Na Cait v Gaillimh, AIF 9 Sept

[Minder]

"@AlanShearerMOTD: Just watching the All Ireland Hurling Final it's crazy! Sort of like a cross between Hockey and Second Degree Murder! #Galway to win"

Shearer isn't on Twitter.

RTE retweeted it.

[laoislad]

"@AlanShearerMOTD: Just watching the All Ireland Hurling Final it's crazy! Sort of like a cross between Hockey and Second Degree Murder! #Galway to win"

Shearer isn't on Twitter.

RTE retweeted it.

One of the commentators on ESPN America on the American Football game in the Aviva last week said Hurling was like a cross between lacrosse and second degree murder.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman were definitely at the game. Don't know about Shearer.

Very proud of the Galway lads. They don't fear this Kilkenny team at all. Thought it was a great contest today even though Kilkenny were quite ragged at times in the first half and Galway likewise in the second. When Galway passed the ball and ran at Kilkenny it caused the cats defence all sorts of bother but as the game wore on Galway reverted to pumping in too many aimless high balls into a full-forward line that didn't have Joe Canning inside as he was way out the field. This was meat and drink to Brian Hogan in particular and allowed Kilkenny to get a grip on the game. Really thought it was game over when Kilkenny got the penalty. I was sure Shefflin would go for goal and didn't expect him to miss it. All in all though a draw was a fair result I feel.

Word of praise to Iarla Tannian who was absolutely immense today. Always been a talented player but maybe didn't have the right physical conditioning until this year. His workrate was always questioned but he was everywhere today swooping on loose ball and bursting though tackles. Pity he sent that late point chance wide as it would have capped a brilliant performance from him.

Have to do it all again in 3 weeks now.

[Tony Baloney]

"@AlanShearerMOTD: Just watching the All Ireland Hurling Final it's crazy! Sort of like a cross between Hockey and Second Degree Murder! #Galway to win"

Shearer isn't on Twitter.

RTE retweeted it.

If RTE put their hand in the fire would you copy them?!

[All of a Sludden]

Never a free to level it at the end, but a fair result. The Kilkenny team of old would have finished the job off once they took the lead late on. Shefflin should have buried that penalty.
GAA were the real winners today, another 80 odd thousand at €80 a pop.

[Syferus]

Beyond high tackling or whatever else, it was a wild clatter that the Kilkenny player put in. 100% of the time that should be a free, I can scarcely believe it's even been made into talking point.

[All of a Sludden]

Beyond high tackling or whatever else, it was a wild clatter that the Kilkenny player put in. 100% of the time that should be a free, I can scarcely believe it's even been made into talking point.

I haven't seen it on TV yet,  but it looked like he was charging to me.

[seafoid]

Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman were definitely at the game. Don't know about Shearer.

Very proud of the Galway lads. They don't fear this Kilkenny team at all. Thought it was a great contest today even though Kilkenny were quite ragged at times in the first half and Galway likewise in the second. When Galway passed the ball and ran at Kilkenny it caused the cats defence all sorts of bother but as the game wore on Galway reverted to pumping in too many aimless high balls into a full-forward line that didn't have Joe Canning inside as he was way out the field. This was meat and drink to Brian Hogan in particular and allowed Kilkenny to get a grip on the game. Really thought it was game over when Kilkenny got the penalty. I was sure Shefflin would go for goal and didn't expect him to miss it. All in all though a draw was a fair result I feel.

Word of praise to Iarla Tannian who was absolutely immense today. Always been a talented player but maybe didn't have the right physical conditioning until this year. His workrate was always questioned but he was everywhere today swooping on loose ball and bursting though tackles. Pity he sent that late point chance wide as it would have capped a brilliant performance from him.

Have to do it all again in 3 weeks now.

They did the same in the second half against Cork. Definitely something to work on for the replay.
I think 3 of the KK backs were on yellow cards at the end of the first half.

Anthony Cunningham made the point that Galway are an improving team. That performance will stand to them the next day.
White heat against Kilkenny in the last 10 minutes of the AIF  and they survived it.

Imagine the Monday after the Waherford match last year thinking they could progress so far in one season.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/galway-the-masters-in-art-of-illusion-2830714.html

Galway the masters in art of illusion

While Waterford underlined their credentials, Tribesmen once again deluded everyone into thinking that they are better than they actually are, writes Colm Keys

Tuesday July 26 2011

The apology has become a common tool in hurling this summer so, first up, we'll take a leaf out of the books of John Mullane and John McIntyre and issue one ourselves.
This is to the Waterford players and those who have involved in the careful husbandry of talent in the county over the last decade or more, ensuring that, since their initial breakthrough under Gerald McCarthy against Len Gaynor's Tipperary in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 1998, they have remained one of the most prominent hurling forces in the game.
Last Sunday's comprehensive victory over Galway ensured that the Deise will contest a sixth hurling semi-final in successive years, a ninth since that day in Cork 13 years ago when they finally mined a championship win of some consequence over the then All-Ireland finalists.

