Clare GAA Discussion part 2 , No Purple Jumpers Allowed !!

Banner2theend wrote: »

Roscommon 1-8 Clare 0-4 FT

Utter cat from the Banner county in Dr Hyde Park today! No words could describe our complete lack of workrate and our woeful shooting. Desperate and deplorable from Clare today. Roscommon are bang average too which makes the defeat worse.

We are going down!!

Roscommon have less than half of the Connacht winning panel from last year available to them right now for one reason or another. Poor performance by us but in the second half against the wind we bet that Clare wouldn’t be good enough to get the ball from us even with an extra man and it proved a good bet. You don’t get style points in February.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

To be fair the game should never have been played, roscommon started off with a near 40mph wind, took as much advantage as possible in horrible conditions in the first half, played keep ball for the vast majority of the second half, they kicked several balls from their own 45 back to their Goalkeeper just to keep the score down

A match will never be called off because of wind unless its structurally damaging. I have been in the Hyde in much worse conditions including 2011 Connacht final when wind was twice as strong as today.

That was normal enough weather in this area, no worse than Tyrone league game last year wind wise and nowhere near as bad as Mayo Roscommon league game last year in Castlebar which had driving rain throughout as well as strong winds.

I wonder the way the leauge is going would 5 points be enough to keep you up. I can't see Clare getting too more wins, but they could possibly get a win off either Laois or Fermanagh at home and scrape a point somewhere else.
The loss of the four boys from last year is a killer. They were four starters, and that would mean four fellas that started yesterday would be coming in off the bench. There is no impact from the bench now and that is fatal in the modern game. I know other counties have lost a lot of players but we are the only county in the division that is a traditional hurling county and our player pool is too small to cope.

Feenie wrote: »

Football in Clare has missed an opportunity, definitely. We were gearing up for something good, being one game away from the super 8s (ultimately that Meath game was very unlucky for us). However the loss of players in the off-season has hit us quite hard. 2021 could be a good year, but Clare can wait. We shouldn't let the players we have get to our head, we won't be serious all Ireland contenders for along time, but good things could have happened in 2020 and in my opinion will happen.

Colm Collins has overachieved with the raw materials he has at his disposal. The leauge is a barometer for where a county is ranked in the national standings. He has brought Clare from lowly division 4 perennials to an established Division 2 outfit. All this in what would be seen from the outside as a hurling county.
Just take a look at the teams below Clare... Cork a massive county and all Ireland winners in 2010, Down a football only county two time all Ireland winners in the nineties and finalists in 2010, Derry a football only county all Ireland winners in 1993. Leitrim, Longford, Wicklow, Sligo, louth all football only counties. They beat Kildare last week a football only county with massive resources. They are holding their own with Armagh, Fermanagh, Cavan all football only counties. These achievements should not be overlooked when we take a beating and the bigger picture should be looked at before passing judgement. This is going to be a real struggle for survival but that would be no mean feat.

Lohan is certainly not afraid to experiment, wouldn't have seen Golden at fullback or Malone at centre back. Not a bad looking starting 15, Cunningham also makes a start after a few years in the wilderness.

Good experimenting here from Brian. However a note is that our next clash is Dublin and then we have Kilkenny, which I'd take very seriously if I was Lohan. We should try Podge, Niall Deasy and Aaron Shanagher.
Again the only mistake here is Ryan Taylor staying in the full forward line, I've said it before and I'll say it again, he should further back in midfield or half forward.
I'm interested to see how Shane Golden does at full back, Seadna Morey does in the forwards, and how Cathal Malone does at centre back.

Harty cup final called off thankfully. It'd have been very unfair to both teams to play hurling in this weather.

It's a farce!
I checked their twitter and they confirmed at 09:11 that match was going ahead, and then to cancel it at 11:14 they call it off!!
Most people would be well on the road at that stage

Strong wind and even brief qualls of hailstone is ok to deal with, but lightening is a different mater, way too dangerous for everybody involved..
There have being a few flashes here in East Clare, I'm approx 12 miles from Ennis.

