The Covid all Ireland hurling championship 2020/21

Started by seafoid, June 26, 2020, 07:32:45 PM

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seafoid

I was reading this article from last year recently. I wonder how tactics will develop to match conditions in November, assuming the championship goes ahead. Summer hurling is about accuracy , intensity and energy building confidence. Accuracy is likely to be lower post Halloween with the mud and the cold. Plus there probably won't be any crowds.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/jackie-tyrrell-battle-for-middle-ground-will-decide-who-stands-out-from-the-crowd-1.3841966

Dropping people into the middle third has been in the game for a number of years, especially with deep-lying wing forwards. But this is more than that. It's more extreme now and more deliberate. What you're looking at is whole half-forward lines and whole half-back lines plus an inside forward and his marker all following the dropping ball to get in around it when it breaks.
On Sunday, the message was simple – flood the middle third, win the ball by having a numerical advantage in the area of the field, work the ball in triangles from there. The idea then is to get the best player in the best launching position who can look up and play a killer ball into pockets of space in front of goal for the inside men.
Sounds simple but, in reality, a lot of precisely-executed skills have to be performed repeatedly for this to work. It's not enough to be physically strong around the middle. You need to be quick and sharp with the pick-up, you need to be aware of your surroundings and able to get a pass away with up to five or six bodies closing on you. You need to be calm under pressure.
Dirty ball
For it to work you need an animal work-rate to win dirty ball, with a high volume of players occupying this area. Next you need a really good half-back line to distribute the ball to the inside forwards. For the strike forwards left up there, off-the-ball running is the key.
•   They need to run laterally and be patient to create the space, they need to time their run to secure possession out in front. After that, it's either shoot or lay-off to a runner coming from midfield.
•   If you can be the team that repeatedly emerges from the fight in the middle with the ball, the advantages are huge. Straight away, you've created space in the two most dangerous areas of the pitch. All the bodies that have been sucked into the centre of the pitch aren't getting in the way of either your inside forwards or the player striking the ball into them. It won't always be perfect but when it works, you will have your best forward in possession 20 metres from goal, usually one-on-one.

The idea then is to get the best player in the best launching position who can look up and play a killer ball into pockets of space in front of goal for the inside men.
Sounds simple but, in reality, a lot of precisely-executed skills have to be performed repeatedly for this to work. It's not enough to be physically strong around the middle. You need to be quick and sharp with the pick-up, you need to be aware of your surroundings and able to get a pass away with up to five or six bodies closing on you. You need to be calm under pressure.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

seafoid

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/cork-s-near-record-dry-spell-casts-minds-back-to-2004-05-glory-days-1.4351958

Cork's near-record dry spell casts minds back to 2004-05 glory days
Former manager John Allen recalls excitement and challenges of his period in charge
Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 06:32
Seán Moran


