What the FUG is Bab's on?

[GY Joe]

Galway accused of 'nasty stuff'
Galway hurling manager Ger Loughnane has expressed puzzlement over allegations that his team were guilty of roughing up opponents Tipperary in Sunday's National Hurling League match in Pearse Stadium

Bab's spouting away on local radio... That Galway were using the nasty stuff.. Utter shite.. It was as clean a game as you will see!!

Mind games a startin' twixt himself and Lockey methinks?

[magpie seanie]

The Tipp/Galway rift resurfaces with a smidgen of Tipp/Clare to garnish it. It could be a tasty summer.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Absolute bollocks out of Babs.  I was at the match and to be honest it was one of the most open and clean game of hurling you are likely to see.  Babs trying to deflect attention from what was in essence a poor enough performance from his team.  Only for the 3 very soft goals Galway gifted them, they would have been beat out the gate.  Galway are no world beaters either as the full back and half forward lines still require radical surgery.  

[lynchbhoy]

Babs and loughnane are two fantastic managers for inter county teams.
Its these kinds of crazed men that keeps us glued to the championships.
Fantastic charachters, wonderful hurling enthusiasts and both winners!

[bottlethrower7]

I know the incidents Babs is referring to, and though a bit OTT, this is babs we're talking about after all.

The incident with Kelly was when he and David Forde got the yellow cards. Kelly was unfortunate to get his. Forde was, in my book, the agressor in that incident.

The Pa Bourke one was where he was 'roughed up' when he was introduced. Can't recall who it was that did it, but it was bad form.

Other than that there was little enough to complain about, other than a horribly inconsistent refereeing performance. Its amazing how he was so well tuned in to pick up (correctly) on some subtleties, and then he'd go and penalise Hugh Moloney for throwing the ball ahead of him, yet let the same offence go multiple times subsequently. He never really gave the game a chance to develop, and it certainly wasn't the cracker RTE were  making it out to be.

A Kerin-Hayes midfield is an interesting experiment. Certainly better than a Forde-Healy one. John Lee has to be a shoe-in for 6 come championship time, but Galway still need to sort out full-back. Joyce and Moore are classy operators, but I think they might be a little lacking in divilment for championship hurling. They could do worse than call Greg Kennefdy back for one of those positions.

Mark Kerins had a great game, as did Iarla Tannion. Both are, I believe, horribly inconsistent (I'm familiar with Kerins, not su much with Tannion).

Whats up with Farragher? No sign of him sunday. He didn't look interested the week before against Dublin. Also, did Loughnane have Galway out the morning of the Dublin game for one of his legendary 3 hour training sessions?

[mouview]

Now you said it BT7 - inconsistency is Galway hurling's middle name. You have a pool of lads like Forde, Kerins x 2, F Healy, Tierney, Murray, Hardiman - all individually good hurlers but seemingly incapable of stringing a few good games together. It's enough to drive any manager (weaker than Loughnane) silly.

Anyway, Gerlock gave a few hints last Sunday about his c'ship team. The FF line as started will be there IMHO. M Kerins is edging towards CHF, Tannian is starting to put his name forward for one wing forward slot, with Murray / Tierney / F Healy (my preference) for the other. Depending on next Sunday's performance midfield could be A Kerins and Hayes. Lee will be no. 6, probably flanked by Forde and D Collins - physically strong line but not too quick unfortunately. Full-back line is the big imponderable; D Joyce will be in one corner I think, other corner between Moore and Kennedy, D Cloonan has to get a chance at FB to see what he's like in it, otherwise it's Kavanagh or Regan (shudder). In goal will be A Ryan.  Hardi will have to be sub along with Farragher who realistically will only play if E Cloonan is unavailable. Nowlan Park will confirm or refute a lot of the above I believe.

[lynchbhoy]

I still love that immortal line from Joe Hayes

'its's not looking good Babs is it?'

