The far left corner flag in Mullinahone is in the ditch
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Stands in Tipperary are a bit unique the way they run inside the wire and basically have the whole audience accommodated on the sideline with direct access to the playing pitch.
I know of no pitch in Limerick with a similar setup.
Davin Park for El Carricko in the early 2010s was onrale
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People who go to games in Tipperary would be a much classier sort and can be trusted not to come onto the pitch and punch someone.
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The reason places like Emly now holds more LGFA matches that GAA. There is a fine hurling wall at the back of the town goals
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I was always told by an uncle growing up that Cloughjordan pitch in Tipperary was the widest in the country
You may be thinking of Ennis 
!!!
They are all related
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I couldnât be trusted not to do that.
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Lattin and Emly are place more likely to get inter county challenge games than a senior club games. Both grand places to play a game.
Sean Treacy park in Tipp town held a lot of high profile games in the past.
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It had McGrath cup games not too long ago. Cashel got a league game v Laois in around 2008 I think. It wouldnât be a bad idea bringing games around the county again.
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Hard to know where things stand ahead of this weekends game. Are Cork in a similar slump with no answer for it similar to 2016 or will there be a reaction this weekend? Assume OâLeary is out after last night and talk is that Cahalane is a doubt as well.
Do they rejig or double down?
Watching back the Clare match it is hard to draw too many conclusions from it. It was over as a contest after the penalty and Clare didnât really show their hand second half happy enough that they had enough of a lead built up. But it was heartening to see lads like David Mc, Duggan and OâDonnell show form as there were big question marks about them heading into it and we will be a tough out for anyone with those lads playing well.
Clare are still under the radar I feel. Lohan and the group donât really do much media and they seem somewhat forgot about and an afterthought in the national media which I would say suits Lohan down to the group.
Our backs arenât good enough for us to compete for an all Ireland but they are probably the best coaches unit we have had since Lohan was playing himself. Very good at contesting ball and being physical/spoiling in the tackle compared to previous sides. Cork have the ability to cause us huge issues as they like to create 1v1s when they get their running game and have pace.
Talk is Meehan is out which is a loss. Robin Mounsey did as well as could be expected the last day with 2 points and a 3 or 4 turnovers and his general harrying was good considering he was up against Cathal Barrett. He looked lost physically at under 20s last year so it is great to see the improvement. Realistically, if everyone was fit and well there are probably 12 forwards ahead of him on the panel but he made the most of his chance and could well catapult himself up the pecking order with a repeat showing v Cork.
Assume Clare will look to make it a real physical test and push up on Cork early on and see do they have the metal for it after their last couple of games.
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Iâve been saying all year that I was sure Cork would qualify ahead of Clare but I think thatâa flipped. I was sure cork would improve again for this season but if anything theyâve gone backwards. They didnât try to address any of their problems and if they try now itâll smack of panic, I think itâs too late. Iâm not sure how they get back to the required level mentally, their confidence and motivation must be on the floor. Clare on the other hand have a bit of steel and their backs are better than I expected.
Clare have a number of things ahead of Cork, chief among them organisation. They have a plan. Add their workrate off the ball, Corks distinct lack of enthusiasm for conflict and Clareâs doggedness and thereâs only one winner.
A neutral venue dilutes Corks mindset even further. Having said all that, surely thereâs a response in Cork? SurelyâŚ
Best in County
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A lovely little drive into the village as you come in from kilfeakle too, shame about the Tipp people
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Derek McGrath: Cork must block out the noise and do what they know is right
The Cork brains trust of Kingston, OâSullivan, Furlong, Mulcahy and OâGrady will have tried their best to ignore the outside world, but this can be difficult for a homegrown management team.
Reading my then 10-year-old son Fionnâs school books doesnât normally provide me with moments of clarity, but a passage on Rosa Parks, the famous civil rights activist, delivered a crucible moment some years ago.
âI have learned,â she said, âthat when oneâs mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fearâ.
Following the pummelling Waterford received from Tipperary in the 2016 Munster Final, the self-reflection process began in earnest. Doubts surface and lodge and the strength and unity of the group is paramount.
