Cork Hurlers - Part 2

[hurlingben]

Pa Collins did make 2 good saves but I thought overall he was shaky with puck outs. Also a couple of people around me noted that none of the defenders pass back to him and that’s a lack of confidence in him. Watched Elin Murkhy in second half as we were up at that end and he is so ‘authoritative’ and decisive. Couplekof bad luck outs tho. Seems in a different class to our keepers.

Collins doesnt inspire confidence. I think we pass enough ball backwards at this stage. Couldnt believe the amount of passes conor o callaghan sent back to collins or 20 yards behind him

 

[The Highway Man]

Collins coming out to the half way line giving instructions to the line tells you all you need to know. Would it happen Kiely , Cahill, Lyng set up. Absolutely not. We were a puck of a ball from Getting an unmerciful filleting. The gun was to the head in the 2nd half . I salute your Positivity. Deluded as it is.

 

[JPM]

Here are my views. I hate losing but the boys died with their boots on. Unlike Ennis I left the Pairc with hope. The selection was strange. Daire played 6 for Imokilly but NOL started and didn’t play well. COC is a serious option for corner back but was played midfield where there are many options. Luke was played out of position in a place where we have ball winning options. None of these experiments worked. Individually: PC is brave and again made some great saves. The time it takes him to puck out the ball frustrates me. Between those delays and the time it takes Hoggy to get to the long frees costs about five minutes per game. ED was excellent and ER had another steady game. SOD gives away a lot of frees and should be moved from 4 as he cannot handle Gillane. RD did well and should be a championship starter. When we were struggling in the first half TOM consistently won his own ball. I’d like to see him at 10. TOC is a little warrior and battled well in his best position. ST had another stormer and is well on the way to being a championship starter. CL played well. Hoggy had two non-functioning players beside him and did OK but he missed goal a point chances. ROF had another stinker. I don’t think he’s a corner forward. SK should be dropped. We need to look at BS in goal, Daire at 6 and Robbie Cotter in the full forward line and Shane B at midfield. When everyone has been tried picking and retaining the best team is a challenge for the management. They moved quicker today to make changes and the subs were all good, especially GerM who brought authority to the defence. ET, BR, SB all brought strength and bite and MC brought strength also and class. It looks like we have enough good players. The trick now is to pick the best team.

 

[red&blue]

Honeymoon period for Pat Ryan well and truly over now.
Our last 7 competitive results make for grim reading.

league semi v KK beaten by 6
MSHC v Waterford won by 9
MSHC v Tipp Draw
MSHC V Clare beaten by 1
MSHC V Limerick beaten by 1
League V Clare beaten by 3
League v KK beaten by 1

Played 7, won 1, drew 1, lost 5.

We are 14 months + into Pat Ryans reign and still don't have a settled team or settled style of play. I hadn't a notion what our tactics were in that first 25 minutes last night. In the first play of the game we had 6 or 7 passes around our backline, never came out past our 65 and gave away a simple free 30 yards out. Madness.

When KK, Clare, Limerick play the short game they usually play passes forward. We seem to pass for the sake of passing and the amount of passes going backwards or laterally or to a marked man is off the charts.

Our next 3 games are now must win. We can have KK, Limerick, Tipp etc under lights next spring down the pairc or we can have Carlow, Westmeath, Kerry. Pat Ryan needs to stop the chopping and changing now. Fitzgibbon cup is over for Cork players. 2 weeks to the next game. Need a decision made on some players one way or the other and start trying to bed down a settled team.

Good post and bang on the button, firstly qualifying for division 1 next year is vital for the team’s development, and 3 home games against top opposition woukd help the coffers too

Our whole panel still seems in a state of flux, the management look like their still figuring out should the stick or twist re some of the more established heads.

I could be totally wrong on this but it all just looks a little pally Wally to me, selectors coming onto the field after another bad loss to shake hands with all and sundry doesn’t sit easy with me either, leave that to the players and sort yer own business out first by making the tough decisions before and during the game.

Also a few have alluded to the warm up, it does seem a little undercooked and underprepared to put it mildly, some might laugh at that but this all feeds into the mind set of the group

I’m sick of asking for players to be picked on their attitude and performances not on what we hope they might someday do, or what they might have done a few years ago, we need to bite the bullet quickly

On finding the right team for championship I totally agree with you, it has to happen soon, but it’s not easy when your full back, center back, one of your midfielders and two key half fowards from last year are missing. Imagine Sean Twomey playing alongside Darragh Fitz, Deccie Dalton Seamus Harnedy Alan Connolly and Tim O Mahony in the foward line last night? Imagine Mark Coleman slotting into midfield next to Tommy, and Ciaran and Damien manning 6 and 3 with the young fellas slotting in around them? now that’s a lot of first team players to bed back in. But it’s got to start happening now

 

[red&blue]

God I love this thread

 

[Hill Street Blue]

It looks like we have enough good players.

