2009-2017 was the golden age of hurling mate, get with the programme, everything that has happened since then doesnât count, split season, 2 journalists and Big Rob Ryan, microwave championships, big bullies, round robins etc etc etc.
In any walk of life itâs imperative to continue to look backwards and convince yourself things were better in the past, living in the present and looking forward to the future is only a cod.
I get what youâre saying to a large extent. The main selling point for GAA codes was that they were played by uncouth, uneducated, simpleton muldoons. This meant that strategy didnât come into it. What was compelling for viewers was the man-to-man combat & a series of helter-skelter battles all over the pitch & the sheer unpredictable nature of these deranged lunatics going at it. Nobody (other than Twitter coaches) wants to watch Roscommon keep the ball for 6 minutes against Dublin before getting a shot off or Limerick scoring from a short puck out that goes through the lines from Quaid->Nash->OâDonovan->Morrissey without anyone putting in a tackle. The worst thing to happen to the development of GAA in Ireland was the Rainbow coalition bringing in âfreeâ third level education. Lads that previously would have spent their days looking around fields learned to read & write. Their latent intellectual curiosity was piqued & their offspring are the first generation of full time GAA strategists. Because of them there is no ground hurling any more.
You have your successful teams of the Millennium - Kilkenny 06-09, 11-15, Cork 04-06, Limerick 18-22, and your iconic teams - Waterford, Kinnerkâs Clare, Joeâs Galway. Nobody else in the conversation.
Cork started The Running Game at that time. It changed hurling into what we have today. Good or bad, if you didnât do it you didnât win.
Jasz and I thought hurling was only invented in 1995!
Wexford brought great razzmatazz in 2019 in fairness, youâd have to put them in there somewhere.
Canât remember a single other team from that era who deserved inclusion really.
Never mind
In fairness he once said that heâd sweep streets for 50 years if he could play inter-county until he was 35. I donât think it worked out as he would have expected because of injuries but heâs pretty much achieved the goal as heâll play in an All-Ireland final just a couple of weeks short of 35.
The actual incredible pieces of skill though are becoming less and less and youâd rarely see anyone now under about 26 do anything special that would make you go âWowâ.
Nobody really tries to anything special.
Iâm thinking of Joe Canningâs goal in 2015,
Richie Hoganâs goal in 2020,
Joe Canningâs sideline pass to Joseph Cooney in 2020 I think,
Austin Gleeson selling dummyâs and throwing the ball over fellas heads,
Tony Kelly doing all kinds of spins and turns,
TJ Reid/Bubbles/Noel McGrath/Patrick Horgan making the ball talk.
All you get now amongst the younger generation (U25âs) for the most part are a load of functional, athletic lads who can break tackles and track runners.
Its absolutely iconic the way he doesnât even make a 26 all year, but then rocks on for the knockout games in Croke Park.
You forgot to include the below, mate.
Aaron Gillaneâs goal against Waterford in 2019
Kyle Hayesâ goal vs Tipp in 2021
Peter Casey sending a Carkie into the stand with a sidestep in 2021
Seamus Flanagan alarmist perfecting hitting the ball over the shoulder
Gearoid Hegartyâs goal vs Clare in 2022
Gearoid Hegartyâs pick up at full speed before the goal against Kilkenny in 2022
Cian Lynches entire career
All great but how many of those lads are under 25 now?
The Limerickâs who won an AI Under 21 in 2017 were effectively the last generation who came through the proper underage system and it shows.
You listed three specific instances there. Canning was about 26 and 31 respectively. Hogan was 31.
I just picked a few quick examples but all the lads I mentioned were producing magic at a very young age.
Even TJ, who couldnât start regularly for Kilkenny for a while was ridiculously good underage. I remember being seriously impressed by him when I first saw him in an All Ireland U21 Semi Final against Galway in Thurles in 2006. Joe Canning as a minor was unreal in the same game.
@peddlerscross is one of the very best contributors here and one of the reasons I read TFK rather than listen to the radio. He also is a consistent fund of news and updates. We do not agree on certain things, such as Brian Cody and Davy Fitzgerald, but no matter.
He likes being from Tipperary, which is admirable. I like being from Kilkenny. Everyone should like being from their own place.
It would be a really poor day on TFK if @peddlerscross ceased contributing. He is a sound man.
Limerick currently have not just a tremendous team but also a tremendously successful team â and are irking people, in the way Kilkenny used to irk people. So these matters go.
The 2014 drawn All-Ireland was Hurlingâs zenith.
Iâm tired of saying it, but in terms of standard and excitement/drama, two games in GAA History tower above all others. The 2014 Drawn Hurling All Ireland and the 2017 Football Final.
Given the current GAA Structures at Underage level, and Formats/Scheduling at Senior Level it will be impossible to ever see anything like those games ever again.
Peak Eamon OâShea
Iâd agree that the 2014 drawn final was probably as good a game as I saw. Tippâs early lead. The first missed penalty. The Kilkenny second half onslaught. Tipp coming back by scoring points. Tippâs efficiency with barely a wide all day. The final free (which could have potentially been awarded either direction). Hawk-fucking-eye. It was the peak era for Eoin McDevitt deciding whoâd win a game based on how quick they ran out the tunnel.
Thatâs no slight on @thelimericks. I donât think theyâve had a team come up to their level during their dominant period. Teams have come close but nobody has been able to push them over the edge. Iâve a feeling we are going to be in a great final this year. It might not be settled after 70 minutes.
If you look at the winning margins since 2000, all ireland finals are very rarely won by a small margin
Thereâs been only 7 games within a score, and of that 7 two have been fewer than 3 points. Limerick vs Galway and last year.
This notion that Limerick have had no challenge or have got it easy somehow is pure bullshit.
Kilkenny 06 to 09 had it easier, in relative terms. Leinster was shit, they peaked for a semi final and had cork on the way down, beat bad limerick and waterford teams and then beat tipp on the way up in 09.
Not taking anything away from that KK team either. Winning consistently isnât easy, regardless who youâre playing