The Throw-in

Could this be Waterford’s greatest Christmas ever? Despite the pandemic and the lockdown, the Déise will be celebrating come the evening of Sunday December 13th says John Mullane on this week’s Throw-In. He joined Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Ursula Jacob as they looked back on the action from the weekend All Ireland hurling and camogie semi-finals and he’s ebullient about how the final against Limerick is going to go. “I think you're going to see the end of a massive famine in two weeks’ time,” Mullane said. “And unfortunately, the celebrations might have to be put on hold or there'll probably be some form of low-key ones but I don't care, I don't think any Waterfordian will care. Once Liam MacCarthy is coming back to Suirside it will be the greatest Christmas of all time. I think Waterford are going to do it.” Limerick’s victory over Galway was a hard-fought one despite Kiely’s men having the better chances and it is the ‘fear factor, being afraid to lose’ that Ursula Jacob thinks might prove to

One hundred years, eighty-five years and twenty-three years in the making. It was the GAA weekend that saw history being made in the Football Championship and joining Will Slattery and Michael Verney to look back on it all on this week’s Throw-In podcast were Brendan Cummins and Ciarán Whelan. “We were worried about no crowds being at the grounds and they are eerie and it is different and you're saying 'ye it's not the same', but yesterday made it all worthwhile,” Whelan told the show. “Ironic that it's the same four provincial winners as a hundred years, you just couldn't write that sort of stuff so it was just an incredible day to be a GAA follower.” For Cummins who was also previously involved with the Tipp footballers, it was an amazing day for Tipperary and not one that he was surprised about when it finally came. In the rest of the football, Cavan’s win over Donegal probably raised more eyebrows when it came but it’s showing the strength of belief in the so-called smaller counties and with no backd

It was another weekend of scintillating GAA action with Limerick retaining their Munster title over a spirited Waterford team, while in Mayo, their good form continued with a one point victory over Galway in the Connacht Final and to look back on all the talking points from the games, Will Slattery and Michael Verney were joined by John Mullane and David Brady on this week’s Throw-In. For John Mullane, despite Waterford’s defeat, the manner of their performance gave him hope and he reckons they’ll have enough to overcome Clare to reach an All Ireland semi-final. ‘We’re back on the horse again and heading in the right direction,’ he says. In Leinster, Brian Cody’s Kilkenny won the provincial crown for the first time since 2016 and while everyone focuses on Limerick, could the Cats be coming in under the radar for a tilt at the All Ireland? Meanwhile, in the football, Donegal are being spoken of as serious contenders to Dublin’s title after an impressive twelve point victory over Armagh in the Ulster semi-f

The Championship has ignited. Cork’s last-gasp winning goal has dumped Kerry out of the Championship without any backdoor for the Kingdom to go through. 2020 is over for Kerry football and on this week’s Throw-In, David Brady and Martin Breheny join Will Slattery and Michael Verney to look back on a weekend of GAA fireworks. “We haven't seen that in a lot of GAA over the last number of years,” said Brady. “It was an epic battle in monsoon conditions but the outcome, no one could have scripted it. But let me say, I do think that the pen was very heavy from a Kerry point of view in completely and utterly writing off a Cork team who have the bones of a very good footballing team.” In Connacht, Mayo march on to a Connacht final against Galway with their tails up after beating Roscommon and with Kerry now out of the way, one from Cork, Tipp, Mayo or Galway will reach the 2020 All Ireland decider. In the hurling qualifiers, Cork saw off the challenge of Dublin setting up a mouth-watering tie against Tipperar

Limerick are the complete team and only Covid can stop them reckons John Mullane who joined Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Ursula Jacob on this week’s Throw In as the panel looked back on a bumper weekend of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football and Ladies football. “They're after sending out a serious, serious statement of intent there,” said Mullane. “To score 3-23 in the conditions was just incredible and I honestly think they're a penalty kick from winning this All Ireland. The only thing that could stop them realistically could be Covid 19 if they were to get struck down with a couple of cases of it. I think they're on a mission.” With Cork’s defeat to Waterford, Ursula Jacob questions their ability and hunger now to lift themselves against Dublin while in Leinster, Galway are Mullane’s other contenders to rival Limerick. In the football, it was a short-lived Championship for Tyrone after defeat to Donegal and many are now asking if Mickey Harte’s time is up while in contrast, Michael Verney lauds W

