Clare GAA discussion thread

With regards to the hurling, first things first, Malony is after saying that John went over on his ankle so it appears not to be as bad as it looked. Honestly that was basically our year there, we don't do anything without John in the summer, plain and simple. I thought it looked like a cruciate injury. Anyway, I would still rest him now, give someone like Shanagher gametime from being back from injury.

Tight finish to the game in the end, though alot of it was self inflicted. The midfield and half forward line seemed to either tire or just lose concentration but we left far too many Wexford runners from midfield unmarked through for a score. That and woeful use of the ball by the backs. But for the most part of the game we were the better team and we had a gear at the end to see us through.

Some other thoughts:

Rory Hayes has had some good moments in the league but he needs to be careful not to over commit when attacking the ball. All too often he is running out past his marker and letting him in straight through. An experienced corner forward will know just to leverage his body between Hayes and the ball, and just let Hayes' momentum take him out past. He will proably mark Mulcahy in the last round which will be a good test. Overall I think he is worth persisting with, but he needs alot of refinement, he is very raw.

Duggan had a better day today after been off form so far this year. He is still along way off his 2018 best, but I'm not going to worry about his form yet. He was striking the ball well today.

Management was slow to use the bench and used it badly imo. David Fitz was playing a good game, while Pat O'Connor looked off the pace, it was a bad call to take Fitz off 20 minutes before POC. Also we needed to bring subs on around midfield and the half forward line to bring a bit more energy as Wexford was over running us for a finish. Finally they need to be more open to bringing Conlon to center forward (and play Shanagher at 14) when we are losing the grip of the game. He doesn't have to stay there, he can go back inside, but we need his presence. Like in the second half of the Munster final, yes he can dominate at 14, but its no good if we cant get the ball into him.

Finally, the Limerick game is a big game next week. We will probably come last in the table if we lose next week and Tipp win because we have a poor overall score difference. That would mean no hurling from the 3rd of March to the 12th of May which is not ideal in the slightest. Next week is a good test. Probably no Conlon so it will be interesting to see how we get on.

BloodyBill wrote: »

letowski wrote: »

With regards to the hurling, first things first, Malony is after saying that John went over on his ankle so it appears not to be as bad as it looked. Honestly that was basically our year there, we don't do anything without John in the summer, plain and simple. I thought it looked like a cruciate injury. Anyway, I would still rest him now, give someone like Shanagher gametime from being back from injury.

Tight finish to the game in the end, though alot of it was self inflicted. The midfield and half forward line seemed to either tire or just lose concentration but we left far too many Wexford runners from midfield unmarked through for a score. That and woeful use of the ball by the backs. But for the most part of the game we were the better team and we had a gear at the end to see us through.

Some other thoughts:

Rory Hayes has had some good moments in the league but he needs to be careful not to over commit when attacking the ball. All too often he is running out past his marker and letting him in straight through. An experienced corner forward will know just to leverage his body between Hayes and the ball, and just let Hayes' momentum take him out past. He will proably mark Mulcahy in the last round which will be a good test. Overall I think he is worth persisting with, but he needs alot of refinement, he is very raw.

Duggan had a better day today after been off form so far this year. He is still along way off his 2018 best, but I'm not going to worry about his form yet. He was striking the ball well today.

Management was slow to use the bench and used it badly imo. David Fitz was playing a good game, while Pat O'Connor looked off the pace, it was a bad call to take Fitz off 20 minutes before POC. Also we needed to bring subs on around midfield and the half forward line to bring a bit more energy as Wexford was over running us for a finish. Finally they need to be more open to bringing Conlon to center forward (and play Shanagher at 14) when we are losing the grip of the game. He doesn't have to stay there, he can go back inside, but we need his presence. Like in the second half of the Munster final, yes he can dominate at 14, but its no good if we cant get the ball into him.

Finally, the Limerick game is a big game next week. We will probably come last in the table if we lose next week and Tipp win because we have a poor overall score difference. That would mean no hurling from the 3rd of March to the 12th of May which is not ideal in the slightest. Next week is a good test. Probably no Conlon so it will be interesting to see how we get on.

Good summation of the game. Conlon should have been rested anyway. Why do the two managers insist on playing Clare's marquee players week in and week out. They change the fringe players all the time but the likes of Conlon, Colm Galvin and McInerney are played every time. Why not drop Browne in full back and play McCarthy. Give Shanager a start at full forward. The managers have no trust in their squad.

