u/Colm_Flaherty

Same format as usual: tackles made and metres carried counted in 5s, defenders beaten counted in 2s via Superbru Fantasy with dominant tackles via RugbyPass.

Criteria for selection: https://www.reddit.com/r/irishrugby/s/q4CZz9JybS

Connacht

1. Shamus Hurley-Langton (Back Row) - He put in 5 tackles, carried 20m with dynamism, power and aggression whilst getting the better of 2 defenders. An OK cameo from him.

2. Cian Prendergast (Back Row) - He put in 10 tackles (1 dominant) and carried 35m with dynamism, aggression and power. An OK game from him.

3. Seán Jansen (Back Row) - He put in 15 tackles (1 dominant), got a turnover, carried 20m with good power and aggression whilst getting the better of 2 defenders to score his try. A good game from him.

4. Cathal Forde (Midfield) - He put in 5 tackles (3 dominant), carried 90m and got an assist. A good game from him.

Ulster

1. Tom O'Toole (Prop) - He won a scrum against his own sides put in, carried 10m and broke the line. An OK cameo from him.

2. Tom Stewart (Hooker) - He put in 10 tackles (2 dominant) and carried 10m. An OK game from him.

3. James McNabney (Back Row) - He carried 25m with aggression, power and aggression whilst getting the better of 2 defenders and breaking the line. A decent cameo from him.

4. David McCann (Back Row) - He put in 10 tackles (2 dominant), stole 2 line-outs, carried 35m with power, aggression and dynamism whilst getting the better of 2 defenders to the break the line and also scoring a try. A great game from him.

5. Matthew Devine (Scrum-Half) - He got a turnover and assist whilst also improving the ruck speed and management of the game towards Ulster's favour with also having nice box kicks. A decent cameo from him.

6. Jacob Stockdale (Back 3) - He carried 70m, broke the line 3 times and got the better of 2 defenders each times for both his tries. A good game from him.

7. Robert Balacoune (Back 3) - He put in 5 tackles got a turnover, carried 50m, broke the line twice and got past 2 defenders both times with giving a nice pass to Stockdale on his shoulder to assist his 2nd try.

8. Ethan McElroy (Back 3) - He carried 40m, broke the line, got past 6 defenders and gave a nice assist for McCloskey for the equalising try. A good game from him.

Munster

1. John Hodnett (Back Row) - He put in 5 tackles, carried 15m and broke the line. An OK cameo from him.

2. Alex Kendellan (Back Row) - He put in 5 tackles, got a turnover, carried 5m, kicked a 50:22 and got a brace. A great game from him.

3. Dan Kelly (Midfield) - He put in 10 tackles, carried 55m, broke the line after a great line ran to get past 2 defenders to score his try. A great game from him.

4. Ben O'Connor (Back 3) - He carried 55m, broke the line and got past 6 defenders. A good game from him.

Leinster

1. Scott Penny (Back Row) - He put in an outstanding 20 tackles (3 dominant) and got a turnover. A superb defensive game from him.

2. Oliver Coffey (Scrum-Half) - He carried 15m and broke the line whilst having nice ruck speed and passing from the hand and kicks. A decent game from him.

3. Sam Prendergast (Fly-Half) - He put in 5 tackles (1 dominant), carried 70m, broke the line three teams, got past 2 defenders and had 2 assists with good game management also and a decent kicking game which got him MOTM.

With how we've been officiated so far in the season and today being the worst it's got me questioning my love for the sport added on with the new maul law.

Whether we deserved to win against Glasgow or not is besides my point, but we at least deserve fair officiating and it was far from it with 6 instances of ridiculous play:

1. From the restart after Glasgow's 1st try we win a penalty inside Glasgow's 22 which gets overturned because of a 'no wrap' tackle.

2. For Glasgow's 2nd try their maul goes backwards; the referee tells the George Horne to use the ball, he doesn't. The ball is still with Gregor Hiddleston in the maul with no movement until after a few seconds when Glasgow backs join the maul to push over for the try.

3. Shayne Bolton attempts to catch the ball when's he's on his way to land he gets hit head on head by Mackenzie Duncan who ends up receiving no represcussion.

4. Cathal Forde gets pinned to the turf and is being gouged on his face with punches been thrown also by Max Williamson who alike Mackenzie Duncan receives no represcussion.

5. Josh Murphy collides clumsily with Rory Darge and receives a yellow card which to me would be a rugby incident and a penalty only at most.

6. Glasgow concede 4 consecutive penalties inside their 22 and when they've conceded the 4th they only get a yellow card and no penalty try when both always are the punishment after consecutive infringements defending your own 22.

Some serious investigation is needed for the referee, TMO and ARs from the game and all shouldn't return until they have clear understanding of every law and they should be correctly implemented.

I was adding songs to my playlist the other day and going through different Anthems the counties have, mostly have looking through previous posts about it.

