4-in-a-row

[Avenger]

Can't believe there's no thread congratulating the Cats yet.
Fantastic achievement.

[tackle-bag]

Can't believe there's no thread congratulating the Cats yet.

Maybe it's because they're so insufferably arrogant. I have no real hurling allegiances but I was firmly up for Tipp yesterday. Typical Irish sports team though - they got victory within their sights, panicked and stopped playing. Fair enough, the penalty decision was a farce but that was no excuse to completely lose all composure.

[Avenger]

I have no real hurling allegiances but I was firmly up for Tipp yesterday.

Yet you probably have a problem with Leinster folk supporting Munster?

You obviously don't know any of the team if you think they are arrogant.

[gfo]

it was a good match, tipp kept them close the whole way, but kk won deservedly.

I don't get the Leinster/Munster comment. Are we supposed to support all Leinster GAA teams over teams from the other provinces?

[olaf the fat]

Well done The Cats.

Arrogant? dont think so, maybe just "insufferably" good.

I support teams from Leinster ahead of other teams, but from now on we have the possibility of Galway being the Leinster champions

[Avenger]

Some people get very touchy about Leinster people supporting Munster.
I don't see why would you support another provinces teams unless you had a connection to them.

I'm not from Dublin or Meath but wanted them to win after the Leinster championship as they were Leinster teams.
Leinster football hasn't won an All Ireland since 96 so I would love to see any Leinster team win it.

[Avenger]

I support teams from Leinster ahead of other teams, but from now on we have the possibility of Galway being the Leinster champions

I think that was a great move. It strengthens the Leinster championship and gives Galway and Antrim more competitive games before the All Ireland series. Hurling was the winner.

[tackle-bag]

I have no real hurling allegiances but I was firmly up for Tipp yesterday.

Yet you probably have a problem with Leinster folk supporting Munster?

You obviously don't know any of the team if you think they are arrogant.

I don't think the 'Lunster' rugby debate can by any means be transferred onto Gaelic Games. Besides, even if it can, KK's only lasting contribution to rugby in the past decade has been a Munster stalwart.

I've only met a few of the KK players over the years and, to be fair, they weren't the worst of sorts. I wouldn't describe them as bastions of modesty by the same token. What I was really referring to, and I apologise for not being clearer, were the fans. They have this idea down there that the team are like the High Kings, above the law. I know from a professional context of a number of incidents of KK panelists getting away with all sorts of mischief. It reminds me of that old Father Ted quote: "There was a time in this country when the police used to be friends of the Church - speeding fines quashed, drink-driving charges struck out... even a blind eye turned to the odd murder!"

[gfo]

I have to say, don't give a toss about other Leinster counties when it comes to GAA. Basically Leinster is a rugby only thing for me, there's no real sense of a united province in anything else

[Avenger]

What I was really referring to, and I apologise for not being clearer, were the fans. They have this idea down there that the team are like the High Kings, above the law.

All successful teams have fans like that.
We are European champions. In the next 9 seasons, if Leinster were to win 6 more Heineken cups, do you honestly believe that there wouldn't be a section of the Leinster support that would not be short in the "confidence" department?

Hurling is everything in Kilkenny so the players probably are worshiped but I don't see how that is a bad thing.

[Xanthippe]

Saw a fantastic tee shirt on Saturday

'Carlsberg don't do hurling teams but if they did ......


.... Kilkenny would beat the shite out of them!'

Well done the Cats.

[tackle-bag]

What I was really referring to, and I apologise for not being clearer, were the fans. They have this idea down there that the team are like the High Kings, above the law.

All successful teams have fans like that.
We are European champions. In the next 9 seasons, if Leinster were to win 6 more Heineken cups, do you honestly believe that there wouldn't be a section of the Leinster support that would not be short in the "confidence" department?

Hurling is everything in Kilkenny so the players probably are worshiped but I don't see how that is a bad thing.

Even if we were to achieve that, I can't see BOD being waved through a drink-driving checkpoint while 12 pints deep. That's exactly the kind of stuff that goes on down in KK, as I was alluding to earlier.

