Hurling inter county championship

[Mickmack]

Consent

Hurling

Better late than never for hurling's boys of autumn






October 25 2020 02:30 AM
Croke PARK, the GAA's main cathedral built for the masses, looked a ghostly and deserted place devoid of worshippers yesterday as Dublin and Laois launched the 2020 All-Ireland hurling championship - the empty stadium echoing to the sounds of leather popping off ash and players' voices normally drowned in the crowd noise.

Dublin swept into the Leinster semi-final where they will return to Jones' Road for a meeting with Kilkenny next Saturday, part of a double-header also featuring Galway and Wexford. They won 2-31 to 0-23, the goals coming from top scorer Donal Burke, who finished with 1-16, and Eamonn Dillon, his strike arriving in the final seconds. But 0-23 is a sobering concession with Kilkenny a week away.

Before the game got underway we had a national anthem that for once couldn't be but impeccably observed, the final line untroubled by the cries of followers imploring their side one last time before throw-in. Instead that audience watched from afar in disparate sitting rooms around the country.

The players ran on just over 20 minutes from the throw-in. They made their entrances, around a minute apart, to the usual drum roll and the deathly silence that greeted this moment was probably the most palpable and striking sign of the times.

Once the game started you could hear the thud of bodies colliding as they formally cut the ribbon on the 2020 championship - late, if better late than never.


Last summer Mattie Kenny's men had barely pumped the final traces of adrenaline from their system after eliminating Galway in an epic victory in Parnell Park when they were sent packing by Laois two weeks later in Portlaoise. It was a shock.

Laois came from the long grass but looked completely at home in the short version and were full value for their victory. A respectable All-Ireland quarter-final defeat by Tipperary rounded off a fine debut season for manager Eddie Brennan, also featuring a McDonagh Cup win which earned them a return to the Leinster Championship.

But that difficult second album trick has been made even more fraught by preparations impaired by Covid-19, the loss of some key players, and having to face the side they traumatised last year. One with an entirely different mindset and a score to settle.

Burke was their star player, his free taking finally failing him with an underhit attempt in the 62nd minute, but Laois made them work hard in the opening quarter and managed to reduce the Dublin lead to six points entering the final water break with goalkeeper Enda Rowland hitting two long range frees. Conor Burke made a smart debut for the winners. Laois failed to create a single goal chance. They head on to the qualifiers and the prospect of a short-lived season.

The Dublin 26 saw no place for veteran Conal Keaney, star of last year's win over Galway, nor David Treacy nor Paul Ryan. The omission of Dillon from the starting XV was also a surprise, with claims that it related to him turning out in a club football match. Chris Crummey started centre forward and had a fine first half and finished with three points before being withdrawn.


Dublin led 1-16 to 0-12 at half-time with Donal Burke applying a tidy goal finish after a piercing run. Whenever Laois made ground Dublin were able to widen the gap and pull clear. But they know they face an immeasurably bigger test next weekend against Brian Cody's side, one of the championship favourites.

The hurling action moves on to Thurles this afternoon where rivals Clare and Limerick meet in the Munster quarter-finals. It's strange, it's not the same, but it's on. There is much more to look forward to.

[Mickmack]

Clare played well and Tony Kelly was brilliant. They got 1.24.

However, Limerick got a point every two minutes and finished with 36.

Limerick will take a lot of stopping as they have the hunger back and their efficiency upfront is way better that last year.

[givehimaball]

Oct 25, 2020 17:26:40 GMT Mickmack said:

Clare played well and Tony Kelly was brilliant. They got 1.24.

However, Limerick got a point every two minutes and finished with 36.

Limerick will take a lot of stopping as they have the hunger back and their efficiency upfront is way better that last year.

A fair chunk of the 36 points were hit under minimal or no pressure.

I'd still have Limerick as favs but I would be very hesitant to be talking about any increased scoring efficiency given how little in the way of resistance Clare posed.

Clare are just making up the numbers, might win a game in the qualifiers depending on who they draw but not remotely close to being anywhere near serious contenders.

[veteran]

On the Sunday Game last night a trip with a hurley was highlighted. Both Brendan Cummins and Michael O’Donoghue said we do want that type of cynicism creeping into our game. Des suggested that the horse had bolted in that respect and spoke about the need for a black card. We don’t want that the boys retorted and there is no need for it. Des doesn’t seem to realise that hurling is played by Corinthians.

I thought when you left childhood you graduated from the pretend game to the realism game. In fairness to the two lads, perhaps their attitude is reflective of society as a whole , large swathes of which like to live in the land of make believe.

[Mickmack]

Some hurling games are hard to watch with no physical contact and where every play ends up in a score like tennis or pingpong

[Mickmack]

Oct 26, 2020 12:13:14 GMT veteran said:

On the Sunday Game last night a trip with a hurley was highlighted. Both Brendan Cummins and Michael O’Donoghue said we do want that type of cynicism creeping into our game. Des suggested that the horse had bolted in that respect and spoke about the need for a black card. We don’t want that the boys retorted and there is no need for it. Des doesn’t seem to realise that hurling is played by Corinthians.

I thought when you left childhood you graduated from the pretend game to the realism game. In fairness to the two lads, perhaps their attitude is reflective of society as a whole , large swathes of which like to live in the land of make believe.

They are a lot more judicious in changing rules in hurling. The penalty was a good one. Some blatant technical fouls in hurling should be punished ....but maybe by a penalty rather than a black card.



It would mean changing the rule for penalties

[Mickmack]

Consent

Hurling

Premium

Hurling's magic-makers do the nation some service

Eamonn Sweeney

Meet the new normal, same as the old normal.

