Galway v Kilkenny

[INDIANA]

I agree with awfully about Walsh. He could have got the second yellow, but I think it would have been harsh. For some to say it was a rugby tackle against a lad clean through on goal is pure nonsense. IMO the ref was right to give a final warning, and fair play to Walsh for keeping his slate clean for the rest of the game.

A fantastic and very enjoyable game it was. Composure under pressure was the big difference I thought in the last 10 minutes. And being able to spring a great played like Lyng from the bench late on is a great advantage to have.

Can't agree- he could have broken hayes hand in the first half and the second was a professional foul with no attempt to play the ball. That is a yellow card offence on its own.  Now I can put up the rulebook for anyone that is interested and the referee bottled it. I've no time for Tommy Walsh as a player anymore- he's a hitman plain and simple. And it galls me to hear people bracketing this guy as a great player. He could be if he concentrated on the ball- but it appears he simply has a licence to take lads out in every game and because he plays for the alleged aristocrats he gets away with it.

[Declan]

Really enjoyed the game and Galway gave it a right good rattle but this Kilkenny team find a way to win no matter what - great team. Walsh to my mind should have walked and lads who know their hurling an awful lot better than me have been saying that he is a hatchet man for a few years now.

[SLIGONIAN]

Lets call a spade a spade, walsh was blessed to still be on the field, jees he got away with ridiculus tackles before he got booked then he fouls a lad bearing down on goal and the ref bottles it, He should of got sent off simple as that and all to often he gets away with, so expect more of the same from the one of Irelands best but dirtiest players the next day. I personnally think KK get away with there fair share aswell as reillers points out, I mean there tackling is intense but all to often the ref lets too much go in there favour and ydays game was a prime example, its not like the need any help. When a ref lets overly aggressive tackling go it hands a few points to KK, why is though on the other end they get frees a little easier. This pattern repeats itself year in year out and is the only negative in that KK team.

There were awesome aswell, the intensity Galway hit them with was out of this world and KK lived with it. God help anyone else. Just stunning.

Agreed, not according to the Leinster lads above who seem to know feck all about hurling.

But the level of intensity that Galway had yesterday was insane and brilliant to watch. It was a real physical, passionate game. The fact is that they matched Kilkenny in a lot of areas and on another day if the breaks hadn't gone KK's way, Galway would have won it, and maybe with a few points to spare. Galway have a lot of potential and they are just a stunning team to watch at times.

I gurantee you here and now reillers that had KK their full team yesterday they would have beaten galway by 7 - 8 points and will do so if they meet them again in the championship. KK just have too much for any team around at the moment. Missing vital players they showed the strenght of their squad and given them good championship experience. Galway played well, but to my mind that is their optimum..they cant really get any better and gave absolutely everything and still came up 4 points short, whereas KK can say we were missing 3 - 4 players and played badly for half an hour! If KK are missing the same players for the Leinster final I can see Wexford / Dublin giving them a right rattle aswell.

Reillers...can i ask have you / do you play hurling?? To what level??

I would ask you to check Alex Fergusons and Arsene Wengers playing pedigree. It pisses me off when I see that type of statement. Only elite county player opinions count .

No I didnt say that, but it can give you greater insight if you have actually played the game!! Wth has Alex Ferguson & Arsene Wenger got to do with KK & Galway in the middle of june?? Totally different sport, which has proper coaching badges, player transfers etc to help you get better acquainted with the game..and I believe that both played proffesionally am i right??

Smart arse, you know what my point is, calling a lad out on his playing creditionals has nothing to with knowledge of the game, there are players better than me that havent a clue about tactics and what not, wenger and ferguson both have excelled 10 times more than there playing career suggested is my point, therefore it doesnt matter what level you played at in any sport, you either have a football brain or not. In my own circumstance things outside of my control curtailed my GAA career but I always had the ability to make it at intercounty.

If reillers played junior hurling all his life does that mean he knows less than a senior player or because a lad plays senior his opinion is more right?

