Replying To BostonGuy:  "My point is thats what happens when fan bases abandon teams, saw it first hand with Hartford Whalers in hockey, they had the ability to move and rebuild elsewhere, but Galway hurling does not. If Galway keep getting hammered by teams at all levels who are not top 3 and I dont think this KK team is THEN disinterest WILL set in. We don't have to win AIs every year but we need to have that goal and be at least competitive. We have neither right now, these things don't collapse overnight nor can they be rebuilt that way either. Need to look at the whole structure and make changes to stop this from happening, my point is start at the academy and work from there."

Replying To katser:  "Still absolutely gutted over our performance Sunday. I expected much more and was confident We would win.
From speaking to many Galway hurling people they couldn't give a hoot about the Leinster title and if I'm honest I don't care about either only for its a gateway to the All Ireland Semi Final.
Galway v Tipp games are 50/50 and I know for a fact they hate playing Galway....We can definitely beat them."

Replying To BostonGuy:  "My point is thats what happens when fan bases abandon teams, saw it first hand with Hartford Whalers in hockey, they had the ability to move and rebuild elsewhere, but Galway hurling does not. If Galway keep getting hammered by teams at all levels who are not top 3 and I dont think this KK team is THEN disinterest WILL set in. We don't have to win AIs every year but we need to have that goal and be at least competitive. We have neither right now, these things don't collapse overnight nor can they be rebuilt that way either. Need to look at the whole structure and make changes to stop this from happening, my point is start at the academy and work from there."

Replying To Trump2020:  "We will never know unless we beat who's next. Assuming it's Tipp it'll take a mighty effort to win. After that who knows?"

Replying To CillTormoir:  "There's more of a snowballs chance in hell than us beating Tipp. And that's a fact"

Replying To Trump2020:  "I agree Tipp should be hot favorites but again you have be in it to win it. Clare, Waterford, etc are gone home yet we are still alive to fight another day. We have to clamp down on the SOFT GOALS we allow. No team could survive that. Also be SMARTER with the puck outs."

Replying To Viking66:  "I don't think the Academy is your problem. You have been very competitive at minor all millennium. Its what happens after that. You have no county player pathway looking in from the outside. Apart from the League game against Tipp how many starts did players 22 or under get? Or even 23 or under? How many starts or minutes off the bench did players who hadn't started before this year get? There's nearly no such thing as a ready made Senior starter in any county these days. Most good Senior starters in the 25-29 age group, peak age so to speak, in any county needed plenty of Senior starts when they were younger before they were considered good. They got better with experience. Not all lads will get better with experience I know, but none or very few will get better without any experience."

Replying To Viking66:  "I don't think the Academy is your problem. You have been very competitive at minor all millennium. Its what happens after that. You have no county player pathway looking in from the outside. Apart from the League game against Tipp how many starts did players 22 or under get? Or even 23 or under? How many starts or minutes off the bench did players who hadn't started before this year get? There's nearly no such thing as a ready made Senior starter in any county these days. Most good Senior starters in the 25-29 age group, peak age so to speak, in any county needed plenty of Senior starts when they were younger before they were considered good. They got better with experience. Not all lads will gwt better with experience I know, but none or very few will get better without any experience."

Replying To BostonGuy:  "You just made my point for me, Academy does not stop at 17 or 20, the goal is to have senior ready players and they are failing and have been for 5+ years. How may 23 YOs are on the Galway team? We are not seeing success at underage either and few players from the academy getting onto a very average and aging Galway senior team. I agree that most hurlers peak in 25-29 which is a short window and by 30 they have lost a step. Dosen't mean they are finished but need to be managed differently. So we need a good supply of 21 YOs getting onto the panel and vying for places. Heres where I see the academy lacking 1) Fielding and retention haven't seen anyone besides CW field a ball and he SLIPS ALOT after collection. 2) Defense: Defense wins games and are the foundation for offense and our defensive strategies are brittle 3) Sport Psychology: We are beaten in some games before we go out on the field 4) Tackling (including dark arts) Limerick are masters of this 5) Game strategy: playing to our strengths if we are small and fast with ball skills play to that, if we are bigger and more physical use that to our advantage. Puck outs are a perfect example of this going wrong. Limerick bringing on Diarmuid Byrnes on with 30 seconds left in extra time to take a penno..brilliant! 6) Frees We need designated free takers(s) for the future, Mannion is a superb player, average free taker and is now 30 years old. Niland brilliant free taker, not much else 7) Fitness, cant turn a workhorse into a racehorse but a workhorse has a place if used correctly. S&C has to be done well its not a matter of everyone picking up weights and doing lifts. Different body shapes, age and positional play need to be taken into account. 8) Diet and Nutrition: You are what you eat 9) DATA look at results and feed it back into the machine to make it better, KPIs, performance measurements, game management, player profiles (ours and oppositions). 10) Dont be afraid to make changes cut staff and recruits if its not working and realign.
I can almost 100% guarantee you that Limerick sat down and looked at some of their shot taking in the second half against Cork, their selection was terrible and lost them the game. I would say they also analyzed the "lack of frees" that they could usually count on to get their score tally up, the ref in charge was not "normal" and that normal free allocation was restored when the ref went off injured. I would have a profile on the major refs, what you can get away with and what they typically pull for. None of these will win you a game on their own but a combination of them will give you a chance of at least competing."