It falls today, predictably without too much fanfare, but it is now 15 years since Cork last won the All-Ireland hurling title. Having survived a slight frisson against Galway in the 2005 final, the county ultimately recorded back-to-back titles for the first time since 1978.
Few would have imagined that at least a decade and a half would pass without the county seeing Liam MacCarthy again. By this stage Cork hurling is just one year short of its record dry spell of 16 years, set between 1903 and 1919. Even the fabled 12-year famine that ended in 1966 has been eclipsed.
John Allen was the manager in 2005, having stepped up to take over the reigning champions when Dónal O'Grady called it a day. Apart from a successful cameo with Limerick, winning a Munster title in 2013, he has had hardly any involvement in the game as manager, but from a distance reflects on what befell the county after the 2005 win.
"So much happened in the immediate aftermath of 2005 when you had a number of strikes, a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unfriendliness going on outside of the playing field and it divided an awful lot of people. From 2007 to 2013 there was a bit of a tug going on all the time between the board and the players. And that didn't help."
He doesn't, however, want the difficulties of what followed to overshadow the players' achievements in progressing from the rubble of their first strike in late 2002 to reach the next four All-Ireland hurling finals, winning two.
"They had won two U-21 All-Irelands and fought a very divisive battle with the boardroom, but came through to put their sporting selves where their collective mouth had been and did deliver on the field. That created enormous hype around the team when they did get to four finals.
"So much has happened between '05 and now that it seems so long ago."
Allen is keen to emphasise that the battle to assert themselves before being overtaken by Brian Cody's rising Kilkenny in 2006 wasn't just a tale of grim struggle.
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"It does feel like a generation ago given the excitement of that time in Cork when we reached four All-Ireland finals in a row and there was huge interest in the county in tickets and children's days – jeez, there must have been thousands of them, particularly the first year [2003] when Setanta Ó hAilpín was involved.
"It was like Justin Bieber being down in the Park. Literally we nearly needed security to get him off the field one of the nights. There was this sort of excitement there between 2003 and '06."
The team's line on the graph crossed Kilkenny's in that final year. A potential three-in-a-row for Cork became the starting point for what nearly turned out to be five for Kilkenny.
Although the previous years had been intense, Allen doesn't believe that defeat in what was to be his final match in charge of Cork was the result of fatigue.
"It was a long process, going from the dispute in 2002 up until losing to Kilkenny in '06 – and being well beaten. There had been a huge amount happening but also a whole lot of positives. I don't know that we were tired.
"I remember being down in Inchydoney the previous weekend and we played an A v B game and the quality of it was outstanding and I just couldn't see us being beaten. JJ Delaney [Kilkenny's All-Star defender] was injured and we were in good shape. I don't think you could put it down to tiredness, there was such buoyancy there.
"Kilkenny proved many times afterwards that they could come up with plans to stop another team and always had the ability to come up with something different in a replay. They did it with us by stopping our runners and we weren't ready for it."
He remains sad about how fractious everything became in his absence and the decision not to persevere with Ger Cunningham and the remainder of his management team. The friction with the county board led to further strikes, and the intervention of the then new GAA chief executive Páraic Duffy and the best-known industrial relations mediator in the country, Kieran Mulvey.
Allen is also unhappy at the serrated attitudes towards those players – who he describes as "very good, wholesome people" – from some in the county, agreeing that this pains him.
"It does because anyone who worked with them . . . Dónal Óg [Cusack], who was the strongest character in that group, if I wanted someone in my backroom team who I know would give 100 per cent, it would be him."
Cusack has combined with former team-mates Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Tom Kenny and Kieran Murphy to take a first step on the ladder of management in Cork.
"They're working with the minors now and I hear only good things back from parents involved. Seán Óg is another who gets bad press from time to time but he's a special guy, a decent, lovely man who's good with young people and does anything he's asked, like presenting medals and visiting people. It galls me to hear the things said about them by people who don't know them at all."
In Allen's view, the growth of a toxic social media environment has made it challenging for people taking such public roles.
"Nobody would be involved in anything were they to take it too seriously."
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

seafoid


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/brendan-maher-surprised-at-timing-of-introduction-of-yellow-sliotar-1.4378935
The GAA announced the decision on Friday afternoon as part of the updated regulations for all upcoming inter-county fixtures and that "for all games in the 2020 GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship (including the provincial championship) officially approved sliotars with yellow leather shall be used for all games (sliotars with white leather cannot be used)".
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

RedHand88

Quote from: seafoid on October 13, 2020, 12:06:43 PM

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/brendan-maher-surprised-at-timing-of-introduction-of-yellow-sliotar-1.4378935
The GAA announced the decision on Friday afternoon as part of the updated regulations for all upcoming inter-county fixtures and that "for all games in the 2020 GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship (including the provincial championship) officially approved sliotars with yellow leather shall be used for all games (sliotars with white leather cannot be used)".

At least they're tackling the big issues.

johnnycool


Very strange game there yesterday down in Thurles with Limerick and Clare due to no atmosphere at all.

Nip and tuck through the first half and Tony Kelly giving a masterclass in point taking for all over the place, 12 points in all in that half alone and over 50% of them from play I reckon.
Limerick looked the better team but with the loseness of the play were also tacking on points at will with big Hegarty and Guillane doing most damage.
Limerick then came out at the start of the second half and opened up their six point lead by doing nothing spectacular, just the big runners coming through the middle and picking the passes into the forwards and Clare couldn't cope even though they got a goal to close it momentarily Limerick emptied the bench at the end with no drop in performance.

Lots of frees throughout so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to the refereeing but he did pull up the overcarrying and spare arm tackling as well as the pushing in the back. 

