Will SOD actually start having missed the entire league?
Also, donât know if Duggan showed enough to start? Could Crotty start?
How far away is McCarthy from a return?
I think OâDonnell will start. The other options are Ian Galvin or Shanagher who both only played one league game each. Otherwise you have to play Kelly as part of the 2 man inside line which is sub optimal.
OâDonnell played club championship for Eire Og last year so it isnât a case that he hasnât played since the concussion last summer, given he had no physical ailment or injury over the spring he should be fine. He played no league in 2019 and retired Noel Connors first day out in Munster that year.
Crotty could well start ahead of Duggan, but I think they will hold him in reserve as he is suited to coming off the bench with 20 odd to go.
Aidan Mc is out of his boot but still a bit away, Iâd say club championship is a more realistic target. Rodgers should be back for the second half of the Munster round robin. Reidy is still about 6 weeks away.
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Perhaps so. But still an odd one.
It was a good match for Waterford to win. They were quite possibly the strongest favourites theyâve ever been going in against Tipperary in the Championship and Waterford teams historically have never handled the mantle of favouritism and high expectations very well.
Waterford didnât play well
(a large element of not been let play well against a mostly young and inexperienced very fired up Tipperary team with no great pressure on them) but were able to up the tempo at crucial moments in second half to eek out the win.
Goalkeeper and make up of full back line would be big areas of concern for Waterford.
I would suspect that Waterford have closed the 11 point gap on Limerick thatâs been there in Croke Park in each of the last two years. Looking at Limerick on Sunday though, they are a bit ahead of Waterford still.
Important for Waterford to put in a big performance on Saturday and give it a serious rattle. A goal or two wouldnât go amiss either. No green flags for Waterford in their 3 championship meetings against Limerick in 2020 and 2021.
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I thought the Waterford goalie pulled off the save of the weekend.
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It was an outstanding save which probably kept Waterford in the match. Theyâd have been 7 or 8 points behind if that went in.
Aside from that save, just about everything else he did was jittery.
The save kept us in the match. We were bet if that went in. He was a bag of nerves under the high ball.
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Limerick will be missing P Casey, S Flanagan and K Hayes Saturday evening. As good a time as any for Waterford to lay down a marker. Tho as @Fagan_ODowd has alluded to already, the Gaelic Grounds isnât a happy hunting ground for Waterford in recent years.
It has been a graveyard for our dreams for as long as I can remember.
Conor Gleeson would be giving me sleepless nights. Goalkeeper options seem limited and McNulty would be given the benefit of the doubt imo.
Itâs the line theyâre weakest in though without doubt.
My thoughts on the weekend for what little they are worth.
Limerick were stuttery enough for the first half and start of second. But looked to have blown out the dirty oil by the end of the second half. A few careless handpasses to men in worse positions and running into areas where there were lots of Cork bodies.
A lot of frees given against us in the first half but most were correct, we made 3 or 4 very sloppy neck high challenges in the first half that werenât needed. Only for the sloppy frees we would have been comfortable much earlier.
Then again the game had an air of inevitability about it from very early on. Once Limerick reeled them in after their opening burst in the first half they knew. Once they again stopped their gallop after the start of the 2nd, the game petered out completely and was over as a contest shortly after.
Byrnes was immense for us and rightly MOTM. He steadied the ship in both halves, reeling off three in a row in the first to settle us and then getting our first score of the second to calm things again. Some of them were outrageously good as well. His shooting can be erratic but it is some weapon. But most importantly he stepped up when needed. Real leaders take it upon themselves to grab the game by the scruff when things are wobbling. Cork have no leaders
Thereâs nothing magic about Limerick itâs just work rate, they beat Cork 2-16 to 0-07 points in scores from turnovers. We actually would have beaten Cork on scores from turnovers alone. Thatâs phenomenal. Graham Mul hardly touched a ball, but I bet he made more tackles than the entire Cork full forward line combined. Work rate is the minimum that you should expect from your players. Cork didnât even bring that. Youâd nearly be happy enough pucking ball away to the Cork backs, youâ get it back again in a better position anyway
The six backs and Quaid were rock solid. Quaid give one puckout to Dan Morrissey running away from goal, over the Cork defenders head that was just sex. We gave away a few too many goal opportunities though. Disappointing to concede a carbon copy of the AIF goal. Great to see Casey back and as good as ever. Gives us options. We will need them in the round robin too. Iâd imagine we will be down Hayes for the next game minimum. Casey was excellent in coming out with the short puckout. Nash and Hannon bombing on then, even Dan the man got a point, 4/6 backs scored, total hurling.
A few criticised DOD but I thought he put in a good shift, popping up all over.
WOD is unbelievable. He is everywhere. Hardly pucks the ball in a game, but does the right thing all the time and tackles like a man possessed. Literally dived head first in front of one of the Cork shots on goal.
