Cork V Kilkenny

[Reillers]

It's not for another week or so but when you're bored you're bored.

I've absolutely no idea who'll win this game. There are so many ifs and buts before the thing even starts. We'll be in a better position to judge when the teams are named but I think, I hope that Cork will shade it, barely. (But of course I'd say that.) It'll go down to the wire closer then Cork's last 2 games and harder then any that Kikenny have played since in the semi last season.
For years both teams seemed to cancel each other out.
A lot will depend on team selection, especially from Cork. Who plays FB and who plays up front being the main question. Cork have played some very difficult games all ready this season, and KK well, have played none really, time will tell if that will work for or against the teams.
It's a hard one to call, and Kilkenny will for some reason have the favorite tag but I think Cork will just shade it.

[EddieMerx]

It's not for another week or so but when you're bored you're bored.

Kilkenny will for some reason have the favorite tag but I think Cork will just shade it.

Probably because Kilkenny have won the last two All-Irelands and Cork haven't exactly been in a form that would beat the mighty Cats. I'll stick my head out here and go for a Kilkenny win of over 5 points

[Reillers]

It's not for another week or so but when you're bored you're bored.

Kilkenny will for some reason have the favorite tag but I think Cork will just shade it.

Probably because Kilkenny have won the last two All-Irelands and Cork haven't exactly been in a form that would beat the mighty Cats. I'll stick my head out here and go for a Kilkenny win of over 5 points

I know like for the last 2 games in the second half, what have they been doing. Kilkenny haven't proved themselves this season, their last actual test was their semi final  last season. Cork have proven themselves this season after been written off again and again and again.

[EddieMerx]

I suppose it's a case of where you rate Clare and Galway!! Clare I really don't rate as good as Kilkenny or Tipp and the same with Galway... Would Cork be able to steamroll past Kilkenny in a second half where they have got the stuffing knocked out of them in the first half.. I don't think so (just my opinion) Kilkenny I believe at present are possibly one of the greatest hurling teams of all time, Kilkenny have stepped it up to a new level and I just can't see Cork forcing the best out of this Cats team.

[AZOffaly]

I'll think more about this next week, but I would say a couple of things at this point.

Cork will put it up to Kilkenny, I have no doubt about that. Pride alone will take them along way. However, if Cork find themselves in the same situation against Kilkenny as they did against Galway (man down - 4 points down) or Clare (9 points down), they will not come back against the Cats. Of course they'll rally as you'd expect, but the Cats will be far more clinical and competitive against the comeback than either Clare or Galway.

If Diarmuid O'Sullivan plays at full back, I'd expect Kilkenny to score at least 3 goals, which would see them win, I think, by at least 5 points.

If Diarmuid O'Sullivan doesn't play at full back, I'd still think Kilkenny would be slight favourites, but maybe only by a point or two.

I wouldn't write off Cork at all, but Kilkenny have been the class of the championship for the past 2 years, and deserve to be up there as favourites. Whether Cork can knock them off their perch is up to Cork. I wouldn't rule it out, but I would be marginally surprised.

[Reillers]

The problem is, it'd be a lot easier if we knew the team but, Sully at fb, I think he has to start, simply because there is no one else.
If there's a problem if he's playing bad he most be taken off right there and then not ten minutes later when we're 3 goals down. I agree if we we're left in the same situation as we were against Galway or Clare at half time we might as well not come back out for the second half because they've the class to just keep the scoreboard ticking over.

If he struggles he's off but off fast, it's pointless of waiting till the 50 odd minute and Cork are 8 points down. But I think, I hope, that Sully will play well. The selectors really need to bite the bullet on this one though. If it's going wrong they need to change it and change it fast. But I feel that the team they started with against Clare is best to start with, sometimes you're better off making changes during the game then starting off with them, they tend to work better.
Like it was one thing when we were against Galway and Clare, we could move Gaa back into fb because there was where the immediate threat was, but against KK, he'll be needed there. The main threat came from one player when it was against Clare and Galway but against Kilkenny, it'll be from every where.