[johnneycool]

I thought Lyng was carrying a fair bit of timber when he came on, how long has he been out? Still if we assume KK will find a way past Dublin Lyng has until August to get up to match sharpness. What about Cha or Hickey will they be back for the Leinster final?

IMO the introduction of Lyng was the winning of the game for Kilkenny, fiercly underrated hurler who does the hard graft and very seldom wastes possession and even if he does seem to be carrying a bit of a midriff, there wasn't too many Galway hurlers running past him and i'd say Richie Murray was given instruction to lessen his influence on the game, only Richie went too far and tried to decapitate him. I'd hazard a guess that at least 4 or 5 points came from passes directly from Lyng.

As for Galway, they were going well but there was a period in the first half where they hit three bad wides on the trot which would have taken them 7 or so clear, giving Kilkenny that chink of light back into the game and with the goal preventable yet a bit fortuatous for Kilkenny kinda undid a lot of their good work.

The short puckouts worked for 80% of the game and in fairness to the keeper he hit maybe one bad one and another which I think Lee dropped, can't fault the keeper for that but the pundits were right, trying to run the ball through midfield wasn't the idea, but if you get the ball in early and turn that kilkenny half back line then you will get some joy which Galway did in the early stages of both halves but then resorted to sort when the pressure came on.

Should Walsh have got the line for two yellow's, possibly, but he has a knack of borderline decisions which to date have went his way and if the ref had sent him off he'd have been damned for doing so, ruing the game and all that, 'we want to see the best hurlers on the pitch' was a line i heard from a RTE pundit once, they're right but you can't go making exceptions for anyone if they transgress irrespecitive if they're the greatest hurler to draw breath. Overall i thought Kelly was fine and a damn sight better than the days he used to referee NHL Div2 games when he blew every farts end.

Good teams who've faith in their own ability don't panic and Kilkenny certainly don't panic but you could sense the relief from the players when they took the lead nearing the home straight, they've left it late in the nation league final and on saturday evening and I'd say Cody would prefer the old way of having the game sewn up by half time.

Galway are unlucky to draw their neighbours Clare in the next round as they too put up a spirited performance yesterday but i still fancy the tribesmen to go a stage further.

[awfulynice]

Lets call a spade a spade, walsh was blessed to still be on the field, jees he got away with ridiculus tackles before he got booked then he fouls a lad bearing down on goal and the ref bottles it, He should of got sent off simple as that and all to often he gets away with, so expect more of the same from the one of Irelands best but dirtiest players the next day. I personnally think KK get away with there fair share aswell as reillers points out, I mean there tackling is intense but all to often the ref lets too much go in there favour and ydays game was a prime example, its not like the need any help. When a ref lets overly aggressive tackling go it hands a few points to KK, why is though on the other end they get frees a little easier. This pattern repeats itself year in year out and is the only negative in that KK team.

There were awesome aswell, the intensity Galway hit them with was out of this world and KK lived with it. God help anyone else. Just stunning.

Agreed, not according to the Leinster lads above who seem to know feck all about hurling.

But the level of intensity that Galway had yesterday was insane and brilliant to watch. It was a real physical, passionate game. The fact is that they matched Kilkenny in a lot of areas and on another day if the breaks hadn't gone KK's way, Galway would have won it, and maybe with a few points to spare. Galway have a lot of potential and they are just a stunning team to watch at times.

I gurantee you here and now reillers that had KK their full team yesterday they would have beaten galway by 7 - 8 points and will do so if they meet them again in the championship. KK just have too much for any team around at the moment. Missing vital players they showed the strenght of their squad and given them good championship experience. Galway played well, but to my mind that is their optimum..they cant really get any better and gave absolutely everything and still came up 4 points short, whereas KK can say we were missing 3 - 4 players and played badly for half an hour! If KK are missing the same players for the Leinster final I can see Wexford / Dublin giving them a right rattle aswell.

Reillers...can i ask have you / do you play hurling?? To what level??

I would ask you to check Alex Fergusons and Arsene Wengers playing pedigree. It pisses me off when I see that type of statement. Only elite county player opinions count .

