Clare GAA discussion thread

Warper · 30-06-2015 09:38PM

I reckon there should be a big crowd there on Sat and why not. It should be practically full. The footballers will bring around 3k, the hurlers will bring around 7k and Longford/Offaly should bring around 3-4k between them so i expect a great turnout especially since the hope is that it will be Clare's first championship win since the AI victory.

windy shepard henderson · 30-06-2015 10:06PM

hopefully there will be a big crowd but unlike most here i am not as optimistic of anywhere near double figures in terms of thousands , my estimate would be in the region of 6 to 7000 at most , to be fair before or after the all ireland win we have been very slack in terms of support , the last double header in 2013 brought in a crowd of around 7500 , there was a large laois support that day , offaly wont bring huge traveling support , to be fair its been a while since they have been competitive enough at the top level and support has dropped , not sure about longford in terms of what traveling support they will bring? it is a long drive for there supporters ,how many here would be planing a trip up there if they had home advantage

Qwerty27 · 01-07-2015 10:05PM

Not much love for the Clare footballers on here it seems! What are their chance s on Saturday? I'm thinking of travelling down from Longford as two fairly evenly matched sides who like to try and play football and both would be hopeful of progressing to next round.

Is it hard to get parking near the ground? Usual Saturday afternoon traffic to contend with as well I presume?

letowski · 01-07-2015 10:37PM

We have some injured forwards returning which is a big help for us against Longford as we were down alot verus Cork. Our performances this year have been fairly solid so far though we seem to do well in bursts rather than over the full 70. Your right in should be a good game, Clare play very much a running game, not very defensive, but do get their half forwards to track back like mostly all teams now. Were sort of hoping this team we can take a scalp and try and get this team up another level. We ran Kildare very close last year and got to D3 which was improvement.

Parking isnt actually too bad at CP despite is being so close to the center of the town. Your best off parking at the south side where Dunnes/Glor have car parks, there is good space around the housing estates too. Shouldnt be a massive crowd I dont think, Clare Gaa supporters arent a large core number.

windy shepard henderson · 01-07-2015 11:39PM

Qwerty27 wrote: »

Not much love for the Clare footballers on here it seems! What are their chance s on Saturday? I'm thinking of travelling down from Longford as two fairly evenly matched sides who like to try and play football and both would be hopeful of progressing to next round.

Is it hard to get parking near the ground? Usual Saturday afternoon traffic to contend with as well I presume?

plenty of love for clare football

but not much happening of late , we dont really know what kind of team we will have out until the squad is announced , we were very badly hampered against cork with injuries and yet still under performed with the depleted side we put out that day

we expect to be stronger saterday and if two or three key players like david tubridy , shane mcgrath enda coughlan return we will be expecting a big performance , we are also waiting on the availability of a few fringe players that could prove crucial from the bench , truth is we dont really know and the only sound bites coming from the management is that they are hopefull about the possibility of a full hand of cards

in the league and championship our home form was a bit hot and cold at times , our away form consistently bad losing each game by 5 points or more
a run down on our home form for example league and championship so far

Wexford: won comfortably never troubled

Sligo : trailed by 6 points and dodged a few bullets in in front of goal in the first 25 minutes yet led by 10 points for most of the second half wining by 6 in the end

Armagh : trailed by roughly 10 points at half time led by a point with 5 minuets to go lost by 2

fermanagh: slow start led for most of the second half by 10 points , fell apart in the late stages wining by 3 in the end nervously

Limerick: no change from the league form well in control in the first half and early stages of the second half with a 6 point lead for the best part , again nervous last ten minutes very nearly a draw won by 2 points

similar pattering's in all our games this season so far usually we are much better at seeing out games maybe its a fitness thing , if longford find themselves a long way behind with 15 minuets dont go racing for the exits

all the expectations will rest firmly on the hurlers or davey fittz to be exact in the second game, the crowed will be getting bigger as the game goes on ,you should have no bother with parking , and if you do decide to leave straight after the football you will have the road to yourself most of us will wait around for the second game

letowski · 02-07-2015 08:27AM

Yeah I think in short the reason there isnt much talk of the footballers progress is because all of the hullabaloo with the hurlers. There is hardly a week where there isnt a news story or rumour

Clareman · 02-07-2015 08:56AM

The footballers are keeping a low profile, mainly because they are division 3 and are trying to start something, I'm delighted their keeping a low profile, they aren't the best team in the world but they have a solid core of players together and with a bit of a run/luck they could get an AI Quarter Final, I think division 3 is about their level. I think they'll beat Longford at the weekend, home advantage is huge.

