Season ticket holders allocated tickets first obviously. Then tickets went on general sale on Ticketmaster and in shops.
Mixed communication, but in all matches to date some tickets have been held back from that general sale and released through clubs in the week before each match. I expect a limited number of tickets to be available through clubs next Monday (in Limerick at least) if the first three matches are anything to go by.
I think they try to get people to enter by the terrace specified on the ticket but fairly sure you can go to any of the three sides once you are in.
Correct.
A dawk at management no more than that. Alan C has been told he is a long long way down the pecking order
A potential top of the table clash in Irelandâs premier Hurling provence. Could it be the pre-curser to a Munster Final and something more sinister in July?
It certainly wonât be for the faint of heart, on the field or off it.
Did well to recall it as I had a few canisters of cider consumed at that stage.
You couldnât do that in Walsh Park. They had barriers up separating the terraces. Pure fuckology. There was 25,000 there in the 80s for an under 21 final between Kilkenny and Tipp and they only let 12,000 in now.
I stood in the middle of the field on the terrace down there a couple of years ago for the Limerick match and there was loads of room.
The terraces down in Cork a few weeks had loads of room also even though they were supposedly close to sold out.
The fire officers have the thing ruined.
I didnât see any of the Cork v Clare game live but just had a quick look at the red cards on YouTube there.
Was there much comment after about the two players who went down injured a tad easily?
Poor Paddy Leavy was lynched for less.
The terraces in Thurles for Tipp v Cork in 2006 were borderline dangerous. The place was packed everywhere.
Different times.
The replays are inconclusive but thought both Galvin and Keane were fairly braindead in their actions and made it easy calls for the linesman and umpire to relay to the ref to send them off.
Hard to say from the replays but i can see the arguement that both OâDonoghue and Conlon milked them but in both players defence I thought OâDonoghue went down like a lad caught in the balls while Conlon is around a long time and would have enough game management about him to know that lying down on the ground with the game going on around you while a man down and the opposition needing a goal wouldnât be the wisest of moves. From the pictures of it he seemed to be caught in the windpipe and anyone who has ever got a blow to it be it accidentally or deliberately knows that it is a show stopper which will stop you in your tracks there and then for a couple of minutes. It is a horrible sensation.
He was interested in the Wexford senior football job in the close season of 2017/18. Apparently he didnât interview well though and didnât display much knowledge about the local club scene or the squad in general. In hindsight heâd have been a hell of a lot better than Paul McLoughlin who got the job.
History will be kind to him given his much a cliff the footballers fell off once he left.
Sure who the fuck outside of Wexford would have any knowledge of Wexford club football. Was he supposed to go around scouting Wexford gaa club matches in the hopes he might get the job some day? Bizarre
Paul Galvin had no knowledge of Wexford football or how to manage a team but that didnât stop them
Yeah having an all-Ireland winning manager in charge would have been a great coup. It would have been a seamless transition from the Banty era of 2017.
Counihan took over Arravale Rovers in Tipp Town then for the 2018 season.
I remember the night it was announced, there was a big 21st birthday party on and the whole town seemed to come out all singing the name of the new messiah.
It didnt work out in the end but i think the players were more to blame than Counihan.
Clare Waterford tickets went on sale at 11am.
Tipperary have belatedly realised a defensive structure can provide more room up front
Good leaders create an environment of trust, connecting emotionally with people and giving them a sense of safety and belonging. Colm Bonnar will have begun the process of creating this connection with his Tipperary players. John Kiely has created this over four years in Limerick.
Kiely has proved that the âsoftâ, human side of management can coexist with an obsessive relentless focus on the hard tactical side. Tipperaryâs movement towards this balanced approach has begun.
Brendan Cumminsâ abhorrence of defensive systems was swiftly binned and replaced by a dose of reality. Tipperary U20s produced two very good performances based not on having seven backs but on having 10. This belated realisation that this defensive structure can provide more room up front had Fintan OâConnorâs brilliant coaching stamp all over it. Ensuring you are hard to beat does not mean that you are unwilling to attack for the win. Cumminsâ flexibility and propensity to sit bodies back and counter at speed provides hope to the Tipperary hurling fraternity that Willie Maherâs musings around âthe game evolving and interchangeabilityâ may have acted as a catalyst for change.
Similarly, James Woodlockâs superbly coached and prepared minor team set the terms of engagement and a possible template for Tipperary teams going forward. Some of the Waterford minors in school remarked at how Tipperary were set up defensively with huge numbers back the field creating space for Tom Delaney to run amok up front.