One time i would agree with resting players , but with the condensed nature of the early championship players need games under there belt now

Tipperary struggled in the championship last year after hevily rotating in the league i do agree with the fact of resting one or two players for a game or two say the likes of Kelly , galvin and conlon just to see how others react without them and at least offer an option if they pick up injures later in the year

Going watching it back now shortly , my main concern at the moment is our drop off points in games , conceded 1-8 without reply again today , far too much to give away

On the rotating players point, probably we rotated a bit too much in the first Tipp game. When you lose your first game it doesn’t leave much margin for error.

It’s a hard league, and for example today or v Kilkenny, if we went with an experimental line-up we may well have been beaten.
The Limerick game is also “must win”, unless we want no match from that until championship.

New ruling saying under 17 boys cannot play under 21 is causing a major stir in clare at the moment. Looks like only 5 or 6 clubs will have the numbers to play A grand. And under 21 B very possibly being only 13 a side

https://hoganstand.com/Article/Index/296188

Conlon is out for the next four weeks at least, hopefully he recovers well

Clareman wrote: »

Bad news but in fairness most of the lads should be given at least a month off after Sunday and come in fresh ready for May

id rather save him for waterford then risk it getting worse , Waterford have been granted home advantage for that game in walsh park which in truth is only fair but we will need all hands on deck that day

time now for someone else to step up to the mark on sunday now

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

this is why they should have agreed to revert back to an u20 championship i know it breaks tradition but it would have helped several clubs

Would that not just have move the problem back a year...

5 years previous grade.. then we would have clubs calling for U16s to be let play or they cant make the numbers.

At 17, the better players are well able to cope. This is a nonsense.

finbarrk wrote: »

It will be great to get to Walsh Park, haven't been there before. May 12th.
https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/championship-boost-for-waterford-as-walsh-park-confirmed-as-home-venue-for-munster-campaign-37865717.html

It's a shocking ground, worse than Cusack Park

https://twitter.com/ClareSenHurlers

Would have preferred to have seen Aron Shanagher get the start but I'm nonetheless interested in seeing how Deasy goes at 14. He will have a size advantage over Finn, although Finn is one of the best man-markers in the country. I think Deasy has struggled with adapting to the pace at intercounty senior level, but he might be effective at 14, where he has played very well for Ballyea. Colin Guilfoyle is not on the 26 anymore.

Fermanagh 0-12 0-9 Clare

another defeat on the road for the footballers against the in form northerners , a disallowed gary brennan goal proving a huge turning point in the game , next game in two weeks time at home against meath , fail to win there and its set up for a final day battle away to tipperary to stay in the division

scorers for Clare:
David Tubridy (0-2f),
Jamie Malone 0-2 ;
Kieran Malone(0-1),
Conor Finnucane(0-1),
Gary Brennan (0-1f),
Keelan Sexton(0-1),
Eoin Cleary (0-1f)



key fixtures in the relegation battle
round 6
Clare v Meath
Kildare v Tipperary
Cork v Donegal
Armagh v Fermanagh

Round 7
Armagh v Cork
Tipperary v Clare

Full back, discipline and free taking. They are thd big issues now the management have to look to address going into the championship. Even if one of these issues were fine today, we win.

David McInerney is our most talented back but he is just not a full back. We have seen him consistently make the wrong decisions from the Callinan goal against Tipp in round 1 to today. I said after that game that we should test Oisin O'Brien as a full back, he did solid today. Clare hurling needs to focus on developing full back line players in the mold of the likes of Browne and O'Brien who go out with the sole purpose of stopping their men. In recent years we have played the likes of McInerney, O'Connor, Morey, etc and they never work long term because of their lack of full back line instincts.

Duggan again inconsistent from frees that proved costly. He played well but I dont know what the solution is. He is not reliable from placed balls. Lots of frees conceded, even if alot of them were of the soft variety. It's getting very frustrating, teams seem to easily manipulate us into conceding stupid frees. We have just got to get more cuter. Young Hayes, I love the talent, but I cant trust him to do the right thing consistently.

On the bright side, infairness on the balance of play we matched up well against them. The conditions would suit them more, the Galvin's, Podge, Kelly were not ever going to be at their best on a day like today. And also we were missing Conlon who would havd been huge for us. So it was a good result overall. Golden and Diarmuid Ryan played very well, they have been good inclusions in the starting 15 this year. Tuohy good again. Cleary solid.

