U21 Hurling Championship

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kildare won the Leinster u21A Championship tonight beating Meath by a point in Newbridge 2-14 to 1-16.

Well done Kildare but should that not be B?

Not according to the Leinster Council: http://leinster.gaa.ie/leinster-gaa-championship-fixtures-2012/leinster-gaa-u-21-.263.html

Kildare won the Leinster u21A Championship tonight beating Meath by a point in Newbridge 2-14 to 1-16.

did Seany get a run out  or is he too old?

Who?

[Premier Emperor]

Tipperary have to go to play Clare in Ennis next week in the Munster final next week.
Whoever thought this was a good idea needs their head examined.
The place and the locals have been wild out the last couple of times Tipp have had to travel there.

Remember the chaotic scenes when we beat them there in the U21 final a couple of years ago. Clare fans going balubas on the pitch and even throwing punches at Ban Gardai!

In the infamous 1999 clash, the atmosphere there was pure poison as well, not helped by the antics of Davy Fitz on the sideline.

I'd recommend Tipperary fans to carry a bicycle chain in their pockets in case they get set on by feral Clare fans!

[heffo]

In the infamous 1999 clash, the atmosphere there was pure poison as well, not helped by the antics of Davy Fitz on the sideline.

He missed out on an All-star because of that!

[CitySlicker11]

Crowd issues aside this game could very easily be the game of the season in Hurling. Both teams will go out to hurl from the start, but also bring the other necessary qualities to the table, all making for a great match. Home advantage for Clare I think will be just enough to pull them through in this one.

[Roashter]

'99 was pretty bad alright.
Probably the worst atmosphere I've ever witnessed at a GAA inter-county match.
4 years ago was different. Was actually a very good game and great buzz about the place, but thats all forgotton with the commotion over the '65 at the end.

I expect next wednesday to be a very good game. Full house with big Tipp crowd to travel. Clare are favoutites, but Tipp won't fear them. Should be a cracker !!

[homeofhurling8]

Looking forward to this tonight,not looking forward to trying to find a parking spot within a 10 mile radius of the ground though

On paper Clare should beat us back to Killaloe with the amount of seniors on their team but hurling isn't played on paper as they say, if we were to pull off a shock it will be have been well earned, Cork in Cork, Limerick in Limerick and Clare in Clare, has there ever been a tougher provincial campaign ?

Having said that i struggle to see many of this Tipp side making it at senior level, the only current senior panelist is Sean Curran who is surely only there to keep the brother company on the drive to training  , Jason Forde could be anything, bubbles will never have the discipline required, Denis Maher is surely too slow for anywhere bar centre back at senior level, Musha Maher is the best of the backs but doesn't strike me as a future senior.

[Ash Smoker]

The Thrilla in Manila
The Rumble in the Jungle
The Menace in Ennis

[johnneycool]

The Thrilla in Manila
The Rumble in the Jungle
The Menace in Ennis

As much as the finale was a nail biter and the Clare goal a the death the clincher, I was disappointed by the fare on offer, many very poor wides and an open net missed by the Tipp full forward will now no doubt haunt the lad, maybe the huge crowd and expectation weighed heavily on both teams.

Maybe there was a blustery wind or whatever, hard to tell from the goggle box.

[homeofhurling8]

Spot on Johnney, tight, tense game but low quality imho, the conditions cant be blamed as there was little or no wind and it stayed fine.

I think in Clares case the tension and expectation in the stands seemed to transmit itself to the players,some of the wides they hit in the first half struck me as reeking of tension, the Clare crowd around me and in the pub before the game were ultra confident of a big win, "the best underage team produced in Munster for years" as one ex Clare senior said to me before the game, that sort of expectation in a county which has the grand total of 1 previous Munster u-21 title has to weigh heavily on the shoulders of the players, it certainly looked that way in the first half.


In Tipps case we had low expectations at the start of the year for this group of players because they wouldn't be considered a particularly strong crop bar a couple of exceptions, they exceeded our expectations by winning below in Cork and again in the Gaelic grounds but the lack of quality became apparent last night, no lack of heart but hurlers limitations usually come to the fore when the pressure comes on in "medal" games, lads start taking the wrong options, stop doing the basics right etc..

Cian Hogans miss beggared belief, i wonder how the atmosphere was in the car home beside the father

Talking of atmosphere i thought it was pretty tame last night, god be with the days when a Tipp man would have to fight his way out of Ennis

[Roashter]

Yeah, have to agree about the atmosphere -there was no real buzz at all.
But to be fair, crowds usually respond to what is being offered and for a Munster final it was a very poor spectacle.
Neither team had a decent 5 minute patch during the game, and some of the wides were so bad it was hard to generate an atmosphere.

Clare were probably the better team, but Tipp created the better goal chances, and they missed 2 great opportunities of points soon after scoring their own goal which would have put real distance between the teams and killed off Clare.

Clare have a great chance now for an all-Ireland. If Antrim are anything like last year, then surely Clare will waltz into the final, and they have good enough players and although quite young a lot of them have Croke park experience on big days. Galway/Kilkenny are probably another step up, but I give Clare every chance of another u-21 crown to add to 2009.

[homeofhurling8]

It was remiss of me not to offer my congrats to an undoubtedly superior Clare team, while i think Croke park will suit them i personally cant see them beating Galway who i expect to beat Kilkenny having seen Tipp  play both in challenge games in the last few weeks.

[Last Man]

So is Croke the venue for the final??

[Captain Obvious]

So is Croke the venue for the final??

Thurles.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Very poor performance really from a very good Galway team on paper. We have actually won minor and U-21 All-Ireland's with less talented teams IMO but I don't feel their focus was right at all for this one. Like Limerick earlier in the Summer I actually think it's a disadvantage sometimes to have too many U-21 players involved with the senior panel. For the U-21 team that is.

[Asal Mor]

Very poor performance really from a very good Galway team on paper. We have actually won minor and U-21 All-Ireland's with less talented teams IMO but I don't feel their focus was right at all for this one. Like Limerick earlier in the Summer I actually think it's a disadvantage sometimes to have too many U-21 players involved with the senior panel. For the U-21 team that is.

Yeah and some worryingly poor individual performances from Regan, Coen and Conor Cooney in particular. Kilkenny are excellent though and they did hammer us at minor in 2010 with many of the same players so this wasn't any great shock. The Galway full-back line seemed totally outclassed and Kilkenny were just sauntering in for goals in that first half. Galway would be better off being in Leinster for minor and u-21, not in terms of winning trophies at those grades but in terms of developing players for senior level.

The main positives from the game were the performances of Niall Burke and Johnathon Glynn. Glynn should start the senior final ahead of Cooney or Regan from what I've seen. Probably some mistakes by the management too. The backs were a mess and a few guys being played out of position didn't work. Also, Brehony and Richie Cummins have both been in very poor form for their clubs all year and both were taken off yesterday, though Cummins was a bit unlucky. But, it's a tough job and if we were playing again next week the starting line-up would be a lot different. That's the trouble with coming in cold at the semi-final stage.

Better team won though.