Quarter Finals

[AZOffaly]

According to John Fogarty's tweet (Irish Examiner journo) the quarter finals are Sunday week in Thurles. Dublin v Limerick @ 2 and Galway v Waterford @ 4.

[seafoid]

Cue outrage from Indiana along the lines of Dublin would have to win 4 in a row to be given the 4pm slot in Thurles and they have great underage players coming through and all. 

[heffo]

Dubs v Limerick was always going to be the undercard - looking forward to the games now.

[Canalman]

Great to go to Thurles. We owe Limerick a beating after the loss c 3 years ago. All depends on getting most of our short term injured back on the pitch.
Not really sure how good or bad this Limerick team is.

Was dreading the reaction if the games were fixed for CP. There would have been some whinging even though I believe all 4 panels would prefer playing there ( as would in private alot of their supporters).

[Hoof Hearted]

sure there is no draw after these, Tipp will play Dub/Lim and Kilkenny will play Gal/Wat ?

[heffo]

sure there is no draw after these, Tipp will play Dub/Lim and Kilkenny will play Gal/Wat ?

Thats the one

[GalwayBayBoy]

Was dreading the reaction if the games were fixed for CP. There would have been some whinging even though I believe all 4 panels would prefer playing there ( as would in private alot of their supporters).

With the motorway it's probably easier to get from Galway to Dublin than Galway to Thurles. The drive to Thurles from Galway is a pain on some bad roads.

[stickman2011]

exact same fixture,exact same teams and exact same venue as 2009.i think it'll be dub v tipp and kilkenny v galway semi finals.

[lilpaulie85]

I believe all 4 panels would prefer playing there ( as would in private alot of their supporters).

Not even slightly, as AZ said thurles is like home to waterford, and limerick, as well as been generally regarded as the best hurling surface in the country in side the ground, you cant get better than the square in thurles on championship sunday in my opinion.

[johnneycool]

I believe all 4 panels would prefer playing there ( as would in private alot of their supporters).

Not even slightly, as AZ said thurles is like home to waterford, and limerick, as well as been generally regarded as the best hurling surface in the country in side the ground, you cant get better than the square in thurles on championship sunday in my opinion.

There's no place like thurles on a big hurling day but if you've got a young panel like Limerick and Waterford who mightn'd be too familiar with Croke park and you've aspirations of going further in the competition then you'd want it in Croke Park.

Certainly the Limerick and Waterford players are more familiar than the Dubs and Galway with Thurles but the whole experience won't be a lot different to Nowlan Park or the likes whereas Croke park is a whole different ball game.

I think the Limerick experiment is coming along nicely but I don't think they've got the new style bedded in enough when a team like Dublin get amongst them and I think they'll revert to the individualistic game when that pressure becomes too much.

the Dubs by 7.

Waterford/Galway is much harder to call and it'll depend on how much of battering in confidence Waterford took in the Munster final. Galway are on the rise but I still think if Waterford get off to a good start then they're fragile enough to waiver. Expect Walsh to stand on Joes toes all day, so the rest of the Galway forwards will need to continue to weigh in with a lot of scores. Mullane will get opportunities on goal and he'll need to take them.

I'll go with Galway by one point in a tight, dour affair.

[Canalman]

I believe all 4 panels would prefer playing there ( as would in private alot of their supporters).

Not even slightly, as AZ said thurles is like home to waterford, and limerick, as well as been generally regarded as the best hurling surface in the country in side the ground, you cant get better than the square in thurles on championship sunday in my opinion.

We'll agree to disagree. Of the 4 competing counties I think that Dublin are the most "excited" about playing in Thurles. The Dubs love the travelling away to games which we just don't get often enough. Honestly, cannot see how any intercounty player would not prefer to play in CP on a big day.
"Thurles" (the concept) imo has lost alot of its lustre with the backdoor system and the loss of the sudden death aspect to the  Munster Championship.
Really looking forward to Sunday.

[heffo]

Really looking forward to Sunday now - I've a funny feeling about Waterford - think they'll knick it.

Dubs v Limerick is 50/50 - Limerick far more experienced and used to Thurles, but hoping for a narrow Dublin win.

[Stevie g 8]

the dubs really need to beat limerick if they are to be considered contenders,if they lose it will undo all the good work done in the league.the dubs by 4

[AZOffaly]

Dublin need to win this. Limerick don't really. If Dublin don't win it, it will set them back 2 or 3 years.

[Canalman]

Dublin need to win this. Limerick don't really. If Dublin don't win it, it will set them back 2 or 3 years.

Couldn't agree with you less. We (Dublin) survived the trauma of the Antrim game last year to win the league this  year. The supply of talent coming through our underage system means (imo of course) that we will be there or there abouts for a while yet.
Having said that I will be bitterly disappointed if we don't win an underage title this year, or at least give a final a rattle.

As it now stands the talent in depth in the squad as a whole is nowhere good enough. This, I hope/think will change shortly.