All-Ireland Club Semi-Finals

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Not strictly an Offaly GAA matter but since our respective senior county champions reached the provincial finals in both codes perhaps people have an opinion on how these games may pan out.

In the football (not my forte) I expect Kilmacud and Crossmaglen to advance to the decider. Crossmaglen I fancy for obvious reasons that don't warrant any elaboration. My reason for tipping Kilmacud is twofold, firstly I believe that they are a good team and secondly I have seen (on tv) nothing impressive of Corofin in both Galway and Connaught. They appear to me to be a very average team.

In the hurling, I have a sneaky suspicion that Cushendall will beat De La Salle. Too often it is too easy to tip the Munster champions purely for geographical reasons and I feel that this could be one of those occasions where the laziness of the public may be prevailing. De la Salle, despite winning Munster, did not overly impress me in their provincial campaign and no matter what the conditions no team with All-Ireland aspirations should score nothing (or near enough to it) in a half as De la Salle did in the Munster final. Munster club hurling (bar Newtownshandrum) has been in something of a slumber for the better part of 10 years so being the champions of that particular province does not carry as much weight with me as perhaps it should. I confess to knowing relatively little about Cushendall so in the case that they are utterly useless De la Salle could well beat them rather handsomely. However I believe not and therefore feel that this will be a lot closer than many people expect. Anybody looking for precedent need only examine the number of times Dunloy have reached the All-Ireland decider. Dunloy v Ballygunner 2003 anyone?

Portumna v Ballyhale Shamrocks. This has all the ingredients of a classic and is the final in everything but name. Whoever wins here is the de facto All-Ireland champion in my opinion. They are two superb club sides with some of the best hurlers in the country gracing their ranks. It could be debated and analysed until times end, something I will not engage in here. Keeping it brief I feel that Ballyhale Shamrocks will just about shade it, for the simple reason being that I believe them to be a better balanced team with more able players in key sectors of the pitch. Regardless though, I'm hopeful of a great game. May the best team win.

[joe bloggs]

My money will definately be going on Portumna. I don't expect them to run away with it, but i think they have enough firepower to edge it and they re great odds for this game, infact i think i migh just back them fro the AI outright as i cant see the winners of this one not being crowned champions, and should there be a draw and then they progress my bet is still ok

[swiftpost]

My money will definately be going on Portumna. I don't expect them to run away with it, but i think they have enough firepower to edge it and they re great odds for this game, infact i think i migh just back them fro the AI outright as i cant see the winners of this one not being crowned champions, and should there be a draw and then they progress my bet is still ok

Well I reckon your money is safe, Portumna were superb yesterday, their speed - running hands and thought was top class. Ballyhale were second to every ball, their touch was brutal and a few of their players had bad days at the office. I couldnt understand their tactics for Portumna's puckouts, they just wouldnt fallow the runners and Portumna always had someone free, very intelligent off the ball running.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Hurling has evolved a lot in the last dozen years or so and the last evolution has been the Cork method of soloing and handpassing, as everyone knows.

I’ve often wondered what the next revolution will bring and thought it would involve a team playing without a full forward line! That may seem radical, but in a style such as Cork, a full forward line is in the way, as they are too static, have their backs to goal and only attract defender who clog up space..

The nearest thing to this came with Portumna last Sunday who played their full forward line thirty yards from goal making space for the Hayes’s and Joe Caning to run into, to create the goal chances.

It was interesting to see a club team try this, and make it work, and it will be interesting to see which county team bring this to the next level come summer.

Also, how would a team defend against this? Use a covering defender as a full back is the most obvious, but it’s difficult for a static defender to tackle a forward moving at top speed past him, and it also leaves a free opponent outfield with the freedom to create overlaps.

And is this going to make the game more like soccer, with much of the players in the middle third of the field with acres of space goal-side of the 45 metre lines?

[joe bloggs]

My money will definately be going on Portumna. I don't expect them to run away with it, but i think they have enough firepower to edge it and they re great odds for this game, infact i think i migh just back them fro the AI outright as i cant see the winners of this one not being crowned champions, and should there be a draw and then they progress my bet is still ok

Well I reckon your money is safe, Portumna were superb yesterday, their speed - running hands and thought was top class. Ballyhale were second to every ball, their touch was brutal and a few of their players had bad days at the office. I couldnt understand their tactics for Portumna's puckouts, they just wouldnt fallow the runners and Portumna always had someone free, very intelligent off the ball running.

I had a change of heart on backing them for the semi and instead put the cash on them going all the way. It was the logical thing to do when i thought about it as the odds were obviously better and i was also factoring in that if theywere to come through the tie after a draw then my bet was still going to be alive.
I think the bet is as good as money in the bank now (or maybe not ). I could hedge it on de la salle but unless a bout of the plauge descends on portumna well i'd say that would be a waste of good cash