Munster championship 2014

[theskull1]

Some serious young hurlers on that Waterford team alright, and their short passing is a joy to watch in full flow.  There has been something bugging me for a while now though.  Brick Walsh is a regarded as a legend in Waterford and rightly so, but he seems to go down far too easily for free's and every ref seems to fall for it.  There's a difference between cuteness and flat out diving, and Brick is veering towards the latter IMO!

For all the justified talk about Gleeson, I reckon De Burca is every bit his equal and maybe better.  Philip Mahony is a very fine hurler too.

Love Brick myself ... he's a real steadying influence on this young team, but I've seen what you've seen in regard to him "waiting on the contact". Would also agree that De Burca has been the stand out defender in what is a very sold defense. Jamie Barron's the player who I've been most impressed with throughout the league and championship to date

[Milltown Row2]

Some serious young hurlers on that Waterford team alright, and their short passing is a joy to watch in full flow.  There has been something bugging me for a while now though.  Brick Walsh is a regarded as a legend in Waterford and rightly so, but he seems to go down far too easily for free's and every ref seems to fall for it.  There's a difference between cuteness and flat out diving, and Brick is veering towards the latter IMO!

For all the justified talk about Gleeson, I reckon De Burca is every bit his equal and maybe better.  Philip Mahony is a very fine hurler too.

Love Brick myself ... he's a real steadying influence on this young team, but I've seen what you've seen in regard to him "waiting on the contact". Would also agree that De Burca has been the stand out defender in what is a very sold defense. Jamie Barron's the player who I've been most impressed with throughout the league and championship to date

Hate seeing big lads going down so easily!! Makes a mockery out of the small hurlers (like myself ) who managed to stay on their feet the whole game!!

[AZOffaly]

Just realised this thread is a year out of date!

Anyway, big game in Pairc na Gael next weekend. I still have my suspicions about Tipperary when it becomes a 'battle', and there's not a team in Ireland who relish a battle like Limerick do. They have some very tidy hurlers too, and have had Tipp's number the last 2 years. Last year in particular was worrying for Tipp when the fat was in the fire, and Tipp blinked. That said they recovered well and ended up hurling in the last game of the year, but they will desperately want to get a win over Limerick.

There's some talk about the fitness of Bubbles and Paudie Maher, which would be an issue for Tipp obviously. I'll be interested to see who starts on the half forward line, and if they can get on top of a fiery Limerick half back line. Also interested to see who picks up Cian Lynch. He had a great game against Clare, and is seriously talented, but I think a lad like Cathal Barrett might be able to get close to him and dog him out of it.

Looking forward to it now, I always enjoy going to the Gaelic Grounds as well, no matter what the Mayo lads say

[Premier Emperor]

Tipperary will beat Limerick and beat them by a least half a dozen.points.
I was talking to a couple of panellists during the week and they said the vibe was really good and they are anxious to put Limerick back in their place.

[INDIANA]

Brutal game today. Its been a piss poor Munster championship to date in terms of quality. That Limerick defence was slower then a wet weekend in Barnsley.

They were brutal against Dublin in the league quarter final and haven't improved.

Tipp have very good forwards but Kilkenny would never give them that amount of room.

[johnneycool]

Brutal game today. Its been a piss poor Munster championship to date in terms of quality. That Limerick defence was slower then a wet weekend in Barnsley.

They were brutal against Dublin in the league quarter final and haven't improved.

Tipp have very good forwards but Kilkenny would never give them that amount of room.

Tipp looked sharp up front yesterday, but they were aided by poor Limerick defending who allowed far too many one on one situations near their own goals. Tipp should have been out of sight at half time, the 6 point margin didn't do them justice. TJ took far too long to move Richie McCarthy off Callanan and then only replaced him mid way through the second half.

Tipp still have that old failing of allowing teams to get back at them, they stopped playing in the early stages of the second half and allowed Limerick to get back level, only for some poor shooting and decision making Limerick should have taken the lead and got some real momentum. In fairness to Tipp they did respond and in some style putting the game to bed early enough.

The final will be interesting as there's no way the Tipp forwards will get the same space they did today, and Waterford won't bomb the ball down on top of Paudie Maher, but Tipps defence and midfield are far superior to Corks and the Waterford lads won't be able to run past them just so easy as they did the last day out.

