Cork v Clare All Ireland SHC Final Sunday 8th September 3.30pm

[johnneycool]

Fantastic game played at full pelt throughout with very little if any dirty pulls the whole way through, thank god Clare managed to see it out after the year of upsets it'd be a balls if one of the big three had went on to win it.

As much as young Mcdonnell ended up with 3-3, Colin McGrath was outstanding throughout and is yet another deadly forward along with Tony Kelly, Paudge Collins etc, etc. Cork stemmed the flow from Collins but some of the others step up to the mark, very hard to counteract that.
I like the cut of Harnedy and young Lehane who I think will both be good hurlers for Cork in years to come, though JBM may have made a mistakes not starting Moylan as he did well in the first game when introduced and also got 1-1 on saturday, he's got that poachers instinct..

Being pedantic, but Honans goal should possibly have been a free out as he threw the ball in the net, I don't think he touched it when he tried to bat it in. Would have been harsh not to award it all the same.

It'll be interesting to see how a rejuvenated Kilkenny fit into the new hurling landscape, will they go with the tried and tested big ball winners in the forwards or adopt a more measured approach in their build up??

Honans goal was technically a free out, but I suppose its like saying that someone should be blown up when they toss the ball up and fail to connect with it as thats technically a throw ball. 

Very true

Tony Kelly seems to get 3/4 points every game and each one of them are unbelievable.

His movement and ability to change direction onto either side make it near on impossible to stop him. He was surrounded by three cork defenders, a quick change of direction and a wristy stroke off his left side and the ball was sailing over the bar, soul destroying for the Cork defenders.

[seafoid]

Great to see a non old firm county win the thing. First time since 98. Way too long.
5 more years of the same would be great.

[johnneycool]

Where can I get this MiWadi stuff Davy was giving the Clare players? It's all over the press.

Must be some stuff, I think I'll have to change from the Quosh.

[deiseach]

I know I might be looking at things through Minor-tinted glasses, but it's been just the most fabulous year for hurling. Well done Clare and Davy for capping that year with a win for the little guy (pun unintended).

[imtommygunn]

It's been the best i can ever remember... The two finals where you just had no idea what was going to happen next when it got right down to the wire in the last ten were unbelievable but there were many other matches that were superb too.

I find it hard to believe that kilkenny have gone too. Seeing what cody has up his sleeve for next year should be very interesting

Antrim getting to ai u21 final great from an antrim perspective too obviously..

[CitySlicker11]

Thought the same about the Honan goal in real time, but its over now lets not focus on negatives.

What a year, I must look back but I called it as a great year from very early on, hurling the real winner. The amount of young ones that will pick up sticks after this year has probably doubled at least which is great news for the future.

Really hope the weaker counties have promoted this well. If every team aims to move up one level from where they are currently playing at then it will be an even healthier sport.

[Milltown Row2]

This tapping the ball on the stick while still holding on to the ball is a free, I've noticed this a lot this year and has even found its way into club games. First time I seen it was about 3 years ago, I blew for over carrying and the Johnnies lad said he'd tapped it on the stick, ball needs to leave your hand surely?

A lot of instances in Sat's game of this, very hard for the referee to spot depending on his positioning but gives the player an extra 4 steps while still having possession and less chance of fumbling the ball

[doodaa]

This tapping the ball on the stick while still holding on to the ball is a free, I've noticed this a lot this year and has even found its way into club games. First time I seen it was about 3 years ago, I blew for over carrying and the Johnnies lad said he'd tapped it on the stick, ball needs to leave your hand surely?

A lot of instances in Sat's game of this, very hard for the referee to spot depending on his positioning but gives the player an extra 4 steps while still having possession and less chance of fumbling the ball

Just watched O'Donnells 3rd goal on GAA 2013 and the ball definitely left his hand momentarily so no free for that in my opinion.

Very difficult for a ref to spot it from 20/30 yards away as you say.

[Tony Baloney]

Highlights there on TG4 showed Honan made contact with the stick albeit poor.

[blanketattack]

Highlights there on TG4 showed Honan made contact with the stick albeit poor.

Also, the reason he wasn't able to make clean contact was because he was taken down by a 2 footed lunge by Nash so if the goal was disallowed it would have been a definite penalty which would have used up the rest of the clock and put 2 scores between the sides.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Highlights there on TG4 showed Honan made contact with the stick albeit poor.

I must have watched it on HD half a dozen times and I could see no contact whatsoever. Ball didn't seem to take any deviation in flight at all after he threw it.

