Afternoon all and welcome along to today’s Allianz Hurling League coverage.
Here are the main games, we’ll be keeping track of.
Division 1A
Kilkenny v Cork, Nowlan Park, 2pm
Tipperary v Clare, Semple Stadium, 3pm
Division 1B
Galway v Laois, Pearse Stadium, 2pm
Wexford v Kerry, Innovate Wexford Park, 2pm
It’s been a brilliant start so far to life with Wexford for Davy Fitzgerald as they’ve claimed victories over Limerick and Galway to now be in pole position for promotion.
The venue for today’s showdown in Kilkenny.
Here’s how last night’s big hurling games unfolded in Croke Park and the Gaelic Grounds.
Kilkenny 0-2 Cork 0-0
2 mins – Flying start from Kilkenny with TJ Reid and Eoin Murphy both converting frees.
Wexford 0-2 Kerry 0-2
Two Lee Chin points so far for Wexford, Kerry reply each time through Brian Murphy and John Buckley.
Kilkenny 0-3 Cork 0-2
8 mins – Shane Kingston finds Alan Cadogan in space and the combination play between the Douglas duo results in a point.
Kilkenny 0-4 Cork 0-4
11 mins – Richie Leahy stretches Kilkenny’s lead before Seamus Harnedy and Lehane are on target to reel them in.
Wexford 0-3 Kerry 0-3
11 mins – Kerry making it interesting at the moment, still level with the Division 1B league leaders.
Galway 0-11 Laois 0-2
11 mins – Galway are running riot in Pearse Stadium, looks grim already for Laois.
Kerry 0-4 Wexford 0-3
Padraig Boyle puts over a free to put Kerry, who are backed by the wind, in front.
Kilkenny 0-5 Cork 0-5
14 mins – Points swapped by TJ Reid from a free and Bill Cooper from play.
Kilkenny 0-6 Cork 0-6
17 mins – It’s tight and closely contested so far in Nowlan Park. A free from Cork’s Conor Lehane leaves the sides level.
Galway 0-13 Laois 0-3
18 mins – An impressive 10-point lead now for Galway. Jason Flynn, Padraic Mannion, Joseph Cooney, Conor Cooney and Aidan Harte amongst their point-scorers to date.
Kilkenny 0-7 Cork 0-6
20 mins – A majestic point by TJ Reid, his first from play, and Kilkenny are back in front.
Wexford 0-6 Kerry 0-4
A little bit of daylight between the teams now as Paul Morris notches a point for Wexford.
Kilkenny 0-8 Cork 0-7
25 mins – Richie Hogan from play for his first of the day and Conor Lehane from a free for his fourth of the day.
Wexford 0-7 Kerry 0-4
Jack O’Connor is fouled and the free is slotted over by Conor McDonald to increase the gap to three points.
Kilkenny 0-9 Cork 0-7
29 mins – Reid fires over a free and then is just off target from play after an excellent flowing move by Kilkenny cut open the Cork rearguard.
Kilkenny 0-11 Cork 0-9
36 mins – Lehane hits over a wonderful free but that’s quickly cancelled out by Richie Hogan.
Kerry 0-7 Wexford 0-7
Paudie O’Connor brings Kerry level.
Galway 0-20 Laois 0-4
Thomas Monaghan on target as Galway reach the 20-point mark.
Half-Time: Galway 0-20 Laois 0-5
Half-Time: Wexford 0-7 Kerry 0-7
Half-Time: Kilkenny 0-11 Cork 0-10
A result from Croke Park.
Cork 0-11 Kilkenny 0-11
37 mins – Conor Lehane brings Cork level early in the second half.
Kilkenny 0-12 Cork 0-12
39 mins – Cillian Buckley points from play and Lehane bangs over a ’65. Cork could have netted before that ’65 but Eoin Murphy was equal to Cormac Murphy’s well-struck shot.
Goal for Wexford from Harry Kehoe!
Goal for Galway from David Burke!
Wexford 1-9 Kerry 0-7
A five-point lead now for Wexford.
Galway 1-23 Laois 0-7
The Galway captain hits the net and it looks like game over in Salthill.
Kilkenny 0-15 Cork 0-12
43 mins – Walter Walsh with a brace and one from Reid sends Kilkenny clear by three.
Tipperary 0-4 Clare 0-0
3 mins – Brendan Maher and John McGrath on target so far for Tipperary.
Kilkenny 0-18 Cork 0-12
45 mins – The gap is steadily increasing. Richie Hogan (2) and Conor Martin both point to increase the gap to six.
Tipperary 0-5 Clare 0-1
8 mins – First point of the day for Clare comes from Podge Collins.
