Messages

Rates has to be one of the most corrupt taxes in the north i.e. based on value of house, not on what you actually receive for it.  The higher the house value, the higher the rates, with a ceiling of 5k.  Because a house has a higher value doesnt mean you have more cash in the bank to pay for the extra rates.  All houses get the same services, same bin collection, street lighting (in some cases there's none), same leisure centre facilities etc etc.  And it's the direct reason why a couple I know, both now 80, have decided to sell up, can no longer afford the yearly rates of £1800.  None of the political parties are going to want the system changed either.

Agree with all this. An absolute joke of a tax.

It's like road tax, just another tax that goes into the big pot that Amazon, Google and the big Tory party donors don't pay.

Striking just how many lets say unconventional stickmen KK have at the minute.

Big Walter is the most obvious cack hander, but TJ Reid and Joey Holden look like natural left handers who are inclined to strike across the body, nothing untoward about that.

Walsh Park is surely where they'd like to play.  If they lose to Clare on day 1, and then lose to Tipp in Limerick, you're behind the 8 ball straight away.

Apologies, Walsh park is what I meant to say.

One factor that shouldn't be overlooked re. Waterford is they have no home games in Munster. They play Clare in Ennis in their first game, and Tipp and Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds after that on 2 consecutive weeks. They'd then have Cork below in Thurles.  All other teams have 2 home games, so that's going to be a disadvantage to them.

If they do manage to navigate that, then yes, they'll be dangerous.

I knew that, but their record in Dungarvan is that poor a bigger pitch like Thurles or the Gaelic Grounds might suit their style of play anyways.

Top three is all that matters.

Barring Brick Walsh and Kevin Moran Waterford are a very young team. A load of those lads are early 20's with their best years ahead of them.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to see McGrath play another man inside the full forward line as it must be a killer for whoever he leaves up there on their own.
Tipp have their number over the last few years tactics wise and McGrath needs to go for the throat in attack even if they do concede a few more points down the other end.
Still think they'll get out of Munster and build from there.

I think Cork may struggle as I thought they rode their luck last year.

[Leinster should be interesting with 3 teams in the running.]

Tipp improved 150% between April and August. I dunno if KK can. Not enough iterations imo.

You'll never learn  you're obvious Kilkenny hatred makes you look foolish so many times

You can't really hate a hurling team. Maybe Schadenfreude occasionally such as here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoPvOQPdfQ&t=299s

KK are ranked 3rd by the bookies which seems fair. Like all great managers Cody squeezed the last out of a super cohort and is now missing them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65qo0U5630

Kilkenny won't be there this year but they've at least put out some reminders that they ain't going to lie down this summer

Leinster should be interesting with 3 teams in the running.

For three playoff spots! Leinster will be anything but interesting unless Offaly or Dublin can take points from some of the other three and that doesn't look likely.

Munster on the other hand, any three of the five are in with a shout.

Credit to Kilkenny, they showed a great hunger and with TJ Reid and big Walter on song along with the young 19 year old have talent in the squad. Cillian Buckley is a fine hurler as it Eoin Murphy in goals and that's a decent foundation. Add in Richie Hogan, Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly and they will be there or there abouts later on added by a handy enough run in Leinster where the odd defeat won't be catastrophic. Still thing Paudie Walsh in fullback is a square peg in a round hole and the right man in on top of him will cause issues.

But have they enough to kick on in the summer months like most other major contenders will?
There's far more to Tipp that they showed yesterday, Galway will be much stronger, Waterford won't become a bad team overnight. Limerick can kick again with a young team.

The likes of Clare, Wexford and maybe KK have shown a good bit of their hand already IMO and maybe won't have the strength in depth for 4 games in 5 weeks and that's maybe where they'll all come unstuck. Injuries to key men and no suitable back ups could spell the end of their summers.
Kilkenny used to win leagues at a canter and you just knew they were treading water, this team was full tilt yesterday, but who knows.

Aagreed on most of that, Could Murphy take the fullback role? As you say, Walsh is plugging a hole there and could come unstuck, now in saying that, he'd decent forwards against him yesterday but that wasnt Tipp's best full forward on show TBH..

Wexford will cause a ripple this year as will Limerick, problem with Limerick is being able to put back to back performances, in a one off game they can be brilliant or shite!  Galway will be rested and looking to peak for the final stages, so i will expect them to be still a bit rusty during Leinster..

Aas for Munster, anyone can win that, my money is on Clare though

I'd have thought Murphy would have gotten a run at No 3, but Cody didn't fancy him last year or the year before when JJ hung up the boots. Cody must have had his reasons. Murphy was poor by his standards the last few years and needs to find his form again.

