KK 2000's - Simply the greatest.
KK early 70's - Bags of All Irelands. KK's golden team until the present team.
Cork late 70's - The treble team. Jimmy Barry. McCarthy's. They were a fabulous team.
Offaly mid 90's - Sid. What a player. The Birr backbone.
Tipp late 80's/early 90's - Their forwards were exceptional.
Galway late 80's - some gifted pure hurlers.
Clare mid 90's - for the move to near professionalism in the training etc and bringing on the sport to another level.

Puddersthecat (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1692 - 23/08/2010 10:23:06    753303

Tipp three in a row team 49 - 51 was pretty good as was the cork three in a row team of the late seventies.

The two best team have to be the current Kilkenny team and the Tipp team of the sixties.

Portumna are an amazing team as were Birr but inter county is completely different kettle of fish.

The Galway and Tipp teams of the late eighties were fairly good and would both have won a lot more if the other wasn't about. The Offaly team of the nineties had great skill and obvious heart with their lazarous like comeback against Limerick. Clare team of the nineties rose the bar in terms of physical fitness and preparation.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 23/08/2010 10:30:01    753309

In the order that i saw them, KK from 72 to 75,Cork 77/79,Galway 87/88, Clare 95/97 Cork 04/05and KK 06to 09 or is it to be 2010?

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 23/08/2010 14:28:05    753657

puddersthecat,

I agree with a lot of what you say and maybe you're spot on as regards the best teams, but what Offaly achieved between 1980-85 was simply sensational. 2 All-Ireland's, 1 All-Ireland final defeat, 3 Leinster titles for a side who had won nothing prior to that. Even Clare in 1995 had NHL finals & NHL victories behind them, they had some platform.

So while not the greatest team, I think possibly the greatest achievement of any of the sides you mention.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6483 - 23/08/2010 14:41:43    753676

i know its off topic but id like to mention the complete contrasting approaches that clare and offaly took to AL glory in the 90's. clare were the hard training, super fit, physical team. offaly were the relaxed, natural hurling team.

now dont get me wrong not saying that clare had no great hurlers, think we could all name many of them, nor am i saying that offaly didn put in the efford.

if you ever hear stories about either teams from back then, the clare stories nearly alway be about the tough training and the offaly stories about someone turning up drunk to a match or training.

fatchops (None) - Posts: 127 - 24/08/2010 16:58:12    755165

I love it fatchops!!

That Offaly team sure could hurl. I remember a goal scored by John Troy in 98 or 99 against Antrim. The ball was going wide but he trapped onto his hurl with great skill before driving the ball into the far bottom corner from a tight angle. Johnny Pilkington would have a few pints the night of a final to settle the nerves.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 24/08/2010 18:03:37    755292

slayer
County: Limerick
Posts: 1809

752419
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.



Cregan was selected at centre back to mark delaney, as Keher and purcell were both injured. That meant delaney was the only one of the big three playing, and some very clever person put Cregan on him.



The current Kilkenny team, Kilkenny 1972-75, Kilkenny 1904-1913, kilkenny 1931-35, Limerick in the 1930s, Wexford in the 50s, Tipperary 1964/65, Tipp 1949/51, Cork 1952-54, Cork 1941-46, and a fair few others.

The experts will tell you Dublin 1927 was the greatest side ever.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 29/08/2010 18:51:30    759371

Tipp team of the 60s greatest of all time no one can touch them no team came within 14 points of them in 64 including Kilkenny

thurlesblues (Tipperary) - Posts: 4475 - 29/08/2010 19:30:55    759421

29/08/2010 19:30:55
thurlesblues
County: Tipperary
Posts: 1157

759421
Tipp team of the 60s greatest of all time no one can touch them no team came within 14 points of them in 64 including Kilkenny




How many times must I tell you.

NEW YORK BEAT THEM.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 29/08/2010 20:05:11    759453

The Tipperary team of the 1960's is the best Hurling team Iv'e seen in my lifetime!

Bigapple (Kerry) - Posts: 495 - 29/08/2010 21:41:45    759594

The experts will tell you Dublin 1927 was the greatest side ever.