Kilkenny 0-19 Cork 0-13
51 mins – Cork grab a point back through Dean Brosnan but Richie Leahy quickly responds for Kilkenny.
Goal for Wexford from Diarmuid O’Keeffe!
Red card for Kerry’s Patrick Kelly!
Kilkenny 0-20 Cork 0-13
55 mins – Richie Leahy raises another white flag for Kilkenny with a glorious shot from the sideline.
Brilliant save by Anthony Nash to deny Colin Fennelly finding the net for Kilkenny.
Subs: Cork bring in Patrick Horgan and Stephen McDonnnell for Killian Burke and Shane Kingston.
Red card for Cork’s Cormac Murphy.
Tipperary 0-8 Clare 0-8
David Reidy brings the Banner level. They’ve recovered well from a bad start to this game.
Joe Canning and Conor Whelan goals for Galway.
Galway 3-29 Laois 1-10
Quite the beating Galway have handed out at Pearse Stadium today.
Result – Kilkenny 0-22 Cork 0-15
Result: Wexford 3-18 Kerry 0-12
Clare 0-11 Tipperary 0-10
John McGrath points a free and now there’s only one between them in Thurles.
Half-Time: Clare 0-11 Tipperary 0-10
Result: Galway 3-31 Laois 1-11
A good day’s work then in Division 1B for Galway and Wexford while Kilkenny claim their first victory of the campaign in Division 1A.
Clare 0-11 Tipperary 0-11
Noel McGrath brings Tipperary level early in the second half.
Tipperary 0-15 Clare 0-12
45 mins - Noel and John McGrath both point, three in it now.
Tipperary 0-19 Clare 0-15
55 mins – John McGrath fires over a point, he’s been excellent today.
Tipperary 0-22 Clare 0-15
60 mins – Tipperary pulling clear now, seven points to the good.
Tipperary 0-23 Clare 0-20
68 mins – Galvin has made a real impression since coming on, now only three between the sides.
Tipperary 0-27 Clare 0-20
71 mins – Tipperary putting the game to bed now, newcomer Paul Flynn on target.
Result: Tipperary 0-28 Clare 0-21
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Seriously how much more time will Kenny get? 4 points from 15 is shocking.. Its not like were up agaisnt quality teams.. Maybe relegation is best for kenny as then he might get a few wins next time agaisnt the likes Liechtenstein and Andorra
@……: we beat Scotland who are ranked above us. Lost by the odd goal to them the other night. We drew with Ukraine who are 20 places above us in the rankings. The Armenian one was a tough one to take, no issues there. But our performances have not yielded what’s on the board. How anyone can think we are not progressing it beyond me. Never do I want to go back to the doldrums of O’Neill
And trap football. This brand of football will result in major comp appearances. Bita patience with what players we are working with. I’ll back kenny to the end
@……: He’s the bravest manager we’ve had in a long time.. Not afraid to trust his players to get the ball down and play which makes them good to watch. Trusting and encourages the younger players. Hasn’t lost that “spirit” we’ve always had. I really hope it comes right for him and the players and it would be great to see one of the midfielders and forwards develope into world class players like our goalkeepers and Collins…. We’re not that far off,they’re a very young squad.
@Darren Fitzpatrick: Of course these teams are ranked above us, you need to win games and especially competitive games to be ranked higher but since Kenny keeps losing and we keep dropping down the rankings were always gonna be up against better ranked teams .. He is also to blame for that current ranking so as i said above maybe if we get relegated its for the best so we beat some teams..
@Darren Fitzpatrick: btw O’Neill had us beating the likes of Italy and Germany, yes he shouldn’t of stayed so long but he gave Irish fans some great nights. Kennys best result is Scotland..
@……: at this stage he has to be given the Euro qualifying campaign. It makes zero sense to get rid of him now. He is carrying out the biggest change in terms of style an personnel in the history of Irish football, its never going to happen overnight. No manager in the world would do better with the players available. If we haven’t improved by the end of the qualifiers to the point where we’re in the shake up for qualifying then maybe its time to change. But he needs one full campaign.
@……: I for one am impressed with the style of play he’s trying to install.. Who would you replace him with?
@……: but can you not see the players we are playing with. Far inferior footballers to be expecting to Just turn up every 3 months and pull out results every game. It’s the first time since 2002 McCarthy team I actually haven’t dread watching Ireland playing in the break. He’s getting players playing above their station every time they pull that jersey on. Why do you think we should be beating all these teams? Every non Kenny supporter pushes the nartive that we should have won every game we’ve lost under him. No Irish manager has ever got close to that. We went to Poland and came home the laughing stock of European football. Is that what success is? Very short sightedness
@……: his best result was a route one knock on goal backs to the wall defensive job( great high to celebrate but awful to watch for the most part) and a winner against a 2nd string Italy after they had qualified for the knockout phase already. Some
Success that
@Darren Fitzpatrick: be god Darren you and I agree on something!
