The Lesser GAA Pundits Fresh Take

Donkeys are great, a donkey would ate anything.

Would they are ate the cunting rabbits digging up my lawn & yard? :thinking:

Dungeon.

Don’t care what this KK cheat thinks.

A donkey’d ate a pallet.

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@vilbox and @ProjectX both like to hear what KK have to say.

I’m sold, I’ll tell Damien you sent me his way. :+1:

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After suffering defeats in their opening two games of the Allianz Hurling League, the Cats face fellow Division 1 strugglers Waterford on Sunday with vital league points at stake.

Kilkenny have been without several key figures this spring, namely TJ Reid, Richie Hogan, Colin Fennelly, Colin Fogarty, and Paul Murphy.

In their place, a number of last year’s Leinster U21 winning side have been thrust into action as Cody assesses the depth of this squad.

In his post-game interviews this season, the Kilkenny boss has been keen to focus on the positives amid all the talk of transition.

“Everybody that was out there was fully intent on trying to hold onto a jersey,” he said after they went down to Clare by three points at Nowlan Park. “And some fellas did themselves a lot of good.”

But former Tipperary star Lar Corbett, who had many memorable battles against Kilkenny during his inter-county career, believes Cody’s frustrations can be seen in his behaviour on the sidelines this season.

Cody was sent to the stands during Kilkenny’s Walsh Cup final loss to Wexford, following an altercation with a linesman over a red card given to Richie Reid.

“He has a high level of aggression on the sideline, but I think his level of aggression is after raising another bit,” Corbett said at the launch of the new Laochra Gael series.

“Being sent to the stand is a worrying thing for himself, his backroom team, and his players. So, you can only have a certain level of aggression and see how far it gets you.

“They are definitely being questioned more so than in the last number of years that I can remember. I remember they were questioned a few years ago and they came back and won a few All-Irelands afterward.

“There’s a bigger question mark (about Kilkenny) this year and I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. I can’t wait.”

Even though he may not have the same riches at his disposal, Cody’s ruthless edge remains as sharp as ever.

After watching Kilkenny fall 2-7 to 0-2 behind against the Banner, he sent in three first-half substitutions in an attempt to turn the tide.

Corbett wasn’t surprised to see Cody take such drastic action.

“When you play for Kilkenny and Brian Cody is the manager, you have to remember that there’s pressure on you to perform,” says Corbett.

“If you don’t perform, you’re coming out. We all know that Brian Cody is very quick to make decisions and after 22 minutes in the last game, he took someone off.

“He’s very quick to make decisions and the pressure is on when you’re there, there’s no question about that.

“It’s true that the leaders that he had, the leaders that were developed year on year over a seven to 10-year period (are not there anymore).

"When you’re looking for leaders now, it’s hard to see where they are. They don’t have them in the same abundance that they had them before.”

Tipperary travel to Nowlan Park to face the Cats on Sunday week, but the three-time All-Star believes it’s important not to read too much into the early season fixtures.

“To be fair I think Tipp are in a good position, but if you look at the conditions at this time of year, it’s very, very tough.

"It’s very hard to pick a team now in these conditions that you’d want come the first round of the championship if it’s in Semple Stadium or Páirc Uí Chaoimh when it’s hitting the top of the ground.

“To me, they’re two different sports. You want a different player for this time of the year from the summer time to get you over the line.

“The one thing you do need is to build confidence at this time of the year and you can see at the minute there, Wexford are getting good confidence and other teams are also.

“You do get confidence this time of the year, but as regards your chances, I wouldn’t like to be counting them this time of the year.”

That’s a great GGA punditry turn of phrase.

“There’s a question mark over…”

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Hackie Cahill alert.

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Is there still a question mark over Lar’s Vodka??:thinking:

I can send you a PM provided my info is discreetly taken & Used.

It’s rare to begin a hurling column with reference to cricket but the ball tampering incident in the Australia-South Africa game has caught the imagination.

We’ve occasionally seen some sliotar shenanigans in hurling though it’s important to remember that it’s not quite as taboo or as frowned upon.

It’s gamesmanship more than anything else.

The only incident I came across personally was in the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork when Anthony Nash rolled out a different sliotar to me when I was re-taking a penalty.

We were five or six points down early in the second half and Eoin Larkin was pulled down as he was going through on goal.

I stood up to take it knowing we needed a goal.

I struck the penalty very, very well and it flew into the net but unfortunately Tommy Walsh was nearly in on top of Nash by the time I hit the ball and Barry Kelly called it back to be retaken.

And it was a heavier ball that Nash handed me out for the re-take. I knew straight away when I had the ball in my hand that it wasn’t the same ball I struck the first penalty with.

A few people said it to me afterwards. My brother actually said it to me after the game that Nash went and picked a ball out of his bag and threw it out to me.

But in the heat of the moment, you’re not going to check the ball and go looking for the ball you hit the first time. We were chasing the game as well so you’re looking to get on with it as quickly as possible.

As regards the second attempt, whatever I say now it’s going to sound like I’m making excuses! But I struck the first penalty much better than I did the second one anyway.