The sliotar and the time of year were different. Thurles resembled the scene in 'Vanilla Sky' where Tom Cruise drives through the streets of a mysteriously deserted city.

But when it came to the most important aspect of the game, nothing had changed. Limerick rode roughshod over Clare in the same way they did last year, back when the only 19 we cared about was on the back of a sub's jersey.

Four minutes at the start of the second half were enough to demonstrate the gulf between the teams. Only 10 seconds had elapsed when Graeme Mulcahy flashed a point over the bar. A superb Gearóid Hegarty score from way out on the right wing followed just 40 seconds later and 25 seconds after that Kyle Hayes split the posts.



Aaron Gillane in the 37th, Cian Lynch in the 38th and Tom Morrissey in the 39th minute served notice that the game was over as a contest. A Ryan Taylor goal for Clare kept things interesting from a mathematical point of view for a while but that Limerick surge showed they possess gears the Banner can only dream of. It was like watching a Maserati overtake a Massey Ferguson.


That only 10 points rather than the 18 of last year divided the teams is due to the remarkable effort of Tony Kelly on his county's behalf. Big performances from early in the championship tend to get forgotten by the end of the year but Kelly's tour de force deserves to be remembered for a long time to come.

He finished with 17 points, eight of them from play, yet even those extraordinary figures don't tell the full story. Almost all of those scores from play were not just finished but created by Kelly as he latched on loose ball and eluded tacklers before sweeping shots over the bar from a variety of angles.

Perhaps no present day hurler is more gifted than the Ballyea man. Yet few star players of any era have been more quixotic. Like his equally prodigious contemporary Austin Gleeson, Kelly has had days when nothing worked and the line between sublime and ridiculous was effaced. This year's league furnished evidence that Brian Lohan could coax the maximum from his best player and it was confirmed yesterday. That's about the only consolation Clare can take from this defeat. You'd expect a performance like Kelly's to at least bring a team close to victory. But the Banner's overall weakness made it a magnificent irrelevance.

The over-riding impression was of a match between two teams from different levels, as though we were watching a senior club team take on an intermediate one. The paths of the two counties have diverged enormously since Limerick purloined the late scores which sunk Cork in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final and Clare threw away their chance of upsetting Galway at the same stage. Those two years seem an eternity when you see where both teams are now.

No side gives the same impression of inexorability and remorselessness as Limerick do when they have the bit between their teeth. Three minutes from time Hegarty bullocked through two challenges and punched the air in delight after winning a free as though the result was still in the balance. A minute earlier Séamus Flanagan had chased way back into his own half to help with the defensive dirty work.


In finishing with eight points in the last 11 minutes, Limerick gave the impression, as great teams often do, of not so much competing against the opposition as trying to live up to their own conception of their best selves.

They need another All-Ireland title before they can lay claim to true greatness. The good news for their fans is that the team seem to know this and hunger to continue their upward journey. None seem hungrier than the members of the half-forward line which epitomises John Kiely's team at its best.

Hegarty, Hayes and Morrissey sound like a firm of undertakers. They buried Clare by slotting a dozen points from play, some of the most spectacular variety.

Numbers 10 to 12 are the conundrum anyone hoping to overcome the favourites has to solve. It's significant that when upsetting Limerick in last year's All-Ireland semi-final Kilkenny held that half-forward line to a point.

Liam Sheedy will certainly be giving the titanic trio, who scored 1-9 against Tipp in last year's Munster final, some thought this week. But John Kiely's sleep may not be entirely undisturbed by the spectres of Callanan, O'Dwyer and the McGraths. Next Sunday's meeting between the last two All-Ireland champions is one to relish. There's been no more enticing fixture in Irish sport this year.


Disorientating

Such a clash should take place in front of a packed stadium. Great artists deserve an audience rather than the memory of one. It's undeniably disorientating to watch a Munster Championship match taking place under the strange and straitened regime which prevails in 2020.

But it's undeniable too that for seventy odd minutes yesterday Kelly, Morrissey, Hayes, Hegarty et al cast spells to distract our minds from the dark imaginings which plague the current cursed moment. By doing so they did the nation some service.

In the final analysis, the form, the pointers to the future and even the result at Semple Stadium matter less than the simple fact of the game taking place. It took place because amateur players, who have nothing to lose by standing aside, decided to take the field and boost the battered morale of their fellow citizens.

We owe these marvellous young men our gratitude. The championship is a small good thing at a time like this.


Indo Sport

[dc84]

You would think the winners of tipp/limerick will win munster cork arent physical enough and their forwards dont work hard enough to be serious AI contenders particularly in a winter championship.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Kilkenny will win this as they are the exact opposite of cork!

[Annascaultilidie]

Oct 27, 2020 11:31:55 GMT dc84 said:

You would think the winners of tipp/limerick will win munster cork arent physical enough and their forwards dont work hard enough to be serious AI contenders particularly in a winter championship.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Kilkenny will win this as they are the exact opposite of cork!

There is a suggestion out there that the winners of Tipp/Limerick will be battered after their match, lose the Munster final, but then go on to win the lot (or KK).

[dc84]

Could happen of course! Think its made for Kilkenny personally with the heavier pitches turning games into battles and no better team than them to win a battle!

[Mickmack]

Cork, Tipp and KK have dominated so much that any year thats its won by a county other than those three is very special as Clare, Limerick and Galway showed in recent years.

However, I would be very tempted to support Cork this year purely to see the great Pat Horgan get a medal.

Surely the greatest Cork hurler never to win one and time is running out.

