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It was probably  just a matter of time  before  we heard this news.  Especially  moreso after her son died  last year.

I always found  it very difficult  to like her, to be   honest.  All this religious, ordination stuff, then this Muslim phase ( or whatever she became later)  just seemed like   constant attempts  for her to try and remain  relevant

I don't mind her version of Nothing compares to you , but  her career never amounted  to much other than  that.   Never really understood the  talk of her having an amazing voice. I never thought so , but others did , so  each to their own

Sorry , I know threads like  these are meant to be  about how great  someone was  , but I don't really have anything positive  to say about  the woman.  God help her children

I agree with a lot of this unfortunately. Maybe through no fault of her own, she was a very damaged and troubled person, who fell out with and caused a lot of strife to those immediately around her. The likes of the Late Late Show and the Sindo constantly egging her on and pandering to her views were absolutely no help either, when it was clear she would have been better served by not giving her quite the large amount of public exposure. (In one of it's more bizarre stunts the paper sent her down to interview Ian Bailey quite recently, which turned out to be a bit of a car wreck).

I wouldn't have her down as one of our greatest talents. Soprano Celine Byrne is our finest singer IMO and there are plenty that were the equal in voice to Sinead. Never really got 'Nothing compares to you' either, I thought it came across as shrill and shrieking. I did have a soft spot for the two below moreso however;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34zj4_8Qzec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej4ZlLlFmLQ

I hate to break it to you but Galway have plenty of beasts in there too. They do plenty of strength and conditioning. They just don't do it as well and probably don't have hurlers of the same level.

None of the other teams are anywhere near Limerick's S&Clevel
We don't know how the others would perform hurlingwise because we never had a  level s&C.

S&C had very little to do with Peter Casey's 5 points, (barring the shrug off on Mikey Butler), he'd white chalk on his boots for three of them, now from a Galway perspective who could you trust to do the same for them?

Conor Cooney would put over a worldy one minute and then miss an easy chance the next, he'd have put at best two of those over, Niland needs space, Casey was well chaperoned on three of those points and still got them over, Whelan, who I rate highly BTW would also have put at least two of those wide, Cathal O'Neill comes on and puts over one of the best points of the day while being closed in tight to the sideline on the Cusack stand side of the ground.

That is the difference between Limerick and the chasing pack, when the pressure comes on their shooting averages are far higher than anyone else.

Limericks one weakness is in dealing with high ball in on their fullback line, Kilkenny, Galway and Clare got joy from those, but couldn't sustain the effort to get the ball into positions to allow good ball to get in their.

Is TJ done?   He's now moreso a playmaker, some of his passes yesterday in the second half would have resulted in good goal chances, one due to a slip and the other to a lad just getting it all wrong after that. It will be interesting if he goes another year, I can't see another Leinster title being enough to satisfy him, but we'll know more when Ballyhale exit the club championship (or win it again)..

Casey has the facility to score points from acute angles and while seemingly being tightly marked. Limerick were freaky in their purple patch on Sunday though as everything they hit, wind-aided, went over the bar. As a team they've frequently had the propensity to hit a lot of wides in a match however, yes, even under pressure. E.g. 2018 AI final, 2023 league final, both Clare matches this year etc. Maybe the key to beating them is not to start well, like Galway and Kilkenny did in their games, but to tread water for as long as possible and then hammer the hammer by finishing strongly.

Mouview I think you are being a bit harsh on Kilkenny there.

Not at all. Galway get plenty of stick whenever they lose a match, let some other county suffer the same hysterical analysis for doing the same.

They're exactly like dublin and would beat the best of the rest. Twice in a row now teams think they have sussed them out in the first 25 minutes or so and they have just analysed things, tweaked things and then blew the opposition away.

That's Kinnerk for you. Very astute.

The thing about Limerick is that they don't go for, or even need goals.  They'll hit 30 points. Frightening.

Although T.J. didn't score from.play in the final this past two years, you could see he was trying to create a goal chance. He could have hit a handy point of two but knew KK needed goals.  I'd say that was their plan. Try and create goal opportunities.

Gillane and Flanagan were poor by their high standards so the defence, espacially Lawlor did a good job. He's turning into a might full-back.

KK needed Fogarty, Donnelly and Keoghan to have the games of their lives, but it never happened.  You'd need KK to play Limerick in the first half and then Galway to play them in the second half to make any inroads.

Look at  Peter Casey, 5 pts in first half a couple of years ago, then went off with the cruciate (probably would have got MOTM if he wasn't injured), came back last year and then got MOTM yesterday with another 5 pts. What an operator! 

Two new players in Finn and Hannon next year - as I say frightening.

The elusive 5-in-a-row feat would be quite a carrot for Limerick next year, but who's to say they will still have the same hunger and desire to start all over again in November? They were in danger enough of being knocked out v. Cork late in the match, so maybe the round-robin is the key to stopping them in 2024. There's also the possibility of more injuries being incurred and it may take Finn and Hannon a while to get back up to match sharpness next season as well. In addition, how strong really is their bench? O'Neill made a difference certainly but when he started games earlier in the season, he struggled to retain his place. Add in to the mix the fact that Flanagan, Hegarty and Tom Morrissey were fitful enough yesterday too.