I only saw the last few minutes of that match...Can anyone tell me how well Seanda Morey and Shane Golden did?

Banner2theend wrote: »

Morey was disappointing and was taken off in the middle of the second ha!f. Shane Golden surprised me today looked comfortable in the ball and didn't make any major mistakes in his unfamiliar full back role.

The match itself was played in biblical conditions. David Reidy was immense along with David McInerney with our second half performance light and day ahead of what the Banner county offered in the first 35 mins. Great to see Arron Shanagher playing well again and our workrate was another eyecatching feature of our play again today.

3 wins from 3 is nice. Next up will be the Cats in Nowlan park in our biggest test in the Lohan era yet. Happy out is my opinion so far.

With that next game Brian would want to kick on a bit and forge a plot and really try to get a win there. Definitely in Clare's grasp if you ask me. The experimentation will have to be put on halt. If Clare get a win there it'll be major wind behind them. I don't think there's a chance Dublin would beat us.

I don't think Shane Golden should hold down that full back position. Conor Cleary has found his niece there in my opinion. Maybe in the corner the odd time. Possibly wing back alongside Aidan McCarthy. We're finding and forging a solid, solid backline, something we've been looking for.

Yeah good to get the win. Hard to really take too much out of the game given the conditions. Again, I really liked Clare's workrate and application, the tackling was again disciplined and plucky which has been a feature with this team this year. For example, Kelly's first 2 scores came from turnovers, which is no doubt will please Lohan. Despite the conditions, I think Lohan still would have learned a couple of things from the game.

For me the big takeaway from the game was Aron Shanagher who really drove us to the win in the second half. He got four balls in the last 25 minutes he was on, scored 3 points and caught the fourth that led to a pointed free (should have been a penalty?). Given how direct Clare like to work the ball, I think its important Clare have a physical aerial presence in at full forward. Now that will be John Conlon, but Shanagher put his hand up today and at the very least, we know he is a great impact sub, not just on today's showing, but he has made some big impressions off the bench for Clare in previous championship games. It was great to see him look in good condition after all the injuries he has had to deal with.

Reidy got MOTM and deservedly so. He was excellent. He is one of my favourite players on the team actually, I love the way he goes out every game and has a proper cut. He is always looking to take on his man and use the ball well. He had the left half back beaten all ends up today.

As Banner2theend said above, David McInerney played very well in the second half and looks to be growing into the role at midfield. He got heavily involved in our play, particularly winning ball and initiating attacks. The type of center field play we have really been missing these last few years.

Domhnall McMahon and Liam Corry played well also. McMahon was also heavily involved in our play in winning ball or breaking down puckouts to a Clare player. Golden did fine at full back though he wasn't tested really. I taught Malone in front of him looked uncomfortable and is better on the wing where he can focus on marking his man. Morey on the wing struggled with the conditions it looked because he his handling and touch are alot better than what he showed today.

Tony Kelly again was mesmeric. 3 points from play today. What I like about him this year is his workrate and willingness to get stuck in. I taught Ian Galvin's point in the second half really summed up the level Kelly is operating at now. With 66 minutes already played, he caught a high ball from the puckout, made a lung bursting sprint up the field to collect a pass and then laid it off for Galvin for the score. Sum engine and workrate from him with just 4 minutes left in the game.

https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1229067459480752129

He is flying it at the moment, there's absolutely no doubt about it. A Rolls Royce of a hurler.


Looking forward to Nowlan Park next week. That will be a big test for the lads to see where we are at, especially after KK losing today. Clare have actually a good record against KK in the league in recent years. Should be a good game.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

the work rate is the most pleasing aspect in fairness , still think the best score of the day was laois's 3rd point where they worked the ball down the field against a storm think willie dunphy finished it off ,

we are going in the right direction anyway , especially by trying several players out in multiple positions across the field

Laois are heading the right way. some class hurlers. Gained a lot of respect today.