Lynch was quiet enough by his standards and yet still had a few moments of absolute magic. Tom Morrissey was poor, but he always takes a few games to get going. Hego was very good. The touch for one of his points was sick, outstretched hurley, killed it stone dead, jogged into it. Tapped it over the bar, like he was pucking around down the field on his own.
Gillane did well off limited supply. Thought Kyle looked uncomfortable when inside in the FF line, not that he was in there much. The man is an animal though and can play anywhere. Iâd prefer him further out. Half forward at least. Graham as mentioned worked his socks off.
Few nice cameos from Cathal OâNeill, Super Sub Pat Ryan and Reidy. OâReilly and Boylan didnât see much ball. Was suprised Richie English did get a trot.
Hard to read too much into it really. Cork were awful. I donât know how but I actually think they were worse than AIF day. At least in the AIF Limerick were firing on all cylinders and everything they touched worked perfectly. Sunday we were very sloppy for a lot of it and gave Cork chances.
For a finish up I was actually frustrated myself watching Cork. They were so fucking stupid with the ball.
There are a lot of problems, they have no half forward who can win a ball so they canât go long. Limerick murdered them any time they launched it long.
Neither did their full back line want the ball on the short puckout, none of them were comfortable, they wanted to fuck it away to the first man they saw regardless of whether they were in a better position or not. Half of the time it seemed to end up back with the keeper who drove it long anyway. Contrast to Mike Casey and Nash who were carrying it to the 45 before laying it off or trying to pick out a forward. It was night and day.
I get the impression Cork have forgotten why they are actually playing the short puckout, itâs like they feel they need to make 5 short passes before they can play it long. Regardless of whether there is any point to them.
For Gillanes goal Limerick nearly turned them over 3 times before they actually did. Cork just gowled around with it until eventually Limerick did turn them over. Then Gillane is inside with enough room to build a detached 4 bed. Brain dead stuff.
There was a lot of talk of Coleman as a QB type. He didnât give any out ball to the full back line. He offers nothing there really. He intercepted a few balls, but only when they were passing by him basically.
Midfield and half forwards were so light they were just blown off the ball time and again in rucks, and the full forward line got no ball and did no work to get it themselves. Hoggie looked gone. They have no system for him to work in anyway. Then he got a 21 yards free with 5 minutes to go and 7 or 8 points in it and he tapped it over. He is only padding out his scoring stats at this stage.
Kingston hasnât a clue. He completely missed what happened in the AIF, to come back to us again with the same team and basically no tactical changes. 
Waterford looked laboured enough vs Tipp, but they can come at us now with no pressure and all guns blazing. Should be a cracker. They will provide much stiffer opposition you would imagine, we will need to move up another two gears. But third place in Munster would do at the same time. We just need to get out, we will build momentum as we go.
Tipp were slightly better than expected, be interesting to see if they can build anything this season. Clare waiting in the long grass. Make or break for both.
Galway were robbed by Wexford, but they were two totally brain dead teams launching high ball into one man full forward lines and hoping for miracles. The miracles ran out when Conor Whelan ran out. I was surprised how poor they were. Theyâll need to come on lot from that.
Wexford looked miles off it for 55 minutes plus.
Youâd imagine Kilkenny had their eye off the ball a bit in the Westmeath match. Dublin donât look like anything to worry about either
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Whatâs this 3rd place craic being trotted out by Limerick fans? Unless the plan is to beat Waterford at the weekend and then throw the other 2 games? Other than that Limerick will be 4 for 4 and be in the Munster final.
It used to be for us too!
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Everywhere was a grave yard for our dreams
+1 to all that. Itâs hardly worth your while doing the patented JG player ratings post to decide between the 8, 9, and 10 for each of them.
I donât know where it ends up but I absolutely think Waterford have closed the gap on Limerick. I donât think the gap last year was a fair reflection either of where they were last year either. Four weeks in a row is just unfair and was a fools errand against a team with limerickâs fitness and physicality.
Waterford have pretty much everything cork lack. Ballplayers in every line, huge workrate, and their organisation is top notch. Also Waterford have elite level forwards that can do a lot of damage and a few players that can make something from nothing. Pretty certain Waterford would have had a few more goals with the chances cork had on Sunday.
Limerick presumably without Hayes and without Flanagan again which takes a huge amount from our attack. Maybe this forces Limerick back to more shooting for points from distance again?
I canât wait for this match I think itâs gonna be class.
Can Waterford actually win next weekend?
They win and itâll put Limerick in a lovely position with Hayes, Flanagan and maybe Casey to come back in.
If they lose thereâs zero chance of them winning the all Ireland.
I think Waterford will be delighted with the way the tipp game played out given they didnât start Barron or gleeson but Limerick pretty much silenced any doubts and will only improve.
Itâs very hard to see how Limerick donât win the all Ireland at a canter tbh provided we get some luck with injuries.
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Why? It is impossible to say that without the context of the defeat and performance.
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How bad is his injury? Enough to keep him out on Saturday?
Iâd say so.
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