Am I completely mad in giving Waterford a chance here?
Kilkenny haven't done much hurling lately and are in decline.
At least Waterford had their wake up call in the Munster final.
Cody names unchanged team for semi-final
It comes as no surprise that Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has tonight opted to name an unchanged team for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Waterford at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm).
Training went off without a hitch this week, so Cody has stuck with the side that started the Cats' Leinster Championship final victory over Dublin five weeks ago.
There are some positional switches listed, with Noel Hickey named at full-back and Paul Murphy selected in the right corner. Former Hurler of the Year JJ Delaney is positioned at left half-back.
Michael Rice injured himself in training last weekend but is fit to take his place in midfield alongside Michael Fennelly.
Kilkenny are expected to advance to their 11th All-Ireland final - the sixth in succession - since Cody was appointed at the end of 1998. They beat Waterford by 2-16 to 1-13 in this year's Allianz Hurling League, helped by healthy scoring contributions from Richie Hogan (0-7), TJ Reid (1-2) and Colin Fennelly (1-2).
"Our sights are set on being in the All-Ireland final. Kilkenny have never found it easy against Waterford in the Championship. They won't on Sunday either," Cody told the Kilkenny People.
"The character and resilience Waterford showed (to come back and beat Galway) was of the highest order. They proved they had what every team wanting to be winners needs - great resilience, character and mental toughness."
KILKENNY (SHC v Waterford): David Herity; Paul Murphy, Noel Hickey, Jackie Tyrrell; Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan (capt), JJ Delaney; Michael Fennelly, Michael Rice; TJ Reid, Richie Power, Eoin Larkin; Colin Fennelly, Henry Shefflin, Richie Hogan.
Substitutes: PJ Ryan, Michael Kavanagh, John Dalton, Paddy Hogan, James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick, Eddie Brennan, Conor Fogarty, Kieran Joyce, Richie Doyle, John Mulhall, Matthew Ruth.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/cody-names-unchanged-team-for-semi-final-515565.html#ixzz1UByFd6dF
I can't see any way that Waterford can win this. Kilkeeny just too strong all over the pitch - and then there's the bench!
I expect Kilkenny to win by about 8. Hope I'm wrong.
http://shane-sportsramblings.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurling-takes-centre-stage-but.html (http://shane-sportsramblings.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurling-takes-centre-stage-but.html)
Extra Time in the Minor Semi Final? I've never seen extra time in a semi final. I'd say they are dragging lads out of the showers at the moment. They all shook hands and all.
Aye bad craic if they hadn't knew beforehand. Clare look shattered
TJ Reid could walk here, he's not the player of a few years ago. Fair play Waterford....... so far
Waterford are competing, but there's no way they are going to dominate for long stretches like they did against Galway. Kilkenny look much better with Eoin Larkin out on the wing and Shefflin or Power inside in the Full Forward position.
When Mullane plays well theres always hope for Waterford, and they are creating space in the cats back line. Good few kilkenny boys still below par but they still managing to keep a nose in front. 2nd half should be a cracker.
I think you could see Kilkenny stretch this a bit. Their forwards are not really clicking (despite 2-10 scored!!) but Waterford are expending a pile of energy.
Aye fair bit of energy used in the first half, bit of a breeze (not much) favouring Waterford here, helps defenders but but unless they can find their forwards then they are fooked. TJ gone no surprise there
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
25 minutes left and unless Waterford get a goal soon it's over as a contest. Pity as Waterford were up for in the first half.
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp or Dublin.
Fixed that :P
Middlin stuff.
Shefflin still has it after those two bad injuries, though he has a nasty wee streak about him lately, ya get that as ya get older ;)
A Waterford goal could make this interesting. Pity they shot so many wides this half.
These Kilkenny forwards have turned into Me feiners. How many wides from 60 yards?
Quote from: Tony Baloney on August 07, 2011, 05:10:45 PM
A Waterford goal could make this interesting. Pity they shot so many wides this half.
Don't think it would have mattered,Killkenny had another few gears left in them if they needed it.
Good effort from Waterford well done to Kilkenny.
Awful stuff, a very poor game and if Kilkenny can't up it they'll be hammered by Tipp, and it will be Tipp.
Quote from: laoislad on August 07, 2011, 05:17:46 PM
Quote from: Tony Baloney on August 07, 2011, 05:10:45 PM
A Waterford goal could make this interesting. Pity they shot so many wides this half.
Don't think it would have mattered,Killkenny had another few gears left in them if they needed it.