What a way for the Championship to start back. Limerick’s thirty-six point haul against Clare has put them firmly in the driving seat and John Mullane joins Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Roy Curtis to look ahead to all the Championship action. While empty stadiums have been something all of us have to get used to, it doesn’t lessen the pressure on the players and teams as they are all knock-out matches now and this weekend sees the Munster hurling semi-finals of Cork v Waterford and the hotly anticipated clash of Tipperary v Limerick while in Leinster it’s Dublin v Kilkenny and Galway v Wexford. “To run out on the field, to run out to your own supporters…it's those few minutes before the match before the ball is thrown in that gets you going and obviously it’s all very surreal and it's going to take a couple of games to get used to,” says Mullane. In the Football Championship, Mayo have a chance to forget about their League relegation with a win over Leitrim while in Ulster, two favourites in the prov

In the strangest of League finales, this weekend saw Limerick post a massive 36 points over Clare in the hurling decider which also doubled up as the Munster Championship opener, while Kerry’s 14 point win over Donegal saw them collect their first League title since 2017. Donnchadh Boyle and Ciaran Whelan joined Will Slattery and Michael Verney on this week’s Throw-In as they analysed all the weekend action, assessing how the teams are also faring for the up-coming Championship games. It was certainly the statement of intent from John Kiely’s men who retained their League crown and march on to a crunch Munster hurling semi-final tie next Sunday with Michael Verney describing Limerick as ‘the complete side’ who are laying down the marker for the others to follow. Meanwhile, in the football, Ciaran Whelan was impressed with Kerry’s continued progress under Peter Keane and says they are the team to rival Dublin for the Championship. Since returning from the AFL, Tyrone’s Conor McKenna has also starred for hi

The inter-county hurlers finally to get back out onto the field of battle this weekend as the delayed and truncated All Ireland Championship for 2020 finally gets underway. It’s a return to the old ways of course with just straight knock-out ties deciding the match winners and on this Hurling Championship preview, Will Slattery and Michael Verney give the run down on the likely winners and losers. Unusually, All Ireland champions, Tipperary, are not the favourites, and are instead behind Limerick in the odds but, Michael Verney believes that with Mike Casey now ruled out action for Limerick, that the pendulum has swung back in Tipperary’s favour. “In the Irish Independent magazine last Saturday nobody tipped Tipp to win the All Ireland which is unbelievable in itself, including myself, now my opinion might have changed a small bit when I saw Mike Casey is out and they have basically two of their full back players, Mike Casey and Richie English, both out, whereas Tipperary I think have a clean bill of healt

The inter-county GAA season is back and while it may be changed circumstances, some things still stay the same. A thumping Mayo win over Galway has the fans reaching for superlatives and whispers of glory, while there was another Dublin win over Meath in Leinster, this time with two record-breaking appearances by Stephen Cluxton and Dean Rock. With great games and performances across the country, the Throw-In’s Will Slattery and Michael Verney, joined by Conor McKeon and former Mayo star David Brady, all agreed that the return of the GAA season at inter county level has meant so much to fans. They discussed all the opening League football action including what is shaping up to be a promising Division 2 final weekend with six teams in contention for promotion. Plus there was a look at the Division 2 Hurling League final win for Antrim over Kerry. For more from the Throw-In podcast go to the show page at: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ And don’t forget to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcast

Finally, the inter-county GAA gets set to resume with the resumption of the final two rounds of the Allianz Football Leagues which means the Throw-In is also back and for this week’s show Will Slattery and Michael Verney look ahead to what GAA fans can expect. Known unknowns is probably the best way to sum it all up in this Covid-affected season and being able to adapt to changing circumstances will be the new norm believes Michael Verney. “You have to be so versatile,” he says. “You have to be willing to just flick a switch almost when a decision is made but hopefully things will go smoothly enough over the next couple of months because we all need it really.” “We all need something every Saturday and Sunday, something to be following, something to be watching, something to be digesting over the weekend and then reviewing on the Monday and you need that conversation starter.” There’ll be plenty of conversation starters come next Monday that’s for sure and none more so than west of the Shannon with Galway

