Stick hurling: Parental Guidance advised

[peddlerscross]

His striking is nowhere near crisp enough but @thelimericks try to change the narrative and depict him as some sort of genius playmaker.

Noel McGrath has better vision and is a way better hurler.

[Watchyourtoes]

Grade: Must try harder guys.

[fenwaypark]

@backinatracksuit

My favourite team for obvious reasons were Cork 84-91 and I wonder how many of them
Lads would have played inter county if they were born 40 years later

Mine aswell. I think the great players of any era would be the great players of today. That’s what great players do, they adapt.

[Cheasty]

@backinatracksuit

The players are quite robotic and that’s something that’s taken from the spectacle, there’s no room for a maverick or a little fat lad who could score goals.

The thing that made sports of the golden era of television (around 1970 to around the early 2000s) was the sheer variety of body shapes on show, the sheer variety of humanity.

In hurling there was a place for every sort of body shape, and hairline. That’s much less the case now. Limerick are panzer like, they’re mainly very big men, relentless like machines, in helmets with face masks. The whole thing is much more homogenous.

Snooker, darts and golf thrive as television sports because you see faces up close and you see the thoughts going through players’ heads.

The NBA, despite not being as big either in America or worldwide as the NFL, has produced much bigger worldwide stars than the NFL, because NFL players wear helmets and NBA players don’t.

[glasagusban]

The helmet thing is overstated, the great players have a style and a body language that is recognisable immediately.

[glasagusban]

Sure we have all those high balls and low balls to the corners now for forwards to take on their markers, they’re as much a part of the game as ever surely?

[iron_mike]

These bank holidays in good weather are a bad idea. Lads still full of bulmers and orchard thieves trying desperately to justify their very existence

[glasagusban]

@Cheasty

Cian Lynch had the potential to be one of the great artists but has had his genius pretty much coached/injured out of him at this stage.

Steady on. He’s had pretty much a season and a half either out injured. I’d be confident he has a couple of good seasons left in him yet.

[myboyblue]

@glasagusban

The helmet thing is overstated, the great players have a style and a body language that is recognisable immediately.

Unless they’re playing centre forward for your Clubs minor team.

[Cheasty]

@fenwaypark

Mine aswell. I think the great players of any era would be the great players of today. That’s what great players do, they adapt.

There are much more layers to that question than meets the eye.

Great players are a product of a lot of things. Much of it is due to luck. Luck in where people grew up in terms of tradition of sports, luck in terms of economic circumstance, luck in terms of having encouraging parents or an encouraging coach, or a smart manager.

There isn’t any more inherent hurling ability in Limerick now than there was 20 years ago. This Limerick team didn’t emerge out of nowhere. The conditions were put in place for them to emerge.

Why did Scotland produce great footballers in the 60s, 70s and 80s and then suddenly stop? Why did Offaly produce great hurlers and then suddenly stop?

Would John Troy be remembered as a great hurler had he been ten years younger than he was? Would Gearoid Hegarty be remembered as a great hurler had been 10 years older? Mouse Kavanagh or Damian Casey? Will these be remembered as great hurlers or as footnotes due to accident of birth?

Maybe some players of yesteryear would not have been remembered as greats were they around today, because maybe they wouldn’t have wanted to put themselves through the preparation needed to be a great player today. And maybe some of today’s greats wouldn’t have been pushed to put themselves through the preparation that makes them great now, in a previous era, and wouldn’t have been great then. And there’s very likely a generous helping of players stuck at club level now who would have been greats in a previous era.

[backinatracksuit]

@thelimericks invent slights everywhere,
Not content with being the current dominant force it has to be the best era with the best style of hurling

[Thomas_Brady]

Who said that?

[balbec]

Say that below in the Well on your next visit

[backinatracksuit]

It’s called reading between the lines, clear as the nose on your face

[balbec]

Couldn’t care less about that.

[Cheasty]

@glasagusban

The helmet thing is overstated, the great players have a style and a body language that is recognisable immediately.

Most players don’t have an immediately recognisable style. It takes time and a genuine motivation to build up that knowledge of players’ gaits and striking styles. The helmet is unquestionably a barrier to accessibility for people who don’t see a lot of a particular team. It takes much more effort now to become familiar with players in hurling than it did previously.

[backinatracksuit]

@fenwaypark

@backinatracksuit

My favourite team for obvious reasons were Cork 84-91 and I wonder how many of them
Lads would have played inter county if they were born 40 years later

Mine aswell. I think the great players of any era would be the great players of today. That’s what great players do, they adapt.

Seanie Leary, too far
Tom Cashman, too small and not quick,
Tony O’Sullivan wouldn’t win ‘dirty ball’
Johnny Crowley, too slow

I don’t know if they’d have been able to adapt

[Thomas_Brady]

Lot’s of lines to read through tho… The anti Limerick seethe shining through too.

Limerick are the Greatest team to ever play and that’s fact.

After that you can all go cry for the 70s/80s all you want.

[backinatracksuit]

@backinatracksuit

@thelimericks invent slights everywhere,

@Thomas_Brady

Lot’s of lines to read through tho… The anti Limerick seethe shining through too.

Limerick are the Greatest team to ever play and that’s fact.

After that you can all go cry for the 70s/80s all you want.

Exhibit A

[Thomas_Brady]

It eats your soul that we’ve eclipsed anything Cork did . You’re not alone. We have the tippos and Galways atin xanex fir breakfast, lunch and supper.