all ireland club hurling championship

[kingscounty]

best of luck to coolderry in the semi final against gort. anyword on the team and if they are all injury free?

[townman]

yes heading down saturday morning to this should be a good game Gort will be the best team they have meet in this club run
any club that comes out of galway are never simple Clarinbridge won it last year and portumna the few years before that.

i think if Coolderry hurl the way the have been this year they can see off Gort but it will go to the wire i'd say
i haven't seen Gort hurl this year but they have been knocking on the door in Galway the last few year and lost a good county
final to Portumna a few years ago.

they have a few from good Galway minor teams over the years and also have Richie Cummins who is a fine hurler on his day
but i think as in most games this years if Coolderry can get good ball into Ryan,Parlon, Murray in the fullforward line they should
win.

add in Brian Carroll who had a fine leinster final Kevin Brady at centre field Joe Brady at number 6 Trevor Corcoran at fullback who
is hurling great this year, and Brendan O'Meara who brings great experience to the back line.

they also have Kevin Connolly who has came in off the bench in a number of games this year and has done great with the goal again Birr
in the county final plus great score again Oulart in the leinster he is a ace if he doesn't start to bring in.

i have said before Coolderry have one of the best forward line that are left in the club championship and like the Oulart and Ballyboden games
if they click again against Gort in will be Coolderry bye 4 points or more for me.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Heading down meself too. Know nothing about Gort really. But I would say that Carroll would need to up his work rate from his first half in the Leinster final.
I suspect Gort wont go down the route Oulart did in pumping high balls down on Joe Brady. Any word on how Coolderry have gone in challenge matches since the turn of the year?
Hopefully we will see the lads make it to an All Ireland final, have spent the last few since Birrs glory days climbing Croghan hill on the 17th March, would really appreciate a trip to Croker instead!!

[townman]

Heading down meself too. Know nothing about Gort really. But I would say that Carroll would need to up his work rate from his first half in the Leinster final.
I suspect Gort wont go down the route Oulart did in pumping high balls down on Joe Brady. Any word on how Coolderry have gone in challenge matches since the turn of the year?
Hopefully we will see the lads make it to an All Ireland final, have spent the last few since Birrs glory days climbing Croghan hill on the 17th March, would really appreciate a trip to Croker instead!!

Coolderry hurl tipp a few weeks ago did well with tipp missing some big guns but brought on some of there best forwards to win it close enough.
Eoin Ryan only came on in the second half Stephen Corcoran done well in goal's.

yes its 2008 since i was up in croker on paddys day bad day at the office that day, again portumna but sure we had many a good day on paddys day
to and in Thurles 2002.

it would also be good for offaly hurling as Coolderry winning leinster brought a feel good factor back in to offaly hurling best of luck to Ken Hogan and Coolderry
on saturday.

[Deadandgone]

Best of luck to coolderry. Its anybodys all ireland of the 4 teams left.who ever works and wants it the most.

[Long John]

Will be a very tough assignment for Coolderry. Gort have been very impressive from what I hear. They were comfortable winners over last years All Ireland winners Clarinbridge. From what I know of them, they have been there thereabouts in Galway for a few years. They have built on some strong underage sides and have a good experienced player in Ollie Fahy in attack. They have strong hurlers down the centre, Regan centre back, Linnane and Forde midfield and Aidan Hart at centre forward. Harts role against Clarinbridge was to pull his man all over the field and it worked. I would imagine a similar tactic will be adopted with Joe Brady.

Coolderry will have to be very sharp and aggressive to win this game. Limerick is a heavy enough pitch at the best of times but its also a very wide pitch. They have a good chance if they can work their socks off and bring the likes of Carroll and co into play in the scoring zone. But anything less than a max performance from Coolderry will not be enough.

We all have had our battles in the Offaly championship but I think its fair to say the whole county will be behind Coolderry and good support should travel.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Are Coolderry and Gort changing colours for Saturday's semi-final owing to the clash of colours? I knew there was always this possibility and I see a photo from the launch of Gort players wearing a snazzy combination of their club colours of green and gold with the county colours also added.

Will Coolderry wear their own alternate white jersey?

(I thought I could add the photo but I can't. It's on the AFR messageboard.)

[Plain of the Herbs]

Impossible to call. Unless you happen to have seen Gort hurl last year. And I haven’t.

Hunger will decide this. And when we review the match afterwards we will see that one team went to fight a war; the other went to confirm their passage to the Final, and that the former will prevail.