Good players we have in abundance- great players are almost non existent. It’s great players that win you AIs.

 

[Cook My Sock]

Gutting to lose by a point in the end but given the awful first 20-25 mins I'm glad it worked out that way. Had Kilkenny got a goal when it was 0-13 0-6 it could have an absolute filleting at home to our historic rivals. It would have been the worst.

When you change the team up and bring in lots of new players you have to give them time to settle, that does account for a portion of the crap start. We had the usual over-ellaboration tippy tappy stuff as well here and there to add more bitterness to the first half. But then just as I find myself saying 'puck it down the field to fuck' they pull off a sublime series of passes and they get a score out of it!

Tim O'Mahony in a way typifies what the people who want big physical passionate hurlers want. I love him, he's got a great engine and he's well up for mixing it too so he gets the crowd and team roaring. But then you get the silly frees and the moments of madness. His shooting is ok but shot selection iffy at times from distance. It's very difficult to have it both ways, if you want a big physical player like that you have to take the good with the bad. I'd have him in the team everyday and if you have Mark Coleman and Joyce around him with their skill levels it balances it for us.

I nearly lost my fucking life shouting when Kingston failed to control the ball there at the end. Contrary to what some people said a few pages back he was able to rise the ball with his hurley, he just didn't catch it. That's his brain getting ahead of his hand, he was thinking too much about what he'd do once he had the ball in his hand. I'd say he was probably in two minds about whether to take the point to draw the game or go for the goal.....his instinct is the latter but his confidence would be down because of the earlier misses. In the end he's thinking too far ahead....and it all falls apart.

Same with Hoggie's misses....we could have won it. The free when Pat Ryan spoke to him just beforehand. Fuck sake!

You have to look at the postives though. Mainly, the fact that we came from so far behind and showed a bit of passion. Tommy O'Connell was great, he was everywhere at times. Was delighted to see Mark Coleman back and he looks sharp as ever. Twomey was good and a real handful for the Kilkenny backs. Lehane is what we always think collectively. Toggling between genius and frustrating. That point towards the end when he ran down the touchline on the north stand was beautiful.

In summary, frustrating we didn't win or draw it but losing by a point to the team that only lost the AI to Limerick by a point isn't too bad in February.

We need to go and smash Waterford now to get the tails up.

#PrayForRobbie

9 points

 

[Corkonian1]

Based on last year the manager/selectors should have learned what was required to improve and what changes needed to be made, it's obvious they haven't learned from their own mistakes or from previous management decisions.

I for one find it interesting but also sad that Donal Og said on TV last night the league counts for nothing and Jackie Tyrrell asked him when did Cork last win a league title. Donal Og doesn't seem to realise that winning is a habit and the Cork management are in the same boat. The belief when everyone is back from injury the light switch will be flicked and Cork will show their quality in championship is dreamland stuff. Do Donal Og realise that injuries are a continuing problem and they don't go away in the month of April, it is how management deal with them is the real issue. He advocates Pat Ryan and the selectors changing the team for every game to try out new things but doesn't seem to realise the game Cork are trying to play requires serious teamwork which isn't derived by such change per game.

 

[rebs23]

Hopefully ROF and RD injuries are not too bad. Twomey, Mahony, Coleman, Barrett and the backline did well. We just have to drop the tippy tippy shite and we quicker deciding where to strike the ball to. From puck outs to frees to striking from defence we seem to take ages. Looking up for 2 seconds to try and give the perfect ball. We can’t continue with Hoggy, Kingston and Lehane starting just can’t.
Corciagh Abu!

 

[The Dagda]

Based on last year the manager/selectors should have learned what was required to improve and what changes needed to be made, it's obvious they haven't learned from their own mistakes or from previous management decisions.

I for one find it interesting but also sad that Donal Og said on TV last night the league counts for nothing and Jackie Tyrrell asked him when did Cork last win a league title. Donal Og doesn't seem to realise that winning is a habit and the Cork management are in the same boat. The belief when everyone is back from injury the light switch will be flicked and Cork will show their quality in championship is dreamland stuff. Do Donal Og realise that injuries are a continuing problem and they don't go away in the month of April, it is how management deal with them is the real issue. He advocates Pat Ryan and the selectors changing the team for every game to try out new things but doesn't seem to realise the game Cork are trying to play requires serious teamwork which isn't derived by such change per game.

He doesn't picks the team or the tactics. His opinions had fuck all to do with the outcome last night, no more then yours or mine had. It doesn't matter two fucks what he thinks. His sole purpose is a talking head on the TV with an uncanny knack for triggering the fuck out of people just like Brolly used to in the football.