I honestly thought Clare beat themselves yesterday with their bizarre tactics in the first half and then when they got themselves into a two point lead they froze and self destructed coughing up an awful.
Kilkenny didnt have to do an awful lot to win that compared to last year when I thought they were purring in the semi final (albeit with Clare failing to show up)
I would say a slightly worse KK team, ran a slightly better Limerick team to 3 points last year. Not expecting much different in two weeks
Has shefflin received similar criticism to lohan, and previously Davy and Derek for going to 1 man inside and deploying a sweeper late in the 1st half? And then sticking with it until it was too late. A terribly negative switch that handed the initiative to Limerick completely
A great player and an all time great.
Nicely put.
Kilkenny hurled poorly enough, especially in the first half and then via dreadful second half wides, in 2022 AIF. If Kilkenny hurl well in a fortnightâs time, they will have an outside chance.
Kilkenny are not great but neither are they anything like as poor, I submit, as you are claiming.
Anyway, we will see what happens.
This is a very decent Kilkenny team. Obviously, since theyâre in back-to-back All Ireland finals.
They seem to suffer the misfortune of being compared to Kilkennyâs best ever team, the most successful team in the history of hurling; very very few teams would stand up to that comparison.
But they are a good team in their own right and Iâd say definitely better in 2023 than 2022 too.
I agree nigh 100% with that post.
Most people have no iidea of the shitshow the Kilkenny camp became 2017 to 2022. Certain players just did not develop as they might have in another context.
Outside of Cody its very hard to see any Kilkenny forward scoring more than 1 point from play in 70 minutes. TJ canât get shots off anymore in open play.
Compare that to the great forwards ye had back in the day when it would be bang, bang, bang over the bar.
Ye should be in the doldrums but everyone else are just hopeless too and ye have that warrior spirit that no one else has.
But no one, least of all myself, is claiming this Kilkenny iteration is comparable to Kilkenny 2009 or Kilkenny 2014. But so what, really. How many teams in the history of hurling would be?
I think Richie Reid is a big weakness.
Itâs very tough for the young Kilkenny players to replace all time greats as well.
Thought the workrate was top notch yesterday (as youâd traditionally expect with Kilkenny). All of the subs - the old timers - had some impact (scored or were fouled for frees or contributed to scores). Last year, I gave ye very little chance going into the final. I think ye are a much better side this year. Can ye avoid losing four All Ireland finals in a row? Eight years without one is nearly a famine for ye!
Iâd agree with that. Nice striker of the ball but makes poor decisions at times and is defensively suspect. Kyle destroyed him last year. Clare allowing him to sit in was a poor decision imo because he can boom the ball long.
I can definitely see why Lawlor was tried at 6 earlier in the year. Itâs a pity that Conor Delaney never really kicked on, thought he was very decent underage.
Strongbowâs progeny.
What happened to Billy Drennan. He was being lauded as the second coming there for a stretch.
Heâs 20 for fuck sake
Not yet conditioned for the rigours of senior intercounty hurling. Heâll appear in time.
I think that post is prerty bang on too. And I also think that Kilkenny, while patchy and unpredictable, have a bit more to them this year overall when going full tilt.
Losing four AIFs in a row⌠The bookmakers say we will. Not sure this facet is madly relevant. Kilkenny are six titles ahead of Cork and eight ahead of Tipperary. Those governing statistics will still be in place in early 2024, come what may on July 23.
If Kilkenny have six wides or fewer against Limerick, they will push the whole thing to the wire.
Not many lads making an impact at 20 or 21 anymore. Heâll need a season or two like Cathal o Neill.
When we finally got over the line against ye in 2010, we needed a bag of goals. Think Kilkenny will need to be raising the small green flags