AI series (Qualifiers)

[Milltown Row2]

I was over at them, and while it was promising to be a great occasion, the first game killed all sense of atmosphere. I felt sorry for Wexford because limerick were in the mood to be brutal, and when Wexford missed those early chances they looked like a team that had emptied the tank.

Dublin were poor, and you'd think that is the end of Dalo. Great work he's done there but that had all the hallmarks of the end of a cycle. Tipp weren't good and cork will eat them if they don't improve massively. Their forwards are as tough as kittens fighting for ball, bar maybe Ryan and bonner maher. Dublin on the other hand are all about intensity. When they don't have that, they offer very little. This year they've not had that really.

Sums it up really, the lack of touch from the Dubs was dreadful, Rushe was the only lad that could hold his head up high, decent hurler when in the mood, Conal Keaney was just looking to get into the physical stuff rather than hurl, and he's a decent hurler when he gets going, Maher wasn't allowing that. What happened to Ryan this year for the dubs, he'd have scored a right few of those scores which would have at least kept them in contention

[Vintage]

Testing

[johnneycool]

Two poor games on sunday which never got going at all;

Limerick had far too much for Wexford who didn't have the same vim and vigour about them and couldn't handle the aerial ability of the Limerick forwards, plus loads of passes, touches not coming off made a rod for their own back, poor way to finish off the year, but progress for them nonetheless. Big McDonald has as good a hand on him as anyone in the game, he'll be a handful for most fullbacks in the coming years.

Not sure about Limerick TBH, they hit an awful amount of wides from far out when you'd have thought they'd have given an early ball into their forwards, something they did against Cork as well so goals may be hard to come by, granted they got a few on Sunday, but the game was all but up at that stage, two on the blow for half time and a waltz in later in the second.
Can't see the Kilkenny lads allowing them to catch as much again although with two smallish wing backs in Walsh junior/Holden and Buckley and a not overly big midfield to cover in front you'd hope Limerick might get some joy there, but catching it is one thing, doing something useful with it after that is another thing, plus it wouldn't be the first time small Kilkenny lads out caught much bigger men.
TJ will need the quick ball into the spaces as a plan B to the likes of Mulcahy or Tobin to spread out the Kilkenny full back line, but he's got a pretty good fullback line and in Hickey probably the in form corner back at the moment and won't be bullied out of it like he was in the AI final a few years ago.

As for Tipp/Dublin, it was nearly more error strewn than the first game with Wexford getting a bit of leeway due to their heavy run of games. Tipp had the far better forwards and that was the telling factor although Callinan didn't get too much off Kelly and only picked up a few scores when he roamed away out the field to pick up scraps, he'll need to do much more in and around the house against Cork, who'll have noticed before now his inability to win his own ball when put under a bit of physical pressure, something Kelly was good at.
Dublin was disappointingly very poor and didn't really have a go at Tipp, some of the stickwork was something you'd see in the lower divisions and the lack of scoring forwards will be their achilles heel from going the extra yard to win an AI. In saying that Dublin whilst being outplayed were still in contention for most of the game, granted Tipp had a lead, but it wasn't insurmountable until the last 10 minutes, and apart from one save Gleeson had little to do all afternoon.
I'd say the Dubs hurling supporters are pretty frustrated at that, to go out with a whimper and not seem to really give it a go, so there'll be much soul searching in Dublin as to where they're going wrong and maybe the ever elaborate O'Cusack has a point about the dual players at minor, if they're not going to commit to hurling long term, is it a short term gain to play them at minor and subsequently prevent the development of other hurlers who may be of benefit to Dublin hurling, but who the hell knows at 18 years of age if they're going to make it on the senior football panel or not!!

Tipp still have an achilles heel at fullback as I'm not sure yer man Barry is the man they need in there, but it's too late now to change riders. They still lack that out and out aggression in their forwards with the very obvious exception of Bonnar Maher, but have some accurate forwards if the time and space becomes available, not sure Cork will that generous though.


Sadly its looking like another Cork, Kilkenny final for all the change last year, I think we're back to the status quo, although I'd suggest Limerick are probably more likely to spoil the party even if they've got the toughest test.

[Canalman]

Think it may well be a Limerick / Tipperary final. Kilkenny should have won LF by 20 points or so but didn't and I would worry about their forward line.