From what I can think of there's The Boys of Offaly inspired by Fisherman's Blues and Hot for Meath inspired by Hot to go!

Is their any others does anyone know?

With the news that Pádraic Joyce has stepped down from the role of Galway Senior Football manager it got me thinking already of who will replace him.

Whilst their isn't a clear cut candidate atm the names that I can think of that will come up on the shortlist are (not in order of preference btw):

1. Kevin Johnston (Current Galway U20 Manager.)

2. Cathal Clancy (Current Moycullen Manager.)

3. Alan Glynn (Managed the Galway Minor Footballers from 2020 - 2024 with winning the All-Ireland in 2022.)

4. Mark McHugh (Current Westmeath Manager who managed them to their 2nd Leinster title and also was part of the Moycullen management recently.)

5. Stephen Rochford (Managed Corofin from 2013 - 2015 with winning the All-Ireland in his last season. Would history repeat itself from a Mayo man getting Galway climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand?)

6. Anthony Cunningham (Managed Galway Senior Hurling from 2011 - 2015 winning a Leinster title and reaching 2 All-Ireland Finals, Managed Roscommon Senior Football from 2018 - 2022 and winning a Connacht title and has done excellent so far with St Brigids football club.)

I've reached a weight and size that I'd rather not be and going to try and possibly lose a stone or 2 hopefully.

I've tried before with eating healthier and less often and doing regular exercise at least 3 or 4 times a week in the local GAA grounds however when I got it down to a certain weight it just stagnated and now I'm just asking if there's other ways of losing the weight.

The Jimmy storyline has made them both intolerable for me atm.

From his acting and his expressions and dialogue it's gotten to the point where if I see him on the screen I get annoyed at his character, anyone else have the same opinion?

Are slowly heading towards the times of where the Provincials lose significance in the grand scheme of a season for teams and just viewed as an extension of the league?

Reading all the discourse around the idea floated from the Cork County board about a restructure of the All-Ireland hurling championship with a potential way for lower ranked teams to progress on both sides whilst possibly being poor in your province.

After the new format came into place this season with teams from Divisions 1 and 2 it gave teams 2 chances in their season if they lost.

Granted Armagh won their 1st Ulster since 2008, Roscommon won the Connacht again since 2019 and Westmeath their 2nd in their history their was teams that they beat in their way went further in the All-Ireland in Tyrone, Monaghan, Galway and Dublin.

Unless you're starved of provincial success it seems that your province is starting to become an afterthought with the new system.

Similar to how the LGFA format where you can lose more than once and remain in the championship. Camoige use 2 group stages in place of provincial championships.

If the Provincial Championships in hurling were to follow suit that would be Gaelic, Hurling, Camoige and LGFA all with a format with 2nd chances for teams that haven't performed prior.

How are we going to manage with 4 of them with 1 possibly being unavailable for someone games.

Am I the only one that thinks rather than a cover-up of the night, the teens where are all hiding their own thing rather than the culprit's name.

So far we've got:

Barney hiding the hammer

Nugget selling weed

It was Ricky's bike lock

Lily unlocked him

Avani and Denzel got together

Then Amy >! admitted that she hit him yet to see if true !<

That just leaves Will if he's still going to be included in the story that is.

Maybe it's just me and with how 1 of my county's teams done well with me being back in Croke Park in a few years with lads my age making their breakthrough but.....

I want Championship 2027 to start ASAP!

First off hats off to our neighbours proved every doubter wrong and made me and others eat our words.

A great season with many surprises with Armagh getting over the Ulster hump, Roscommon coming on the rise, Westmeath slowly coming to the table with their Leinster title and with others from their School winning team to come, Wicklow making history in Tailteann alike Mayo today.

I'll get into my All-Star team so I don't be another Jarlath Burns.

1. Jack Livingston (Mayo)

2. Enda Hession (Mayo)

3. Donnacha McHugh (Mayo)

4. Theo Clancy (Dublin)

5. Ronan Wallace (Westmeath)

6. Dara McDonnell (Louth)

7. Charlie McMorrow (Dublin)

8. Marc O'Se (Kerry)

9. Jack Carney (Mayo)

10. Stephen O'Hanlon (Monaghan)

11. Ryan O'Donoghue (Mayo) POTY

12. Niall Scully (Dublin)

13. Darragh Beirne (Mayo)

14. David Clifford (Kerry)

15. Kobe McDonald (Mayo)

Unlucky to miss out: Sam Callinan (Mayo), Matthew Whittaker (Westmeath), Con Kilpatrick, Darren McCurry (Tyrone), Colm Basquel, Con O'Callaghan (Dublin), Steven Sherlock (Cork)

After the Year is now over this is how I'd rank the teams:

1. Limerick (let's be honest in a league of their own.)

A gap

2. Galway (a quality team who's got the foundations to win an All-Ireland or 2 in the next 10 - 15 years.)

3. Cork (A class team but are always missing a piece of the puzzle.)

4. Clare (A good team with some good years, but lack consistency sometimes.)

Between these 3 I'd say Galway would be 5/6 points better than Cork and Clare.