Milltown Row2

Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 08:57:03 AM

Very strange game there yesterday down in Thurles with Limerick and Clare due to no atmosphere at all.

Nip and tuck through the first half and Tony Kelly giving a masterclass in point taking for all over the place, 12 points in all in that half alone and over 50% of them from play I reckon.
Limerick looked the better team but with the loseness of the play were also tacking on points at will with big Hegarty and Guillane doing most damage.
Limerick then came out at the start of the second half and opened up their six point lead by doing nothing spectacular, just the big runners coming through the middle and picking the passes into the forwards and Clare couldn't cope even though they got a goal to close it momentarily Limerick emptied the bench at the end with no drop in performance.

Lots of frees throughout so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to the refereeing but he did pull up the overcarrying and spare arm tackling as well as the pushing in the back.

Was saying this once the game got started, lack of intensity and no hard tackles going in, this allowed the big scores for Limerick to be racked up, at the same time the long range scores by both teams, sorry the long ranges scores by Kelly and Limerick were top notch, Limerick didn't have much efforts on goal to be fair and is this a new tactic?

I'd be concerned for Clare that they were so reliant on Kelly, at 26 he seems to have been around for longer, and whoever get Clare next would do well to just to put a sticky man marker on him

As for the refereeing there wasn't much for me other than the soft yellow cards, though he was consistent with showing them, he blew for more 'throw balls' than most refs do all season, which is great and the over carrying was spot on..

For limerick they look to have at least another two gears in them, would just like to see more of a goal threat and that main player has retired and coming up against Tipp next week will give us a more of a view on where these teams are at
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

johnnycool

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on October 26, 2020, 09:09:57 AM
Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 08:57:03 AM

Very strange game there yesterday down in Thurles with Limerick and Clare due to no atmosphere at all.

Nip and tuck through the first half and Tony Kelly giving a masterclass in point taking for all over the place, 12 points in all in that half alone and over 50% of them from play I reckon.
Limerick looked the better team but with the loseness of the play were also tacking on points at will with big Hegarty and Guillane doing most damage.
Limerick then came out at the start of the second half and opened up their six point lead by doing nothing spectacular, just the big runners coming through the middle and picking the passes into the forwards and Clare couldn't cope even though they got a goal to close it momentarily Limerick emptied the bench at the end with no drop in performance.

Lots of frees throughout so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to the refereeing but he did pull up the overcarrying and spare arm tackling as well as the pushing in the back.

Was saying this once the game got started, lack of intensity and no hard tackles going in, this allowed the big scores for Limerick to be racked up, at the same time the long range scores by both teams, sorry the long ranges scores by Kelly and Limerick were top notch, Limerick didn't have much efforts on goal to be fair and is this a new tactic?

I'd be concerned for Clare that they were so reliant on Kelly, at 26 he seems to have been around for longer, and whoever get Clare next would do well to just to put a sticky man marker on him

As for the refereeing there wasn't much for me other than the soft yellow cards, though he was consistent with showing them, he blew for more 'throw balls' than most refs do all season, which is great and the over carrying was spot on..

For limerick they look to have at least another two gears in them, would just like to see more of a goal threat and that main player has retired and coming up against Tipp next week will give us a more of a view on where these teams are at

Clare really miss John Conlan on the edge of the square. They can lop balls into him and if he doesn't win them they're breaking off for the likes of O'Donnell to get onto. They really only managed that once yesterday and got their goal from it. Other than that it was coming out to easy and considering barring Sean Finn that was a novel fullback like you'd have thought Clare would have tried to expose it more.

Limerick v Tipp, Waterford v Cork, Galway v Wexford and the Dubs v Kilkenny this weekend coming should be interesting.

Kilkenny might get a scare vrs dublin but still think they'll have too much in that one.
Cork will be slight favourites over Waterford but with new management in Waterford that could be interesting and the other two are too close to call IMO.

Milltown Row2

Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 09:26:28 AM
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on October 26, 2020, 09:09:57 AM
Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 08:57:03 AM

Very strange game there yesterday down in Thurles with Limerick and Clare due to no atmosphere at all.

