A lot of nonsense has been talked about the advantage dynamic in the Peter Duggan/Mark Rodgers incident. I think Colm Lyons is a poor referee but he clearly felt Huw Lawlor touching the ball meant that âno advantage [had] accruedâ. This decision was clearly within both the letter and the spirit of said rule.
By contrast, when Aaron Gillane fielded Tom Morrisseyâs delivery in the first semi final, âadvantage [had] accruedâ in clear terms, due to Limerick retaining possession. HL interrupting Clare possession was the significant facet.
Eoin Murphy, besides, clearly stopped on hearing CLâs whistle and made no serious attempt to save Mark Rodgersâ shot.
Intercounty management is a tough gig. Lohan went man for man v Limerick and Dublin and our full backline was brutally exposed in both games albeit Dublin were not really good enough to capitalise. If we had started the game in the same manner and shipped an early goal or two you would have people whinging about Lohan being too stubborn. I think given the doubts about Conlon/Cleary how teams had targeted the full backline I donât think it was that strange a call to start with a sweeper especially with Kilkenny having a stiff wind in the first half.
Our discipline in the tackle first half and our conversion rate again let us down more so than the use of a sweeper. I think the team are what they are, an honest side who can live with anyone but really we are probably two or three players short to win an all Ireland.
Jamesâ control of the game loosened in the second half as proven by Galway not receiving a free out for a foul on SeĂĄn Linnane just before Cian Lynch put in motion the move for Gillaneâs second goal. In the first half, it would have been a Galway free but the refereeing style had changed.
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@Thornhill correctly alluded to this. It was so bizarre from Owens. He was blowing this all day in the first half. When this foul happened we were taking on a lot of water at that point but were still only a point down.
After buying two âfoulsâ on Reidy that were borderline laughable, he didnât blow for this one. That and the âif we had ducks theyâd drownâ type defending 20 seconds later for the goal, really took the air out of our lungs. If Mannion tried to flick that ball to Gillane like that again a 100 times he may not be able.
No outcome on the result though. We were well beat. But I do wonder did someone have a word with Owens at some point. Because his style of referring definitely changed mid game.
The whistle clearly went before Rodgers got possession. It wasnât as if he stuck it in the net and then Lyons brought it back straight after.
To all intents and purposes Kilkenny had possession and there was no advantage to Clare. Looks bad when Lawlor fumbled it and it ends up in the net but it wasnât a glaring error.
The steps rule is basically redundant these days when a player is running at full tilt. Shane OâDonnell took about ten steps for his goal chance in the second half which Murphy saved.
I think there was one thrown ball blown in both semi finals when in reality all four teams threw it with abandon. All four teams had players who took seven or eight steps at a time.
Reffing at intercounty is almost impossible. Even when they get decisions right they still get slaughtered.
Iâm not complaining about the sweeper and you can see what the idea was but the player chosen was not suited. We know that from his spell as sweeper under Davy
Yeah to be honest I have never seen Morey as anything more than legs off the bench. He is a fine athlete but a fairly average hurler. Paul Flanagan would have done a more effective job.
Our lack of depth in the middle third is a real killer. Badly needed a couple of fresh bodies there down the stretch but didnât have the options. Kilkennys subs added a good bit of legs, Kenny and Buckley were able to continually get on short balls out of defence in the last 10 after we had dominated their long deliveries
Iâm not saying a sweeper wasnât a good idea but I donât think Morey would have been in my top 5 choices for a sweeper for Clare. Pace to cover the ground to cut out the ball is the only obvious attribute he has for the role.
Also, itâs tough employing a new style (I know some of the older lads played a sweeper under Davy for years) in an AI semi-final. Should they not really have given it a go at some point in the Munster Final or even against Dublin (I know thereâs an element of not wanting to show your hand, but Iâd rather build some sort of familiarity)?
I havenât read back over the last 700 posts but Mikey Butler on Tony Kelly was like Philly McMahon on Gooch way back in 2015.
I dont know what Lohan was looking at with TK in his own half for most of the match.
Kilkenny are absolutely useless and have gone back a mile since last year even but Clare absolutely handed it to them yesterday. The goal was just schoolboy stuff after they had got the upper hand in most positions.