I missed the re-take and it broke back to me and put it over the bar so we got a score out of it anyway. It would have seriously brought us back into that game but that’s not to say the result would have been any different. Cork were the superior team on the day.

Kilkenny succumbed to Cork in the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final in Thurles
And I’m sure there’s incidents like that happening all the time. Goalkeepers nowadays have a certain selection of balls buried in their net anyway.

It does bring you to a broader debate about sliotars that’s surfaced recently. We have heard some people in the last while calling for the sliotar to become heavier.

You watch games now and you see players scoring from 100-120 yards now which you wouldn’t have had in years past.

If the sliotar was that bit heavier it would take out that aspect of the game and as a result you might see more goalmouth action. And you might see more action between the 21 and 40 yard line than what we’ve been used to seeing in recent years.

But for me, it’s a great to see guys who are skillful enough and confident enough to shoot from massive distances.

A fine example would have been Galway’s performance in last year’s All-Ireland final. They never once threatened Stephen O’Keeffe’s goal. They knew if they set up far enough out the field, they’d be able to pop points from 70, 80 or 90 yards.

I like the way the game has gone. It’s the fastest game in the world so why try and slow it down?

The one drawback is there is a lack of goals at the moment but that’s less to do with the light sliotar and more to do with playing styles and sweeper systems.

We’re getting huge tallies of points but we’re not getting the goals that we would have seen six or seven years ago. In the past, you might have seen five or six goals in a game whereas now you’re lucky to get one.

We’re no longer seeing an all-out-attack approach with six forwards running at defences and trying to break the line of defence and laying off the ball to supporting players.

Instead, nowadays, forwards are dropping deep and looking for a player further out the field to pop the ball over the bar.

We don’t have the likes of an Eddie Brennan or a John Mullane where when they get their hands on the ball, they’ve only thing on their mind - and that’s goal.

That’s missing from the game a little bit at the moment. That killer instinct. We won’t see it until two teams are prepared to go man for man in a game.

Semi-final time

Michael Ryan should be extremely happy with how Tipperary are motoring
Leaving the sliotar issue to bed, we’ve two great games to look forward to at the weekend. Limerick are coming off a great win over Clare, albeit it was a big anti-climax in terms of the manner in which they won it.

A big downer for John Kiely’s side is Na Piarsaigh being beaten in the club final. It’ll be interesting how those guys bounce back from such a heartache.

I’d give them a chance but ultimately I just think Tipperary have too much for them.

In my view, Tipp have probably the strongest panel of players in the country. They’re after introducing a couple of players and they still have men to come back.

Michael Ryan is going to very, very happy where Tipperary are at. Home advantage will have to count for something as well. You could see them winning well too, if they get a run on Limerick, which as a neutral you don’t necessarily want to see.

Limerick have shown great spirit to get over Clare but I think they’ve achieved what they wanted to achieve in the spring with promotion to 1A and they are probably in bonus territory now.

“Wexford probably have the edge on Kilkenny heading into Sunday”
On the other side of the draw, we have yet another meeting between Davy Fitz’s Wexford and Kilkenny.

Last weekend’s quarter-final was Galway’s second league defeat on the trot but I don’t think Micheál Donoghue will be too worried yet.

After all, Wexford Park is an extremely tough place to go, as Kilkenny found out last year. And due to team holidays, the likes of Wexford are probably four or five weeks ahead of both Galway and Waterford.

And still, Galway, despite being down to 14 men, were in that game right up until the final whistle.

But you can’t not be impressed with the way Wexford are hurling at the moment. They’re playing with a sweeper system and yet it hasn’t stopped them racking up big scores.

Judging from the last two years, Wexford have had the upper hand on Kilkenny.

Will Kilkenny have any of their marquee players back? I don’t think Richie Hogan or Conor Fogarty will be back so you’re going to still have the same Kilkenny team to play them in the league.

From a neutral point of view, you’d have to give Wexford the edge going into Sunday. It’ll be their first League final since '93 and that in itself is huge.

I think Davy will go out for this league and if they get over Sunday, they’ll fancy their chances in a final.

Making excuses for missing a penno, :confused:

Don’t forget the grammar errors, who the jaysus is proof reading his ghost columns?

Fans of expressions such as the “Hot Zone” can look forward to Kevin McStay returning to punditry duty with RTÉ this summer.

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He seems to have a column in The Irish Times too.

Shane “Cake” Curran came out with a few crackers when he was on pundit duty a few years ago.

Thanks for that

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Is Jimmy’s Winning Matches returning?

“As I sat on the bench watching my Charlotte Independence team lose their eighth game in a row, my mind wandered as to how Mayo could stop this Dublin team”

“As I gazed with horror upon the torch wielding neo-Nazis shouting “Jews will not replace us” at the Robert E. Lee statue on Saturday, it struck me that Dublin have inflicted a from of slavery on all other teams in the championship”

“The American Civil War lasted for four years, but in the fifth year, the slaves threw off their shackles and struck for their freedom - I believe this can happen in the 2019 football championship, but it will not happen by throwing off the shackles, it will happen when a team comes up with a genius tactical system which stifles Dublin’s possession game”

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No worries…oh hang a second.