When was the last time? If you donāt count Wexford 2014, itās probably the 2013 Munster final, is it?
As things stand we are 5th favourite to win Munster . We are after 3 poor years but had a good league campaign where we easily beat the teams supposedly below us , beat the All Ireland winners and were very competitive in the knock out stages . We also have Na P lads coming back .
I genuinely havenāt a clue how things will go but I am convinced the team is improving .
Letās see .
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I donāt think itās unfair to say itāll be bitterly disappointing if we donāt finish in the top three in munster. Iād say management and pLayers included will call that a shockig year if we donāt.
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Apple
How do you see the 4 Lk games result wise ??
I think the whole season revolves around beating tipp on Sunday. Dublin proved last Sunday if our going to catch these teams; itās early on. If we win Sunday I think weāll qualify easily. Lose and your heading down to cork for a massive game with a lot of pressure on.
I think weāre getting ahead of ourselves. Lose the first game to tipp, which they have to be good favourites for and life will be difficult. Cork and Waterford are unknown quantities, if they are as good or better than they were last year we will do well to beat either. We drew with Clare towards the end of the league, I donāt know why we would presume to beat them away. There is usually a jump in form between league and championship for most teams. We played a very consistent team all during the league and performed strongly, my worry is that the other four have more obvious scope for improvement than we do.
Iāve subconsciously written off this Sunday - thankfully the management and players feel very differently.
The Cork game is the big one I think. We have to pick up two points from the first two games. Lose the first two and itās difficult to see us winning the last two and sneaking through.
We have a bit of an advantage over Cork for that game on the June bank holiday. Theyāve to play Tipp in Thurles six days before while we will be coming in off the back of a two week break. Very possible that both teams will still be pointless at that stage.
Beat Cork and it sets us up for a home game against Waterford, a side we donāt have any real historical baggage with even though they have been much better than us over the last couple of years.
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Clare started a lot less players than we did during the League, even if that was at a higher level. Cork mixed it around a little, but still, the only players of their expected starting team who didnāt play at least 4 out of the 5 group games were Nash (who was with Kanturk), Coleman & Fitzgibbon (who were both carrying injuries.
We were obviously at a lower level so had a bit more chance to try things and although it might seem like we played the same team the whole time- Barry OāConnell got 3 starts, David Reidy got 3, Malachy got 2, Richie Mac got 2, Condon got 2, DOD got 2; none of whom are expected to start.
I donāt think any team showed their full hand in the League, including us. Personnel-wise, maybe but every single team will take it up a couple of notches for Championship. I would expect our improvement to be at least as noticeable as those teams.
As long as we donāt get a flat performance. I donāt expect it to perfect, but I do expect high intensity, high work rate, lots of tackling, forwards taking on their men. Luckily, that seems to be the basis of our gameplan for the year so I donāt think flatness will be an issue this year- it has been for the past 3 for the most part.
Obviously I would be hugely, hugely disappointed if we donāt win on Sunday and I do expect us to win. But if we perform, we should still have enough to beat at least 2 of the other 3 and progress even if we were to lose first day out.
I hope so. Iām sure our first team performance will go up by quite as much, but we will have serious impact from the bench, which is something we havenāt had yet and which counts for a lot.
This is the thing that rattles this tipp team. We will never win an open shootout with tipp but when limerick continue to tear into them for every ball they start to doubt and wonder when the fuck we will go away.
Are you saying we shouldnāt fear them?
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When have we ever?
Iād go along with this, the Cork game is key. It will be a tall order for any team to win all games in the group. We will throw the kitchen sink at Tipp and may well prevail, but Tipp are genuine AI contenders and most peopleās guaranteed qualifier from Munster.
Cork, on the other hand, would be seen as on a similar level to us. Over the last few years I would go out against Cork every day and expect us to beat them. The match being in Cork doesnāt carry any baggage as we have a decent enough record there in the last 25 years or so.
Fucking hell this week is dragging. Longer it goes on the more optimistic Iām getting though.
Our bench on Sunday has probably never been stronger on paper, certainly in recent memory.
Limerick by 3.
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We havenāt enough scores in the half forward line if he lines out like league, Hayes isnāt a forward, Morrissey God love him wouldnāt hit the ground with a stone. Hego hits too many wides. Puts huge pressure on inside line and getting goals. Iād say weāll need at least 3
One each for Flanagan, Gillane and Mulcahy would do.
Hayes was also arguably our main goal threat last year in the two games we got in the championship. Got a lovely one against Clare.
How many scores do you think they need to get?
I would say all of them are good for a couple of scores; and at least 2 of them are likely to be replaced in the last 15-20 mins.
Hayes is class. Not a natural forward though, in my opinion. If Maher is selected centre back he should stop the cunt lording it at least. There are goals inside alright. Need massive workrate from 8,9,10 & 12. And timber the fuck out of them at the back.
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Iād say to match tipp weād need 5 from that line. Weāve more scores off the bench in the forwards, hopefully we will be in it by the time we get scorers on
Agreed on Hayes, think he will be our future centre back down the line.
I have full faith that Hayes, Hegarty and Morrissey will disrupt Tipps half backline. In there face hooking, blocking and general work rate back to our own half back line will be the key to winning the game.
All 3 lads can hurl too as well and I expect them to chip in with 4/5 points.