[Mickmack]

By Tony Considine
October 27 2020 06:00 AM
There are many different ways that a rivalry can be forged. For some, it’s two sides evenly matched throughout history with periods in the ascendancy ebbing back and forth.

For others, it can be geographical, with a more successful neighbour finally being caught by a side that emerges from their shadow to upset what would have been considered the established order. It’s fair to say that the latter applies when it comes to what was once described in the Irish Independent as ‘The first great rivalry of the 21st century’.

As this year’s Senior Hurling Championship progresses, in partnership with U20 and Senior sponsor Bord Gáis Energy, we’ll be looking at the moments that have stoked the flames of some of hurling’s biggest rivalries.

Cork’s early dominance
A simple glance at historical Championship results shows the size of the shadow that Cork threw over Waterford in the nascent GAA. From a meeting at Fraher Field in the very first All-Ireland in 1888 which finished 2-8 to 0-0 in Cork’s favour, the sides would meet a further 18 times before the Deise would finally claim a first victory, on a 5-2 to 1-3 scoreline a full half-century on from that first game.

That 1938 Munster semi-final clash saw Waterford go on to claim a first provincial crown and reach a first All-Ireland final, only for Dublin to halt their march. After that, the 1940s belonged to Cork who would win four All-Ireland’s on the spin from 1941 to 1944 and again in 1946, with wins over Waterford in 1943, 1946 and 1947. It would be another decade before a second Waterford victory, this time in a Munster final by a single-point margin and this time that long-awaited All-Ireland title finally arrived Suirside with revenge taken on the Dubs.

That pattern of Cork dominance pock-marked by flurries from Waterford would remain in place for the rest of the 20th century. Five games in the 1950s with Cork winning three. Seven in the sixties with a 1965 draw and a win in 1967 as good as it got for the Crystal County.

It went on. One win from five in the seventies. Three defeats in the eighties before a famous draw and a replay win as the decade closed. Normal service resumed in the nineties with Cork winning all three ties, the last of which was especially disappointing with an eight-point haul from the Rebels’ Michael O'Connell putting paid to the pre-match favourites in the 1999 Munster semi.

So as the 21st century rolled in, it seemed very much a case of ‘as you were’. Yet while the new Millennium would see the Deise and Cork swap wins back and forth, it was three matches that ended with no winner or loser that made this a very special rivalry for this writer.


Of all the main field sports played in Ireland, the free-scoring nature of hurling makes draws far less common than in other codes. In the first 112 years of this rivalry at Championship level, the sides met on 49 times with Cork winning 39, Waterford seven and the game finishing all-square on three occasions. Cork would win replays in 1931 and 1965 and Waterford finally managed to turn the tables in 1989.

Yet of the 18 matches played since the turn of the century, there have been the same number of draws as there was in the previous 112 years with the games in 2007, 2010 and 2014 all lighting up that year’s Championship.

With 2000 and 2001 passing without a meeting, 2002 saw Waterford claim first blood in that decade with a late Ken McGrath point ensuring that Munster semi-final wouldn’t end level. Cork would exact revenge and take Waterford’s Munster crown 12 months later.

The see-saw swung back the way of the Deise in John Mullane’s famous ‘I love me county!’ 2004 provincial final while two meetings in 2005 (a Munster semi in Semple Stadium and an All-Ireland quarter in Croke Park) both went to the men in red on their path to claiming back-to-back Liam MacCarthys.

Another ding-dong battle in the 2006 All-Ireland semi saw the team separated by the minimum once again in Cork’s favour, with Donal Óg Cusack preventing another late effort from Ken McGrath to level things from dropping over the bar.

Cork’s bid to make it three-in-a-row would eventually flounder on Brian Cody’s Kilkenny rock but despite having regained the upper hand on Waterford, the tight nature of those wins had shown that this iteration of the rivalry was a different beast to its 20th-century version.

While those days in the 1900s were very much a one and done affair, the introduction of the back-door in 1997 made it possible for teams to meet more than once in the same season. That first year would see Clare beat Tipperary in both the Munster and All-Ireland finals while 1998 saw Offaly take revenge on Kilkenny for their Leinster decider defeat by claiming the big one.

Experimental formats between provincial and back-door round-robins would see plenty of sides face off twice over the following decade but it was left to the Rebels and the Deise to go one better in 2007.


First up, a free-scoring belter of a Munster semi-final saw Waterford regain bragging rights, 5-15 to 3-18 with Dan ‘The Man’ Shanahan adding a brace to goals from Mullane, Paul Flynn and Eoin Kelly. For Cork, Ben O’Connor’s missed second-half penalty would add to the regrets.

With Waterford going on to brush Limerick aside to pocket another Munster title, Cork wouldn’t have to wait long for an opportunity for revenge. Comfortable wins over Dublin and Offaly in a qualifier round-robin were enough to put them through to an All-Ireland quarter where their Munster conquerors lay in wait. And with the return of Donal Óg Cusack, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín who’d missed the Munster tie through suspension, confidence was high on Leeside.

‘Familiarity is breeding brilliance’ would run the headline on Frank Roche’s match report after one of the most scintillating second halves ever witnessed in Croke Park. The scoreline of 3-16 each barely began to tell the story. The sides were level five times in the first half despite a Shanahan goal putting Waterford five points up after ten minutes. But the 1-07 to 0-10 half-time scoreline was only a taster before the main course.

The tone was set 22 seconds into the second stanza when Stephen Molumphy played in Paul Flynn who smashed a shot past Cusack. A Neil Ronan penalty 10 minutes later raised a green flag for Cork. On the hour mark, it was raised again after Kieran Murphy latched onto a Ronan rebound to put Cork a point ahead on 2-14. Another 30 seconds and Seamus Prendergast levelled the teams for the sixth time.

