@Malarkey , Iād be interested in your thoughts of the first weekend of championship
Probably much the same as everyoneās thoughts, Mike.
ā Limerick look poised and may even be improving. The alteration in their structure ā probably prompted by injuries ā could be a nice version of contingency. I think playing a minimum of seven games might become an issue. But Limerick certainly justified their favourites tag.
ā Waterford, especially now that they did not freeze against Tipperary, could and should be contenders.
ā A draw for Galway was quite a setback. The widesā¦ Conor Whelanās importance was underlined when he had to go off.
ā I was not in Mullingar to see Kilkenny, because of a family commitment. But a friend who was there says he was, putting it mildly, underwhelmed. Kilkenny keep getting delusions, such as that Martin Keoghan is a forward, and making the same delusion-fed mistake. And how do you come to the conclusion, conceptually, for the league that putting a 30 year old Cillian Buckley into the front eight will grant increased oomph? I do be lostā¦
ā The standard of hurling last weekend, certain Limerick passages aside, was pretty poor overall.
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That was a savage score. There was an audible gasp throughout the North Stand at the first touch.
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It was a class point, unreal first touch but how was he free? It came from a short puckout and Hego ran from wide on the wing across the middle, and no one went with him.
It was so easy for us to pick out a second ball on short puckouts.
I wouldānt disagree with that. I was in Cork but Iāll leave my thoughts on that fir another day. My two biggest observations were as follows.
Are Waterford not as good as we thought or are Tipp better than we thought?
I thought Galway without Conor Whelan looked very average.
Galway were excellent in bursts.
Waterford would be a lot better with Gleeson and Barron in from the start. Also thought Iarlaith Daly was quite good when he came in. They might find a spot for him somewhere back there.
Tipp were in a perfect position going into yesterday with literally zero expectations/pressure so now that expectations have risen exponentially it will be interesting to see how they go next week. They simply have to find a way to win or the arse will fall out of the season as those Limerick pricks will devour them in a few weeks.
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Itās bizarre and unfair that the powers that be have put James Owens in charge of Tipp v Clare this weekend.
Heās in an impossible position. Heāll be accused of over compensating after the black card debacle last year or else heāll have Clare on his back again if he gives any contentious 50-50 against them.
When Whelan went off, they lost their shape I thought
Whoever is appointing these officials is really trolling us this year. Appointing Johnny Murphy yesterday was a similar piece of shithousery.
Couldnāt agree more. Hegarty looked like Bambi on ice when he came on the scene first. He was so uncoordinated it was almost funny. There is no one laughing now.
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Injections mate.
Imagine what weād have done without a traffic cone on the line.
Oh lord they did. They lost it before that, but in the first half they played well in spells. I was encouraged overall.
I reckon Whelan will be out for 8 weeks at least. That pull up didnāt look at all like a minor sprain.
If we had a full deck to play from, Iād give us a punchers chance against anyone tbh.
Iād reckon tipp are better than we had thought, and actually that was a good win for Waterford. The weather didnāt help.
Wexford pitch was a bog in spots.
He blackguarded David Mcinerney in 2020 as well with a red card v Laois. Clare will get no favours off him this weekend
Crazy appointment. After all the controversy of last year and then throw him in there again. Talk about fuel to the fire.
Whelans absence could be a fatal blow. I wasnāt overly impressed with Dublin but if they smell blood, they could cause ye a serious problem
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There was some promise there. For Galway, the timing of subs being introduced will be crucial. CW a massive loss, of course.
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I think the run in suited Tipperary. And Waterford do have this tendency to underperform when expect to go well. So I would put quite a lot of weight on their four point win, from a psychological angle. Going to Limerick-Waterford game and looking forward to it.
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And your thoughts on Galway?
Edit just saw your post there