Ageist
To quote Homer Simpson âold people are uselessâ
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Weâll get some indication from Clare today how much teams can improve for a run out.
I think there is some Qs over limerick now. I thought at half time weâd run riot but cork stuck at it well.
Limerick are definitely pushing the boundaries from being incredibly physical to going over board and seeing players getting the line. There was couple of needless hits which can lead to silly cards being shown.
Iâd say weâre lucky the game was on last night as there wonât be much focus on the Sunday game tonight.
Iâd definitely have concerns over the half back line. Tom Morrissey isnât playing well either at the moment.
None of the opposition look great either so far. I actually think Wexford could have a say If they build momentum.
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Its a risk to our game that has been highlighted in the past. If you are going for the licence to shoot model, then you are going to have days where you miss a lot. Iâd guess we had more wides than anyone the past two years. What was encouraging yesterday was that we found the goals when we needed them.
We do seem to have lost (or not being allowed) a bit of accuracy in the ball to the inside line. An awful lot of it yesterday was 50/50 at best.
Gillane and Flanagan were behind their man a lot too. Those two Cork corner backs are seriously pacey. Anything low and in front they hoovered up, when a ball over was tried it was too long alright.
Hannon hit two lovely balls in but he didnât get enough loose ball. Donovan delivery was crisp but the striking seemed a little off throughout the team yesterday.
The shooting hasnât been great in any game Iâve seen so far. I missed Wexford v Kilkenny now tbf but maybe teams havenât as much practise in as usual. It was terrible in Waterford v Clare.
When hannon isnât on song and with Lynch moved into the half forwards we donât have the best distributors in the backs.
Tipp v Clare programme.
Our lads have serious miles on the clock. Owe us nothing etc etc. I think we will struggle today/ this year.
After Cathal Barrettâs sending off, and Tipperaryâs exit from last yearâs championship, a tweet surfaced apparently from the former Kilkenny hurler Paddy Hogan. The sentiments were not sympathetic though that was hardly surprising; Hoganâs brother Richie had been sent off in the previous yearâs All-Ireland final following a clash with Barrett before half-time.
To see the tables turned gave the tweetâs author a sense of justification and schadenfreude. A week earlier his brother had scored 1-2 helping Kilkenny defeat Galway in the Leinster final. Long being the road that has no turning and all that. Barrett was seen in some quarters to have made a meal of the challenge which led to Hoganâs dismissal in the 2019 final, even if Hogan was undeniably culpable for the red card.
Did some of the reaction on Bar rettâs part look theatrical? That could be argued â the fall looked dramatic â but the key determinant was the Kilkenny manâs actions. Hogan walked off, his All-Ireland over, and Barrett was left free to hurl away without the inconvenience of a direct marker, soon collecting his second All-Ireland senior medal.
Coming from the same parish as John Doyle, Tipperaryâs famously irascible record All-Ireland winner, Barrett has earned a vaguely âbad-boyâ reputation to which he has sometimes expressed a kind of bemusement. His rise to becoming a regular county hurler was dramatic and swift. In his first season in 2014 Tipperary reached the league final and met rivals Kilkenny. With no time for initiation ceremonies or soft landings he was placed on Henry Shefflin, rising to the challenge even if the sun was starting to set on Shefflinâs career.
What better way to stamp your reputation on the game than marking one of the greatest hurlers to ever play? In the All-Ireland final later that year, Walter Walsh, with a big height advantage, was also well contained. In the replay Barrett spent the first half on John Power and the second policing Eoin Larkin. By the end of his first season he was voted Young Hurler of the Year. Two years later he won his first All-Ireland medal, bursting through a thicket of Kilkenny players before sending a ball down to Bubbles OâDwyer in the third quarter of the final out of which Tipp turned a one-point lead into four, and from there driving on to victory.
Barrett is still Tippâs most recognisable and effective man-marker and if Clare play Tony Kelly in the full-forward line again today, the Holycross-Ballycahill man is an obvious partner. But after the flying start he has had a chequered career, hitting a period of turbulence blighted by controversy and injuries before returning to his best form again in recent seasons.
In 2017, after losing to Cork in the Munster championship, which saw Tipp surrender their provincial title, he was dropped from the panel by Michael Ryan for disciplinary reasons. Tipperary hit a wall in the league final when they were demolished by Galway and the Cork defeat came as a further hammer blow. The following weekend Barrett went drinking after a club match. An incident in Hayes Hotel later wound up in a court case and assault charges for both him and his older brother, even if he faced the lesser indictment and claimed he was trying to defuse the situation. He was bound to the peace for a year when sentenced in April 2019. The court required that he attend an alcohol awareness course.