[olaf the fat]

I have to say, don't give a toss about other Leinster counties when it comes to GAA. Basically Leinster is a rugby only thing for me, there's no real sense of a united province in anything else

Many years ago meath were playing the SF after beating dublin. I asked my father why he was shouting for meath, he replied I'am a Leinster man and they are a Leinster team. This has stuck with me since, but like everybody else I have links to different counties and provinces

[Leinster Zulu]

I hoped the Cats won just liked I hoped Meath beat Kerry the other week.

Leinster over Munster every day.

[Cianostays]

It was a magnificent sporting occasion. A real privilege to be there. Two of my closest friends from college are from Tipp so I was rooting for them. However that Kilkenny panel deserve to be recognised as one of the greatest teams of all time and wining 4-in-a-row gives them that recognition.

Well done the cats

[Grumpy Old Man]

Caught the 2nd half on TV. They dug it out well, I thought that Tipp were starting to pull away and then 2 quick goals killed the game.

Crowd control needs some work though!

[Leinster_Lily]

Not really a hurling fan, but I thought it was a very dirty game. A good few shoulders/elbows to the head/chest that should have been dealt with by the ref early on. A lot of the pundits etc didn't want to talk about this as Hurling really needed a good final (apparently) and they didn't want anything to take away from a competitive match.

[Leinster Zulu]

Not really a hurling fan, but I thought it was a very dirty game. A good few shoulders/elbows to the head/chest that should have been dealt with by the ref early on. A lot of the pundits etc didn't want to talk about this as Hurling really needed a good final (apparently) and they didn't want anything to take away from a competitive match.

Nothing wrong with a bit of needle.

Oh, and Plan B

[Avenger]

It was a great occasion but the ref for me was very poor.
The Sunday game guys didn't "analyze" it but the Tipp defenders were let away with murder in the first half. How Shefflins jersey was still in one piece at half time I don't know as his marker was ripping at it all game. There was also a lot of defenders holding the attackers hurlies which the ref let go.
I suppose he was trying to let it flow but a foul is a foul. If that game was reffed properly in the first half, Kilkenny would have been more than 2 points up.
Tipp were outstanding for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half and looked like they could go on to win it but a few things happened. The sending off gave Kilkenny an extra man and Martin Comerford was brought on and Kilkenny started winning more ball from puck outs.
It was a great game but I don't think that hurling needed a great final. They say that every year.

A good year for hurling IMO. Tipp played really well which is what made the final. Waterford and Limerick were perhaps overawed by the occasion in the previous finals. They say you have to lose one to learn how to win one so maybe they'll use yesterday to inspire them on to winning it next year or the year after. Kilkenny will have to lose eventually. There'd be no shame in losing to a team as good as the team they played yesterday.

[Broken Wing]

I support teams from Leinster ahead of other teams, but from now on we have the possibility of Galway being the Leinster champions

I think that was a great move. It strengthens the Leinster championship and gives Galway and Antrim more competitive games before the All Ireland series. Hurling was the winner.

Have to disagree with you there Avenger. The hurlers from Westmeath and Carlow win the Christy Ring every year but are not allowed compete for their own provincial title while Galway and Antrim can compete for it? How is hurling in Carlow or Westmeath a winner there? It's not Westmeath or Carlow's fault that Derry can't put it up to Antrim yet, at a time when there's a bit of a resurgence in hurling in both Westmeath and Carlow they are are being punished for it.

The hurlers from Mayo, Roscommo and Derry don't even have a provincial competition anymore. Sure, they may be muck compared to Galway or Antrim but they field teams in the league every year so why not let them hammer out their provincial title without the big guns instead of just giving them the other cups to compete in? It's not like there's not a spare weekend or two for them to use. The Ring and Rackard cups finished months ago.

Delighted for Kilkenny. I see no arrogance in the Kilkenny supporters I know.

Like others in this thread have said, I'll always cheer a Leinster county, even (EastWest)Meath, over a county from another province.