Another nightmare end to a county team in headquarters today.
Limerick were blown away today by a rampant Tipp team in the All Ireland Hurling semi final. The Limerick hurlers join the Donegal & Dublin footballers wondering what the hell hit them.
It is hard to imagine any team which is preparing almost 12 months to completely disintegrate like the aforementioned.
Were Limerick lacking in puck training?
All GAA teams now are well organised, have a fitness coach in place making sure players are in tip top shape for the game at hand, some teams have defending and forward coaches, managers use video analysis and any guru they may get the extra inch out of their players.
Yet after all the above back up support and preparation, teams go out and give displays like we witnessed today, it does beg the question, are teams overcooking the whole preparation side and neglectiing the basics in our codes like catching , kicking, pucking, scoring, fielding & defending correctly.
I feel before you go looking for the extra inches you first have to get your foundation in order. If the fundamental skills in any sport are not present you can kiss your chances goodbye.
What's the point in working on fitness if you get panic attacks at the goall?
There is no point going on a high tech weights programme or SAQ training or plyometric training or core stability training over a 12 month period when you can't kick or puck a ball 30 yards accurately.
Don't get me wrong, all the above training techniques are great and will bring on players leaps and bounds on the fitness side and will make players more explosive, stronger, faster.
No point having all these extra bells and whistles when you get panic attacks in front of goals or you constantly give the ball away to the opposition. And no point if your ability to punch, kick, solo and block leaves a lot to be desired.
Vital to use ball in training
Teams like Cork and Tyrone will use the ball 90% of the time in team training, will work on the basics and eradicate flaws in any individuals game. Obviously they will have their own individual programmes for each of the players on the panel so on their own they will go to their local gym and work out- specific to their needs.
But, Limerick lads - I feel for you
Don't get me wrong, all teams have bad days in the office. I experienced the same in 2001 versus Meath when we got a right hosing.
Looking back now you could see how this happened. 2 hard physical games against the dubs in Thurles, 3 weeks given to prepare for Meath.
In between there was a county championship round thrown in for the fun, my club Glenflesk played Gaeltacht in the Quarter final with Colm Coyle above in the stand watching 5 players who would be lining out against him in 2 weeks.
This gave Kerry 2 weeks to perpare which includes the cooldown week before the match.
Add to this, on the day Tom O' Sullivan goes off with a broken jaw, Mike Hassett also goes off injured and Tomas O' Se does not start as he received his marching orders against the Dubs. Smacks of disaster!!!! And it sure was.
Was my worst day ever
However excuses are fultile, it still goes down as the worst day I ever had with Kerry in Headquarters and thankfully this never happened again.
So, roll on Tyrone v Cork
So roll on next weekend, the whole country are looking forward to the clash of Tyrone & Cork. The 2 forms teams of the year are colliding and I feel the winner of this rumble will lift Sam in September. More abaout this game on Thursday, we are all looking forward to both team selections.
Your comments...
In relation to a few of the comments - Gaakitten, if the players were doing more than drinking, well that is a different story, if that was the case they are very silly boys and are leaving their family, friends, club and county down.
Kerry No.1 - I don't wear baseball caps, I will ask Dara to mention my blog on tv and also to give a special mention for my 2 kids Jamie and Cliona and to wish Glenflesk the best of luck in their next county league game against Dingle.
Pio baptised me the Pony a long time ago, he certainly could have called me worse things and possibly did in some matches!!!
Bodhran, 100% correct, Dublin County Board, time to start taking on soccer and Rugby in the capital.
Go to the national schools, secondary schools, clubs, estates, if they are doing this already, well recruit even more, make the GAA a fashionable game to play in the big smoke, recruit high profile players to do this work even if they are outside the county.
Nourish the underage structures and make sure they continue to play with clubs at senior level. Have senior teams in Dublin with 15 born and bred dubs playing, not 5 or 6 to make up the numbers due to constant search for outside players.
If outside players want to play football in Dublin, well the Dublin County Board should create a new club for them or at the very least limit each club to 2 outside players that did not play in their underage structure.
Would like any other suggestions from the public?
Regards
The Pony