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Interesting ormonde boy, not me Where was the course. I have been floating these ideas though, so maybe someone has picked it up off me somewhere, or else great minds think alike (I know the rest of that saying too!!)

Only coddin'. Course was in Nenagh. Damien Young of Drom and Inch was giving it. He could have picked it up off Paudie Butler (same club). Are you Paudie Butler with a secret Biffo fetish?

I've been helping out a friend who's taken on the U8's and he's similar issues, I think the wristband would be the best, but I'd get their parents to put it on them as half the ones I've been dealing with aren't too sure which hand they are.

I had one lad tell me he wrote with this hand, holding up his left hand, but draws with this hand, holding up his bloody right hand. His dad already left at this stage but got talking to him when he came to pick the lad up and turns out he was right handed!

Kids love stickers and the likes, I can still remember the 'Is maith liom Iomáint' we got back in the day.

Funny enough I was at a coaching course last night for this age group. Our tutor showed us a little trick to determine what hand the kids should use as their "hurley hand":

Line them up facing a wall (hurling wall, smooth plastered gable end of the club house etc).

Give them all a soft ball (a light ball like a stress ball you'd get in an office etc).

Get them to throw the ball against the wall and catch it. Let them carry on at this for 5/6 throws.

Observer where the ball is landing. Place a cone/marker between each child and the wall at approximately where the soft ball is hitting the ground. These balls generally only travel 'so far' as they are so spongey, so the cone doesn't have to be individual to each child and can be laid out in a line  (unless there is a particularly slight child that should be assisted).

Tell them to move back away from the wall and throw the ball as hard as they can against the wall. Tell them before they catch the ball it should bounce after the marker/cone. This ensures they are putting everything into the throw!

The hand they throw with is the dominant hurl on top hand.

PS AZ were you teaching young lads to hurl in Tipp last night? Cos our man had the glued glove and wrist band trick as well....I thought you'd be sabotaging hurling in the Evil Empire....

But we'll take '87 as a corner turned of sorts for Tipperary hurling. Since then: Senior All-Irelands (4), Munster (9), NHL (5). u21 All-Irelands (3), Munster (9), Minor All-Irelands (3) Munster (9) and 60 odd All-Stars.

How convenient. Go back a mere seven years and you'll see Offaly have won as many Senior All-Ireland's and provincial championship as Tipperary in that time. Galway have only won three Senior All-Ireland's but they have won no fewer than nine Under-21 and eight Minor All-Ireland's. So if your point is that Tipperary are part of the 'Big 2' if you exclude all the bad days for Tipperary and exclude the good days for everyone else then yeah, you're right

How convenient is right. You can make it a Big 5 if you want and throw in Galway and Offally. f**k it don't stop at 1980; you can split the years All-Irelands have been played played for and won, into two periods (say 124 years from 1887) and look at the most recent period say from 1949 and we have won 13 All Irelands, 9 u21 and 13 minor and 18 NHL.

Or you could take the most recent 25 years and go back to 1986. You could look at the history of d'Association and go the whole hog over the 124 years. I don't really mind. Stats are convenient all right.

To be honest the 40 year red herring is thrown out to diminish a hurling tradition that is still chugging along and playing some of the most exhilerating hurling ever seen. We'll take it. Ye can have Davy. So ye can.

Tipp have to be red-hot favourites for the final after that pretty awesome demolition job. Tipp were going at half-pelt, yet still racked up a huge 6-19. Imagine if they had enjoyed a spell of that awesome hurling they showed in patches in earlier championship games.

People will talk up Kilkenny, but lets face it, thats on the back of last year's championship. Tipp are the best team in this year's championship. They have clinically demolished anyone that came before them, while on the other hand Kilkenny have struggled against Galway, Waterford (who Tipp destroyed) and Dublin (who were beaten by that Limerick team). Tipp are the form team. Kilkenny aren't. Kilkenny are a tired, jaded outfit on the decline. The years are taking their toll. The miles have built up and fatigue and apathy have set in.

I repeat, Tipp are red-hot favourites for the all-Ireland. I only hope Kilkenny can give them a bit of a game, for the sake of hurling. Stay with them til half-time at least.

If you feel so strongly about it, I'd take Tipp at 100/30 at Cashmans bt. 1/4 KKK.

Eh, typo there. Should of course read 1/4 KK.

Tipp have to be red-hot favourites for the final after that pretty awesome demolition job. Tipp were going at half-pelt, yet still racked up a huge 6-19. Imagine if they had enjoyed a spell of that awesome hurling they showed in patches in earlier championship games.

People will talk up Kilkenny, but lets face it, thats on the back of last year's championship. Tipp are the best team in this year's championship. They have clinically demolished anyone that came before them, while on the other hand Kilkenny have struggled against Galway, Waterford (who Tipp destroyed) and Dublin (who were beaten by that Limerick team). Tipp are the form team. Kilkenny aren't. Kilkenny are a tired, jaded outfit on the decline. The years are taking their toll. The miles have built up and fatigue and apathy have set in.