No I didnt say that, but it can give you greater insight if you have actually played the game!! Wth has Alex Ferguson & Arsene Wenger got to do with KK & Galway in the middle of june?? Totally different sport, which has proper coaching badges, player transfers etc to help you get better acquainted with the game..and I believe that both played proffesionally am i right??

Smart arse, you know what my point is, calling a lad out on his playing creditionals has nothing to with knowledge of the game, there are players better than me that havent a clue about tactics and what not, wenger and ferguson both have excelled 10 times more than there playing career suggested is my point, therefore it doesnt matter what level you played at in any sport, you either have a football brain or not. In my own circumstance things outside of my control curtailed my GAA career but I always had the ability to make it at intercounty.

If reillers played junior hurling all his life does that mean he knows less than a senior player or because a lad plays senior his opinion is more right?

I wasnt being a smart arse at all, If you play at a certain level the chances are you would know more about that level. If you play at junior / intermediate or senior level you will know more about that level and style of hurling than another. It is hard for someone who hasnt picked up a hurl to call on whether something was dirty or not, for example the slap on damien hayes...was it intentional or a play for the ball that was badly timed...if you havent picked up a hurl and been in the same position yourself it is harder to make the call in my opinion. Also if you play a game the chances are you will have far more interest in it than someone who didnt.

[slow corner back]

JC I dont doubt Lyngs influence on the game, I posted straight after the match that i though he had used his possesion very well I was just suggesting that come August his influence will be greater. He is normally good for a couple of points in any match and I did not see him running forward too much with or without the ball which he normally does to pick off his scores.

[bottlethrower7]

I am at a loss as to where this "dirty hurlers" tag is coming from in regard to the Cat's all of a sudden.  Three championship games ago they were the perfect team, the greatest team of all time, an example of how the game should be played, awesome, etc, etc, etc, and after the stood up to Fitzgeralds antics (and in particular Tommy Walsh) before a ball was struck in last years AIF they suddenly became cheaters.  FFS !!?   

Good stuff Bud. People are way over the top when it comes to Kilkenny. Kilkenny are the furthest thing from a dirty team. They have one or 2 players who go out in every game who are not afraid to push the rules to their limit, and even occasionally cross the line, but maybe others should be taking a leaf out of this book instead of whingeing about it. The reaction to everything Tommy Walsh did on saturday from the Galway crowd around me was a joke. Walsh got what he deserved. Yellow. If he deserved more, he'd have gotten it. It wasn't a pull across Hayes. It was a slap. Yes, he made contact but what he did was very different from a lad who winds up and then hits a lad. Very different.

Its people scraping the barrell. The last possible thing people can try and knock Kilkenny with. Saying they're dirty. Whereas what they really are is a good, honest, hearts-on-sleeves hurling team. They hurl with passion and with abandon, unlike pretty much every other team in the country right now. Whoever called Tommy Walsh cynical is having a laugh. One thing about Tommy Walsh is that you always know what you get with him. He typifies the hearts-on-sleeves mentality. Everything that he does happens through play. Hes not one for sly, cynical digs off the ball. If you go in for a challenge with Walsh and end up getting hit, then its your own fault for not hitting him first, because thats pretty much what hes expecting every time he contests a ball.

To all the knockers - nice try. Kilkenny won this game playing well within themselves. I'd suggest Galway played within themselves too but I'd question their sideline. Thinking the way to solve whatever problems they had by introducing a sub, then replacing him, smacks of cluelessness on the part of management.

I didn't see the Murray incident clearly, but I was delighted. I was standing by a load of his clubmen, and the abuse they were doling out at Kilkenny was way over the top. Murray getting the line after 3 seconds fairly shut them up. When Lyng was coming on one of them started roaring that he was nothing but a 'dirty c*nt'. Derek Lyng dirty? Since when?

Galway underperformed in their forward department. Donnellan was excellent. So too, obviously, was Canning. The rest of them need to start playing as if Canning isn't there and chip in with a score or 2 of their own. Particularly the 2 corners. How long will Healy be persisted with? Has he not proved hes not good enough at this level? Yes, he got his goal, mostly due to calamitous and sloppy defending by Tennyson, but surely there are better options than him?

