Hurling 2026

[tonto1888]

It was actually a red card as more recent replays show!

How come? I havent seen any replayes,

was at the game yesterday and it was superb. Much better than football. Also, could relax more as the result was not going to make or break my week the way it does when armagh play

[Genocide Organ]

It was actually a red card as more recent replays show!

How come? I havent seen any replayes,

Quaid grabbed Duggan's faceguard, which is technically a red card offence. There's a photo of it on the previous page here.

[tonto1888]

It was actually a red card as more recent replays show!

How come? I havent seen any replayes,

Quaid grabbed Duggan's faceguard, which is technically a red card offence. There's a photo of it on the previous page here.

GRMA. I dindt realise that was a red card offence. Maybe it happened too quick for the ref to see

[johnnycool]

What was the ref thinking not giving Quaid a black card? It likely cost Clare the game.

He didn't have possession of the ball

You could argue he was in posession. He flicked it over him and was running onto it again.

Another silly GAA rule.

A black card if there was ever a black card. Quaid knew what he was at and cleaned him out of it.

Gamewould have changed for sure if Quaid was gone and down to 14.

But Limerick do what Limerick do.

It doesn't meet any of the criteria in the rule book for being in possession. I think the referee error was to award the penalty.

He also erred in not playing the 5 second advantage.

Barry Nash had accidentally kicked the ball into the net.

Point 1, play the advantage and the goal would have stood
Point 2, the penalty shouldn't have been given as the foul was outside the large parallelogram.
Point 3, the definition of being in possession needs looked at as evidently being in possession must mean you have the sliotar either in your hand or on the end of your hurl.

It was a cynical tackle by Quaid and he can consider himself lucky that the black wasn't shown.


On the game in general, Clare gave it their best shot, but a combination if the likes of Leen not being able to contribute meant they were short in defence although I thought they should have moved Conlon onto Hegarty when Cleary was struggling.
The subs didn't contribute as was needed, Stritch was very nervous, Rodgers missing a fairly straight forward free, whereas Limerick were able to pull lads who added something.

Hegarty got Limerick out of that hole, he was immense. Without him I think Limerick would be out.

[johnnycool]

As for Cork v Galway, I'm not sure what Cork were at if they didn't realise Galway would line out the way they did as it was a carbon copy of how they lined out v Dublin.

Cork are for me an overcoached team, they have set patterns of play they seem to stick to rigidly even when it's not working.

In both halfs the short puckouts were going to the fullback line and Galway were happy enough with that and for Cork Hayes was their only outlet down into that corner. They didn't try much else as Daithi Burke was struggling and they were getting joy of out that.

At the same time Galway were winning the entire middle third, running through and picking off their scores at will, mostly from range and Cork had no answer.

When Trayers went onto Hayes he did help subdue him, although he was still dangerous, but Cork didn't change tack and kept doing the same things without the same reward and all the same failed to close down the Galway running game that was filleting them.

I think I read somewhere that Cork didn't attempt one shot at the posts from outside the Galway 65 metre line.

If you look at the other three teams out this weekend, they all went for the long range scores more often than not and if anything Limerick will probably concede that they didn't get as many shots off at the posts than the normal 30 plus that they target.

The second half scores drying up for Cork is not a new issue, yet they've failed to address it. They need to be braver to take on more risk for the greater reward.

Why is Patrick Horgan on talking about hurling and him with no AI medals??? 

[seafoid]

Ten Limerick players approached Shane O'Donnell after the match. Game was recognising game
Clare great makes for the sunset at the end of a hurling career like no other

Denis Walsh
Mon Jul 06 2026 - 06:02
•
5 MIN READ

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Clare's Shane O'Donnell walks off the field after his team was narrowly beaten by Limerick in Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final at Croke Park. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
On the inside of Shane O'Donnell's right bicep is a tattoo that he had done many years ago when he finished his PhD in microbiology. A small gift to himself. To the untrained eye, it is a hexagonal shape surrounded by straight lines, but cryptic body art usually has a simple code; the tattoo represents the chemical formula for adrenaline.