Replying To BostonGuy:  "You just made my point for me, Academy does not stop at 17 or 20, the goal is to have senior ready players and they are failing and have been for 5+ years. How may 23 YOs are on the Galway team? We are not seeing success at underage either and few players from the academy getting onto a very average and aging Galway senior team. I agree that most hurlers peak in 25-29 which is a short window and by 30 they have lost a step. Dosen't mean they are finished but need to be managed differently. So we need a good supply of 21 YOs getting onto the panel and vying for places. Heres where I see the academy lacking 1) Fielding and retention haven't seen anyone besides CW field a ball and he SLIPS ALOT after collection. 2) Defense: Defense wins games and are the foundation for offense and our defensive strategies are brittle 3) Sport Psychology: We are beaten in some games before we go out on the field 4) Tackling (including dark arts) Limerick are masters of this 5) Game strategy: playing to our strengths if we are small and fast with ball skills play to that, if we are bigger and more physical use that to our advantage. Puck outs are a perfect example of this going wrong. Limerick bringing on Diarmuid Byrnes on with 30 seconds left in extra time to take a penno..brilliant! 6) Frees We need designated free takers(s) for the future, Mannion is a superb player, average free taker and is now 30 years old. Niland brilliant free taker, not much else 7) Fitness, cant turn a workhorse into a racehorse but a workhorse has a place if used correctly. S&C has to be done well its not a matter of everyone picking up weights and doing lifts. Different body shapes, age and positional play need to be taken into account. 8) Diet and Nutrition: You are what you eat 9) DATA look at results and feed it back into the machine to make it better, KPIs, performance measurements, game management, player profiles (ours and oppositions). 10) Dont be afraid to make changes cut staff and recruits if its not working and realign.
I can almost 100% guarantee you that Limerick sat down and looked at some of their shot taking in the second half against Cork, their selection was terrible and lost them the game. I would say they also analyzed the "lack of frees" that they could usually count on to get their score tally up, the ref in charge was not "normal" and that normal free allocation was restored when the ref went off injured. I would have a profile on the major refs, what you can get away with and what they typically pull for. None of these will win you a game on their own but a combination of them will give you a chance of at least competing."

Replying To Oldtourman:  "I'd go easy on the old dark arts narrative against Limerick Anything to pull down the achievements of a smaller county. Just look at the way Galway, in the Eighties were knocked, as were Clare in the Nineties, when they both rattled the cages of the Big boys. There is clear cut footage of a Cork Player kicking Limerick Players on the Ground last Saturday. If that was a Limerick Man doing that it would be all over the Sunday Game Programme. The same applied in times in Football when the likes of Meath, Offaly and Tyrone came up. The fact is Kerry and Dublin could dish out dirt with the best of them, but that was always all fine and dandy."

Replying To Oldtourman:  "I'd go easy on the old dark arts narrative against Limerick Anything to pull down the achievements of a smaller county. Just look at the way Galway, in the Eighties were knocked, as were Clare in the Nineties, when they both rattled the cages of the Big boys. There is clear cut footage of a Cork Player kicking Limerick Players on the Ground last Saturday. If that was a Limerick Man doing that it would be all over the Sunday Game Programme. The same applied in times in Football when the likes of Meath, Offaly and Tyrone came up. The fact is Kerry and Dublin could dish out dirt with the best of them, but that was always all fine and dandy."

Replying To SixtiesKid:  "You are right. I am of the view the poor refereeing last week actually benefited Cork if you look back at the game.
By the was a Limerick referee robbed us in 2001 whereas a Limerick referee suited us in 87."

Replying To BostonGuy:  "You're assuming that Im saying this is a bad way, Im not. Limerick have mastered the swarm defense, holding the hurl up after a hit to engage the ref. Grabbing the opponents hurl or arm after they go in for a tackle. Swatting an opponents hurl away. None of this is illegal and give a competitive advantage to Limerick. How can you explain the likes of Hegarty all 6 foot 9 going down like a sack of spuds when tacked by someone half his size!! I also mentioned that bringing in Byrnes to take a penno was Brilliant game management and shows they are thinking up until the last second. Limerick are not a dirty team, definitely play on the edge and deserved every AI they won (incl 2018 as underdogs) and THB were robbed of a 65 in 2019 that looking back would have given them win 6 in a row... and IMHO are the greatest TEAM that was ever put together. So no Im not making any excuses or pointing a finger at Limerick. What I see is a well oiled and maintained machine that knows how to gain competitive advantage. If they had a "normal" ref and fixed their shot selection they would have won the Munster. I still think they will win the AI."

Replying To CillTormoir:  "How much will we be beaten by Saturday? I'm going to go with 8 points."