Clareâs first goal in Thurles will have featured in the video analysis briefings of Damien Young within the Tipperary camp. On 10:38, Tony Kelly hits a free 35 yards form goal and immediately sets up for the puckout. Knowing he will be tagged consistently Kelly takes off out field with Craig Morgan and not Seamus Kennedy following. Crucially, his beautiful offload to Clareâs player of the year so far Ryan Taylor helps set Peter Duggan for the eventual Ian Galvin goal.
Watching the many conversations between Noel McGrath and Colm Bonnar during the Waterford game I got the sense of a player tactically guiding both his management and players around the field. The theory that Walsh Park perhaps suited the Tipperaryâs lack of mobility gained more credence after the difficulties the wide open spaces of Semple presented them.
In planning for the movement, power and physique of the Limerick forward line, Tipperary will surely have learned lessons from the naivety of their defensive approach against Clare.
I was intrigued by the variety of Limerickâs approach against Waterford. At 19:30 watch Diarmaid Byrnes stand over what looks a run-of- the-mill free. Watch the movement of Gearoid Hegarty infield to create space on his wing. Take note of the âblockingâ done by Conor Boylan on Conor Prunty to give Hegarty five yards to win possession and the subsequent free.
Kielyâs brilliant man management of Boylan and Graeme Mulcahy has echoes of Jurgen Klopp. Mulcahy fluffed his goal chance and was substituted but Kiely reinforced to Graeme his importance to the team ethic. Limerick have a number of ânuisanceâ players who constantly chase, harry, hook and hunt the opposition. And it is the cleverness of their targets that makes them stand apart.
As soon as the Waterford puckout was struck, Boylan or Mulcahy or both would head for the back of Tadgh de Burca, their job to stop the Clashmore playmaker from setting the tempo. No plaudits would come their way next day from the national scribes, but the opinion of their teammates and management will matters most.
For evidence of Mulcahyâs guile and selfless running, take note of Aaron Gillaneâs brilliant score from a Nickie Quaid puckout on 35:15. Rewind 30 seconds for the contributory factors. Austin Gleeson, after hitting a free from the right half forward position, is paranoid that Limerickâs outlet receiver Diarmaid Byrnes will receive possession and Austin races across the field to sit right up on Byrnes. Meanwhile, four of the Limerick forwards - Morrissey, OâNeill, Hegarty and Boylan - occupy the left hand side of the field. William OâDonoghue has cleverly moved inside his own 45 bringing Calum Lyons with him. But it is the craft and game sense of Mulcahy in the right corner that makes the score. Instead of taking up the open space on the right, he moves towards goal and points over his shoulder to the space that Gillane explodes into to receive the puckout. Quaidâs positioning on the opposite side of the goal to the area he strikes to is another key takeaway.
As interesting as watching Limerick marry prerehearsed systematic coaching with instinctive decision making was their dominance of the field in other areas. I have consistently lamented the loss of the Maor Foirne, not alone for the playersâ benefit but also for watching anoraks like myself.
Watching Mick Dempsey take and impart instructions from Cody â or Bulfin and Fitzgerald and Bevans and Cahill â became a massive part of the game. A tactical realignment, a subtle switch, a change of puckout strategy. the maor foirnes contribute to the ebb and flow of game changing moments. Watching Kinnerk quietly whisper to Shane Dowling before that 2018 penalty or encouraging Richie McCarthy in as a late replacement for Mike Casey in the final, spectators got real insight into the influential contribution of the coach.
Limerickâs adaption to the loss of the role has seen their medical team remove any demarcation lines within their management set up. Their approach has been brilliantly creative.
When Waterford came to the Gaelic Grounds the Limerick mentality was to insist this is our patch, and our messaging will be on point. This communicative messaging saw physio Mark Melbourne and doctor James Ryan operate as a brilliantly creative duo. Undoubtedly tending to the hydration and medical needs of their players, their influence in terms of tactical instruction is also plain. At 1:05:35, watch the dynamic duo in full flow as at least five players are âattended toâ and provided with words of encouragement and direction. With five minutes to go Nickie Quaid receives subtle advice on the next few puckouts. It is welcome to see such inclusivity amongst management teams and the constant thinking outside the box in the modern game. It would be interesting to see the GPS readings of the medical duo.
Perhaps the most sense this week was spoken by the brilliantly inventive Rory Gallagher. Correctly lauded for the clinical execution of a detailed gameplan he remarked that âI donât believe you can build tactics unless you build a togethernessâ.
Tipperary are only beginning their build, Limerick are continuously evolving. This evolution to continue on Sunday.