That said it was immaterial as time was up after the puck out anyway.

[belleaqua]

Going to get a doing over this but here it goes......

A great year for hurling, emergence of new teams to win All Ireland, Munster title and Leinster title, exciting games, provoked great interest among the GAA populace and further afield yet one game apart I felt some of the quality was well down on preceding years although it will prove a terribly unpopular thing to say.

The Dublin Cork game and the Dublin Kilkenny clashes apart I thought the excitement totally glossed over the standards of other years.

The hype over the Waterford/Kilkenny game, the Kilkenny/Tipperary game and the drawn All Ireland Final belie the poor standards on the day. The Kilkenny/Waterford game was terrible stuff until Kevin Moran's heroics in the last 10 minutes and the goals in extra time.

The Kilkenny/Tipp game was built around the return of Henry and the novelty of capacity crowd to see Kilkenny on the verge of knockout. Terrible wides, handling errors and constant rucking.

The first 50 minutes of the drawn All Ireland was poor stuff. Particularly from Cork. Again the basic skills in terms of touch and the basics were very poor.

Hard to pick out any other quality high points this year bar the Limerick Tipp game. Both provincial finals were damp squibs taking out the novelty of emerging winners. Both Q/F's were not much better and the Limerick Clare semi-final was a huge letdown.

I probably come from the 'hurling man' side of things but I do feel this years incessant need to brag about the worlds greatest game on the back of excitement over quality this year a little galling.

[Canalman]

Agree with Belleaqua a fair bit.

Firstly, congrats to Clare, by far the best team in the land and worthy winners. Delighted for them.

Truth be told that Cork team imvho were the worst Cork team I have seen to make an AIF and they could have won it. That team has heart and guts in spades and I really respect them for that.
Their first touch over both games though was imvho very poor and Clare's was top notch. Clare imvho should have won both games by over 8 points but didn't because of Cork's heart. JBM is a top manager .
In fairness I am comparing the present team to some of the best hurlers ever to play the game and don't mean to be too snidey.

Sliotar is far too light and small for the modern hurler and has to be changed. Players wristily flicking it over the bar from the half way line is just not right imho again.

[Milltown Row2]

Going to get a doing over this but here it goes......

A great year for hurling, emergence of new teams to win All Ireland, Munster title and Leinster title, exciting games, provoked great interest among the GAA populace and further afield yet one game apart I felt some of the quality was well down on preceding years although it will prove a terribly unpopular thing to say.

The Dublin Cork game and the Dublin Kilkenny clashes apart I thought the excitement totally glossed over the standards of other years.

The hype over the Waterford/Kilkenny game, the Kilkenny/Tipperary game and the drawn All Ireland Final belie the poor standards on the day. The Kilkenny/Waterford game was terrible stuff until Kevin Moran's heroics in the last 10 minutes and the goals in extra time.

The Kilkenny/Tipp game was built around the return of Henry and the novelty of capacity crowd to see Kilkenny on the verge of knockout. Terrible wides, handling errors and constant rucking.

The first 50 minutes of the drawn All Ireland was poor stuff. Particularly from Cork. Again the basic skills in terms of touch and the basics were very poor.

Hard to pick out any other quality high points this year bar the Limerick Tipp game. Both provincial finals were damp squibs taking out the novelty of emerging winners. Both Q/F's were not much better and the Limerick Clare semi-final was a huge letdown.

I probably come from the 'hurling man' side of things but I do feel this years incessant need to brag about the worlds greatest game on the back of excitement over quality this year a little galling.

It was already noted about the poor first touch and the wides that occurred in some of the games, but in terms of excitement the games this year were very good, the end to end battles were great to watch, the standard of defending, hassling closing down players would have had a lot to do with wides and bad handling, the nerves to would be a big thing that contributed to a lot of this as both the Cork and Clare team are very young this year, this will certainly get better for both teams next year, Clare have set a high standard, can't wait to see Kilkenny next year and Tipp and how they will reinvent themselves

[deiseach]

Going to get a doing over this but here it goes......

You're right, you are. I could fisk the whole thing, but ultimately the money quote is this:

Both provincial finals were damp squibs taking out the novelty of emerging winners.

No one was saying that at the time. Everyone was delighted to see those counties winning. Taking your piece as a whole, I think you are determined to set yourself up as someone who values the purity of the game above all else. A hurling man, if you will. What that makes the rest of us, I don't know.