In a Clare jersey, it coursed through his body for the last time in Croke Park yesterday. At the final whistle, O'Donnell walked slowly towards the centre of the pitch and as he did, nine or 10 Limerick players approached him. There was warmth in every exchange. Cian Lynch wanted to say something, so did Diarmaid Byrnes and Shane O'Brien and Darragh O'Donovan. Game recognises game.


O'Donnell first talked publicly about retirement in the autumn of 2023, but last Thursday he ended all doubt. For most players, being an intercounty player and eventually not being an intercounty player is one of the biggest lifestyle transitions they will ever experience. O'Donnell didn't let it creep up on him.

In the middle of his PhD he spent seven months at Harvard on a Fulbright Scholarship and during that time in Boston, he wondered if he would miss hurling or what the separation would be like. Donal Óg Cusack had been involved with the Clare team the previous season and O'Donnell remembered him saying that when he retired, his "daydreaming" about the game stopped. In other ways, too, he was left with a void that he couldn't fill.



Nicky English: Limerick bench proved key but penalty controversy shows rule must be changed

"I genuinely had a fear that was going to happen to me," said O'Donnell, a few years ago. "That when I retired from hurling, I was going to be always missing hurling and that the best part of my whole life would be over. Boston made me realise that was definitely not the case. There was so much that I enjoyed outside of hurling."

For many players, the end is taken out of their hands. They don't know when to stop, or how. They're afraid to let go. There is unfinished business.

Learn more

How much business is ever finished?


Shane O'Donnell holds the Liam MacCarthy Cup at the Hill 16 end of Croke Park after Clare's All-Ireland SHC final victory against Cork in 2013, in which O'Donnell scored a hat-trick. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
O'Donnell has been an unusual player. In his career, he was shaped by experiences that were extraordinary. He dealt with the inverted narrative of the fairytale ending coming at the start. How many players must grapple with that? Name them?

In the first 20 minutes of the 2013 All-Ireland SHC final replay, he scored a point and three goals with his first four possessions, in that order. He was a 19-year-old rookie, plunged into the starting team at two hours' notice so he wouldn't have time to dwell on the enormity of it.

"God help him for the rest of his life. At 19, the pressure that's going to be on him, every time he goes out from now on, to replicate this," said Michael Duignan in the RTÉ commentary box as O'Donnell was substituted, four minutes from the end.

For the next couple of years, fame ransacked his college life. He couldn't blend into a crowd. The simple act of meeting friends for a night out was scuttled by strangers and the petty theft of his time. Well-meaning people tried to help, but there were no guardrails and there was no manual to guide his responses. In the GAA, every star moves between the arena and the mainstream of everyday life, but that is not always frictionless. In O'Donnell's case, the boundaries collapsed.


Clare's Shane O'Donnell with his mother, Mary O'Donnell, after Clare were narrowly beaten by Limerick in Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final at Croke Park. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
As a player, he evolved, but in a sense the process was forced. He was never again the player he looked on that golden autumn afternoon in Croke Park 13 years ago. First impressions were misleading. In the championship, he never scored as many goals again as he did in his breakthrough season. In five seasons, he failed to score a goal. When Clare lost the Munster finals of 2017 and 18, he failed to score in either of them. He needed to find other ways to express his talent.


"Basically, I didn't want to shoot," he said. "I never felt confident in my shooting. My first thought was to take on my man and if I can't turn them, then I'd pass it to somebody who could shoot."

In the second half of his career, though, O'Donnell overcame those doubts. Brian Lohan moved him to the half-forward line and he turned into an all-rounder: ball-winner, playmaker, finisher, rainmaker, fire-starter. When Clare beat Cork in the 2024 All-Ireland final, Tony Kelly hit the shots that wounded Cork down the stretch, but when Clare trailed by seven points in the first half, it was O'Donnell who dragged them into the game. He had that warrior mentality.

