Youâd need to be very cautious backing Limerick with the handicap. Theyâve been doing enough to kill a game but then taking the foot off the gas. Giving 6 points to Kilkenny is loads.
I think Limerick will get a few goals & cover that handicap handy enough
I had them -8 at 13/5 v Tipp and they pulled the hand brake up with 10 to go.
I wonât be touching the handicap over or under.
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The referee is basically a Kilkenny man being from CarlowâŚIâd expect him to give more frees to KilkennyâŚKilkenny usually get more frees than the opposition if the all Ireland is anything to go by.
I canât see anyone threatening us this year. I think I posted last year or the year before that I think weâll win five in a row, and I am more sure of it now. I think this yearâs edition is going to be the strongest team weâve had yet. It looks like we will have everyone fit, and weâve way more on our bench than weâve had in years. Over the the last couple years thereâs been talk that we need to and havenât been adding one or two every year or weâd come acroppper soon. I think thereâs been just enough added or changed to keep things fresh but most of the team is only hitting itâs prime and has another two years minimum at prime left. All things being equal weâll be even stronger next year with the players coming through. Presuming Kiely and Kinnerk stay and want to make history, losing Hannon appears to me to be biggest risk to the team in the next two years, but I think he has loads left as well.
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Getting used to this national title thing.
Patsyâs is only humming along
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Tell my uncle Tim the barman in there I was asking for him!
Iâm going to just put in one cautionary note in that itâs only the league. I wouldnât read anything into todayâs game or other league victories on that basis.
Waterford looked so impressive in last yearâs league semi-final and final and fell away badly after the defeat to Limerick. Obviously, weâre coming from a very different place to Waterford but even in 2019, we were All-Ireland champions, League champions, looked like we had found another level but then had a flat opening Championship game and were eventually caught by Kilkenny.
So I would look more to last yearâs Championship games than anything weâve seen in the league. And thereâs no doubt that teams got a lot close to us last year than they did previously.
Clare drew with us in Ennis (obviously we were missing a good few), brought us to extra-time in the Munster Final (I donât think we ever looked like losing but the gameplan they brought did work), we only narrowly beat Galway (again, we looked the better team but they found ways to create scoring chances and we werenât able to stop them getting shots off) and Kilkenny in the final was close too.
And we donât win last yearâs All-Ireland without the contribution of our subs: OâNeill, Boylan and particularly Reidy all played big roles which wasnât the case since 2018 really.
The obvious counter is that Lynch & Casey are back and that obviously does strengthen us. Mul worked hard but wasnât a massive scoring threat last year, and Lynch allows Kyle to go to wing-back which gives us another huge attacking platform, not to mention Lynchâs own skill.
Other than through personnel, have we improved? Very very hard to know until Championship.
And, similarly, we wonât know whether other teams have improved either. You would imagine Cork & Tipp couldnât be as bad. Pat Ryan & Liam Cahill are big upgrades in their respective management teams but I would suspect it might be a bit much to expect them to beat Limerick in year one (having said that, Cahill got Waterford to an All-Ireland final on the back of two winless seasons). Kilkenny also have new management and while their supporters wonât have much optimism after today, they should still get through Leinster and TJ is still to return. Davy also new in Waterford but seem to have a lot of injuries, Wexford & Dublin havenât really suggested they have the players to contest with Limerick in recent years.
That leaves Galway & Clare who have managers further down the line and who both put it up to Limerick last year. Have they improved? Clare have Aidan McCarthy back but you couldnât read anything into their league and maybe people are writing them off again as a result. A bad AI semi-final last year and I think Conlonâs absence shows they donât have huge strength-in-depth but they executed the best plan to take on Limerick so far. Galway got lots of shots from distance away last year, but I think they will need to push a little bit higher up the pitch if they want to beat Limerick this year. I just donât think you can leave Nash free for 70 minutes, especially with Kyle & Lynch back, more options for extra passes.
I think Limerick are still ahead of the pack but Iâm just wary of it being like a Kilkenny 2009/2010 scenario. In 2008, Kilkenny looked absolutely unbeatable. Nobody got anywhere near them. In 2009, Tipp put it up to them, and perhaps should have won. KK slipped (with injuries) then in 2010. Tipp won a Munster in 2008 but improved massively into 2009 & 2010. I canât identify a definite comparable contender but every single team obviously know how Limerick play now and I think the blueprint is there on how to beat us too.
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Ye will win the All Ireland handy. @glasagusban is absolutely correct. If any team gets within 6 or 7 points in an important match (i.e. non round robin), they will be doing well. The gulf between Limerick and the rest is huge.
At this stage, ye have beaten Galway, Waterford, Cork and Kilkenny in finals. Iâm sure Kiely would like to add Tipp to that role of honour but I donât see that happening this season anyway. But it could be any of about four or five teams that Limerick end up hammering in the AI final.
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Limerick wouldnt hammer Tipp in an AI Final. Nobody hammers Tipp in an All Ireland Final.
Our record in finals is extraordinary. We always turn up and perform.
Sure we wouldnât.
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A shame we wonât get to test out that theory.
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Aye but they have received plenty of pastings in provincial finals, for someone who loves to live in the past you should be well aware of that.
Iâm not so sure on that even.
We are usually the ones who hand out the pastings in these big games.
The 2011 and 2016 Munster Finals and 2009 All Ireland Semi Final being classics of this genre. We even beat Kilkenny by nearly 20 points in 2019.
I dont think this current crop from Limerick has ever done a proper number on Tipp - i.e. 6-19 to 2-06 in recent years despite Tipp being absolutely hopeless since 2019.
True. Usually the Tipp manager has em fired up like rabid dogs to get 35 minutes of mayhem, occasionally accompanied by frantic clapping, only for the superior stickmen to take over in the second half.
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I doubt any county has three players whoâd definitely start for Limerick.
Galway? Burke, Burke and Whelan or Mannion maybe.
Paud OâDwyer whoâs originally from Wexford.
Both burkes were excellent players but are well past it.