[INDIANA]

I am at a loss as to where this "dirty hurlers" tag is coming from in regard to the Cat's all of a sudden.  Three championship games ago they were the perfect team, the greatest team of all time, an example of how the game should be played, awesome, etc, etc, etc, and after the stood up to Fitzgeralds antics (and in particular Tommy Walsh) before a ball was struck in last years AIF they suddenly became cheaters.  FFS !!?   

Good stuff Bud. People are way over the top when it comes to Kilkenny. Kilkenny are the furthest thing from a dirty team. They have one or 2 players who go out in every game who are not afraid to push the rules to their limit, and even occasionally cross the line, but maybe others should be taking a leaf out of this book instead of whingeing about it. The reaction to everything Tommy Walsh did on saturday from the Galway crowd around me was a joke. Walsh got what he deserved. Yellow. If he deserved more, he'd have gotten it. It wasn't a pull across Hayes. It was a slap. Yes, he made contact but what he did was very different from a lad who winds up and then hits a lad. Very different.

Its people scraping the barrell. The last possible thing people can try and knock Kilkenny with. Saying they're dirty. Whereas what they really are is a good, honest, hearts-on-sleeves hurling team. They hurl with passion and with abandon, unlike pretty much every other team in the country right now. Whoever called Tommy Walsh cynical is having a laugh. One thing about Tommy Walsh is that you always know what you get with him. He typifies the hearts-on-sleeves mentality. Everything that he does happens through play. Hes not one for sly, cynical digs off the ball. If you go in for a challenge with Walsh and end up getting hit, then its your own fault for not hitting him first, because thats pretty much what hes expecting every time he contests a ball.

To all the knockers - nice try. Kilkenny won this game playing well within themselves. I'd suggest Galway played within themselves too but I'd question their sideline. Thinking the way to solve whatever problems they had by introducing a sub, then replacing him, smacks of cluelessness on the part of management.

I didn't see the Murray incident clearly, but I was delighted. I was standing by a load of his clubmen, and the abuse they were doling out at Kilkenny was way over the top. Murray getting the line after 3 seconds fairly shut them up. When Lyng was coming on one of them started roaring that he was nothing but a 'dirty c*nt'. Derek Lyng dirty? Since when?

Galway underperformed in their forward department. Donnellan was excellent. So too, obviously, was Canning. The rest of them need to start playing as if Canning isn't there and chip in with a score or 2 of their own. Particularly the 2 corners. How long will Healy be persisted with? Has he not proved hes not good enough at this level? Yes, he got his goal, mostly due to calamitous and sloppy defending by Tennyson, but surely there are better options than him?

Its your opinion and youre entitled to it but you're not an authority on the game as you might think you are. I've spoken to several current inter county players from some very prominent counties who I'm not going to name here. But they've told me in detail of the kilkenny tactics. And I was appalled. In that sense Walsh's current behaviour is no surprise and its tolerated by the  snobbish element of hurling afficionados who think there is nothing to be cleaned up in the game. I see kids replicating the same carry on in juvenile hurling every single weekend.
The rulebook is there to be enforced - not used as some ancient relic to pander to the hurling snobs out there who think the game is above the rules of the Association.

Some of the Wexford "tackling" yesterday when the ball was at the other end of the field was interesting to say the least. And I 've nothing but praise for the wexford fans who congratulated us on the way out yesterday. But I thought some of their players went back to the John O Connor style of hurling at times yesterday.

[magpie seanie]

I am at a loss as to where this "dirty hurlers" tag is coming from in regard to the Cat's all of a sudden.  Three championship games ago they were the perfect team, the greatest team of all time, an example of how the game should be played, awesome, etc, etc, etc, and after the stood up to Fitzgeralds antics (and in particular Tommy Walsh) before a ball was struck in last years AIF they suddenly became cheaters.  FFS !!?   

