We have the weekend of all weekends upon us. The surprising thing is not to have the champions of last year, Tipperary, involved.
Galway-Cork is the big one today. Bar defender Ciaran Joyce, Cork have everyone available. Having captain Darragh Fitzgibbon back is huge. He’s such a leader on the field. According to the bookies, they are warm favourites.
Opponents Galway are in transition, without a doubt. But they’ve been in transition for a while now. It’s coming to make-up-your-mind time.
You don’t know what kind of a gameplan is up their sleeve.
Will they drop loads of forwards back, have Cathal Mannion back sweeping up ball like the Leinster final, and leave Jason Rabbitte isolated up front again?
Jason Rabbitte was left isolated on his own up front against Dublin in the Leinster Final
There’s no doubt about their ability but will their gameplan for Cork allow them to show it? This is going to be the real test.
Now Rabbitte is such a powerful addition for someone so young, he has the potential to be on the greats of the game. Aaron Niland is another top prospect.
Tom Managhan did damage in the Leinster final and Conor Whelan picked off points from out the field.
But Cork are such a versatile team, I think it’s the best Cork squad now for a long time. Ben O’Connor has a very strong hand to play.
The whole thing will depend on how Galway approach it.
Are they going to go defensive? If they do, Cork will play their own game. They won’t be too worried about what Galway are doing. If they play one man up like against Dublin, I can’t see them winning.
Because the soft part of the Cork team has been their defence. With Tim O’Mahony and Tommy O’Connell back in the team after injury, they’ll be confident in mixing it at midfield and going man-to-man up front. They have the best forward line in the country.
Ben O’Connor has a very strong hand to play against Galway, despite Munster Final defeat
The Offaly match was only a practice run – it was so one-sided we can nearly discount it.
I think Cork will take this one too by the scruff of the neck. They’ll keep that supply going to their inside forward line. The likes of Brian Hayes are just lethal. They have four or five options for the forward line alone on the bench.
This is gone beyond the Munster versus Leinster hurling debate. According to the bookies, the All-Ireland final pairing is settled already. Now I do fancy Cork to win but it’s not as straightforward as many think.
The style in Galway is a bit like the Tipp style. They are naturally tough feckers. Not afraid of tackling. If they bring that intensity to the table, I’ve no doubt they’ll push Cork.
At times during matches, Cork can be very vulnerable. If Galway hit them hard and fair and give them no room for the fancy hurling they can play, then we’ll have a match.
Hurling needs this.
Brian Hayes showed just how lethal he is by scoring against Limerick after falling to the ground
We know there’s a group enquiring into hurling.
I wouldn’t be ruling out Galway or saying it will be a one-sided affair.
But if they put their faith in systems, they’ll only end up bamboozling themselves. I do think Cork will win.
As for tomorrow’s semi-final, the rivalry between Clare and Limerick is unbelievable. For much of this championship, Clare manager Brian Lohan has been messing around with team selection, changing lines.
You’d nearly have to wait til half-time to see who is actually lining out.
Even when Limerick were at their strongest, they were always able to challenge them – bar this year’s group game in Ennis when Limerick hit them with a tsunami.
They didn’t excel in the Dublin game but just did enough.
If the team selection was just consistent, it would help. The main problem seems to be their backs and their full-back line. You need consistency to develop confidence and teamwork between players.
Brian Lohan has been changing things around too much and Clare didn’t excel against Dublin
He’s naming teams all year and some hardly on the match day panel. Rory Hayes the last day was just one example.
Clare are in the happy position that the bookies are giving them no chance.
This will be a lot tighter than people think.
Limerick have a powerful team. So how do you challenge that? This has been their strength, their faith in their set-up. Which has intimidated a lot of opposition. You have other teams trying to imitate them and not being able to.
You have to mark Limerick at the back. Not let them engineer moves from the back out.
The Limerick half-back line is the best that the county has ever produced, in any era. Diarmaid Byrnes, Will O’Donoghue and Kyle Hayes – the team is built around that.
Clare need to keep the ball on the turf, avoid that half-back line, and not let Barry Nash waltz up the field like the Munster final. You can’t let him go up unmarked and have runners off the shoulder.
Gillane was taken off that day against Cork, scoreless. That’s because he didn’t get his usual supply – that lovely ball bouncing into him from the likes of Byrnes.
So Clare have to make every ball contested.
Limerick have huge faith in their set-up and this manages to intimidate a lot of their opposition
That’s why I think this whole talk around a puck-out strategy is bull****. The ball always had to be pucked out, as far as I remember.
If the Clare forwards push fully up, well the ball can’t go to the Limerick defenders to work it out. Do that and the ball – even if it’s travelling further – has to be contested.
It’s not rocket science.
I see Clare putting up a show. They’re under-20 champions which has created its own momentum.
They have brilliant hurlers on this team. The pity is they have been feckacting all year.
Just don’t bring Peter Duggan out around midfield.
Are they going to go up and surrender? I don’t think so.
The survivors from 2013 are certainly coming into the twilight zone of their careers.
Aren’t they some operators? Tony Kelly is a hurling genius.
Shane O’Donnell the same, impossible to mark. But neither are much good back in their own half-back line.
They have All-Ireland winners in their ranks. Underestimate them at their peril.
But I still fancy Limerick to win it.
Looking at it coldly, it’s hard to argue against a Cork-Limerick final.
And that will be some final.