Probably but would have been interesting to see.
waterford made too many unforced errors and all too often took the wrong option. In the second half they lost all shape in around the mid third giving kilkenny all to easy ball out of their defence. Kilkenny deserved winners even if i did think they were filthy out there today but if the ref doesn't punish you its a not a foul i guess, should have been down to 14 early on for what were 2 yellow card offences by the number 10 ( cant remember who was 10 for the life of me ) and really should have been down to 13 after a horrible stroke on noel connors. All that said cant see that level been anywhere near the level needed to topple tipp (should they overcome dublin of course).
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
James Cha Fitzpatrick, is it? Canning would swoon if he had a chance to add him to his continual name checking of Michael Brick Walsh. I'm certain nobody else in the world calls him that. His mates call him Brick; his parents call him Michael. Only an annoying hoor would call him Micheal Brick Walsk EVERY f****n time.
And we had at least five huge ones down today.
And dozens of pock outs. That accent doesn't exist anywhere else other than in Canning's annoying hoor of a larynx.
What about ''dexterity'', ''latitude'' and ''enterprising''? There's a good few more words that Ger uses that nobody, in any walk of life uses, especially describing human movement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: Hardy on August 07, 2011, 06:56:57 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
James Cha Fitzpatrick, is it? Canning would swoon if he had a chance to add him to his continual name checking of Michael Brick Walsh. I'm certain nobody else in the world calls him that. His mates call him Brick; his parents call him Michael. Only an annoying hoor would call him Micheal Brick Walsk EVERY f****n time.
And we had at least five huge ones down today.
And dozens of pock outs. That accent doesn't exist anywhere else other than in Canning's annoying hoor of a larynx.
I don't think you care much for Ger's commentary.
Kilkenny not firing on all cylinders but still had enough for a gutsy Waterford.
As Duignan pointed out in the commentary in the second half, Kilkenny played aimless high balls into the Waterford defence and hoped for the best. The Waterford fullback line coped admirably with it but a Tipp (being a bit forward I know) defence will eat it up and put a bit more quality into their own forwards than Waterford managed.
Game was poor enough in the second half and at one point looked like two games of backs and forwards at either end of the field.
Did Cody overdo the blanket defence a bit and allow Waterford to pick off a few points to close the gap?
Kilkeny always had another gear and didn't seem to want to beat them out the gate -
Pressure on Tipp now - Dublin have no pressure next week.
It must be frustrating to be a Waterford forward, the amount of times they fucked about with short passes in the half back/midfield areas when they were under no pressure was criminal.
Quote from: Hardy on August 07, 2011, 06:56:57 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
James Cha Fitzpatrick, is it? Canning would swoon if he had a chance to add him to his continual name checking of Michael Brick Walsh. I'm certain nobody else in the world calls him that. His mates call him Brick; his parents call him Michael. Only an annoying hoor would call him Micheal Brick Walsk EVERY f****n time.
And we had at least five huge ones down today.
And dozens of pock outs. That accent doesn't exist anywhere else other than in Canning's annoying hoor of a larynx.
Would that be the Montenotteeeeeeeee accent ? Do they do a lot of foraging there ?
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
He always moans at refs!
He got some shock when he was yellow carded too! ;D
Surprisingly rusty looking KK display especially from the fwds, their touch uncharacteristically woeful at times, just goes to show it can happen to the best of us. For me the pick of both teams were in the backs, Lawlor and Murphy.
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Yeah, I meant yesterday. In fairness he wasn't alone but I thought his touch was poor. Even Shefflin was poking at the ball like an aul wan raking the fire at one stage, before kicking it away. I've never seen that before. I wonder was the grass a bit longer than normal? One time Larkin was trying to pick it up, couldn't, ended up standing on the ball (!!) and the ball nearly disappeared into the grass.
The conspiracy theorist in me says they might have left it a bit longer to stop lads slipping around like they were last weekend. I didn't notice as much slipping this week to be fair, but I wonder is that why.
A poor display from the cats yet they were still very very comfortable... if you win by 12-15 points then everybody will think things are grand. Cody will get tore into them & I'd expect a 30 or 40% improvement for the final. Whether that is enough to beat Tipp I'd don't know.
Whenever complacency sets in it's hard to get rid off.
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 08, 2011, 10:16:14 AM
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Yeah, I meant yesterday. In fairness he wasn't alone but I thought his touch was poor. Even Shefflin was poking at the ball like an aul wan raking the fire at one stage, before kicking it away. I've never seen that before. I wonder was the grass a bit longer than normal? One time Larkin was trying to pick it up, couldn't, ended up standing on the ball (!!) and the ball nearly disappeared into the grass.
The conspiracy theorist in me says they might have left it a bit longer to stop lads slipping around like they were last weekend. I didn't notice as much slipping this week to be fair, but I wonder is that why.