Clareman · 02-07-2015 08:58AM

letowski wrote: »

Yeah I think in short the reason there isnt much talk of the footballers progress is because all of the hullabaloo with the hurlers. There is hardly a week where there isnt a news story or rumour

You have hit the nail on the head there, every week there's a story coming out in the papers, it seems like every day there's a new rumour. Hopefully having the new PR help should help things, by the way, anyone else find it "interesting" that the squad for the game on Sunday was released by the Clare Herald which is operated by the free PR helper.

thinkstoomuch1 · 02-07-2015 10:01AM

Clareman wrote: »

You have hit the nail on the head there, every week there's a story coming out in the papers, it seems like every day there's a new rumour. Hopefully having the new PR help should help things, by the way, anyone else find it "interesting" that the squad for the game on Sunday was released by the Clare Herald which is operated by the free PR helper.

So what's the issue with that

He gives free work to clare hurling as he likes it and he sees opportunity to raise profile he's paper

There's no issue at all with this to be fair now

Warper · 02-07-2015 11:57AM

Clareman wrote: »

You have hit the nail on the head there, every week there's a story coming out in the papers, it seems like every day there's a new rumour. Hopefully having the new PR help should help things, by the way, anyone else find it "interesting" that the squad for the game on Sunday was released by the Clare Herald which is operated by the free PR helper.

Have you got a link to the squad for Saturday?

Clareman · 02-07-2015 12:42PM

Warper wrote: »

Have you got a link to the squad for Saturday?

Here you go http://clareherald.com/2015/07/fitzgerald-names-twenty-six-man-panel-for-offaly-clash/

Qwerty27 · 03-07-2015 09:11AM

Thanks for the parking tips!

Sounds as if Longford are operating along the same line as Clare - play well in fits and starts and if everything clicks for long enough have a good chance of coming out on top. We have small squad, not too many options available off the bench and also missing a few forwards, in particular from the squad.

Longford can be very hot (2nd half against Offaly) or very cold (league final against Offaly) and arent as bad as they were made look against the Dubs as their demolition of Kildare showed. Home advantage is a big benefit I think in these type of expected tight games. Main aim for the season was promotion, which was easily achieved so will be playing you guys next Spring. Two teams that would really benefit from a secondary competition as 2nd round of qualifiers as usually as far as Longford progress unfortunately.

Enjoy the game, hope its close and decent atmosphere!

Clareman · 03-07-2015 07:07PM

I was driving past Cusack Park this evening, there's road works just after the Tesco roundabout, I'd say it'll be chaos coming from the Tulla Road side of town tomorrow

letowski · 03-07-2015 08:50PM

Jaysus just looking there, our team has been annouced a full 24 hrs before the match. I was expecting to be keeping an eye out on the internet at 10 or 11 tonite :-)

Anyway Morey McGrath and Bugs come in for Dunny Gudgie and Donnellan. Its rumoured Conor Ryan will play MF or else weve to play sweeper against a poor enough Offaly side. I dont think Gudgie or Dunny can have much complaints, they found the going tough against Lk.

Morey back at corner back I think highlights the fact that were one of the few counties that are ztuck for proper defending conerbacks. Its hard for Davy here, but even looking at underage we dont have many cornerbacks coming through. I think its something coaches have to start looking at and working more on defensive skills and organisation, becuase ots something the senios are really poor at. No doubt both Seadna and David Mc are cracking hurlers and probably 2 of the fastest backs in the c'ship but they the play their hurling for every other team at mf or half back, and at times get caught out defensively in the full back line.

