Kilkenny

[Kilkevan]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

[north_antrim_hound]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

It's a case of both that was my point
Kilkennys demise is partly trying replace some of the best players ever to lift a hurl
And other teams raising there intensity and fitness levels
Look at Jamie Barron in extra time he was the difference in Waterford getting over the line
He was running about after 80 minutes of hurling like he was just brought on and Kilkenny where in their feet

[Kilkevan]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

It's a case of both that was my point
Kilkennys demise is partly trying replace some of the best players ever to lift a hurl
And other teams raising there intensity and fitness levels
Look at Jamie Barron in extra time he was the difference in Waterford getting over the line
He was running about after 80 minutes of hurling like he was just brought on and Kilkenny where in their feet

In the All Irelands in 07 and 08 Kilkenny were out of sight by half time. In the first, Kilkenny were 2-3 to 0-0 up after ten minutes and were never going to surrender that lead. In the second Kilkenny were 2-10 to 0-4 up after 21 minutes and out of sight. That wasn't to do with fitness, that was because of sheer class. Those weren't the only matches where Kilkenny blew teams apart well before half time and fitness really only kicks in as a serious factor after 55-60 minutes.

Jamie Barron is a good, fit hurler, but Waterford had good, fit hurlers in 08 and were killed by Kilkenny. In all honesty, put Barron up against Kilkenny in 07 or 08 and, in my opinion, he'd get blown away the same as almost every good hurler from other counties were at that time. Put the Kilkenny team now against the Kilkenny team then and it'd be a massacre.

I don't know of many hurlers around at the moment, if any, who can be compared to Henry Shefflin, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Eoin Larkin, Eddie Brennan, Aidan Fogarty, Jackie Tyrrell etc. and not be found wanting.

[Dave like the tv channel]

I don't recall any of the Sunday Game pundits calling for Brian Cody to be banned from all GAA activity for at least 12 weeks for assaulting a linesman during Saturday night's match against Waterford.

Double standards, actually it's worse than double standards given that it was a far more serious incident than the incident which Diarmuid Connolly was banned for.

In the GAA you get banned because of who you are and escape a ban because of who you are.

It's pathetic.

Nah. Connolly moved towards and pushed the linesman. Cody was blocked by the 4th official. Similar, but different.

Should a player who accidentally runs into a ref in the middle of the field get a ban too? Intent & context are important.

[north_antrim_hound]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

It's a case of both that was my point
Kilkennys demise is partly trying replace some of the best players ever to lift a hurl
And other teams raising there intensity and fitness levels
Look at Jamie Barron in extra time he was the difference in Waterford getting over the line
He was running about after 80 minutes of hurling like he was just brought on and Kilkenny where in their feet

In the All Irelands in 07 and 08 Kilkenny were out of sight by half time. In the first, Kilkenny were 2-3 to 0-0 up after ten minutes and were never going to surrender that lead. In the second Kilkenny were 2-10 to 0-4 up after 21 minutes and out of sight. That wasn't to do with fitness, that was because of sheer class. Those weren't the only matches where Kilkenny blew teams apart well before half time and fitness really only kicks in as a serious factor after 55-60 minutes.

Jamie Barron is a good, fit hurler, but Waterford had good, fit hurlers in 08 and were killed by Kilkenny. In all honesty, put Barron up against Kilkenny in 07 or 08 and, in my opinion, he'd get blown away the same as almost every good hurler from other counties were at that time. Put the Kilkenny team now against the Kilkenny team then and it'd be a massacre.

I don't know of many hurlers around at the moment, if any, who can be compared to Henry Shefflin, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Eoin Larkin, Eddie Brennan, Aidan Fogarty, Jackie Tyrrell etc. and not be found wanting.

I don't know many Waterford hurlers from 08 who could have made Barron's run to score the goal that killed of Kilkenny in extra time
Nodody disputing the greatness of those Kilkenny teams
You just mentioned players I mentioned in a previous post so your preaching to the converted on that one
But they whipped some good teams who where not as well prepared for the hard tackles and intensity
Let's just agree to disagree

[mouview]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

It's a case of both that was my point
Kilkennys demise is partly trying replace some of the best players ever to lift a hurl
And other teams raising there intensity and fitness levels
Look at Jamie Barron in extra time he was the difference in Waterford getting over the line
He was running about after 80 minutes of hurling like he was just brought on and Kilkenny where in their feet

In the All Irelands in 07 and 08 Kilkenny were out of sight by half time. In the first, Kilkenny were 2-3 to 0-0 up after ten minutes and were never going to surrender that lead. In the second Kilkenny were 2-10 to 0-4 up after 21 minutes and out of sight. That wasn't to do with fitness, that was because of sheer class. Those weren't the only matches where Kilkenny blew teams apart well before half time and fitness really only kicks in as a serious factor after 55-60 minutes.

Jamie Barron is a good, fit hurler, but Waterford had good, fit hurlers in 08 and were killed by Kilkenny. In all honesty, put Barron up against Kilkenny in 07 or 08 and, in my opinion, he'd get blown away the same as almost every good hurler from other counties were at that time. Put the Kilkenny team now against the Kilkenny team then and it'd be a massacre.