Good stuff Bud. People are way over the top when it comes to Kilkenny. Kilkenny are the furthest thing from a dirty team. They have one or 2 players who go out in every game who are not afraid to push the rules to their limit, and even occasionally cross the line, but maybe others should be taking a leaf out of this book instead of whingeing about it. The reaction to everything Tommy Walsh did on saturday from the Galway crowd around me was a joke. Walsh got what he deserved. Yellow. If he deserved more, he'd have gotten it. It wasn't a pull across Hayes. It was a slap. Yes, he made contact but what he did was very different from a lad who winds up and then hits a lad. Very different.

Its people scraping the barrell. The last possible thing people can try and knock Kilkenny with. Saying they're dirty. Whereas what they really are is a good, honest, hearts-on-sleeves hurling team. They hurl with passion and with abandon, unlike pretty much every other team in the country right now. Whoever called Tommy Walsh cynical is having a laugh. One thing about Tommy Walsh is that you always know what you get with him. He typifies the hearts-on-sleeves mentality. Everything that he does happens through play. Hes not one for sly, cynical digs off the ball. If you go in for a challenge with Walsh and end up getting hit, then its your own fault for not hitting him first, because thats pretty much what hes expecting every time he contests a ball.

To all the knockers - nice try. Kilkenny won this game playing well within themselves. I'd suggest Galway played within themselves too but I'd question their sideline. Thinking the way to solve whatever problems they had by introducing a sub, then replacing him, smacks of cluelessness on the part of management.

I didn't see the Murray incident clearly, but I was delighted. I was standing by a load of his clubmen, and the abuse they were doling out at Kilkenny was way over the top. Murray getting the line after 3 seconds fairly shut them up. When Lyng was coming on one of them started roaring that he was nothing but a 'dirty c*nt'. Derek Lyng dirty? Since when?

Galway underperformed in their forward department. Donnellan was excellent. So too, obviously, was Canning. The rest of them need to start playing as if Canning isn't there and chip in with a score or 2 of their own. Particularly the 2 corners. How long will Healy be persisted with? Has he not proved hes not good enough at this level? Yes, he got his goal, mostly due to calamitous and sloppy defending by Tennyson, but surely there are better options than him?

BT7 - you know I've great respect for your opinions but you didn't address the second incident where a lot of us feel Walsh was extremely unlucky to avoid a second yellow card.

I would feel that saying KK are a dirty team is probably ott.

Murray was deservedly sent off and should nearly be dropped from the panel for stupidity.

[bottlethrower7]

BT7 - you know I've great respect for your opinions but you didn't address the second incident where a lot of us feel Walsh was extremely unlucky to avoid a second yellow card.

I would feel that saying KK are a dirty team is probably ott.

Murray was deservedly sent off and should nearly be dropped from the panel for stupidity.

Seanie, I meant more in terms of giving the ref his fair dues - that he would have dealt with it as he deemed appropriately. I haven't seen the incident on telly. I saw it at the game and it looked no more than a foul (maybe a black card) to me from where I stood, but maybe my view wasn't the best. But, given that Barry Kelly was sharp enough to spot JJ Delaney pulling down Joe Canning out of the corner of his eye from 50 yards away, I'm willing to go along with his judgement.

[bottlethrower7]

Its your opinion and youre entitled to it but you're not an authority on the game as you might think you are. I've spoken to several current inter county players from some very prominent counties who I'm not going to name here.

did I ever claim to be an authority?

Is that comment not a little bit harsh? If not, please explain.

[orangeman]

If anything I thought Galway were the team that were doing the roughing up. KK will play it whatever way you want it - to label them as a dirty team is denying their greatness and is slightly insulting.