Just thinking there it will be the first time we will see Bugs in a good while. I feel if we are to mount any sort of a challenge this year we need to get this man back playing well. He is still 30 but its been 2 years since he has been on form. This team badly needs some leaders and players to come up with big plays hopefully Bugler can hurl the way we know he can.

Clareman · 03-07-2015 09:02PM

I don't think any team plays traditional positions like corner back anymore, they just man mark or cover ground, David Mc for example is probably the best full back in the game but he's really just a converted forward, I couldn't imagine any full back getting away with a pulled hamstring after 40 minutes like Lohan in 95.

By all accounts we're going to be playing a 2 man full forward line, changing to a 1 man full forward line if needed, personally I think this is a massive mistake, we can beat any team in the country playing man on man, we don't need to do anything different or gimmicks.

letowski · 03-07-2015 09:14PM

Yeah Id agree with that, I think what Im trying to say is that, despite the amazing underage success we have had, some of our backs dont seem properly coached at defensive skills and organisation. Theyre the reasons we have such a high free count and leak goals without the sweeper. Morey isnt a solution I feel. For me I think one of the things we need to change is how Conor Ryan plays at 6. I think he plays far too much out the foeld. I think if you look at top defenses like Kk and Tipp with Hogan and O'Mahony (and now Maher) these players play deep and hold the defensive shape, even if the center forward get some scores. Like you said we can cause huge damage man to man up front, but its so important then at the back our defense can perform well as a 6 man unit.

Clareman · 03-07-2015 09:34PM

letowski wrote: »

Yeah Id agree with that, I think what Im trying to say is that, despite the amazing underage success we have had, some of our backs dont seem properly coached at defensive skills and organisation. Theyre the reasons we have such a high free count and leak goals without the sweeper. Morey isnt a solution I feel. For me I think one of the things we need to change is how Conor Ryan plays at 6. I think he plays far too much out the foeld. I think if you look at top defenses like Kk and Tipp with Hogan and O'Mahony (and now Maher) these players play deep and hold the defensive shape, even if the center forward get some scores. Like you said we can cause huge damage man to man up front, but its so important then at the back our defense can perform well as a 6 man unit.

If you want to see why we are giving away so many frees go have a look at a training session or even keep an eye on the warm up, we do the "swarm" defence when you get as close as possible to the player in possession and try to crowd them out, this is fine in football where you have 2 free hands, but in hurling you have the hurley in 1 hand which means you're more likely to give away a free for a silly tug on a jersey.

In regards to leaking goals, I think hurling is gone in such away that any team is going to leak goals unless they concede "soft" scoreable frees, the 2013 All Ireland final showed why would happen if 2 teams go out to just play hurling, 8 goals

letowski · 03-07-2015 10:16PM

Apologies it turns out Honan os in for Reidy too.

Clareman · 03-07-2015 10:23PM

In my opinion, what we need to do is get 1 goalie with a good puck out, 2 wing forwards that can contest the puck out and 12 others from ~20 to do the rest

Figerty · 03-07-2015 11:12PM

Conlon did that in the drawn all-Ireland.
Puck out to the side line.. Conlan under it and either won the ball clean or had Podge/kelly breaking with pace from mid-field to come through the line with the ball. Problem was this isolated the full forward line.

In the replay Cork stopped Podges breaks but the damage was done elsewhere..Everyone has to be able to win their own ball.

letowski · 04-07-2015 09:15PM

Mixed day today.

Disappointing result from the footballers, I feel this is a step back after 2 decent years under Collins. We never really got going in attack today, the injuries we had and players coming back never really clicked. Longford deserve alot of credit, they were the better side. Showed good heart after having to play the Dubs this year. I think for us, we have to show more concentration and consistency in our play, it's all just fits and starts every game. Weve to rebuild for next years league now and look to try to get higher up the table. We have to look at getting a bigger squad together too as injuries leave us very tight (Although we did have a load of them this year).

