Clare GAA discussion thread

Schools football always seems to have one team giving the other team a hammering

Clare team v Tipp:

Touhy
Browne - Cleary - Poc
Morey - Dmac - Fitz
Galvin -Kelly
Malone - Conlon - Reidy
SOD - P. Duggan - CMcG

Strong team, pretty close to full strength. I think to be fair the management want to target this one, get off to a winning start at home. You lose this things get tricky. Would like more experimentation but i think that will come later hopefully. Looking forward to Duggan bring his form and talent through a this level. Hopefully we see Deasy too at some stage too and Cleary goes well at the edge of the square. One thing, the half back line is very 'offensive', its important they sit deep and protect their full back line first, and only make their runs forward when its on.

danganabu wrote: »

Crazy team selection from Clare considering this years new calender, still the 15/8 on Clare in Ennis is a gift from god!

Litterly wouldn't be surprised if Jack Browne is the only change from our starting championship team. Would be very cautious of picking a team like that at this time of the year considering the amount of games in the new calendar year. Maybe the management want to win a couple of games early on to be comfortable and then experiment later in the league. But 1A has always been so up and down in terms of form lines.

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

Very disappointing Clare display today I'm afraid. Firstly once again we failed to stop the Cavan runners from running hard at the Clare defense. We need to be more ruthless in those areas as this is becoming to be a huge area of concern. The short kick-outs mixed the good with the bad. The bad obviously the concession of Cavan 2nd goal. Kevin Hartnett's loss cannot be underestimated along with the retired goalie Joe Hayes. Big losses.

Gary Brennan got a black card during a melee. He was clearly seething with the decision.

Gearoid O'Brien, Conor Finnucane and Keelan Sexton showed good composure in attack. While in defense I though Cian O'Dea looked most promising. Other than that we played well below average with the likes of Eoin Cleary missing a few frees (David Tubridy another huge loss in the free-taking department). The subs bench is going to be a major area of concern once again. Where are the likes of Jack Morrissey and Cormac Murray?

A bitterly disappointing result for Clare then. Very much one point dropped rather than gained I'm afraid. Next stop Meath on Sunday week.

not sure is it as bad a result , we started with a new goal keeper new full back two new half forwards and two new corner forwards

everything was going to plan , we forced cavan to bring on there big guns early either before half time or at half time , the introduction of cian mackey was the turning point of the game , he scored 2 points set up the second goal and was involved in several scores in the last 17 minutes

a spell of dominance over 5 minutes from the 50 to the 55 minute where cavan scored 1-2 to 0-0 cut our 6 point lead down to one all helped by mackey and dara mcvitys influence

from our own point of view the new players played well , all making errors or showing lack of experience but recovering well, my main gripe was with sexton today who i taught was very poor on the ball and but for his late point his shooting was poor too by his own standard

cleary , cathal o connor and cian o dea were probably our best performers but cillian brennan playing out of position at full back did well for a lad starting out at this level , evan courtney baged a goal and two points along with good scores from gearoid obrien and conor finnucane ,

11 of the starting panel today were under 23 , gordan kelly is the only player over 30 and the players that came off the bench were all under the 24 bracket , there is tons of talent to work with on the panel ,today was a lesson i hope in which we can learn from fast but with so many key players missing or retired i taught today was a good effort bar the 5 minute period halfway through the second half where we lost brennan and conceded a goal and 2 points without reply , disappointing not to win the game but plenty of possitives

on the negative you are spot on , our half back line is letting through too much and probably too attacking lillis , malone both are very attacking while ciaran russell is out of possition at 6 kevin hartnet dean ryan and marty mcmahon were huge losses today

clare scorers

E Courtney 1-2
E cleary 0-4
G o'brien 0-2
K Sexton 0-1
C o'connor 0-1
G Brennan 0-1
C Finnucane 0-1

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

Really worried that Clare are to play Meath and Tipperary in their next 2 matches in the NFL and could be set for two hammerings. Tipperary were most impressive tonight and Meath are improving under McEntee so I fear the worst.

Great to see on a side note that Offaly are back being competitive again in hurling and scored 2-25 albeit against a Dublin team that are worse than they were under Cunningham. That's some low for the Dubs. I loved Offaly hurling when I was a child. Great that Kevin Martin is getting the absolute maximum from his players and them buying into what Martin is trying to instill to his troops.

i think the hammering we got off meath was down to a number of things , i certainly dont think they are that much better then us , tipperary on the other hand are very impressive and have serious strength in depth , another menber of the mcgrath famaliy from loughmore has raised his head tonight step aside noel and john , liam looks like a serious prospect at the football , excellent hurler too

yeah offaly played well against kilkenny also 2 weeks ago , atleast there fitness levels resemble a intercounty team , they have the hurlers up there just not the structures plus the county board has done little to help , very interesting campaign 1B is going to be now by the looks of things

Why weren't the football and hurling league games made a doubleheader?

Slipperydodger wrote: »

Why weren't the football and hurling league games made a doubleheader?

