Official 2011 All Ireland Hurling Championship Thread

[fenwaypark]

@chewy louie

But it could be a matter of both, if a team isn’t as skillful as other sides they can bridge the gap somewhat by training like demons and having themselves in tyhe best possible physical condition to make up for shortcomings, just look at kildare in the football, but if both your skill and conditioning aren’t up to standard then you end up getting well beaten

exactly, thats the point i was making about dublin. that will only ever take you so far.

[CianFoley]

@Lazarus

Congratulation to Mullach Ide and Noddy

Cossmiserations to Hangblaa and Cian

No bother chief

[Big_Dan_Campbell]

Granted you would have to say that Waterford got it tactically wrong today but in saying that apart from maybe starting Maher on Corbett it is hard to see what else he could really have done to have stopped Tipp today given how up for it and how in tune they were today. The way the Tipp halfbackline and Shane McGrath were hurling today and given that all the ball they were driving in past the 21 this would have completely negated a sweeper or dropping their half forwards and midfield deep. The lack of ball winners in the half forward line didn’t help but again he hadn’t many other options here Kelly & Shanahan aren’t ball winners while Predergast is well past it, Tipp would have beaten any other team in Munster today by 15 points and were excellent, credit where credit is due, waterford’s full backline was under savage pressure but it was down to Tipp’s excellence and class as much as anything

[braz83]

That handpass by Canning.

[Lazarus]

@braz83

That handpass by Canning.

No skill or finesse in that Galway team at all :lol:

[Rintintin]

RIP Hurling. There are more surprises in the finishing positions of tfe EPL and SPL than the AI Hurling championship.

[Mullach_Ide]

H’on Tipp

[Mullach_Ide]

@Lazarus

Congratulation to Mullach Ide and Noddy

Cossmiserations to Hangblaa and Cian

Cheers mate.

[Lazarus]

@sid waddell

Lazarus is now up out of his casket, has a shite, shower and a shave behind him, and is just finishing off the last of his breakfast otherwise known as Cork.

Looking forward to some freshly baked blaas for lunch

[Fagan_ODowd]

Could be the first time for Galway to beat Waterford in the championship.

[Fagan_ODowd]

First time since 1936 that a team has scored 7 goals in the Munster final. But not a record high score or winning margin.

[Bandage]

A few of us had serious, serious reservations about Waterford…Not nice to see something like that happening.

[treaty_exile]

@Fagan ODowd

Could be the first time for Galway to beat Waterford in the championship.

question for the galway lads
presumably if ye lose to waterford the season once again becomes an unmitigated disaster?

and what in the name of the lord god almighty can waherfurd do to stop conceding soft goals?
we’ve been here before after all.

[Fagan_ODowd]

Change goalkeeper and stop picking rookie fullbacks?

[Lazarus]

@treaty_exile

question for the galway lads
presumably if ye lose to waterford the season once again becomes an unmitigated disaster?

Yes it absolutely does. Facile wins over Clare and Cork, enjoyable as they are, have still only brought us to an All-Ireland Quarter Final. The key point to those wins is seeing the players enjoying their hurling again. This was most notable in the 2nd half yesterday, you could see the players smiling through their helmets. Without meaning to be disrespectful to Clare it was only by beating a proper hurling County like Cork that would redeem them in the eyes of many supporters post Tullamore. In fairness to the supporters they really have got behind the team in their hour of need with big attendances in Salthill and to my eye, Galway fans outnumbered everyone else comfortably in Limerick yesterday. The jury is still out on Galway 2011 but the signs are positive. Mcyntire and the team have done the least they could do to restore pride but basically the year starts now.

[Bandage]

Lar Corbett’s interview on The Sunday Game.:lol:

[thedancingbaby]

@Bandage

Lar Corbett’s interview on The Sunday Game.:lol:

What was the jist of it ? Lar has given some hilarious interviews in the past

[Sidney]

@sid waddell

Can’t see why Fitzgerald gets so much credit. I think it’s mainly a media thing. He gives good copy and praising him helps keep it that way. The way a lot of people go on you’d think Waterford were some kind of ragball outfit before he took over which of course is complete rubbish. They certainly played much better hurling under McCarthy. For me Waterford under Fitzgerald have never looked impressive and have always just about got by. He hasn’t sorted out their tendency to concede goals in important matches. In fact I think tactically he’s fairly clueless and has been winging it due to the quality of his players. Bringing through youngsters isn’t rocket science. They’re there in the club system and the schools system, you bring them into the squad, big fucking deal, they would have been there anyway.

