All chatter in here please.
Have the GAA declared any stance on the waving of Donbas separatist flags at championship games this season?
With Hayes and Flanagan struggling for fitness and Casey out, the Limerick v Cork game is now 50/50
Cork won’t bate eggs. Limerick by 18 points
Should be a cracking renewal.
Limerick - the champ champs going for a historic four in a row in Munster. Will get better as the year goes on. Beset by injuries, a very patchy league campaign. The way the fixtures have fallen hasn’t done them much favours either, toughest two games up first and a last day trip to Ennis. Would be happy with third place and safe passage to the AI series.
Waterford - the form team in the country. Panel depth significantly improved this season. De Burca back which is massive. Plenty of pace and hunger throughout the side, several match winners up front but doubts persist about the ‘keeper and corner backs… top class coaching ticket, they’ll be there at the business end of the season. Could this be the year? I doubt Cahill or Kiely want to meet the other three times in the same championship but it could materialise.
Cork - a year down the line in terms of experience. As harrowing as the AI was, it’ll have to stand to them. Great to watch when their forwards catch fire but the same question marks remain - full back, centre back, work rate of the forwards. Huge game first up, the winner of that will get out of Munster - the loser will immediately be under pressure.
Tipp - almost like a free shot for Colm Bonnar. Their own fans have almost given up before a ball is pucked. Riddled by injuries and retirements, Bonnar hasn’t been a lucky general so far. They won’t lose all 4 games so will take points off someone. The loser of Tipp v Clare in Round 2 look doomed to a short summer.
Clare - have improved under Lohan but they need to kick on now. Kelly has been flying in the last two years, he can’t be expected to keep them competitive single handedly. Ennis is always a bear pit, Waterford and Limerick will earn it there. Playing Cork in Thurles won’t harm them either. Lack of top quality defenders still their major concern. Will score plenty but concede loads too.
Predictions…
Munster final - Waterford v Cork
3rd place - Limerick.
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Similar to the beating Limerick dished out to Tipp in a challenge game recently according to reports on here.
I’m taking it that Limerick and Waterford are likely to escape and face off in the Munster final. Most pundits have been tipping Cork as the 3rd team to escape but just looking at the scheduling it doesn’t appear to be in their favour. They are away to both Tipp and Waterford and the game against Clare is scheduled to be played in Thurles? That leaves them with one proper home game which they will probably lose to Limerick. Tipp by comparison have the two most winnable games against Clare and Cork in Thurles. Albeit all Munster teams are very well acquainted with Thurles so it’s not a massive home advantage.
Tipp won’t bate eggs but they’ll bate Cark
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I’m judging Tipp’s merits off an underwhelming period in Wexford when Colm Bonnar was in charge between 2009-2011. With that in mind Clare will probably beat them in Thurles like they did in 2018. I see Cork making an early exit though.
I see Cork and Tipp having the summer off. Unless we bate the banner banjo boys.
Fake news
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Waterford to win all their games, Limerick to win three. Cork to come third although I’m surprised and disappointed they don’t seem to have improved as much as I expected from last year and they have a look of a team where the wheels could come off yet in which case Clare come through. Limerick to win the Munster final (I hope) and meet Waterford again in the final.
Been saying for a year that Waterford are a cracking team and would improve for the further year under Cahill and with some brilliant players coming back. They’ve improved even more than that and the you get Daly is a serious addition too.
Waterford will bate Tipp by 15 plus on Sunday.
Limerick and Cork will draw with Limerick coming from about 12 down to absolutely put the fear of God into them for the rest of the season.
Likely Munster winners at this stage : Waterford
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Tipp to beat Clare and Cork
Not a chance
Limerick win Munster….
Limerick win All Ireland….
Everyone else irrelevant
Buff Egan reckons Limerick aren’t coming out of Munster. That’s good enough for me.
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Oh my Days.
Hope you are all well pal.
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I knew the replacement Becky Connor would draw him out
It is hard to gauge really. I think Waterford and Limerick are fairly known entities and will get out of the group. I think Limerick might take time to get going especially with the injuries which affect their balance but they will at worst put two performances together and get out of the group. Im interested to see how Limerick rejig their forwards, will they shoehorn in Cathal O’Neill into corner forward, he may well do fine there but he looks so much more effective at 11 in the league, but I doubt they will break up the half forward line to accommodate him first day out.
Hard to know where Tipp are at. They are down a lot of experience but they still have a strong enough core and no real expectation on them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t win a game but will still take beating and wouldn’t expect them to take too many hammerings either but they will need the year to reset and blood players.
I would have been pessimistic enough about Clare’s chances at the start of the year, with the injuries I felt out margin for error was low. For all the talk of Tipp losing players I believe they will have 14 of the 18 players who played against Clare last summer available while Clare are likely only to have 12 of 18 they used that day available when the teams meet and key young players like Rodgers, Aidan McCarthy and possibly Diarmuid Ryan are big losses as they have found their feet and are now key men.
Cork have had a hex over us for a while now but I think that Lohan has done a very good job in getting a high level of workrate and attitude out of the team in every championship match we have played the past two years. There was nothing between the two teams last year and I have seen nothing from Cork to suggest that they have taken much of a step forward in 2022. Clare were in their 4th tough game in 5 weeks that day and it shows, players consistently losing their footing on a dry sod as there was no power in their legs and some real tired decision making at times killed them while Cork were far fresher and took their chances.
The league was always going to be relatively flat for Clare given the amount of players unavailable but it has worked out alright for them I feel. Lads like Gough, Mounsey and Donnellan saw plenty of game time and are live options off the bench now while Shane Meehan and Crotty really stood out and are good additions. It is a shame Rodgers and McCarthy are injured as I think both Meehan and Crotty would be a great tandem to spring off the bench with 20 to go and add serious energy.
Our backs are fairly settled now and David Mcinerney is an upgrade over Paudi Fitz from last year. They aren’t spectacular but are solid enough for us to win games if our workrate further up the field is where it needs to be. Rory Hayes, Diarmuid Ryan before injury and Cleary have gone well and are solid dependable championship hurlers now.
A lot of Clare’s fortunes ride on what Lohan can get out of Jason McCarthy and David Fitzgerald. Both are enigmas but finished the league strongly and should start v Tipp. I will take their strong showings in the league to be a sign they are on form and going well because McCarthy wasn’t even making the 26 last year and Fitzgerald was also well down the pecking order. McCarthy to me is just too slow in processing things at I/C level but can do a solid man marking job or play a reductive enough role where we simply ask him to hit every ruck and ball carrier for 50 odd minutes. But I’d be surprised if it will work for 4 games.
Fitzgerald on the otherhand has all the ability you want, big, mobile and plenty of hurling but utterly inconsistent and at times can look completely disinterested. But he had two very good games v Limerick and Galway at centre forward to finish the league and when he is on form he adds a lot given his ball carrying and scoring threat.
If Lohan can coax 7.5 out of 10 performances from those two lads and we get a kick out of Duggan and O’Donnell as impact subs in 3 of the games I think we will have enough to get out of the group. But it is wishful thinking more than expectation.
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