Jake Morris is as good a corner forward as there is currently in the game.
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An All Ireland Semi would be as good as it gets this season. Nobody in the country is expecting anymore than that. Although it would mean fucking nothing bar a tiny bit of progress.
Noel McGrath would win the loveliest hurler award
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Not in the same class as Gillane or Whelan
If Tipperary do get to Croke Park, they become favourites for the All Ireland, but there is little or no chance of that happening this year.
While it was nice to win the league and for the players to pick up another medal I don’t think the management or panel would be reading a huge amount into it. There is still a large core there from the 2016 win who know that it counts for little and there were plenty of things on the night against Kilkenny which need tidying up ahead of this weekend. The only thing I would glean from the league for Clare is that after taking over an island of misfit toys in 2020, Brian Lohan has now built a panel which actually has some depth and competition for places and there will be a number of decent hurlers outside the 26 man panel looking in.
Up to this year Clare would struggle early in the league when they were shorn more than two or three of their core players on a given day. The younger lads simply not up to it physically yet and the older lads didn’t have the hurling for this level. Defeat to Antrim and a capitulation against Wexford in 2021, hammerings off Cork and Limerick at the start of 2022 and 2023 league illustrated this. But slowly but surely lads who Lohan has been slowly blooding over those winters are now finding their feet – Broderick, Leen, Darragh Lohan, Rynne, Cian Galvin and Keith Smyth all impressed throughout the league and look like live options.
I doubt they will break into the established core this year and it remains to be seen how they will perform in the white heat of championship, the league is the league after all and Cian Galvin isn’t going to force his way in and oust one of the starters in the half back line but he does look like he can come on with 15 to go and more than hold his own if we have knocks or one of them having an off day – this is a luxury Lohan has never had before. These lads are a cut above the guys they are replacing from the previous years likes Paudi Fitz, Cian Nolan, Jason McCarthy, Shane Golden, Aaron Fitz, Domhnall McMahon et al who all have seen championship game time over the last couple of seasons.
Realistically in 2022 we had no cover from 2 to 12 who you could be any bit confident in on coming in and even doing a solid job. Last year with the emergence of Adam Hogan we pretty much had Paul Flanagan and Seadna Morey as the only realistic options off the bench for those positions – as we saw v Kilkenny when Ryan Taylor went off injured Kelly had to be moved back to a deeper midfield role and David Reidy on as an inside forward. Barring any further injuries Clare and assuming Leen and Lohan hold their places and TK is back starting Clare will have Flanagan, Morey, Galvin, Ryan Taylor, Rynne and Rory Hayes as options to come in with 10 or 15 minutes to go come the half way point of the Round Robin and Keith Smyth, Ian Galvin, Shanagher and Reidy as forward options with lads like Crotty and Mounsey on the outside of the 26 looking in. Back in 2022 Lohan was pulling three or four lads straight from the under 20s into the championship 26 such was the lack of talent outside the starting 15.
It is a big step up in terms of the depth of the panel but realistically it is the same core who have come close but not close enough over the last two years, while there were mitigating circumstances for both championship exists there is very much an air of it is now or never for a handful of the starting team as they creep into their 30s. Adam Hogan was fantastic last year and looks like he will make another step forward this year, they also need the likes of Diarmuid Ryan and Aidan McCarthy to become more consistent forces, they have both had some excellent championship performances but are both prone to making sloppy errors too while Mark Rodgers finally arrived last year and I’d expect a big year from him as well.
I think Clare are the best of the rest and all things being equal I think they would beat any of the other contenders but Limerick are a different beast and a generational side. While I think Clare will emerge from Munster mainly due to having a better balance of forwards than the likes of Tipp, Cork and Waterford and can go on a step from last year but Limerick in Croke Park are a different beast and it is a big gap to bridge so some big breaks with injury and luck are needed.
It is hard to know what will happen this week – how much dirty diesel is in the Limerick tank, I’m sure the league semi final defeat has focused their minds. I would expect it to be a serious contest but with plenty of sloppiness from both sides on their first day out. I think there is every chance Clare can get a result without Tony Kelly here as I think Limerick may well be a small bit undercooked and in need of the game for some of their key men to get back up to speed.
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Spot on.
Hopefully it includes somebody to tap over a few frees if we get them.
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Not good enough at winning 50/50 ball or in the workrate department
Wexford supporters outnumbered Waterford 3:1 in the main stand in Walsh Park for the league, no surprise if Cork outnumber them.
The Davy factor. He is the opposite of box office.
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Sad state of affairs really. Still surprising the Waterford county board took him on. Like read the room.
Is there any chance the stars align like for Wexford 2019 where Davy cracked hurling?
A bold and bald prediction: Clare will be as good as eliminated from the championship by Sunday week.
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Not unless everything he has done to date was a ballhop.
Waterford may well not come out of Munster but I’d have a bet they’ll derail one of the others
Sounds like something Davy might do.
We can live in hope. 4 league defeats but all ended up as a 1 score game. Cork were 10 points up at one stage and probably switched off so it tightened up at the end.
I’ll reserve judgement until I see how we setup in the first 10 minutes Sunday. Surely to Christ he can’t persist with the 1 forward and taking potshots from the half back line / midfield strategy?
It’s soul destroying to watch and I can’t for the life of me imagine the players enjoy it.
Play a 3 man full forward line, keep them inside and withdraw the half forwards, if you want to crowd the middle, as is the new hurling gospel.
Or better still, just let them hurl. I know the game has moved on, but in truth my love of Waterford hurling is being chipped away at year on year.
I grew up in 80’s when we were proper shite, one day out a year job, but I enjoyed the games as spectacles. Maybe it was the innocence of youth. Beating Cork in 89 was something I’ll never forget. It was a genuine shared joy.
The 90’s were where we began to dream. 1992 was the beginning of a special period. Watching Paul Flynn tear Tipp to shreds on Munster Final day. Winning the replay the following Friday. Seeing Paddy O Donnell lifting the cup was Nirvana for a 12 year old who thought he’d never see Waterford win anything. Then rocking up to Thurles the following Wednesday and winning the U-21 against an exceptional Clare side. The trips to Dublin for both semifinals against Antrim, Minor in Croke Park and U-21 in Parnell Park. Three All Ireland finals in 4 weeks, Growlers hat trick in Nowlan Park, starting Flynn in the replay, coming back and beating an Offaly team for the ages after a John Troy wonder goal on the volley. What times they were.
We all know what followed in the 00’s, I’m obviously 100% biased but I feel they were the most enjoyable team to watch in that period and I looked forward to every game. The primary, if ultimately futile, if you score 4-24 we’ll score 4-25, gameplan was joyus to watch.
Now I’m struggling to even muster any sense of enthusiasm for Sunday.
But hope springs eternal. Get a win and who knows what the season ahead holds in store.
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Would be great if teams were announced add to the build up a good bit
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