Cork are not a bad team but they are not nearly as good as Limerick.
Limerick will stick to their principles and at some point score 6 or 7 times on the trot. Limerick are just too good for them.
Cork have convinced themselves that lads what weāre way off it 3 years ago are a lot better now. Canāt see it.
I think the wind was sucked out of corks sails by limericks Munster final performance.
Team selection interesting - few huge calls to make
Will DOD come back in?
Finn or Casey?
Lynch back to 11?
CON to 15?
SOB or Flanagan?
Quaid
Finn Morrissey Nash
Byrnes Hannon Hayes
DOD WOD
Hegarty CON Tom M
Gillane Flanagan Lynch
SOB, Adam English, David Reidy to come in
Canāt see him going for Finn over Casey. Casey has had a cracking year
It will be the same team as the Munster Final. No way that Reidy or SOB will be left off. Cian Lynch is in more danger than those two but that wonāt happen either.
Have to agree.
Yeah Casey has been excellent but the likelihood is we will need Finnās speed against corks inside line.
Lynch has not really been going that well at midfield and CON is not a natural midfielder either. This is the area we were well beaten in P Ui Chaoimh.
DOD brings an awful lot to the position in terms of distribution and workrate. Iād like to see him start if heās fit.
Reidy has done well - but heās the one most at risk imo. Heās the type of player Niall o Leary would prefer as he likes to drift out the field to pick up the 15.
Maybe thereās a scenario where Flanagan, Sob and Gillane all play together with SOB 15.
Lynch was given the role of protecting Byrnes on the puck out after the Cork game in the round robin. A DOD return would release Lynch back to centre forward but Iām not so sure how match fit DOD is
Who are these players out of curiosity
Itāll be interesting to see what Cork do on puckouts. Obviously they obliterated us in the first half in the round robin game but, in fairness, we did quite well when we had the wind.
I think weāve coped better with the really long ones in the games since but it did seem as though Cork had a lot more planning done than the others in how they positioned themselves, how they contested and how they attacked the breaks.
So itāll be interesting to see if they try the same again or whether they go for something different.
I think the second half showed that if we can even break even on puckouts, we probably have enough to win but if they are able to win the ball deep in our half, they have loads of runners and fellas who can score plus a goal threat.
You would be hopeful that we have learned from the first game and are ready for a few variations too.
As for selection, Iād love to see DOD back but probably a very hard call to make after the last day and there would have to be concerns over match fitness if nothing else.
I donāt really see Flanagan & SOB both starting, could lead to space being clogged where weāre trying to create it unless youād back one of them to play more like Casey but I just donāt see it. Thatās a huge call too. In a good way though, I think weāll have serious options from the bench.
Darragh will have been back for 7/8 weeks by then.
Iād be shocked if Flanagan doesnāt start ahead of o Brien tbh.
If dod starts and itās unlikely Iād imagine I reckon itās Cathal o Neill who loses out.
Reidy and Lynch are much more mobile and we will want cover for our half back line.
O Neill is as poor lto and he isnāt the quickest of players.
Flanagan, DOD1, English and Finn all chomping at the bit for game time. Training games should be intense
Ć Neill over reidy all day.
Not a hope in hell CON is dropped anyway.
He was fair poor v Clare and he looked tired or injured. Maybe there was something up but I couldnāt have him ahead of Reidy.
Reidy is getting through mountains of work and he can cover the ground as well.
Iād say itās likely o Donovan will start anyway.
I donāt ever recall Flanagan doing much off the bench. In 2019 his impact was minimal.
If heās right he starts. Sob done fine v Clare for a young lad but this is the real stuff now.
Agreed Reidy will certainly start, his energy is unreal. If Flanagan is fit he also will start. Not like Kiely to start someone that has been out for a while so CON to start ahead of DOD
Limerick -4 at 11/10 is free money.