I think he was a good manager overall and I was sorry he left as I think he would have learned . I was just using them examples to show glas that teams miss scoring opportunities in games but management has to think on its feet when thing go wrong and need plan b.
Also to be fair to JA he wasn’t at fault for the overcelebrating of Munster final . That was the county as a whole .
That’s true. I think we needed to get that wild celebrating out of our system. It stood to us massively this year (both as a county and, more importantly, organised TFK posters).
That is the real difference, I think. A mixture of the quality of the forward play and the quality of forward available.
The half-forward line in 2013 would never have racked up the scores the current half-forward line would. And we did even more to get our dangerous inside line decent ball.
Throw up JOHN kielys team last year and this year. 7 or 8 changes I’d guess off the top of my head. At intercounty level it normally takes 2-3 years for managers to get a right stamp on it particularly when they are rebuilding a squad like o grady did. O Grady done a brilliant job in 2011. He blooded a few younger lads, got us promotion and made us competitive again. He also brought a more professional set up and improve a lot of the players striking/touch. John Allen’s job was made much easier by donal o Grady. He carried out what o Grady started.
I said Hannon is currently the best no. 6 in the country. I actually used the term ‘hurling’ no. 6, as in he’s the best traditional centre back stickman. However I actually think, and it’d be a hard one to argue against, that he is currently the best 6 full stop in the country. Obviously that is all to play for again come the new season.
I also said that he was the best no. 6 we’ve had bar Carey in the past 25 years. I’ve already elaborated on that.
Thirdly, I said that in my opinion he is the 3rd best hurler behind Cian Lynch and Ciarán Carey that we’ve produced in the past 25 years and that I couldn’t understand lads choosing inferior players to him on their imaginary Limerick teams.
Agree to disagree. O’Grady got Limerick back on track and restored self respect and competitiveness with a professional and well organised set up. His style did not suit the players and his selections in key positions were glaringly wrong. Allen sorted the key positions immediately with switches that were available to O’Grady and that O’Grady failed to make. Allen also tailored style to what he had at hand, something O’Grady simply cannot do.
He was the best 6 last year. McInerney was the best the year before. Hannon looks a man rejuvenated and is playing to his full potential, for the first time since 2014. That’s enough. He looks a new man and I expect he’ll continue at this level but let’s wait and see.
I watched the kk game back last night (again) hannon was not great. Byrnes actually thundered into the game after some nervy moments and pushed on in the next 2 games. Declan will get the plaudits for those scores in the final but I think he’d be much more influential as a forward