O'Donnell's contribution to hurling, though, was not just on the field. Over the last five years he has taken every opportunity to raise awareness of concussion and its consequences. Every time he spoke about the subject, it felt like he was campaigning. He once agreed to an interview marking the 10th anniversary of his Croke Park hat-trick, only on the grounds that concussion would occupy a significant portion of the conversation. When he announced his retirement last Thursday, he spoke again about the scourge of head-high tackles in hurling.


Clare's Shane O'Donnell looks on as David Reidy receives medical attention following a serious incident in last month's All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Dublin at Semple Stadium, Co Tipperary. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
In 2021, he suffered a concussion that haunted him for months. For six weeks he couldn't work and even when the symptoms subsided, the mental torment continued. In the second game of his comeback, a club match, he suffered a blow to the head that triggered a cascade of oppressive emotions.

"I remember that night I couldn't go to sleep. I used to have serious trouble sleeping. I tried to go to sleep and I whipped myself into a total frenzy of fear. Had loads of symptoms coming on. My head was spinning, all this kind of stuff. It was all in my head – it was completely created by my own fear around it. I got up and I was in tears and I was like, 'I can't do this again, I can't do this again'."

"That bled on for months. I had no physical [issues by then]; it was just pure fear."


He overcame that too.

O'Donnell's only score yesterday was a distillation of him and his game. He hunted down Dan Morrissey, stripped the ball from him and fired it over the bar. In his career, let that be the last word.

He was an ornament on the game.

[imtommygunn]

Galway were accurate when taking their scores..

And not accurate when hitting shots wide or short.  20 of those shots in total they had..

Galway were accurate when taking their scores..

And not accurate when hitting shots wide or short.  20 of those shots in total they had..

Yeah, and didn't think the much-touted Niland chap was great on the frees, either - especially when that's what he's basically there for.

He said himself he isn't even the best free taker in his house.

[seafoid]

Galway had 47 shots against both Cork and Dublin

[marty34]

Shefflin new KK manager.



https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2026/0706/1582098-shefflin-appointed-kilkenny-hurling-manager/

[Genocide Organ]

I'm actually shocked at that.

[marty34]

I wonder who'll be in with him.

[David McKeown]

What was the ref thinking not giving Quaid a black card? It likely cost Clare the game.

He didn't have possession of the ball

You could argue he was in posession. He flicked it over him and was running onto it again.

Another silly GAA rule.

A black card if there was ever a black card. Quaid knew what he was at and cleaned him out of it.

Gamewould have changed for sure if Quaid was gone and down to 14.

But Limerick do what Limerick do.

It doesn't meet any of the criteria in the rule book for being in possession. I think the referee error was to award the penalty.

So, if I hop the ball on the stick, do I meet the criteria or because I'm not in 'possession' of the ball it's just a yellow no penalty and no denying of a goal scoring opportunity?

Possession shall include a player being in control of the ball as specified
in any one or more Rule 1-The Play sub-sections 1.3,1.4,1.7 (Hurling);

1.3 A player may run with the ball balanced on or hopping on the hurley.

1.4 A player may catch the ball, play it on the hurley, and bring it back into the hand once. A player
who has not caught the ball may play it from the hurley into the hand twice.

1.7 When a player is in possession of the ball it may be:
(a) Carried in the hand for a maximum of four consecutive steps or held in the hand for no longer than the time needed to take four steps.
(b) Released and struck with a definite striking action of a hand.

So yes you would meet the criteria for being in possession

[DaleCooper]

Assuming its been discussed but others say a Red as Duggans helmet was grabbed by keeper.

[NAG1]

Shefflin new KK manager.



https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2026/0706/1582098-shefflin-appointed-kilkenny-hurling-manager/

I think this is a desperation one, I just don't think he has the tools at his disposal at the moment. Unless there is a major overhaul of the squad, but even at that is there the conveyor belt of talent coming along that there once was?

[playwiththewind1st]

Shefflin new KK manager.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2026/0706/1582098-shefflin-appointed-kilkenny-hurling-manager/

No doubt Brian Cody has already sent his congratulations.