Tbh, can't see Cork troubling Tipperary.

Would love to see Limerick win it out now.

[johnneycool]

Think it may well be a Limerick / Tipperary final. Kilkenny should have won LF by 20 points or so but didn't and I would worry about their forward line.

Tbh, can't see Cork troubling Tipperary.

Would love to see Limerick win it out now.

Cork will expose that soft underbelly of Tipp unlike Dublin and they'll fall for it, plus Cork have a far superior set of forwards in Lehane, Harnedy, Horgan, Cronin and Cadogan who will get the scores Dublin didn't get. affording their defence a bit of breathing space.
The battle between Bonnar Maher and the new lad Mark Ellis will depend on how the Tipp forwards get on scoring wise, Ellis needs at least parity to prevent Maher making scores for the rest, that would be a good days work for him.

It will be close enough and Tipp won't have the same fear of Cork as they do Kilkenny, but I still see Cork prevailing by two to three points.

I would love to see Limerick win, but by god its still hard to look past Kilkenny in any game at this stage of the year!!

[AZOffaly]

johnney, Tipp don't fear Kilkenny. In fact the opposite. They may not be good enough for them, but Tipp don't fear Cork or Kilkenny. It's literally amazing for a blow in to see the ingrained belief they have, to the point of delusion sometimes. That's why Declan Ryan's 'sin' in 2012 was unforgivable as far as Tipp supporters were concerned.

[Canalman]

johnney, Tipp don't fear Kilkenny. In fact the opposite. They may not be good enough for them, but Tipp don't fear Cork or Kilkenny. It's literally amazing for a blow in to see the ingrained belief they have, to the point of delusion sometimes. That's why Declan Ryan's 'sin' in 2012 was unforgivable as far as Tipp supporters were concerned.

Read somewhere that Tipperary went decades without losing to Kilkenny at one stage. A right bitter rivalry between them . KK really and I mean really love beating them.

[johnneycool]

johnney, Tipp don't fear Kilkenny. In fact the opposite. They may not be good enough for them, but Tipp don't fear Cork or Kilkenny. It's literally amazing for a blow in to see the ingrained belief they have, to the point of delusion sometimes. That's why Declan Ryan's 'sin' in 2012 was unforgivable as far as Tipp supporters were concerned.

Nah,
for me the Tipp hurlers certainly do fear Kilkenny and that's been their downfall in the last few meetings, every bit as good as stickmen, but not the conviction to go in hard and take the knocks that inevitably come your way in such meetings.
The 2012 thing was the epitome of this IMO, Ryan didn't trust his charges and wanted to 'protect' Corbett from big bad Jackie and made an embarrassment out of Tipp hurling. A lot of the same players are still there, nothing has changed.

[AZOffaly]

No offence Johnney, but you're wrong on this one That's why what Declan Ryan did was deemed so unacceptable. Rightly or Wrongly a Tipp man will tell you he's the only lad to put manners on Kilkenny. I'm sure Premier Emperor will be along shortly to prove my point

[johnneycool]

No offence Johnney, but you're wrong on this one That's why what Declan Ryan did was deemed so unacceptable. Rightly or Wrongly a Tipp man will tell you he's the only lad to put manners on Kilkenny. I'm sure Premier Emperor will be along shortly to prove my point

I think we'll beg to differ on that one, when JJ was manhandling Lar in the League game, where were the Tipp Cavalry? That wouldn't have happened with Cormac Bonner or the likes about.

[AZOffaly]

No offence Johnney, but you're wrong on this one That's why what Declan Ryan did was deemed so unacceptable. Rightly or Wrongly a Tipp man will tell you he's the only lad to put manners on Kilkenny. I'm sure Premier Emperor will be along shortly to prove my point

I think we'll beg to differ on that one, when JJ was manhandling Lar in the League game, where were the Tipp Cavalry? That wouldn't have happened with Cormac Bonner or the likes about.

We'll agree to differ so, but maybe we are talking about different things. When you say team A are afraid of team B, I assume you mean afraid of their quality, and don't believe they can beat them. I would absolutely disagree that Tipperary have that sort of innate fear of any team. I remember the near salivating they were doing down here when KK were going for that 5 in a row.

