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

keeponhurling

If we need to travel to Portlaoise, sure why not just go to Cork and join a double-header with the other semi final.

It would bring bigger crowd and probably better atmosphere, a bit more bang for your buck.

Venue aside, I'm curious if Clare playing a second team at the weekend means Lohan will go strong for the league semifinal. A bit of silverware would do no harm at all, but the league final is only two weeks before championship. Winning the league never seems to do Limerick any harm.

supernova5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906727#Comment_121906727

yea if we don't get some kind of dry spell soon the early part of the championship will equate to Winter type League hurling

keeponhurling

We're getting some back-to-back Clare action on TG4 this Sunday.

Football promotion decider Down v Clare from Newry at 2pm

Hurling league semi-final Tipp v Clare from Portlaoise at 4pm

fire_man

Clare U20 came up short today.Have they what it takes to make semi finals now?

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121931691#Comment_121931691

they would need to beat limerick in the last game , waterford have been competitive so no guarantee that tipperary will beat them either ,but its advantage tipperary really with the head to head . top two go through to the munster semi finals

limerick 3pts

tipperary 3 pts

clare 2pts

waterford 0 pts

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920596#Comment_121920596

haha what a time to be alive jasper 😂 , yeah both games are really 50/50 with limerick out of the hurling now it would be no harm and drive on ant try and win it out , that extra game would be worth anything ahead of the first round of the munster

to have 5 players to come back in the likes of tony, shane o donnell , ryan taylor , david mc and cathal malone to a championship side ,and still have a huge chance of winning a league without them is remarkable

footballers have a great chance , i questioned downs mentality to see the job out at the start of the league , they have a fine squad of players but do look to be lacking confidence especially in close games , its something down manager conor laverty has mentioned sometimes causing controversy in the past , especially when comparing his club killkoo's attitude in the club championship to the county side ,

it was evident in the draw last week in mullingar as it was in the tailteann cup final last year against meath , on paper i think down actually have a better team then both but didnt play up to that potential in both games ,

windy shepard henderson

nothing wrong with downs attitude today , , far better side and taking every chance presented

Treble double

I would prefer to see Clare in Tailteann Cup, Tipp and Waterford are awful so Clare could end up in a Munster Final. This team is not ready to compete with the elite teams, messy beatings will set them back. The Tailteann would have been a better learning experience. The drop in standard from Div 2 to 3 is huge.

keeponhurling

Jayzus it went badly wrong for the footballers in the second half

when Downes got that first score of the second half I really thought they might kick on and do this, but wasn’t to be

we can do it next year, Fermanagh and Kildare will be more manageable than Down and Westmeath, both matches being away also didn’t help

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934141#Comment_121934141

to be fair we only lost one game , that to the best team in the division , we will have the likes of keelan sexton and eoin cleary back next year , we went into today with a team carrying injuries , to be fair its been a good league i hope we maintain our sam mcguire status , we wont learn anything playing division 3 and 4 teams all it seemed to do was drag us down to their level

KIB4Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934240#Comment_121934240

Clare’s style of play, slow build up and non-existent kicking game is what is gonna hold Clare back more than anything. Down had a faster build up, and a kicking game and were willing to take on Clare men and their support play was a lot better than Clare.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934264#Comment_121934264

it cost them yesterday too in the under 20s , they need to be encouraged to take teams on down the middle , we done it loads of times against the weaker teams in the division this year , thats why i want us to hold on to our sam McGuire status by wining the munster semi final them games will stand to us massively next year ,

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934165#Comment_121934165

yeah good league but two teams in different directions at the moment down a couple of years down the road in development , we hammered a lot of that down team a few years back in division 2 , the performance from our lads especially early in the second half a bit of a let down

windy shepard henderson

this is the first game since covid i have had to watch on tv , it doesn't do anything for the nerves , i feel we have gone flat in the last ten minutes of the first half , conor leen having a great game the jersey is his come championship at the moment , 10 different scorers int he first half but that wind looks strong

keeponhurling

What happened to Mark Rodgers ?