Patrique not a pop at dublin but how many on that team were actually from dublin I think 10 members were from the garda club also that team was beaten in 1928 by cork and drew with Tipp in 1927 and was referred to as "one of the most trying ever witnessed and must rank with the best seen in it's era"

Also other experts would say the the american tour of 1926 effected some teams of that particulary tipp who's dominated the championship of new york from 1926 to 1929 with hurlers who emmigrated weither it was directly or indirectly from the 1926 tour.... Im not sure how much other counties were effected by emmigration but I'd say with the heart of the dublin team being the garda club maybe weren't effected as much.... again I'm not sure about the latter point, what would you view on it be.

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 30/08/2010 18:15:03    760566

HAG_AND_CHEESE
County: Tipperary
Posts: 3433

760566
The experts will tell you Dublin 1927 was the greatest side ever.

Patrique not a pop at dublin but how many on that team were actually from dublin I think 10 members were from the garda club also that team was beaten in 1928 by cork and drew with Tipp in 1927 and was referred to as "one of the most trying ever witnessed and must rank with the best seen in it's era"

Also other experts would say the the american tour of 1926 effected some teams of that particulary tipp who's dominated the championship of new york from 1926 to 1929 with hurlers who emmigrated weither it was directly or indirectly from the 1926 tour.... Im not sure how much other counties were effected by emmigration but I'd say with the heart of the dublin team being the garda club maybe weren't effected as much.... again I'm not sure about the latter point, what would you view on it be.



I don't think ANY of them were from Dublin, and Mick Gill from galway (team of the century) captained them. The l3egendary Matty Power of Kilkenny played, as did Tom Daly from Clare.

various historians say they were an excellent 15, and I am not too sure about the "American" trip as Tipp were successful on occasion after such journeys.LOL.

Mind you, the historians will also mention Mick Maher's immortal Tipperary team of 1895-1900, who won 5 in 6 years, denied a 6 in a row by Limerick.

I am surprised Thurles Blue never mentions this side....................

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 30/08/2010 19:39:09    760668

patrique:

I suppose really they could have been counted as an all-star team.... Galway were strong around then too right, only said I'd point it out as reading a book published in the 60's here and it gives good accounts of hurling in the early years.... has a long list of tipp players who won medals from 1926-1929 in new york which coincided with the american trip the author seems to think it's the case too but I suppose it's a tipp man it could be a bit biased ;) ..... Gives great accounts of Johnny leahy of boherlahan who lead the team aginst dublin in 1928 to win the first league Championship..... It's interesting reading, I know your not the biggest fan of tipperary but I think you'd find it interesting came across it by chance at home!!

I am surprised Thurles Blue never mentions this side....................

He'll have to get better with his google searches!!!

But saying that side wouldn't be totally as there were two teams club teams.... Tubberadora in 95 and 96 there was an incident before the final in 97 there was an accident before the final in 97 and Tubberadora refused to play tipp were represented by suir view.... tubberadora were back in 98 for the last time and the horse and jockey the following two years.

The author says the following about Tubberadora
"A team with parallel in gaelic history. Three national titles and no defeat in any championshiop contest are standing memorials of their worth. To date they had played fourteen championship matches and their total score was 71 goals and 108 points to 17 goals and 46 points for their oppentents"

A Great team by the sounds of it.

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 30/08/2010 20:33:39    760742

who lead the team aginst dublin in 1928 to win the first league Championship

Sorry that sounded like they beat dublin to win it they didn't they drew with them on route!!

Hag_and_Cheese (Tipperary) - Posts: 6103 - 30/08/2010 21:10:11    760789

Lads honest to god, there's one thing that annoys me is when ppl start on about that clare mid 90s team. People keep ranting on about the fitness and physical preparation side of things?! When are they ever going to get recognised for the level of skill they had huh??!!

At the end of the day, fitness can only do so much when you're talking about the most skillful game in the world in hurling. That Clare team were simply WAY WAY WAY more skilful than anyone they were playing against at the time, hence why they won so much (2 all irelands, 3 munsters and one robbed all ireland in 98 by jimmy cooney and offaly). And bear in mind this was success for a county who had never won anything in their lives!!! Our last munster at the times 63 years ago!! People have short memories and forget these things.