For the last 10 years they have consistently been one of the top three teams in the game, third behind Cork and Kilkenny at the height of their hegemony around the middle of the decade and third again behind current pacesetters Kilkenny and Tipperary.

Players have come and gone on the back of huge disappointments, others have had to succumb to ageing legs and signed off on long careers of great service, but the county's status as a top-three team has remained in tact.
It's a pity we haven't always recognised that fact. It's a pity we have been too quick to point to the defeats and the nature of them rather than the days when the sun has shone brightly for them.
It's a pity we have looked at where the underage titles have all been going, noted their absence and come to the conclusion that there can't be a lot happening there.

It's staggering to think that they have won just one Munster minor title (2009) and one Munster U-21 title (1994) in the 20 years since they did the provincial double in '92.
Their record at U-21 level in particular has been quite shocking, with defeats in the 2007 and '08 Munster finals hugely forgettable from their point of view.
But what has it mattered in the greater scheme of things?

STRUCTURE
The system, structure and ease with which they have brought players through is working seamlessly.
It is an insult to Waterford hurling that Galway have been pitched above them so often as the team more likely to threaten the duopoly established between Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary a different stages of the last decade.

But then Galway hurling has consistently managed to cast a spell over the game and deluded everyone into thinking that they are better than they actually are. On Sunday last that delusion reached its highest ever level.

Is the vast success they have enjoyed at underage level now more of a millstone around their neck than a springboard from which to launch themselves? In terms of building undue expectation it has been a weight bearing down on them.

Since their last All-Ireland title in 1988 they have matched the number of All-Ireland minor titles (seven in all) won by
Kilkenny and have also been beaten in a further seven finals, three more than Kilkenny.
At U-21 level they have also kept step impressively, winning five to Kilkenny's seven. But they haven't been a means to an end.

The former Galway hurler Cathal Moore put it well last night when he drew comparison to the work being done at underage level in Dublin.
"A lot of people would tell you now that they never want to hear of Galway winning a minor or U-21 again because we have won a lot over the past 20 years," said Moore.

"But having said that, when you take the Dublin situation, everyone is saying they have improved so much this year because of the great underage system that they have. You can't have it every way. Galway have a great record at underage, but we do have a big problem bringing those players through."

There is far greater opposition in Galway to signing up their underage teams to Leinster competition and, it must be said, there is strong opposition in Leinster, particularly from Wexford and Offaly, to such an arrangement too.
But wouldn't Galway get a far more accurate insight into the strength of their U-21 teams if they were to contest a province every year rather than enjoy a free ride to the play-offs every August?

It would appear that senior manager McIntyre has signed his own departure papers with the admission that Galway hurling is as far away from an All-Ireland title as it has been in the last 20 years.

McIntyre has been honest, fair and protective of players over the course of the last three years, players who badly let him down in the minutes after half-time on Sunday when they let the game run away from them with almost casual nonchalance.

But ultimately that hasn't nearly been enough.
Is there a better alternative to the management team that has effectively put its hand up and invited someone else to come in? If there is, it's not patently obvious.
Mattie Murphy, who has spearheaded some of the most recent minor successes, has been there twice before. Noel Lane was an interested candidate the last time, as was Michael Bond.
Undoubtedly Galway will go knocking on the door of Eamonn O'Shea, the former Tipperary coach who worked in tandem with Liam Sheedy until last year's All-Ireland success. O'Shea lives in Galway city and if Galway are in the market for new management then he would be the first obvious port of call.
Would Galway be bold enough to pursue Sheedy too, despite the obvious pressures of work that called time on his three-year stint with Tipperary last September?
Living near Nenagh and with the luxury of a new motorway to the heartlands of Galway hurling from his work base in Dublin, Sheedy could be tempted, unless the obvious bond with these Tipp players is too strong.
But it would be another tremendous challenge for the pair. And Galway need to be bold.

[johnneycool]

very close game and a draw possibly the correct result as neither team deserved to lose.

Firstly I'd have to credit Barry Kelly as I felt he got most of the calls right, the penalty, Galway keeper lying on the ball, etc, etc. Maybe his pickiness led to players playing for frees a bit, but if'd he'd let things go like the Cork man in the semi-final he'd have been condemned as well!!

Kilkenny have no right to feel aggrieved about the last free as Richie Power got a free for almost the very same thing when Fergal Moore give him the slightest of touches and he went down. Glennon IMO didn't charge directly at Tyrell, he certainly went into contact but at an angle which would have taken him passed Tyrell when the bigger man hit him. Tyrell wasn't wanting to get into a footrace and used the arms to slow him down, Glennon hit the deck like Power before him. To use a soccer term, it all balances out in the end!