I repeat, Tipp are red-hot favourites for the all-Ireland. I only hope Kilkenny can give them a bit of a game, for the sake of hurling. Stay with them til half-time at least.

If you feel so strongly about it, I'd take Tipp at 100/30 at Cashmans bt. 1/4 KKK.

Hey OB, thats all fair enough - I wasn't doubting that Maher couldn't do a great job at 3. I just reckon he'd have more to offer the team as a whole at 6. To me he could become a very commanding and dominant center-back (from the little I've seen thus far). And we all know how important a player like that is to any team with high ambitions. Thats more where I was coming from. Tipp have struggled to get a center-back in that mold for quite a while. They've had decent enough hurlers there, but not the Seanie McMahon or even the Pat Hayes type player, who'll read the game perfectly and catch ball all day.

Agreed BT, the pivotal position. We've waited nearly 40 years for one and then 2 come along. O'Mahoney in full health, which I believe he is getting close to, is a serious hurler. Incidentally he does great work up front for his club (wearing 14 but playing anywhere inside the opposition half). Padraig Maher is beyond a serious prospect, he has arrived. Best at 6 in future years alright, I reckon.

See you in September.

Paraic Maher at full-back? I don't get that. They should be priming him for center-back. That lad could be the making of Tipp over the coming years but I really don't think hes going to do it from the restrictive environment of full-back. To me this suggests Sheedy hasn't great faith in his defense. And after the Munster final I suppose its not hard to see why.

Maher has played all of his underage hurling at 3 for Tipp, kept Joe Canning in his pocket in the '06 minor All-Ireland and was arguably  MOTM in the u21 All-Ireland last year from full-back. He plays 3, 6 and 9 for sars depending on their requirements. Having Conor O'Mahoney approaching full health allowed Sheedy the luxury of putting Padraig Maher back at 3. O'Mahoney and Maher are central players full-stop. Young Maher had the inclination to drift towards the centre in his starts at wing-back for Tipp. They have options there yet with Shane Maher back to fitness, O'Brien and Michael Cahill (one to watch) for corner back, Fanning to full-back. Paul Curran has started every game he can under Sheedy and a confident, sure Paul Curran is a neccessity on a Tipp team with All-Ireland aspirations. He started his career with Tipp at corner back so providing his confidence is right allowing him to play from the front, I would have no fears of him. That said he hasn't been himself this year, so Sunday will tell a lot.
Full-back requires great understanding with your corner men (when to go, when to stay, calls etc). Maybe that confidence wasn't there with O'Brien at corner-back. O'Brien has let a few balls disasterously through him when playing from the front (last year v Waterford, this year v Cork and Waterford).

Brennan's six-point plan tackles discipline anomalies

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/brennans-sixpoint-plan-tack
les-discipline-anomalies-1092904.html

A six-point plan of action to tackle anomalies and grey areas relating to discipline has been proposed by GAA president Nickey Brennan.

Using Saturday's Special Congress to deliver another keynote speech on attitudes towards discipline, Brennan called for much greater "respect"
for the rules that govern discipline in the GAA.

Among his proposals to be examined by the rule book task force, headed by presidential candidate Liam O'Neill, are the introduction of match instead of time bans, the institution of an independent video review panel, and the composition of a CAC with members exclusively of a legal background.

He also called for a player who is charged with an 'infraction' to be ineligible to play until his case his heard and for suspensions to show more consistency.

Brennan said it was time for GAA members and units to start living up to their responsibilities.

"When a serious wrong has been perpetrated, individuals must take personal responsibility and there is a clear onus on GAA officials to accept responsibility when one of their players or members is involved in a serious disciplinary incident," he said.

"It is regrettable and annoying that we had a number of players who committed serious offences yet sought to have the proposed punishment overturned, succeeding in a number of cases supposedly on the back of technicalities."

He said that commanding this respect for rules "remains our greatest challenge," and admitted "the culture of people speaking out of both sides of their mouth at the same time regarding discipline," would be difficult to change.

Brennan has clearly been annoyed at the lengths that some County Boards have gone to, to clear players.

He outlined the number of cases that went to hearings (just 17 out of
168) to highlight that incidents of indiscipline were "fewer by comparison with a few years ago." Of the 17 that went to hearings, seven proposed charges were dropped.

But some of the cases that were pushed clearly irked the GAA president.
"The GAA has been badly let down this year by some players, team officials and county officials who challenged penalties when there was blatantly clear evidence regarding the offences," he pointed out.

He highlighted how the resort to legal guidance was now much more prevalent and was placing far greater pressure on amateur committees not equipped to deal with such a challenge.

Under the terms of his six-point plan, Brennan envisages a new Centrals Appeals Committee would comprise people of a legal background who serve on no other committee.

"The membership of our central CAC cannot be reasonably expected any more to handle the complexities and legal arguments put forward,"
Brennan argued.

An eight-person committee was, said Brennan, "a step away" from the three-person disciplinary tribunal proposed by director general Liam Mulvihill.

The institution of a video review committee to pour over controversial incidents in a match has also been proposed. Under the present system where referees can be contacted by the CCCC to review specific incidents the referees are being placed "in a very difficult position". The situations of Cork's Noel O'Leary and Meath's Graham Geraghty come to mind.

