all booked for fouling Darren & Kyle, but only Henn ran a real risk of getting a red (and was probably lucky not to get a second yellow but I think Johnny was feeling lenient on the day). In the end, we did actually get a goal from one of the fouls at the end, Shaun Barry went for it and really Dowling should have done a lot, lot better.
Not sure the Downes at centre-back experiment is working either, nor Lynch in the forwards. I didnāt think either were effective tbh. Downes hurled a bit of ball alright but didnāt exactly carve us open either, heās a bit slow to move the ball at times. Still, learning the position I guess. Na Piarsaigh will be glad to see Daithi Dempsey back though, he replaced his brother when he got a dead leg, their only sub of the day (so no more Premier Intermediates to be burned). He didnāt do a whole pile but he has a few weeks now to get right and theyāll need him. Theyāll also need WOD. Not that the lads in midfield didnāt play well, they were fine but WOD would have given them complete physical dominance in the middle third and his leadership & organisation on the pitch are vital too.
We played a lot better but still not good enough. If we had played that well against Ahane, we might have had a chance. Kilmallock next, it doesnāt get any easier but we have learned a lot from those first two games. A steep learning curve, I have to say, can we implement what we have learned in time to actually get a result or two before the end will be the question.
Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-14
Shaun Barry 1-5 (1-5 placed balls)
Kyle Hayes 0-2
Darren OāConnell 0-2
Conor McMahon 0-2
Liam Griffin 0-2 (0-1 placed ball)
Davy Fitzgerald 0-1
Na Piarsaigh 1-23
Ronan Lynch 0-6 (0-5 placed balls, 0-1 sideline)
Peter Casey 0-5
Adrian Breen 0-5
Conor Boylan 1-1
Wayne Kearns 0-3
Vince Harrington 0-2
Shane Dowling 0-1 (0-1 placed ball)
Noticed this scutter was deleted off āLimerick GAAā Wikipedia page over the last twelve months.
Rent fee in their heads
Vince Harrington a candidate for inter county next year?
Or too young?
Seems the fella who did that got the reaction he wanted. Kilkenny 1 Limerick 0
He got his reaction on July 23rd at HQ.
Hes a big young fella, i was shocked to hear how young he is. If he keeps up this form he may get called into the 36.
No, that was not a reaction, that was a game played out between two teams, neither most likely in any way aware of a wikipedia edit.
No sir, he got the reaction offā¦you.
Whatever keeps you happy
Dont let that Kilkenny fella bother you no more
Is he u20 next year?
He is, last year U-20.
As a 2-year starting county minor (which are rarer in the days of U-17), he would have been disappointed not to make the panel in 2023. He was probably the victim of Na Piarsaighās depth, in that he was only a sub for their Intermediates last year and maybe wasnāt showing the form to get on the panel. Similar with Wayne Kearns, who perhaps wasnāt a standout county minor but he was only playing for NaPās third team last year. This year, heās starting for their seniors (admittedly in the absence of WOD, but heās doing well) and will almost certainly be on the panel next year.
Was with Mary I freshers management teams the last couple of years and Vince/Wayne were two genuine standouts, even beyond Shane OāBrien/Adam Hogan/Shane Meehan for me personally!
Two bonafide leaders on and off the pitch
Yeah weāve a massive panel this year and we mean business
you would want to be careful dont u get a land like K/D did last night after whooping the well last weekā¦
A big shock. Itās after blowing that group wide open now.
Itās strange what a week can do, especially in a Championship as cut-throat as the Junior. Kilteely/Dromkeen were looking like the team to beat after one round, the only team with a really impressive win.
Now they have a loss to add to back and will be in a scrap to even make it out of the group, although retain good score difference.
The unpredictability of that Championship is unreal.
How lucky are we to go from an all Ireland rolls Royce win straight into box office championships like Premier Intermediate and Junior A.
The junior A championship should be streamed instead of the senior.