Clare GAA discussion thread

Congrats Clare a fine team you have there. Anyone have final score? i didnt get a chance to tune in earlier.

Steel Dog wrote: »

Clare 0-31

Cork 2-23

I know there was ET but that was a high scoring match.

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

31- 2-23 from about ten minutes to go in normal time clare got arounds 15 points up to extra time and missed a lot more.Cork half forward line could not win a ball to save their life.Clare were superb at half back.

I was listening to game up to when Luke o Farrell got a goal to put Cork 1-16 to 0-14, then had to leave the radio. There was about 20 mins left or so then. Shocked in how Cork conceded so much after that.

well done clare thats the second time you have beaten cork in the league
and deserve to stay in division 1 A .

KIB and Cratloe must be sick of the sight of each other. Very difficult to call the winners in a lot of the games but Corofin, Kilmihil, Miltown and Kildysart to make the semi's at intermediate

Boots234 wrote: »

Anyone know when do these championships start?

August bank holiday weekend

Two weeks to go the all important quarter final against Waterford, this thread has been particularly quiet in relation to the build up for this game. So what do people reckon e.g starting line ups and how preparations have gone since the cork game?

Senior Hurling Championship Results Round 1:


Group 1:

Newmarket on Fergus 1-13 Kilmaley 1-12

Tubber 3-16 Tulla 1-14

Group 2:

Crusheen 3-17 St Joseph's Doora Barefield 0-12

Inagh/Kilnamona 1-18 Cratloe 2-12

Group 3:

Clonlara 2-19 Clooney/Quin 2-10

Clarecastle 1-15 Sixmilebridge 1-11



Senior B Hurling Championship Results Round 1:


Group 1:

Ruan 4-13 Eire Og 2-15

O'Callaghans Mills 1-17 Smith O'Brien's 0-09

Group2:

Scariff 3-07 Wolfe Tones 1-10

Ballyea 2-18 Broadford 0-12


Intermediate Hurling Championship Results Round 1:

Group 1:

Sixmilebridge 1-15 Whitegate 1-15

Corofin 1-14 Ennistymon 0-16

Group 2:

Newmarket on Fergus 4-21 Killanena 1-05

Meelick 2-16 Clarecastle 1-18

Group 3:

Ogonnelloe 0-14 Crusheen 0-8

Feakle 3-17 Parteen 3-12

2013 Junior A Hurling Championship Draw:

Group 1:

Clonlara
Cratloe
Eire Og
Kilmaley
Bodyke

Group 2:

Clooney Quin
St Joseph's
Inagh Kilnamona
O Callaghan's Mills
Tubber


2013 Junior B Hurling Championship Draw:

Group 1:

Inagh Kilnamona
Broadford
Corofin
Feakle

Group 2:

Ballyea
Scariff
Sixmilebridge
Ruan

Group 3:

Newmarket
Tulla
Crusheen
Smith O Brien's


Group 4:

Eire Og
Kilmaley
Whitegate
Wolfe Tones

Morey the only doubt. Everyone else in the shake-up including Dillon apparently.

Pretty big game for Clare, very short with the bookmakers. I think they'll make enough chances to win the game, much will depend on whether or not they'll continue to concede soft goals. Dillon's return (if he does start) would lead you to believe he's an option for full-back should Waterford throw Prendergast in there to cause trouble.

Unfortunately, Dillon was in situ last year when they leaked soft goals in almost every big game that were the result of hail mary deliveries to the edge of the square. That was certainly a significant factor in the losing of the Waterford game last year. Not Dillon's fault as such, but a collective failure to deal with very basic long balls from the opposition.

It was a similar story in the league tie this year, with goal chances being coughed up from situations that shouldn't have been threatening at all and Waterford converting one on ones as a result.

At the level Clare are at right now, in that group outside the top tier alongside Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Dublin, the margins are so thin you're probably not going to get away with those blunders. Even in the league play-off with Cork, they were nearly undone by another cheap goal despite over-running Cork for the last 20 minutes of the game.

For Clare the problem is compounded by the lack of a goal scoring threat at the other end. On paper, a full-forward line of McGrath, Honan, and O'Donnell looks lethal. But in reality, the threat hasn't been there over the past 18 months. There are various reasons for this (the lack of well timed support running is the biggest one imo) but what it amounts to is that the problem of leaking goals at the back is all the more serious.

