One of best games of hurling in 2019 was the Munster Club Final between Borrisileigh and Ballygunner.
1-12 to 1-11 it finished. It was brilliant viewing in dreadful conditions.
Games in wet weather can be brilliant because goalies aren’t able to ping puckouts 70 yards into someone’s hand and then they take a shot uncontested.
Error strewn.
What would a game of hurling look like if you made keepers take puckouts like a free out from the small square.
Nash would be sacked
Ground hurling
Hip and whip, the Limerick way
John Fenton’s against Limk? Bit unfair on Quaid if so
Ken Hogans fuck up from hopper. Even though I was on about hawkee.
I do miss the recklessness of clearances from the 90s. Lads bursting out of defence and hitting the ball with venom and the absolute chaos in the opposing defence as the hail Mary decended.
Another thing you don’t see anymore is the short ground strokes that can be used to great effect to get the ball into space. A fast moving ground ball can be deflected into space by a wristy attacker and thereby completely wrong footing a chasing defender.
How twee.
Callinan’s goal from a pull last year against Wexford was a real novelty.
The keeper drives it down the field, a high slow floaty ball dropping on the half forward line. Underneath a great crowd has gathered as they wait for it to descend.
The half back goes up to bat it and the half forward pulls overhead in a wreckless fashion. The two negate each other, not because both have hit the ball, but both hurley’s have clashed making a lovely bang, and the crowd roars, everyone agrees it was a great passage of play and yelps delightedly. Meanwhile after the two of them missed the ball it bounced off the defenders shoulder out onto the ground.
The forward broke his hurley in the clash so he kicks it a few yards away and into the next melee. Where two opposing players arrive simultaneously swinging, there’s a great clatter as the hurley’s meet, and the crowd roars in approval, again neither has actually hit the ball so they both reload and swing again. This time the ball moves forward 20 feet towards the goal.
An on rushing forward arrives to jab lift, misses it but manages to hold off the defender while roll lifting it into his paw. He takes off on a solo run bouncing the ball on his hurley, he’s a skilled proponent of the art so gets about three bounces in before its on the ground again. He stops picks it again, fires it up in front of the defender swings his hardest and is half blocked but manages to drive it 30 yards onto the FF, it’s coming down with snow on it.
The Full Forward sticks up his hand but the full back cleaves him about half foot below the ball. The ball breaks in front of them, the full forward roll lifts it up after three attempts. Grabs into his stomach and then takes full back goalkeeper and ball over the line for a goal.
The glory days.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Evocative stuff
You’ve just described Ned Rea’s pushover try of a goal in the 1973 AIF there
Was it Joe McKenna? It was disallowed anyway
Mossie Dowling got the goal that day
2012 Leinster final, cant think of many others
Tommy Quaid should have saved that.
More debate on the sliotar.
Get your vote in.
No Stick-Stick option.