To be honest as much as I don't like saying it Waterford were the class of the championship last season, KK played one tough game and had way too much class for Limerick. KK in 06 all right were the "class of the championship" but that was 2 seasons ago. Their last serious test was the semi last season. Cork could well have heavy legs going into the game and KK, well it's the theory of untested v rested.
They will be favs all right, which isn't a bad thing because every single time these teams have met the underdogs have won. That and throw in the hoodoo of the 3 in a row paranoia. 3 words that will be banned from Kilkenny in the next week I'd say. Cork have proven that they still have that hunger in them, do KK, time will tell. I just think, that oh God I think we're in for a draw. Cork I think and I'm not just saying this, could shade it by a point or so once we play a full game and once the legs don't go. We'll know a lot more when the teams are named but like..
You couldn't get a more 50/50 match if you tried though.
Rebels abú!!

[EddieMerx]

Did Kilkenny not play Wexford in the semi last year??? from what I can remember that wasn't much of a test

[Reillers]

Was it Wexford, maybe it was the quarter final then. They'd a hard enough test there somewhere. Galway I think it could have been them, or was that the year before. I can't really remember, I thought they'd a hard test then but, clearly not.

[EddieMerx]

I think Galway played well last year for the first half but still got well beaten in the end, if this is what you consider a tough test then surely Kilkenny have been tested twice this year considering the first half displays by Wexford and Offaly.. I think this Kilkenny team is so good that on their day it's hard to find a team to test them.  It's a pity that Kilkenny are not given the credit they deserve by Munster folk as no matter what they do or who they beat ye always qualify their achievement by saying they had an easy path through. If Kilkenny go on to win the three in the row I see Munster folk saying "They beat a Cork/Waterford team at the end of it's cycle or a Tipp team full of youngsters)

Shame really as if the Cats do win the three in a row, they must be hailed as the greatest hurling team of the modern era (even all time)

[INDIANA]

i think cork on sunday week will face a cats team determined to get the 3 in a row. Apparently the cats are treating this as the defining match of their careers and the training is only savage with a capital s.  I've read the proposed cork teams taking sully out etc from the cork people here who know their team well, just that when i stack it up against the cats, i only see one winner.
The difference between the 2 teams is goals. The cats openly go for goals, cork don't in my view. cork will need at least 2-3 goals to beat the cats. 2 fine teams but i only see one result. the cats by 5/6.

[Reillers]

i think cork on sunday week will face a cats team determined to get the 3 in a row. Apparently the cats are treating this as the defining match of their careers and the training is only savage with a capital s.  I've read the proposed cork teams taking sully out etc from the cork people here who know their team well, just that when i stack it up against the cats, i only see one winner.
The difference between the 2 teams is goals. The cats openly go for goals, cork don't in my view. cork will need at least 2-3 goals to beat the cats. 2 fine teams but i only see one result. the cats by 5/6.

And what do ya think the Cork team been doing, crosswords and knitting??
If there is one team that wants to stop Kilkenny it's Cork, we all know why.
You want any proof of hunger from a team look at Cork, written off against Galway, down a man at half and we win it, written off again against Clare, down 9 points at half time and yet again we win it. We wanted it more.
KK will face a Cork team who will do absolutley anything to stop this KK team winning the 3 in a row, savagely hungry. Cork will want it more then Kilkenny. It is the defining match of a few Cork player's careers. KK haven't been tested in a long, long time. The hype circus will write itself about KK, they will be written up again and again and again, it'll piss the Cork team off even more and they'll face a beast that is Cork hurling at it's best.
We have players that can score us goals. Last season we didn't. This season though, Horgan, Naughton, Pa, Fraggy, Timmy, Ronan..etc even Ben, Deane. There's goals there and if we need them, like we did against Clare we'll get them.
I can't believe the amount of people, despite what we've seen in front of our own eyes in the past 2 weeks where we saw 2 of the games of the season, who keep writing this team off because of a myth that is Kilkenny hurling. They're a bloody good team, but they haven't had a serious game since last season. They've not proven themselves at all this season but yet again people continue to write us off.

[EddieMerx]

I don't think either game was game of the season to be honest, exciting maybe but I would put the Wexford Waterford game above it considering the two teams were neck and neck throughout not like the two Cork games where they were a game of two halves!! I really can't see how you say Cork are hungrier than Kilkenny Both teams will be as hungry as each other but I think Kilkenny just have the better players.