I think Clare are good enough to beat Waterford. In Donnellan, Galvin, Kelly, Ryan, and Conlon they have five very mobile and very effective operators in the middle third. As a team they've learned to get their heads up and look for passes unlike the aimless ballooning of ball down the field that marked Ger O'Loughlin's tenure. With the speed and skill that's there, it's going to be difficult for teams to control them for 70 minutes.

The danger for Clare is when they're denied the platform that sets all these players up, as they were for 40 minutes of the play-off with Cork. When Colm Galvin dropped back around the centre-back position, it turned that game in their favour, and they were helped by the complete collapse of the Cork puckout which was overly dependent on Pa Cronin.

When they got that platform they came at Cork in waves and were completely dominant. But the fact that they still nearly lost the game shows you what's wrong with them. They don't support the man in possession well enough to create chances in what is normally the best scoring zone (central channel inside the opposing 45), they're not accurate enough in their shooting to put away a high enough proportion of their low percentage shots (from range and from the sideline), and they remain vulnerable at the back right until the death.

As such I think there are two general aspects of Clare's game that would give a Waterford fan hope on Sunday. The first is that their half-backline is far from imperious in the air if you have players who're reasonable well able to compete in that department. They look immense when they're on top, but when they're under pressure they provide very little platform to the speedsters playing in front of them (their tackle breaking isn't great) and they have a tendency to let ball run through them (as against Tipp this year). If you can stop Donnellan in particular from breaking forward and laying off ball you take a lot of the potency out of Kelly et al.

The second is simply that Clare's vulnerability to goals and tendency to not create goal chances themselves means that they're inclined to give a sucker an even break, so to speak. Even if they dominate the balance of play for long stretches, they can let the teams they're dominating back into games very cheaply indeed.

That said, I think they're going to give Waterford all they can handle on Sunday. The experience of playing Div 1 teams all spring is bound to stand to them in terms of confidence and their all round sharpness. The players coming out of last year's U-21 team in particular have a very high skill level and they all seem to be superb athletes as well. If Waterford are to stop them, it'll come down to their ability to stop these guys ever getting onto the front foot and running at them.

As such, the Clare half-backline looks to be the crucial battleground, and the Waterford puckout with it. Should Clare dominate here I don't see them losing. Should Waterford deny them a platform in the same part of the field, I think they'll have every chance of maintaining their excellent record against this opposition.

The way to nullify Brick was laid out by Tipp and Noel McGrath in 2010. McGrath dropped off him and the combination of his own excellent reading of the game, and the rest of the Tipp team getting their heads up and finding him with passes led to him getting five points from play. The challenge for Clare in implementing that policy is that they're really nowhere near the level of that Tipp team in terms of their understanding of movement and passing. The intent is there though which is a good start.

If I was in charge of Waterford I would definitely be giving a lot of thought to the way Tipp handled Kelly in the league this year, dispatching Cahill to stay on top of him everywhere he went. You need the right player to do it but if you get it right it's well worth the investment.

It's hard to know how the game will go. I'd know far more about Waterford than Clare, and just comparing ourselves to last year I'd have to say that we're probably not as strong, whereas Clare are probably slightly stronger.

We've lost 2 of our 3 best players (Mullane and Molumphy) as well as Philip Mahony who was a fine option for half back / midfield. Our main scoring threat is injured (Shane Walsh) and our solid looking 1-9 at the end of the league has lost Daniels and Shane Fives leaving the wing back slots looking a little suspect. Also, O'Keeffe was a popular goal keeper whose puck outs really seemed to help our half forward line. O'Regan has been picked instead, so hopefully the management have made the right call.

Overall, there are just 5 players starting on Sunday who started in the same fixture last year. I was very surprised with that stat to be honest!

I see that you have concerns over your half back line. We have concerns over our half forward line so that could be a very interesting battle!

Looking at it a little more positively, Sully being back is a big boost. A lot of players introduced had very good leagues - Nagle had his best league yet, O'Halloran and Dillon were excellent, Maurice is always on the cusp on being a really good player, Barron looked good as well. The championship is a different level altogether, but the fact that they had a good league gives them a good chance for Sunday.

Overall though, I just can't wait to see the game! Hurling abú!

That's not the Clare team as far as I know. That team might be the one that's named in the program, but I expect a different 15 to start.