Brennan proposes that the new committee would still contact a referee for clarification but ultimately decide themselves if a player has a case to answer.

His call for greater consistency in suspensions was backed by examples he gave of where anomalies lay.

This year, he told Congress, two players from the same club were sent off in an inter-county game one week and the pair were sent off again a week later playing for the club. Because their interest in both competitions ended with those games they won't serve any suspension.

[Until I'm informed otherwise John Mullane did not grease appeal after appeal after appeal]

Until I'm informed otherwise John Mullane did not grease appeal after appeal after appeal

read the newspaper archives - they went as far as they could without going to court. I can't help it if you're illiterate .

You obviously have no intention nor the ability I'd wager, to address the points above. "Best be thought a fool and remain silent, rather than open your mouth and confirm it". That particular train has left in your case.

will you ever get over it. Nobody here defended Carton from Dublin we all said he shouldn't have played - but the bottom line is this the DCB's attempt to get him cleared was similar to every other county board in keeping with the general appeal everything attitude within the politics of the GAA.. Trying to use that to justify dublin 's defeat does a dis-service to the rest of the panel who trained their arse off all year just to be beaten by a far better team. They aren't deserving to be assassinated by the liikes of you -because of the crass and dangerous actions of one player
you really are a sanctimonius git. you would be far better served going around the local hostelries in Tipperary picking up your minor stars who invariably find themselves perched on the end of a bar stool still claiming free gargle from an all-ireand minor win from years previously talking about themselves being could have been's- should have been wannabe senio rinter county hurlers.

1. With all due respect to your relations they know fvck all about Tipp hurling if they think that minors hitting the bottle is THE reason we are not winning senior All-Irelands. I'll pull you and anybody else up on this all day if you have the time. Bearing in mind minor All-Irelands won, give us a few examples and less of the glib comments from your second cousins. To be honest this smacks of  (excuse the term, I use it only to make a point) " some of my best friends are n!ggers ". Back up your statement or shut up.

2. You made a statement above claiming the DCB acted the same "as every other county board" in clearing Carton. This is patently untrue as there is a precedent for county boards accepting suspensions. Eamonn Corcoran missed most of the Munster Championship as a result of his suspension. The Meath/Farrell case stands for itself. Until I'm informed otherwise John Mullane did not grease appeal after appeal after appeal. The DCB acted with as much integrity on the field as Carton did on it. Fvckin' none.

what was different about Mullane's case?

will you ever get over it. Nobody here defended Carton from Dublin we all said he shouldn't have played - but the bottom line is this the DCB's attempt to get him cleared was similar to every other county board in keeping with the general appeal everything attitude within the politics of the GAA.. Trying to use that to justify dublin 's defeat does a dis-service to the rest of the panel who trained their arse off all year just to be beaten by a far better team. They aren't deserving to be assassinated by the liikes of you -because of the crass and dangerous actions of one player
you really are a sanctimonius git. you would be far better served going around the local hostelries in Tipperary picking up your minor stars who invariably find themselves perched on the end of a bar stool still claiming free gargle from an all-ireand minor win from years previously talking about themselves being could have been's- should have been wannabe senio rinter county hurlers.

Not every county appeals. John Mullane took his punishment for a much less vicious stroke a few years ago. No appeal. No mollifications. Brain O'Meara did not go to the high court in 2001. The Tipp County Board did not appeal Eamonn Corcorans ridiculous suspension in a League game against Galway a few years ago (and this in a case where they should have, but that the Tipp County Board for ya). I believe a Meath corner forward (Farrell?) did not appeall a recent suspenion either. Therefore you are factually wrong.

As for Tipp minors drinking their careers away after All-Ireland success. You've been beating this drum for a while. Maybe you could give us a few instances? Bearing in mind up to last year we had won 1 minor All-Ireland in 25 years. Do inform us. And then explain how if this is the case how this is any different from any other county.

The player attrition rate in Tipp has nothing to do with successful minor teams drinking the sh!te out of it. Me thinks you know nothing about Tipp hurling. Best remain silent here rather than open the gob.

trial by youtube.

Are you saying the stroke doesn't merit suspension? Is the lads identity in doubt?

Come on Galway.

It's this pure hurling sh!te that gets my goat. Of course any All-Ireland winning team are no angels. You don't win an All-Ireland with 15 pure hurlers. Kerry didn't win 34 odd, Cork or Kilkenny didn't win 30 and we didn't win 25 without being able to mix it. Sylvie, Ollie Kilkenny, Treacey, Pa Dillon, Noel Hickey, Lohan, Doyle, Hells' Kitchen could mix it and hurl. Some more than others. Some nastier than others. Anyone thinking otherwise is a fool. Tipp haven't had any cut about them for years. More's the pity. The purest hurling you'll see will be up to minor, check out the free-count for the minor final last Sunday. And even that at times can be cynical. Wake up and smell the coffee gentlemen.

Was offered two tickets outside Gills. And there were two seats beside me unoccupied at the match. Is this the way every year now with the hurling final?