Clare GAA discussion thread

kksaints

Was at the match in Wexford Park. Thought ye did reasonably well in the 1st half but were dreadful in the 2nd. Forwards look quite lightweight and really struggled to get any good possession.

windy shepard henderson

kksaints wrote: »

Was at the match in Wexford Park. Thought ye did reasonably well in the 1st half but were dreadful in the 2nd. Forwards look quite lightweight and really struggled to get any good possession.

yeah second half performances have been poor all league , have been arguing that john conlon should be full forward and nowhere else , until the penny drops we will always struggle upfront

windy shepard henderson

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

For those travelling to Newry or Wexford Park today, I hope that you brought extra layers with you. It's baltic. Just wondering about the Clare senior football panel. Is David Egan (Kilmihil) still on the Clare panel or is he injured? I think that he was involved in the panel early in the year, but have not seen his name in the match-day panel since? Greatly appreciate if someone can shed any light on him as he is a player with huge talent.

sorry missed this post yesterday , Egan is on the panel , played one or two games in the mcgrath cup but got injured , his name was down on the program for the cavan game on the bench but doubt he was anywhere near fit that day , he is expected to return to the panel most likely for the cork game in a few weeks time but doubt he will make the cut for the rosscommon game sunday

like a number of young lads in the panel he is an excellent player club wise , they probably need a few more games at this level to get fully up to speed with the more experienced players

between himself , courtney , finucane , o'brian and kerian malone , if they are given plenty of game time even from the bench they will come good at this level

finbarrk

2.00pm in the Park v Roscommon and 2.30pm in Walsh Park v Waterford on Sunday.

letowski

Clare team for Waterford:

Toughy
Browne - Cleary - POC
Morey - Dmac - Fitz
Malone - TK
Ian Galvin - Conlon - Reidy
CMcG - P. Duggan - SOD

Dissappointing really were are not going to see much of what the other panelists are like now, its more or less full strength again. Like for example, we have tried nobody else in the full back line in the league which is very risky imo (Jason McCarthy wore 4 against Wexford but played wing back as Wexford don't play with a 3 man full forward line). Anyway, this Clare team needs to put in a good 70 minute performance, I don't want to see a 2nd half collapse for the 4th round in a row. :rolleyes:

Hopefully Ian Galvin has a good game, he is a player that can be a good impact sub to bring on and tap over a couple of scores. Im actually happy Conor McGrath gets a start here as we need to get him going. McInerney proabably needs to start asserting himself more in games from 6.

To be honest, I not really interested too much in this game. Don't know why Maloney and O'Connor just gives a few of the subs a start.

letowski

Cathal McInerney, Jamie Shanahan and Paul Flanagan are on the bench, players returning I'd like to see get some action.

Claregaafan18

The Waterford match shows whether management have any faith in the fringe players of the panel? Looking at that it does not seem so. Also where is Gudgie O'Connell who has been badly treated by management? Not on the bench? For the record here is my team that should start in Walsh Park on Sunday.

Fahy
Flanagan (if fit) McInerney McCarthy
O'Malley Shanahan Gudgie
Morey Taylor
Ian Galvin O'Neill Corry
McGrath Duggan C McInerney (if fit)

windy shepard henderson

agree with most of the above comments , but it looks like the management are sticking to there guns , and saying to the lads on the bench to try harder , if shannahan , cathal mc are fit they should get plenty of game time ,

not 100% sure on gudgie he is a frustrating hurler , excellent today brutal the next , would be more disappointed to see o'malley back on the bench , he was hardly the only one having an off day last week , would have liked to have seen more from taylor and corry over the course of the league too

Clareman

I'm afraid O'Malley was badly exposed against Wexford, I know the guy marking him was a good 6" taller than him but he was completely outclassed in the air but the bigger man, come championship the opposition will just put the big lads on him and use it as a puck out strategy.

For me this season is all about staying in division 1 (check) and getting to an All Ireland semi final at least, I would have liked to have had a few players blooded in the league but that's gone now, unfortunately a couple of injuries and we're in trouble

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

I'm afraid O'Malley was badly exposed against Wexford, I know the guy marking him was a good 6" taller than him but he was completely outclassed in the air but the bigger man, come championship the opposition will just put the big lads on him and use it as a puck out strategy.