Hopefully they both go at it hammer and tongs as yesterdays game didn't really catch fire!

[AZOffaly]

That was a strange game yesterday. I don't know what happened Limerick. Everyone knows Tipperary have lovely wristy hurlers who will murder you if you give them space, but they hate playing the likes of Limerick because they dog you and dog you and dog you. Turn every possession into a battle to retain it, and try to win all the 50-50s. Yesterday they started off like that, Richie McCarthy beat Callanan for 3 balls in a row and I thought Seamie was going to have another of those days that have plagued his career. Then a sloppy breakdown in the Limerick half back line, a piece of quick thinking by Bubbles Dwyer and Callanan has the ball in the back of the net and Tipp are off to the races.

They were intelligent against the wind, playing the ball up through the lines, full back line to half forward, half back to full forward, and all the balls were nice in front balls. Isolated, the likes of Hickey and McCarthy were just annihilated. The second goal was symptomatic of a full back in trouble, desperately trying to get back on top and overplaying a ball. You'd rarely see it in a club game.

I couldn't believe in the first half that Limerick didn't pressure the Tipperary puck out. Bad coaching I thought. Darren Gleeson has a big puckout, but against that breeze it was going to lad in the half forward line at best, and you'd expect a fired up Limerick to win at least 50% of them. Instead, against the wind, Darren just picked out Stapleton or O'Brien, and they worked it through the lines while Limerick stood off. It was very strange. In fact the only time they pushed on was in the last 5 minutes and the ended up with 2 or 3 scores from balls won from Tipp puckouts.

The second half saw the fury that we expected from Limerick, but watching it, you could just sense they had given themselves too much to do against the wind. They have dangerous forwards in Lynch, Dowling and Mulcahy, but they supporting cast is just not as good and they can't really be chasing games. You got the sense that if Tipp could weather the storm, they'd blow themselves out and Tipp would kick for home. That said it was still unnerving from a Tipp point of view, as old failings came back to haunt them. Ball after ball pucked into the forwards, and ball after ball coming back out as Limerick won every break for about 10 minutes. In fact it took a mistake to allow Jason Forde get a point which allowed Tipp settle a bit, and from their they opened their shoulders again and killed it off clinically.

It may have looked a bad game on TV, it certainly wasn't a classic even at it, but I would make allowances for the wind. It was very strong. At half time one of the Limerick Subs pucked a ball up into the air, a gentle lob, from 20 metres out. It reached the end line up in the air, and then was blown back where another sub caught it about 5 metres in.

[deiseach]

Eek.

[AZOffaly]

Eek my arse. I'd say Waterford are licking their chops. What's the feeling down there deiseach? Will they want the final in Tom Semple's field, or will they want Limerick? I presume this is one for the revamped park by the Lee in a few years.

[deiseach]

There's no doubt there's a buoyant feeling down here, as measured by the number of car flags on display. It was interesting to see Eamon O'Shea reference the U-21's in his post-match interview. Clare and Offaly were Minor contenders in 1989, U-21 contenders in 1992, and so on. Waterford making the same kind of progress (the first two-thirds of it anyway) will have been noted.

I stand over 'eek' though. We play an extra man in defence. On the basis of what we saw yesterday, we're going to need it.

[AZOffaly]

Any word from the Deise about preference for venue? Thurles is handier, but would they prefer neutral, i.e. Limerick?

[deiseach]

I have no idea what the official line is. The fact that it hasn't been decided in advance suggests that there is scope for playing it in Thurles, i.e. show us the colour of your money, Mr/Ms Tipperary County Board. Personally I'm agnostic. Killarney - for the craic!

[AZOffaly]

Jaysus, I never thought of Killarney. And there is precedent.

[waterfordlad]

I'd prefer Thurles as Limerick is further away and could be a traffic nightmare and the only 2 big games Waterford have played there League final in 04 and Munster championship in 08 were bad days. Thurles is nearly a 2nd home for us at this stage.
There could be a bit of negotiating to be done on this.
Tipperary looked scary yesterday with the forwards they have but I reckon Waterford would be better set up to defend than going one on one like Limerick did at times yesterday.

[heffo]

Jaysus, I never thought of Killarney. And there is precedent.

Cork v Tipp 2004?