Hurlers did fine today, nice to see us play more offensively and score goals. Our touch and striking has improved but there's a good bit to go yet in that department. Offaly are really poor though, they only seem to have a few hurlers with good enough skillsets for inter county hurling. Hard to know who I would like more in Dublin or Cork, would anyone have preferences? Maybe Dublin in Thurles we could get at their back line.

thinkstoomuch1 · 05-07-2015 12:22AM

Congratulations on clare win hurling and feel for football injuries were huge hindrance

Clare would prefer Dublin but won't fear Cork
Cork prefer limerick than clare who sweeper cause us problems however we good tonight with sweeper system but clare more refined Wexford

Clare have ability to go toe toe cork and out score us shoot out

It would be great game but I don't want play Clare next

Bigger tests await clare but good win with fully fit team back means clare get quarter finals will take some stopping

letowski · 05-07-2015 12:47AM

thinkstoomuch1 wrote: »

Congratulations on clare win hurling and feel for football injuries were huge hindrance

Clare would prefer Dublin but won't fear Cork
Cork prefer limerick than clare who sweeper cause us problems however we good tonight with sweeper system but clare more refined Wexford

Clare have ability to go toe toe cork and out score us shoot out

It would be great game but I don't want play Clare next

Bigger tests await clare but good win with fully fit team back means clare get quarter finals will take some stopping

Thanks. We still have a good bit to go though, TTM. By playing such a short game our accuracy in our touch and striking needs to keep getting better. But yeah i'd like to think the longer we stay around this summer we can maybe become a proper threat.

I know Kelly probably got MOM with about 7 or 8 points, but McGrath was really good today for us. He really is a joy to watch with his skill and vision, we really missed this lad versus Limerick. Honan played well and Cunningham and Galvin are back too so I'm quite excited about our attack for the next game.

I don't think Cork would be fearful at all of us, ye have won the last two games convincingly. I think it would make for a great game as both teams have some top forwards. I guess all the neutrals would like to see it except us

thinkstoomuch1 · 05-07-2015 01:04AM

letowski wrote: »

Thanks. We still have a good bit to go though, TTM. By playing such a short game our accuracy in our touch and striking needs to keep getting better. But yeah i'd like to think the longer we stay around this summer we can maybe become a proper threat.

I know Kelly probably got MOM with about 7 or 8 points, but McGrath was really good today for us. He really is a joy to watch with his skill and vision, we really missed this lad versus Limerick. Honan played well and Cunningham and Galvin are back too so I'm quite excited about our attack for the next game.

I don't think Cork would be fearful at all of us, ye have won the last two games convincingly. I think it would make for a great game as both teams have some top forwards. I guess all the neutrals would like to see it except us

Look honestly no yerra but seriously we rather limerick as they play orthodox and will be direct and while clare have defence problem like limerick clare score huge scores v kk twice and limerick and league more total twenty point bar one game so with cunningjham galvin McGrath bulger Donnellan all fit clare with sweeper huge ask and yes Cork won munster but this is outside munster winner takes all and clare beaten cork lot recent knock outs and won't fear Cork and will go toe toe shoot out of required

Limerick are so predicable and yes could beat Cork but Cork know what limerick bring
Clare are tougher to beat with proven senior and under age hurlers and huge scoring potential

Cork won but we had the wind ist half and had lead but went twenty minutes without score second half and total 228 plays to wexford 222 which isn't convincing and clare despite turbulence camp all year no one can fault their work rate or attuide
And three twenty two or so from play tonight combination good score play v limerick shows clare forwards will take some holding

Clare have problems at full back But Cork are similar
If Cian dillion starts it's interesting as he's related cork minor selector former great pat Hartnett
Your welcome I was glad see clare win tonight

Clareman · 05-07-2015 11:28AM

I was at the match yesterday, I guess the only thing to say is it's great to get a win, there was a great buzz around town afterwards.