On the latest episode of The Throw-In podcast, Will Slattery and Michael Verney are joined by Martin Breheny and Vincent Hogan to discuss Martin's 20-20-50 rankings. This week Martin has ranked the top 20 footballers and hurlers from every county in the Irish Independent and on Independent.ie - with provincial and national top 20 lists still to come - and he joins the lads to debate some of the selections. From picking Brian Corcoran over Jimmy Barry-Murphy in Cork to the ultra-competitive rankings in Dublin and Kerry, there was plenty to discuss. Michael even took Martin to task over one omission from the Offaly football list! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Throw-In, Will Slattery and Michael Verney are joined by Vincent Hogan and Martin Breheny to discuss the Irish Independent's 20-20-50 series. Starting on Monday May 25th, Martin is ranking the 20 best footballers and hurlers from each county from the last 50 years. After going through each county, he will then rank the best footballers and hurlers by province before a final All-Ireland breakdown. It is sure to cause plenty of debates - and it sparked a few among our panel too. Martin discusses the criteria he used to make his rankings, while Vincent and Michael weigh in on some of the challengers of putting together a list like this as well as some of the talking points that are sure to come up. You can find Martin's rankings in the Irish Independent and Independent.ie starting on Monday May 25 and finishing on May 30. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was just hurling action in the Allianz Leagues over the weekend and on this week’s Throw-In, Vincent Hogan, Donnchadh Boyle and John Mullane joined Will Slattery to look back on all the games. Galway’s resurgence under Shane O’Neill and their 3-12 scored in the second half to seal victory over Tipperary caught the eye the most and John Mullane reckons their potent forward line could be one to watch in the summer. Waterford have also been rejuvenated under a new manager and Liam Cahill’s philosophy and ethos were highlighted by Vincent Hogan and the panel when discussing the Deise’s new energy and attitude. May 10th sees Tipperary visit Waterford in their Munster Championship fixture and Liam Sheedy knows Tipp have an awful lot of work to do between now and then to come away with a win. For more from the Throw-In podcast go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ The Throw-In podcast is in association with Allianz.ie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tyrone v Dublin being played in horrendous conditions with plenty of history between these teams, what could possibly go wrong? This week on the Throw-In, Ciaran Whelan joins Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Colm Keys to discuss the fall-out from the game. Plus the panel discuss Mayo’s failings and difficulties ahead for James Horan as they seek to re-build for the future. In hurling, John Mullane joins Will, Michael and Colm to discuss how the League format has taken the sting out of so many games and highlights the fact that managers are looking to bed down squad players at this time of year. Finally with the GAA Congress voting in its first ever overseas President as well as a host of rule changes, including the ditching of the black card in hurling, the Throw-In panel give their verdict on the effect of Congress’ decisions. For more from the Throw-In podcast go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ The Throw-In podcast is in association with Allianz.ie. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv

Does Dublin have a weakness, the Padraig Joyce effect, cynicism in football, the state of hurling referees, Brian Lohan's direct route and the positive effect of the new camogie rules are all up for discussion on this week's Throw-In. Tomás Ó'Se, Brendan Cummins and Ursula Jacob join Michael Verney, John Brennan and Roy Curtis with all the latest opinion and analysis from the weekend GAA action. While Joe Brolly says Jim Gavin's baseball cap could manage this team, Brolly could be the waterboy reckons Ó'Sé and he believes it is scary for the other teams in the country looking to beat the Dubs. In hurling, Brendan Cummins applauds Clare's more direct approach but says the old failings of possession without being dominant still needs to be addressed.   And leave the game alone the panel all agree on.  The resurgence of Waterford, the strength of Wexford, and Clare's rising under Lohan, along with the traditional heavyweights, shows there's not much wrong with hurling. For more from the Throw-In podcast go