For me this season is all about staying in division 1 (check) and getting to an All Ireland semi final at least, I would have liked to have had a few players blooded in the league but that's gone now, unfortunately a couple of injuries and we're in trouble

o'malley is a versatile player , he can play in the half forward line or mid field also , i know he was exposed last week but i wouldn't give up in him that quick

it will be a bit of a lottery if we pick up injuries , but in truth , mcgrath , and podge are only back in training , cathal mc and jamie shanahan are on the way back

in fact for the first time in a number of years we look solid enough at the back , up front only needs a few tweaks and we should be ok

we could have done a lot more with the league in regards personal but i wont panic just yet

windy shepard henderson

Big game in the park for the footballers on sunday , one change from the win over Down in newry two weeks ago , sean collins returns from injury at the expense of gearoid o'brian , the kilrush man has done little wrong in recent games but it is a call i would agree with

Roscommon have done serious experimenting over the first 4 games of the league using over 30 players in the process ,they arrive in ennis an unbeaten team away from home this season , beating both tipperary and louth on the road ,

clare have never beaten the rossies in the league add the element of redemption from the last time the sides met in the qualifiers means this is going to be a huge task , especially hearing comments that midfield is an area kevin mcstay wants to focus on in the coming weeks the connacht champions will be up for this no doubt

a win puts clare in to a promoation hunt with two games to go , defeat leaves us int he dogfight to avoid the drop , a repeat performance from the game in newry will have us in the mix no doubt

https://twitter.com/Clare_Football/status/972226661050650626

stumbled across some highlights from the last match vs down , eoin clearys shooting was excellent that day

Clareman

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

o'malley is a versatile player , he can play in the half forward line or mid field also , i know he was exposed last week but i wouldn't give up in him that quick

it will be a bit of a lottery if we pick up injuries , but in truth , mcgrath , and podge are only back in training , cathal mc and jamie shanahan are on the way back

in fact for the first time in a number of years we look solid enough at the back , up front only needs a few tweaks and we should be ok

we could have done a lot more with the league in regards personal but i wont panic just yet

I'm not giving up on him, but he's a young player that has only been tried in 1 position, I don't think it'd be possible to try him out.

The other biggest problem with the league is we still don't seem to have a puck out strategy.

Clareman

HUGE game for the footballers, I can't wait for it, I'm bringing my young one to their first match, I hope it'll be a good result.

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

I'm not giving up on him, but he's a young player that has only been tried in 1 position, I don't think it'd be possible to try him out.

The other biggest problem with the league is we still don't seem to have a puck out strategy.

in regards puck outs i prefer the direct route that they are trying to prefect to the complicated systems they were trying out the last few years , this is one of the main reasons i would prefer to see duggan on the 40 rather the edge of the square in a swap with conlon , who in my opinion is a lethal full forward

not winning enough breaks in the middle of the field has been a huge hindrance also , all workable faults , last thing i want to see come championship is several balls pucked out over the sideline or putting own men under pressure with short puck outs

Clareman

I'm a fan of the wing forwards spreading out to the sideline leaving their man in position and having our goalie aiming for the opposition player, that way our man gets a run on the back and has a great advantage.

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

I'm a fan of the wing forwards spreading out to the sideline leaving their man in position and having our goalie aiming for the opposition player, that way our man gets a run on the back and has a great advantage.

i keep thinking of the cork game last year in thurles where there was little margin for error that day several puck outs put our ball winners out over the line nearly and some cases the ball was gone out before them , instead of us putting them under pressure they put us under pressure , it was only the next day out against tipp with the inclusion of duggan we seemed to have more success until fahy had a brain fart before half time


genuinely believe we can play 15 v15 direct hurling against anyone , we just need better shooting up front

Clareman

15 v 15 in a hurling match we'll beat anyone, unfortunately it's very rarely that happens any more and we've issues against the sweeper cause our striking from distance is so poor, throw in the fact that when the matches get physical we're always second best.

danganabu

Clareman wrote: »

15 v 15 in a hurling match we'll beat anyone,

Seriously???

windy shepard henderson

danganabu wrote: »

Seriously???

i agree with him ......suppose you have to be ambitious if nothing else

danganabu

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

i agree with him ......suppose you have to be ambitious if nothing else

If you said that Clare would be competitive at 15 v 15 then I might agree but to blankly say that Clare would beat anyone is complete delusion, havent actually won a game of note in 4 years ffs.