That Shefflin one was insane. He dipped it four times without success and then wildly resorted to a kick. Never seen the like of it from him. Just goes to show that even the greatest of hurlers can learn a thing or two about bending their backs and using two hands!
I love to watch Larkin on the ball - the way he swivels and spins away from challenges is absolutely fantastic.
I wouldn't be a very knowledgable hurling man but to me KK looked like they were playing within themselves yesterday and once they got the early cushion they kind of switched off a bit. Watching them I always felt they could lift it another notch if required and I think they had half an eye on Tipp. The performance will do them the power of good as Cody wil analyse it and he will work on their hadling errors like a demon over the next few weeks. I think they might beat Tipp, who I believe will make the final with a bit to spare.
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on August 08, 2011, 12:06:27 PM
I wouldn't be a very knowledgable hurling man but to me KK looked like they were playing within themselves yesterday and once they got the early cushion they kind of switched off a bit. Watching them I always felt they could lift it another notch if required and I think they had half an eye on Tipp. The performance will do them the power of good as Cody wil analyse it and he will work on their hadling errors like a demon over the next few weeks. I think they might beat Tipp, who I believe will make the final with a bit to spare.
They might have had another gear to move into but Kilkenny of a few years ago would have beaten that Waterford team by 15 or 20 points once they had gotten 7 or 8 ahead. They were ruthless like that. Instead Waterford reeled off 5 or 6 points on the trot to claw them back which makes me think they can't quite blitz teams like they were once were able to. I know people will say they were minding themselves but Kilkenny under Cody were never too bothered about minding themselves in the past so I don't think they'd start now.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on August 08, 2011, 12:38:09 PM
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on August 08, 2011, 12:06:27 PM
I wouldn't be a very knowledgable hurling man but to me KK looked like they were playing within themselves yesterday and once they got the early cushion they kind of switched off a bit. Watching them I always felt they could lift it another notch if required and I think they had half an eye on Tipp. The performance will do them the power of good as Cody wil analyse it and he will work on their hadling errors like a demon over the next few weeks. I think they might beat Tipp, who I believe will make the final with a bit to spare.
They might have had another gear to move into but Kilkenny of a few years ago would have beaten that Waterford team by 15 or 20 points once they had gotten 7 or 8 ahead. They were ruthless like that. Instead Waterford reeled off 5 or 6 points on the trot to claw them back which makes me think they can't quite blitz teams like they were once were able to. I know people will say they were minding themselves but Kilkenny under Cody were never too bothered about minding themselves in the past so I don't think they'd start now.
the thing is that the KK team of a few years ago didn't have those few years on their legs and therefore didn't need to mind themselves as much as they need to now. I could be wrong but I think they have a bigger lift in them than some may think.
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on August 08, 2011, 12:06:27 PM
I wouldn't be a very knowledgable hurling man but to me KK looked like they were playing within themselves yesterday and once they got the early cushion they kind of switched off a bit.
rather than play within themselves I think it was more a case of keeping waterford at arms length.
It was a very economical performance. Perfect for Kilkenny in fact. There'll certainly be no problems with media hype this year. Tipperary will have the pleasure of that this year.
Quote from: bottlethrower7 on August 08, 2011, 01:20:03 PM
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on August 08, 2011, 12:06:27 PM
I wouldn't be a very knowledgable hurling man but to me KK looked like they were playing within themselves yesterday and once they got the early cushion they kind of switched off a bit.
rather than play within themselves I think it was more a case of keeping waterford at arms length.
It was a very economical performance. Perfect for Kilkenny in fact. There'll certainly be no problems with media hype this year. Tipperary will have the pleasure of that this year.
That's probably closer to what I was thinking, just doing what was needed to win without really pushing it out.
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 08, 2011, 10:16:14 AM
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Yeah, I meant yesterday. In fairness he wasn't alone but I thought his touch was poor. Even Shefflin was poking at the ball like an aul wan raking the fire at one stage, before kicking it away. I've never seen that before. I wonder was the grass a bit longer than normal? One time Larkin was trying to pick it up, couldn't, ended up standing on the ball (!!) and the ball nearly disappeared into the grass.
The conspiracy theorist in me says they might have left it a bit longer to stop lads slipping around like they were last weekend. I didn't notice as much slipping this week to be fair, but I wonder is that why.
I read somewhere that they sanded the pitch this week, whatever that means. Hardly just throwing a few buckets of sand around the place. Anyways the pitch stood up well in the weather Sat night although didn't seem to be ideal for the hurling yesterday alright.
