Cork Hurlers - Part 2

Great post!

Something I really noticed at the game as well. I was trying to keeps tabs on who was picking up which Clare forwards - it was impossible, they kept switching.

Totally agree on Downey! In fact the two Downeys are absolute gems! And both of them are well able to give it out. Imagine them in a few years when they pack on a bit of muscle!! Tough as nails!

I have to say, as good as the atmosphere was on Sunday it was missing that raw emotion from many in the crowd. I was sitting next to a young fella from Aghada, myself and him were living and dying each puck of the ball but many around us............not so much.

Semi-final was a better atmosphere in my opinion!
100%
Crowd around us were largely silent.
Saw a lad from Clare cross over to the Cork section at the end, punch some Cork supporter on the shoulder and bellow something in his ear. There were kids in the Clare section giving the finger to the Cork crowd when Clare scored the first goal.
 
Valid points NC. Interestingly to see if new defenders can make the step up.

While having a reasonable year. I felt SOD had a tough final. His positioning at times, not staying goal side of his man was very worrying IMO.
SOD was poor, captaincy raises expectations plus it feels like he was one who doesn’t like the limelight.
Adam Hogan is a great example of a modern defender, notice how at times he’s not even looking at the ball but only interested In playing his man. Does it to great effect. He is a tenacious smaller defender but he stands people us so well.
Think Kingston, ER should definitely come into the reckoning next year. Half back I would say Mullins in with a shout.
 
I think the point is a valid one THM. Ref has been praised by all quarters for " letting the game flow" and leaving his whistle in his picket. The KK pundits in particular loved this approach, Tyrell adores this as the defender can do wreak. Its great to watch tbf.

Every other ref watching, (1) sees the praise for letting to game flow and (2) no media backlash from Cork. Its reasonable to suggest that this influences them IMO.

Its understandable that next years final could go a similiar way. Cork need to ready for this going forward and start landing heavier challanges on opposition players when and where the ref allows.
I don't think it's uniquely former pundits to be fair.
I think it's more related to the fact that the AI Hurling Final is increasingly being seen as a showcase, a spectacular, like it has a life of it's own outside of the rest of the competition.

Can't remember who I heard say it last week, but it was along the lines that it's only in the last 15 years or so that AI finals have become the high scoring "spectacles" that people now tune into see.

I know people both here in Cork and abroad who never watched hurling before who tuned in and were raving about it.
Super quick game with high scores and very few stoppages - what's not to like for someone who's casually tuning in? Ditto for neutrals who show up to watch the final.
It'd be fair to say that if the rules were stringently applied in relation to fouling the whistle would be blown at best every couple of minutes.
It's about as Irish as you can get.
We have rules, we cherry pick some to fastidiously implement in random games early season. The interpretation of the rules is such that a lot of the time you can only discuss if they're being broken by watching a slo mo from several angles. Given the velocity with which the game is played it's sometimes impossible for the match officials to actually see what happened.
We ignore the bending of rules that are there to prevent cynical play, we laud those who go beyond the rules when it comes to defending but clamp down on technical fouls even when they keep the games flowing.
If the definition of a game is "any specific contest, engagement, amusement, computer simulation, or sport involving physical or mental competition under specific rules" then at some stage the AI is in danger of ceasing to be a game at all 😆😆
I'm exaggerating, obviously.
 
I don't think it's uniquely former pundits to be fair.
I think it's more related to the fact that the AI Hurling Final is increasingly being seen as a showcase, a spectacular, like it has a life of it's own outside of the rest of the competition.

Can't remember who I heard say it last week, but it was along the lines that it's only in the last 15 years or so that AI finals have become the high scoring "spectacles" that people now tune into see.

I know people both here in Cork and abroad who never watched hurling before who tuned in and were raving about it.
Super quick game with high scores and very few stoppages - what's not to like for someone who's casually tuning in? Ditto for neutrals who show up to watch the final.
It'd be fair to say that if the rules were stringently applied in relation to fouling the whistle would be blown at best every couple of minutes.
It's about as Irish as you can get.
We have rules, we cherry pick some to fastidiously implement in random games early season. The interpretation of the rules is such that a lot of the time you can only discuss if they're being broken by watching a slo mo from several angles. Given the velocity with which the game is played it's sometimes impossible for the match officials to actually see what happened.
We ignore the bending of rules that are there to prevent cynical play, we laud those who go beyond the rules when it comes to defending but clamp down on technical fouls even when they keep the games flowing.
If the definition of a game is "any specific contest, engagement, amusement, computer simulation, or sport involving physical or mental competition under specific rules" then at some stage the AI is in danger of ceasing to be a game at all 😆😆
I'm exaggerating, obviously.
All valid points HW, fingers crossed we get back to another final in the short term.
 
It's pointless dwelling on it too much but this is an aspect of the game the Cork backs need to get better at.

If that was Limerick or KK Mark Rogers and Kelly would have been flattened or dragged down up the pitch.
Really? Like Limerick did to Kingston far up the pitch?
Or Hayes in the SF?

Too easy to say that Rodgers or Kelly should have been flattened, by the time our defenders caught up with them they were too close to goal.
These Cork lads saw black cards for this early in the season, both for and against them.
Now it's maybe likely that Murphy would not have doled out a card if Rodgers or Kelly had been grounded but would you be sure enough of that to take the chance?
Being reduced to 13 and 14 early in season leaves it's mark.

Sidenote- did we get the most red cards of any team in Munster?
 
@ HW... You hit the nail on the head. As far as the GAA is concerned, rightly or wrongly, the final is about entertainment so the rules are unofficially changed. Professional sports have fully gone this way. If the alternative is another 5 years of Kilkenny mauling/puke hurling, keep it the way it is please.
 
This is an excellent example of how media commentators influence the masses and refs. Jamsie's message is complete horseshit but it lands. Kerry in football are masters at this.

Jamsie's message "Clare won, they knew the ref was blowing very little and decided the pull, drag, hold jerseys and stop Corks flow. This was the spirit the game was played and reffed.

Cork, we have to learn from this. The normal cards and fees can not be called depending on the ref and occasion.
This is a shit-take.
Had Cork deployed same cyncical tactics as Claire, we would have seen black and red cards. No doubt about it.
We are simply not allowed play with the same physicality/aggression/cynicism that other teams are ALLOWED to play with against us.
This has been going on for years and years in both codes.
 
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