I have to say, the Galway defence have serious pace about them barring O'g Regan, I can't remember once the likes of Fennelly, Fogarty or Power pulling away from their opposite number with any great gusto. Ditto in the forwards in the first half when a lot of the clearances were landing in space, the Galway men were first to it,turning and going at their opposite numbers and getting their rewards. With their half backs almost to a man batting the balls down and not allowing Kilkenny forwards to catch that they needed Tannion and Smyth to be first there for it to work.
In the second half, with the men withdrawn the balls shouldn't have been pumped down the middle for Hogan in particular to gobble up and return with interest as Kilkenny were picking off points nicely and only for Burkes goal against the run of play would have been curtains for Galway. I can't fathom how they felt that they could hold onto a 3 or 4 point lead against a team like Kilkenny by allowing almost pure domination of that end of the field where the Klikenny lads had time to pick out their passes even against a packed defence.

Hopefully Cunningham will learn from that and defend high up the pitch as I think he's a good enough set of defenders to work man for man.

Cody's substitutions didn't seem to have any telling effect yesterday, but he's got Shefflin on the park and he showed why he's one of the best yesterday by taking the game to Galway, opening them up and making the scoring chances for the others, an example to all even if he does gurn in the ear of the referee quite a lot now!

Galway should learn more and that may stand by them, but if Cody can freshen up Kilkenny for the next day it'll be another humdinger.

Will Gavin get the refereeing gig?

[highorlow]

The weaknesses on KK's bench really showed

What about Galway?

I wouldn't be a hurling man but taking off Burke, the one that scored 1-2, and the only forward apart from Canning to score looked very very foolish. As for putting on a young lad, Cooney og and taking him off again I hate to see that happening and it's not the player I'd blame in that situation but the manager.

Galway were saved by Skehill much the same as we were saved by Clarke the week before. Galway forwards need to take a serious look at themselves for the next day. Without such good play from Burke, Canning, Tannin and Skehill Galway would have been done and dusted yesterday.

[AZOffaly]

In fairness, I thought both those calls were correct. I know it's hard on Cooney, but when he came in he was beaten badly for 3 balls, including one where he was waiting for the ball to come to him and Paul Murphy or Kieran Joyce steamed in ahead of him from about 8 yards away. He just wasn't at the pitch of the game, and it wasn't going to happen for him.

With regard to Burke coming off, I might have moved him rather than replacing him, but Brian Hogan was absolutely lording it there in the second half, and they had to do something there.

[AQMP]

Word for David Collins who I thought had a great match at wing back.

[Hardy]

An absorbing contest, but I thought the referee came close to ruining it by being too whistle happy. The players seemed to cop on early (or maybe knew his form in advance) that going down nearly always got you the free, with the result that I can't recall seeing so much leg-straightening and collapsing forward on minimal contact in a hurling match before. You don't often see this in hurling, as referees generally seem still to understand the physical clash. It's a pity to see it creeping into the game, though maybe that's the impetus the legislators, who don't seem to give a shite about football or, worse, are actively trying to destroy it, need to tackle the diving culture in the games generally.

That apart, I thought the game illustrated the essence of sport, one interpretation of which - "having your manhood tested and not being found wanting" - applied to just about everyone on the field. The replay should be something special.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Wonderful day at HQ yesterday, from start to finish. Feeling coming out of the ground was that KK left it behind them as they owned the second half as well as the start of the game. Even though Galway went 1-3 to a point up KK started the better. Power missed two long range frees and Shefflin forced two early 65s, like a golfer over thinking his swing. Shefflin had some second half though, he hasn't covered that much ground in years. Brian Hogan was my motm though, lorded the skies and made sure Galway didn't come though the center. The other KK forwards got crowded out as did their midfield. Michael Fennelly doesn't like being bottled up and surprised Ritche Hogan lasted as long as he did.

On the Galway side obviously you could hold up any of the backs for having a good game but I thought Tony Og and the much maligned Hynes held the center very well while Collins and Moore were superb. Tannin and Smith were like oxen ploughing through the tackles and certainly won the midfield battle. Damien Hayes wasn't at the races at all and will be counting down the days till the replay. Joe won't be too happy with some of the frees but his run was memorising for the goal, genius. Wouldn't have taken off Burke either. Galway will have to look at what they did in the second half when the pressure came on, they can't just clear the ball down to four KK men for it to come right back in on top of them.

Shefflin made the right call for the penalty, the wind was in their sails and chipping away at the points was eating into the Galway resolve. Fair play to them for lifting themselves at the end, we'll probably be seeing Glennon earlier the next day, brought a lot of energy onto the field.

Only blight on the day was the muck they were playing over the PA, I can live with Hector and Kathryn Thomas but no need to near deafen you with that excuse for music. And certainly not on AI final day. The Galway lads on the Hill were getting louder with The Fields of Athenry as the minutes passed, they had the place heaving in 05, but you couldn't hear a note from them once they started blaring out that rubbish.

[nrico2006]

Of the totals yesterday what was scored from play?