Clare GAA Discussion part 2 , No Purple Jumpers Allowed !!

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817528#Comment_121817528

wasnt at the game either but davy fitz is nearly a problem at this stage , how many wides should we pardon or steps we should ignore

rory hayes is living a charmed life in this squad i dont care what anyone thinks

surly malone and kelly will be the midfield line up come championship , with kellly roaming and malone holding

caddy16

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817835#Comment_121817835

We scored 16 points and Fitzs got 5 from play, how is he a problem?

KIB4Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818099#Comment_121818099

Yeah Fitzgerald is definitely not the problem, probably been one of Clare best players since 2022. Sure Tony Kelly hits 3/4 wides most games as well so he must be a problem as well according to Windy.

keeponhurling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817835#Comment_121817835

I think TK only works in midfield as a 3rd midfielder, he has to be let go and roam.

David Fitz is an absolute beast to win possession and charge forward. 5 great points yesterday. sure a couple of wides and a bit sloppy taking all those steps, but he's far from our biggest problem!

Fitz*

I've been told that TK is 50/50 to whether he plays this year or not after his recent ankle surgery.

keeponhurling

Lohan said yesterday that Kelly was still aiming for first round of championship , so hard to know

PeggyShippen

First round game against Limerick is make or break for Clare. Game over , ball burst if we lose that

keeponhurling

Even if TK does make it fitness wise, hard for him to build up any form ahead of the Limerick game

supernova5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820512#Comment_121820512

Clare lost the first round robin game in 2018 and 2023 and still made Munster final both years, remember Clare hurlers never make it easy for themselves or the fans and that's a huge understatement

tomo75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820512#Comment_121820512

Might as well pull out of it so!

Limerick were a game away from having the Summer off last year until Waterford turned up for 1 game against Tipp...

Bit premature to write the Summer off after 1 potential bad result...

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820553#Comment_121820553

Doesn't seem to affect Shane O'Donnell?

keeponhurling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121821797#Comment_121821797

Well, he didn't score or play very well in the opening round defeat to Tipp last year.

His performances improved over the summer with his best one coming in the All-Ireland semifinal, i.e. in July

(but i do think Lohan knows what he's doing there)

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823513#Comment_121823513

True enough.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818141#Comment_121818141

Nonsense, I know it looks bad singling out one of our best players, but the fact is there's still room for improvement

Look back at the second half v Limerick in the Munster final or the semi final against Kilkenny,

Kilkenny virtually missed nothing from range where we seem to be okay to keep to a 60/40 ratio , it's our biggest problem over the last number of years

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121834071#Comment_121834071

Shot selection and accuracy. Two players that could really solve that for Clare - Organ and J O'Neill. Just a bit young and light at the moment.

This is the tightrope of intercounty. Being lucky enough to get the right of types of players to blend at the right time. If you had Fitz, Kelly, Rodgers, McCarthy, Ryan Taylor, Malone and those two accurate long range points takers like Organ and O'Neill - you've then got three to four ways of attacking a defence. That's when you can tear a defence apart. Are Kelly and Malone going to be around when these lads come through?

jamesconlan85

Jack O'Neill of Clooney Quin is a fantastic footballer aswell its a pity we cant see his football talents aswell. He is the best footballer in the county his age

PeggyShippen

Clare have never really been an efficient team at scoring and that's going back decades. At the Top level wides are killers. When the heat really comes on in a game Limerick get more and more accurate.. Clare miss alot of goal chances aswell but Fitzgeralds shots can be atrocious. He never seems to know when to say 'my radar is off right now..im gonna pass the next one' and dont tell me players always back themselves. They don't and shouldn't.. either pass or score..No excuse for 2 or 3 wides in a row from the same player

supernova5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121834867#Comment_121834867

not sure if Organ is even interested in any kind of senior inter county career

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838361#Comment_121838361

Didn’t know that

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121836976#Comment_121836976

The problem with this is they seem to be encouraged to almost shoot on site from club level upwards, I remember a game in the club championship in Shannon last year where inaghk had near 20 wides against ballyea the majority were not on , at no point did the line seem bother about it either

Inagh is just an example as it's Fitzgeralds club but every club is guilty,

A quick fix is to encourage players not to shoot from low percentage areas in the field especially if it's not in their range, but I don't think that is happening at the moment behind the scenes

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121834867#Comment_121834867

The argument here is that the gap just seems to be that bit too big between last year's minors and the experienced players like Kelly and o Donnell ect , when you consider the amount of miles some of them lads have on the clot

evolvingtipperary101

You’d never know, Kelly might have longevity yet as an inside forward. But he surely can’t cover half the field too much longer - especially on a dodgy ankle.

