Editor’s note: John Mullane is the brand ambassador for JJ Kavanagh & Sons and will be bringing his thoughts on the 2016 Hurling championship. In John’s latest post, he takes a closer look at his highlights and reviews the 2016 Hurling Championship.
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John, what were your highlights of the 2016 Hurling Championship?
It was a very tame Hurling Championship up until the semi-finals where we saw two epic games between Kilkenny V Waterford and Galway V Tipperary. Then the hurling went up another gear or two! I’ve a number of highlights across this year’s championship. They would be Austin Gleeson’s unreal performances against Kilkenny, Eoin Murphy’s catch to deny Waterford extra time in that epic semi-final replay, Seamus Callanan’s overall performance in the final and Padraic Maher’s hook in the semi-final to get Tipperary into another All Ireland hurling final.
However, my number one highlight was the McGrath family celebrating All Ireland glory after the set back the previous year with Noel’s health.
A big taking point of the hurling year was Waterford and how they play the tactical game. How do you think Waterford will regroup in 2017?
I think Waterford will be the one county that will feel that they can push on and challenge Tipperary for All Ireland glory. As we’ve seen in both games against Kilkenny they are not too far away. However, Derek McGraths biggest challenge will be trying to curb the massive expectation and the demand to play a more traditional way. Derek himself will be aware that every team that he comes up against will pose different headaches for him and his team. He is intelligent enough to keep everyone guessing what he will or won’t do on match days and this a great asset to have going into 2017 season.
Do you think that it was a good idea by Clare to get rid of Davy Fitz? Who do you think will replace him?
I really think it was the best possible move for both Clare and Davy. Apart from Brian Cody, the timeframe for any inter-county manager is usually around the three or four-year mark. This was Davy’s fifth year and next year would have been his sixth. For me Davy is a top class manager. He has a Jose Mourinho style about him where he comes in and gets the max out of lads for a three-year period with high intensive style of training and play. He can be very proud of his tender, delivering All Ireland and National glory and I’ve no doubt that we will see him as an inter county manager again in the near future.
Whoever will replace Davy will have big shoes to fill and I think that Anthony Daly will more or less get the job. There are also strong rumours that Brian Lohan will go in with him. This would be a fantastic combination. A real dream team pair who were colossal for Clare Hurling in the 90’s. They would automatically get respect in the dressing room if they were announced as Clare’s new management team.
This Summer was dominated with discussions around tactics and the use of sweepers. It was interesting to see that the two finalists were practitioners of the traditional approach. Do you think this is the best way to hurl?
For a lot of the traditionalists it’s the only way to hurl. However, if Brian Cody could replay the final again, I think he would be more causius at the back and would have played something close to a sweeper system. But on the flip side of this and the reason why Tipp are the best team in the country is that they can beat teams by either playing fifteen on fifteen or nullifying the sweeper system. For me the way Tipp play is the most enjoyable to watch and it’s similar to the way Kilkenny played in the nuaghties as they can hit you on the scoreboard out the field and can kill you with scores in their inside line!
Where do you see All Ireland finalists Kilkenny going from here?
Kilkenny are Kilkenny. They won’t go away but they won’t dominate like they have done for the last fifteen years. For me there is a small rebuilding job that needs to be done in Kilkenny in key areas/positions across the field. The big question is do they have key players like the JJ Delaney’s, Tommy Walsh’s or the Henry Shefflin’s coming through the system? Brian Cody without a shadow of a doubt is the best man to overlook this small rebuilding job if you’d like to call it over the course of the next two/three years in Kilkenny. Don’t get me wrong they still will be competitive and will win more Leinster titles but it might be a few more years before they climb the steps of the Hogan Stand again!
There is an awful lot of talk that Tipperary will be here to stay and will be the top team for a few years to come, would you agree?
The same talk followed their success in 2010 that they would push on and dominate. People forgot that Kilkenny were still a monster and weren’t going to go away. That Kilkenny monster went on and won another four All Ireland finals. Tipperary don’t have that same obstacle to overcome going forward for the next few years. When you look at what’s out there, there isn’t a lot from stopping them from pushing on. I think they have a winning formula with a good manager behind them, an All Ireland Minor winning team to unearth a few more players and matched with a good age profile of their current team.
The big question come January is can they move forward to win back to back titles, something they haven’t done since the 1960’s?
This year’s All Stars will inevitably be dominated by Tipp! Who do think will pick up hurler of the year?
For me, it’s one of three players, Austin Gleeson, Padraic Maher or Seamus Callanan. The most talked about hurler over the course of the Summer was Austin Glesson and I think he is guaranteed to win young hurler of the year. So I’d give it to Padraic Maher who for all of Tipperary’s five games gave man of the match performances. His hook in the All Ireland Semi-Final was one of the reasons that Tipperary were victorious and pushed on and became champions. However, the judges I think will lean towards Seamus Callanan who will be short listed for the third year in a row. Either way there are arguments for all three but for me I’d lean to giving it to a defender this year in Padraic Maher.
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