The point about Tipp having mediocre hurlers is, in my opinion, bollocks. Tipp have as much talent as any team in the country but they’re just soft as shit.
Shit can be hard sometimes, sort that post out please.
Dublin are the specialists in pure constipated hurling.
They certainly seemed to lack a bit of “fight” for want of a better word. Limerick harried them a lot more. Tipp forwards are average though.
It’s not hurlers that Tipp lack, it is men
GOM was absolutely bollixed for the last 10 mins. His man a crossfield run at one stage and was a good 10 yards off him, Wayne mac had to follow him instead while Gavin held the center. Pretty sure tipps last 3 shots came down that side as well.
We were lucky it didn’t cost us and they will need to be sharper with changes the next day. But they did make some good changes like swapping Dowling & Downes (hardly rocket science though )
But they are learning on the job and yesterday will have been great experience for them.
Breen looks like a porn star.
And a goalkeeper.
@Julio Geordio, the closest we’ve been on our player ratings so far!
Also, Bonner Maher’s first touch is a sight to behold. The man in simply immense at getting the ball straight into his hand from the ground, regardless of the pressure he is under or speed he is travelling. Shame he seems to lack a bit of confidence and technique in his striking. He had an easy point chance and could have even made it into a goal chance in the second half but rather than tap over the easy score he played a square handpass to Callinan (I think) who put it over but was under pressure to do so
[QUOTE=“Julio Geordio, post: 953367, member: 332”]So here goes
Quaid; Supremely calm on the ball. Plucked one from over Lars head in the second half as well. Haven’t seen a replay of the goals but on first viewing he couldn’t do much about it. 8/10
Hickey; Was very worried about him pre match but he was flawless. Tipps tactics of rotating the forwards actually suited us and when Hickey ended up at centre back towards the end he was immense. That’s where he belongs. Careyesque score at the end. 9/10
Richie; Was caught a few times but scrambled back. His hook on Callinian (i think) when he was through on goal was brilliant. Puts his body in the way every time. 8/10
Condon; His usual barnstorming self. We have a wreckless full backline that just go for everything, it is both brilliant and terrifying to watch. 8/10
O’Brien; Never really involved, though I didn’t on first viewing think his man did much either. 6/10
Wayne; Was brilliant at times, but also made some very poor mistakes. Tipps rotation meant he ended up a corner back at one stage and managed to hold his own. 7/10
Gavin; Gavin was well beaten at times yesterday and never really got into it. 5/10
Browne; Superb throughout, was everywhere and distributed excellently. 9/10
Jim Bob; MOTM by a distance, best display he’s ever had in a Limerick shirt. He was everywhere, a couple of stray shots but they couldn’t take away from his overall performance. 10/10
Dowling; It isn’t often you can score as much and still have had a quiet game. Wasn’t involved much @ hf. More involved when he went in full, scoring one beauty. More to come from Dowling when they decide on a position for him. I think FF personally. Best free taker in the country at the minute? 8/10
O’Grady; Two vital scores in quick succession when the pressure was on. Very quiet other than that though, seemed to be trying to drag the Tipp CB around the field and ended up playing nowhere in particular. 7/10
Hannon; Very quiet afternoon from Hannon. 3 miss-hit sidelines would suggest he hasn’t fully gotten over the croke park yips. Not commanding enough in the air for a big man. I’ve never seen him look as natural at hf as he did @ cb. Maybe we should look at moving him back? 5/10
Mulcahy; Unlucky his goal was disallowed, had a tough day in the corner. Both Cahill and Barrett were dominant, however the ball in was atrocious and meant for fellas twice the size. Has more danger about him than Tobin. 5/10
Downes; Someone needs to take Downes aside and tell him to stop trying for the spectacular. Between trying to out catch Maher and trying a shot while he fell backwards he was trying to do too much. Never once did he try to pull on it or flick it away from Maher, contrast that with Dowling who caused Maher much more trouble just by getting a hurley in. He is however capable of great things and he showed glimpses of that yesterday. He is not being utilised properly. Happier when running out into the corners for low ball than actually catching the sky balls Limerick were hitting in. 6/10
Tobin; Well beaten and should have been subbed sooner. Again I will say the ball in was terrible. 4/10
Tom Ryan; Great point at a vital moment when he came on 7/10
All in all, plenty to work on. Very poor in places and only the Goalkeeper, Fullback line and midfield could say there isn’t room for improvement.
Seriously need to work on our delivery into the FF line or else change the composition of it (a bit of both I think). G
Hickey belongs further out the field and could replace anyone of the three hbs the next day IMO.
Need to rejig the forwards altogether. I’d like to see something like this the next day
O’Grady Downes Tom Ryan/Allis
Hannon Dowling Mulcahy
We need to win some ball in the hf line and have some size in the FF line. I’d drop Mulcahy out and let the two boys inside to see what they could do.
Teege was very slow making the changes yesterday. Tobin should have been taken off much earlier. A worrying enough sign.
From a Tipp point of view I’d be very worried, too many mediocre hurlers. Lar coming on to save the day isn’t much of a plan b either.[/QUOTE]
The quote about our full back is brilliant Julio!!
On the match itself, thought Shane Dowling kept us in it in the 1st half and highlights the importance of a top class free taker. Thought Kelly gave us a few soft frees and in fairness if the shoe was on the other foot we’d have been spitting fire. The fucker returned the favour in the second though. No way in hell that was a free out for Mulcahy’s goal. Our forwards didn’t really function at all, the single biggest reason Limerick won yesterday was midfield. Browne and Ryan absolutely wiped out Tipp’s duo of Bergin and Mcgrath. It was as dominant a performance by 2 midfielders as I can remember. How Tipp didn’t move Brendan maher to midfield God only knows.
Plenty to work on from a Limerick point of view our forwards will improve and I’d imagine there won’t be any changes for the final.
I think @carryharry called him a mullocker.
Tipp were trying to run through onto breaks from Bonnar all match.
He needs to take on more scoring opportunities himself.
[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 953378, member: 1786”]GOM was absolutely bollixed for the last 10 mins. His man a crossfield run at one stage and was a good 10 yards off him, Wayne mac had to follow him instead while Gavin held the center. Pretty sure tipps last 3 shots came down that side as well.
We were lucky it didn’t cost us and they will need to be sharper with changes the next day. But they did make some good changes like swapping Dowling & Downes (hardly rocket science though )
But they are learning on the job and yesterday will have been great experience for them.[/QUOTE]
It’s a stunning indictment of Tipp that Limerick made only one substitution (a corner forward), came into the game with far less good quality hurling done, and still outfought and outlasted Tipp.
We made a second in the final moments.
It’s the point I’m making though.
Thought we were slow on the line yesterday. Tom Ryan should have been introduced much earlier. He’s like a bigger, more physical version of Browne - he’ll run all day long and cover every blade of grass. We went for broke and stuck with our strongest team all through, in the games that lie ahead we will get caught if we are that slow to make changes.
Reckon they had planned to use him at midfield but you couldn’t take off Browne or Ryan. They might have introduced him for either wing back. Allis should probably have been brought in. Starting Tobin robs us of an impact inside forward as a few posters noted pre-game.
In fairness that Tipp full backline is as good as any in the country. Last year we didn’t get much change out of them either.
Watched the match again and we didn’t drill many low balls into the corners. Look at Waterford last week, they had great success from intelligent low driven passes into the full forward line. In their defence Mulcahy and Tobin barely received a decent delivery between them. We did hit a lot of aimless balls in high which suits neither of them.