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Best ever hurling teams

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Wheither Kilkenny win this years All Ireland or not, they will be remembered as the greatest team of all time by a distance. But who do people rank as the best teams they have seen (you must have seen them). My choices are
Intercounty
1 Current Kilkenny team (by such a distance it's not even a debate)
2 Cork late seventies (some of the most natural hurlers ever)
3 Galway 85-90. Maybe I'm biased but feel this team never got the credit it deserved
4 Offally mid Ninties (for some reason never got the hype Clare got but were a better team)
5 Clare mid Ninties (started the current intensity in hurling)
Other teams I considered, Cork Mid 00's but think off field activities ruled the out and kilkenny early 70's but I was very young when watching them so can't judge properly. Also I'm sure if I'd seen the Cork team of the 50's or the Tipp team of 60's the'd be in the list.
Club teams
1 Birr, record speaks for itself
2 Current Portumna team. Their domolition of Ballyhale in Thurles two years ago was most complete club team display I've seen. Also would have been very close in last years AI apart from 1 error
3 Ballyhale current. Dominating KK hurling when the county is so strong speaks for itself
4 Athenry, mid 90's
5 Sarsfields (Galway) must surely be the club with the smallest resources to win AI and did it back to back

onlyhurling (Galway) - Posts: 800 - 21/08/2010 11:35:57    752013

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There a certain tipp poster that'll have a canary about the hells kitchen team nor being in there....

I've a theory about the teams in the 90's I think because it was so competitive around then people look on that era so favourably.... Granted they were great teams but no teams had the longevity to be classed as a great team and there was no massive winning margins.... Look at 1997 for instance clare only beat tipp by slim margin in two games and I'd argue tipp had the chance to beat them with late goal chances missed in the two matches... I'd in no way class that tipp team as being a top tipp team.

In teams I've seen play I'd put them as follows.
1. Kilkenny team 00's
2. Tipp team late 80's early 90's
3. Galway team Late 80's
4. Clare Mid 90's
5. Offaly mid 90's
6. Cork Mid 00's

4, 5 and 6 are fairly level pegging in my view.

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 21/08/2010 11:49:48    752019

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The Kilkenny team of 1972-'75 was awesome. Only for Limerick in 1973 they too could have won 4 in a row. Were missing Jim Treacy and Eddie Keher for final; their best forward and a key defender. Does this remind you of anything?!!!

MARNELL (Westmeath) - Posts: 728 - 21/08/2010 11:56:29    752027

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P.s.

I'm only ranking teams I've seen play as not seeing teams firsthand makes it hard to draw a effective comparison your really basing it on what other people said... but I've no doubt that those teams were great teams.

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 21/08/2010 12:09:33    752042

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the tipp team of the late 1980s early 90s were a great team and should have won about 4 all irelands

moddy91 (Tipperary) - Posts: 226 - 21/08/2010 12:13:15    752046

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Hag - I agree with you, but I'd have your 2 and 3 inverted! They each won 2, but when they played each other, Galway came out on top 3 of 4 times and the fourth is extremely controversial.

I think you're right about the 90's. From a Galway perspective we were poorer than we've been since the 70's, but rarely very far away from winning (couple of games aside) and I think it was a terrible Galway team.

abhainn (Galway) - Posts: 1000 - 21/08/2010 12:34:39    752064

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The Offaly team of the mid to late 90's. They were a pure joy to watch. The level of skill was amazing. From John Troy robbing the sliothar off Brian Corcoran in mid air and scoring a point, to the brilliance of Brian Whelehan. Alas, I might never see days like that again, but the memories will remain forever.

Goatsucker (Offaly) - Posts: 265 - 21/08/2010 12:59:17    752085

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I think also the focus should be on all round team... many great teams had great individuals but I think a team should be judged on it's strenght 1 to 15 and even the extended panel... Look at kilkenny there lads on the panel that have all-stars and all-ireland medals and still can't nail down a starting spot on the first team and are by no means past it.

The reason the I put clare offaly and cork lower on the list as I don't think they were as strong 1 to 15 (maybe 1 or 2 positions that were a little weak) but they had great individuals.

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 21/08/2010 13:04:44    752090

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When were KK last beaten in a Final? and by Who?