I don't know of many hurlers around at the moment, if any, who can be compared to Henry Shefflin, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Eoin Larkin, Eddie Brennan, Aidan Fogarty, Jackie Tyrrell etc. and not be found wanting.

As a Galway fan, '07 rankles a bit. Really went toe-to-toe with KK that day for a good hour and with a smidgin of luck could have edged the qualifier. Couldn't ultimately overcome the twin burdens of Ger Mahon at wing-back and Ger Loughnane as manager.

[Kilkevan]

Clough is a good example. It is very hard to rebuild when a great team fades. Cody doesn't have a Shefflin 2.0. Cloughie couldnt win the European Cup again after the second one. The achiement with the first Forest team was timeless.  But he couldn't repeat it.

In fairness, people could argue he didn't have a DJ 2.0 but he found Shefflin. He has rebuilt the team before, after the semi final against Galway in 05 everyone assumed Kilkenny were gone for a good while. Then in 10, people assumed Tipperary were the new dawn and certainly in 13 people thought the run was over. I think Cody has proven himself in getting Kilkenny back to the top table in the past. I think he's suffering more for the absence of another strong man. Clough was perhaps the strongest manager character wise there's ever been, but without Peter Taylor he never achieved great success. Strong characters need strong characters to tell them when they're wrong and tell them where they can improve. It took balls to tell Clough that and it takes balls to tell Cody. Michael Dempsey is the best fitness trainer in Ireland but he's a football man. James McGarry is one of the nicest men you'd ever meet but he was never a leader. I know less about Derek Lyng but I suspect the same is true. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but to be a great manager/assistant manager/selector etc. you need to have a bit of a bollixy edge to you. Clough had it, Taylor did, Cody does and I think the same is true of Martin Fogarty. Cody made some wild decisions this year, for example, pushing Padraig Walsh into the forwards against Wexford and using Richie Reid as a substitute forward over forwards who were on the bench. Crazy stuff like that didn't happen on Fogarty's watch. In my opinion, Clough was the best manager soccer ever saw and Cody's the best that hurling, perhaps even the GAA, has witnessed. However, Clough's quote "I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back" has more than a ring of truth about it with Cody and Fogarty too.

Kilkenny will be back for sure

I think a valid point for the end of the dominance that hasn't been discussed is the improvement of other teams that can compete with and beat them now
teams are getting better at working with the game Kilkenny impose  when they don't have possession

They are as fit if not fitter and are training at breaking the tackles and the "death by suffocation" Kilkenny resort to when they don't have the ball
Wexford this year are big men and when KK tried to shut them down they couldn't
Tipp have probably better stick men since 2008 but only could compete when they matched them physically
Case in point look at bonner's influence on Tipp compared to noel Mc grath. Don't think there is any argument who the better stickman is but bonner is a freight train
Like all great teams they have transformed the game and other teams have got better at hurling and decision making under pressure 
There is a lot of talk about there there number 3 and 4 positions
I don't think noel hickey would suit the modern game and the way teams are setting up
And how do you replace T walsh and Delaney

I honestly think it's more a case of Kilkenny having gone back a great deal rather than other teams coming up to Kilkenny's level.

It's a case of both that was my point
Kilkennys demise is partly trying replace some of the best players ever to lift a hurl
And other teams raising there intensity and fitness levels
Look at Jamie Barron in extra time he was the difference in Waterford getting over the line
He was running about after 80 minutes of hurling like he was just brought on and Kilkenny where in their feet

In the All Irelands in 07 and 08 Kilkenny were out of sight by half time. In the first, Kilkenny were 2-3 to 0-0 up after ten minutes and were never going to surrender that lead. In the second Kilkenny were 2-10 to 0-4 up after 21 minutes and out of sight. That wasn't to do with fitness, that was because of sheer class. Those weren't the only matches where Kilkenny blew teams apart well before half time and fitness really only kicks in as a serious factor after 55-60 minutes.

Jamie Barron is a good, fit hurler, but Waterford had good, fit hurlers in 08 and were killed by Kilkenny. In all honesty, put Barron up against Kilkenny in 07 or 08 and, in my opinion, he'd get blown away the same as almost every good hurler from other counties were at that time. Put the Kilkenny team now against the Kilkenny team then and it'd be a massacre.

I don't know of many hurlers around at the moment, if any, who can be compared to Henry Shefflin, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Eoin Larkin, Eddie Brennan, Aidan Fogarty, Jackie Tyrrell etc. and not be found wanting.

As a Galway fan, '07 rankles a bit. Really went toe-to-toe with KK that day for a good hour and with a smidgin of luck could have edged the qualifier. Couldn't ultimately overcome the twin burdens of Ger Mahon at wing-back and Ger Loughnane as manager.

If I remember rightly, that was a quarter final and arguably the best match of the season. At least the tensest from a Kilkenny point-of-view until Eddie Brennan, again I might be wrong but think I remember correctly, scored two goals in the last ten minutes.