[FTJC]

I haven't a clue what Babs is whinging about. There was a bit of jousting between David Forde and Paul Kelly but it was fannying about in fairness. Maybe he's hoping to meet Galway later in the championship and have a bit of niggle going into it.
It was a clean game of hurling all through. Pacey enough for March although very open at times and some of the stickwork was poor but that's to be expected at this stage of the year.
I just want to make a quick comment on the team put out by gerlock last Sunday.

Skehill was unfortunate to make his debut behind such a shambolic defensive line up
David Forde is not fit for inter county hurling(end of)
Hardiman is not a full back nor is Collins a corner back
Fergal Healy is getting a raw deal.
Damien Hayes was a revelation at centre field.
John Lee is turning into the centre back we hoped he would be.



I would like to suggest the following team to play Kilkenny next Sunday and put out there to be stripped to pieces!

1. Aidan Ryan

2. Damien Joyce
3. Tony Og Regan
4. Fergal Moore

5. Derek Hardiman
6. John Lee
7. David Collins

8. Fergal Healy
9. Damien Hayes

10. Alan Kerins
11. Mark Kerins
12. Iarlaith tannion

13. Kevin Broderick
14. Eugene Cloonan
15. Niall Healy

[GalwayBayBoy]

Galway accused of 'nasty stuff'
Galway hurling manager Ger Loughnane has expressed puzzlement over allegations that his team were guilty of roughing up opponents Tipperary in Sunday's National Hurling League match in Pearse Stadium

Bab's spouting away on local radio... That Galway were using the nasty stuff.. Utter shite.. It was as clean a game as you will see!!

Mind games a startin' twixt himself and Lockey methinks?

I was at the game and it was played in a very good spirit I thought.

[thejuice]

you can watch the highlights on www.tg4.tv

The only cynical styff you can see on it comes from a tipp player doing a late hit on Kerins after Kerins stole a sweet one off the hurl of one of the Tipp midfielders and shrugged of the challenge of another Tipp player. But they're only highlights,

[GaillimhIarthair]

I haven't a clue what Babs is whinging about. There was a bit of jousting between David Forde and Paul Kelly but it was fannying about in fairness. Maybe he's hoping to meet Galway later in the championship and have a bit of niggle going into it.
It was a clean game of hurling all through. Pacey enough for March although very open at times and some of the stickwork was poor but that's to be expected at this stage of the year.
I just want to make a quick comment on the team put out by gerlock last Sunday.

Skehill was unfortunate to make his debut behind such a shambolic defensive line up
David Forde is not fit for inter county hurling(end of)
Hardiman is not a full back nor is Collins a corner back
Fergal Healy is getting a raw deal.
Damien Hayes was a revelation at centre field.
John Lee is turning into the centre back we hoped he would be.



I would like to suggest the following team to play Kilkenny next Sunday and put out there to be stripped to pieces!

1. Aidan Ryan

2. Damien Joyce
3. Tony Og Regan
4. Fergal Moore

5. Derek Hardiman
6. John Lee
7. David Collins

8. Fergal Healy
9. Damien Hayes

10. Alan Kerins
11. Mark Kerins
12. Iarlaith tannion

13. Kevin Broderick
14. Eugene Cloonan
15. Niall Healy

Hard to disagree with alot of what you say there FTJC, but I'd have serious reservations with Tony óg at fulll back.  I cant understand why Diarmuid Cloonan hasn't got more game time in the league to date    I was disappointed with the half forward line the last day from a ball winning perspective.  They did hit some great scores during the game (especially M Kerins), but the did not win one ball in the air from any of our puck outs ! M Kerins is well capable, as his performance v Eamon Kennedy a few years back proves and so is Tannion but they just seem to be very inconsistent in performing for even 2 games in succession.  Kilkenny in Nowlan Park will certainly test a few of these lads and should give Loughnane an idea of what needs to be done for the remainder of the year..............