Nip and tuck through the first half and Tony Kelly giving a masterclass in point taking for all over the place, 12 points in all in that half alone and over 50% of them from play I reckon.
Limerick looked the better team but with the loseness of the play were also tacking on points at will with big Hegarty and Guillane doing most damage.
Limerick then came out at the start of the second half and opened up their six point lead by doing nothing spectacular, just the big runners coming through the middle and picking the passes into the forwards and Clare couldn't cope even though they got a goal to close it momentarily Limerick emptied the bench at the end with no drop in performance.

Lots of frees throughout so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to the refereeing but he did pull up the overcarrying and spare arm tackling as well as the pushing in the back.

Was saying this once the game got started, lack of intensity and no hard tackles going in, this allowed the big scores for Limerick to be racked up, at the same time the long range scores by both teams, sorry the long ranges scores by Kelly and Limerick were top notch, Limerick didn't have much efforts on goal to be fair and is this a new tactic?

I'd be concerned for Clare that they were so reliant on Kelly, at 26 he seems to have been around for longer, and whoever get Clare next would do well to just to put a sticky man marker on him

As for the refereeing there wasn't much for me other than the soft yellow cards, though he was consistent with showing them, he blew for more 'throw balls' than most refs do all season, which is great and the over carrying was spot on..

For limerick they look to have at least another two gears in them, would just like to see more of a goal threat and that main player has retired and coming up against Tipp next week will give us a more of a view on where these teams are at

Clare really miss John Conlan on the edge of the square. They can lop balls into him and if he doesn't win them they're breaking off for the likes of O'Donnell to get onto. They really only managed that once yesterday and got their goal from it. Other than that it was coming out to easy and considering barring Sean Finn that was a novel fullback like you'd have thought Clare would have tried to expose it more.

Limerick v Tipp, Waterford v Cork, Galway v Wexford and the Dubs v Kilkenny this weekend coming should be interesting.

Kilkenny might get a scare vrs dublin but still think they'll have too much in that one.
Cork will be slight favourites over Waterford but with new management in Waterford that could be interesting and the other two are too close to call IMO.

The hurling has been wide open these last few years, been great entertainment and I fully expect another name on the cup this year, with no round robin its all in for the other teams that lose next week and that should produce some cracking games also....

Dublin produced a decent enough performance the other night, that extra game will have moved them on and better prepared for Kilkenny, whether they have enough to get over the line is another thing, will check the handicap score on that one.. Cork, who knows with Cork, they could well do it, Wexford will always have one big game in them, which weekend will that be?

Galway, have slipped slightly, and for no real reason, the squad is very similar to their winning team and some lads are at that good age

So its left to Kilkenny and Tipp and what they will bring, this weekend will show who's been hard at it during lockdown
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

seafoid

There was a discussion on twitter yesterday

Kevin Egan

@lonesharkoy

Genuine question - am I the only one who doesn't enjoy hurling as much now that there are 60-70 shots on goal per game, and consequently a huge amount of restarts/stoppages? I feel like a huge amount of the continuity is gone out of the sport at the very elite level.
John Callinan

@jgcallinan_john

Replying to

@lonesharkoy

Absolutely agree. Rules and their interpretation promotes possession and running, not striking the ball. Huge Gaelic Football influences

Adrian

@massive357

·


Replying to

@lonesharkoy

It's also changed the way the game is played. There was no decent attacking solo run down the heart of the field in that game today. A joy to watch when it happens



Michael Duignan

Replying to
@lonesharkoy

Agreed Kevin. Combination of lighter sliotar, better hurls, more skilful players and massive strength of the modern player.


Enda McEvoy

@lonesharkoy

Couldn't agree more and I've been banging on about this for a few years now. It's become TOO high scoring - and no, that's not a good thing. Scores should be earned.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

seafoid

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on October 26, 2020, 01:52:25 PM
Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 09:26:28 AM
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on October 26, 2020, 09:09:57 AM
Quote from: johnnycool on October 26, 2020, 08:57:03 AM

Very strange game there yesterday down in Thurles with Limerick and Clare due to no atmosphere at all.

Nip and tuck through the first half and Tony Kelly giving a masterclass in point taking for all over the place, 12 points in all in that half alone and over 50% of them from play I reckon.
Limerick looked the better team but with the loseness of the play were also tacking on points at will with big Hegarty and Guillane doing most damage.
Limerick then came out at the start of the second half and opened up their six point lead by doing nothing spectacular, just the big runners coming through the middle and picking the passes into the forwards and Clare couldn't cope even though they got a goal to close it momentarily Limerick emptied the bench at the end with no drop in performance.

