This year's final was fixed for Limerick. Fair enough a neutral venue and accessible to both participants, Tipperary and Cork. Except that way back in 2010 Tipperary and Galway reached the final and it was fixed for Thurles, Galway naturally were not happy having to play Tipperary in the 'home' venue. The GAA countered that Thurles was going to be the U 21 Hurling Final venue in future and told Galway in fairly forceful terms 'to get on with it'. Antrim were brought all the way to Thurles to play Clare in the final a few years ago as 'Thurles was the U 21 Hurling Final venue. Then low and behold 2018 arrives and Tipperary qualify to play Cork in the final....there is no mention of Thurles being the final venue, it was simply fixed for Limerick. The Galway team of 2010 can rightly feel cheated as can the Antrim team of a few years later. Did the GAA know that they would not have a chance in hell of forcing Cork to go to Thurles? I bet they did and the permanent venue for the U 21 hurling Final was conveniently forgotten about. Hypocrisy.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1063 - 26/08/2018 19:33:30    2136673

What a game of hurling unbelievable hits from both sides never say die ,Tipp just about deserved it but Cork were brilliant aswell. Well done Tipp unlucky Cork will be seeing a lot of these young men playing senior very soon for both teams. Still bugs me there's no under 21 after this year ridiculous.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 26/08/2018 19:52:06    2136674

I thought i has been unfair for years to have Tipp play a "neutral venue" game at Thurles, as for your question i have no idea, if cork did refuse to play there they had every right not to, maybe they didnt want another bad publicity if cork came out in public to say the wouldn't play at thurles

PyatPree (Cork) - Posts: 376 - 26/08/2018 19:52:54    2136675

Yeh, strange one that. Another exciting finish in a season full of them. Tipp showed a lot of character to win that in second half. How did ref make that desperate error booking Cork 5 instead of a second yellow for the 6. Thankfully it didnt matter in the end. Well played Tipp.

conordee (Galway) - Posts: 440 - 26/08/2018 20:16:01    2136676

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2168 - 26/08/2018 20:27:04    2136677

Great win by Tipp, fair play to them. Hopefully 5 or 6 of them will get a chance with the Seniors now.

You could definitely see the benefit of conditioning with Cork's senior contingent cos the Tipp lads just bounced off them when the hits were going in.

Hard luck to Cork, there is plenty to be optimistic about with those players. The point Turnbull scored when he came on was sublime. If he can stay injury free he will be a serious player at senior level.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 26/08/2018 20:27:48    2136678

midlands (Westmeath) - Posts: 544 - 26/08/2018 20:58:09    2136682

2010 at the very start of the year thurles was announced as the under 21 final venue....galway fans (and players) bycotted the final, after that it was said that thurles was the under 21 venue for future all ireland finals except ones involving tipp. Its stupid to have it set in stone though, for antrim game should have been portlaoise/dublin probably...most other games it would go without saying looking at the hurling geography that thurles would be the natural final venue

tipp11 (Tipperary) - Posts: 353 - 26/08/2018 21:14:49    2136686

Mother of God

After watching that game all you can think about is giving out!

What a cracker. What a finish to inter-county hurling this year

Ban (Westmeath) - Posts: 1415 - 26/08/2018 22:04:40    2136694

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 27/08/2018 14:42:20    2136807

Well done to Tipp.. They did deserve to win. They set out their stall early. Declan Dalton got a nice late tackle from a Tipp player and Cork lads stood and took it instead of giving it back. Tipp players were up for. No doubt Cork were too but maybe they believed their own hype or were not expecting a ferocious battle. I am not sure. Players like Liam Healy and Jack O'Connor (really good players) didn't get near the ball. Tim O'Mahony was poor and Shane Kingston gave a typical performance. He is Ok with ball in hand and in space (sometimes, his atrocious miss at the end will haunt him) but can't win it, not physical or tenacious enough and rarely influences the game. Needs to be cut from senior squad. There were positives. Robbie O'Flynn, Conor Cahalane were very good. Bill Hennessy is a fine wing back.. Whether he and Coleman can play together at senior or not remains to be seen. Both very light. Despite the loss, it is not all doom and gloom. We lost by three points. We could have won it. The better team did win it and well done to them.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 27/08/2018 17:52:40    2136868

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 27/08/2018 18:20:41    2136873

PyatPree (Cork) - Posts: 376 - 28/08/2018 10:17:17    2136990

yes it is a disgrace that this is being changed to u20 next year.
this is hurlings last great knockout championship,ok i accept they changed it around a bit this year,but the "do it on the day or dont do it at all" is still there.
fair play to tipp,i thought they had not a snowballs chance in hell.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 28/08/2018 11:15:07    2137025

WildPundit (Tipperary) - Posts: 1709 - 28/08/2018 11:34:48    2137042

Was delighted for those Tipp lads on Sunday. Real gutsy performance against a classy Cork team. Hopefully, as has been said, a few get a chance at senior but that was a day to remember for them either way. Only downside was there wasn't much sign of a ball winning half forward!

Hadn't thought about the venue until I saw this thread but it does seem like a strange change in policy alright. It was very unfair on Galway to be brought to Thurles the week after Tipp won the Senior in 2010. It was basically a party that they weren't invited to.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 28/08/2018 12:17:50    2137058

pairc ui chaoimh should never be given another quarter final,it is guaranteed 2-3 munster championship games.
unless it is limerick/tipp/waterford competing against each other,the place is a nuisance to get to for any other county and wexford and clare sent out a strong message to the gaa on that regard.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 28/08/2018 13:59:24    2137118

WildPundit (Tipperary) - Posts: 1709 - 29/08/2018 11:31:11    2137352

yes it is a disgrace that this is being changed to u20 next year.
this is hurlings last great knockout championship,ok i accept they changed it around a bit this year,but the "do it on the day or dont do it at all" is still there.
fair play to tipp,i thought they had not a snowballs chance in hell.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 2829 - 28/08/2018 11:15:07 why is it a disgrace that it is being changed to u20?
Theyre letting u20s play senior though which i dont agree with.

DonaldDuck (Tipperary) - Posts: 544 - 29/08/2018 13:54:46    2137392

u21 has for years been the best grade in hurling.ok this year the senior has probably eclipsed it,but up to this year it has year in year out provided great games as the norm.
why fix it if it isnt broken.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 30/08/2018 09:00:47    2137587