Thereâs nothing to say that Limerick wont end up like Clare did after 2013. A lot of these young lads might just start believing their own hype and might choose the path of least resistance. Some might over indulge. With Clare though they had a manager who was highly volatile and the ups and downs were too accentuated. At least they have some chance with Kiely as he is a bit more relaxed and is used to dealing with young lads through his principalship with the Abbey. It was a point reiterated at the homecoming last night that theyâll be same people they were 12 months ago. But unfortunately with any group of players a few will go AWOL.
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To me, looking at Galway, they were seriously lacking in the tactics side of things this year. Even in the final, Kiely & Kinnerks definitely out-thought Galway. They do have some serious players still but werenât getting the most out of forwards who were running riot last year. Did they become over-reliant on Glynnâs ballwinning ability?
Obviously when a team wins the All-Ireland, everyone looks to see how to beat them. Maybe they were a bit agricultural in their use of possession last year but the players were so big & strong and playing so well that it didnât matter. Some of the players definitely didnât hit the same form this year and they didnât seem to have faith in the replacements.
Advantages that we have over Galway- I do think that we have more depth in our panel in attack (maybe not in defence, itâll have to be seen). That should hopefully keep players on their toes. Obviously our use of the ball has been quite good, but again, teams will look to see how to beat us and we have struggled with teams who move the ball very quickly and allowed their half-forwards to drift out to the middle. Do we stay static or do we also advance as a team?
Disadvantages compared to Galway. Tbh no matter how poor Galway were, I reckon they would have qualified through Leinster this year. We wonât have the same luxury. Everyone in Munster could beat us and will be gunning for us. There is definitely no guarantee that we will make it out of Munster, were performance levels/hunger to drop. Tipp & Waterford will have new management and do have some very good players, Cork & Clare were Munster finalists (although we have both at home next year). If the likes of Hickey, Richie Mac & Condon retire, we are very short for replacements in the full-back line and couldnât really afford an injury to any of our starters.
On the flip side, you could say that the fact that Munster will be so cut-throat could work in our favour. Thereâll be no sleepwalking along, they will need to be tuned in. We didnât defend either of our most recent U-21 titles well, particularly in 2016 when we had a very very strong squad. Itâll be interesting.
Weâre in a great place at the moment, and the celebrations have been great and Iâm sure theyâll continue to be. But you canât stand still either, once they go back into training again, they have to look to drive it on again. A very competitive panel is key.
Far worse? Ye had a better starting 15 than us.
Still think galway have more out and out talent than us although they struggled for form this year. We may lose a couple of the older heads, but against that the squad now has built up a wealth of experience. I wouldnât be getting ahead of ourselves, as @johnnysachs said, we could end up like Clare and take 5 years to get back to Croke Park. Dowlingâs interview about the set up being enjoyable again this year stands out for me. The set up sounds sustainable, in a way that Davy Fitzâs wasnât in the long term.
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We did in our eye. Cahalane wouldnt make your 23. Nor Meade. Lehane wouldnt have the workrate and would be used like Dowling. Would O Donoghue start ahead of either of your corner backs?
Would Cadogan make your 23?
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When youâre winning, everyone thinks youâre great when in reality a lot of teams have a lot of good players, itâs trying to get as many as possible and add that to a good manager, backroom team, etc.
Like Tuohy & Hanbury were potentual weak links last year too but Galway ended up against a Waterford side in the final who played with one full-forward at times and were never going to exploit them in one-on-one battles. In fact, this Galway team seem set up to beat sweeper systems. Very good at shooting from distance but not the biggest goal threat (despite the 2 in the final) and when that area was congested couldnât mix it up.
Iâm sure everyone is looking at flaws in our team, but I always felt we had the best players in the country for the way we want to play (well, I presume that the way we play was made to suit the players we play).
Iâd be shocked if we went the way of Clare, but you never know, I suppose. There are a number of factors and we wonât really know until the league next year. If we want to play the same way- it requires huge fitness & work rate. They canât drop just because we won an All-Ireland.
Itâs one thing to have a crush. Itâs another to take them into the bank vault.
I donât think Meade would start in this current Limerick team because we play a very particular way and he doesnât really fit in the mould. But heâd surely make our bench.
I rate him highly, and think heâs perfect for the way Cork currently play, very clever hurler. Again, Lehane is very suited to the Cork running game. Has Lehane ever played corner-forward? Thatâs where I think heâd play if he was added to the current Limerick squad.
I rate Finn & English highly but again, OâDonoghue would fight it out and earn a spot if he was available.
Cahalane did alright against Flanagan day 2 but Iâd still view the spine of the Cork defence as a weakness. We also found it too easy in general to create space in front of your full-back line. I wouldnât have Cadogan.
Cork need a 3 and a 6.
And an 11. Lehane with current workrate is a luxury. Limerick have no luxuries
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Kiely might get more out of him. He is as talented as anyone but we needed a lot more from him
Cork were a puck of a ball from beating Limerick. All the top 5 hurling counties could beat each other on a given day.
Cork will start to see talent come through now. Dublin next year are the wild card. Dermo will be a big boost.
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Exactly my point. With a much worse team
You can easily see Wexford finishing fourth in Leinster next year.
You could just as easily see Kilkenny finishing 4th.
thereâs only a puck of a ball between them in Munster
Saw Cork three times this year⌠As good as whatâs out there, best attack easilyâŚTwo big players coming back next year alsoâŚIâd be lumping on now.
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Delores, Tom Ryan and good ol Richie Bennis
Did you hear JPs taking the boys off to Venice?
To start off the reign,
A quandary remains,
Ye were handed yeâre arses in Ennis!
The video of the Limerick roaster out in Asia watching the end of the game on his phone is comedy gold⌠Too big to upload unfortunately.
A Pallas man.
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