In regards the performance,
Kelly had a mixed day, some great puck outs and some very dodgy ones, why does he insist in bouncing the ball in front of the players he's aiming for? It's almost like he's taking a shot on them and trying to bounce it in front of them.
Full back line, dicey at times, but no goals conceded.
Half back line, dominated their opponents.
Midfield, ran the show.
Half forwards did well, Conlon put in a brilliant performance after shipping a heavy knock at the start, Golden was very frustrating, he'd do 90% of things right and then f**k up at the end.
Full forward line, strange to say that Shane O'Donnell was probably the poorest performer and still scored a fair bit and played well, everything that went near them just stuck, 3 extremely classey players and having Cunningham coming off the bench was a great bonus.

In regards to tactics, we played a fairly standard game with our half forwards retreating to give cover to the backs/midfield, a lot of times there were only 2/3 Clare players in their half.

For the next day, I would say that none of the 3 teams left in the draw would fear playing us, I know a lot of people are saying we are going to be playing Cork next but I don't know how that's set it stone, surely it's an open draw with only Clare v Limerick not possible?

Clareman · 05-07-2015 11:28AM

By the way, for the footballers, what a let down, they had every opportunity to show what they could do and didn't

windy shepard henderson · 05-07-2015 12:13PM

Clareman wrote: »

By the way, for the footballers, what a let down, they had every opportunity to show what they could do and didn't

huge crowed there to support them and in fairness it was one of there worst performances they could possibly put in

if garry brennan had to go off with that injury we would have got hammered , players have got to start thinking on there feet, and in front of goal they have to start taking on there own shots as opposed to playing hot potato 21 yards out from goal with the ball almost afraid to have a go themselves

its the same 3 or 4 lads all the time , kevin hartnet , garry brennan shane mcgrath and jamie malone , they are the only few lads that are able to think on there feet and drive things forward maybe throw in dean ryan into that group aswell , there is no one else standing up to be counted and not just yesterday but at several times through out the league

longford do have 2 or 3 really good players yes and will be very hard to beat the next day for who ever gets them , hopefully they advance to the next round again , but i am usually the last man to be critical of clare football but yesrterdays performance was a huge let down

windy shepard henderson · 05-07-2015 12:33PM

good second half by the hurlers yesterday and in particular connor ryan who was out standing , there is still a few worring signs for the next day , we got caught in possession once too many times , the defensive line was breached too frequently as well , i honestly think bugler shouldnt start the next day , fair enough he needs the game time but i couldnt really back him on yesterday

i agree with changing the personal in terms of the sweeper but morey would be a far better option then patrick o connor
pat is a far better man marker then seadna , options look good up front though and it was great to see honan starting again a far better player in terms of size ahead of david reidy , who i dont fault but feel he is a bit too small and light at the moment, cunningham will come on from te run out too , he looked a little rusty for the first few minutes after he came on ,and shure you couldnt fault anything conlon ,kelly mcgrath or o'donnell did yesterday , i suppose shane golden and jack browne deserve credit for there efforts too , might not be everyones cup o tea but they are putting in the effort for sure

for those who like oman's yesterdays winning margin was the exact same as what beat laois two years ago , a game that set up a run to the all ireland ,
but on the other side of things the last two teams to beat offaly at this stage of the championship lost the all ireland final in a replay we will have to change that stat this year :pac:

Clareman · 05-07-2015 12:58PM

So the draw tomorrow, from Gaa.ie

These games will take place on Saturday, July 11th. This draw involves the winners of Round 1 in one bowl (Dublin, Clare, Limerick/Westmeath, Cork).
The draw is subject to the avoidance of repeat pairings, where feasible (Limerick v Clare).

So, Clare can play Dublin, Cork or Westmeath, assuming Limerick beat Westmeath, that means Dublin or Cork with Limerick playing the other team, I can't see there being a home and away arrangement, more likely a double header in Thurles.

windy shepard henderson · 05-07-2015 01:20PM

Clareman wrote: »

So the draw tomorrow, from Gaa.ie

So, Clare can play Dublin, Cork or Westmeath, assuming Limerick beat Westmeath, that means Dublin or Cork with Limerick playing the other team, I can't see there being a home and away arrangement, more likely a double header in Thurles.

doubt they will have a double header in thurles the day before a munster final ?

Clare GAA discussion thread

Comments