Clare GAA discussion thread

Ger loughnane comments on the hurlers at the weekend " they looked like prisoners released after 20 years"

Pointed out our obvious problems, no pace in defence, lack of ball winners, poor ball skills on the day and an over reliance on tony kelly.

Barbie!sBitch wrote: »

What was with Donal Tuohy leaving his brother's wedding (where he was bestman)??? FFS, it was the first round of the league and players are being given time off the whole time surely they could have allowed him the weekend off.

I don't know the man at all, but I am guessing that Donal Tuohy was delighted to be given the No 1 Jersey for the first game of the league and wouldn't have minded in the slightest.

He hasn't got many league starts in the last few years and I would say he was delighted to get the start and try and nail down his place on the team

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

with no balllyea players for the foreseeable future 3 changes from last weeks side that lost to cork have been made

with jack browne being replaced by oisin o'brien , while aaron cunnningham comes in for tony kelly with john conlon moving into full forward , david fitzgearld is down to start again as last week but was replaced before the throw in by shane golden , should he start it will be at golden's expense this week

very direct look to the side this week but concernes over the lack of pace in the half back line , having conlon full forward adds to another ball winner while expect a big test for malone and cunningham on the 40 in wining there puck outs , podge will drift back out the field , but if sharpness has not improved it matters little who lines out , the performance down in cork last week looked like a team that was weeks behind lets hope for a huge improvement sunday

https://twitter.com/ClubClareHS/status/832676133661396992

Summed it up perfectly Windy. The half back line would be the real concern for me with that line up. Shanahan has been playing full forward too for LIT so pretty big change when switching between the two positions.

Any list of our subs??

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Summed it up perfectly Windy. The half back line would be the real concern for me with that line up. Shanahan has been playing full forward too for LIT so pretty big change when switching between the two positions.

Any list of our subs??

pat donnellan will probably make an appearance at some stage , i gave his inter county career the last rights last year , some comeback in fairness , the kilkenny team is mixed again , very strong forward line , expect a backlash from last week , but it will be interesting to see how there backs cope given how direct we look , if the forwards click then it will be a far closer game then the bookies expect

Substitutes:
Andrew Fahy
Shane Golden Peter Duggan Pat Donnellan
Jason McCarthy Bobby Duggan Cathal McInerney
Shane McNamara Conor O Donnell,Eoin Quirke Kevin Hehir

kilkenny team

E Murphy
E Cody
P Walsh
C o Shea
J Holden
P Murphy
K Joyce
C Fogarty
C Buckley
L Blanchfield
TJ Reid
R Leahy
R Hogan
W Walsh
K Kelly

letowski wrote: »

I think we might get away with a slow half back line this weekend, as Kilkenny's midfield and forwards are not particularly blessed with pace. I think it was the likes of Kingston, Cadogan, Meade and Kearney we were struggling to close down due to their movement.

I very much like our midfield, nice balance and better with Reidy back there. I most interested to see how David Fitz gets on, it think he is the best candidate if we want a more physical aerial presence there. After seeing the success of Breen for Tipp last year, I think Fitzgearld could make an impact for us too.

I think being down Galvin, Kelly and McGrath, we might be slightly short in raising white flags, but what we do have is an inside forward line that can score goals. I think its obvious why John is in at 14, KK have Padraig Walsh in there with hardly any experience, I think we target here.

I would be surprised if we won but if if were clinical with our goal chances and Reidy gets his frees this time we will be in with a shout.

cork looked like a team in training since the wexford defeat last summer , but to be fair our sharpness was miles off and that was apparent in the munster league too

i imagine blanchfield would still be a handful dispite his busy week with carlow it , ritchie hogsn would cause us problems out there too ,yeah they dont have the same pace but serious threat all the same

up front lining up looks positive , the only positive i could really take from last week in cork is we dont look anywhere near as negative or conservative as we did under fitz ,when we beat kilkenny last year we asked real qustions of them that day .... and then reverted back to the short stuff again , for me this was his downfall really, i was disgusted to see us go back to that against waterford last year

you have to play to your strengths no matter how limited or depleted your squad is , the line up for sunday is doing just that , will take a good performance and hope for a couple of wins later on in the campaign when a bit of sharpness returns

Barbie!sBitch wrote: »

J@ysus Clare are 9/4 to win this and have a 3 point handicap, the bookies don't normally get it wrong but I think they might be overestimating KK here, they are missing a few players as well.

