Kilkenny v Galway All Ireland Final!

[mikehunt]

Fair play to Kilkenny. They make winning All Irelands look easy. Some achievement by Cody. As a Galway man I thought they were there for the taking.  Maybe they put in too much effort in the first half. Second half was shockingly poor.Fist pumping after sending it out over the sideline probably sums it up better than any words could. Only ones to come out of that with any credit would be David Burke, David Collins and Conor Whelan purely because they kept going. Very harsh to bring off Jason Flynn. There were a few other forwards that were far worse. Maybe they'll learn from it but a collapse like that will be hard to recover from.

[Minder]

Fair play to Kilkenny. They make winning All Irelands look easy. Some achievement by Cody. As a Galway man I thought they were there for the taking.  Maybe they put in too much effort in the first half. Second half was shockingly poor.Fist pumping after sending it out over the sideline probably sums it up better than any words could. Only ones to come out of that with any credit would be David Burke, David Collins and Conor Whelan purely because they kept going. Very harsh to bring off Jason Flynn. There were a few other forwards that were far worse. Maybe they'll learn from it but a collapse like that will be hard to recover from.

I don't know if you can put it down as a "collapse", they weren't allowed to play

[gallsman]

Yup. Kilkenny just stepped it up and shut them out. The two heroes from the last day, Mannion and Flynn were quiet, although Flynn's point from play is one of the best scores I've ever seen. Joe was completely bullied out of it in the second half.

[thejuice]

You just knew what was coming after half time as the KK backs and midfield just upped the ante and won everything. Galway had to weather that period but couldn't. Maybe if they had moved the forwards further up the field and try get breaks closer to goal they might have avoided giving the cats a platform to counter attack.

But ultimately the better work rate and execution of the basics was the difference. Galways shots became more desperate and their heads went down rather quickly.

[orangeman]

Galway forwards and midfield really imposed themselves on a KK defence that normally deal with anything you can throw at them, meaning that several KK defenders were suffering badly. Ref wasn't handing KK any handy frees and Galway made headway on the score board but not to the extent they ought to have in the first half. Half time arrived with Galway leading by only 3 - they needed to be ahead by more. KK came out early and soon were leading - game over. Galway instead of being able to hit in nice diagonal balls were skying in high balls which a renergised and much more aggressive KK defence dealt with all day long.

KK won this final without having to play that well.

Well done to KK and hard luck to Galway. This was as good an opportunity for Galway to win an AI as they will get.

[Walt Jabsco]

Kilkenny just do the basics better than anyone else

Catching
Lifting the ball first time
Hooking
Blocking

Add in; Refusing to be true Gaels and play football as well like all other counties.

Kilkenny just do the basics better than anyone else

Catching
Lifting the ball first time
Hooking
Blocking

Add in; Refusing to be true Gaels and play football as well like all other counties.


By not playing hurling are Cavan not true Gaels although it hasn't helped their ability to win the All Ireland Football title

[Minder]

So who do we reckon was MOM ?

[pullhard]

my views on today's game.
Galway really were superb in the first half as good as a performance against the cats as i've seen long while. They were so sharp and intense.
However there shooting was shocking, the last time i sent such poor shooting in a final was Waterford in '08.
I can't find the stats but I'd say it was at least dozen, most easily make able scores.
They really needed a lead for 7/8 going into second half.
With that mediocre of a lead they never stood a chance, as Kilkenny were due to step it up the second half which they dutifully did. As other have mention they stepped up in every single department.

TJ was my motm

[orangeman]

So who do we reckon was MOM ?

TJ MOM

Michael Fennelly had a decent hour too.

[Bord na Mona man]

Awesome 2nd half from Kilkenny. If they put away the hurleys they'd be one of the hardest football teams to play against with the workrate and swarming they do of the man in possession. Galway needed some mechanism to try and move the ball around the field quicker. Too often the played it short to a man who was immediately gobbled up by the pack. Kilkenny can almost telepathically almost switch the play and find the loose man.

Depressing the way Kilkenny own hurling these days!

[gallsman]

Some great shots during the trophy presentation of Richie Power pucking the ball about with his son. Great stuff.

[gallsman]

Fennelly?? I thought he was roasted.

Presume you're in the windup here.

[imtommygunn]

I thought Padraig Walsh was immense in the second half and should have got man of the match. Not sure how the other Fennelly stayed on but Michael wasn't half bad. Pity for Galway. You feel a bit like you do for Mayo where you wonder if it will ever happen for them. It'd be a shame to see Joe Canning play out his career without winning one.

[johnneycool]

I thought Padraig Walsh was immense in the second half and should have got man of the match. Not sure how the other Fennelly stayed on but Michael wasn't half bad. Pity for Galway. You feel a bit like you do for Mayo where you wonder if it will ever happen for them. It'd be a shame to see Joe Canning play out his career without winning one.

Eoin Larkin was the only Kilkenny man to go well the whole 70 minutes IMO. I thought he was outstanding.

TJ Reid is some man for timing his runs into the rucks to get the ball, he's well worth watching at it, avoids the first contact and comes in pick up the scraps, maybe its something they work at, first KK man in takes out the opponent to allow the second KK man in to get the ball, but their stickwork and speed of hand in close quarters is fantastic to behold. More often than not they win the ball in those situations.

Galway had them on the rack, but didn't get the scores that it deserved and if you give this KK team a second bite they take and in the second half they certainly did!

Even at that, with Galway on the rack, some of their wayward shooting from play and frees allowed Kilkenny to get a lead and if only young Whelan had gotten a good contact with his shot on goal, it could well have been a nail biting finish, but Kilkenny do what they do best and go up the field and tack on a point!

As for the ref, he was rightly hard on the steps, should have shown Coen a red and was right to not award a free to Donnellan for he'd lost his balance and should have gotten up to play on. He should have awarded David Collins a free when he was totally clobbered when attempting to clear the ball, but I thought he was pretty good throughout in all considering how hard it must be to referee those encounters.

It wasn't a bad game, but after the last few years it was always going to be a hard act to follow.

The Kilkenny machine keeps rolling on!

[imtommygunn]

For a while I thought the ref hadn't got a whistle but then you looked closer and it seemed to he played the advantage for pretty much everything and then called it back if needbe.

Should have been a red for Coen but had no bearing on the game so glad it wasn't in the end.

There were more "rucks" in that game yesterday than I think I've ever seen in a top level hurling match. Possibly indicative of how physical it was.