I also think KK have a kick left for the final, they went out to knock Waterford at the start of both halves and then just keep them at arms length. Whatever Cody has planned he wasn't gonna show his hand in this game.
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on August 08, 2011, 02:42:23 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 08, 2011, 10:16:14 AM
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Yeah, I meant yesterday. In fairness he wasn't alone but I thought his touch was poor. Even Shefflin was poking at the ball like an aul wan raking the fire at one stage, before kicking it away. I've never seen that before. I wonder was the grass a bit longer than normal? One time Larkin was trying to pick it up, couldn't, ended up standing on the ball (!!) and the ball nearly disappeared into the grass.
The conspiracy theorist in me says they might have left it a bit longer to stop lads slipping around like they were last weekend. I didn't notice as much slipping this week to be fair, but I wonder is that why.
Whatever Cody has planned he wasn't gonna show his hand in this game.
He's had no problem doing so in the past. They've just gone out and walloped teams when they've been on top like yesterday. People seem to think they wlll just go up 2 or 3 gears effortlessly in the final which is always possible but maybe they are finding those higher gears harder to reach now.
I just thought their forwards were very un-Kilkennylike. There were a lot of selfish options and crazy shots, most of which went wide. TJ Reid, Michael Rice, Richie Hogan's brother all did this. That was most worrying for me. I think their touch was just 'off' and they did win a power of ball as usual, but they weren't moving like they used to.
After watching that its hard to see Tipp not lifting the All Ireland, in may ways a reversal of the positions going into last years final. God pity the Dubs
On the plus side for Kilkenny ;) I thought young Fennelly in the corner was handy enough and quick on his feet.
Any relation to Liam Fennelly as he looked to have similar sharp features?
Quote from: johnneycool on August 08, 2011, 08:21:59 PM
Any relation to Liam Fennelly as he looked to have similar sharp features?
We hear ya, we hear ya.
He's a son of Michael Fennelly, same sharp features.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on August 08, 2011, 03:28:17 PM
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on August 08, 2011, 02:42:23 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 08, 2011, 10:16:14 AM
Quote from: gallsman on August 07, 2011, 11:24:34 PM
Quote from: AZOffaly on August 07, 2011, 04:51:35 PM
Eoin Larkin's first touch is woeful. Cha should be on here.
Kilkenny are far off the pace and standard they will need if they play Tipp.
No KK player distinguished themselves particularly today (with the probable exceptions of Walsh and Hogan) but to suggest Eoin Larkin's touch is woeful (perhaps you only meant today, not in general) is ludicrous. Power's touch was much, much worse today, losing ball left, right and centre. Struggling to hold onto anything
Very disappointing performance from the Cats. Some of their striking and distribution was very shoddy, as was some of the decision making. I've never seen Shefflin choose to play so many balls in low to the full forwards when a simple point was on offer. He did a lot of uncharacteristic moaning to the ref as well.
I expected them to come out and make a statement. With all due respect to Dublin, there was nothing there today to suggest that KK can seriously challenge Tipp. John Mullane was great to watch, but you'd wonder what Lar and Kelly could do.
Yeah, I meant yesterday. In fairness he wasn't alone but I thought his touch was poor. Even Shefflin was poking at the ball like an aul wan raking the fire at one stage, before kicking it away. I've never seen that before. I wonder was the grass a bit longer than normal? One time Larkin was trying to pick it up, couldn't, ended up standing on the ball (!!) and the ball nearly disappeared into the grass.
The conspiracy theorist in me says they might have left it a bit longer to stop lads slipping around like they were last weekend. I didn't notice as much slipping this week to be fair, but I wonder is that why.
Whatever Cody has planned he wasn't gonna show his hand in this game.
He's had no problem doing so in the past. They've just gone out and walloped teams when they've been on top like yesterday. People seem to think they wlll just go up 2 or 3 gears effortlessly in the final which is always possible but maybe they are finding those higher gears harder to reach now.
Agreed but I can't help but feel that he is taking a different approach this year, solely with Tipp in mind.
Rather sanguine about it all. We're just not good enough. I can see us not getting into a semi-final next year. Might be a blessed relief.
Match report here (http://www.comeonthedeise.ie/2011/08/09/waterford-1-16-19-kilkenny-2-19-25/)
Watching Kilkenny on Sunday I was reminded of Ger Loughnanes constant criticism of Tipperary 3 or 4 years ago, that they lacked the kind of ruthlessness you'd see from Kilkenny to finish off a team.
Maybe Kikenny's defensive play for the last 20 minutes was just tactics to see the game out and avoid any injuries, but with only 5-6 points in it and Mullane capable of getting in for a second goal, it would have been a very risky strategy not to push on and widen the gap.