Cork seemed to have made the decisive move with another Ronan goal with five minutes left and when Kevin Harnett added an insurance score to leave them four clear with four to go, they looked home and hosed. But this Deise side were made of stern stuff and a Molumphy goal after Cusack had saved from Flynn brought the gap back to the minimum with 90 seconds on the clock.

The minute stoppage time allowed had nearly elapsed when substitute Eoin McGrath opened the Cork defence at the Canal End. But it immediately became clear that McGrath had more than levelling the game on his mind as he galloped in on goal and unleashed a shot that Cusack managed to parry out as far as Flynn. Another shot, another Cusack save, this time the ball remaining in the square where a scramble ensued, ending with Cusack prone across the sliotar.

While many refs would have thrown in the ball, perhaps it was apt that Brian Gavin took the technical approach and awarded the free in that Eoin Kelly tapped over the bar to square the match for the final time. As Marty Morrissey said in his RTÉ commentary, “neither Waterford or Cork deserved to lose this game.”

There would be a loser in the next game as Waterford made the most of their reprieve with a 2-17 to 0-20 win in another cracker that saw the sides level on 10 occasions before a Shanahan goal in the last quarter finally shook off Cork. Alas for the Deise, Limerick would take revenge for their Munster final defeat by ending their dreams of a first All-Ireland since 1959.


It would be three years before the sides were drawn together again with July 9, 2010, the date for another Munster final. While this game may have lacked the sheer quality of the 2007 encounter, it certainly didn’t lack the drama.

Waterford shaded the first half 0-7 to 0-6 but had opened a four-point gap by the 40-minute mark only to be outscored 2-5 to 0-2 in the next quarter-hour, with goals from Aisake Ó hAilpín and Ben O’Connor leaving them five adrift.

A recovery of sorts was kick-started by Eoin Kelly’s 58th-minute drive to the net which brought the deficit to a point but after Brian Murphy and Niall McCarthy pushed it back out to three, Cork looked in command. Points were swapped but the gap remained the same until the third minute of stoppage time when Waterford managed to win a free 20m from goal.

Donal Óg may have lined up six defenders across his goal-line but although they managed to block Kelly’s effort, the rebound fell nicely for Tony Browne who whipped it home to level the game for the sixth and final time.

Another draw led to another familiar feeling for Cork in a replay that also went right to the wire, with the 70 minutes played in a downpour of biblical proportions unable to separate the sides. Cork could have won it in normal time with a late penalty, only for Shane O’Sullivan to deflect John Gardiner’s strike over the bar and leave the sides level.

A calf injury saw Deise talisman John Mullane miss extra-time but in a sporting twist of fate his replacement, the old-stager Dan Shanahan, would prove the match-winner with his 83rd-minute goal skidding in. Even then, there'd be more drama with another grizzled veteran, the great Tony Browne, somehow stopping a goal-bound strike from Cathal Naughton with his head in the final play of the game to show why mandatory helmets are a good thing! But once again, a Tipp ambush in the All-Ireland semi would mean Waterford’s long wait for a national crown would go on.


The final act in this unique trilogy of tied games would arrive four years on. Cork had taken a modicum of revenge in 2012 with a three-point win in the All-Ireland quarter but it would be a Munster quarter in 2014 that would see the last Championship draw between the sides.

With the likes of Mullane, Shanahan and Browne having since stepped away, it was a more youthful Deise side under Derek McGrath that would be left with regrets. Nine points clear midway through the second half, Waterford had led for 66 of the 70 minutes.

With all their substitutes used as the side tired, a young Austin Gleeson was trying to see stoppage-time out with a knock of his own. Only he could say whether that contributed to his challenge on Cork goalie Anthony Nash as the ball was launched forward but either way, a free from where it landed was the result.

Patrick Horgan would make no mistake from the free and the sides would have to meet once more a fortnight later. This time, there’d be no second chance for Waterford to take as the Rebels steamrolled them by double-scores of 0-28 to 0-14. Another Munster would follow for Cork but once again their Liam MacCarthy bid would end at the semi-final stage, this time at the hands of Tipp.

Yet that Cork win didn’t quite signify a return to the lob-sided nature of the 20th-century rivalry. A Munster semi clash almost a year to the day later saw Waterford in the ascendancy once more after a 3-19 to 1-21 win, although fixtures in 2017, 2018 and 2019 have all gone in the direction of Leeside.

The unique circumstances of this year’s Championship have already seen a change from the round-robin format recently employed in the provinces. And with no replays, whatever transpires next weekend will need to be settled on the day.

But with the history of drama these two counties have thrown up over the last 20 years, could it be fitting to see these two Titans create another slice of it by being the first Championship tie to go all the way to penalties?

[Mickmack]

www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/1027/1174231-case-in-points-hurlings-high-score-head-scratcher/

[veteran]

I notice the media are reminding us that Christy Ring was born about 100 hundred years ago, Understandably, there is considerable brouhaha about his exploits as a hurler, and more pertinently if he was the greatest hurler of all.

I only saw Christy playing once , in the early sixties when Listowel sports field was reopened after a house clean. The main match was Kerry/Down and as a curtain raiser Kerry played Glen Rovers. I have no memory of who won that hurling match and my only recollection is that Christy was playing CHB for Glen Rovers. The point I am trying to make is that I am in no position to expound on the merits of Christy as a hurler. In any case , the idea of the greatest is a nebulous concept, influenced by bias and other variables. The very most anybody can say, if they wish to indulge in that pursuit , is that so and so was the greatest I have seen. The situation of course becomes farcical when people express verdicts on players they have never seen but know only by repute.

