The Hurling Thread

[Cook My Sock]

Did ye have any tae & sandwiches???

Only hang sangwiches and a bottle of tae...bit like the current Tipp supporters

 

[Bonbon12]

My gripe is not with Limericks dominance. And I agree, they probably have the largest agglomeration of top-class hurlers ever to have been on a single team.
My gripe is with how it's being done, and where the game is going. And the GAA are just standing by.
Rucks, throwing, head/neck tacking, diving, etc, etc.
Then the most boring repetitive 60/70 yard points.
Yes, it's effective.
But as a spectacle its become a pile of steaming horse-shite.
This is not the hurling I fell in love with.
People giving out about football and the style it is being played in now. I actually fund hurling is gone harder to watch.

Bet you'd change your mind fairly quickly if Cork were in limericks position

 

[Gregory_Mike]

Only hang sangwiches and a bottle of tae...bit like the current Tipp supporters

And JP turned the sandwiches and tae into caviar and champagne.

 

[Bonbon12]

Two very insightful posts from captain and slowhandm. Great stuff.

 

[CaptainSensible]

100% correct. However everything that O'Grady did had the purpose of moving the ball quickly to a player running on the shoulder or a player making themselves available to take the handpass. It essentially depended on moving the ball to a player in space and away from contact. Crucially it was also dependent on the rules of the game at the time being correctly implemented.
The way to stop this game was as you described bringing players back and industrial use of the free hand tackle.
Corks big mistake was in continuing with the running game for the last 20 years.
All coaches will do whatever they can to win and it is up to the governing body to make sure the game is played within the rules.
We are where we are now and I think there is a good discussion to be had as to how the game could be cleaned up.
In my opinion 2 rules need adjusting.
1 the handpass ,I suggest that the handpass must be struck with the second hand, this would mean that players should be allowed drop the hurley.
2 the free hand rule, it is way too late to crack down and enforce this rule so it is time to legitimise it and give the ref something look for. Not sure on how to do it. Maybe the free arm can only be used below the shoulders and once a player engages his free arm he cannot stop the player in possession from handpassing the ball away.
Anyway it is the greatest game in the world and it will continue to evolve, the most important thing is to make sure that the player are protected from injury particularly 'playing on the edge' injury.

I agree the handpass/throw is a blight however if that is just changed on its own I do see one unintended consequence and that is even more crowding/surrounding the player with the ball and the almost guarantee of a free when he can't get rid of it either legitimately or illegitimately and when you take into account the distance the sliotar travels these days is a nearly a guaranteed point with the likes of Byrnes et al playing.

I think people are trying to come up with ways to stop blanket defences by limiting the players in a half or ensuring a certain amount of players in each half at the puck out, but I think these would be too hard to implement and why shouldn't a back be able to carry the ball into the opposition half or wherever they decide the limit is, so I don't know if there is a specific rule change that can be implemented to change things significantly for the better.

However there is one change and it is nothing to do with the rules but seems the obvious solution and that is change the number of players on the pitch. Reduce them to 13 and straight away we won't see as many rucks, crowded defences, the spare hand simply because the ref will have a better view of a one on one as opposed to a 2/3 on one etc. All the things that are wrong with the game are a direct consequence of players being bigger, fitter (which we can't change) and not necessarily the rules therefore create more space by reducing the number of players and these things will naturally disappear.

Initially the game was 21 a-side and was reduced to 17 and then 15, all to basically make it a better spectacle, the time is now to do so again.

 

[Hill Street Blue]

My biggest issue with hurling is the lack of goals. I stand to be corrected but I don’t think there was a shot at goal in the entire game last night. That’s a real problem- easy fix would be give 4 points for a goal. Now guys are happy to drive it over from 100 yards - that says more about the sliothar and hurley in my view. Teams are now regularly amassing 30+ points a game - I’d much prefer to see more goal mouth action, goals and saves and everything else that happens around the square. Bottom line, I’m getting bored with 100 yard points from down the town.

 

[Limatlast]

Richie English has probably played his best hurling in this league campaign since his injury but Kiely will go with Nash Casey and Finn at the back for the championship after a complete lock out of this media hyped tipp offense. Nicky quaid didn’t a save to make all night.

I'm not so sure he'll go with that fb line, Dan Morrissey could still be no3 as I think it's certain that hayes will be no7. I actually commented at the match last night that m casey was bulling for it as I expect he knows his place isn't guaranteed.
really looking forward to today's match it'll be fascinating to see how both teams fare.

 

[Northcorkman]

Everytime a once in a generation team comes along everybody wants ways to ban them.

Dublin ? Let’s divide them in two ? Remember that ridiculous argument

Kilkenny. Blow them off the pitch with red cards

Limerick. They score from far out. Ban points outside own half. Weigh sliotars down. Decrease Hurley size. Etc. ban hand passes ban short puck outs. Ban short stick passes etc.


if a new team that comes along in the next generation with blistering pace that’s successful people would be arguing for a maximum sprint pace etc.

The game has evolved. Most of the all Ireland’s since 2017 have been great championships and we are on the back of one of the best finals ever. Nobody wants to go back to Scorelines like 6-2 to 4-3

 

[Charley Sheen]

This limerick team is the greatest to ever play the game. You can get 30 points and it still not enough to beat them.

 

[HurlingFan19]

Everytime a once in a generation team comes along everybody wants ways to ban them.

Dublin ? Let’s divide them in two ? Remember that ridiculous argument

Kilkenny. Blow them off the pitch with red cards

Limerick. They score from far out. Ban points outside own half. Weigh sliotars down. Decrease Hurley size. Etc. ban hand passes ban short puck outs. Ban short stick passes etc.


if a new team that comes along in the next generation with blistering pace that’s successful people would be arguing for a maximum sprint pace etc.

The game has evolved. Most of the all Ireland’s since 2017 have been great championships and we are on the back of one of the best finals ever. Nobody wants to go back to Scorelines like 6-2 to 4-3

This current Limerick team are fantastic to watch. People can moan all they want about financial doping but it’s as simple as they got their house in order from grassroots up and are reaping the rewards.

Cork have the financial power to be at the same level as Limerick but we had the wrong people in charge for too long and we’re playing catch up. Limerick should be the example for every county on how to run an inter county setup.