I don't think Clare have got the balance to a team yet. Corner backs have been exposed by pacy forwards, big Cleary looks solid at No 3, but the jury is still out on Davy Mac at centre back and who's either side of him. Cleary performed well there last year. Fitzgerald looked good on his left and Morey is pacy on the right, but would be targeted in the air.
Tony Kelly and where to play him is a concern as currently they play him in midfield but his lack of cut and thrust in the ruck situation means they lack a physical presence in there and are exposed through the centre. Get him on the ball with time and space and he's your man. The way Kilkenny played in this area yesterday will be all too common in the coming months and that's the concern with Kelly. How the game is currently refereed doesn't suit him.
Forward wise Clare are pretty well stacked.
I like Conlon even if he does have the odd brainfart in decision making and big Duggan give Clare an aerial and physical threat that will trouble most defenses. Shane O'Donnell is a class act but has been isolated inside on his own, Reidy is also a very good hurler and has been going well this year. Options wise Podge Collins needs form as does Conor McGrath.

Problem for Clare is that they need to beat Cork the first day out and I don't think they know their best team yet.

It's Tipp or a resurgent Waterford for me.

[I'm sorry but Gerry Adams & Sinn Fein are all over the place when it comes to this.]

Given Adams legitimises violence for political end, it's strange he never joined the IRA himself to help 'the struggle'

He was politically active first, did you not read the article? 

Violence or the threat of violence is used day and daily by the US, UK, French, Israeli's, Russians, and just about anyone who has an Army deployed anywhere where it shouldn't be.

It's not about the size of the gun.

Ok so now you are comparing the US Army to the IRA. Got it.
How anyone can condone violence against Men, Women & Children for their own political ends is beyond me.

Go to Nagasaki and ask them.

I don't follow. What is your point?
Are you are telling me the IRA was supported by a government in its failed war against Britain? Are you suggesting that the IRA was actually supported widely in it's campaign?

I'm saying violence is violence irrespective if its carried out by a grouping, a faction, an army, a state or whoever, innocent people die at the end of it.

Some countries use the mask of the Geneva convention, but that is just for show as our neighbours can justify.

Have an army, support that army and you defacto support violence or the threat of violence as a means to an end, no different to what Gerry says.

Scale is irrelevant.

What is your stance on a Nuclear "deterrent"?

I'm against it. I'm against all violence. Gerry isn't, that's fine that's his view.
Interesting how Gerry condones the violence against British and Irish people. Yet Sinn Fein want murders committed against the IRA to be investigated etc. Sinn Fein also condemned the IS attacks across the world yet IS are committing these in order to further their own political ends. I'm sorry but Gerry Adams & Sinn Fein are all over the place when it comes to this.

No different to any western powers condemning IS attacks yet they're the ones making a mess of the Middle East.
They're all hyprocrites

Given Adams legitimises violence for political end, it's strange he never joined the IRA himself to help 'the struggle'

He was politically active first, did you not read the article? 

Violence or the threat of violence is used day and daily by the US, UK, French, Israeli's, Russians, and just about anyone who has an Army deployed anywhere where it shouldn't be.

It's not about the size of the gun.

Ok so now you are comparing the US Army to the IRA. Got it.
How anyone can condone violence against Men, Women & Children for their own political ends is beyond me.

Go to Nagasaki and ask them.

I don't follow. What is your point?
Are you are telling me the IRA was supported by a government in its failed war against Britain? Are you suggesting that the IRA was actually supported widely in it's campaign?

I'm saying violence is violence irrespective if its carried out by a grouping, a faction, an army, a state or whoever, innocent people die at the end of it.

Some countries use the mask of the Geneva convention, but that is just for show as our neighbours can justify.

Have an army, support that army and you defacto support violence or the threat of violence as a means to an end, no different to what Gerry says.

Scale is irrelevant.

What is your stance on a Nuclear "deterrent"?

KK have some very good hurlers alright but they remind me of the club all Ireland where the determinant is how good your weakest links are. Big Walter didn't develop into the hurler people expected imo.

He was good yesterday, but his awkwardness can lead to him having games where he does very little.

It's his time to come to the fore so this summer will be interesting for him!

Given Adams legitimises violence for political end, it's strange he never joined the IRA himself to help 'the struggle'

He was politically active first, did you not read the article? 

Violence or the threat of violence is used day and daily by the US, UK, French, Israeli's, Russians, and just about anyone who has an Army deployed anywhere where it shouldn't be.

It's not about the size of the gun.

