Cats ruling the skies on battlefront
On Saturday, Aidan Walsh had his nose broken by a challenge from Austin Gleeson as he attempted to dummy the Waterford player.
It appeared to be more mistimed than anything but it went unpunished. On Sunday, Pádraic Maher broke his hurley across TJ Reid’s neck. A yellow card was issued to him.
Coming a week after Maurice Shanahan and Noel Connors picked up facial injuries against Kilkenny, there are questions that need answering: Have helmets made players fairer game for high fouls and/or are the current helmets fit for purpose?
If Derek McGrath heard the utterings of the Cork camp following their defeat to Waterford, he might have been perplexed by Kieran Kingston’s use of the word “fantastic” to describe the home side’s finish when Waterford were by far and away the better side for the second week running, the third consecutive game against Cork.
The suspended Maurice Shanahan’s absence is a blow heading to Thurles on Sunday week but Waterford have far more strings to the bow than most people believe.
It was only 13 months ago Hurling 2020 chairman Liam Sheedy claimed there was little or no cynicism in hurling: “If there is cynicism creeping into the game, it would be on the edge of the square and we feel the best way to address that is the one-on-one (penalty)”.
The conversion rate does not yet suggest that nor could a penalty have been given for Barry Coughlan’s rugby tackle on Mark Ellis on Saturday.
Pat Horgan may have scored a goal from the resultant free but a free and a yellow card seemed short of a justified punishment for such a desperate foul.
One game is not going to prove our point the likes of Tipperary must find other means of beating Kilkenny than just trying to match them physically but Sunday’s clash indicated the Cats are rarely if ever beaten in the air.
It’s undoubtedly an area Tipperary need to improve on but Kilkenny are the masters of winning their own ball.
Robert Lennon has been fancied by Brian Cody to make the breakthrough for awhile now and he’ll have been buoyed by his aerial dominance at centre-back in Nowlan Park.
Limerick will be wary of Offaly in Tullamore on Sunday week considering they haven’t beaten them in their last two Division 1B meetings.
Negotiate that hurdle, though, and on March 20 they should be making the short trip down the N18 to face Clare for a place in Division 1A next year.
The Limerick board’s desperation to return to the top flight is well known but the Banner may have stretched their 100% record in 2016 to eight games by then.
Watching Diarmuid O’Sullivan react the way he did to the unpunished foul on Walsh on Saturday, we were reminded of the 2013 Division 1B final.
As Clare trailed 1-14 to 0-9, Davy Fitzgerald had heated words with Limerick’s John Allen on the sideline and was later dunted by James Ryan. Limerick lost their focus and Clare won by two points.
Rolling and lifting the ball on the poor underfoot conditions these last two weekends have proved decidedly difficult for free-takers.
Yet given how big their hurleys are and how small the rims on so many sliotars not to mention the acumen of the modern day deadball merchant, the likes of Paul Ryan, TJ Reid, John O’Dwyer, Shanahan and Gleeson may have been expected to overcome most nuisances. At least wides haven’t been hurting teams.
Waterford (18) and Clare (16) in round one and Kilkenny (14) in round two all won despite accumulating those unwelcome totals.
There’s no getting away from what was another good performance/bad result for Tipperary against Kilkenny on Sunday.
At the same time, they are trying to bed in an entirely new midfield partnership, full-back and full-forward. As Eamon O’Shea sagely advised this time last year: “Make no judgements until the ball speeds up.” Dublin’s real home.
On Setanta Ireland last week, former Dublin hurler Danny Sutcliffe bemoaned Dublin having to play one of their home games at Croke Park on the basis of their fine record at Parnell Park.
Cork fired over 34 points against them in GAA HQ last March when the 11-point margin if not the result would have been different in Donnycarney.
If Dublin do finish in a relegation spot and win home advantage, there’ll be no prizes for guessing their venue of choice.
Writing about Kerry hurling at the moment is a perilous task where you can easily patronise or exaggerate without any intention.
They will probably need another three points to avoid a relegation play-off thus securing a quarter-final spot and the final round game in Offaly looks a crucial one but Ciaran Carey and Mark Foley appear to be bringing the right combination of passion and guile.
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