[mouview]

Ya; Fergal Moore was marking him well in the first half, but had to retire near HT with a pulled hamstring. For some reason, later in the game Gerlock withdrew Iarla Tannian who had been keeping Tommy Walsh quiet. With 10 minutes to go and the scores nearly level, and in a hithertho tight game, the ball so nearly broke inside for Damien Hayes to get through on goal. Noel Hickey just managed to get a stick to it and the rest is KK history. For the second season in succession v KK, Ger Mahon got an awful roasting. Wasn't seen much after that for Galway.

[Kilkevan]

Ya; Fergal Moore was marking him well in the first half, but had to retire near HT with a pulled hamstring. For some reason, later in the game Gerlock withdrew Iarla Tannian who had been keeping Tommy Walsh quiet. With 10 minutes to go and the scores nearly level, and in a hithertho tight game, the ball so nearly broke inside for Damien Hayes to get through on goal. Noel Hickey just managed to get a stick to it and the rest is KK history. For the second season in succession v KK, Ger Mahon got an awful roasting. Wasn't seen much after that for Galway.

Remember that game as a great match. Recall the tension going through me for most of it until Brennan stuck the two goals away. The only bad thing in those years of putting teams away quickly was the lack of emotion at the end; the All Irelands in 07 and 08 almost felt like a bit of an anti-climax after all the build up, particularly 08. The odd game where Kilkenny were put to the pin of their collar were much more exciting.

[seafoid]

2006 was when Kilkenny really got going. They absolutely destroyed Galway down in Thurles and wiped out Cork's 3 in a row ambition in the final. I think the only flaw in Cody's reign was missing out on the 5 in a row.

[Milltown Row2]

2006 was when Kilkenny really got going. They absolutely destroyed Galway down in Thurles and wiped out Cork's 3 in a row ambition in the final. I think the only flaw in Cody's reign was missing out on the 5 in a row.

Flaw? Aye huge flaw of not winning 5 in a row came back and won some more

[Kilkevan]

2006 was when Kilkenny really got going. They absolutely destroyed Galway down in Thurles and wiped out Cork's 3 in a row ambition in the final. I think the only flaw in Cody's reign was missing out on the 5 in a row.

Flaw? Aye huge flaw of not winning 5 in a row came back and won some more

[Owenmoresider]

Ya; Fergal Moore was marking him well in the first half, but had to retire near HT with a pulled hamstring. For some reason, later in the game Gerlock withdrew Iarla Tannian who had been keeping Tommy Walsh quiet. With 10 minutes to go and the scores nearly level, and in a hithertho tight game, the ball so nearly broke inside for Damien Hayes to get through on goal. Noel Hickey just managed to get a stick to it and the rest is KK history. For the second season in succession v KK, Ger Mahon got an awful roasting. Wasn't seen much after that for Galway.

Remember that game as a great match. Recall the tension going through me for most of it until Brennan stuck the two goals away. The only bad thing in those years of putting teams away quickly was the lack of emotion at the end; the All Irelands in 07 and 08 almost felt like a bit of an anti-climax after all the build up, particularly 08. The odd game where Kilkenny were put to the pin of their collar were much more exciting.

Though in fairness in 2008 you could at least admire what was a near flawless performance by the team, McGarry letting in a soft goal late on aside, they just utterly blew Waterford away. From memory KK didn't hit a wide til injury time in the first half, with 2-16 already on the board. Some going.

[Kilkevan]

Ya; Fergal Moore was marking him well in the first half, but had to retire near HT with a pulled hamstring. For some reason, later in the game Gerlock withdrew Iarla Tannian who had been keeping Tommy Walsh quiet. With 10 minutes to go and the scores nearly level, and in a hithertho tight game, the ball so nearly broke inside for Damien Hayes to get through on goal. Noel Hickey just managed to get a stick to it and the rest is KK history. For the second season in succession v KK, Ger Mahon got an awful roasting. Wasn't seen much after that for Galway.

Remember that game as a great match. Recall the tension going through me for most of it until Brennan stuck the two goals away. The only bad thing in those years of putting teams away quickly was the lack of emotion at the end; the All Irelands in 07 and 08 almost felt like a bit of an anti-climax after all the build up, particularly 08. The odd game where Kilkenny were put to the pin of their collar were much more exciting.

Though in fairness in 2008 you could at least admire what was a near flawless performance by the team, McGarry letting in a soft goal late on aside, they just utterly blew Waterford away. From memory KK didn't hit a wide til injury time in the first half, with 2-16 already on the board. Some going.

I'm not complaining, it was a magical period for Kilkenny fans. I'm just saying the adrenalin rush of the two Eddie Brennan goals and similar is something extra.

[stew]

I am loving Kilkennys long slow death from the upper echelons of hurlings elite, the fans I met in the States are without doubt the most arrogant hoors I ever met in Gaelic Games circles, I despise them and hope they continue to fester in the AIQF's level for many years to come.