Now, when assessing a player’s claim to be being the greatest , Christy in this case, a lot of pundits don’t seem to be constrained by the limitations of just having seen some hurlers but not all, allowing for bias , difficulty of comparing different players from different generations etc. A dogmatic opinion is expressed that so and so has never had an equal.

The Christy saga usually surfaces when a noted hurler retires, very often a Kilkenny hurler for obvious reasons. It was a contentious topic of conversation when Eddie Keher retired , when DJ Carey retired and more recently when Henry Sheflin retired. A more rational discussion could take place relating to the relative merits of the three cats because the element of bias should not be a factor and also a huge swathe of people are alive who saw all three at their peak.

As far as I can recall Christy would have played his last championship game circa 1962. That is approximately sixty years ago. Perhaps , at the age of ten you would be capable of making a reasonable assessment of a player. That means you would be about seventy now. Christy started out on his storied career , I think in the mid forties.. He would have been at his peak I suppose for the next ten years or so , climaxing maybe in those those famous Wexford games 1954/1956. So. If you were around to see Christy at the zenith of his career you would need to have hit the eighty mark now.

Very few if any current assessments of Christy were expressed by people of that age group from what I have seen or heard over the past few days. This is not an attack on Christy I can assure you. He may well have been the greatest there ever was. I am not in a position to express an evaluation. The point I am trying to make is that there are an awful lot of people in that position who nevertheless have been pontificating as experts recently. The moral is , beware when you hear a reference to the greatest of all time. You maybe in the presence of a spoofer.

[Mickmack]

Veteran

Who are the most skillful hurlers you have seen

Who are the most most valuable hurlers you have seen in a team context.

The same players could be in both categories of course.

[Mickmack]

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Kevin Cummins: A consistent sliotar has had a huge impact on how hurling is played


Now that most past provincial, National League and All-Ireland hurling finals are available online, the dramatic improvement in skill levels in the past 15 years is dramatic




Kevin Cummins: A consistent sliotar has had a huge impact on how hurling is played


THU, 29 OCT, 2020 - 06:30
KEVIN CUMMINS




John Fogarty’s article in Tuesday’s Irish Examiner gave a vivid picture of the impact Covid-19 has had on inter-county competitions, both from the players’ and the journalists’ perspective. I was interested in the '10 reasons for high scores' and while I agree with most of them I would like to add some light and, maybe, contradict his point on the sliotar.

As my family has a vested interest in said sliotar, I have watched with interest the mounting scores in games in recent years and the accompanying commentary.

There is no doubt that the huge improvement in skill levels and conditioning of the modern hurler in our own lifetime has played a massive part in the increased scoring.

Now that most, if not all, past provincial, National League and All-Ireland hurling finals are available online, the dramatic improvement in skill levels in, say, the past 15 years is dramatic.

However, I have no doubt that the consistency of the sliotar in recent times has had a huge bearing on the improvement in skill levels that we marvel at today.

We have been manufacturing our ‘All-Star’ sliotar now for 45 years, since 1975. The ‘All-Star’ was first used in an All-Ireland final in 1976 – giving rise to my late father’s quip from high up in the Hogan Stand, “They’re my balls they’re playing with” - ignoring the fact that his two sons were also playing!

My late father, Willie Cummins - in the half-back line with Christy Ring when the latter won his first All-Ireland medal for minor hurling in 1938 - began making the ball that still bears his signature today in a garden shed at the back of our house in Ballinlough.

At that time the core of the ball consisted of a small cork ball – about the size of a golf ball – which was wound around with, well, whatever you’re having yourself! It depended on what was available at the time: wool, twine, hemp, gut, whatever he could get his hands on.

Eventually, he struck up an arrangement with Youghal Carpets who supplied him with remnants of cones of wool used in the making of their carpets which lent a certain consistency to the finished ball.


Willie gathered around him a loose collection of retirees like himself, many of whom were shoemakers, well used to working with leather, who worked from home stitching balls for him. He would provide them with the raw materials, pre-cut and punched leather ‘figures of eight’ and pre-wound cores of cork and wool and he would travel around the county collecting their handiwork which he would then bring home to polish the rims and stamp them with his name and coat of arms.

Because my father wasn’t the only sliotar-man working from home – every county had their own source of sliotars – there was huge inconsistency in the standard of balls produced. Still, in those early years, my father’s sliotar was regularly chosen by Croke Park on All-Ireland day. (Would it be too boastful to mention that the Wm. Cummins ‘All-Star’ sliotar has been the ball of choice for the past 10 All-Ireland finals!).

Croke Park finally took a stand and introduced specific specifications for the sliotar.


In order to be awarded the Croke Park official stamp, manufacturers had to submit a dozen balls to Dublin City University for testing: weight, diameter, co-efficient of restitution (how high the ball bounces from a steel floor when dropped from a given height).

In order to keep track of how our manufacturing process was faring, we persuaded Cork IT to set up a lab where the DCU tests were replicated and we could stay on the straight and narrow with our sliotar specs.

As my father’s generation of stitchers began to die away and it became impossible to replace them, the manufacture of sliotars moved to Pakistan, a country synonymous with the manufacture of cricket balls for their native sport.

The issue of under-age labour being used there at the time alarmed me. However I've made four trips to our supplier - two unannounced, I just landed in on top of him - and I found the set-up impeccable. My last visit was in February this year.

This move also coincided with the introduction of a moulded core to replace the traditional hand-wound woollen centre with all its inconsistencies – and that has made all the difference.

This is when the sliotar as we know it today ‘came of age’. It now became possible to produce sliotars of a consistency that was impossible heretofore. This meant that every night a team went out to train or play a match they were using exactly the same sliotar as they used the first night they began training.

