Waterford Crystal and Walsh Cup thread

[The Puke]

Post all related news here

Waterford Crystal gets under way this weekend with Tipp hosting LIT in Nenagh

Tipp team is as follows

Gleeson
Cahill
Curran
Walsh
Shane Maher
Coughlan
Paudie Maher
Woodlock
Brendan Maher
Adrian Ryan
S McGrath
Bonner
Pa Bourke
Buggy O'Mears,
O' Neill.


LIT's should be along the following lines

LIT: Andrew Fahy (Clare), Eamonn Glynn (Clare), Richie McCarthy (Limerick), Brian Glynn (Clare), Eoin Whelan (Waterford), John O Keeffe (Tipperary), Paudie O Brien (Limerick), Stephen Lambert (Galway), Paul Browne (Limerick), Sean O Brien (Limerick) , Sean Collins (Clare), Colin Madden (Limerick), Cathal McInerney (Clare), Cathal O Connell (Clare), Eoin Ryan (Limerick) .

Subs: Gary Guilfoyle, Colin Nelson, Ronan Taaffe, Martin Duggan, John Guilfoyle

[hurlingguru]

Shocking performance from Carlow last night. I know we were missing at least 12 or 13 but I expected a bit of fire in them. UCD led by Noel McGrath were in second gear the whole way through. Not physical enough we were pushed around the pitch last night.

[North Side Gael]

Dissapointing for carlow alright, hope they get a strong league squad together, should make an excellent div3 if they do! Good luck in sheild!

[hurlingguru]

Can't see us beating Westmeath without the 8 Mt Leinster Rangers lads who are playing the All Ireland IHC Semi Final tomorrow. God only knows when they'll be back. Very concerned at the moment. The minor doesn't look too good. Very small team. Playing DIT next who we already lost to in a challenge match.

[The Puke]

An experimental Clare team are hammering a second string WIT side in Sixmilebridge.

2-14 to 0-02 at half time.

Laois 5 points up against the Dubs in the Walsh cup and NUIG are leading Kilkenny by a point

[The Puke]

Clare won on a scoreline of 3-25 to 5 points.

Laois beat Dublin by a goal. Kilkenny beat NUIG by a point

[Boxtyeater]

Matters regarding hurling on here will be orchestrated by the appointed hurling authority ie. Hurlingguru....

Please desist from invocating meaningless fixtures from munster into this forum. "Clarehurlers" is where it's at for ye're ilk...

[The Puke]

Clare up against Limerick nest week. Should be a good indication as to where we are at. Good to hear that the 3 young lads from the 2010 and 2011 minor teams showed up well, Seadna Morey was supposed to have been quite composed at wing back while Daire Keane hit 1-4 from play at centre forward and Aaron Cunningham hit 1-6(1-4 from play)

[The Puke]

Offaly beat Wexford in the Walsh shield and Galway hammered UCD

[Boxtyeater]

Clare up against Limerick nest week. Should be a good indication as to where we are at. Good to hear that the 3 young lads from the 2010 and 2011 minor teams showed up well, Seadna Morey was supposed to have been quite composed at wing back while Daire Keane hit 1-4 from play at centre forward and Aaron Cunningham hit 1-6(1-4 from play)

While admiring your grá for matters Bannerside, there's nothing won in early Spring. Have Clare the players/system/management/forwards/committment/hunger/ability to mount a campaign come Summer..

Under-age success doesn't of itself bring senior glory. Gerlock was a managerial totem-pole in his time, but that type of "Galvanistic Messiah" is yesterdays man......

Westmeath, Laois and Roscommon in football spring to mind.

[The Puke]

Tis all about development, boxty. The raw materials are there but it will take time. We will have a fine side in 3 or 4 years time. Whether we have any tangible success is another story but the only way is up in the next few years.

The panel is very young but all these young lads have been stand out hurlers at schools/colleges level, Fitzgibbon, minor and 21's, they look around and they are as good as anything at those levels. What is killing us at this moment in time is that we lack experienced players and leaders in the set up. Of the 6 or 7 lads who would be over 25 on the panel they are all average/poor hurlers at I/C level. Give these young lads another couple of years to get experience and lose the bit of callowness and physically develop and they will more than hold their own.