Coolderry’s mental state will be the crucial factor. They’ve been fragile in previous years, as we all know, but they’ve been bang-on for all their big matches since the autumn. It’s not guaranteed that they will continue in that mind-frame though – it’s something that has to be worked on and prepared thoroughly. And it has to be built up from scratch for the next day. Hurling is unlike digging a hole – when digging a hole, if you dig three quarters of the hole before downing tools, the work done is still there. In hurling you gotta start removing the scraw again.

The worst thing for Coolderry in the build-up this week will be for locals to be telling them “if ye hurl like ye did the last day, ye’ll win”. That’s a recipe for complacency – all matches are different and the thing is you never hurl like you did the last day. Different day; different battle. And Mattie Murphy is more aware than Liam Dunne was, or will be.

As for the hurling, Long John offers some welcome insight to Gort, above. Interesting to see they utilise a roving centre half-forward. I think it’s certain that they will retain this tactic in Limerick. Seems to be the oldest and most unimaginative trick going – make Joe Brady travel. What’s also certain is that Brady will hold the centre. He did so against Oulart when Redmond did likewise in the Leinster final. With the roving Redmond, Kevin Teehan often had two opponent to contend with. Then, Coolderry’s hunger proved trumps. The two Kevins were first to every ball.

With much breaking ball, and with a likely tactical battle, hunger to get to the ball first will be the deciding factor.

Who goes? You decide.

[Lone Shark]

The benefits of living in Galway - I actually have seen Gort hurl twice this year, a video of the county final and live in their rain-soaked semi-final win over St Thomas at Athenry. The impression I got is that they will bear no relation to Clarinbridge whatsoever. This won't be about fast, open, expansive hurling - this will be about Gort looking to dominate the Coolderry puckout, about some ferociously tight marking in the full back line and some terrier-like chasing and harrassment from Sylvie Óg Linnane and Seán Forde at midfield.

I'm loathe to say "keep the ball moving" to any Offaly team, because it's often a code for "poke the ball fifteen yards away from you to an unmarked opponent" within our county. Yet I think what will be crucial for Coolderry in this game will be keeping up the tempo and moving the point of the attack. In literal terms, I mean get the ball into your hand, and play it to a free man at pace, all the while players are thinking that extra step ahead to be there to receive the pass after that. It has to be sharp, it has to be targetted. If you play long, Hail Mary passes, or handpass to a static team mate facing his own goal, or whip it along the ground into a forward who should be "60/40" to win the ball, Gort will spoil, slash, smother and secure the sliothar in that order. This Gort team relishes physical hurling - not in the dirty sense, at least in either of the games I've seen - but in the sense of contesting possession, and taking full advantage of a break in play to get in their and use numbers, slowing the game down.

The way I see it is this - there are four forwards starting for Coolderry that would score three or more times from play quite regularly. Gort have Richie Cummins, and that's it. They have a knack for spoiling ball up front as well however, and they win frees very well. They win them by causing opponents to foul the ball, and by running at the defence and drawing high or wild tackles. Ollie Fahy is a wise old stager on the edge of the square but he'll spend as much time trying to create space and bring others into the game as contributing himself.

I think if Gort win, it will be 1-12 to 0-12 or something like that, possibly with Coolderry leading 0-8 to 0-5 at half time. if Coolderry win, it'll be because they get a run of scores and force Gort to come out and hurl in an attacking fashion, something they don't excel at. Maybe 2-15 to 1-11 or something similar.

[llkj]

Hunger will decide this. And when we review the match afterwards we will see that one team went to fight a war; the other went to confirm their passage to the Final, and that the former will prevail.

'hungrier team' has to be up there with the most overused GAA cliches of all time - usually followed by reports of hunting in packs, putting their head where they shouldn't put their hurls, wanting it more etc...
There is no way that either of these teams are going to show up just to confirm their passage to the final. both will show up ready to give everything they have and a burning desire to get there.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Interview with Ken Hogan in today's Daily Cork.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/ ... 83383.html

Recalls the only club teams he has trained are Coolderry and Birr. Evidently the year Ken spent with Lusmagh in 1997 hasn't stuck in the memory.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Hunger is everything. One team will strain the sinews marginally more than the other, and they will win.

Item: Last year's inter-county All-Ireland final. Who'd have thought Tipperary would be so flat on the day? They were mad for it the year before.