I’m sure Pat Horgan must hit close to a thousand frees every week. When he stood over that far-from-easy free in the last minute of the All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick two years ago he could be assured the ball that faced him was exactly the same ball he pucked around with up in the Glen Field at the start of the season.

The ball is exactly the same weigh as it always was, it’s the same dimensions as it always was, but it’s the consistency of the core that has changed the ball for the better.


And it’s this consistency, in my opinion, that has made a huge difference to the confidence the modern hurler has when handling or striking the sliotar.

I’m always intrigued when watching subs puck-around at half time – when they’re allowed on the sacred sod - and the ’tricks’ they can effortlessly perform, especially when controlling a ball struck towards them. The ability of the ‘modern’ player to bring a flying sliotar under control effortlessly with his hurley can be breath-taking.

It’s a theory I’ve held for some time now: the consistent sliotar has had a huge impact on how the game of hurling is played – or can be played, with pin-point accuracy in the pass and the score-taking.

We’ll just have to see how the yellow sliotar fares, although I must confess it looked really well at the weekend on TV – especially when the flood-light were switched on. (The morning after the announcement from Croke Park I had to drop balls down to the Cork lads in Páirc Uí Rínn and then drive to Galway, Limerick, Ennis and Thurles delivering yellow balls to the county teams, as well as couriering balls to Dublin and Wexford.)

These inter-county guys don’t let the grass grow under their feet...


MORE IN THIS SECTION

[veteran]

Oct 30, 2020 23:06:23 GMT Mickmack said:

Veteran

Who are the most skillful hurlers you have seen

Who are the most most valuable hurlers you have seen in a team context.

The same players could be in both categories of course.[/quo

Mickmack, I will have to give that a bit of thought. There may be a flaw in my list in that it maybe top heavy with Cork players because I spent a lot of time there and therefore they are the guys I would have seen playing most often.

[Ballyfireside]

Oct 30, 2020 22:25:21 GMT veteran said:

I notice the media are reminding us that Christy Ring was born about 100 hundred years ago, Understandably, there is considerable brouhaha about his exploits as a hurler, and more pertinently if he was the greatest hurler of all.

I only saw Christy playing once , in the early sixties when Listowel sports field was reopened after a house clean. The main match was Kerry/Down and as a curtain raiser Kerry played Glen Rovers. I have no memory of who won that hurling match and my only recollection is that Christy was playing CHB for Glen Rovers. The point I am trying to make is that I am in no position to expound on the merits of Christy as a hurler. In any case , the idea of the greatest is a nebulous concept, influenced by bias and other variables. The very most anybody can say, if they wish to indulge in that pursuit , is that so and so was the greatest I have seen. The situation of course becomes farcical when people express verdicts on players they have never seen but know only by repute.

Now, when assessing a player’s claim to be being the greatest , Christy in this case, a lot of pundits don’t seem to be constrained by the limitations of just having seen some hurlers but not all, allowing for bias , difficulty of comparing different players from different generations etc. A dogmatic opinion is expressed that so and so has never had an equal.

The Christy saga usually surfaces when a noted hurler retires, very often a Kilkenny hurler for obvious reasons. It was a contentious topic of conversation when Eddie Keher retired , when DJ Carey retired and more recently when Henry Sheflin retired. A more rational discussion could take place relating to the relative merits of the three cats because the element of bias should not be a factor and also a huge swathe of people are alive who saw all three at their peak.

As far as I can recall Christy would have played his last championship game circa 1962. That is approximately sixty years ago. Perhaps , at the age of ten you would be capable of making a reasonable assessment of a player. That means you would be about seventy now. Christy started out on his storied career , I think in the mid forties.. He would have been at his peak I suppose for the next ten years or so , climaxing maybe in those those famous Wexford games 1954/1956. So. If you were around to see Christy at the zenith of his career you would need to have hit the eighty mark now.

Very few if any current assessments of Christy were expressed by people of that age group from what I have seen or heard over the past few days. This is not an attack on Christy I can assure you. He may well have been the greatest there ever was. I am not in a position to express an evaluation. The point I am trying to make is that there are an awful lot of people in that position who nevertheless have been pontificating as experts recently. The moral is , beware when you hear a reference to the greatest of all time. You maybe in the presence of a spoofer.

Now that's a mouthful Vet and fairly calls it, suffice as to say that we are all human and no better gang to offer their opinions that keyboard warriors. I don't watch much soccer but in one match I saw Ryan Giggs create a series of magic moves, so he'd be my best soccer player. I was in Dublin in the early 80's for a tamall and saw some great stuff at Lansdowne. Similarly with DJ Carey, showjumper Eddie Macken and swimmer Mark Spitz.

Much of what you allude to is down to probability theory and reliability, i.e. us on here might be a better judges of Gaelic Football as we'd have seen maybe thousands more hours of it, and that is assuming we are all honest and objective, and that is some assumption. Tell me on Kerryman who doesn't think his fellow parishioner with a single Celtic Cross wasn't the greatest!

So apart from all the Ballydonoghue and indeed NK laddos and with silver, one probably starts with Maurice Fitz, Gooch, Moynihan ... I'd have Donaghy there, the O'6's ... and then there be enigmas who just didn't play with AI winning teams like the late Dermot Earley, Mickey Kearns of Sligo and wasn't there a Tipp bucko too. And if Maurice Fitz fell into this category and he could well have, then he'd never be rated. Now full circle, weren't the Hennessys of Ballyduff mighty hurlers.