Offaly were a very skillful team but simply nowhere near as skillful as clare, I'm sorry lads but it's true! Brian Lohan, Frank Lohan, Liam Doyle, Anthony Daly, Colin Lynch, Fergie Tuohy, Jamesie O'Connor, David Forde and Sparrow O'Loughlin were all INCREDIBLY skillful yet we never as a county got the credit/recognition for this.

And I think that is one of the most disgraceful, patethic legacies of hurling and hurling commentators today.

banner_boy (Clare) - Posts: 1285 - 30/08/2010 21:11:39    760792

Killarney.87
County: Tipperary
Posts: 320

That Offaly team sure could hurl. I remember a goal scored by John Troy in 98 or 99 against Antrim. The ball was going wide but he trapped onto his hurl with great skill before driving the ball into the far bottom corner from a tight angle.

link

Here's a lovely flick by the same John Troy. This is an amazing goal, really sums up that Offaly team of the 90's.

link

eden (Offaly) - Posts: 20 - 30/08/2010 21:46:41    760843

Offaly were a very skillful team but simply nowhere near as skillful as clare, I'm sorry lads but it's true! Brian Lohan, Frank Lohan, Liam Doyle, Anthony Daly, Colin Lynch, Fergie Tuohy, Jamesie O'Connor, David Forde and Sparrow O'Loughlin were all INCREDIBLY skillful yet we never as a county got the credit/recognition for this.

Banner Boy, to say I disagree is a total understatement. Clare played a fast physical game and where they showed real skill was their ability to score some excellent long range points. But as skilful as Offaly? Not a hope. And before you mention it, I don't think Limerick were as skilful as Offaly in 94 either. Look at the match ups - John Troy V PJ O'Connell, Brian Whelehan V Liam Doyle, Kevin Martin V Anthony Daly. Offaly in the mid-90's were by far THE most skilful hurling team in Ireland.

Clare deserve credit though because what they did was deny their opponents space all over the field. They were able to beat everyone that came their way for a lot of 95-98 and they worked the ball into positions where their forwards could engineer scores from long range if needs be. Fergus Tuohy was probably Clare's most under-rated player. He was brave & got stuck in and always chipped in with about 0-3 per game. But do I think he was as skilful as the Dooleys, John Troy or the likes? No way.

That's not a criticism of Clare, they were the best team, simple as.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6483 - 31/08/2010 10:55:52    761020

Couldn't agree more slayer. That 90's Offaly team had skill in abundance as well as being that bit cuter and smarter than a lot of their more physical and hungry opponents. I think the game that says it best was the 2000 semi final against Cork who were the young reigning All-Ireland champions at the time. No one gave this bunch of auld fellas a chance. Their victory that day personified everything that was good about that team.

NavyNBlue (Dublin) - Posts: 1357 - 31/08/2010 11:11:25    761043

Slayer, in all fairness like i said before, hurling is a game of skill. It's all well and good pushing the boundaries out in terms of fitness and physicality but it's not going to win any provincial or all-ireland championships now is it??!

If clare were so unskillful, how come they dominated the game for 4 years solid (winning 3 munsters, 2 all irelands and 1 unofficial all ireland robbed by jimmy coooney and offaly). If you're going to put ALL this unheralded success (63 years remember!!) down to just "fitness" nd "ability to take long range points", then yu're even more naive than i thought!!

Offaly were an incredibly skillful team, but clare were just a little MORE skillful, hence why they were far more successful.

banner_boy (Clare) - Posts: 1285 - 31/08/2010 14:14:49    761357

Slayer, in all fairness like i said before, hurling is a game of skill. It's all well and good pushing the boundaries out in terms of fitness and physicality but it's not going to win any provincial or all-ireland championships now is it??!

If clare were so unskillful, how come they dominated the game for 4 years solid (winning 3 munsters, 2 all irelands and 1 unofficial all ireland robbed by jimmy coooney and offaly). If you're going to put ALL this unheralded success (63 years remember!!) down to just "fitness" nd "ability to take long range points", then yu're even more naive than i thought!!

Offaly were an incredibly skillful team, but clare were just a little MORE skillful, hence why they were far more successful.
banner_boy , 31/08/2010 at 14:14


yes banner boy I agree ye were robbed by Jimmy Cooney against Offaly

thurlesblues (Tipperary) - Posts: 4475 - 31/08/2010 14:21:48    761367