Messages

ESPN Brasil reporting that Arsenal have signed Bernard form Atletico Mineiro. Just from watching this guys cameo appearances at the Confederations Cup, I think he'd be a great signing.

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/07/19/breaking-arsenal-agree-21m-deal-to-sign-brazilian-wonderkid-bernard-final/

Am I mistaken in saying semis are as follows

Dublin v Cork/Kilkenny

Limerick v Clare/Galway

Would guarantee no repeats of provincial finals at an early stage.

Is it a draw after the quarter finals?

I think if Kilkenny and Galway go through it's a draw to see who gets who but if only one or neither of them get through then I think you're correct.

[Cian McCarthy]

Joyce should go back to centre back for Cork, cronin into midfield.

1. Nash
2. Shane O'Neill
3. Stephen McDonnell
4. Conor O'Sullivan
5. Tom Kenny
6. Christopher Joyce
7. William Egan
8. Daniel Kearney
9. Pa Cronin
10. Conor Lehane
11. Cian McCarthy
12. Seamus Harnedy
13. Pat Horgan
14. Luke O'Farrell
15. Jamie Coughlan

Would like to see cork line out with the above team.

Limerick very steady all over the field, should be a great game.

Cian McCarthy isn't worth a place on the team. Sometimes, he's a good ball winner and well able to pop the ball over the bar. Other times, he is absoloute crap, you wouldn't know he's on the field. I'd probably put Pa Cronin at centre forward, bring Joyce or Kenny into midfield and Stephen White into the backs.

Cork must be licking their lips at the thought of meeting Mayo at this stage. They'll go in as massive underdogs if this thread is anything to go by.

With the right team selection, I think we'd take Mayo.

Shit. I did the same thing on a thread for the All Ireland semi final last year. I was actually thinking about yesterdays game while I was writing.

First time these sides have met in a Munster Final since 1992. I don't know what to make of Limerick. Were they really that good against Tipp? Seemed to me like Tipp left that game behind them. Cork are missing Brian Murphy, possibly their best defender. Pa Cronin is back in the team and I think he could replace Murphy at centre-back.

Capacity crowd expected, atmosphere should be electric and hopefully the weather will be like it was for the football final yesterday.

John Bannon writes in today's paper. Both sets of supporters were annoyed at the man in black yesterday and the second biggest cheer of the day (the biggest greeted the announcement that the Cork team contained some changes from that in the programme) came when Eoin Brosnan in his acceptance speech thanked the best referee in Ireland for his performance.

I think the cheer was because (or it was from me and everyone around me, anyway) the realisation dawned on people that Noel O'Leary would be marking Galvin.

he certainly won the ball well, but referees have been told to give a free should this be done with the 'far' arm swinging in.

That's not in the rule book so it can't have been a free. Duffy was totally wrong but it's to be expected at this stage.

I think players are encouraged to use the near hand tackle because if you use the 'far' hand, the near hand usually goes on the back of the player being tackled. The Gooch didn't go near Loughreys  back in that tackle yesterday so it was obviously the wrong call.

Kerry will win this, 4-5 points I reckon. The backs might not be great but the cork forwards are average esp missing O'Neill

They'd also beat kildare or Tyrone by the same or more. A game v Mayo would be too tight to call. Donegal or most likely Dublin will be too good for them when that game comes

Goulding is the player who benefitted from O'Neills injury and he will probably end up being one of our top scorers tomorrow, so while he'd be a great asset to have, the quality of his replacement isn't too bad either.

Realistically the pick of four countries (3 ranked in top 10) should have little trouble beating any of the tri-nations teams

The three tri-nations teams (quad-nations now) are all top 3 in the world.

Kerry have to be considered above or at least equal to Tyrone in the AI stakes following last years game.

Tyrone seem to have got better this year than they were last year, imo anyway.

Dublin,Donegal are the sides that knocked Kerry out the last two years and they are the only sides i could see beating Kerry this year.

Mayo and Tyrone would beat them. Cork would if it wasn't for the fact that the Munster Final is in Killarney. This year could even be the year Cork would beat Kerry in Croke Park, they probably won't play in Croke Park but Cork are better than them, it's just the Killarney factor that makes me think Kerry will win Sunday.

Kerry are a team that deserves respect. Their backline is not the greatest, but their forward line is still one of the best in the country. #6 seems about right (Donegal, Dublin, Cork, Mayo and Tyrone above them, if your thinking the same way I am) but, just as you say many of the 'borderline' teams could catch Kerry on their days, Kerry could also catch many of the teams above them on THEIR day.

Also, please don't think I'm a Kerry supporter or that I wouldn't love anything more than to see them out of the championship in round 4 of the qualifiers, I'm just being realistic.

Still, that leaves them in the top 4. Writing off Kerry is the rock many a team has perished on.

Not the most competitive province but it has two of the best teams in the country competing in it.