Editor’s note: John Mullane is the brand ambassador for JJ Kavanagh & Sons and will be bringing his thoughts after hurling games. We met with John this week to chat about the Allianz Hurling League games so far in 2016.
So John, has the 2016 Hurling league faired out as you expected?
Yes! The 2016 National League has been exciting. Outside of Galway from the start of the league, you would have expected those seven teams in the quarter finals to have progressed. You would have expected Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and possibly Galway but instead Dublin have progressed at Galway’s expense. From division 1B as expected you’ve 4 teams that have qualified. The one big factor in the league and the highlight for me has been the performance of Kerry who have been very unlucky not to have gotten into the quarter finals. The highlight has been Kerry beating both Laois on their first day out and Offaly on their last day out in division 1B.
The other highlight for me would be Waterford beating the All Ireland champions Kilkenny in Walsh park and their win to Tipperary in Thurles for the first time in almost twenty years. Apart from Dublin’s slow start out to Tipperary on their first day out, Dublin have been excellent and had some fantastic wins against Cork and Galway.
Big performances throughout the course of the league so far would be Joe Canning’s exceptional performance against Tipperary in Salt Hill. Austin Gleeson’s overall performance and his wonder point against Tipperary was another stand out moment in the league. The rise of Shane Bennett and Patrick Curran of Waterford who will be both great additions for the remainder of the league and championship. Seamus Harnedy’s performance for Cork against Kilkenny and course the form of current hurler of the year TJ Reid who has almost single handedly brought Kilkenny into the last eight.
What do you think of the mighty rise of the Kerry hurlers?
You can see the affect of Ciaran Carey and Mark Foley are having on the team. Two legends of the game would gain respect straight away and have gotten that extra 10% -15% out of this group of players to go and compete at this level.
The Kerry hurlers have been the story of the league so far. They had a great win on their first day out in the hurling league against Laois and against all the odds beat them. They put up a gallant display against Limerick only losing the game narrowly by four points. And after two disappointing defeats to both clare and wexford they showed great character to bounce back to overcome Offaly once again against all of the odds. To go up to Offaly and record a great win was a great testament to this Kerry team. You can see the affect of Ciaran Carey and Mark Foley are having on the team. Not only that but their style of play is coinciding with the modern day requirements which allows them to go and challenge other counties. It’s a pity after all their great strides that they still find themselves in a regulation final play off. Hopefully justice will prevail and they hold on to their division 1B status. Either way Kerry will more than compete in the Leinster championship and may take more scalps as year goes on!
What do you think about the slide of the Antrim hurling team?
To be fair to Kevin Ryan, the previous manager did some great work with the Antrim team and the results didn’t warrant the time and effort that he put into it.
It is disappointing to see the slide in Antrim because hurling needs a strong Antrim team competing at the highest level. But they are where they are now and I’m not one bit surprised with some of the results because the lesser counties are improving year in, year out. Westmeath under Michael Ryan, Kildare and Carlow who are former Christy Ring champions and London who have a lot of good hurlers working in London and are now putting their names forward to play inter county hurling for London. I think that London could be the next big success story like Kerry. I think the success of Kerry will have given a lot of inspiration to these counties to kick on. For now, Antrim’s main aim will be to win the Christy Ring and regain the Liam McCarthy Cup status.
What’s your verdict on the quarter final games?
Clare V Tipperary
This is without a shadow of a doubt the game of the quarter finals. Home advantage is a massive advantage for Clare. Cusack Park in Ennis is a very difficult venue for any opposing team to go to. There is always a cauldron of noise generated by the Clare supporters and I can tell you it will go up notch for the arrival of Tipperary! Clare are moving along nicely and are unbeaten in 2016 Munster league and division 1B and so will be full of confidence after securing division 1B hurling. Tipperary will also be priming with confidence after securing the final slot for the quarter finals after an impressive display against Cork. For me, they have the best forwards in the country and are greatteam to watch in full flow. I think that Tipp are two defenders short from going the whole way this year. Another interesting factor will be how Tipperary will overcome the sweeper in this game. What was interesting was the amount of space Cork created with a one-man full forward line the last day. Cork never punished Tipperary but Clare most certainly will. I think goals will be the deciding factor in this game and with Seamus Callanan back on board, Tipperary will be the more likely team to engineer goals on the day, so my verdict is Tipp.
Verdict: Tipperary
Dublin V Limerick
Dublin for me outside of Tipperary have been very impressive on the eye. Ger Cunningham’s side is a work in progress and are playing a brand and style of hurling similar to the way Cork hurlers did in the mid noughties. A pass and run game. I suppose they’ve had some great players on show over the course of the league. The likes of Eamon Dillon and Liam Rush have had a great league campaign to date. A guy that I’ve been very impressed with is Daire Plunkett. On the other hand, I’m nearly waiting for Limerick to finally arrive and put their hands up and make a statement by saying that they are contenders this year. As we’re coming to the closing stages of the league maybe it’s time for Limerick to shine. They don’t need reminding that Dublin were the team that knocked them out of the championship last year and with their disappointing defeat down in Ennis last week they’ll want to respond in a positive way. However, the fact that Dublin got home advantage and are a hard team to beat in Parnell Park, I’d give Dublin the nod to win this one!
Verdict: Dublin
Kilkenny V Offaly
One word….Kilkenny! This is David versus Goliath really. It’s a case of Offaly going to Nolan Park and keeping the score down as much as possible but for me Kilkenny should win it comfortably.
Verdict: Kilkenny
Wexford V Waterford
These two counties at the moment are miles apart. If you look back two years ago, Wexford knocked Waterford out of the championship in Nolan Park but since that 2014 defeat Waterford are on an upward curve and Wexford are on a downward spiral but I expect Wexford to throw everything into the game. They showed great resilience to come back and get the last three scores against laois to get them into the quarter final however Waterford the last day had ten changes against Galway and looked very comfortable regardless of those ten changes. Derek McGrath is doing an unbelievable job building up a strong panel. There is great competition amongst the Waterford squad and at the moment are showing too much class to let Wexford overcome them. Waterford will win a bit to spare!
Verdict: Waterford
John, we reached out on social media if anyone had a question to ask you (hurling related) and Jacqui Hurley from RTE sport had a question for you!
Haha, I think fist pumps are becoming more and more common within the game of hurling. For me I love seeing nothing more than someone clinching their fist and showing raw motion. In my case, it illustrated how much I cared, how much was at stake and it was all for the cause. For now, it wouldn’t be right to single out any one player but as the year goes we’ll see a lot more of it. More so in the championship when a lot is at stake and in the heat of battle.
What we should do is nearly consider having a ‘Fist Pump Of The Year’ competition! Come the time Jacqui, you may help me pick the fist pump of year as there will be so many to choose from come the end of the hurling championship 🙂