We should be through, unless there is a draw in Wexford v KK game and Cork win/draw. So basically no draw in Wexford and were good.

letowski wrote: »

Full back, discipline and free taking. They are thd big issues now the management have to look to address going into the championship. Even if one of these issues were fine today, we win.

David McInerney is our most talented back but he is just not a full back. We have seen him consistently make the wrong decisions from the Callinan goal against Tipp in round 1 to today. I said after that game that we should test Oisin O'Brien as a full back, he did solid today. Clare hurling needs to focus on developing full back line players in the mold of the likes of Browne and O'Brien who go out with the sole purpose of stopping their men. In recent years we have played the likes of McInerney, O'Connor, Morey, etc and they never work long term because of their lack of full back line instincts.

Duggan again inconsistent from frees that proved costly. He played well but I dont know what the solution is. He is not reliable from placed balls. Lots of frees conceded, even if alot of them were of the soft variety. It's getting very frustrating, teams seem to easily manipulate us into conceding stupid frees. We have just got to get more cuter. Young Hayes, I love the talent, but I cant trust him to do the right thing consistently.

On the bright side, infairness on the balance of play we matched up well against them. The conditions would suit them more, the Galvin's, Podge, Kelly were not ever going to be at their best on a day like today. And also we were missing Conlon who would havd been huge for us. So it was a good result overall. Golden and Diarmuid Ryan played very well, they have been good inclusions in the starting 15 this year. Tuohy good again. Cleary solid.

We should be through, unless there is a draw in Wexford v KK game and Cork win/draw. So basically no draw in Wexford and were good.

happy enough with the forwards to be fair , missing a few again today and in awful conditions we played well and gave plenty to an excellent limerick defense

our own lads at the back are still a liability david mc needs to be changed , again my hope would be to opt for cleary to drop back as he is good under a high ball and would be least exposed

i close my eyes every time i see jack browne tackling you just know he is going to give away a free , he is a fine defender but a game or two on the bench might wake him up a bit

we have no great option for free takers though , management tried with kelly or david reidy for short frees a few years ago and duggan with the longer ones maybe a return to something like that would take the pressure off duggan fully , but the big issue here going forward is definitely the full back line we will be ok for scores come championship even if we are only striking 60 to 70% of our frees

deaddonkey15 wrote:

I'm not convinced by Browne at all, I reckon he's a liability. He's tenacious and aggressive, but that often just results in fouls and there's probably nothing killing this team more than their indiscipline. I was worried about him marking Gillane today and reckoned he was good for at least a yellow card. In the lead up to the penalty he was practically bear hugging Gillane as the ball came in, in fact I think that was more deserving of a penalty than the foul that the ref actually penalised him for. Whilst Gillane was relatively quiet today, I think that was more due to the conditions than anything else.

Its a fair critiscm of Browne, discipline (and pace) has always been his main weaknesses. He has made some strides in his discipline last year. I guess my point is I would still prefer to back a player like Browne at corner back rather than say put Pat O'Conner there and risk big mistakes (like Patch's mistake against Galway, first game, last year for Cooney's goal). I guess I'm old fashioned in my beliefs of the role of the corner back. But your right, he hasn't reached that same consistency in his tackling/discipline this year.

I liked how Limerick were set up at the back last year. Finn and English last year did good jobs at man marking last year, while they had a big, athletic half back line in Byrnes, Hannon, Morrisey. I think that's a good template for teams to follow in 2019. My idea would be to play O'Brien and Browne in the full back line, man marking, and then David Mc, Cleary and Fitz in the half back line.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

probably have to pull Rory hayes for the last two fouls at the end of the game for limericks comback , he did have a guilty look on his face both times , only looking at the replay there in the highlights both were two bad frees to give away

both especially the 2nd free for the equalizer at the end are normally the type of frees that would be wavered by most ref's here in club games , we really miss paul kinnerk when it comes to things like tackling , look how much limerick have improved since he joined , tom condon is playing the best hurling of his career , ritchie english could barely make the panel and struggled against the weaker sides in division 1b a few years back dan morrisey has probably overlapped diarmuid byarnes as one of the best wing backs in the country

kiely obviously has a huge impact in how limerick set themselves up but i reckon the level of limericks discipline is down to kinnerk and if you look back to our hurling in 2013 against the next 3 or 4 years our defending deteriorated in his absence regardless of who the manager was

The same richie english who was fullback on the u21 team of the year in 2015? He was always going to step up to senior after impressing at u21and minor, the other 2 have improved immensly alright, not too many would have had Dan Morrissey on their team at the start of last year.