All Ireland S.H.C Semi-Finals

[orangeman]

How did Davy expect to win that game ?

It was never going to happen. He along with the Waterford forwards made the Tipp half back line look like Gods.

How many times did you see the ball being cleared out of the Waterford defence hit straight to one of the Tipp half back line who caught the ball unchallenged and who git it straight back into the Tipp forwards again.

Davy took off 5 of his 6 starting forwards.

Felt sorry for the Waterford defence who just never got a breather.

[deiseach]

Well that was some land. In our previous semi-final defeats (Kilkenny last year excepted) you felt we'd lost a 50:50 game or at worst 60:40. If we played them again the following day you'd give us a chance. Not this time. Tipperary's half back line utterly cleaned us out, and seeing Eoin Kelly being substituted was depressing. God knows what Kilkenny would have done to us. Some serious soul-searching required

[johnneycool]

How did Davy expect to win that game ?

It was never going to happen. He along with the Waterford forwards made the Tipp half back line look like Gods.

How many times did you see the ball being cleared out of the Waterford defence hit straight to one of the Tipp half back line who caught the ball unchallenged and who git it straight back into the Tipp forwards again.

Davy took off 5 of his 6 starting forwards.

Felt sorry for the Waterford defence who just never got a breather.

Its a tactic I personally don't like as it allows the opposition to defend easily and pick out their forwards at will which Tipp proved to be much better at than Cork.

How many times yesterday did you see two, maybe three Tipp defenders free to work the ball upfield before putting it in behind Brick Walsh and the other half backs? The same thing was happening against Cork.

I felt Davy got it wrong against Cork by employing the same tactics and kept Cork in the game longer than they should have been. He maybe thought those tactics were the reason they won but realistically they weren't. If Cork had of had one or two better forwards they'd have won with the amount of ball being pumped into the forwards. Tipp have better forwards and made hay yesterday.
Lawlor needs to learn that stopping a forward catching the ball in front of goals is a dark art to be learned and if he watches Hickey in the AI final he'll see how its done. The Rock when first moved into fullback for Cork caught the odd ball but so did his opponents to costly effect. It wasn't purely random that he was coached to stop the attacker catching by batting or the odd tug here and there and allowing the ball to run on into Donal O'G.

Tipp are coming good at the right time and won't fear Kilkenny but Sheedy will need to come up with another tactic as his defence won't be allowed to waltz up the field too far before being hit by a challenge ensuring that the Tipp attack will need to battle harder for dirty ball. I wonder will he start Eoin Kelly on Hickey and hope that his wile and craft can get him the odd goal opportunity??

[seafoid]

Well that was some land. In our previous semi-final defeats (Kilkenny last year excepted) you felt we'd lost a 50:50 game or at worst 60:40. If we played them again the following day you'd give us a chance. Not this time. Tipperary's half back line utterly cleaned us out, and seeing Eoin Kelly being substituted was depressing. God knows what Kilkenny would have done to us. Some serious soul-searching required

I have the feeling that Waterford have the same relationship to the cats as Roscommon had to Kerry during the 4 in a row years at the end of the 70s.
A very good  team that just had the hard luck to come up against one of the greatest. In another time they probably would have won an all-Ireland.  They brought immense pride to their county and will be remembered for a very long time but unfortunately not as all-Ireland winners.   

[lilpaulie85]

Waterford managed to score 1-18 in a game for the most part with mullane up front on his own, this has to worry tipp cause against kilkenny there will be 6 top class forwards in attack, and the tipp defence won't be able to double or triple up on them as they did all day yesterday against mullane. I honestly cant see tipp winning the final. On another note id like to ask deise supporters if they preferred going into games playing open free flowing hurling and when they lose it generally been down to not taking their chances it wasn't unheard of them to run up massive scores and still have 15 or 16 wides, or going into games as they do now playing very tight and defensive and losing without even creating those chances. Waterford were my favorite team to watch when they played that expansive game, but this current system they play ruins games from a spectators point.

[deiseach]

On another note id like to ask deise supporters if they preferred going into games playing open free flowing hurling and when they lose it generally been down to not taking their chances it wasn't unheard of them to run up massive scores and still have 15 or 16 wides, or going into games as they do now playing very tight and defensive and losing without even creating those chances. Waterford were my favorite team to watch when they played that expansive game, but this current system they play ruins games from a spectators point.

I'd like what works. We tried the freewheeling style, ultimately it didn't work. We tried the rigid, structured style, ultimately it didn't work. I'm worried we're going to try the not-competitive style of the 1980's next

[Canalman]

Am now absolutely convinced Tipp will take KK in the final.

