Iād prefer to see them win it out.
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Open the door to Kilmallock is it?
At least we will have some sort of an excuse for our capitulation against them last October.
They will win.
Look, itās no harm for the players to fight the positions now; when the injured players & NaP lads are back, itāll be absolutely cut-throat.
How many players are going to be playing for the full 4/5 weeks in April? Iām going to presume Kiely & Lee are going to see it as implausible to stop training for a full month; I like the fact that weāre getting club matches in but how much access to players will clubs have even in that time? Will it just be matchdays/the day before?
I think we have done okay so far this year, as stated the work rate has improved this year already. If the full squad is available I would go with a team
1 Quaid
2 Finn
3 Hickey/Casey
4 English
5 Byrnes
6 Hannon
7 Hayes
8 Lynch
9 Browne/OāDonoghue
10 Hegarty
11 OāDonovan
12 Downes/Demosey
13 Casey
14 Dowling/Flanagan
15 Nash/Morrissey
It is the strongest Limerick squad for a very long time. If the attitude is right and they keep the work rate they may have a good lash at it this year.
I would 100% have Hayes in the half backs, we need to dominate from the platform and there are enough forwards to carry the load. The forwards bar Casey are all big men which is a plus.
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Personally, Iād have English at full-back over either Hickey or Casey and have either of those two or Condon in the other corner. It does look like Kiely will pick Hickey there though. Still like to see Richie Mac get a run, and Iād give Condon a game against a decent team.
I donāt know if Kiely will pick Kyle in the half-back like. I do think heād do a good job there. I would have given Malachy a shot there over OāLoughlin/OāMeara but again it doesnāt seem as if heāll go for that. I would guess that Morrissey is in the pole position for the other wing-back spot, although I actually think heās done better at centre-back than he has on the wing.
Browne & Lynch in midfield for me looks good, WOD is a very capable replacement.
Wouldnāt have Morrissey at corner-forward, I definitely think heās better on the '40. Iād probably pick him over Downes/Dempsey there as of now, but I think that Kyle will get the nod here. Big fan of OāDonovan. BOC, Reidy, Nash, Dempsey all good candidates.
And I think, as of now, Gillane has been our most impressive forward and youād have to have him over Nash/Morrissey/Flanagan inside. Iād have no problem with him at full-forward but it looks as if theyāll opt to go with in the corner. Casey will presumably take up the other corner position. Iād still like to take a look at Nash at 14, but Flanagan has done well so far.
There are plenty of options there, you still have Mulcahy to come back aswell who I know a lot of people have written off but heās always been able to get a score and he still has pace. Barry Murphy impressing from the bench too, a fine bit of stuff.
I had completely forgotten Gillane and he is nailed on to start.
No one is nailed on to start . AG has done well so far but we need to see more of him v better teams .
No one should be ānailed onā after two league games .
Hearing Nash is a long term injury
Aaron Gillane is nailed on to start
Iām not saying Gillane is nailed on to start because of his performances in two league games. I said a few weeks ago that in terms of most certain starting forwards, he was next in line after Cian Lynch and Peter Casey. Some hurlers just have that bit more class and you know that theyāll come straight onto the team in their first season, like Peter Casey last year and Diarmuid Byrnes few years ago
Paul Browne is another nailed on starter. Somebody said in the last week that Colin Ryan is a better hurler than him. I think thatās madness. Colin Ryan was excellent for under 21s last year, especially in the Munster games and could go on to be a good senior hurler. But Browne has proven himself time and again over the last six or seven years. I think heās underappreciated a bit by some Limerick supporters. Himself and lynch are looking like a great partnership, and Iād definitely keep both there if more of our forwards, especially our half forward line really up it this year. But Lynch could still be pushed into the half forward line to strengthen there and if he is then William O Donoghue could be the man whoāll come in beside Browne. Heās unproven at this level but has a real cut about him and will stick it into whatever fucker he is marking so Kiely could look at him as a real option
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Kiely is slowly piecing it together in fairness. He put Hannon at 6 last year and he looked like he was enjoying his Hurling again and to me he looked the part. This year he has gone with Hickey at 3 and so far, so goodā¦ of course bigger tests lie ahead. Cian Lynch has shone out at midfield and I hope to God he leaves him there. Thatās the central spine taking shape. He seems to like Darragh OāDonovan at 11 because heāll get a huge workrate from him and if Donovan proves to be good enough there then thatās another option for that position.
Itāll take time but itās coming along.
On a separate noteā¦ Has South Liberties Brian Ryan gone off the radar completely? He was just as good as Kyle Hayes at minor level but had he any involvement with the 21s last year?? Havenāt heard his name in a long time mentioned
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It is and 1b is the ideal place this year
Spot on with all that.
How do we squeeze Malachy in, mate?
Agree with your thoughts on Browne, still underrated to some degree. An excellent player, decision-making is generally top class and heās always been the player leading the way in terms of the style of hurling we aspire toā¦ A nice blend of intelligent play mixed with the traditional fire and brimstone of Limerick.
Malachy is definitely not a better āhurlerā than Browne. But he could end up being a better player in time. As I said though, itās not really an apt comparison, they are not really similar in style at all and Ryan will more than likely end up somewhere other than midfield over the course of his career.
Iād keep Lynch beside him though if at all possible. Unless they get completely blown out of it physically against one of the bigger teams in the League but I doubt they will. Lynch flourishes in that role and can still hurt the scoreboard from there, in fact, he might even score more.
Lynch has bulked up considerably without losing any speed of movement. Heās put in a number of big hits in the last few games so heās not afraid of throwing himself around either.
His hurling has become an awful lot more direct from midfield as well and itās the better for it. Most of the time he got the ball against Offaly it was going directly down the other end of the field at pace, but not in a wasteful sense either. He offers a fabulous out-ball option for the backs.
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He is the fulcrum to this side for years to come.
Is someone finally coaching him?