Last years under 21 side apart (due to personal reasons with the management) we have been very competitive at that level for the last 5 years, competing in three munster finals and winning an all ireland. The same at minor level, winning two munster titles and going to the likes of Walsh Park, Thurles and Pairc Ui Chaoimh and turning over the home sides. We will have another decent minor team this year albeit probably not to the standard of the last three minor sides while we will be strong at 21's as well. Next years Clare under 21 side will be exceptional. There is serious work being done at grass roots and we are now producing some very good young hurlers, the problem is that we started this too late and are currently paying the price for our terrible displays at underage level in the early part of the last decade hence the lack of decent hurlers on the panel aged 25 and over

[Boxtyeater]

Tis all about development, boxty. The raw materials are there but it will take time. We will have a fine side in 3 or 4 years time. Whether we have any tangible success is another story but the only way is up in the next few years.

The panel is very young but all these young lads have been stand out hurlers at schools/colleges level, Fitzgibbon, minor and 21's, they look around and they are as good as anything at those levels. What is killing us at this moment in time is that we lack experienced players and leaders in the set up. Of the 6 or 7 lads who would be over 25 on the panel they are all average/poor hurlers at I/C level. Give these young lads another couple of years to get experience and lose the bit of callowness and physically develop and they will more than hold their own.

Last years under 21 side apart (due to personal reasons with the management) we have been very competitive at that level for the last 5 years, competing in three munster finals and winning an all ireland. The same at minor level, winning two munster titles and going to the likes of Walsh Park, Thurles and Pairc Ui Chaoimh and turning over the home sides. We will have another decent minor team this year albeit probably not to the standard of the last three minor sides while we will be strong at 21's as well. Next years Clare under 21 side will be exceptional. There is serious work being done at grass roots and we are now producing some very good young hurlers, the problem is that we started this too late and are currently paying the price for our terrible displays at underage level in the early part of the last decade hence the lack of decent hurlers on the panel aged 25 and over

Bullish, exceptionally bullish from The Puke here. Wonderful to see the medium to long term view being taken by an avid supporter..
Say what you like here folks, you musn't expect every Summer to bring home a Sam or Liam unless you're Kerry or Kilkenny.
Clare have had a rattle of good young lads (the minor corner back Morey springs to mind) and there's hope in the Banner.

[The Puke]

All too easy for Clare as WIT fail to turn up
Clare 3-25 WIT 0-5
By Diarmuid O’Flynn

Monday, January 30, 2012

A winning debut for Davy Fitzgerald in his first competitive game at the helm of his native county as a far fitter, faster and fired-up Clare destroyed WIT in Sixmilebridge yesterday in this Waterford Crystal SH Tournament preliminary game.

It was a competent display from a youthful and experimental home 15 but, in truth, WIT simply didn’t turn up. They were there physically, though even at that they barely scraped together a full team, but with an eye to Thursday’s Fitzgibbon Cup first-round date with CIT their spirit was very much elsewhere.

Manager Peter Kirwan: "We were short about 10 who would probably have been playing, a few also who are involved with their own counties, but our championship is on Thursday; the Fitzgibbon Cup, that’s our priority, so we weren’t too pushed about not having them either."

Had the Munster Council gone about it properly, however, it would have been a very different game, says Peter. Instead, this was a complete waste of time and effort for both teams, a complete waste of time also for CIT manager Pat Mulcahy, who had come to cast an eye over Thursday’s opponents.

Not so for the 638 faithful who settled into the comfort of the all-seater Tommy Morey Stand in O’Garney Park. It was Davy’s first outing with Clare, but it was also a senior competitive debut for a few youngsters who, in time, will surely star in the saffron-and-blue.

Wing-back Seadna Morey was electric at left-half-back, Daire Keane led the attack like a veteran, Aaron Cunningham of Wolfe Tones was superb at corner-forward, while Cathal Chaplin was powerful on the wing.

Cian Dillon was a commanding figure at full-back, the returning Domhnall O’Donovan gave a performance of pace and power at corner-back, while in style and stature James McInerney – another youngster – looked like a reincarnation of the recently retired Gerry Quinn, though at right-half-back.

Colin Ryan was on fire at full-forward until suffering injury just before half-time, while elsewhere the likes of Conor Cooney, Enda Barrett (who will play with WIT this Thursday), midfield duo Nicky O’Connell and Pat Donnellan, big Fergal Lynch and the hard-working Eoin Hayes and Jonny Clancy all looked sharp, given the time of year.

As a contest it was all over within ten minutes, at which point Clare were already 0-6 to 0-0 ahead. The one-way traffic continued to the break, at which point Clare led 2-14 to 0-3 (Cunningham and Keane with the goals). No change either on the resumption, Eoin Hayes finally getting reward for his sterling efforts with the third Clare goal. In fact were it not for the sheer brilliance of WIT keeper Stephen O’Keeffe this would have been a loss of epic proportions.