Then I'd have another gap

5. Dublin (A promising team but consistency is a big issue.)

6. Tipperary (A good team but after they have good year(s) they can tend to drop off.)

7. Waterford (A team with lots of promise but always struggle to have 70 minute performances.)

8. Kilkenny (A team past it's best left with some quality but just about staying competitive.)

9. Offaly (A young team on the rise with potential to win an All-Ireland or 2.)

Another gap

Kildare, Laois, Carlow, etc.

Thoughts.

So throughout the year I've been tracking the performances of players that I thought stood out and here's the final one, let me know what ye think of it.

1. Nickie Quaid (Limerick) POTY

2. Ronan Glennon (Galway)

3. Cillian Trayers (Galway)

4. Barry Nash (Limerick)

5. Diarmuid Byrnes (Limerick)

6. Will O'Donoghue (Limerick)

7. Kyle Hayes (Limerick)

8. Tony Kelly (Clare)

9. Tom Monaghan (Galway)

10. Gearoid Hegarty (Limerick)

11. Aidan O'Connor (Limerick)

12. Cathal O'Neill (Limerick)

13. Jason Rabbitte (Galway)

14. Brian Hayes (Cork)

15. Peter Casey (Limerick)

Unlucky to miss out: Darach Fahy, Daithi Burke, Darren Morrisey (Galway), Mark Coleman (Cork), Daragh Neary, Cathal Mannion (Galway)

After all of the talk during the week of how it's being perceived as a bit of dam squib so far I'd beg to differ.

Munster may have been a let down with Limerick and Cork powering to the final and Clare building to 3rd place.

Waterford however put in a great fight in every game lost by 2 goals to Clare, came back from 10 points against Tipperary to get a draw when they arguably should've won, put it up to Cork until 5 minutes to go and put it up to Limerick for 60 minutes in their final game.

Over in Leinster we had the current holders Kilkenny dumped out in the groups by the new kids on the block of Offaly along with Dublin having good run in the groups overcoming Galway in Salthill and also getting a historic win against Kilkenny in the Neller since 2013.

Speaking of 2013 the Leinster final contained both teams that were their however this time the side that had many wobbles in the group in Galway managed to get over the line against Dublin by 13 points.

The Munster final was let down with poor conditions and accuracy but had some highlights particularly from Nickie Quaid between the sticks.

The Quarter-Finals were let down from what they could've been with Clare and Cork winning their games in double digit territory but the headlines were of David Reidy and his knock.

The Semi-Finals didn't disappoint with Galway and Cork going at it where Cork had a 1 point lead at half time for Galway to power on to victory in the 2nd half.

The game that followed the next day was a closer game with Clare having a good start being 5 points ahead at the break to ultimately lose by 2 in the end.

Tell me before the Championship if you expected all the above because I certainly didn't.

With the Championship almost over who's in the running for it in your opinion.

For me there's: Dan Bourke, Adam Screeney, Conal O'Riain, Séan Rynne, William Buckley, Rory Burke, Aaron Niland and the current front runner IMO Jason Rabbitte.

I figured out where it all went for us and particularly Padraig Joyce.

The decline had begun when he met Pep Guardiola. Ever since then Man City have lost out on the Premier League title to Arsenal of all teams and now Pep has left his role at Man City.

Padraig Joyce has lost the Connacht title and as exited at the Quarter-Finals again, could the signs be ominous for him?

Got a ticket for the Galway vs Cork game and it's in 734.

First time in that area of Croke Park and I'm wondering what's the view like for it towards the Davin end.

I had an idea yesterday of how to make the best of the Provincials and the All-Ireland with it happening all the way across summer.

National Hurling League starts in the middle of January and concludes on the weekend of St Patrick's Day.

Having 3 weeks and a rest week and another rest week for the League Finals.

The Leinster Championship then happens in the 2nd week in April as it would have 7 teams with the Munster Championship starting on the last weekend in April.

Their Provincial Finals then take place on the last weekend in May. With a rest week between the final round robin game and Provincial Final.

The Provincials winners go straight to the All-Ireland Semi-Finals to keep the value of winning it.

From the June to July then we've got the All-Ireland Qualifiers. 10 teams play 5 times to try and get top 4 in the standings to progress.

Provincial runners up have 3 home games and 1 game in a neutral venue, 3rd place Provincialists get 2 home games and 2 neutral venues.

The top 4 go through to the Quarter-Finals that take place on the 3rd weekend in July. With the Semi-Finals 2 weeks after as will the Final having it take place on the 3rd weekend in August.

You then have the Club Championships happen from September to January.