The only conclusion I can draw is that we are so fortunate to be able to have such conversations, spoiled for choice to put it mildly, and 'tis times like this that makes us realse it.

In the world of literature, apparently one of Ireland's greatest is a John Moriarty from Moyvane, yet who ever even heard of him? Why was he never even mentioned, let alone acknowledged by Listowel?

My final though on this would compare Christy Ring to James Joyce - while both were up there, of course there is also the hero-worship element, admirers who mightn't know them apart if they met 'em on the street, or mightn't know a sliotar from a book if truth be told. Yerra maybe it does 'em good to have their voice heard and who are we to argue?

[Mickmack]

Limerick look like they want to regain the title. Tipp look incapable of retaining it.

KK were very sharp against an off colour Dublin in the first half. Dublin came into it when KK took thr foot of the throat.

Wexford look off the pace as do Clare.

I didnt see Cork v Waterford but Cork probably not good enough either.

[dc84]

Cork havent a hope in a winter championship too soft they are physically the weakest team in the thing. They would be lucky to beat wexford or dublin from what ive seen

[veteran]

There is no doubt Limerick were hugely impressive today. Playing against the elements , the goal Tipp got after the blatant pickup could have sickened a lesser team but they seemed to just regard it as a trivial setback. Of course they looked very impressive against Tipp last year as well!

Even allowing for the fact that Gearoid Hegarty is blessed with long strides , he seemed to get away with a lot of steps for the penalty. It is interesting how often forwards get away with breaching the steps rule in situations like that whereas out the field they are likely to be penalised for a similar offence.

I must revise my evaluation of Ciam Lynch after today. I have often felt he was more showy than substantial. There was plenty of substance there today.

[Mickmack]

Nicky English



Despite the conditions in Cork, a winter storm to remind us that everything is different about this championship, a clear picture developed of hurling’s pecking order from the weekend’s matches with Limerick very much at the top and with Galway emerging as the team most likely to be their main challengers for the All-Ireland.

The conditions in Páirc Uí Chaoimh were really horrendous, as bad as we’ve ever seen, and with all the difficulties in preparation that was the final hurdle for players, coaches and managers to deal with.

First of all, you have to give credit to both Limerick and Tipperary for serving up as interesting a game as we’ve seen in this rapid-fire championship.

I was surprised Tipperary, having won the toss, chose to play against what was effectively a gale. I remember in the 1988 All-Ireland Final I chose to do the same and it’s not something I would ever again do again with a team. If you win the toss, you take whatever advantage there is and take it from there. That’s my feeling.

Limerick got to grips with the match conditions from early on and were stronger around the middle of the field. Will O’Donoghue was impressive and the switch of Cian Lynch to centre-half forward, while man marked by Alan Flynn, allowed him to dictate the game and importantly also dislodged Brendan Maher from centre-back.

Tom Morrissey too was impressive and Aaron Gillane looked dangerous. I’m not sure if switching Kyle Hayes to wing back worked, he wasn’t as involved as you would want him to be. But Limerick got the momentum early and, for me, the writing was on the wall from an early stage.

At the same time, Tipperary did recover and Jake Morris’s goal gave them hope in the run-up to half-time. However, Limerick always looked the better team and stretching it out to nine points at half-time gave them good breathing space.


I felt Limerick really showed their mettle playing into the wind in the second-half. Tipperary had a couple of frees from Jason Forde and Limerick were able to stretch it out again. Tipperary got a goal from John McGrath which shouldn’t have been allowed but even then the game was nearly gone.

The game was over for Tipperary after Gillane’s penalty which came from Gearóid Hegarty running at the Tipperary defence. He’s a monster in hurling terms and ably abetted by plenty more fine, strong players well practiced in close combat in the middle third.

Tipperary will be disappointed. The back door is an inconvenience they’ve come through before so you wouldn’t write them off but there are very worrying signs, particularly in the middle third.

Clear favourites
We haven’t seen Padraic Maher being replaced before and the forwards were out of ideas early. Séamie Callanan wasn’t able to score and the other big name Tipp players weren’t able to wrest the baton or power from Limerick at any stage.

Really, after the weekend I can see only Galway of the others threatening Limerick. None of the teams are out of the championship yet but Limerick are clear favourites. But there is something about Galway and they ultimately are likely to be the greatest challenge to Kiely’s side.

There’s no doubt the style of hurling is different in this Covid championship. All the teams are playing with two in the full-forward line, the middle third is crowded yet there are a huge number of players unmarked and loose and able to take mostly successful shots at goal leading to high scoring rates.

There appears to be a lot of unchallenged play but at the same time the championship is on and players are dealing with vastly different conditions in every way, not just pitch and weather conditions. Regardless, there is a clear pecking order developing and I find it hard to look outside Limerick or Galway. And, this year, with the rapid programme of qualifier games, winning the Munster or Leinster Championships is the way to go.


Waterford showed great application and were well-deserved winners over Cork. Cork’s workrate was poor last year and maybe with Kieran Kingston coming in there was a logic to think it could improve but they were as poor as they have been at any time over the last number of years. I felt they were leaderless and lost complete shape and Conor Lehane, Séamus Harnedy and Alan Cadogan were all replaced which told its own story.

Tadhg de Burca and Calum Lyons were both exceptional for Waterford, with de Burca having one of his best games ever, and with the support of Jamie Barron they were able to create a platform for a well-deserved victory. Liam Cahill should be delighted with the team effort.

To me, Galway look to be the team in Leinster. They have huge power and lots of talent in that forward division. Joe Canning was unerring from frees in the win over Wexford and Brian Concannon is adding a lot and the outstanding Conor Whelan looks ready to go to a higher level.