We were exposed to a very lazy public narrative. Flooding the middle third with up to four of our forwards and midfielders, allowing Tadgh de BĂşrca to man the D, is par for the course now, but the language years ago was far different.
Many times I met supporters saying: âWould you ever let the team out 15 v 15, man on man?â.
Firstly, restricting the team is not your job. Instead, management involves a consultative vision, an assessment of your current trajectory and the players at your disposal. My counter-argument was, and remains, that those systems of play, that discipline of structure, allows freedom to express and create.
The irony now is that the most vocal critics, particularly from Tipperary and Cork, are coming to the belated conclusion that we can still have man on man battles within the flexibility of the modern game.
The Cork brains trust of Kingston, OâSullivan, Furlong, Mulcahy and OâGrady will have tried their best to ignore the outside world, but this can be difficult for a homegrown management team. Cries to âlet the ball inâ and âgo forwardâ will have tested their steadfast principles.
Balancing what they witness each night at training with current confidence levels in the group, while taking into account the possible permeation of their inner circle by the cries from outside is difficult. Gary Keegan will have played a huge role in ensuring that the processes trusted prior to the Limerick game have been reassessed and realigned to meet their current needs.
This may well involve doubling down on their values. It may have involved a âvulnerabilityâ session where players openly critique each otherâs current form, emotions and contribution to the cause. Such meetings can be extremely open, emotional and potentially damaging and need to be facilitated with a high degree of skill. They can also be powerful, emotive catalysts for passionate commitment and performances.
I disagree strongly with the argument that the Cork players are âbottlersâ, âafraid to take a beltâ, âshapersâ etc. Consistently I have argued that no inter-county player is âsoftâ. Could they have run harder, tackled more ferociously, been more organised defensively, and combined better their speed of foot with speed of delivery? Yes. But I believe this Cork team and management would have discussed and simulated at length the need to merge their undoubted skill and speed with a vicious savagery ahead of the Limerick challenge.
All top-class performers are willing to step into discomfort, attack the friction of adversity and go on the road less travelled, a road Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman calls âa path thatâs made of principle that leads to characterâ.
Kieran and his players, with the help of Keegan, will have looked at adapting their perspectives, concentrating on each moment as opposed to each ball.
Practically, the Cork players and management team, to ensure presence in the now, may well have looked at the work of Dr Andrew Huberman who often talks about âeye movement desensitisation and reprocessingâ, the art of walking forward whilst moving your eyes laterally left to right, helping to quieten negative emotions.
We often see top players with their âeyes wide openâ, clearly engaging in this triggered performance enhancer.
Simon Sinekâs Leaders Eat Last came to mind when thinking about what Cork perhaps need next. Sinek says: âWe donât just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.â
My feeling is that this management group and players, led by emerging leaders in Coleman, Joyce, Kingston and Fitzgibbon, will stop at nothing to improve and help Cork. This has not presented itself yet and may need a combined fusion of properly channelled hurt and anger with some imaginative creativity.
Itâs been two long weeks for the Cork players, management and their families and the human aspect associated with under-performance should never be overlooked. I witnessed first-hand Kevin Moran diligently and wholeheartedly teach his classes many Mondays after comprehensive defeats with Waterford and I have no doubt that similar traits are to be found within these Cork players.
Against Limerick, Cork would have hoped to mix up their gameplan, running it through the lines when itâs on, but also mixing this with angled deliveries to the inside line. Defensively, I am confident they would have placed detailed concentration on tagging Cian Lynch and not leaving themselves exposed at the back. When the opposite materialises, the populist points to lack of planning.
So what might they consider?
He has such a victim complex, itâs unreal. Heâd be so much more interesting if everything he said & wrote wasnât a justification of the way he lined out tactically.
Itâs very odd.
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He does go on about it a bit too much alright. But the abuse he got and still gets must really grate, especially when he had some success and when teams are now all employing elements of his tactics. Youâve lads on here giving out about McGrath using âsweepersâ and praising Cahill for doing the same thing. Itâs nonsense.
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