3rd gear is being generous unfortunately. Watched the first 10 mins again and Cork really did what they liked - Won the long puckouts, waltzed through the middle with hand passes, or delivers one long ball for the 2nd goal that completely opened up the offaly defense. They definitely messed around with it at times, as if it was a training session where they had to pass the ball a certain amount of times before they could take a shot. If they wanted it could have been 10 goals.seany123 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 8:35 pm This was a Cork team operating in third gear, if they didn't think they were the Harlem Globetrotters at times, they would have crucified us altogether. Thank god the pitch cut up so bad, can you imagine playing them in Pairc Ui Chaoimh or Tullamore. Offaly were so tactically naive it was scary, playing a sweeper who never felt the weight of the ball, while the full forward line spent most of the game 45 yards out, allowing Cork go back to their keeper as much as they liked. The gulf between the big boys and the Inbetweeners which is where we stand is scary and hard to see it ever being closed. Even if we win Joe McDonagh which please god we will, Liam McCarthy will be a very unforgiving playground! We do though have a Co. Minor team this year who could go close to winning an All Ireland (thanks to great work having been done through the dev squads all the way up and clubs especially kilcormac killoughey), and that could be our greatest hope for 2022 and beyond.
I suppose playing these teams has some benefits but they are more like high profile challenge games than competitive matches. Where you try to set some goals and Measure yourself against those, as opposed to try to win the match. You’d also like a couple of games before championship where they can practice some other aspects of their play as it is hard to do anything other than just survive against the big boys.
Finally, thinking of some structure that would be better for hurling. Rather than a league would a ladder system work, where you can only play teams that are 3 ahead of you in the rankings. You win you move up, you lose you stay put or move down if you lost to a lower ranking team.
Either that or at least a weak group concept for the league. Top 8 are in 2 groups of 4. Next 4 teams are in Div 1
Group c. You win 1c you move up to 1b the next year. Makes it less of a step up with smaller steps between the grades and means teams are at the same level in each league for the most part.