Clareman

danganabu wrote: »

Seriously???

Yes seriously

Clareman

danganabu wrote: »

If you said that Clare would be competitive at 15 v 15 then I might agree but to blankly say that Clare would beat anyone is complete delusion, havent actually won a game of note in 4 years ffs.

I have no doubt that in every position we have great hurlers, the problem is they aren't great at the position, put a Clare hurler against another hurler they'd be just as good, many better. It's not just about Clare playing a "traditional" game, it's the opposition as well and it just doesn't happen anymore, I would say it never happened, even back in the 90s Clare used to sacrifice a forward as an extra mid fielder or a back

windy shepard henderson

danganabu wrote: »

If you said that Clare would be competitive at 15 v 15 then I might agree but to blankly say that Clare would beat anyone is complete delusion, havent actually won a game of note in 4 years ffs.

the last descent performance i saw clare play was against kilkenny in the league semi final 2 years ago both teams went 15 v 15 , we hammered them , fair enough it was only the league , but the reason we have only won a handful of meaningful games is down to the previous management refusal to play this formation more often instead going for more unorthodox game plans that had little substance

the current management last year did go more direct , but failed miserably interns of puck outs , and not having a free taker at this level is also unforgivable we would have won the munster championship last year had we one

it might sound deluded but it is something we have argued about regularly on here since last summer

caddy16

danganabu wrote: »

If you said that Clare would be competitive at 15 v 15 then I might agree but to blankly say that Clare would beat anyone is complete delusion, havent actually won a game of note in 4 years ffs.

I'd have to agree with you. On their day from 8 to 15 Clare are as good as anyone but defensively we're just not strong enough. It's not a surprise really we havent had too many natural backs come through minor or 21 over the last few years.

Clareman

For too many years the mantra in Clare was, best player centre back, next 2 best players wing backs, then full back and corner backs, the worst players would be put in the corners

windy shepard henderson

caddy16 wrote: »

I'd have to agree with you. On their day from 8 to 15 Clare are as good as anyone but defensively we're just not strong enough. It's not a surprise really we havent had too many natural backs come through minor or 21 over the last few years.

A few years ago I would agree with you but now I cant , our backline has improved massively in the last two years while our forwards have dropped off especially the likes of kelly and podge , our forwards killed us last year with the amount of wide they struck , this is my main area of concern heading into the championship again this year

caddy16

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

A few years ago I would agree with you but now I cant , our backline has improved massively in the last two years while our forwards have dropped off especially the likes of kelly and podge , our forwards killed us last year with the amount of wide they struck , this is my main area of concern heading into the championship again this year

Podge on form shouldn't have been there last year. Can't see how you claim our backs are better. We mightn't have played a sweeper last year but we certainly played a system to compensate for our defensive frailties. Our better defenders over the last few years are either no longer part of the panel or are struggling. Who in our potential fullback line is a natural defender ?

windy shepard henderson

caddy16 wrote: »

Podge on form shouldn't have been there last year. Can't see how you claim our backs are better. We mightn't have played a sweeper last year but we certainly played a system to compensate for our defensive frailties. Our better defenders over the last few years are either no longer part of the panel or are struggling. Who in our potential fullback line is a natural defender ?

We lost both games last year against both cork and Tipperary from our performances up front , this year with Cleary gone back full back and David mac center with both seanda and a choice of players beside them we are strong at the back jamie shannahan at 7 last year was one of our best players

In the full back line. I regard patch o Connor as full back if oisin o brian is still out come championship Cleary has done fine at 3 so far though would drop back one of seanda or davie fitz for the other corner , jack fouls too much to be considered for championship

windy shepard henderson

Sorry not clear enough in the last post

Full back line if fit

Obrian Cleary and patch

Half backs

Morey David mc and shanahan

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

For too many years the mantra in Clare was, best player centre back, next 2 best players wing backs, then full back and corner backs, the worst players would be put in the corners

i dont for one second believe we have any worse problems in the full back line then waterford tipp or galway , its our forwards like conlon kelly podge that are letting us down