Fuck sake where did we lose Hego?
In Newcastle West I spent many a night
With Kitty and Judy and Mary.
My parents rebuked me for being such a rake
And for spending my time in such frolicsome ways,
But I neāre could forget the good nature of Jenny,
Agus fagaimid siud mar ata se.
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ChatGPT is on form
On Ennis Road, where champions meet,
Limerick and Cork, a spectacle complete.
Beneath the sweltering heatās relentless glare,
Legends converged, in a fiery affair.
All Irelandās finest, united as foes,
Their prowess on display, each moment glows.
With every touch, the sizzling ground they tread,
The battle of giants, where legends are bred.
The sun, a blazing orb, high in the sky,
Witnessed the clash, as passions ran high.
On Ennis Road, where history unfolds,
The destiny of heroes, to be behold.
Limerickās champions, a formidable force,
Their skill and precision, an unyielding source.
Cork, a worthy challenger, bold and strong,
Their resilience, like the sunās scorching song.
The sweltering heat, a relentless embrace,
Challenging minds, bodies, and grace.
Yet, these warriors pushed through the blaze,
Their spirits unyielding, in mesmerizing ways.
The crowdās deafening cheers echoed all around,
Their energy fueling the battleground.
On Ennis Road, a sacred theater of might,
A tapestry of triumph, bathed in sunlight.
In this fierce contest, the echoes remain,
A testament to courage, to joy and pain.
With the sweltering heat shining down on all,
Legends were born, in that hallowed hall.
On Ennis Road, where memories are sown,
A chapter etched in history, forever known.
Limerick and Cork, a clash for the ages,
Beneath the sunās fire, on historyās pages.
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Tis early to be lying in the gutter Mike
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Lying in the gutter, looking up at the stars.
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Weāre back lads
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Just back from TUSGG.
Munster championship, you canāt bate it with a stick. That was sensational. The atmosphere, the weather, the skill, the battle between two top teams. It was a cauldron.
The spirit in this team. Insane. Win, lose or draw you just know theyāll fight and fight and fight some more. Thatās hopefully the great legacy Kiely will leave, outside the medals. Just always be honest and throw everything at it every day. Like Cody did.
A mad game, will have to watch it back again because there was so much to digest. Absolute helter skelter stuff.
Gillane. Heās just phenomenal. High or low, heāll win it. Great catch for the first goal, fouled for the penalty. Worked like a demon and generally tormented OāDonoghue. Thought he was MOTM personally. Could have gone more direct to him at times as he was making hay. Himself and Sham Flan dovetail together wonderfully.
Flickers of life from Hego. That late point catching the puck out and firing over - vintage stuff. Heāll come on a tonne for that. Likewise Lynch came on and won a few important balls. Looked sharp and if we can get him motoringā¦
WOD is a monster, himself and DOD put in a massive shift. Struggled at midfield at times this year but they came roaring back into form, even if Fitzgibbon was excellent there too.
Just relieved to be still in the championship. An added bonus to be back in a Munster final and going for 5-in-a-row. The extra weeks rest a huge advantage to Clare who are looking for their first Munster title this Millennium. All the pressure on them. Should be a cracker. Been a fantastic Munster championship.
Cork were excellent, very tough way to exit the championship after one point defeats in Ennis and Limerick. Pat Ryan really has them on the right track, which is ominous for everyone else over the next few years. Not much of a consolation to them tonight but they are the coming team, no doubt about that. Horgan and Harnedy donāt look like slowing down. They both look as good as ever, two great players.
Thurles will be heaving in a fortnight. May God have mercy on the souls of club officers responsible for distributing tickets.
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Pity about the eight stepsā¦ā¦
Some day out again, this has probably been the best Munster Championship in my lifetime in terms of the quality of the matches. Quality and drama.
I wasnāt expecting that level of heat, thought it was due to be a bit cloudier than Saturday but the sun was bateing down and that probably added to the occasion. Great noise and colour, everything being on the line certainly contributed to the atmosphere.
There was a certain sense of nerviness amongst the Limerick support beforehand but I felt confident fairly early; I know that we hit a few wides early on but we were moving the ball much quicker and getting it into the full-forward line, who were winning everything.
When you have a full-forward as good as Aaron Gillane, you have to feed him. He destroyed OāDonoghue yesterday, beat him high and low. For me, he was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. And it shows how crazy we were not to utilise him properly in the previous games. Iām all for giving him a good ball but when thereās acres of space in front of him, any sort of delivery from a player facing forward around our own '65 will likely be decent. Thankfully, DOD & Kyle in particular delivered loads of ball into him and he cleaned up. He should have had two goals before setting up Flanagan, so still plenty for him to work on, the one after receiving the pass from Kyle had to be buried.