[MaroonAndWhite]

Forde and Kellys bit of a to-do was instigated by Kelly - I was standing in front of where it happened. Like a child he kept pulling open Kellys helmet and was in his ear constantly during the game so if he took a bit of a dunt, it was coming to him for acting like an eejit. That said Forde was no better for reacting but at the end of the day it was handbags and to make anything more of it is just making Babs himself look daft.
Think Pa Burke got a bit of a cappataggle welcome from Damien Joyce alright but it was harmless and wouldnt give it a second thought.
Tipp well beaten alright........Galway wont be too far off if they can sort out the full back spot.
Anyway, isnt it great to see Galway hurling producing a few players that are capable of mixing it after the last few years of windy efforts. Sure with Loughnane, Lynskey and Treacy there you'd expect nothing else.

[FTJC]

Hard to disagree with alot of what you say there FTJC, but I'd have serious reservations with Tony óg at fulll back.  I cant understand why Diarmuid Cloonan hasn't got more game time in the league to date    I was disappointed with the half forward line the last day from a ball winning

I have thought about this full back conundrum quite a bit, and we basically have 3 options:

Diarmuid Cloonan - Granted he's a huge imposing man. But i'll ask you this...when has he ever dealt an opposing forward a decent jostle or won a ball and ran through a flurry of tackles and drove a 90 yard clearance? Very rarely, if ever, I would surmise. He's just too slow and cumbersome for inter county hurling. His clearances can be very hit and miss and I just always have this fear of him being caught in possession on the edge of the square. He drops the ball alot as well when fetching from the sky which puts the fear of God in you if you're a corner back beside him or the goalie behind him.

Shane Kavanagh - Another man who fails to use himself to full effect. He's too nice of a full-back. In fairness this guy can clear a ball and lay off a snappy pass to a corner back or wing back if he's in trouble. I felt the Dublin game the last day dealt his chances a blow when he didn't floor Liam Ryan coming through the middle for a goal. I think that would have earned him more brownie points with Loughnane even if Dublin had have scored the resulting penalty. I'd actaully rather Kavanagh at full-back than Cloonan I just feel he's safer in a high paced championship game.

Which leaves us with Tony óg Regan - Has there ever been a player which has divided Galway hurling fans opinions so greatly? I happen to think he's a very good hurler. The guy can field a ball, he can give a rattle when required and while he had his problems against Tipperarys Michael Webster in the q-final of 2005 he recovered well and actually finished that game very strongly. There was alot of cohesion about that full back line of Joyce, Regan and Canning that year. Remember Webster tormented most full backs that summer(Lohan & O'Sullivan). So while Ogie is not the perfect full back he can read the game, react and deliver a good relieving clearance which is the bread and butter stuff of anyone in a full back line.

I feel they're doing too much tinkering with the back line and would need to start settling on the six backs fairly soon. Backs get stronger as a unit when they hurl together regularly and get to know one anothers style and reactions. The only position up for grabs should be Ollie Cannings corner back spot and leave the rest of the lads alone. They were good enough in 2005 to get us to a final but not good enough now...why?


My opinion on whether Mark Kerins return has been successful has not been formed yet. He had an awful start on Conor O'Mahony the last day but when he scored his first point he settled down and actually started putting himself about the place and tacked on a few more(4 in total) only to fade again in the second half. I feel himself and Iarlaith Tannian should improve as they get more hurling into them and will hopefully be alot quicker to react and get it into the hand as the summer progresses.

It has been 2 very contrasting weekends of hurling, from the loss of the Dublin game to the high of last weekend. The Dublin hurlers proved they're not a bad outfit at all with their win over Limerick although i feel if Galway replayed them on a dry day they would have won with a few to spare. Conditions were atrocious in Parnell Park. The good thing about the Tipp win is it left them with plenty to work on. They leaked some very soft goals and they failed to create a goalscoring opoportunity. Still though, they are heading in the right direction and although Galway have been heading in directions and getting nowhere for a good while now I just feel there's a serious purpose about what they're at at the moment.

[cicfada]

If david Forde is slow, would there be a case to be made for him to play fullback even??If they sort it out, it could be a good Summer.can't wait for the game....how far is it to Kilkenny from Cork?

[dodo]

If david Forde is slow, would there be a case to be made for him to play fullback even??If they sort it out, it could be a good Summer.can't wait for the game....how far is it to Kilkenny from Cork?

From the city it's a 2 hour drive.