On this week's episode of The Throw-In, Will Slattery and Michael Verney are joined by John Mullane and Frank Roche to review the latest weekend of Allianz League action. What was meant to be a hurling-only weekend also ended up featuring three football matches as inclement weather continues to cause havoc with the schedule. Limerick vs Waterford and Galway vs Tipperary were both called off last weekend, which will cause a delay in the hurling league later in the campaign. On the pitch, Wexford pipped Kilkenny in another dramatic clash between the sides, and Mullane thinks that Davy Fitzgerald's men now have a psychological edge in the rivalry. Mullane also thinks that Wexford's attacking defenders are transforming the sport, and thinks the Yellow Bellies are still firmly All-Ireland contenders. In football, the lads assess the state of play in the lower divisions, with the promotion and relegation battles extremely difficult to call in Division Two, Three and Four. For more from the Throw-In podcast go

Referees, umpires, cards and time-keeping all came under the microscope after this weekend’s Allianz Football League games and on this week’s Throw-In, Ciaran Whelan joined Will Slattery and Donnchadh Boyle to go through all the big talking points. Whelan slammed the Clifford sending off believing it was an easy cop-out to dish out two yellows. "Let's look at the context of the incident and see would it be the defender instigating this and if it is the defender, let's start punishing the defender and instead of the cop-out of just saying it's handy here to give two yellow cards,” he told Will and Donnchadh. “It was one of those classic GAA solutions to a classic GAA problem,” said Donnchadh Boyle.  “I suppose at club level you kind of expect to see that sort of stuff and it's probably accepted really at that level but you do expect the county game, for everyone involved, referees, umpires, linesmen to be more sophisticated, to have seen all these tricks before and to call it for what it was.” The recurrin

Playing with fourteen men, the clash in Castlebar between Mayo and Dublin became a foregone conclusion, but for David Brady, who joined Will Slattery, Michael Verney and John Brennan on this week’s Throw-In, the failings on the scoreboard over long periods of time is still a major cause of concern for his county. Also looking back on the football action, the panel discussed Kerry’s victory over Galway in Tralee with Padraig Joyce’s Galway a team re-invigorated and Kerry’s backline still looking porous. Plus there was a big win for Monaghan over Tyrone in the all-Ulster derby. In hurling, John Mullane was on the show with the sin-bin top of the agenda and all agreeing that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Plus there was also a discussion of the League revamp which has meant the edge and pressure has been taken away from many of the games. For more from the Throw-In podcast go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ The Throw-In podcast is in association with Allianz.ie. See omnystudio.com/liste

The Allianz Leagues began with a bang over the weekend and while it’s a new era for Dublin under Dessie Farrell, the rivalry with Kerry is still the one to watch in 2020. Tomás Ó’Sé joined Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Conor McKeon to look back on the drawn game in Croker as well as all the other football action, including Padraic Joyce’s opening win as Galway manager and Mayo’s draw with Donegal. However, it was the advanced mark that was generating most of the talking points with Ó’Sé calling for it to be scrapped. “Why is it being brought in now? Defensive football is not the blight it was,” he tells the panel. In hurling, John Mullane joined Will, Michael and Conor, and he believes Tipp’s surrender of a ten point lead against Limerick will prove to be a big psychological boost for John Kiely’s men if they meet again in the Championship. Plus, he sees good things happening for Waterford under Liam Cahill, “You’re going to see Waterford back challenging and will be able to put it up to anyone on t

The Throw-In is back for another weekly series covering the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues. On this first show, Will Slattery and Michael Verney are joined by the Irish Independent's, Vincent Hogan and Colm Keys, as they preview the 2020 series. In football, how will Dublin fare in the post-Jim Gavin era, can Kerry start to fulfil their promise, and will Galway be challengers again? In hurling, can Limerick prove the doubters wrong, will Waterford build under Liam Cahill's guidance, and who can ever write Tipp or Kilkenny off? Plus, the lads also look back on the heroics of Corofin and Ballyhale in retaining their All Ireland club titles. For more from the Throw-In podcast go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ The Throw-In podcast is in association with Allianz.ie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.