Hurling 2024

[The Premierview Podcast]

Great to see such a turn out last night for the Offaly Wexford U20s. Good lively game as well.

Kudos to Tg4 again, these U20 and Minor matches past few weeks have been great watches.

TG4 the true home of Gaelic Games

Totally.

Cork V Clare in the U20's on Monday night was excellent also.

Fantastic coverage.

Youd have to have Cork down as favourites to win it out now

Offaly have some lovely hurlers but it could be a year or 2 soon for them to win the u20 All Ireland.

It would be only brilliant to see them back at the top table.

it will be interesting to see,will it be a double header with the Joe Mc Cup, Offaly have definitely one u20 starter with their seniors which would involve them having to make a tough decision.

[NAG1]

Great to see such a turn out last night for the Offaly Wexford U20s. Good lively game as well.

Kudos to Tg4 again, these U20 and Minor matches past few weeks have been great watches.

TG4 the true home of Gaelic Games

Totally.

Cork V Clare in the U20's on Monday night was excellent also.

Fantastic coverage.

Youd have to have Cork down as favourites to win it out now

Offaly have some lovely hurlers but it could be a year or 2 soon for them to win the u20 All Ireland.

It would be only brilliant to see them back at the top table.

it will be interesting to see,will it be a double header with the Joe Mc Cup, Offaly have definitely one u20 starter with their seniors which would involve them having to make a tough decision.

The physicality of the Cork team is way ahead of Offaly at this point. The S&C programmes seem to have been on different levels.

[Milltown Row2]

With regards to S&C in intercounty teams, I was pitch side watching the Kilkenny lads mingle after the game, and couldn't help noticed the difference, upper body wasn't much difference, Kilkenny slightly ahead of that but the strength in the legs was different gravy altogether, they must be squatting big weights, which will help in those rucks, breaking tackles, fielding and running.. Are we missing this or just not at that level yet?

By the way I don't always looks at mens legs

[Saffrongael]

With regards to S&C in intercounty teams, I was pitch side watching the Kilkenny lads mingle after the game, and couldn't help noticed the difference, upper body wasn't much difference, Kilkenny slightly ahead of that but the strength in the legs was different gravy altogether, they must be squatting big weights, which will help in those rucks, breaking tackles, fielding and running.. Are we missing this or just not at that level yet?

By the way I don't always looks at mens legs

My young fella got his photo taken on the pitch with Mossy Keoghan after it & I see what you are saying, he was really powerfully built with legs like a rugby player

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/05/20/nicky-english-re-energised-tipperary-the-litmus-test-for-limericks-wayward-championship-run/

Nicky English: Re-energised Tipperary the litmus test for Limerick's wayward championship run
Champions under pressure in Thurles whereas earlier in Ennis, Clare look that bit better than Cork


Nicky English
Sat May 20 2023 - 05:00

We have arrived at a pivotal week in the Munster championship. In a short space of time, we have moved from Limerick's four-in-a-row being a foregone conclusion to a match that is suddenly the litmus test of the champions' whole season.

They underperformed against Waterford. The intensity against Clare was actually quite good if you look back at it and they lost by just a point but the key concern is that their scoring rate has diminished. The range of scoring potential is also reduced with Cian Lynch, Peter Casey and Gearóid Hegarty not as prolific to date.

This match will tell us a lot about Limerick. Tipperary have been fresh, energetic and revitalised with a number of interesting, young players like Alan Tynan in the middle of the field and Bryan O'Mara, who have added to the team but unfortunately for them, they are missing Jason Forde, who had been having his best year.

Munster is so delicately balanced that if the teams come out, knowing that Cork have beaten Clare in Ennis, Limerick will have to win to stay in the championship

I still believe that Limerick can't afford to be significantly less effective than they were against Clare and they don't have Seán Finn, who would typically be marking Forde because of a season-ending injury and is their top defender.


Munster is so delicately balanced that if the teams come out, knowing that Cork have beaten Clare in Ennis, Limerick will have to win to stay in the championship.