Lots of frees throughout so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to the refereeing but he did pull up the overcarrying and spare arm tackling as well as the pushing in the back.

Was saying this once the game got started, lack of intensity and no hard tackles going in, this allowed the big scores for Limerick to be racked up, at the same time the long range scores by both teams, sorry the long ranges scores by Kelly and Limerick were top notch, Limerick didn't have much efforts on goal to be fair and is this a new tactic?

I'd be concerned for Clare that they were so reliant on Kelly, at 26 he seems to have been around for longer, and whoever get Clare next would do well to just to put a sticky man marker on him

As for the refereeing there wasn't much for me other than the soft yellow cards, though he was consistent with showing them, he blew for more 'throw balls' than most refs do all season, which is great and the over carrying was spot on..

For limerick they look to have at least another two gears in them, would just like to see more of a goal threat and that main player has retired and coming up against Tipp next week will give us a more of a view on where these teams are at

Clare really miss John Conlan on the edge of the square. They can lop balls into him and if he doesn't win them they're breaking off for the likes of O'Donnell to get onto. They really only managed that once yesterday and got their goal from it. Other than that it was coming out to easy and considering barring Sean Finn that was a novel fullback like you'd have thought Clare would have tried to expose it more.

Limerick v Tipp, Waterford v Cork, Galway v Wexford and the Dubs v Kilkenny this weekend coming should be interesting.

Kilkenny might get a scare vrs dublin but still think they'll have too much in that one.
Cork will be slight favourites over Waterford but with new management in Waterford that could be interesting and the other two are too close to call IMO.

The hurling has been wide open these last few years, been great entertainment and I fully expect another name on the cup this year, with no round robin its all in for the other teams that lose next week and that should produce some cracking games also....

Dublin produced a decent enough performance the other night, that extra game will have moved them on and better prepared for Kilkenny, whether they have enough to get over the line is another thing, will check the handicap score on that one.. Cork, who knows with Cork, they could well do it, Wexford will always have one big game in them, which weekend will that be?

Galway, have slipped slightly, and for no real reason, the squad is very similar to their winning team and some lads are at that good age

So its left to Kilkenny and Tipp and what they will bring, this weekend will show who's been hard at it during lockdown
Tipp went off the boil in 2018. Too.many miles run
They had vmbeen on the go since 2014  I think.
Galway were playing at the top level since 2015 and it is not sustainable
So they took a year off
Like Tipp. Tipp came back rejuvenated.
.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

magpie seanie

Quote from: seafoid on October 26, 2020, 04:01:53 PM
There was a discussion on twitter yesterday

Kevin Egan

@lonesharkoy

Genuine question - am I the only one who doesn't enjoy hurling as much now that there are 60-70 shots on goal per game, and consequently a huge amount of restarts/stoppages? I feel like a huge amount of the continuity is gone out of the sport at the very elite level.
John Callinan

@jgcallinan_john

Replying to

@lonesharkoy

Absolutely agree. Rules and their interpretation promotes possession and running, not striking the ball. Huge Gaelic Football influences

Adrian

@massive357

·


Replying to

@lonesharkoy

It's also changed the way the game is played. There was no decent attacking solo run down the heart of the field in that game today. A joy to watch when it happens



Michael Duignan

Replying to
@lonesharkoy

Agreed Kevin. Combination of lighter sliotar, better hurls, more skilful players and massive strength of the modern player.


Enda McEvoy

@lonesharkoy

Couldn't agree more and I've been banging on about this for a few years now. It's become TOO high scoring - and no, that's not a good thing. Scores should be earned.

I enjoyed that exchange on Twitter. If only players had crap hurls, didn't practice or train as much things could be great!!!! I suppose there was a few Offaly lads in the discussion!!!

sid waddell

#26
I'd like to see some actual facts as regards whether the sliotar is lighter or not

I suspect it's not

Back in 2003 there was a fierce controversy over the sliotar as it was actually changed that year - the core was changed to make it bouncier - it behaved like those all-weather sliotars - and there were a lot of complaints from players and media -  but I think the new sliotar was abandoned and the old one brought back around the time of the two Cork-Wexford semi-finals

The amount of points in matches has been steadily creeping up over the decades - the Cork team under Jimmy Barry-Murphy in the late 90s were the first that consistently hit big all points totals - but it was not unknown for teams to hit into the 20s points-wise from the 1980s on - Cork even hit 5-31 in the 1982 Munster final, Antrim 1-24 in the 1986 All-Ireland semi-final, Galway 3-20 in the 1987 semi-final, Wexford 2-23 in the 1996 Leinster final etc.

