Once Taylor went off he had to keep Kelly as an orthodox midfielder as there was no other alternative.
Clare have plenty of inside forward and full backline options but are threadbare enough from 5 to 12.
Daly tries to drive the boot in, while simultaneously hinting heād be the one to change galways mindset. Dream on goggle eyes youāre not wanted.
In hindsight it was poor game management in that we threw the kitchen sink too early and were out on our feet too early. Mannion flick could have gone anywhere, Casey knew nothing about the block but even with those breaks going our way we still would have lost. But to be only one point up had to be deflating. But I still maintain there was nothing in the tank to fight the limerick onslaught. And not for the first time. Questions have to be asked about the strength and conditioning. Better off pick a core group now and develop them physically. Except our player development is notoriously brutal.
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I donāt mean to put the boot in too badly, Galway have been a fine team and lost by very small margins only for years now, before the weekend I thought myself they were the second best team left in it. But they definitely didnāt battle or give all they had Saturday.
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Hard disagree. He was utterly brutal and itās fair to hold him to account for it.
The decision on the goal, the frontal charge on Conlan a clear yellow and no sanction, the ghost free against TK, the ghost free to TJ at the endline, all jump mind. There were a few more.
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Yeah I couldnāt believe how weak the bench was.
Like a club team with the bare 16 or 17 players.
Lohan deserves great credit for the team he has built but he and the team clearly have a few failings. He really should see if he can add to the management set up somehow to see can he make them any more tactically astute. Clareās shooting is also often ridiculous, even from TK, thatās coaching surely.
I think youāre completely wrong there, the ball was dropped.
And thatās only on video. Iād imagine in both codes thereās been plenty during the year.
It would be more commonplace on the Hill Iād say as you have all the scumbags and arrogant young fellas drinking all the way up to Dublin for the day and all on the same terrace. The culture has significantly changed and is tipping towards a soccer culture. The likes of Twitter and TikTok do not help but some of the carry on by mostly young fellas who like to call themselves supporters is a disgrace
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Could Morey not have done that rather than Kelly? I know heās no Taylor, but he is pacy and good at carrying the ball. Again, I know itās disrupting the system but even when they switched it at half-time, could Morey have been pushed on rather than taking him off.
Donnellan is still probably a bit ineffective at this level, Crotty is a good ballwinner but is his hurling sharp enough?
Any other coming? Rynne looked excellent in that area for the 20s this year.
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Have any or enough big lads in the county who want it enough?
Probably not.
You really think Mullen and Cody are useless?
Fair enough he was poor, I still stick by what I said that for me Gavin comes across very poorly in what he wrote. Easy be the hurler on the ditch for him. All the incidents you highlight there are Clare grievances, do you not think KK could find similar issues if they lost? I believe its impossible to ref a game now, I could pinpoint a load of incidents I felt went against Limerick saturday, Galway fans Im sure could do the same. I believe fans of all counties will have those feelings after nearly every game now as a result of how hard it is to ref and I feel Gavin isnt helping their cause with his pontificating.
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It has to come from within and letās be honest our best option currently is above managing Dublin. Gas too, he was gracious enough to cite family commitments as the reasons for leaving the set up in 2019 and now heās managing an outside county.
The S&C and the player development process are definite areas for improvement. It all takes money though and I donāt think weāre that flush. And on player developmentā¦ Do you think someone like Liam Collins would get near a Limerick panel? Or a KK or Clare panel?
Clare should have won comfortably yesterday if they hadnāt repeatedly shot themselves in the face. The sweeper set up was braindead and the team looked lost and unsure under it, like they hadnāt even practiced it. Butler man marking Kelly was well flagged and Clare seemed to have no plan for it only for Kelly to roam even deeper, there was scope there to create space for their other forwards. Clareās shooting is just awful. With everything they did wrong they still had more scoring chances and still lost.
Lyons was brutal but Clare had the winning of that game and have only themselves to blame.
The often maligned SOD and Peter Duggan were sensational. SODās best game since his debut and Dugganās best since 2018.
Lohan deserves credit for having built a super team but equally must take responsibility too. Shooting, plan for TK when man marked (to be expected every single bloody game except against Limerick, come on), the sweeper plan. I know Clare got rode by the ref, but with all that he got wrong and that Clare still had the winning of the game in their grasp but left it behind them, it reflects poorly for him to be complaining about the media treatment of Clare. I can accept his ref criticism because he put it mildly enough and it was entirely fair.
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Did I say that?
Mullen was off it yesterday as he hasnāt really played all year but they still got away with him. Cody is good but theyāve lads there like Phelan, Blanchfield, Keoghan, Billy Ryan and John Donnelly who are really average. Even Richie Reid at this level is there to be got at and was nowhere near the team at 24 or 25 yet is anchoring the defence at 31. TJ is an old man now but is still effective somehow. When Shefflin was the same age he was totally spent because the young lads coming through were very good.
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No, I entirely disagree again. Lyons got two very big calls and a good few small ones wrong, and pretty much all against Clare. I think itās a good thing having a former ref commenting on refs, heās blunt enough but knows what heās talking about and doesnāt have skin in the game. Also, so many hurling people havenāt a fucking clue about many of the rules of the game and so his column is educational. Lyons probably didnāt set out to be one sided but he was bad for one team. Obviously we donāt want witch hunts against refs but in games of fine margins I think itās fair to the Clare players that those points are made.
By the way TKs reactions to the ref a couple times reflected badly and were probably counterproductive.
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Not really, Morey would be passable for the last 10 minutes at midfield against tired legs but he has no aggression or ability to compete for hard balls in the middle third.
There are options coming through but it takes time though. The 20s this year had a ball of lads made for the middle third at senior - Daithi Lohan, Crotty, OāNeill, Rynne and Smyth all have different skill sets but the attributes needed and will all come on stream in the next couple of years but they will need time.
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From what I gather meehawl was sick of having to beg for every bag of sliothars never mind training camps and had to listen to shite from a few of them. Hes young enough and interested enough to stay in the game, why not go where money is no object? Heāll manage tipp yet, I know that sounds nuts but he has connections there.
No Collins would be years off those panels. But thatās the problem with shefflin (as in its not a long term arrangement) or with our thinking, throwing shite at a wall hoping something sticks immediately instead of committing to a a long term strategy. Limerick were us not too long ago but they took the right approach and had the right man backing it (and demanding it)
As for development we churn out tons of 17 year olds who can hurl and they nearly all fall off a cliff. There has to be a pathway towards continuous improvement through self discipline and hurling, and this has to be shown, not just sending them back to clubs and hoping.
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Iād agree with this and said as much yesterday. He was in a catch 22 situation. Doesnāt offer protection to the full back line and they get roasted again heād be rightly criticised.
He adjusted at half time and had the deficit wiped out pretty quickly afterwards. I donāt think you can expect much more from a manager. It was a 50/50 call and he went with what he saw as the safer option. 5 points is nothing in hurling these days.
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Unfortunately the fuck up for the goal lost Clare the game, not the sweeper.
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