Limerick GAA - All-Ireland senior hurling champions 2018

anon32894817 · July 31, 2018, 2:44pm

I wouldn’t trivialize a mans death by bringing it into a past time for a bunch lads.

Raylan · July 31, 2018, 2:45pm

Another Zapruder film

Bandage · July 31, 2018, 2:45pm

Yeah, Spillane dragged the HURL out of his hand for that first one which he kicked over the bar. Gillane flung it out of his own hand to soar highest to catch the second one with both hands before scuttering the kick wide.

anon61956325 · July 31, 2018, 2:46pm

Nothing on this from @mikehunt of course…

myboyblue · July 31, 2018, 2:49pm

Raylan:

HURLING
Passionate Limerick fans pose cruel risk to chances
Paul Keane, GAA Reporter
July 31 2018, 12:01am, The Times

The treatment of Anthony Foley in the months before his death seemed to be weighing on Shane Dowling’s mind in the immediate aftermath of Limerick’s victory over Cork on Sunday.

Pushed into a post-match interview with RTÉ, the easy option for Dowling would have been to pore over his game-changing, 1-4 cameo as a substitute. Instead, the 25-year-old made a passionate appeal to his county’s supporters to keep their distance from the players before Limerick’s All-Ireland final date on August 19.

It was a theme continued by John Kiely, the Limerick manager, when he began his post-match press briefing with a stern warning. “If one player is contacted directly [before the final] I will shut the whole thing down,” Kiely said to reporters, a request that was ultimately well-meaning and resonated with Ger Loughnane’s observation that when Limerick most recently reached the All-Ireland final 11 years ago, they got “swamped by the hype”.

Passions run typically high in the sport-mad county, which aside from the rugby players it has produced, has largely been starved of success.

Last May, the Limerick FC soccer team complained about individuals who were abusing a number of their “home-grown, local players”. “We do not want and do not need these people at our games,” the club wrote in an official statement.

The words were eerily similar to those issued by Kiely early last year after his players were verbally abused during a heavy pre-season defeat by Cork. “Stay away from future matches,” Kiely told the disgruntled supporters.

The problem now is different — with Kiely and Dowling wary of the same fans overburdening the players with expectation in the build-up to next month’s final.

Dowling has witnessed this flip- flopping of attitudes in the county himself, most notably in the case of Foley, the former Munster rugby captain and head coach, whose untimely passing in late 2016 came after a difficult period in charge of his province.

“Before he died, Anthony was getting a lot of criticism,” Dowling wrote in The Sports Chronicle earlier this month. “His sister Rosie expressed that so well in the fantastic documentary that was made about his life. What happened to him was so tragic and his critics straight away changed their attitude and talked about what a fantastic person he was, both on and off the field, as a manager and a player.

“So, people respect and appreciate what you’re doing for your team and your community but sometimes they crave success so badly that they can go overboard in their criticism.

“Limerick is probably the place where that is most obvious because the fans are just so passionate and everyone in the country can see what a fantastic sporting city it is.”

The cruel irony, and one that shows up time and again in hurling, is that while supporters can drive a team to an All-Ireland final — providing a 16th man on occasions like last Sunday at Croke Park — they can also ruin their chances of actually winning a championship.

The year after Limerick were heavily defeated by Kilkenny in the 2007 decider, for example, Waterford suffered a similar fate, again at the hands of Brian Cody’s Kilkenny.

“The thing that I learnt with Waterford the last time was that maybe lads got caught up in the hype,” Davy Fitzgerald, the Waterford manager in 2008, told Clare FM on the eve of Clare’s final win in 2013. “It was very hard because Waterford hadn’t been in a final for 45 years. Trust me, if you get caught up in the hype you are in trouble.”

Limerick, as it happens, will be aiming to bridge their own 45-year gap when they play Galway or Clare on August 18.

On paper, they have a greater chance than the 2007 side, yet the next three weeks, if not handled properly, could undermine their entire challenge.

“The fans carried me shoulder-high off the field that day [when Limerick won the 2013 Munster final],” Dowling recalled in The Sports Chronicle.

“I don’t think it was me in particular, they just saw a player and fired him up on their shoulders in the excitement of it all.

“If Limerick were to ever win an All-Ireland again you could end up on the roof of Croke Park.”

Jesus he fairly lowered the blade on you all there lads.

Bandage · July 31, 2018, 2:50pm

Paud O’Dwyer had a fine game on Sunday. Of course both teams could justifiably point to a few contentious calls, but sure that’s going to happen in a fast paced, physical game contested by two committed teams.

anon61956325 · July 31, 2018, 2:51pm

100% agreed.

Ashman · July 31, 2018, 2:55pm

Can someone answer me this . When did hype effect a limerick team in an all Ireland final ???

anon61956325 · July 31, 2018, 2:58pm

Never.

2013 was the only year hype played a part- and it has all blown up from that. The outsiders are even more obsessed with Limerick hype than the Limerick hype merchants are.

GeoffreyBoycott · July 31, 2018, 3:05pm

1935

gilgamboa · July 31, 2018, 3:07pm

Not like you not to be giving out about the ref. You’re right though

gilgamboa · July 31, 2018, 3:07pm

2007 was crazy. Dont stop belieeeeevin

Bod95 · July 31, 2018, 3:09pm

We’ll be hitting 10k posts in the next thread by Aug 19😲

anon61956325 · July 31, 2018, 3:13pm

That was Waterford in 2008, no?

Bandage · July 31, 2018, 3:20pm

I think the refereeing has been good this season. I’ve only seen two championship games decided by officials - Alan Kelly’s umpires in Waterford-Tipp and James McGrath assisting Kilkenny’s comeback against Wexford.

anon32894817 · July 31, 2018, 3:27pm

Flanagan’s score on 15 minutes Is something else. O donovan and English win the ball bsck, o donovan fires it to mike Casey who finds kyler and he hits it long into seamus. Who wins the ball and bangs it over. Serious hurling.

Gman · July 31, 2018, 3:41pm

would you g’way out of that. @HBV called it spot on. If it isnt the hype of the game ye lads are going on about, its the hype about the lack of hype. fucking hype obsessed. All going about the media and giving the leader stick for 14 pages and then going on about how there is so little hype. Hype about fucking hype. Yiz are mental!

glasagusban · July 31, 2018, 3:46pm

I said it before, thick cunts love a good media ban.

anon61956325 · July 31, 2018, 3:47pm

Ye? Who is the ye you are referring to?

Gman · July 31, 2018, 3:48pm

Theres an easy middle ground. They dont need to ignore or dismiss the media, but they also dont have to be up front and centre for the next 3 weeks. Take it in, enjoy it, but dont go mental. Taking complete shelter and ignoring what is going on around them all is not always the best option.