Wexford look to be down on previous editions and have very little new blood coming in. Galway have a new manager in Shane O’Neill and some new players and look strong contenders.

It was strange that Kilkenny had such a big lead and subsequently almost failed to close it out. But I was expecting Dublin to give Kilkenny a game and they are not going to be pushovers in the qualifiers for any of the teams and could settle in for a possible run in the backdoor.

[Mickmack]

Brian Gavin: I really do worry about the standard of hurling refereeing


MON, 02 NOV, 2020 - 06:00
Brian%20Gavin


Brian Gavin
It was a big weekend for the referees of the two Munster semi-finals. Big calls by the appointments committee and unfortunately ones that have to be questioned.

Liam Gordon and Seán Stack’s performances weren’t up to the standard required at this level, Liam’s more so than Sean’s.

There are obviously difficulties refereeing in such wicked weather especially for Liam in Cork yesterday but some things are not acceptable.

I’m talking, of course, about the decision to let the John McGrath goal stand.

Ultimately, it had no impact on the result and Liam can be thankful for that but the strike should have been disallowed. Instead, the score was put down after he wasted two minutes conferring with his umpires and his linesman.

Again, it raises the issue of a TV match official.

If we could just go to a referee who has a chance to look back on the incident and advise. I’m not talking about every decision but the major ones and this sure was a major one. When one player reacts angrily you pay it no heed but when so many of the Limerick side were incensed you do have to wonder if the score was legit.

Steps were a big issue across the four provincial semi-finals and while Johnny Murphy was punishing them in the Dublin-Kilkenny game they weren’t being refereed as strongly in the other three matches. Calum Lyons took about 10 steps in scoring his goal against Cork and it should have been a free out.



For Limerick’s penalty, Gearóid Hegarty also took too many steps but he was fouled on the way towards goal.

At least Colm Lyons, who was the saving grace from a hurling refereeing point of view, came back to award Galway a free after Conor Whelan had overstepped when scoring a goal on Saturday night.

Cynicism

Another notable blight on the games over the weekend was the amount of cynicism.

Us hurling diehards keep shouting down the need for a black card but it seems every time we do the evidence for its introduction gathers.

The number of pulldowns on players on their way towards goal in the Galway-Wexford game was horrendous and it’s got to the stage now when something has to be done to curb such horrible play.

I really do worry about the standard of refereeing too. There are about three or four referees now holding this hurling championship together and if they begin to fail then I don’t know what’s going to happen.

I’m sick of writing about the fascination with fitness in Croke Park but it’s becoming more and more obvious.


You saw how Seán missed Aussie Gleeson’s dig on Seamus Harnedy. Another fine hurler Patrick Horgan received a yellow for a flick when he too was lucky to stay on the field.

Seán also got caught by Jake Dillon when he dived for a free and Seán booked Sean O’Leary-Hayes for dissent. Robert Downey should have been booked for repeatedly slapping across Gleeson’s arm.

At least Seán didn’t seem to blow as much for restarts. With 52 shots in 36 minutes, the excessive whistling would have been extremely off-putting.

Tough day at the office

Liam mightn’t pick up a big game for a while after yesterday not just because of Tipperary’s second goal but other issues.

Aaron Gillane and Seán Finn should have received frees but were penalised instead. There was also a pull on Ronan Maher before he too was blown for overcarrying.

William O’Donoghue was yellow carded for a wild pull at the start of the second half but I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. Noel McGrath made a meal out of a Hegarty tackle when Hegarty was on a yellow card but at least Liam saw through that.

The yellows Colm gave out in Croke Park on Saturday were all justified.


Three pulldowns were all punished as per the rulebook and Joe Canning was also booked for a loose hurl to the head.

At least there seems to be some consistency with the amount of high tackles being yellow carded. On a bad weekend for hurling refereeing it was a rare highlight.

[Mickmack]

Brian Gavin was Codys favourite ref as everything was let go with hardly a whistle out of him.

Its quite amazing that he writes this stuff now even if a lot of it is true.

[Mickmack]

Its do or die from now on and Dublin v Cork today should be a good contest.

Cork people i know are despondent after the effort v Waterford.
Dublin were still in the dressingroom mentally while KK put up a huge score.

Dublins heroic fightback will give them cause to believe they can beat Cork.

[Mickmack]

Cork 6 points up at half time. Well worth the lead. Mark Coleman sweeping well. New fullback looks a better option that Cahalane and a new lad in the forwards called Dalton looks a find.

Dublin will have do to Cork what they did to KK in the second half.

[Mickmack]

Nov 7, 2020 16:43:17 GMT Mickmack said:

Cork 6 points up at half time. Well worth the lead. Mark Coleman sweeping well. New fullback looks a better option that Cahalane and a new lad in the forwards called Dalton looks a find.

Dublin will have do to Cork what they did to KK in the second half.

Cork won going away.

Poor from Dublin. Not enough scoring threat.

No sign of Darragh oConnell on the panel. Might he don the green and gold again i wonder

[Mickmack]

Cork v Tipp and Wexford v Tony Kelly tomorrow.
Losers are out.

[dc84]

Nov 13, 2020 15:18:19 GMT Mickmack said:

Cork v Tipp and Wexford v Tony Kelly tomorrow.
Losers are out.

Fixed that for you
Patrick Horgan vs tipp and wexford vs Tony Kelly

Think it will be the end of the line for Patrick and Tony this week !

[Mickmack]

Cork are coming off a good performance last weekend.
Tipp will have to up their game considerably. I wont be surprised if Cork win.

Wexford were poor v Galway and Davy was stunned. I expect then to subdue Tony Kelly enough to win this.