As it was, Davy pronounced himself just about pleased. "Once we win and win well that’s fine — it’s up to Waterford what kind of team they put out. Things I was pleased with, things I wasn’t, but, in general, if you look at the team I think they worked very hard and you can’t ask for any more than that. It’s only the 20th of January — hard work, that’s all it was. We knew the game was over after the first half but we just had to keep working and not drop our tempo."

Scorers for Clare: D Keane 1-6; C Ryan 0-7 (0-3f); A Cunningham 1-4 (0-2f); E Hayes 1-0; N O’Connell 0-3; P Donnellan 0-2; J Clancy 0-2, C Cooney 0-1.

Scorers for WIT: D Murphy 0-2 (0-2f); J Dillon, K Hammersley (f), C O’Meara (f), 0-1 each.

CLARE: P Kelly; D O’Donovan, C Dillon, C Cooney; J McInerney, E Barrett, S Morey; N O’Connell, P Donnellan; C Chaplin, D Keane, F Lynch; E Hayes, C Ryan, A Cunningham.

Subs: J Clancy (Ryan inj. 27); B Donnellan (Lynch 59); M Earley (Cooney 60); S O’Halloran (Morey 69).

WIT: S O’Keeffe (Waterford); M Power (Waterford), P Nolan (Kilkenny), J Cahill (Kilkenny); S O’Keeffe (Waterford), L O’Loughlin (Clare), D Murphy (Dublin); M Power (Kilkenny), J O’Dwyer (Tipperary); E Madigan (Waterford), S Cleary (Tipperary), C O’Meara (Tipperary); T Kavanagh (Tipperary), J Dillon (Waterford), K Hammersley (Tipperary).

Subs: B Burke (Galway, O’Dwyer 55); N Connors (Waterford, O’Keeffe 55).

Referee: D Kirwan (Cork



Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[The Puke]

Limerick team for tomorrow night

Nicky Quaid

Steven Walsh
Tom Condon
Shane O Neill

Byran O Sullivan
Wayne McNamara
Thomas Ryan

Dodge
Conor Allis

Declan Hannon
James Ryan
Niall Maher

Mark Carmody
Niall Moran
Mikey Ryan

[North Side Gael]

Any chance kerry could catch an inexperienced cork on the hop? with any luck be nice to see.

[The Puke]

Tipp beat UL 2-11 to 0-12. Conor McGrath was yet again the best hurler on the pitch

[The Puke]

No seperating Clare and Limerick this evening, level after normal time, extra time and extra extra time.

0-17 to 1-14

Replay takes place on Tuesday evening

[The Puke]

Hannon to the rescue for Limerick
Clare 0-18 Limerick 1-15
By Diarmuid O’ Flynn

Monday, February 06, 2012

A virtuoso display from teenage star Declan Hannon denied Clare a merited home win in Sixmilebridge in a marathon Waterford Crystal quarter-final on Saturday evening.

The sides were tied at the end of the regulation 70 minutes, 0-13 (Clare) to 1-10 (Limerick), the deadly Hannon with 1-8 for the visitors. They were still deadlocked after 20 minutes of extra-time on 0-17 to 1-14 apiece, with Hannon landing three more points. A further 10 minutes was still not enough to separate two big-hearted teams, just a point apiece added as both defences were increasingly dominant in heavy conditions.

Referee Cathal McAllister had seen enough, and though the programme unequivocally stated that extra-time would be played ‘until a result is achieved’, two and a half hours after play had started McAllister signalled an end to proceedings.

The replay has been fixed for tomorrow evening at the Gaelic Grounds (7pm) and on the evidence of this display, it deserves a bumper crowd.

Looking sharper and hungrier than their visitors, Clare led by three points at the end of the opening half (0-7 to 0-4). Midfielders Nicky O’Connell and Pat Donnellan had a point apiece from play, corner-forwards Eoin Hayes and Jonny Clancy likewise while tricky full-forward Aaron Cunningham (2) and O’Connell (1) had the other Clare points from placed balls. Hannon hit four (two 65s, two frees) for Limerick.

Clare maintained that gap until the 60th minute (0-11 to 0- when Hannon — after good work by Mark Carmody and Jim Bob Ryan — was pulled down in the box in the act of goaling. The Adare youngster bounced up and drilled home the resultant penalty to tie the game.

Twice Clare regained the lead, twice they were hauled back.

Into our first period of extra-time and again it was Clare nosing ahead with a pointed free apiece from O’Connell and Cunningham, but Hannon, beating off the close attention of three defenders, pulled one back for Limerick before half-time.

Twice more in the second half of extra-time Clare again edged two points in front, substitute John Conlon getting a huge cheer for an angled point on his home ground (set up by Cunningham), but with another McNamara point and two from the superb Hannon, Limerick again came back to tie.

