A cataclysm for Waterford yesterday. We will be out of the championship in 3 weeks time. Voting to go into this system with the shallowest pool of players in Munster and without a viable home venue was absolute madness on the part of the County Board and we are locked into it now for another three years.
On top of that Derek throws the league for the sake of the championship and doesnât unearth a single new player up to the task. We abandon our running game for route one attack and Clare figure it out after 15 minutes and we donât adapt.
Meanwhile Clare play every single puckout short to the corner back, especially number 4 who plays a pinpoint ball up to David Reidy who has Shane McNulty beaten up a stick and we never once in 70 minutes push up to pressure Clare into going long.
De Burcas injury was from a solid frontal dunt. Looked like a broken collarbone. Not sure the s&c could do anything about that. Ditto Coughlan who seemed to break a bone in his hand. Fives has been âinjury proneâ for years. We should give up on him now. Connors back injury probably has a lot to do with lugging around all that bulk for years. Gleeson hasnât been. Let recover sufficiently from. Buildup of injuries and Mahoney, I donât know.
Dublin timbered Mahoney and Gleeson. Think Mahoneys hand was the problem and Gleesons foot/ankle in his issue.
Will they appeal Morans red? Be some craic if they made the GAA go through entire process in 6 days when it took them 3 weeks to blackguard De Burca last year.
Connors got injured during a scrum for possession from what I remember, a few bodies ended up on the ground and it looked like he ended up at the bottom of it and someone probably laded on his awkwardly.
Waterford did away with the sweeper at half time but their touch was very poor throughout. Just flat all over the pitch. Shades of the 2008 encounter between the sides which brought the curtain down on Justin.
I think Clare hit one long puck out the whole of the second half which Duggan caught, as you say, everything else was to David Mc at full back who one of the forwards would belatedly apply token pressure and he would play it sideways to the now unmarked corner back who had all the time in the world to pick an 80 yard ball.
League can be a great confidence building measure for weaker counties though @Fitzy. Look at what your native Carlow are doing in the football after getting promoted out of Division 4 for the first time in 30 years, or your neighbours just over the county line in Wexford after their hurlers got promoted out of 1B last year.
Tipperary hurler Michael Breen is expected to be out of action for up to a month after a freak accident in training saw him damage ankle ligaments.
Breen was picked to play at midfield for the game against Cork yesterday, but the injury on Thursday evening forced a revision of the side and the Ballina man has been having treatment for the damage ever since. He is to undergo a scan this week to determine the exact nature of the damage but according to Manager Michael Ryan, he is looking at up to a month on the sidelines, which rules him out of the Munster campaign.
The injury occurred during training when the squad was working under Trainer Gary Ryan. There was nobody in proximity to Breen when he went over on his ankle and damaged the ligaments. He had featured in the attack for Tipperary throughout the league campaign but was likely to have been deployed further outfield in yesterdays thrilling game against Cork, had he remained fit.
Meanwhile, there is better news on the injury front for Michael Ryan and his management team in that Cathal Barrett is likely to be available for next weeks clash with Waterford in Limerick. The Holycross Ballycahill defender has been inching his way back to full fitness having been hampered by a hamstring strain and is on course to make the squad for the Deise game. Kilruane MacDonaghâs Niall OâMeara is also returning to training but the game might just come too quickly for him at this stage.
I just prefer matches where both sides are going at it hammer and tongs for 70 minutes. Tipp were septic in the first half. They had a great comeback, fair fucks to them, but compared to some of those Kilkenny-Tipp finals⌠Nowhere near that.