I think we put a lot of pressure on Corkās puckout right from the start which was what we needed. Luckily we did, because we struggled with our puckouts into the wind at times, we really had to scrap to get any sort of possession but had the upper hand on Corkās puckout. But that meant both sides would go on runs of scores and found it hard to break the other teamās momentum. It seemed like everything Cork hit went over the bar in the first half, we were probably just a little bit loose on their second ball when they were working it out.
But I did think we had the upper hand in midfield, WOD got through an amount of work again and DOD was absolutely superb. His distribution is top top class and he hurled some amount of ball. Thatās two big games from both of them back-to-back where they have got on top in that middle section and thatās probably a big part in getting ball inside to the boys. DOD has unbelievable vision tbf and while I wish WOD had a bit more confidence in his own deliveries, he generally retains the ball and his contribution for the second goal was top class.
We did make mistakes, we dropped balls that you really wouldnāt expect us to drop- CON, Kyle, Nash, Byrnes. And Cork were really punishing us with the wind at their back, very accurate shooting.
But I was fairly confident that, with the wind to come, that being level at half-time would be plenty. And we did kick on in the second half and opened up a big lead. But I think we made it hard for ourselves again and fair play to Cork, theyāve fought back in every single game so far and they did it again. One thing I will give us credit for is that we pretty much nullified their goal threat. We swarmed their pacy runners quickly and the goal that they did get was a sloppy one to concede but didnāt really come from them opening us up. Now, weād probably be disappointed with the amount of points they were able to rack up but the game just went that way, was a little bit too loose for my liking.
We obviously conceded a lot more frees than Cork. I havenāt watched it back but I felt that some of them were of the softer variety. I definitely think we did commit more fouls than Cork (I would also imagine we had way more tackles) but there seemed to be a couple where a player would simply hold his ground, a player would run into him and fall over. Maybe Iām wrong and apparently our penalty was soft too (although SOD was hanging off Gillane off the ball all day long so I donāt have any real sympathy for him) so these things even themselves out generally. Think we gave away a couple of silly frees in the second half that were unnecessary and just kept Cork in touch down the stretch which meant that we really had to fight to retain the ball in the last few minutes.
Fair play to Hego, he wasnāt quite at his imperious best but he was much-improved and won some ball at crucial teams. Lynch also got on good ball when he came on. Richie English was tenacious (probably gave away one free from being over-exuberant) but I think we needed players attacking the ball too and he always brings that. Tom, once again, was huge; just steps up in the big moments; okay, he had a couple of bad wides but he offers so much.
Things didnāt really go for Cathal, just seemed nervy or something; seemed to turn around and go back more than he should and dropped a few balls. But serious skill levels for the goal, definitely the right man in the right place for that one, heās really sharp in tight spaces. Kyle also dropped a few balls but was strong, his distribution is top class and also went for a few gallops, the score in front of the Mackey was unbelievable and we should have had an early goal from him tearing up the pitch.
Still levels of improvement to be had to go toe-to-toe with Clare in a Munster final. They bring a level of physical engagement that Cork didnāt really yesterday; Cork kinda stood off our forwards and similarly, we stood a little bit off theirs. So while there were big tackles in the middle at times; in general, it was a fast, loose-ish game. To combat Clare, we need to deliver way more ball inside to our full-forward line than we did earlier in the season and we need to do more to stop their runners from deep hurting us.
Iām happy that it was a continuation of the levels in the second half of the Tipp game. Energy levels seemed much better, we moved it quicker and seemed focused on delivering more ball too. Defensively, we can still tighten up, probably need to reduce the free count and accuracy still needs to improve. But weāre moving in the right direction and, look, weāre going for 5 Munster titles in a row; thatād be some achievement. And either way, weāll live to fight another day.
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They should get some promotion at the Munster final or something.
Were you not at the match yesterday 
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Embarrassing
Nope
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Honestly thought Darragh OāDonovan deserved MOTM. Byrnes was good, an 8/10, but DOD was a 9. He was everywhere and got on so much ball and recycled lots of possession to the half back line, as well as to Flanagan and Gillane. It was as good a performance Iāve seen him give since the ā21 All Ireland semi. The point he got in the second half was a great piece of skill.
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Wouldnāt disagree.
His use of the ball is exceptionally good, long & short, and Iād say he hurled more ball than any other player on the pitch. Did he get 0-3 from play as well which is an added bonus?
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He definitely got at least two points anyway. Even WOD managed to get a point yesterday! Are the starts aligning?!
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Jesus
The same fella has 501 posts in another thread giving out about potentially being forced to go through Buttevant rather than Newport 
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