Referee McAllister was headed for the dressing room but was stopped and informed that a further period of extra-time had to be played. So off we went again. To their great credit not a single player on either team showed any slackening off of effort with neither side prepared to lose a game into which they had put so much effort.

Two minutes into the second extra-time, the 92nd minute of action, Limerick went ahead for the first time in the match, a point from wing-forward Conor Allis but Aaron Cunningham cancelled that within minutes. It proved the final score of a hugely entertaining encounter.

"Declan Hannon has everything," said John Allen in this his first competitive outing as Limerick manager. "He’s after filling out, he’s now a lot bigger physically, strong; he’s two-sided, a fine free-taker, his work-rate has radically improved over the last two months. He is a really good player."

Not that John’s satisfaction was confined to one player, nor should it have been. "We had a very weakened side out and Clare had done so well last weekend. It would have been a very bad start for us if we had been at the receiving end of a bad beating. For that reason I’m very pleased with the result, very pleased with the work-rate and the effort, the sheer will to win the fellas showed was heartwarming."

Equally pleased was Clare first-year manager Davy Fitzgerald. "We’re delighted. Of course we wanted to win it and so did they. We played a different style tonight, we wanted to see how we would get on and we got on all right with it. Tonight wouldn’t have suited a lot of our fellas — we have a lot of young fellas and small fellas but it was good in that we didn’t back down. They’ve beaten us the last few times we met competitively so we stopped the rot. The (league) game in three weeks is the game. They will be at full tilt and so will we. They will reckon they will have the edge, probably should have won an All-Ireland quarter-final last year, we are meant to be a good bit off that. Hopefully we’ll have bridged the gap."

Scorers for Clare: N O’Connell 0-7 (0-3f, 0-1 65); A Cunningham 0-6 (0-6f); P Donnellan 0-2; E Hayes, J Clancy, J Conlon, 0-1 each.

Scorers for Limerick: D Hannon 1-11 (1-0p, 0-5f, 0-2 65s); C Allis 0-2; W McNamara 0-2.

CLARE: P Kelly; D O’Donovan, C Dillon, C Cooney; J McInerney, E Barrett, S Morey; N O’Connell, P Donnellan; C Chaplin, D Keane, F Lynch; E Hayes, A Cunningham, J Clancy.

Subs: C Galvin (Hayes 50); J Conlon (Keane 56); P Kelly (Chaplin 95).

LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Walsh, T Condon, S O’Neill; B O’Sullivan, W McNamara, T Ryan; D O’Grady, C Allis; D Hannon, J Ryan, N Maher; M Carmody, T Quaid, E Gleeson.

Subs: G Mulcahy (T Quaid 29); G O’Mahony (Maher 45); T O’Callaghan (O’Sullivan 45); B Geary (Gleeson 55); D Moloney (Walsh 80), M Carr (Ryan 98).

Referee: C McAllister (Cork).




Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[The Puke]

Teams for the replay tonight

1. Nickie Quaid, 2. Stephen Walsh, 3. Tom Condon, 4. Shane O' Neill, 5. Bryan O'Sullivan, 6. Wayne McNamara, 7. Tom Ryan, 8. Donal O'Grady, 9. Gavin O'Mahony, 10. Declan Hannon, 11. James Ryan, 12. Niall Maher, 13. Mark Carmody, 14. Niall Moran, 15. Mikey Ryan

Clare:

1. Derek Fahy, 2. Seadna Morey, 3. Cian Dillon, 4. Mark Earley, 5. Ciaran O'Doherty, 6. James McInerney, 7. Stephen O'Halloran, 8. Colm Galvin, 9. Brian Donnellan, 10. Danny Russell, 11. Daire Keane, 12. John Conlan, 13. Jonathan Clancy, 14. Ross Horan, 15. Padraig Hickey


Limerick to win looking at the teams

[The Puke]

Clare's third string won with a last minute point from Pat Donnellan. Great result considering the strength of the Limerick side, Clare led from the first minute til the 57th when Limerick took the lead for the first time. Probably the most experimental Clare team I have seen out in a long time, pretty much last years intermediate side mixed with the minors of the past two years.

Take on Waterford now on Sunday. At least they will have plenty of games under their belt before the league starts

[North Side Gael]

Judging by the scoreline in the kerry cork game the other day kerry didnt let themselves down and continue to show improvement, long may it continue.