@Brian Dunne: what a way to start A week. *shaking hands emoji.
@Jerriko17: I’d love to see Collins play centre midfield… he’s a strong presence good on the ball… just what we’re lacking in midfield
@……: “not like we are up against quality teams”. You seem to be confused, we are not a quality team, not even to the level we used to be. Teams like Scotland, Ukraine, Finland, Norway, etc have all overtaken us. We are a championship squad with a handful of bit bard premier league players bar Bazunu and Collins, this needs to be accepted. For us to qualify for an International tournament would be an absolute miracle at the moment. All we can do is try to be as competitive as we can and enjoy trying to play good football.
@C: the problem is we are not competitive, 4 points from 15 tells us that. I don’t want him sacked, I asked the question how long does he get? Yes he should get the euros, but when does his job become about actual results.. While we’re not being competitive, losing games we are in free fall in the rankings which is a disaster for group seeding for the Euros and the next World Cup. We could be 4th seeds for the next World Cup draw at this rate.. It’s a long journey back when we go 4th seeds..
@……agree with you all the way Kenny is a nice guy but managing real men not youths is another story BTW a you omitted Gibraltar and San Marino If Kenny remains we’ll be praying for the Vatican to field a team
@……: We are a lot more solid and prettier on the eye to watch, it’s a slow process which we need to stick to unless something radical happens. Stephen is doing a fine job imo.
Very close to settled team and squad. Would like to see Oamofemi and Chidozee playtogether up front.
They are playing excellent football just need more composure . Bit naive at times but very exciting.
Oneill or Trap couldn’t get them playing like that
I don’t think the 3-5-2 or the 3-4-2-1 formations work against the so called lesser teams. I think 4-3-3 would work better, have Coleman & Doherty attacking as the full backs with Ogbene & Robinson as the wide forwards & drop Parrott back to play the number 10 role.
Bazuna
Coleman-Collins-Egan-Doherty
Mulumby-Knight
Parrott
Ogbene-Obafemi-Robinson
Sick of hearing people complain. We are not the team we used to be, we used to have premier league quality players now we have a squad made up of Championship / League One players with the odd bit part Premier League player bar Collins and Bazunu. Nations like Finland, Norway, Ukraine even the smaller countries like Luxembourg have players playing at higher levels, I don’t think people ever did their research but the Luxembourg team that beat us a couple of months back had players playing in Champions League and Europa League, we had none bar Doherty. All we can hope for is that these players improve, not one of them has turned on Kenny compared to previous squads where there have been fallouts and leaks. It is clear they are behind him, why can’t the nation also get behind him?
@C: a lot of us can’t get behind him for the same reason some people couldn’t get behind Trap and O’Neill, he’s winning nothing and won’t get us to a major competition, oh sorry, that actually didn’t apply to Trap and O’Neill, but hey Kenny makes games exciting by passing, which is what every football seems to like more than goals.
@Patrick Breen: I don’t care about Trapp and O’Neill. The football was absolutely miserable, I love going to these matches now knowing we are going to try and play good football with some good young players. I’d rather watch this then see us lump ball up to Daryl Murphy for 90 mins and hope we get a flick on and a goal out of it regardless of whether it got us to a competition or not.
@C: that’s fair enough, but surely you also must be able to understand those of us that enjoyed watching a team that were able to win games.
@C: Luxembourg have one player playing regularly in a top 5 league and thats at Mainz. Rodriguez who scored against us had one season at dynamo kiev where he scored only 6 goals and is now playing in the middle east.
@Patrick Breen: Patrick no one enjoyed watching those teams. Let’s be honest. The scrappy draws glossed over horrible horrible football.
I thought they played ok to be honest Scotland were lucky to win that game, genuinely
Nothing but a pretender
Serious question Under the grandfather rule what potentially good young player would want to play for Ireland ? When Charlton and McCarthy were managing every footballer with a grain of Irish heritage wanted to don the green shirt Dave O’Leary, Mark Lawrence, Aldo, etc. No self respecting player would want to play for Kenny, and it’s not all his fault with I’ll agree. But big named credible football managers will always get big results whatever style it takes Winning may not be everything but it’s the only thing WINNING COUNTS
@Tony Doyle: what players are you talking about that you think have turned down playing for Ireland under Kenny?
@The Logic: none in particular as he’s only been there less than two years but no one is banging down the door to play for us as they were in the Charlton/ McCarthy era
The only radical change needed is to get shot of kenny
Kenny out