Three in a Row
May 11th, 2006
Tom’s Sporting Almanac has previewed the upcoming hurling championship, with a look at each of the contenders. A good article - until he says he thinks Kilkenny will just scrape it.
Cork’s major worry will be about injuries. They do not have Kilkenny’s numbers, but their quality overrides any deficiency in quantity. However, injuries to the likes of Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Sean Og O hAilpin, the O’Connors or Ronan Curran would be debilitating, especially if they occured amongst their inspirational defendsive division.
UP THE REBELS!!
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May 11th, 2006 at 21:15 pm
Up the Rebels indeed! I was at the semis last year and saw them literally steal the match right out from under Clare. It was fantastic. When the chips are down, Cork knows how to pull themselves together and do what they need to do.
Looking forward to this season.
May 12th, 2006 at 0:06 am
Well said - is it the mark of a great team that they can win when they are not playing particularly well. I was at the Clare match too, Cork only played at 75% for most of the game, but managed to stay within reach. I actually felt bad for Clare, since they’re my second favourite team.
May 12th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Hey James, thanks for the link. Was at that game too, there was a sense of inevitability that Cork would haul Clare back, they never panicked and just reeled Clare in calmly. I really think it is a toss of a coin between them and Kilkenny this year, and Cork would be slight favourites, but I’d say Kilkenny will be unbelievably determined this year - its a matter of honour for them not to let Cork get three in a row…
May 13th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Tom - You are so right about Cork in the Clare match. I didn’t think about it at the time, since I was so hyped up about the win, but there really was something focused and calm about their play. I compare that now to the Galway-Tipp quarter-final match that I attended last year. Tipp was winning for part of the match, then Galway started to get a foothold (you gotta love that Ger Faragher) and pulled past them. Tipp just fell apart. Not to take anything away from Galway, they played like mad things, but you could see Tipp panicking and collapsing and just wildly taking shots at points.