[The Puke]

Kilkenny had a comfortable win over Galway in the Walsh Cup final

Cork and Tipp have gone to ET while Clare are three points up on Waterford at h/t

[The Puke]

Tipp won in ET while Clare won 3-17 to 4-09

[The Puke]

Clare cakewalk, but too early for banner headlines, says Davy

Waterford 4-09 Clare 3-17
By John Murphy
Monday, February 13, 2012
Despite the insistence of Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald that the result of this Waterford Crystal Cup semi-final yesterday will be an "utter irrelevancy’’ when the counties meet in the June Munster championship semi-final, the Banner boss must have been impressed at the way his charges performed.
With the exception of the opening quarter, when Waterford forced the pace, Clare were the far superior outfit, and but for a hat trick of late goals the home side would have suffered a much heavier defeat.

Fitzgerald said the outcome will have no relevance on the championship stage: "I know exactly what these Waterford players are made of, and there is no point whatever in me getting excited about our performance today, ’’ Fitzgerald said.

"In June it will be a very different story and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t living in the real world.’’

Even so, his Waterford counterpart Michael Ryan couldn’t conceal his disappointment.

"Today Clare put down some very serious question marks that must be answered by us, and clearly we now have a serious lot of work to be done before we next meet them in the championship,’’ Ryan said.

Waterford made the perfect start and were six points to the good inside a quarter of an hour, having had the tonic of an excellent Seamas Prendergast goal in the 10th minute.

Even at that early stage Walsh had emerged as a real thorn in the side of the Clare defence, and quality points in the 5th and 6th minutes were no less than his great play deserved. His eventual loss through injury was a serious blow to Waterford.

Leading by six points, 1-6 to 0-3, with 20 minutes played, there was little to indicate the depth of the Clare mastery to come, In the space of 12 minutes they reeled off 1-6 without a solitary Waterford response, with their goal in the 27th minute scored by Daire Keane.

Colin Ryan too rifled over a marvellous point, and although a pointed free by Martin O’Neill was the final score of the half, Clare were by then a deserving 1-9 to 1-7 in front.

For virtually the entire second half, Waterford were forced to play second fiddle to rampant Clare.

Waterford’s positioning of Michael "Brick’’ Walsh at midfield in a switch from centre-forward never paid the expected dividend, and Clare’s near total dominance early in the second-half saw them virtually out of sight with 15 minutes remaining.

The second goal came in the 54th minute, a superb effort by Aaron Cunningham, stretching the Clare lead to ten points, 2-15 to 1-8, and while the closing seven minutes brought Waterford goals by Martin O’Neill in the 64th and 68th minutes and another by Seamas Prendergast they were only a small source of consolation.
Scorers for Clare: C Ryan (0-6, 0-5 frees); A Cunningham (1-2); C Galvin (1-1); D Keane (1-1); P O’Connor (0-2); T Carmody, P Donnellan, F Lynch, P Kelly, J Conlon (0-1) each.

Scorers for Waterford; M O’Neill (2-6, 0-6 frees); S Prendergast (2-0); S Wash (0-2); M Shanahan (0-1,f).

CLARE: D Tuohy; D O’Donovan, C Dillon, C, Cooney; S Morey, E Barrett, P O’Connor; C Galvin, P Donnellan; J Conlon, D Keane, F Lynch; T Carmody, C, Ryan, A, Cunningham.

Subs; P, Kelly for Barrett (HT); C, Chaplin for Lynch (48); R, Horan for Keane (60).

WATERFORD: A, Power; S, Fives, D, Prendergast, A, Kearney; J, Nagle, S, O’Sullivan, K, Moran; M, Walsh, P, O’Brien; M, Shanahan, S, Prendergast, D, Twomey; M, O’Neill, S, Walsh, E, McGrath.

Subs; P, Nevin for Twomey(40); T, Ryan for Walsh, inj (51).

Referee: John Ran, Tipperary.

==============================================================


Final will be in Sixmilebridge next weekend. Probably Saturday evening

[The Puke]

Tipp side for this weekends final

1. Brendan Cummins (Ballybacon-Grange)
2. Conor O’Brien (Éire Óg Annacarty)
3. John Coghlan (Moyne-Templetuohy)
4. Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields)
5. Donagh Maher (Burgess)
6. Conor O’Mahony (Newport)
7. Shane Maher (Burgess)
8. David Young (Toomevara)
9. James Woodlock (Drom and Inch)
10. Gearóid Ryan (Templederry Kenyons)
11. Noel McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney)
12. Adrian Ryan (Templederry Kenyons)
13. John O’Neill (Clonoulty Rossmore)
14. Brian O’Meara (Kilruane MacDonaghs)
15. Timmy Hammersley (Clonoulty Rossmore

[Sponsored content]