Hardly any evidence? Come off it!

Eddie Brennan was lucky to be still on the pitch to pick up his medal last Sunday. I think the Limerick bainisteoir, Richie Bennis, said it best during the week when he said Kilkenny play “on the edge”.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of physicality but one does think that Cody doth protest too much.

As for Loughnane’s motives… I think he has one eye on next years championship.

He never says anything by accident does Ger.

I don’t usually agree with Loughnane and in this case it’s very much a pot and kettle case. As Dave rightly says his Clare side were more than a little loose with the stick.
The evidence on Sunday is clear though. Eddie Brennan did what he did, unprovoked in the first 5 minutes. So you must say that Loughnane was proved right.

One incident hardly constitutes evidence. That stuff goes on all the time with every team. Damien Reale was practically assaulting Eoin Kelly in the Limerick Tipp saga . I’m not saying it was ok but to use it as a basis that the whole Kilkenny team is dirty is just nonsense. Loughnane has lost the plot in recent years, trying to be too controversial. He failed with his first year in Galway and more than likely he’ll fail again in his second.

An Moltoir has a good article over on An Fear Rua.

http://www.anfearrua.com/story.asp?id=2465

It certainly wasn’t just one incident, another was Noel Hickey’s hideous chop on Fitzgerald just after he pulled up. The ultimate example of Kilkenny cyncism.

That’s a good article alright. I’m still not convinced by it though. Kilkenny may play a more physical game but I think the top level of hurling has gone that way every since Clare emerged in 95. Everyone has their own methods of pushing the rules and testing the ref. The reality is we mightn’t be having this conversation if Kilkenny hadn’t such an easy route to the title. Limerick weren’t anywhere near good enough on the day to beat them, it was going to take Waterford or Cork.

Every top team pushes the rules to the limit, it’s up to the authorities to enforce them.

At least you’ve conceded that KK “may play a more physical game”.

That being said I don’t think Waterford would have had a hope of containing Kilkenny. Comerford would have had Prendergast for breakfast.

Cork perhaps; if they couldn’t raise their game for KK they never will, but judging by this summers form they wouldn’t have done it either.

I think the two finalists were worthy of their places this year.

I’m not a Kilkenny man either so I’m not blindly defending them, I just find the emphasis on them a bit heavy handed.
I wouldn’t neccessarily say they couldn’t have been beaten, while they did look very impressive they had a very easy schedule, they had two meaningful games, and didn’t have to play either of cork & waterford.