Cork Hurlers - Part 2

[Twiceasnice97]

A master at work. Made shite of the Cork defence and made shite of cork brains when calm heads were needed

 

[Killyoursons]

Fourth in Munster is probably a fair reflection of where this team stands right now. I didn't get to see the Clare game but Cork were lucky to draw with Tipp and would have been lucky to draw with Limerick today. But that has to be viewed in light of the fact that the top four in Munster are so close in quality, unlike last year where there was a big gap between the top two and the rest.

I had hoped for a little more impact from the new management team, though perhaps that was too optimistic on my part (and injuries definitely had an impact). In terms of performances, I was really hoping for two things: greater consistency, and being a much harder team to play against. On the first, there's been some progress: I think Cork were at close to the same level from match to match, with certainly none of the crazy differences between matches we saw last year. That said, the team still has a tendency to go hot and cold within each match, which has led to them having to chase a lead in each of the last three matches.
On being hard to play against, I've been a bit disappointed. In fairness, a couple of the players who have come in (Dalton and Brian Roche) are generally effective at harrying the opposition, and it may be that the stats on hooks, blocks, tackles and turnovers have improved. But for my money Cork need to become a lot more effective at both disrupting the opposition in the middle third, and at winning breaking ball, particularly on their own puck-outs. This probably was evident for long stretches of the Tipp match, and again today in the third quarter when Limerick's half-backs were dominant for long spells. The number of goal chances conceded to Tipp and especially Limerick is also a worry.

The management have rightly been praised for the team's grit and willingness to fight right to the final whistle. I do think they were conservative with their selections, in that they tended to stick with players who had been on the team or at least the panel for the past few years. Whether or not they were right to do so for particular matches is hard to say without being privy to training sessions, but for the team to kick on some more new players need to be introduced. I was hoping to see more of Power and Sean Twomey, and each of them would have been in a better position to kick on next year with more championship minutes. Ryan will need to think carefully about how to best use Tommy O'Connell, and will hopefully find a way to settle Barrett's shooting (hopefully he'll have a good club campaign as well).

I think in the next couple of years there will be an opportunity for this management and group of players to seriously challenge - but whether or not they take it will require a lot of work and some painful choices (and, in all likelihood, a bit of luck).

 

[Rebelsforsam1]

Fair point,we’ve got red tint on here. I would imagine that most forums teams are the same? I’ve never been on the Limerick one and probably won’t. Might be a good idea to balance perspective.
Those were missed chances for sure today, some good last ditch defending also. Don’t forget TOM missed an absolute sitter right after the penalty.

This thread is gold at times though, fellas tearing into their keypads at each other.

Good luck for the rest of it anyway

I believe the Hoganstand forum is effectively a Limerick forum, due to the sheer volume of Limerick posters on it. Not popular with Cork users though

 

[TheOutdoorThreadmill]

A cheat at work.

Very true.

 

[CB12]

Management have been a marked improvement from the rubbish of the last 3 years but in a group of such fine margins a few obvious calls cost us. Not moving Darragh Fitz to midfield & Tim O’ Mahony not starting especially last week over Cahalane. Overall though much better and we hopefully can get 2 or 3 from the 20’s and the lads to come back from injury. Please god Hoggie gives it another year, brilliant show of leadership today.

 

[Rebelsforsam1]

Management have been a marked improvement from the rubbish of the last 3 years but in a group of such fine margins a few obvious calls cost us. Not moving Darragh Fitz to midfield & Tim O’ Mahony not starting especially last week over Cahalane. Overall though much better and we hopefully can get 2 or 3 from the 20’s and the lads to come back from injury. Please god Hoggie gives it another year, brilliant show of leadership

 

[Coogee]

Fair point,we’ve got red tint on here. I would imagine that most forums teams are the same? I’ve never been on the Limerick one and probably won’t. Might be a good idea to balance perspective.
Those were missed chances for sure today, some good last ditch defending also. Don’t forget TOM missed an absolute sitter right after the penalty.

This thread is gold at times though, fellas tearing into their keypads at each other.

Good luck for the rest of it anyway

I'm not even aware of a limerick Forum and as I went to College and worked in Cork over a 9 year spell id always keep an eye on this forum and mainly post on the Rugby threads.

And yes Cork had their chances too and could easily have won that game. Limerick have been made to dig deep in all 4 games which imo is a sign of the opposition improving and Limerick not being at their best. Now lets see if they can get back to their best or is this side on their way out.

O Neills shocking performace today shows that we are still reliant on the old guard. Id love to see Shane o brien and Adam English coming off the bench but I guess they are being held back for another year

 

[jp croom]

Limerick supporter but cork based so I watch cork regularly and would have interest especially with taking cork kids to games. I don’t normally post on this thread but just my thoughts. Firstly Great game. It’s amazing how we have different perspectives watching our own teams reading some posts. Personally Felt Owens gave Limerick nothing at the game although I think a full rewatch on telly may prove different. I agree the penalty was soft but I felt cork got a few frees that were very soft. And there’s a 101 other frees that aren’t given on both sides. It’s become almost impossible to referee. Amongst the Limerick supporters we certainly felt extremely aggrieved about quite a few decisions. But then that’s sport. Cork scored heavily from frees while we only got 3 points. Had horgans goal not snuck in would we have seen as tight a finish? Nicky won’t be happy letting that one squirm in. Cork have improved massively this year. Starting to find solutions to a lot of the problem positions. But Can’t expect harnedy and Horgan to go much longer. Cunningham will solve the Horgan conundrum with frees but is there a guy to replace harnedy. Jesus you’d be in awe of his ability to score and win ball when a team really needs it. A clutch player !!!! Personally I think that’s harder to find. Cork went well behind in the third quarter in tipp Clare and Limerick games and worked out how to still be in a shout at 72 mins in all those games. Small margins….add OFlynn Coleman Cunningham and Connolly. However limerick and Clare have gotten very sharp at winning tight games. Limerick mixed the good with the average I felt. Definitely improving but that wouldn’t be hard.

Good and fair post. Just for the record Cork got 13 points from frees. Limerick got 1.2.

 

[Rebelsforsam1]

Return of Coleman, O Flynn and Connolly coming back, allied to emerging talents Eoin Downey, Cunningham, Ethan Twomey and Hayes should make us a force next year. Have no doubt Hoggy and Harnedy will lead the charge!

 

[TheOutdoorThreadmill]

Return of Coleman, O Flynn and Connolly coming back, allied to emerging talents Eoin Downey, Cunningham, Ethan Twomey and Hayes should make us a force next year. Have no doubt Hoggy and Harnedy will lead the charge!

Where does he play when he comes back? I don't think he comes in to the HB line.