Clare GAA discussion thread

lizzyod wrote: »

i miss podge

Recently retired Wexford Player found Podge to be his hardest opponent (Unmarkable) last year and felt that if it were not for his sending off Clare would have beaten Wexford the first day out.

A massive loss to Clare

He did quite well on Podge last year, dont think he scored. Agree though, when Podge is on form his speed and movement make him very difficult to contain. Last year, I dont think Davy chose they right role for him. He played him too close to goal and I felt we we missed his industry out the field.

Personaly I reckon podge will return next year, I feel daveys comments on the Sunday game when he was on analysis for they/4 finals made the cratloe lads mind up, thankfully so far our esteemed leader has stayed away from the media for the best part of the off season / post. Season...... Long may it continue...

CheltenhamJ wrote: »

Has team been named for tmrw ??

Typically late..

1. Pa Kelly
2. Domhnaill O'Donovan
3. Cian Dillon
4. Jack Browne
5. Conor Cleary
6. Conor Ryan
7. Pat O'Connor
8. Brendan Buglar
9. Colin Ryan
10. Pat Donnellan
11. A. N. Other
12. Colm Galvin
13. John Conlon
14. Shane O'Donnell
15. David Reidy

Not the ideal start to the league today, despite a terrible start we worked our way back into the game and were flattering leaders late in the first half, all helped by poor and sometimes very poor Galway finishing

Second half we took control and with 10/15 minutes in we were in control, keeping Galway at arms length with a 3/4 points lead,despite interducing conor McGrath Aaron cunningham and totts we let slip a comfortable wining situation, mainly once again down to giving away petty frees and indiscipline. We also showed to be very weak down the centre of defence however I would put it down to the amount of positional changes made, we only looked in control at the back with the sweeper system in place but again we let ourselves down discipline wise,

Good to see Donal o Donovan back in the starting line up seemed like he was never away putting in a great performance, bobby duggan had a great first half and at times kept us in the game. We looked a little better under the puck outs today, but Buglar needs to drop back from the start the next day midfield is not for him, would like to see conor Ryan tried out again it that position. Questions still to be asked about Cleary at times, patch o Connor and john Conlon were as ever rock solid, Galvin looked at home in the roving roll while jack Browne kept his head today to put in a decent performance under tons of pressure at times,full forwards did well with limited supply at times, a repeat of the last ten of the first and first 20 of the second half should be enough to put it up to cork next Saturday but we will need to control the game for longer if we are to win, good work out today for this time of year plenty to work on though

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Only going on what I heard on the radio and the highlights just there on rte but that didn't seem like a good performance at all.

The defending for both galways goals was horrendous especially the second one. Glynn won a ball in a ruck which had 4 clare players in it. He had no right to win the ball at all. Some extremely naive defending.
First galway goal all come about by an awful cross field pass to Colin Ryan. Just can't afford to be making those mistakes at that level.
Our forwards seem to get little or no ball in the first half. Sometimes the 2 man full forward line just doesn't work for us. Obviously have a good few players to come back into the team, but we will have to improve an awful lot in order to not be in a relegation battle.

Agree yes both goals were soft but you will get that this time of year, I would be worried by how slow we were coming out of the blocks for the next day but when we clicked in the middle part of the game we looked fine especially with Kelly out and McGrath still on the bench. Still think we are ahead of where cork and tipp are at the moment they're our next two games with Dublin after, I would be surprised if we will find ourselves heading down to Kilkenny in a must win situation to avoid a play/off

letowski wrote: »

Thought it was a poor game overall, but Galway were the better team over the 70 as they were well on top in the possession stakes and we struggled physically against them on the breaking ball. It reminded me a bit about the game versus Dublin last year, today we were up against a big team in a poor pitch and conditions.
We were very poor though. I think what I find frustrating is the same issues are still evident for the last 4 years. Our defending in front of goal is crazy erratic, our backs seem to lack basic defensive instincts (at one stage DOD flicked a loose ball straight to Regan 5 meters out!). Discipline and ball winners too, although I actually though Bugs did quite good in the second half. Conor Ryan and Patch were poor today though.
It's only February, hopefully things will improve. I wouldn't be in favour of Donnellan at wing forward, bring Conlon out and Hammy or Tots in or something. When the game opened up a bit we got on top and I though Bobby Duggan and Shane O'Donnell looked good and Cleary can be happy with his outing too.

