4/7
Hurling was much better in my day. There was none of this catching the ball rubbish. It was all ground hurling. Why donāt we go back to ground hurling. The teams in my day had far more skill. Theyād knock lumps out of todayās teams. The players todaya are soft. They need these stupid helmets. Players in my day never needed helmets. We didnāt even need boots, sure we couldnāt afford them. But it made us tougher. We were real men. I hate hurling now. I hate life now. Iām a fat, cantankerous auld bore now. Iām a real miserable fucker.
The ground hurling thing is the funniest of the lot. Despite the fact that lads can stroke over sidelines from fifty yards heās adamant that modern players arenāt able to do it. The fact that a ground ball is invariably aimless and leads to possession being lost hasnāt occurred to him. Itās rte I blame though. Babs never chose to be this miserable and bitter.
While you have nailed Babs there, you have also touched on an important point.
Players, especially younger players, rarely pull on the ball any more.
This is mainly due to the fear involved of being fractionally off and being sent off.
It is the nannying bullshit that has come in to the game.
Lads canāt even break a hurl anymore trying to pull on the ball without calls for them to be sent off.
I talked with my brother about it briefly and he has found this the case since going back playing serior club hurling in Kilkenny that only the lads his age [early 30s] pull on the ball.
Everyone else flicks and taps in to space and then picks and drives. You could see it in the Munster Final yesterday. Waterford lads kicking and poking the ball in to space. Itās a very useful tactic.
Kilkenny do it too.
The skills of the players are so high these days that all you need is a small amount of space to get the ball in your hand and either find a teammate or clear yourself.
Itās the fact that teams nearly always give away possession when they do it. Every field sport in the world revolves around possession of the ball. Hurling is different but itās not that different.
Yeah that is a fair point too. Getting low ball in to forwards could be done by ground hurling though. But shots out of the hand have far more control and are more accurate.
Yeah, thatās the thing. Itās about controlling possession.
The likes of Babs tend to miss the attention they used to get so badly that it kills them to say anything positive about the modern game or players. Everything negative that happens is something that would never happen in their day because they were all such great men.
Even the rucks that you see develop in hurling matches with ever greater frequency over the last ten years can be traced directly to two major changes in coaching - the better physical conditioning of players and the premium that is placed on possession. Youād only have to ask Brian Cody about the work he put into improving his teamās ability to compete for ball on the ground. Thereās no way players in Babās era would have been fit enough to consistently get to and compete for broken ball over the course of seventy minutes. The return wouldnāt have been there anyway as invariably a 50-50 chance to recover possession would come in the very next ball.
Itās exactly because that isnāt the case nowadays that teams pile three or four men in on top of every broken ball, if they can. Of course Babs would say itās because lads canāt control the ball, but since Kilkenny are the market leaders in doing it they must be the least skillful team going.
You even have it at club level lads. Now i believe there is a place for a certain amount of ground hurling, and if its part of a game plan that the inside forward know a certain player may keep it moving then that can work. But listening to one of our selectors go on about some things is painful.
I would say though that around the goal more broken ball should be just pulled on, too many guys trying to pick the fucking thing up, when they are only going to get bottled up anyway.
Surprising enough looking Tipp team
The Tipperary Senior Hurling team to play Offaly on Sunday July 18th in Portlaoise is
- Brendan Cummins (Ballybacon Grange)
- Paddy Stapleton (Borris-Ileigh)
- Paul Curran (Mullinahone)
- Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields)
- Declan Fanning (Killenaule)
- Conor OāMahony (Newport)
- Padraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)
- Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh)
- David Young (Toomevara)
- GearĆ³id Ryan (Templederry Kenyons)
- Shane McGrath (Ballinahinch)
- Patrick Maher (Lorrha and Dorrha)
- Noel McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney)
- Lar Corbett (Thurles Sarsfields)
- Eoin Kelly (Mullinahone) Captain.
Whereās the Drom&Inch windbag?
hoovering up loose ball on the sideline
Heāll love it out there
Surprised to see McGrath moved there, he is a top class midfielder and has done all his adult hurling either in the half backs or midfieldā¦Callinan may well be loose but there is no doubting his classā¦he hasnāt been firing on all cylinderās this year but I would still have him in the teamā¦
I dunno, a Tipp team without Callinan is a less daunting challengeā¦
He may be out of form but he has the potential to cause serious damage.
Is he injured or something?
'Hon Offaly
Fit AFAIK, if he is out of form then drop him for someone who can do a better job at centre forward not your most experienced midfielder, it could well turn out to be a masterstroke but to me it has a feeling of robbing peter to pay paul about itā¦Same with Young midfield, he was outstanding at wing back the last day, why not leave him there
Agree with all the points wrapped into this paragraph.
Still no Kerwick either, totally different half forward line to last year.
Surprised at both moves as well. If I was moving McGrath out of midfield itād be in the other direction. Callinan is a lethal finisher and he makes excellent runs off the ball all day. I suppose the lack of ball winning ability is the biggest talking point in Tipp and the centre-forward will always get shit for that.
Agree with ye lads on the actual players coming into positions, but iām not convinced by Callinan at all yet, bit brain dead for me at times. He is a super athlete and hurler when on form, but has yet to show killer instinct against the big guns.
The Young move in particular is madness, considering he was MOTM in his first ever game, itās too soon of a āpromotionā if you want to call it that. But maybe its a dummy team, and Maher goes half back.
Tipp have serious talent, but iām begining to wonder about the boyos over them at different grades. Iād say they spend more time talking about their history and how good they are and filling their heads with shite rather than concentrating on ironing out their flaws. Thats just a feeling i get, but i have heard through an older player that alot of shite gets talked. How much value iād put into that info i donāt know, but its starting to seem like that now.
The more i think of the match last night, coupled with the Senior hammering we gave them, i actually think for all their pumping fists, their back slapping and team huddles, they are mentally weak, and their in game management leaves alot to be desired. Plus Benny Dunne is still on the panel.
After the famine was ended, Tipp have only one All-Ireland in almost 20 years. The pressure might be getting to them. Something is, because the ability is absolutely unquestionable.
Kerwick is no where near fit.
and Callinan deserves to be dropped, he has been poor all year, dropping him should give him a much needed kick up the hole.
has the Offaly team been named???