Both matches are really exciting prospects and there is likely to be a huge attendance in Thurles and the biggest Tipp crowd that has been seen in 2023.



They will be in attendance because of growing faith in the team's resurgence after the win in Ennis and even the draw in Cork, which they could have won. There have been flaws, most obviously the concession of seven goals in two matches and they were lucky not to concede a few more. That has to be a concern.

Having reviewed both games, it was hard to pinpoint any systemic errors that were causing this but such hospitable defending is a fact.

They have also picked up yellow cards, which is a danger but that vulnerability has been caused by pace, such as Ryan Taylor against Clare and Darragh Fitzgibbon in the Cork match running at the Tipperary defence.


That pace is not a feature of the Limerick game but hard running is and with Kyle Hayes, Hegarty, Tom Morrissey and Will O'Donoghue, it has been one of the difficulties that Tipperary have had with them in recent years as well as the damage done by their half-back line.

They have taken control from that line of the whole middle third, which led to the amazing turnaround in the 2021 Munster final and also the league semi-final last March. Having established that domination, they got scores from Byrnes, Hannon and Colin Coughlan in the absence of Kyle Hayes, who did such damage in 2021.

In both those cases, Tipp played into the wind in the second half and could not bypass the Limerick half-back line. Liam Cahill has to figure out a response to that — which Clare did — because his team just couldn't win any ball in the key areas during the second half of that league semi-final.


It's likely that the choice of Bonner Maher is designed for this purpose.

They had to face waves of attack, as opposed to the different threat of Cork, coming from the half-forward line rather than in stacked phalanxes from farther back, establishing the platform for Aaron Gillane and Séamus Flanagan to prosper.

Tipperary have been forceful around the middle of the field and scoring has been impressive, led by Jake Morris and with Mark Kehoe coming in and contributing.

Forde is a huge loss. At a minimum, he is a very reliable free-taker. Who will take over? Gearóid O'Connor has been a very successful free taker for UL and did well on the last day when thrust into it.

It's a bigger deal to have to go out knowing you're on the frees from the start. It will be a huge test for a young player if that's the way it falls.

If Limerick's problem is simply the lower conversion rate that John Kiely has acknowledged, that's fixable. As well as that, the intensity of Clare-Limerick was higher than any other championship match this year.

I've questioned whether Cusack Park is as big an advantage to Clare as it used to be. Tipp used their tight skills to win there

So far they have exhibited vulnerability but they have too much in a match that unlike Tipp, they can't afford to lose. In doing so, they can reset their whole championship.

[clonadmad]

Kilkenny to do the business v Dublin

Clare to win in a sold out Ennis

Limerick to do what they normally have done the past few years v Tipperary

[tirnaog]

Is tickets hard to come by for tipp v Limerick

[marty34]

Kilkenny to do the business v Dublin

Clare to win in a sold out Ennis

Limerick to do what they normally have done the past few years v Tipperary

Near full house at Tipp game also.

After 3 weeks break, you'd think Limerick would be fired up.

[johnnycool]

Kilkenny to do the business v Dublin

Clare to win in a sold out Ennis

Limerick to do what they normally have done the past few years v Tipperary

Near full house at Tipp game also.

After 3 weeks break, you'd think Limerick would be fired up.

Clare beating Cork which is a very real possibility will mean Limerick have to beat Tipp which I think they will do.

It's good to have meaningful games this early in the championship

[Milltown Row2]

Kilkenny's better skill gets them past Dublin who matched them physically but ultimately That ability to find unanswered scores puts the game to bed.

Kilkenny won't be winning this year or next few years.

Todays games are going to be epic, everything on the line, could be a shock

[seafoid]

Antrim giving Galway a good match.

[johnnycool]

Hon de Banner.

Rip roaring contest in Ennis, Clare finished the half strongly to lead by 4.
Cork struggling with big Duggan , Kelly feeding off the breaks well but the Cork forwards are dangerous too
Still all to play for

[Mourne Red]

I see Joanna and Donal Og started off with who's the biggest arsehole competition

[johnnycool]

Clare are going to throw this away...

[johnnycool]

Yip .