Ok so now you are comparing the US Army to the IRA. Got it.
How anyone can condone violence against Men, Women & Children for their own political ends is beyond me.

Go to Nagasaki and ask them.

Given Adams legitimises violence for political end, it's strange he never joined the IRA himself to help 'the struggle'

He was politically active first, did you not read the article? 

Violence or the threat of violence is used day and daily by the US, UK, French, Israeli's, Russians, and just about anyone who has an Army deployed anywhere where it shouldn't be.

It's not about the size of the gun.

[It's still my view that the use of armed actions in the given circumstances is a legitimate response.]

DER SPIEGEL: You have defended IRA violence on multiple occasions as "legitimate resistance." As a devout Catholic, how do you reconcile that with your faith?

Adams: It's still my view that the use of armed actions in the given circumstances is a legitimate response. Whether you exercise that right is another issue. And of course, there were many things that the IRA did which were wrong. And I both condemned at the time and deplore and regret it to this time.

So, according to this, any group, republican or loyalist, can define its own circumstances in which it believes that a return to violence or, in the case of those termed as dissidents, a continuation of violence is legitimate.

DER SPIEGEL: But hundreds of innocent civilians were killed for that cause.

Adams: Many armed groups were involved in the conflict. Regardless of who was responsible, I regret all the dead. Our cause and our commitment must be to ensure it never happens again.

DER SPIEGEL: Is violence a legitimate means with which to reach one's aims?

Adams: I think in given circumstances. And the circumstances at that time in the north were that people were being denied their rights. The English occupiers refused to concede those and in fact attacked the demonstrators. The most disastrous mistake that the English government made is that they handed the situation over to the generals. That always leads to a militarization of the situation. Military people are not there to pacify, they are there to subjugate.


Feckin Nolan was rabbiting on about this this morning on the radio, so I had to read it to see exactly what Adams had said and like Owen big Nolan was pretty specific about quoting to suit his agenda.

Reading the whole article Adams isn't in denial and is forthright where he believes his community were before the turn to armed conflict, he's not currently advocating violence if the Shinners don't get what they want as he now believes there's other paths now open that weren't there in the late 60's so it takes a fair bit of spin to suggest otherwise.

[Leinster should be interesting with 3 teams in the running.]

Tipp improved 150% between April and August. I dunno if KK can. Not enough iterations imo.

You'll never learn  you're obvious Kilkenny hatred makes you look foolish so many times

You can't really hate a hurling team. Maybe Schadenfreude occasionally such as here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoPvOQPdfQ&t=299s

KK are ranked 3rd by the bookies which seems fair. Like all great managers Cody squeezed the last out of a super cohort and is now missing them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65qo0U5630

Kilkenny won't be there this year but they've at least put out some reminders that they ain't going to lie down this summer

Leinster should be interesting with 3 teams in the running.

For three playoff spots! Leinster will be anything but interesting unless Offaly or Dublin can take points from some of the other three and that doesn't look likely.

Munster on the other hand, any three of the five are in with a shout.

Credit to Kilkenny, they showed a great hunger and with TJ Reid and big Walter on song along with the young 19 year old have talent in the squad. Cillian Buckley is a fine hurler as it Eoin Murphy in goals and that's a decent foundation. Add in Richie Hogan, Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly and they will be there or there abouts later on added by a handy enough run in Leinster where the odd defeat won't be catastrophic. Still thing Paudie Walsh in fullback is a square peg in a round hole and the right man in on top of him will cause issues.

But have they enough to kick on in the summer months like most other major contenders will?
There's far more to Tipp that they showed yesterday, Galway will be much stronger, Waterford won't become a bad team overnight. Limerick can kick again with a young team.

The likes of Clare, Wexford and maybe KK have shown a good bit of their hand already IMO and maybe won't have the strength in depth for 4 games in 5 weeks and that's maybe where they'll all come unstuck. Injuries to key men and no suitable back ups could spell the end of their summers.
Kilkenny used to win leagues at a canter and you just knew they were treading water, this team was full tilt yesterday, but who knows.

Fairly quiet in here what with your cup final tomorrow 

Sam will try and park the bus and still concede a goal in the first 10 minutes.

Karius could catch a cold tomorrow if he doesn't wrap up warm.

The sooner Sam is gone the better IMO.

Did I hear somewhere the the analysis of the substance was weapons grade but could not be tied to russia?  The only places where it is available is Syria, North Korea  and Russia.

Was the Russian that was poisoned an out spoken critic of Putin?

He may have been but he was a Spy caught by the Russians for providing the Brits info and then released back to the UK as part of a prisoner swap IIRC.