However, if you mean individuals and their fear of being bullied by an opponent, then I think you have a point. However again, I don't think it's Kilkenny per se, but it strikes me that the Tipp forwards dislike winning any sort of dirty ball and that's a problem for them. Again though, that's not really the fear I thought you were referring to.

[johnneycool]

No offence Johnney, but you're wrong on this one That's why what Declan Ryan did was deemed so unacceptable. Rightly or Wrongly a Tipp man will tell you he's the only lad to put manners on Kilkenny. I'm sure Premier Emperor will be along shortly to prove my point

I think we'll beg to differ on that one, when JJ was manhandling Lar in the League game, where were the Tipp Cavalry? That wouldn't have happened with Cormac Bonner or the likes about.

We'll agree to differ so, but maybe we are talking about different things. When you say team A are afraid of team B, I assume you mean afraid of their quality, and don't believe they can beat them. I would absolutely disagree that Tipperary have that sort of innate fear of any team. I remember the near salivating they were doing down here when KK were going for that 5 in a row.

However, if you mean individuals and their fear of being bullied by an opponent, then I think you have a point. However again, I don't think it's Kilkenny per se, but it strikes me that the Tipp forwards dislike winning any sort of dirty ball and that's a problem for them. Again though, that's not really the fear I thought you were referring to.

Yeah,  we're talking about different things, any Tipp lad I've ever met never doubts their teams ability and the likes of Premier Emperor are two to a penny down there, he's probably considered normal in a Tipp context.
TBH, this team does have an abundance of ability, but not application and that will be their undoing against Cork.

[Milltown Row2]

No offence Johnney, but you're wrong on this one That's why what Declan Ryan did was deemed so unacceptable. Rightly or Wrongly a Tipp man will tell you he's the only lad to put manners on Kilkenny. I'm sure Premier Emperor will be along shortly to prove my point

I think we'll beg to differ on that one, when JJ was manhandling Lar in the League game, where were the Tipp Cavalry? That wouldn't have happened with Cormac Bonner or the likes about.

We'll agree to differ so, but maybe we are talking about different things. When you say team A are afraid of team B, I assume you mean afraid of their quality, and don't believe they can beat them. I would absolutely disagree that Tipperary have that sort of innate fear of any team. I remember the near salivating they were doing down here when KK were going for that 5 in a row.

However, if you mean individuals and their fear of being bullied by an opponent, then I think you have a point. However again, I don't think it's Kilkenny per se, but it strikes me that the Tipp forwards dislike winning any sort of dirty ball and that's a problem for them. Again though, that's not really the fear I thought you were referring to.

Yeah,  we're talking about different things, any Tipp lad I've ever met never doubts their teams ability and the likes of Premier Emperor are two to a penny down there, he's probably considered normal in a Tipp context.
TBH, this team does have an abundance of ability, but not application and that will be their undoing against Cork.

They are like the Thurles Sarsfields team, great players, shit team

[Premier Emperor]

johnney, Tipp don't fear Kilkenny. In fact the opposite. They may not be good enough for them, but Tipp don't fear Cork or Kilkenny. It's literally amazing for a blow in to see the ingrained belief they have, to the point of delusion sometimes. That's why Declan Ryan's 'sin' in 2012 was unforgivable as far as Tipp supporters were concerned.

Read somewhere that Tipperary went decades without losing to Kilkenny at one stage. A right bitter rivalry between them . KK really and I mean really love beating them.

Tipperary only lost to Kilkenny once in the championship between 1922 and and 2002
That's the root of the obsession and jealousy Kilkenny have towards us.

[johnneycool]

johnney, Tipp don't fear Kilkenny. In fact the opposite. They may not be good enough for them, but Tipp don't fear Cork or Kilkenny. It's literally amazing for a blow in to see the ingrained belief they have, to the point of delusion sometimes. That's why Declan Ryan's 'sin' in 2012 was unforgivable as far as Tipp supporters were concerned.

Read somewhere that Tipperary went decades without losing to Kilkenny at one stage. A right bitter rivalry between them . KK really and I mean really love beating them.

Tipperary only lost to Kilkenny once in the championship between 1922 and and 2002
That's the root of the obsession and jealousy Kilkenny have towards us.

Not a bad record, but slightly tainted by the fact that from 1971 to 1987 you didn't get out of Munster and I was at the first drawn game with Cork but never made it to the replay when the hay was finally saved by Richie Stakelum and the lads.