Yeah. They needed kk to have a crazy injury crisis to win
To be fair they did a couple of great wan in a rows
They did but that KK team is probably the greatest ever. To me, with the players they had and the style they played, they were a great team. They probably came out the wrong side of too many great games, but they were in nearly all of them. Their own supporters have never got over them really.
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Obviously,seeing as Tommy and the lads are in their 40ās now.
Tipperary have always danced at all the right dances.
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Thats true
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Completely agree. This is a Limerick team for the ages. No question. The only caveat i would put on it is that the quality of their opposition has been found wanting at times. Obviously thatās not Limerickās fault, but if you compare the present day contenders to how they were in 2017, and it tells itās own story.
Limerick - One of the great sides and a galaxy away from the side that went out to Kilkenny in Nowlan Park back in '17. Way better now.
Kilkenny - Hard to say, probably about par and thatās being kind. The remnants of the AI winning side of '15 were still soldiering away, they were just as hard to kill as they are now. Waterford rightly buried them AET. About par. Kilkenny posters may not agree though.
Clare - Probably a slightly better side than their 2017 counterparts. Still not the finished article. Canāt seem to do it outside of Munster. Just pipped by a very good Tipp team in SuperValu Pk back in 2017.
Galway - A mile off the side we were back then. Some of our best players are still the lads that were at their peak back then. Total rebuild mode.
Cork - Iām still totally unconvinced by them. Had their chances in the AISF that year. Story of their lives. Iām gonna say they slightly off where they were then.
Chipp - A long way off the side that they were. Thankfully.
Waterford - A country mile off the side they were back then. Going back to being the perennial also rans. One very dominant club probably isnāt helping things.
Wexford - A mile off where they were. Abysmal in 2023. Blew their chance in '19. Nearly relegated to Joe McDonagh. Had it happened they could have had no complaints. Saw them twice last year, I was shocked at how bad they were.
Dublin - Probably not as good as they were in 2017. Always seem to exit the championship meekly. Last year was a classic of the genre. As was 2017 as far as I remember actually. So actually maybe par.
As I said, itās not Limerickās fault. Theyāll saunter in to the history books this summer. Thereās fuck all resisting it.
Itās also true itās very difficult for teams to improve when one team is totally dominant.
Who knows whatās a Munster win would do to Clare as
Example.
Limerick are miles ahead of the 2018 version.
Tipp managed it at the end of the noughties. Galway were a point away from them in a QF that year for example. Thereās nowhere near a similar form line now.
Agreed, Limerick are miles better than '18. But two semi finalist of that year Clare and Galway are not as good now as they were then imo.
Tipp bait Kilkenny minus hogan and shefflin in 2010. They didnāt win again until 2016.
Iād strongly disagree on Clare anyway. They are good side who have to go two to two twice in Limerick the past two seasons before an all Ireland semi final.
Iād expect if Kilkenny or Galway had to do the same theyād seriously struggle in the all Ireland series afterwards.
We seriously struggled anyway. Probably because both Galway and Kilkenny are ordinary enough side now.
See your point re Clare, but, they have been woeful in Croke Park. Thatās where it counts. They havenāt been playing world beaters in games there either. Granted they have been brilliant in Munster. Even beating Limerick in the round robin. There is a strong argument that they are the second best side out there. But they have been so disappointing outside of Munster. I feel that, in terms of age profile etc, they had better personnel in '18.
2014 was where it all peaked.
Everyone bar maybe Waterford were good back then.
The League and All Ireland Finals probably the greatest games ever played.
The current Limerick would beat that Limerick side by about points I reckon.
They managed to push Kilkenny to the collar in an all Ireland semi final and beat tipp in Munster.
Think of the players who were knocking around back then.
Shefflin, Delaney, Richie Power, Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett all still there.
The Joe Canning, David Burke, Patrick Horgan, Richie Hogan, TJ Reid, Seamus Callanan, Padraic/Brendan Maher, Noel McGrath generation all coming into their prime.
The Tony Kelly, Austin Gleeson, Tadhg De Burca, Ronan Maher, Conor McDonalds, Declan Hannonās all breaking through.
It was a simply incredible standard.
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Hard to argue with that.
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The likes of Eoin Kelly, Richie Power, JJ Delaney and Tommy Walsh were all retiring at 30-32 because the young lads were so good they were finding them out.
Now the likes of Hoggie, Seamus Harnedy, Noel McGrath and TJ Reid are still their teams best players at 33-36 because the young lads are so bad.
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Thatāll change in time.Always does
Cian Lynch is better than all of them and still only coming into his prime.
Turned 28 recently only.
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