AI Hurling Championship 2024

[seafoid]

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

Great stuff. The psychology has to be spot on as well.

[seafoid]

Not what I would tend to associate with Tipperary hurling

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/we-tend-to-love-a-good-failure-in-tipp-that-is-what-disappoints-me-the-most-liam-cahill-hits-back-at-critics/a966970394.html

Taking a swipe at his critics in the county he declared: "We tend to love a good failure in Tipp. That is what disappoints me the most. We tend to love a good failure."

[johnnycool]

Not what I would tend to associate with Tipperary hurling

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/we-tend-to-love-a-good-failure-in-tipp-that-is-what-disappoints-me-the-most-liam-cahill-hits-back-at-critics/a966970394.html

Taking a swipe at his critics in the county he declared: "We tend to love a good failure in Tipp. That is what disappoints me the most. We tend to love a good failure."

Cahill would be better shutting up and concentrating on his team.

They were out-hurled for the most part by Waterford but they hung on in there and salvaged a draw.

I thought Bonnar Maher was lucky to avoid a red card for his mistimed shoulder/raised elbow which connected with Lyons. He was probably saved by the fact he was only on the field a few minutes before.

Not sure what the ref was doing running across the goals before the penalty was struck, I've never saw anything like that before and really should have been retaken, not that I think it would have changed the end result, but who knows!

Waterford somehow allowed a Tipp man in acres of space twice in injury time to take a puckout unopposed well inside their own half, I find that staggering also at this level, but the Tipp lads have given themselves a fighting chance for third place.

[NAG1]

The fact that Bonnar Maher is even still around the squad shows the problems are much deeper for Tipp.

Was a quality player in his day but that was a few seasons ago.

[johnnycool]

Big game for Antrim this weekend, down in Parnell Park.

Get a win there and third is very much in reach, but Dublin have urgent demands as well as they need to secure the points now as they've still Galway and Dublin to contend with and points in those two games may be harder come by.

Galway getting beat by Wexford has opened this championship up a bit and Galway can't afford another slip up in Corrigan or against Dublin to secure the second spot, but Wexford have given themselves a decent shout at this and for some reason always do well against Kilkenny when their backs are against the wall.

It's a four horse race for the 2nd and 3rd spots in Leinster for me at this stage but all may become a bit clearer by Sunday evening.

Cork have a must win game against Limerick down in the SuperValu park. It's hard to see that happening, but Cork with all their weaknesses, most notably their defence have never really be beaten by a huge amount by anyone in recent years, so maybe they might get a big rub of the green on Saturday evening, hard to see anything other than a Limerick win and Pat Ryan out of a job the next day.