Saying that, Conlon at 11/1 for first goal scorer is worth a fiver

will have to divert back into town on sunday to lob on that one seems you got it right in the past

didnt know who i was talking to since the changing of the name ......taught it was a spy :eek:

See what the dubs are doing to cork!!! We could be in trouble.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

pat donnellan will probably make an appearance at some stage , i gave his inter county career the last rights last year , some comeback in fairness , the kilkenny team is mixed again , very strong forward line , expect a backlash from last week , but it will be interesting to see how there backs cope given how direct we look , if the forwards click then it will be a far closer game then the bookies expect

Substitutes:
Andrew Fahy
Shane Golden Peter Duggan Pat Donnellan
Jason McCarthy Bobby Duggan Cathal McInerney
Shane McNamara Conor O Donnell,Eoin Quirke Kevin Hehir

kilkenny team

E Murphy
E Cody
P Walsh
C o Shea
J Holden
P Murphy
K Joyce
C Fogarty
C Buckley
L Blanchfield
TJ Reid
R Leahy
R Hogan
W Walsh
K Kelly

what makes the kilkenny forward line a strong one?
blanchfield is in his second season and hardly hit a ball against waterford
TJ reid is a great hurler but the fact is he didn't score from play in the entire championship last year if memory serves
r leahy was an intermediate last year
Hogan is excellent
walsh is a power house but his grip restricts him and
kevin Kelly has skill but lacks toughness

they are not a poor set of forwards of course since the very fact of being on the kilkenny team suggests quality but lets not get carried away.

Did an awful lot of hurling for just a four point lead. Butchered a couple of goal chances but it's certainly refreshing to see us create them.

What a superb performance and result. Super workrate, touch much improved, calmness under pressure and accuracy when needed.

excellent win given how many players were missing , needed that backlash, however we need this level of physicality in our game when the others return too , we cant just avert back to the way were under fitz

if there were negatives , we were too reliant playing short at times when we were clearly beating them with our direct game , we coughed up a lot of possession at times going short

donal touhey proved himself as a fine shot stopper with a number of brillent saves , david fitz jamie shannahan were solid all day as were cathal malone and john conlon in the half forward line , and while the likes of the more flair players like reidy podge and shanagher were excellent i stilll have resvations over shane o'donnells inclusion as he struggled to win a lot of 50/50s but played much better then saturday night

jason mccarthey and cathal mac had fine games after being introduced , already there is a spine to the side wihich we were very much missing under fitz

letowski wrote: »

Loved the way we played 3 lads in the full forward line and looked to played diagonal balls out in front of them. Thought Shanhans distribution was good. As you said the right way to play the game, and were creating goal chances too which is pleasing. Just have to be a bit more clinical, Reidy and Conlon should have raised the green flag. I thought Fitz was excellent at left half back, he has to be a starter for me, he is a very gifted hurler.

Well tipp showed last year goals will kill any team.

Fitzgerald was immense today. Has most certainly been a huge plus for us in last two years. Great versatility in where he can line up, good fielder and can take a score.
Shanahan was poor last week but was very good today. High workrate and good distribution.
I have to say cathal Malone was impressive today. Got through heaps of work, picked out the right passes and was able to break ball from our puckouts.

Reckon we have our full back line fairly sorted. O'Brien is a superb man marker and has good physicality while Morey has great pace and is good with the ball. Fitzgerald is nailed on for wing back spot, TK in midfield, conlon, podge and shanagher in the forwards. Plenty of spots still up for grabs and great to hear that Dave Mac was back training on Friday night.

Another huge test in two weeks time against what I think is a side that will be in the all Ireland final this year. Extremely strong panel of players.