Watched the limerick v cork game in a treaty county pub last night. Wanted Limerick to win from a Tipperary perspective and also invested in the usual Cork HT Limerick FT bet which looked home and hosed until GAAgo gave up on us in the pub for the final five minutes of the game.
Few points that have been discussed on here but I’ll have my own little input.
-it was a penalty but Limerick can feel hard done by that AG was not given advantage. On the other side, Dan Morrissey pulled Connolly back at one stage which could similarly be given.
-cork were deserving winners when you consider the sloppy nature of the goals they conceded. They were exceptional on long puckouts yet decide to go short to SOD in the first half. The one in the second half was simply not on.
Collins has his fair share of critics but his long restarts caused limerick huge problems.
Limericks zonal marking has been exposed before but Cork really took it to another level last night.
-Connolly is a class act. Fitzgibbon had one of his best days but there’s still weak points in that Cork team.
It’s looking like a full house in Thurles next weekend. I think it will be a different game away from the Astro like surface of PUC but I don’t see Tipp winning unless Jake Morris and Forde go to town, at this moment it seems less than likely. Should be a great occasion all the same. Cork bring great colour and their fans are salt of the earth.
Based on Cork’s level of performance at the weekend, they’d obviously have to be strong favourites.
The only thing I will say is that Cork do give space to shooters; they’re the one team that Forde might do very well against in a half-forward position. But if Tipp want to win, you would think they’ll have to go after goals in that full-back line.
Cork created space very well against Limerick and isolated a few of our slower players. Tipp have introduced a bit of pace into their backline but Cahill has a week to have a look at how Cork did that and stop them doing the same against them. If Tipp can deal with the long puckouts better than Limerick did in the first half, they might have a chance.
It will take cork couple of days to come down from the high of Saturday while tipp will have been prepping for 2 weeks.
If cork get on a roll they could win well, but tipp will try turn it into a dogfight.
Jack O’Connor has yet to recover from the Clare match in Thurles in 2022 when he was subbed off 10 minutes before half time. Has he featured in a Championship match since?
Bit harsh on both. Kingston has huge talent, I’d still expect him to become a starter. He has massive impact as a sub so I can see why he’d be held back for now.
I don’t think cork will have any comedown from the Limerick game, they’ll take huge confidence from it and be raring to go again. They’ll ate tipp.
Waterford are sneakily good. A lot better than I gave them credit for. Not sure how effective they’ll be away from the environs of Walsh Park. Its one thing going to Thurles but Ennis and Gaelic grounds are 2 different beasts. But Bennett, Kiely and Dessie will cause Clare defense endless problems and they have a very good midfield pairing too. Would worry a small bit about their full back line especially with Prunty out. Tipp have little firepower and managed 1-27 against them. The fact Clare and Waterford are first up probably will make the plot thicken. Realistically this is Waterfords best chance of getting anything from remaining 2 fixtures and they will know its effectively a knock out game. Cork beating Limerick on Saturday was worst possible outcome for Waterford as now Limerick need a win and theres a backlash coming to go with that. In retrospect that was a huge point dropped by Waterford last week against Tipp. It brought Cork right into it too and probably provided some catalyst for their performance.
The same was said of Limerick last year though after they lost to Clare in round two that there would a huge reaction. They proceeded to draw with Tipp and just about edge Cork at home in round 3 and 4. Limerick will hurl to to their usual level. It’s about what can Waterford bring.
Waterford have some top quality hurlers but will they have the belief to go on the road and get a result - I doubt there will be a huge Waterford crowd at either.
Waterford to Limerick or Ennis is a fair trek alright. Cant see too many making the trips down. They’d have bitten the hand off you for 3 points from opening 2 games but they’ll need to get something from somewhere. 3 points wont be enough you’d think. I’m trying to think of what would happen if Tipp and Cork were to draw and Waterford lost their remaining 2 games. They’d have Cork on H2H and would need Clare to do them a favour on last day against Tipp to stop Tipp from getting to 4 points. Clare themselves would already be qualified on 4 but would miss out on munster final due to H2H vs Tipp if Tipp were to win?