Official 2012 All Ireland Hurling Championship Thread

The question still stands, pal!

Kk are phenomenal at winning primary possession . The are physically huge in The middle third, a traditional meat and drink hit and hope game is swallowed up.
They have some developing weaknesses. 1 and 3 are obvious areas to test. But require fast deliveries from opposing HB MF. This in turn means some short passing to free the deliverer, problem being the KK forwards work like dogs. They are not scoring as freely from their HF line, they’re scoring rates have consistently dropped accordingly so forcing them to shoot is not the gift it once was. Also, plan A must be to stop them getting goals, build from there.One very important point
 Kk use their arms quite liberally when trying to stop advancing players, a properly coached side will take advantage of this and manufacture frees, ESP in 80 yard area, a long distance free taker coupled with a clever approach to winning frees as above will receive serious reward soon

While it was a fabulous game, I don’t think 2010 is the template to beat kk. Tennyson and tyrell completely lost the head that day and their lack of structure and discipline allowed McGrath and Corbett to run riot, the shefflin thing also had a massive impact. They will be very hard to beat in a final

[left]
DĂ©ise star Connors hopeful of facing Clare

By TomĂĄs McCarthy
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Waterford defender Noel Connors is optimistic about being fit for the Munster SHC semi-final against Clare next month.
The 2010 All Star missed the league with a bulged disc in his back but has returned to light training.

“I’m jogging and doing a bit of hurling with the club. I’m feeling a lot better now and it’s gradually getting there. It’s a slow process.”

The Passage club man continued: "In the last few weeks I have been running and I was training with the lads two weeks before we went off with the clubs.

Hopefully I’ll be back fully into it in the next two weeks. I’m just working my way back in and taking it stage by stage."

Connors has targeted the third round of the club championships, on the last weekend in May, as a trial run to assess his fitness but June 17 remains his objective. He added: “I still have a load of time. There’s plenty of days and hours and weeks before the match so you have to be positive and look on the bright side of things to some extent. If you look on the bad things you are always going to get yourself down.”

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/deise-star-connors-hopeful-of-facing-clare-194203.html#ixzz1v6q4ta3K[/left][/left]

Laois hurling boss Teddy McCarthy has called on the county’s supporters to get ‘off their backsides’ and start supporting the team.
The Cork dual All-Ireland[/url] medal winner, who will lead Laois into the [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Leinster_Rugby”]Leinster Championship for the first time on Saturday against Carlow, has been shocked by the lack of support for the side.
“It is high time people got off their backsides and started supporting us,” he said.
“It is easy to support us from the couch at home or in the bar after, but we need the support, we are no different from anyone else.”
Laois will be without midfielder Joe Fitzpatrick, who has been ruled out for the season on medical grounds, with doubts surrounding Sean Burke, John Brophy and Jimmy Walsh.
McCarthy faces an uphill battle to revive the O’Moore County and he has told the current crop to forget about players who are refusing to play for the county.
"You have fellas missing because they won’t come on the panel. I said to the players: ‘We are in a hole, but if we are manly enough it is up to us to dig ourselves out of it.’
“If we can stick together for the three years I’m sure we’ll be a force to be reckoned with in Leinster again and we won’t be talking about the boys that are not making themselves available,” said McCarthy.
Irish Independent

It’s amazing to think that Laois have more hurling clubs than Offaly. Laois haven’t beaten them in the championship since the 70s, but up until that era they were probably a bigger force than Offaly were. Since then Offaly have won 4 All-Ireland senior championships along with 9 Leinster senior championships, 3 All-Ireland minor championships along with 4 Leinster minor championships, and 5 Leinster U21 championships. And not a single one of those championships had ever been won by an Offaly team before 1978. It’s remarkable. Just goes to show what can be done if the will is there.

Ah here, clubs is one thing, but the amount that are barely getting by is a joke. There’s been a few amalgamations recently, and I can see a few more coming in the years to come. But Offaly are to be admired, ignore what the likes of bandage will tell you.

PP now pricing Clare as favourites for the Waterford game. Waterford still favourites everywhere else. Any value in Limerick at 9/2? I suspect not.

I think Offaly might be the best bet for an upset in the early rounds (against Galway). Depends on how good a job Baker is doing, but they’ve caught Galway and Dublin cold over the last two years and Galway are raw and inexperienced this year.

Offaly are some annoying bastards to have any faith in.
I have been to a number of their matches in the last few years and they just make it so hard on themselves sometimes.
I agree that they could easily catch Galway on the hop. They certainly have no fear of them.

That’s remarkable, can’t see anything but a Clare victory considering Waterford’s injuries and the respective managements.

Is Offaly to beat Wexford as sure a thing as the bookies are making it?

Cripple fight. What are the odds on the Wexicans?

9/4

Worth a lbet, both teams are such fuck-ups anyone could win.

[quote=“Turenne, post: 682647”]

That’s remarkable, can’t see anything but a Clare victory considering Waterford’s injuries and the respective managements.
[/quote] we will have it all to do to win this game. Our forwards are still not playing well enough to convince me that we will put up a good score. Having said that if Waterford are as badly prepared as it seems then power and focus might be enough to push us past them. Waterford have a lot of experience to call on that we dont. This is a 50 50 game

TAN, if you can’t beat a Waterford side trained by a moron and short Shanahan, O’Sullivan, Connors, O’Mahony and whoever the fuck else who can you beat?

+1. If Clare can’t win this they may as well pack it in.

Waterford have been playing at a higher level than us for years. If you just look at last year and compare the performances of both teams they’re way ahead of us. The rolled over a Galway team that annihilated us. Add in the fact that all their young guys have been playing division 1 hurling as opposed to division 2 and you’ve a decent case that they’re at a higher standard than us.

I take all your points about the players they’re missing and the management trouble they have and all of that is very positive for us. I wouldn’t be putting the farm on it just yet though.

Thats great news for Deise, Connors is a super hurler.[/left]

Laois away to Carlow this weekend. A difficult place to go Dr Cullen Park, I have been wary of this one for a while. Panel could and should be stronger, but we’ll have to make do. Lot of the scoring burden will fall on Willie’s shoulders but if Foyle can fire at full forward we could get out alive. But I am wary.