No floodlights in cusack park . We would have had to play the first game at 12 o clock tomorrow for that to happen

Fann Linn wrote: »

It amazes me all those local community GAA grounds around the country with floodlights and yet the County grounds have none. Its really time the like of Clare, Galway etc get their act together.

Its an embarrassment that the county grounds cant match the rest of the county

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

not sure is it as bad a result , we started with a new goal keeper new full back two new half forwards and two new corner forwards

everything was going to plan , we forced cavan to bring on there big guns early either before half time or at half time , the introduction of cian mackey was the turning point of the game , he scored 2 points set up the second goal and was involved in several scores in the last 17 minutes

a spell of dominance over 5 minutes from the 50 to the 55 minute where cavan scored 1-2 to 0-0 cut our 6 point lead down to one all helped by mackey and dara mcvitys influence

from our own point of view the new players played well , all making errors or showing lack of experience but recovering well, my main gripe was with sexton today who i taught was very poor on the ball and but for his late point his shooting was poor too by his own standard

cleary , cathal o connor and cian o dea were probably our best performers but cillian brennan playing out of position at full back did well for a lad starting out at this level , evan courtney baged a goal and two points along with good scores from gearoid obrien and conor finnucane ,

11 of the starting panel today were under 23 , gordan kelly is the only player over 30 and the players that came off the bench were all under the 24 bracket , there is tons of talent to work with on the panel ,today was a lesson i hope in which we can learn from fast but with so many key players missing or retired i taught today was a good effort bar the 5 minute period halfway through the second half where we lost brennan and conceded a goal and 2 points without reply , disappointing not to win the game but plenty of possitives

on the negative you are spot on , our half back line is letting through too much and probably too attacking lillis , malone both are very attacking while ciaran russell is out of possition at 6 kevin hartnet dean ryan and marty mcmahon were huge losses today

clare scorers

E Courtney 1-2
E cleary 0-4
G o'brien 0-2
K Sexton 0-1
C o'connor 0-1
G Brennan 0-1
C Finnucane 0-1

I’d love to know what game you were at because it wasn’t the one I was at, Cleary was poor needs to learn to pass the ball, Sexton had a poor wide but other than that showed well and kicked 2 good scores and made the goal also.
Cathal O Connor would get the nod from me as our best player on the day.
Your scorers account is also wrong Courtney scored one goal and both Conor Finucane and Keelan Sexton scored two points each
We need a new no 1 and 3 (while hartnett is out) If we have any hope. Marty MC is not supposed to be returning.

Clare v Tipperary Hurling Highlights - Buff Egan

Was away this afternoon, just watched the full game on the TG4 player.

Just looking through the comments, one thing for me I disagree on was Shane O'Donnell's performance. I thought he played a key part to our win, and while he didn't score, he laid off numerous passes to scores. Ones off the top of my head Malone's first point and the first score of the second half, and he laid off passes for the last two scores also, one to Reidy and another one to Ian Galvin who was fouled. Thought he was out in front off Donagh Maher all day, yes SOD needs to bring more of a scoring return himself but he played well for me.

Touhy was solid in goal, two puckouts went straight back over his head, but definitely Kelly should have caught one of those puckouts.

In the backs the full back line were solid also, but Tipp didn't start J. McGrath, Callinan and Bubbles, so bigger tests lie ahead. Happy enough though, I think if Cleary can hold full back, along with POC with OOB back fit, hopefully we can be solid here in the summer. I actually liked that Davy Mc was set commited in holding the center in front of them, and gave them good protection. I have been a big advocate of that role on these boards, its been used so often in recent past AI winners with the likes of Brian Hogan, Conor Mahony, and more recently Ronan Maher and Gearoid McInerney. Ok Noel McGrath got 4 from play, that's a communication and awareness issue between Davy Mc and the midfielders, but overall for me we got more benefit as we held our structure at the back, didn't let Tipp get runners through the center and gave away no goal chances. One thing for sure is discipline needs to be improved. Fitz played excellent, he is a very good all round hurler.

Midfield was not so good. Kelly is very rusty for sure, and while Galvin had some good play, we need him more influential. There's question marks from last year about pairing the two because they aren't going to win much balls in the trenches or in the air. In attack, obviously both are brilliant.

Up front, I mention SOD above. Thought CMcG was out of it and the management need to look at the VT and come up how best to get good and regular ball into him. Reidy was very good, worked hard and scored 1-3 fp. One has to think he is an important starter because he is the best guy we have at taking on his man and carrying the ball forward. He always makes a good contribution. Malone, Conlon and Duggan all worked hard, great to see improvements in Malone's shooting. I think the management though should try lining them up different the next day. I think Conlon is more effective at 14 while I would have Duggan on the wing like CQ, as his aerial ability can be utilized more. He can be very dangerous on the edge of the square also.

Good to get the result but I wouldnt be too excited given the Tipp team selected. To be fair with 2 home games the management were right to target this one. Loads of room to improve over the spring.