Malone’s journey is a lot different. He has a high work rate. A lot of heavy lifting has been done and punishment has been taken. But maybe he is reading the Conlon manual.

KIB4Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121834071#Comment_121834071

I think it’s a Clare probably more than individual players. Diarmuid Ryan is another player who hits a lot of wides but is capable of the odd spectacular score. I know an older person living in my area and calls Clare’s problem of hitting wides as a disease. He can remember the 95 All Ireland where they had something like 16 or 17 wides, they had something like over 20 wides in the 22 semi final.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838692#Comment_121838692

That quick fix makes sense, but from a Management point-of-view the players will now potentially have to create a chance in a more attacking area where they might get swallowed up and not get a shot off at all.

windy shepard henderson

clare 1-16 0-14 limerick

A brian mcnamara inspired victory tonight in Rathkeale, the under 20 footballer of the year only turned 21 last monday but his excellent goal midway through the first half the difference , he was also the difference in the second half when limerick pilled on the pressure for the entire 3rd 1/4 of the game outscoring clare 0-7 to 0-1, with a strong wind at their backs , 3 of them scores came in the first 2 minutes of the second half ,

brian was our only outlet as limerick pushed up on our short kickout , being double marked and given very little help from maggie farrelly at times he got on with things and drove us forward

A different type of footballer to brennan , he is a young lad with a very laid back demeanor , but has serious ability in all fasistes of his game and today was a joy to watch , his goal came on the 25th minute when he found himself open from 20 yards out at an angle and blasted the net

Manus doherty and daniel walsh also had super games with both defenders scoring 2 points each , while aaron griffin played the lone striker role tonight and had to go long periods of the game without a sniff of ball but still kicked 0-5 points from play , and only one wide

We still are green in our approach play and at times very slow to get back when countered on , but there have been huge improvements since the sligo game in round 1

5 players to come back into the panel this year 3 more next year in eoin cleary , keelan sexton and cillian brennan the future is bright , it would be brighter if we can win our next two games and make a quick return to division 2

for limerick , james naughton and a player i have never heard before in jamie bynham were excellent for the home team , they themselves have had huge losses since last summer , billy lees brother jimmy is doing a good job , get them playing like they did tonight in the second half , against wicklow and offaly and they should stay up

Clare scorers

aaron griffin 0-5

emmett mcmahon 0-4

brian mcnamara 1-0

daniel walsh  0-2

manus doherty 0-2

cormac murray 0-2

dermot coughlin 0-1

Treble double

Couldn't argue with any of that. It was a test for an inexperienced team to see how they would react when the momentum was gone against them and the home crowd had found their voice. They responded positively and got over the line with a bit to spare. As well as Brian Mac I thought Sweeney showed leadership when the pressure was on and drove forward with ball in hand to lift the seige, a player I would have been critical of for being loose with possession in the past. He is an experienced hand in this group. Ikem was missed in the second half, he is a big player for this outfit. Fairplay to this group they have overachieved in my opinion with the huge amount of departures. It appears this management team has a bit about it.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844185#Comment_121844185

i mentioned him to the kerry crowd on here after we appointed him and asked why was he not involved in kerry , even at amalgamation level , even his own club , and i was quickly asked what has he won,......... (cricketts) ........!!

but in truth he got the job after doing a fine job last year after the limerick players got rid of ray dempsey , bar killian roche they could have made a tailteann cup final, he has a great job done with a very young team , loads to work on but we seem to be improving week on week , this a deaccent clare team regardless what most people think ,

theMountain

Scorers for Clare:

E McMahon (0-1 free), A Griffin (0-4 each); B McNamara (1-0); M Doherty, D Walsh, C Murray (0-2 each); D Coughlan, C Downes (0-1 each).

theMountain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844200#Comment_121844200

"they could have made a tailteann cup final" ... Look what happened Laois in the next match :

Semi-final Down 8–16 – 2–12 Laois

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845060#Comment_121845060

jaysus you must have been up all night putting them stats together 🙄, i was at the game and obviously gave a nod to aaron griffin that i shouldn't have