'hungrier team' has to be up there with the most overused GAA cliches of all time - usually followed by reports of hunting in packs, putting their head where they shouldn't put their hurls, wanting it more etc...
There is no way that either of these teams are going to show up just to confirm their passage to the final. both will show up ready to give everything they have and a burning desire to get there.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I nearly forgot . . .

After the carry-on in the Junior club football recently, there will be a big clampdown on unauthorised pitch incursions, and this could have consequences for Coolderry.

Thing is, the wearer of the ‘maor fóirne’ bib is allowed onto the pitch for things like checking on an injured player. The wearer of the ‘bainisteóir’ bib is not. Don’t ask why.!

Now, Ken Hogan generally goes onto the pitch to check on injured players. Ken, as manager, wears the ‘bainisteóir’ bib. A possible solution would be if Ken was to wear the ‘maor fóirne’ bib and hand the ‘bainisteóir’ bib to one of Mick Murray or David Dooley.

Because, given the GAA’s reactionary approach to crises, a manager WILL be banned from the sideline for the All-Ireland Club Final.

[llkj]

Hunger is everything. One team will strain the sinews marginally more than the other, and they will win.

Item: Last year's inter-county All-Ireland final. Who'd have thought Tipperary would be so flat on the day? They were mad for it the year before.

I dont agree that hunger is everything. Hunger is an important element in the mix, yes, but not everything. In a match like the one coming up this weekend, or the All-Ireland final, there is no way you can say that any of the teams have more reason to be hungrier than the others.

You could say that in 2010 Tipp won because they had a desire to make up for the 2009 final defeat.
You could say that in 2011 KK won because they had a desire to make up for the 2010 final defeat.

However, if either result had been reversed, you could have equally argued that the winning was due to:

2010 - KK were so hungry to win their 5 in a row and claim the most elusive title in GAA history
2011 - Tipp were so determinted to show that 2010 was not a once off, that they are better than KK, that Sheflin going off was not a factor.

My point is that often, teams/supporters/managers/journalists take the easy option of saying that it was won or lost due to hunger, or lack thereof. It saves analysing everything else that occurred in preparing for the big day and on the day itself.

By the way - KK leaving Lar Corbett and his marker as the only 2 outfield players inside the KK 45 yard line within 4 mintues of the game starting in 2010 might have had something to do with the eventual outcome. They didn't make the same mistake in 2011

[Plain of the Herbs]

I agree that neither team has more reason to be hungrier that the other. But along the way there are distractions, Things will go wrong and doubts will set in. The crucial factor in overcoming those doubts is hunger. The hunger to burst everything to get to the next ball first. Then the next ball, then the next ball. The hunger to dictate the trend of the game no matter what.

On the two examples you state, of course you could argue that hunger still won out. And it would have. Beforehand, you could have made a case for either side winning, on those grounds. With hindsight we know Tipperary carried the greater hunger in 2010, Kilkenny had it a year later.

Really only those close to the setup will spot a lack of focus in the buildup to a match. And very often, by then, it's to late to do something about it.

On the example of Kilkenny's defensive set-up in 2010, I would argue - why did Kilkenny not plan for that eventuality in 2010? Or perhaps they did, to an extent. Either way, it was Tipperary forced their will on the game. Kilkenny set the tone the next time. You can have all the plans you like, without proper focus those plans won't be put into place properly.

I dont agree that hunger is everything. Hunger is an important element in the mix, yes, but not everything. In a match like the one coming up this weekend, or the All-Ireland final, there is no way you can say that any of the teams have more reason to be hungrier than the others.

You could say that in 2010 Tipp won because they had a desire to make up for the 2009 final defeat.
You could say that in 2011 KK won because they had a desire to make up for the 2010 final defeat.

However, if either result had been reversed, you could have equally argued that the winning was due to:

2010 - KK were so hungry to win their 5 in a row and claim the most elusive title in GAA history
2011 - Tipp were so determinted to show that 2010 was not a once off, that they are better than KK, that Sheflin going off was not a factor.

My point is that often, teams/supporters/managers/journalists take the easy option of saying that it was won or lost due to hunger, or lack thereof. It saves analysing everything else that occurred in preparing for the big day and on the day itself.

By the way - KK leaving Lar Corbett and his marker as the only 2 outfield players inside the KK 45 yard line within 4 mintues of the game starting in 2010 might have had something to do with the eventual outcome. They didn't make the same mistake in 2011