SAMMYTHEBULL (Galway) - Posts: 1646 - 21/08/2010 13:20:23    752110

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abhainn:

Maybe true abhainn but to put a counter arguement to that there were a few key players in the tipp team of 1987 and 1988 who were really only that the start of their intercounty career namely declan ryan, john leahy, conal bonner maybe noel sheedy and michael clearly and paul delaney to a lesser extent as they were a little bit older... I think the galway team would have been a bit older??? and really be peaking around 87/88 where as the tipp team peaked a little later??

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 21/08/2010 13:22:57    752117

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HAG_AND_CHEESE

Fair point. They were both very good teams anyway, and those games were terrific, very high intensity!

abhainn (Galway) - Posts: 1000 - 21/08/2010 13:40:58    752143

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sligo '08 ;)....current KK...cork 00's...clare mid 90's also offaly...galway late 80's...KK 70's

OCT1993 (Sligo) - Posts: 32 - 21/08/2010 13:52:26    752163

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Limericks team in the 90's was as good as any only we capulated in 2 finals

miketyson (Limerick) - Posts: 2748 - 21/08/2010 13:57:15    752174

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The kerry team of 1891.
I was only a young fella but i remember they were some team.

mikeoc (Kerry) - Posts: 567 - 21/08/2010 17:35:46    752333

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When were KK last beaten in a Final? and by Who?

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Cork 99. Cody's first year. The Clare team that won the two all-irelands in 95 and 97 changed the way hurling was played. So much more intensity, physicality and fitness than anything that came before that it looked like they were going to be more dominant than they turned out to be. Heard on Off the Ball recently Eamonn Taffe talking about the famous Clare training sessions up the hill in Shannon. Himself and Liam Doyle had been lagging behind one night and were sent up the hill 30 times by Loughnane. It was dark when they finished and Doyle sat into his car, put the keys in the ignition and woke up two hours later at midnight. Insane!

KKInDub (Kilkenny) - Posts: 39 - 21/08/2010 18:04:49    752353

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KKInDub
County: Kilkenny
Posts: 28

752353 When were KK last beaten in a Final? and by Who?



What about 2004?? Cork beat KK then too.

wise_guy (Tyrone) - Posts: 1584 - 21/08/2010 18:14:52    752367

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What about 2004?? Cork beat KK then too.

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Sorry wasn't even thinking straight there. Dead right. One i'd like to forget, best seats i've ever had for the all-ireland and we were destroyed. Was trying to repres that memory. Thanks for bringing it up!!

KKInDub (Kilkenny) - Posts: 39 - 21/08/2010 18:16:58    752369

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The Kilkenny team of 1972-'75 was awesome. Only for Limerick in 1973 they too could have won 4 in a row. Were missing Jim Treacy and Eddie Keher for final; their best forward and a key defender. Does this remind you of anything?!!!

Fair point, but Limerick lost their centre back too remember & Eamon Cregan had to go from a forward to a converted centre back. I've also heard several Kilkenny players speak about that final and they say no matter who they had on the field that day Limerick were savagely up for the battle, physically & mentally. The following year though Kilkenny were so hurt by that defeat that they hammered us by 12 points in the final even though we made the better start.

That's the thing with Kilkenny, they lose a final, but they can put it right within a year or two. Just like how they responded to defeat in 2001 & 2005 ......

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6490 - 21/08/2010 19:34:36    752419

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intercounty

kilkenny (00 to 10)
offaly (mid 90's) for the purity of the hurling and the mad stories that came from that team.
Clare (mid 90's) as stated before they changed how hurlers trained
galway (84 to 89)
tipp (89 to 93/94)

club
birr (90's) same reason as offaly above
portumna(06 to ????) not gone away
Ballyhale (08 to ????) standard barers at the moment

im only 30 so thats the reason for no teams in the 70's. im sure they were other teams in the early 80's better than galway but was bought to all their games.

fatchops (None) - Posts: 127 - 22/08/2010 21:48:21    753185

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miketyson wrote:

Limericks team in the 90's was as good as any only we capulated in 2 finals

Mike, I actually think our team from 80-84 was better. The ptoblem was in order to get out of Munster we usually had to overcome a brilliant Cork side which we only managed in 1980 and then once we did, Galway proved to be too strong.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6490 - 23/08/2010 09:33:32    753240

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