Barrett has questioned media intrusion into the lives of amateur players, but his behaviour had an impact on his county playing career, meaning he was absent when Tipp lost to Galway in the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final, a narrow defeat when Joe Canning scored an epic point from near the sideline. A week before, Barrett returned from an injury suffered in the Cork game to play for his club in a local match. Pressure mounted on Ryan to bring him back into the team. The same weekend Tipp defeated Clare in the All-Ireland quarter-final but difficulties in the full-back line raised concern. Despite this, Ryan never blinked.
At a media event ahead of the August 6 clash with Galway, Ryan addressed calls for the playerâs recall. âJust to nail that for everyone; thereâs been a lot of speculation in the media over the last 24 to 48 hours. What has been reported is accurate â our panel for 2017 is formed. There will be no more changes to the panel in 2017. Thatâs it and thatâs the last I will say on that.â
While Barrett, who has qualified as a primary school teacher, took issue with media intrusion, he has also used his inter-county profile to his own benefit, opening a coffee shop, 65 Degrees Coffee, in the busy tourist town of Cashel. Sources in Holycross say that his âwild yearsâ appear to be behind him and are equally grateful that this maturity has not diminished his competitive traits on the field of play.
Ryanâs decision to drop Barrett wasnât made lightly, but he felt he had no other option. Before that, Babs Keating in 2006 was the last Tipp manager to drop a player for a breach of discipline. Five players missed a recovery session after their Munster final loss to Cork. As a result, Shane McGrath, John Carroll and Conor OâMahony had to train away from the main squad later that week while Michael Webster and Redser OâGrady, the team captain, were dropped from the squad. Webster later returned to the panel the following season. OâGrady never played for the county again.
Barrett was restored by Ryan to the panel for 2018 and had runs as a midfielder â featuring there against Clare in the championship â before reverting to defensive duties. âHe is one of the top defenders in the country, himself and SeĂĄn Finn are vying for the best corner-back in the country in my opinion,â says Paddy Stapleton, a rival for the position when Barrett first emerged seven years ago. âHe is what you want in a corner-back; you want him fast anyway in this day and age, he covers the spaces because there are so many of them left in the full-back line these days.
âHe is very brave, he backs him self mentally. No matter who he is marking, he feels he should beat him and that is a huge part of his personality, and he has way above average skill for a corner-back. His ability to get out in front, no matter what ball is hit in, and control the ball and bring it out is top notch. And I suppose you would see with most teams they try and crowd him when he gets the ball because he is so explosive. Cathal would always get the first man-marking job. If Shane OâDonnell was playing for Clare he would be first up to mark him.â
Barrettâs form in the recent league, up to the teamâs disappointingly flat showing against Waterford, has been excellent with a man of the match showing against Galway. Had he been fit and available in 2017 it is not inconceivable that Tipp would have got past Galway and made the final where they would have been favourites to retain the All-Ireland for the first time since 1965.
âI played with him first in 2014,â says Stapleton. âA lot of people seem to forget that he was a real surprise addition to the Tipperary panel that year, because he hadnât really pulled up trees as an underage hurler. I think his first match was in a challenge against Westmeath in The Ragg and you could see good potential there.
âHe ended up marking Henry Shefflin in the league final that year and I think that was the day that maybe people looked at Henry as not having too much time left . But I remember Cathal was absolutely excited for that. He couldnât wait for it. And even in the All-Ireland final they tried to target him the first day out with Wally Walsh who is half a foot or more taller than him and it never fazed him.â
That kind of imperturbability is made for championship days like today.
Itâs a thundering disgrace these games arenât free to air particularly with many pubs still closed so even less people would have access to watch them.
The gaa is an absolute disgrace.
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In fairness the GAA probably didnât know the pubs would still be shut when they sold the rights.
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Wouldnât break lads to pay a sub to SKY Sports or NOW given theyâre not shelling out for a match ticket too.
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A lot of people donât have sky boxes so that isnât really an option.
Great deals on sports on the Now TV stick this month. 30 ⏠for two months of Sky sports. You get the Lions Tour and all for that.
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The gaa will do anything for a few pound.
You donât need a sky box for NOW
Youâll get a pre loaded Now TV stick in Tescos for 25 notes.
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Lads streaming GAAGO but not able to get NOW TV. Tis gas
Iâve seen auld chaps sitting at kitchen tables with iPads buying cattle at a mart above in Castlerea. Theyâd manage NOW if they needed to.
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If Michael Duignan really cared about his father heâd drive in to Tescos and buy a Now TV stick and rig it up for the owl lad. Much easier to take a quick pot shot at the GAA I suppose.
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Today is a good day for ye to figure out where ye are. The league was cloak and dagger to a large extent. I dont think the qualifiers would suit ye though. Too many hurdles to be a jumped and I fear a little too many miles on the clock. Sheedy seems to have reverted to moving deck chairs rather than blood a few lads