Hard grade to get right with mix of lads coming and going and always some with seniors ⌠youâd take a trouncing or two if it means winning one every few years. Itâs only there to give us a couple of players for seniors, and as you said last night, be no harm for Hayes/Flanagan and co to have a break.
Should nearly do what they have with u-20 football. If you play senior championship hurling in a given year you are not eligible for u-21/20 the same year.
Nothing to be gained from flogging Flanagan, Hayes or Murphy last night. Just disappointing none of the other lads on the periphery of the senior panel impressed and staked a claim.
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A number if reasons.
The pressence of a lot of players on a Senior panel that are playing more matches in a shorter time frame than last year is probably the most significant. Tipp didnt have that issue as only 1/2 were involved and are free for the ladt few weeks.
Last years team was by and large inherited. The management only had to bring the jerseys. These lads were all oveR the county been feted for being geniusâ and the reality is my mother could have managed that team.
The balance of the team last night was shocking. Paddy O Loughlin and Mike Mackey at mid field?
The U21 grade will go the way of the football where no senior players will be allowed play.
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Spot on.
Only point you missed was kilkenny doing a favour by beating the seniors
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A lot of doom and gloom about talking to people this morning. Fuck sake as a county we are either high as kites or suicidal. The best thing that could happen is the panel go to a nice pub on Saturday and have a few pints. No hurley should be handled before Monday week. Come back fresh and have a good rattle off Kilkenny.
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Tyrell:
LIMERICK
They got: A nice kick up the arse last weekend after a near-perfect campaign. Losing against Clare will do them no harm. The hype will come down that little bit because of it. there was all this talk about them being the number two team in the country behind Galway, and that was going to do them no good. I do genuinely think they will win an All-Ireland in the next two or three years, but they wonât manage it getting carried away by hype.
What the round-robin series told them most of all is that theyâre a really well balanced team. They have no star players â and by that I mean they have nobody who is irreplaceable. Cian Lynch is their stand-out player so far, but if he got hit by a bus tomorrow they have Paul Browne, who is a serious performer, to come off the bench. They have nobody who the opposition can say, âright lads, if we shut him down, we have Limerick where we want themâ. That sort of balanced threat throughout a team is massive.
Need to work on: Settling on a full-back. Their full-back line in general is a bit of a weak point, but I think if they locked down the number three jersey it would go a long way to sorting the problem. To my mind they should put Richie English in there. It might be a year or two early but I think heâs going to end up there eventually, so why not go for it now? He might make a few boo-boos but itâs an investment in the future. When they go and win their All-Ireland Iâd be confident that heâll be their full-back. Nowâs the time to start him on that road.
Jackie is restarting the bandwaggon
Richie English is by far and away the best 3 we have at the moment but the problem is he is a lot comfortable in the corner than mike Casey and mike Casey is a good option at 3 tbf. We are playing with two full backs and it doesnât work great particularly against raw pace.
Mullane is at it as well. We have the cunts rattled
Fuck me, between Mullane, Cummins & Tyrell etc⌠theyâre the ones hyping us up. Then all i hear is Limerick fans getting ahead of ourselves.
We canât win.
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Thatâs horseshit about Lynch being inter changeable with Browne or anyone else⌠Clare triple teamed him for a reason - he sets up a large number of our attacks with his vision and his ability to win dirty ball is second to none. The latter was never Browneâs role - Jim Bob did that side of the game.
But he has rightly hit out at the hype merchants like @Watchyourtoes, @iron_mike and @The_Most_Infamous.
Donât worry dodgy keep the chin up mate. Weâre in with the seniors and weâve always got a shout. Set back against Clare ok, a hungry side at home, they were ready for us. If we meet them again this year weâll breeze through them.
We need to keep a lid on it, contain the exhuberance and not sink into despair. Words are easy.
Yea lads chin up
I think weâre in a great position to be honest. Some hard calls will have to be made by management, but this is where they earn their corn.
Obviously the 21s losing so badly was a big disappointment but it wonât have any negative impact on the seniors. In fact, going off what @Elvis_Brandenberg_Kr was saying, this was always coming. I would still be disappointed that we were beaten in the work rate stakes, but you could see, much like 2016, Tipp were a lot more cohesive than us. I believe the players were there to have had a right oul crack off an All-Ireland.
I donât know if full-back is as much a weakness as people are suggesting, but itâs obviously a position where any mistake is punished. Conlon always plays well against us, and I thought Casey stood off him too much. Would English have done better? Possibly, but I do think that losing Finn really upset the balance of the defence and I hope to God, heâs back. In my view; we need all 3 of those boys on the pitch. They have generally done okay against other teams- Hickey gave away too many frees on Forde & Horgan also got his points too easy but bar the odd slip-up, I reckon our full-back line is decent. It is dependent on the likes of the half-forward line ensuring that itâs not inch perfect ball going inside.
I would worry slightly that we donât have a like-for-like replacement for our half-forwards. Potentially Reidy is the option, but then we should have seen him in the Clare game. Hegarty & Hayes werenât getting as many tackles in as previous games; Dempsey is not that type of player and it wasnât really a game suited for him. DOD had also faded, I wonder is pushing him up there an option if one of them were to get injured. Itâs a pity Malachy was used as a midfielder; I feel half-back or half-forward would be more suited to him. He wouldnât have the legs for 70 mins as a half-forward, but heâd certainly do a job off the bench in that kind of role.
The inside forward line is where the big calls are to be made. Donât know what has happened to Flanaganâs first touch over the last week⌠after some of the most beautiful touches with defenders hanging off him against Waterford, it just went to shit. Murphy was poor last night too, and he can hardly use the tiredness factor. Mulcahy was unlucky to be hooked against Clare imo but didnât set the world alight; Dowling had a decent first half but the runs pretty much came to a halt in the second half when they were most needed (although management need to look at themselves here). Gillane did alright off the bench, Nash didnât really make an impact. Casey looked a good bit of match sharpness for the 21s, still a way to go to being ready for Championship but maybe we can afford him gametime against Carlow/Westmeath? Iâd still like to see Pat Simon back on the bench, could have used his exuberance and energy the last day.
But yeah, youâre looking at 8 players there for 3 positions. Itâs a good place to be in; training over the next couple of weeks will be interesting.
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I donât get all this guff of âoh theyâll win one in the next few yearsâ from the likes of Mullane, Tyrrell, Cummins etc.
Iâd say that whoever replaces the current management set up will be inferior to whatâs there at the moment. We replaced John Allen and co with Teege and the expensive Cork man. Iâve little faith that the CB will, in time, source a management set up to carry on the good work of the last couple of years.
Anyway thatâs a bit down the line. Iâd seriously consider trying a few fringe lads against Carlow/Westmeath then recall the cavalry a week later and throw the kitchen sink at Kilkenny.
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Weâre fucked
Lets not forget kiely wasnât even the powers that be first choice by all accounts. We were blessed to get him.
Heâs excellent but he has good lads beside him too in fairness. Iâm giving them a pass for last weekend - first bad day out all year.
Win the preliminary quarter and weâll have made the last 6. Coupled with promotion it is incremental progress considering the last three years.
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Yes heâs doing a great job so far.
Allâs well boyos .