JAMESIE O’CONNOR BELIEVES that this could be the year that someone finally dethrones Kilkenny as All-Ireland champions.
Brian Cody’s side have won four of the last five titles — a run only broken by O’Connor’s native Clare in 2013 — and have enjoyed quite a reign over the hurling championship in the past decade or so.
“I think the league campaign certainly has thrown up new contenders,” O’Connor said.
“Clare appear to be back to where they were, and where we thought they would be in 2014.
“Waterford have definitely kicked on again, their game plan is more refined. They arguably should have won the league.”
Speaking at the Sky Sports launch of their 2016 GAA coverage last week, the former Clare midfielder highlighted the fact that the Cats may not be the team they once were.
“People maybe feel the strength and depth isn’t there that there once was. They maybe can’t afford the injuries that they would have had ample cover for in previous seasons.
“They don’t seem to have the same luxury of riches coming as they did.
“I think that teams maybe feel that if they can get it right at the right time, we might see new All Ireland champions.”
O’Connor feels that Galway are strong contenders to knock Kilkenny off their perch in Leinster again, as they did in 2012.
“Galway are obviously on the softer side of the draw and there’s pressure on the players to deliver now, given the stance that they took in the winter.
“You can’t rule them out. They’re still, on their day, capable of beating anybody, especially with Jason Flynn, Joe Canning, Cathal Mannion, the type of forwards that they have.
Until we see them in the height of summer, I’m not sure where Galway are at at this point in time. I’m not sure if the Galway hurling public know that either.”
Waterford are another team that O’Connor fancies in the race for Liam McCarthy.
“This is a team, you get the sense, that are on a journey. These players are hungry, they’re ambitious. But I think there’s a level of intelligence and seriousness in the Waterford camp about where they want to go and what they want to do to get there.
They are going to be a force, and I’d be very very surprised if they’re not going to be there at the business end of it come August.
“Last year, obviously disappointed in terms of the quality of the games,” O’Connor added. “If you take the semi-final out of it, I don’t think it ever caught fire.
“I think there’s a big hope (for this year’s championship) because the replay and the league final were totally what we didn’t expect to get on the day — so open, so high scoring and so entertaining. I’m looking for more of that this summer.”
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Didnt relaize he wss crippled, did they stop in lourdes on the way home , ffs 12 years later and still going on about it
@ger gavin: The Kiwi’s make a much bigger deal out of it than even the Irish do. It’s because they know they were in the wrong, but because they won’t apologise for it they just keep denying any wrongdoing.
@Dave Barry: the kiwis make a big deal out of it as it’s their national sport. They admit openly it was a bad tackle but to say it was intentional is hard to believe. As an ex rugby player, it’s very difficult to tackle someone nevermind intentionally hurt them.
Just another All Black ‘accident’. All respect done for these thugs who seem to not be able to win big games anymore without these ‘accidents’ After the Irish game where the last 3 ‘accidents’ happened, World Rugby came and strengthened the rules. Why? If they were just accidents.
@Range Rover: My reading of it at the time is the same as it is now. They went out to target O’Driscoll, not to injure him, but to “lay down a marker.” I know any kiwi will deny it, but he was the captain, it was two minutes in and he was barely involved in the ruck. We weren’t born yesterday. The thing that left a bad taste in my mouth wasn’t what happened on the pitch, it was the lack of response from the authorities. Accidental or deliberate, a spear tackle is illegal. The IRB were, as always, deaf, dumb and blind where their golden boys are concerned however.
Let’s stop calling these guys the all blacks. They are new Zealand. Calling them the all blacks puts them up on a pedestal. The Australians never defer to them like that. I’m no lover of the lions but Nz need to be beaten. When they put on that Jersey the kiwis think they are above the law. They spear tackle o Driscoll and it galvanised them! Piss off
@Paul K Murphy: not sure about that, whatever the scenario calling them New Zealand is a step down from the All Blacks. Which tells it own story about the deliberate mystique perpetuated over the ages about this team with supposed superhuman qualities.
Anything that eats into that illusion is a good thing for me. They get enough psychological advantage from the haka, what we call them then is our own choice and the more down to earth the better
@Paul K Murphy: the problem is that rugby at test level to use the old cliche is a game of incredibly fine margins. So any advantage no matter how small is worthy of serious consideration. Enough for Australia and the lions in 2005 to decide against calling them the All Blacks anyway.
How effective those bans were is debatable. The lions obviously got blown away but you would have to say Australia excelled against them in the 2015 WC final. And who knows in that moment in time in the build up to the final maybe that was of some psychological help for them
@Aaron Buckley: they’re a bunch off shameless cheats….let’s just turn them over first
It was wrong. But I think people should stop whinging about it now. If someone brought up a similar incident from the Heineken Cup from 12 years ago they would be told to stop being a little b*tch and move on.
@Ned Flanders:
It’s not the tackle or the players which concerns fans, it was the cover up afterwards.
This was never addressed and continues today. The all blacks in Dublin last should have got two red cards (tackles on Zebo and CJ) and a red/yellow for Henshaw.
An all black has not got a red card since 1967.
It is not just Ireland every team gets this, SA and Aus complain continually about this
@Jack Dermody: and the crucial point with the BOD tackle is no one was even cited for it afterwards. Two big men picking another man up without the ball and piledriving his neck and head into the ground from a height is the most dangerous thing you can do possibly in any sport. It was only BOD twisting himself to take most of the impact to his shoulder that saved him.
Shockingly illegally took out the lions skipper and the two boys played on the series not a bother
@Jack Dermody:
there is no doubt they are reffed differently. The refereeing of 2011 WC final was for me the biggest scandal in rugby.
@Jack Dermody: I think the simple act of NZ captain, Umaga, and Mealamu, going over to BOD while he was being stretchered off to say a straightforward “sorry, mate” might have partly defused the negative reaction afterwards. They didn’t have either the respect or the balls to do so, which immediately deleted my regard for them as persons, notwithstanding their status as players.
The only way to deal with that tackle was to wallop the bejasus out of mealemu and umaga on the pitch. They should never have walked off it. In this that lions team failed miserably. Similarly with nz in Dublin last November. If ref isnt going to take action then act yourself and fight fire with a firestorm. Lions & Ireland were too effin nice.
You got to love the All Blacks. Even after all this time there is no regret or even an admission of partial responsibility. The end justifies the means. This is why they are perennial winners and we only ever surpassed them once.
It was malicious, vindictive and almost criminal. Try to picture two men doing that to someone on the streets. It’s about the most dangerous thing you could do to someone and the fact that two were involved, not one, defeats any argument that it wasn’t deliberate. The All Blacks also wreaked havoc in Lansdowne Road and that was the last time I left a comment on the Journal. What disappoints me the most is that the management and players didn’t see it coming and didn’t know how to answer them. They’re a proud nation, the New Zealanders, but we’ve got to wise up to their pre-planned strategy of winning at all costs. I agree that the last two major tackle changes in World Rugby have come about because of New Zealand thuggery. The next time we play them, and the Lions, let’s not be naive and match them for physicality. Bob Dwyer still maintains that Duncan McCrae did nothing wrong in 2001. It’s not as if we can’t see it coming anymore. Oh, and an apology is what’s required from the All Blacks, not trying to justify the unjustifiable to this day. If they had done so, we wouldn’t still be talking about it. I won’t hold my breath.
Their tough, physical guys….other players will have to be tougher and tackle twice as hard….all them south Africans are massive men but they have to be willing to break their gut!!