Guess what I'm trying to say that as awesome as they were yesterday, their display was accentuated by a terribly poor one from KK who threw in the towel once Limerick wiped out the second goal-lead. Not impossible that someone could yet do a Tipp-2010 next year.

Or when it's close calls can have a major bearing on the outcome 

Kilkenny reverted to type a lot too though so while they improved this year in nearly all of their games I kind of felt they regressed a bit yesterday.

Hard to see Limerick's dominance being broken any time soon. Finn to come back in, Lynch to get a good year behind him, Hannon to come back etc. I dunno how they'll fit all those players in if they're all fit.

Hayes right pick for POTY. Beast of a man.

Don't see that Kilkenny improved this year. Got a lot of lucky breaks to reach the final and Reid didn't actually score from play yesterday or in the semi. Four of their forwards were swapped out yesterday, (did Billy Ryan even touch the ball?) and midfield beaten up a stick. If anything, the scoreline flattered Kilkenny yesterday, very mediocre team by their standards. Gave a much better account of themselves in last year's decider.

reminscent of the Galway semi

Wonder will Anthony 'Dalo' start spouting about Kilkenny going out with "zero honour" yesterday?

Or when it's close calls can have a major bearing on the outcome 

Kilkenny reverted to type a lot too though so while they improved this year in nearly all of their games I kind of felt they regressed a bit yesterday.

Hard to see Limerick's dominance being broken any time soon. Finn to come back in, Lynch to get a good year behind him, Hannon to come back etc. I dunno how they'll fit all those players in if they're all fit.

Hayes right pick for POTY. Beast of a man.

Don't see that Kilkenny improved this year. Got a lot of lucky breaks to reach the final and Reid didn't actually score from play yesterday or in the semi. Four of their forwards were swapped out yesterday, (did Billy Ryan even touch the ball?) and midfield beaten up a stick. If anything, the scoreline flattered Kilkenny yesterday, very mediocre team by their standards. Gave a much better account of themselves in last year's decider.

Clare would have been 18-17 up ten minutes into the 2nd half only for another poor refereeing decision, that being the disallowed goal.

Clare were on fire for the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half and did take the lead, through their tactics and will to win. They went 2 up, 19-17 and were on top all over the pitch.

The one big mistake Clare made was the conceded goal. Outside of that they did little wrong.

There was one throw ball given the entire game. Who did it go against? Clare!!

Referees circling the wagons is a poor look. Show a little balance in your perspective if you want to be taken seriously.

Whatever about all your other points, there can be no quibbles about the disallowed goal. The whistle clearly sounded before the ball was driven in and the KK defenders had largely stopped playing.

Plenty coming through for Galway. Need a 1985 or 2012 scenario where a whole host of them are tried together and thrown in the deep end.

At least he won his all Ireland.
A fabulous player.

No doubt and he definitely is, but it is one of those ones of what could have been.

Such a talent.

In particular, had a fine match in the 2015 semi' v Tipp, when he nabbed 4 points from play. Got a dinger in the final too as I recall. I think self-belief more than anything has held him back, has all the physical talents. (Has also had to overcome personal tragedy in his life, sadly.)

All of a sudden our premier league numbers have increased with ogbene, oshea and Cullen all in there now

Unfortunately, can't see Ogbene's Premier league stay being an extended one.

Limerick have a similar dose to the Galway footballers with key injuries and a loss of form

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/06/26/denis-walsh-everyone-left-in-the-hurling-championship-is-racing-against-time/?

Sean Finn is out for the rest of the season, Cian Lynch hasn't been himself for well over a year and Declan Hannon has already been ruled out of the All-Ireland semi-final

Of all of these, I think Galway have the least amount of injury worries as the semis approach, and they also have arguably the strongest bench of the lot - a good few players to call on to make a difference when brought in IMO. (Hurling wise of course)

Wuuld Markiewicz Park not have been more equitable?

Pressure is on Galway , lots of write ups over the last few weeks about them , the latest being Peter canavan saying if they met Mayo in a final they'd beat them . All or nothing now for Padraigeen and his band of fancy dans .

First time we were called that was 1998.

Cork need to build around Ben Cunningham when he progresses. Proven free taker for St Finbarr's and Cork U20's, and a big strapping lad. Their biggest problem the last few years has been forwards not winning their own ball, and not working hard enough. Get this lad in and build around him with the pace of Robbie O'Flynn and Shane Kingston. I expect Limerick to win comfortably enough this weekend, but there has been some decent signs this year for Cork going forward.

Is he not being lost to Munster rugby? Maybe someone else I'm thinking of....

[you could see the blind panic in Kinnerks face in the closing minutes of that Tipp game]

Camera panned around to the sideline and you could see the blind panic in Kinnerks face in the closing minutes of that Tipp game. It'll only take one of those 'underperforming' limerick stars to have a good game to pull them through, saying that Cork have surprised me this year so far so will be a cracking game.

Wonder why if true though? Limerick weren't out even if they lost, they would still have to beat Cork regardless. Which I think they will do. Cork can't seem to settle on a properly-firing forward division and have played only in fits and starts v Tipp and Clare to date. Just don't think they have it in them to get a result on Sunday.