Diarmuid O'Sullivan was pointing from his own 45 in 2001

Noel Skehan was pointing from frees from not far from his own goal back in 1982

I don't think the sliotar is responsible - the bigger bossed hurleys are definitely a factor plus superior fitness and especially possession tactics rather than the old pulling and driving

Hurling as game has changed beyond recognition in terms of style, it's all short, snappy passes to hand now and constant movement, almost pass and move like Barcelona


Milltown Row2

Quote from: magpie seanie on October 26, 2020, 05:13:15 PM
Quote from: seafoid on October 26, 2020, 04:01:53 PM
There was a discussion on twitter yesterday

Kevin Egan

@lonesharkoy

Genuine question - am I the only one who doesn't enjoy hurling as much now that there are 60-70 shots on goal per game, and consequently a huge amount of restarts/stoppages? I feel like a huge amount of the continuity is gone out of the sport at the very elite level.
John Callinan

@jgcallinan_john

Replying to

@lonesharkoy

Absolutely agree. Rules and their interpretation promotes possession and running, not striking the ball. Huge Gaelic Football influences

Adrian

@massive357

·


Replying to

@lonesharkoy

It's also changed the way the game is played. There was no decent attacking solo run down the heart of the field in that game today. A joy to watch when it happens



Michael Duignan

Replying to
@lonesharkoy

Agreed Kevin. Combination of lighter sliotar, better hurls, more skilful players and massive strength of the modern player.


Enda McEvoy

@lonesharkoy

Couldn't agree more and I've been banging on about this for a few years now. It's become TOO high scoring - and no, that's not a good thing. Scores should be earned.

I enjoyed that exchange on Twitter. If only players had crap hurls, didn't practice or train as much things could be great!!!! I suppose there was a few Offaly lads in the discussion!!!

Don't have twitter, but that conversation sounds like they were being dicks or on the piss! Let's bring the game back to the 80's! Christ I loved the 80's hurling and was a massive Galway supporter but it's left behind because we've developed!

Players are stronger, they want them weaker! Hurls have developed? That's not entirely correct, still made from ash, maybe a bigger boss but certainly the stick it the same. Soloing down then middle?! Into a tackle from Maher from Tipp, which will land you in a&e! More skilful players like wtf, do we want less skilled players?
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

didlyi

Its a good topic and becomes more apparent when teams rack up huge scores as limerick did. The hurl bos has changed for sure, the players are more athletic and the ball is probably less prone to moisture. All this making it easier to score. But the handpass has also been perfected now more than ever before and used alot more than in the past and Limerick use it to great effect. The pop pass out to a man in space is very prevalent in todays game but can become a bit boring to watch over and over again. The problem as I see it is its very difficult for the opposition to intercept a handpass. Unlike a stick pass you cant block it or hook it with the hurl. In fact there is very little a player can do to stop a handpass in hurling. Instead they swarm the player in possession which then has many other consequences... More spare hand fouls, more rucks and ultimately easier scores for the player now in space. I would love to see the handpass either been reduce to 1 or none or change to make it more difficult. The ball will stay in play longer and the game becomes less start stop.
Leave the ball alone and yellow is fine too.

sid waddell

Gearoid Hegarty seems to have perfected those flick backhand handpasses that look a bit like a New Zealand rugby offload, Cian Lynch is a dab hand at them as well

I suppose it was about time some innovation was brought to the handpass

My impression is that as well as being lighter yet bigger bossed, hurleys are generally a bit shorter than they used to be, they couldn't be otherwise, difficult to get away with a big wide swing these days, that's why John Mulhall didn't make it with the Kilkenny senior team, if you look at the technique from the old All-Ireland finals from the 50s and 60s some of the technique looks comical, lads holding the hurley by the very tip of the handle and big wide swings