Tipp imo are on a upward trajectory while KK haven't been tested in 2010. The end comes suddenly and abruptly to all great teams and I think Kk's end is near. KK's injuries are too severe also.

Shock on cards.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Foolhardy approach to the match by Waterford yesterday. Couldn't believe my ears when I heard they were throwing in a 19 year old for his debut just before throw in. Especially since the exact same scenario had backfired for Cork the week before. Fair enough pick lads based on how they are showing in training but there's a hell of a difference between going well in training in an empty Walsh Park and then reproducing that form in front of 45k in Croke Park on your debut. Really felt for the young lad when they took him off after not feeding him any decent ball. Second, the short puck outs. Jaysus, if Marty can spot it then it must be glaringly obvious, no excuse Davy.

All that said, Tipp were by far the better team so it's a worry they never really outpointed Waterford, plus if Eoin Kelly was on form it would have been a hell of a lot closer. Even if KK are missing Shefflin, Walsh and Tennesson I still fancy them to win. If they can limit Lar, Eoin Kelly, Noel and Shane McGrath to 13 points or less they will win, John O'Brien won't play as well again and their other scoring options are limited. The 5 in a row is still on track.

[dowling]

In post match interviews Davy seened to bemoan that players weren't doing what they had been told to do. So did Davy get everything tactically wrong or were the players running things their way, at odds to the manager's?

[orangeman]

I knew Eoin Kelly was pissed off at being taken off but this is stretching it a bit :




Former All-Star Eoin Kelly is considering his inter-county future after his four-year-old son was verbally abused by his Deise supporters outside the Jury's Croke Park Hotel. The child was abused about his father's performance during Waterford's disappointing loss to Tipperary in Sundays All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final.
"He's still very upset," Kelly said.

"You'd have to ask yourself whether it's worth carrying on playing for Waterford, if this is the kind of thing you have to deal with."

[Bogball XV]

I knew Eoin Kelly was pissed off at being taken off but this is stretching it a bit :




Former All-Star Eoin Kelly is considering his inter-county future after his four-year-old son was verbally abused by his Deise supporters outside the Jury's Croke Park Hotel. The child was abused about his father's performance during Waterford's disappointing loss to Tipperary in Sundays All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final.
"He's still very upset," Kelly said.

"You'd have to ask yourself whether it's worth carrying on playing for Waterford, if this is the kind of thing you have to deal with."

believable?  How would you wind up a 4 year old exactly?

[theskull1]

believable?  How would you wind up a 4 year old exactly?

Well I heard he spat the dummy out after his manager mammy changed him 

[ardmhachaabu]

I knew Eoin Kelly was pissed off at being taken off but this is stretching it a bit :




Former All-Star Eoin Kelly is considering his inter-county future after his four-year-old son was verbally abused by his Deise supporters outside the Jury's Croke Park Hotel. The child was abused about his father's performance during Waterford's disappointing loss to Tipperary in Sundays All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final.
"He's still very upset," Kelly said.

"You'd have to ask yourself whether it's worth carrying on playing for Waterford, if this is the kind of thing you have to deal with."

What is wrong with you?  Almost 14,000 posts out of you and very little of them make any sense!

[gallsman]

I'd be surprised if a crowd of people abused a four year old. Kelly has proven in the past he's a long way shy of sainthood himself. He was absolutely abysmal on Sunday. Was sitting on the Hogan 45 and saw him running out to get on the ball for possibly the first time in the match and thought a point might get him into the game a bit and he missed the thing altogether. Davy should have hauled him off a lot earlier, he was absolutely cleaned out.

Believed prior to news of Walsh's injury that KK would beat whoever won the second semi-final even without Shefflin, but Walsh is nigh on irreplaceable. Still, KK won't give the Tipp forwards the freedom they got on Sunday. Noel McGrath won't score five from play and John O'Brien certainly won't score six. Other than the goals (admittedly important, I know) Eoin Kelly's (Tipp) contribution to the game was generally poor and Tipp fans must be worried about his back. I've never seen him so bad on the frees before. Hickey will be a lot more solid in full back than Lawlor - there's no way he'd have allowed Corbett's (more and more the key man on this Tipp team as he has developed into a consistently outstanding performer over the last few years) goal. Additionally, KK's midfield will put it up a lot more that O'Sullivan and Foley, and there's no chance of Padraig Maher hurling as much ball as he did against Waterford.

Should be a great final, could well be even better than last year's.

[lilpaulie85]

only a day away, really looking forward to this one hopefully it will be a classic, best of luck to both teams, throw it in to f**k.