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934558#Comment_121934558

he seemed like a lad that didn't want to come off ,at the time i taught it was a blood injury and was expecting him to go back on , i am not sure

KIB4Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934278#Comment_121934278

Ah I’d expect us to be in the Munster Final and the Sam Maguire given the side of the draw we are in. Ironically in doing so we could prevent Down or Westmeath being in Sam Maguire.

Mark Fitzgerald actually referenced on the Smaller Fish Gaa podcast about the Clare players being too hesitant in kicking the ball.

keeponhurling

Hard to know what to make of the hurling. Tipp were very poor, particularly in front of the posts. How can they miss so many frees ?!

Some strong performances, D.Ryan, D.Fitzgerald, A.McCarthy, Leen, Malone, C Galvin etc. so pretty good

Hogan looked really off it, wasn't sure why he was left on so long. Maybe a deliberate character building thing.

J Conlon struggled a bit too. I.Galvin and Meehan only hit wides.

That said, surely that is a much better experience than just training sessions, especially for the younger lads.

Figerty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934719#Comment_121934719

Tight fleld doesn't suit us. That field is short. D. Fitz needs the space to run. Same with Reidy and others. Tipp looked way off. I doubt they were holding back. Having Breen at Corner back says a lot. He's not a modern corner back.

Hogan has a lot to learn. his trying to intercept rather than defence. Quilligan has to be much more decisive on the ball. Tipp still dangerous and work in progress. The will be very good in the championship.

Put O'Donnell, Kelly, D. Mc. Rogers for a full game and the threat level goes up. The defence is still getting caught ball watch.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934671#Comment_121934671

hopefully bohannon will be back for the tipp game , he was a huge loss today , it was a big ask for a young lad like brian mc to hold the fort as main target in midfield today

i actually blame club coaching for the lack of kicking , some of the teams in the senior championship last year had a phobia in kicking the football

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934719#Comment_121934719

exactly , you will learn far more today and the next day about what we really have then sitting at home , i taught hogan was okay in the first half , was poor in the second though , i taught some of the wides we hit in the last ten minutes were dreadful , especially from meehan daragh lohan and galvin , taught david reidy was poor enough too , mccarty gave an exhibition on frees against that strong wind in the second half , realistically that was the wining of the game

keeponhurling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934590#Comment_121934590

"concussion assessment" according to RTE, hope he'll be feeling ok again soon

roashter

Where will the league final be on? Should be Thurles, but I'd be fearful they will drag us to the supervalue by the Lee.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934849#Comment_121934849

most probably , only thing i would say is the crowd wouldn't be massive so parking near the ground and traffic should be fine

windy shepard henderson

if the game is on sunday week it wont be on in cork as the cork footballers are playing that day there . it wont be on in portlaoise on the saturday as there are two fixtures down for that day there ,

keeponhurling

Bigger question is whether Clare go 100% to win the final.

I personally think they should. It’s only one match and they have to turn up and play it anyways. They then have 2 weeks to the Limerick game.

I don’t think we’ve won silverware yet under Lohan, last league was 2016

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121934987#Comment_121934987

once you get to the final you have to go all out and win it , both teams probably need something to show for the last couple of years . kilkenny have lost the last 3 national finals in two all irelands and last years league , while we have lost 2 munsters in a row , something has to give , they have been the best two teams in the country after limerick the last couple of years

KIB4Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935005#Comment_121935005

Yeah it’s not like Clare have too many National trophies down through the year, so they obviously will be going 100% for it. Surely as well winning something will bring confidence to the team coming into the championship especially while missing about 4 or 5 starters.

Sure the Dublin footballers under Jim Gavin took the league serious I think they won 5 leagues under him and it certainly did them no harm.

Figerty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935038#Comment_121935038

I remember Clare losing a league semi-final and someone saying to an old lad here, Clare were better off out losing and out of the league and to focus on the championship.. the answer was the most sensible..." If losing league matches we going to win us Munster championships we would have a load of them by now..." If you are in it,, you are in it to win it. I'd like to see O'Donnell and Kelly if available get some game minutes under their belts.

roashter

Hopefully it won't be in supervalue on the Saturday evening