Galway and Clare are not as good as Kilkenny, I'd go as far as saying the pick of both wouldn't be as good as the Cats! Cork to have a chance have to hurl for 70 minutes at a performance above anything they have produced this year. Kilkenny haven't been tested because they are so bloody good, in saying that I do think if the key players for Cork can roll back the years and give the games of their lives they are probably the best equipped team to do a smash and grab on Kilkenny.

[INDIANA]

reillers , you don't have a full back. You cannot win an all-ireland without one. gardiner is a super wing back, but even canning and gilligan caused him awful bother at Fb. You won't beat a team like the cats with that sort of a weakness. I also don't think the forward line is as good as it used to be. Ben O Connor and joe deane have to have absolute blinders on sun week. Naughton, horgan and cronin are fine hurlers but they lack experience. this is a huge step up. You think they can step up, i'm not so sure. they will in time, i just don't think it will be this year.  you'll have the likes of tommy walsh and hickey horsing into them. its a question of whether they can take the physical battering they are likely to get.

[Reillers]

reillers , you don't have a full back. You cannot win an all-ireland without one. gardiner is a super wing back, but even canning and gilligan caused him awful bother at Fb. You won't beat a team like the cats with that sort of a weakness. I also don't think the forward line is as good as it used to be. Ben O Connor and joe deane have to have absolute blinders on sun week. Naughton, horgan and cronin are fine hurlers but they lack experience. this is a huge step up. You think they can step up, i'm not so sure. they will in time, i just don't think it will be this year.  you'll have the likes of tommy walsh and hickey horsing into them. its a question of whether they can take the physical battering they are likely to get.

We have a fb, if Sully doesn't play well we will accommodate that and have the depth to change it. Gaa did a bloody good job on hurlings new prodigy and a player who had an absolute blinder. Our forward line is better then it used to be. Ben has been playing blinders all season, in my mind player of the season so far. Deane played a blinder against Galway, didn't get any space against Clare, was subbed and what a sub it was, we've impact subs which is always handy, we have a stronger bench then KK. There is no evidence to say that they wont have blinders seeing as they have been all season. Naughton had zero experience in the semi final in 06, made his debut against Waterford in the semi, if you're memory's short I'll remind you, a point with his first touch, goal with his second, won us the game. The young lads have proven themselves in the most dire circumstances. They stood up. Horgan oozes with confidence, Naughton the same, Pa Cronin showed his real potential in the second half against Clare. These lads have stood up and down it, KK shouldn't be any different there might be a few jitters from both sides at the start but they'll settle.
Everything you've said that's been wrong with Cork, they've actually ended up showing otherwise.
You know there are actually, despite what you may think, bloody good players on the Cork team, we didn't accidently appear in 4 finals in a row and win 2 of them. We didn't come back against Galway and Clare by fluke. This team has proven itself, KK hasn't, not in a long time.

Kilkenny have done nothing in a long time to show that's been impressive, they haven't been tested and not because they've been that head and shoulders above good but because the opposition they've had was that bad. If you ask me we've proven ourselves this season, silenced our critics and answered the questions that have been asked. We came back, dug deep and found passion and heart and fight in us that everyone said was gone, the media insulted this team by completely righting them off, readying the gallows. We've played outstanding hurling against a KK side that has played none in weeks. If anyone should be questioned, it should be them, we've stepped up, proven ourselves when every single person said we couldn't, while they've sat back and watched. Yet we're still questioned, still written off, but yo know what, it'll only wind the lads up even more, like a wind up cog waiting to explode. While the media for the week will speak of KK on their way to winning the 3 in a row, they'll make them red hot favorites for doing nothing. Yet again we'll be written off and I've every confidence that we'll prove them wrong.
We've answered our questions this season, we've proven ourselves..they haven't.

[imtommygunn]

Sounds like you perceive yourselves to be favourites their Reillers.

You can only beat what's in front of you and Kilkenny have beaten teams who have either beaten or seriously threatened good Munster teams. Have they not been challenged or have they been too good for the challenge - that's the question.

You're the only team with the personnel to challenge KK IMO but you write like KK will have to step it up and not Cork and that's quite a misguided opinion!

Cork, as I see it, have ~5/6 of real class and the rest are much of a muchness(not in a bad way but in a not all star material kind of way) while KK have class players who are not playing. That should pull them through with a bit to go.

(Don't get me wrong I'd like to see Cork win but I canny see it)