to be honest I think you hit the nail on the head with alot of things but in fairness it was in no way as bad as the Dublin game last year, were beaten in every position that day and were never going to win

Today we were in a winning position with 60 seconds left on the clock despite playing so poorly, they best Dublin last week handy enough in the end, look what they did to tipp today

The other thing that has me in a more positive mood then most is we experimented heavily today, something we have not done since the 2013 league campaign, I would blame alot of last year's failures on the fact we rarely changed our starting lineups and because over predictable, we hit the crossbar today with several players out of position conor McGrath on the bench for the best part of 60 minutes, Tony Kelly out injured , nobody were operating at full pace I still think We are in a better position then most at the moment,

Boots234 wrote: »

The football gaa draws were made on Tuesday night and the standout game has to be KIB v Cratloe in the first round, How many times have they met at this stage? It seems like they play every year! O'Curry's v Kilkee could be a tasty game too. One very tough group in the intermediate championship as it contains Liscannor, Kilmihil, Corofin and Naomh Eoin. Naomh Eoin very unlucky to be drawn out in that group

Some very tasty draws in all the respective championships.
Obviously the stand out is the cratloe v KIB game. Big test early for them. Also think the eire og v ennistymon game could be a good tie. Both teams have had plenty of recent underage success.

Some of the draws in the hurling are excellent too.

Cratloe v ballyea - should be an exciting match with some of the county players on show.

Clonlara v clarecastle - been in the closing stages last number of years.

Eire og v sixmilebridge - lot of history between the two sides and we don't exactly like each other

Also, Wolfe tones v barefield in intermediate hurling!!!! Seems ridiculous altogether

Clare will line up the same as they did in Salthill last Sunday. Kind of need to win this won to win make the knockouts. Should be a good game tomorrow, although both teams were poor last week, there should be an edge to the game at least. Bugs & Galvin v Walsh and Kearney should be a good battle in midfield, particularly Galvin and Kearney, they always have a good match up. Cork are never the team to exploit Clare's weaknesses, they are in composition probably most similar to ourselves of the rest of the counties. I think it will be the team that starts the best and gets their game plan going will be the team that wins. It has always been that way for the last 3 years with these sides.

In fairness PUR looked quite firm last Saturday so tomorrow should be a better opportunity for Reidy and SOD to get on more ball. I thought Reidy played too close to goal the last day, he his usually better of in a more withdrawn role. The forward line looks reliant on Conlon to get heavily involved in our play, I think better games are needed from Colin Ryan and Pat Donnellan if we are to win.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

Serious doubts about the two above mentioned Colin is a great free taker but very hot and cold out the field , Donnellan seems to fit the sweeper system and nothing else,

Taught the team would be alot stronger, can't see the logic of playing so many players out of position with the squad of players at our disposal

Yeah Id agree, players like Tots and Cunningham should be getting a start for games like these. Davy has always seemed to stick fairly rigidly to a team during the league despite performances. It's frustrating sometimes as there is a good squad there available to him.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

In fairness he did chop and change quite alot during the 2013 league campaign, we ended up in a relegation final that year, but atleast we had a squad ready for championship, plus baring in mind podge Collins and Shane O'Donnell only played bit part cameo roles up until the qualifiers, but set there markers down in games against Kilkenny and cork that year in the league, Last year was as you say very stale with the predictably of our line ups

Thats true, I think the main thing from learning from last year is trying to get serious competition in our squad, which should definitely be there considering the bench. Players who were on the AI winning team were practically guaranteed their places the next year (except for Kelly and DOD) and didn't seem to have any urgency or sharpness as a result of the knowledge they were going to start regards come championship time.

Have to go with the old fashion radio coverage

PlayByTheRules wrote: »

Which station on radio?

Just local clare fm.

Off to a much better start than last week anyway

Down 3 at half time. Cork forwards seem to be getting plenty of good ball and are taking advantage of it while our forwards are struggling for possession. Our scores are either coming from frees or from further out the field.
McGrath will have to be introduced asap anyway.

I'd say you need McGrath to pull this one out of the bag. DOD got exposed badly twice by Horgan, expect better from him. Morey's pace will be an asset back there.

But not winning anything from the puck-outs really and Cork are walking through too easily, surely Conlon has to come out the field?