His record is not that great at all on examination:
2008: scraped through to a semi final against opposition Waterford would have been expected to beat comfortably. Beat Tipp in a thriller (the high point of his tenure), annihilated in the final.
2009: Involved in one of the worst matches ever seen against Limerick, well beaten by Tipp, defence a shambles. Outplayed by Galway, somehow scraped through due to Dan Shanahan causing Galway to choke. Comfortably beaten by Kilkenny, only for Eoin Kelly the margin would have been a lot more.
2010: Unimpressive against a poor Clare team, lucky to meet and just about beat a very poor Cork team. Never in contention against Tipp.
2011: Probably should have been beaten by Limerick
They might win an All-Ireland in the next five years but it won’t be under Fitzgerald.

Tipp v Kilkenny
Galway v Limerick

Galway to beat Tipp in the final

@sid waddell

The point is that because Davy is media friendly he gets a very easy ride and is over rated by them as a coach. You always hear these comments like “Waterford are a different team since Davy took over”. They’re a worse team.

@sid waddell

I’m sorry but he just doesn’t convince me. Waterford may be fit under him and have structures in place etc but then so did the Loins under Sir Clive. Waterford have looked devoid of ideas in the majority of championship games they’ve played under Fitzgerald and it’s generally been the individual brilliance of Kelly, Mullane or Walsh that has got them through. Again if you take 2009 they were utterly dire against Limerick. They only kept in any sort of touch against Tipp due to Mullane and were outplayed against Galway for all but the last five minutes when Shanahan and Mullane somehow got them an undeserved victory. They were beaten much more comprehensively than the scoreline suggests against Kilkenny when again onlly the individual brilliance of Eoin Kelly, not to mention a lucky goal late on kept things respectable.

In 2010 they were effectively handed a Munster title once Tipp decided not to show up against Cork but they make bloody hard work of it. Realistically Waterford should have been beating both Clare and Cork out the gate last year but couldn’t do it. Cork were a shambles in the replay yet it was still level at half time in extra time if I remember right. All the talk here last year was that Waterford would have a great chance of beating Tipp because Davy would get them to keep it tight. Waterford never contended from about 10 minutes in.

Bringing through the youngsters that are clearly there in Waterford is the minimum you expect.

There are certainly worse managers out there than Davy but he’s clearly overrated.

@sid waddell

Weekend predictions:
Munster SHC final
Waterford 1-13 Tipperary 3-20

That looks quite conservative in hindsight

[KinvarasPassion]

I left Limerick yesterday a content Tribesman. We haven’t played hurling like that in years. Granted a limited Cork outfit allowed us to do so but some of the link up play was great entertainment.

Somewhere in the week after the Dublin game hurling stopped being a chore and the enjoyment returned.

Tis game on now.

[cluaindiuic]

I was in Cork today for the munster final.

Congrats to Tipp on inflicting the biggest championship defeat on Waterford in many, many years. 3 in fact.

There is no getting away from the fact that Waterford are dumb hurlers. Defenders trying to catch when they should be using their hurl, goalies diving out of the way of shots, a manager putting a rookie on the reigning hurler of the year. Baffling stuff.

Anyone see how red Mullane’s legs were in patches at the start of the match. Weird stuff.
He must have been baytin the shit out of himself in the warm up.

I dunno what to make of Tipp. They have a scary attack but their defence is a bit wobbly. 0-19 conceded in a game they dominated. Not only that but Waterford gained a good bit of ball at the expense of the Tipp full back line. They did very little with it. A better attack will do damage. Fanning is a big loss.

Those Tipp lads are fairly dim.
Tipp lad on the phone walking out if the stadium:
“Yeah we won, yeah. Scored 7 goals. 5 in the first half and 3 in the second half”.

Galway with their yearly false dawn. Waterford are there for the taking. So, take them!
Limerick and Dublin could be a right good game.