[INDIANA]

You're talking about people calling kilkenny dirty as if  they know nothing about the game. Tommy Walsh committed 2 yellow card offences at the very least and should have walked. He threw the hurl in the league final at someone and again wasn't ticked- when he should have walked under the league rules. What is it about this guy where he gets away with so much on the pitch.
Kilkenny have been sailing very close to the wind in the recent years but they are given a carte blanche by referees because they are seen like the Kerry footballers to be above the rules of the game. The likes of eddie Brennan and noel hickey are others who well able to dish out liberal amounts of timber and get away with it on a weekly basis. But if its a lesser county the players walk.
They're getting away with it because others counties are stupidly taking them on in the physical stakes instaed of trying to play around them. They are simply replicating the same amount of timber to kilkenny that kilkenny have been dishing out in the last few years. You can't rely on any journalist to criticise killkenny because they are too worried about their pension plan autobiographies.
To beat kilkenny you need to do something like Cork did in and come up with a different gameplan.

[SLIGONIAN]

I am at a loss as to where this "dirty hurlers" tag is coming from in regard to the Cat's all of a sudden.  Three championship games ago they were the perfect team, the greatest team of all time, an example of how the game should be played, awesome, etc, etc, etc, and after the stood up to Fitzgeralds antics (and in particular Tommy Walsh) before a ball was struck in last years AIF they suddenly became cheaters.  FFS !!?   

Good stuff Bud. People are way over the top when it comes to Kilkenny. Kilkenny are the furthest thing from a dirty team. They have one or 2 players who go out in every game who are not afraid to push the rules to their limit, and even occasionally cross the line, but maybe others should be taking a leaf out of this book instead of whingeing about it. The reaction to everything Tommy Walsh did on saturday from the Galway crowd around me was a joke. Walsh got what he deserved. Yellow. If he deserved more, he'd have gotten it. It wasn't a pull across Hayes. It was a slap. Yes, he made contact but what he did was very different from a lad who winds up and then hits a lad. Very different.

Its people scraping the barrell. The last possible thing people can try and knock Kilkenny with. Saying they're dirty. Whereas what they really are is a good, honest, hearts-on-sleeves hurling team. They hurl with passion and with abandon, unlike pretty much every other team in the country right now. Whoever called Tommy Walsh cynical is having a laugh. One thing about Tommy Walsh is that you always know what you get with him. He typifies the hearts-on-sleeves mentality. Everything that he does happens through play. Hes not one for sly, cynical digs off the ball. If you go in for a challenge with Walsh and end up getting hit, then its your own fault for not hitting him first, because thats pretty much what hes expecting every time he contests a ball.

To all the knockers - nice try. Kilkenny won this game playing well within themselves. I'd suggest Galway played within themselves too but I'd question their sideline. Thinking the way to solve whatever problems they had by introducing a sub, then replacing him, smacks of cluelessness on the part of management.

I didn't see the Murray incident clearly, but I was delighted. I was standing by a load of his clubmen, and the abuse they were doling out at Kilkenny was way over the top. Murray getting the line after 3 seconds fairly shut them up. When Lyng was coming on one of them started roaring that he was nothing but a 'dirty c*nt'. Derek Lyng dirty? Since when?

Galway underperformed in their forward department. Donnellan was excellent. So too, obviously, was Canning. The rest of them need to start playing as if Canning isn't there and chip in with a score or 2 of their own. Particularly the 2 corners. How long will Healy be persisted with? Has he not proved hes not good enough at this level? Yes, he got his goal, mostly due to calamitous and sloppy defending by Tennyson, but surely there are better options than him?

BT7 - you know I've great respect for your opinions but you didn't address the second incident where a lot of us feel Walsh was extremely unlucky to avoid a second yellow card.

I would feel that saying KK are a dirty team is probably ott.

Murray was deservedly sent off and should nearly be dropped from the panel for stupidity.

KK arent a dirty team everyone agrees and Im not saying that but walsh is and yes he is cynical. He is great hurler but flawed. When a ref with a pair balls takes charge Walsh will let ye down by getting punished. Are yee from KK becuase you seem blinded?

Definition of cynical is fouling consistently especially when a player has the beating of you. Like giving away a free for a point instead of the forward getting away for a goal.

KK are not dirty.............there greatness is still intact and probably further enhanced by the intensity shown the last day, there timing of dominating and knowing when to hang in there was astounding. A privilege to watch. Absolutely but i stand by my comments on Walsh.

[orangeman]

Give a dog a bad name ....................  etc