So who’s going to win it?
Clare.
Clare will walk this
Cork
Cork. Clare were very good but Limerick were muck and were still not that far off them. Cork’s in built confidence/arrogance will get them over the line
Clare.
Cork
Cork
Cork.
Cork. They won’t hand it to Clare like Limerick did.
Cark pulling up
Be rooting for Clare, think Cork will win.
It will be interesting to see which way the match ups go this time. The last day Tony Kelly played as a centre forward and he will be far harder to man mark as a midfielder and it would take away from what cork’s midfield have been doing all year if they were to go this way. Also in the game back in June Podge played as close to a left corner forward as he has all year and hit 5 points, although it did seem a case that Cork were more interested in shackling McGrath and Honan and he got more space, I presume they will look to use Shane O’Neill or Conor O’Sullivan to man mark him with the other sweeping.
Conor Ryan has also improved the Clare half backline in the physical stakes his ability in the air could be crucial too, Donnellan for all his pace and ability to cover just wasn’t dominant enough at six that day and Cork got plenty of joy down the middle that they won’t get the next day. Hopefully we have a nice day for it with a dry sod and the ball flying off the turf and both sides going out and doing themselves justice. Both sides have played some excellent hurling in this years championship and both sides use of the ball has been excellent at times, hopefully we get a quality final
yes, but answer the question
Cork.
From a good bit out it’s hard to get a gauge in the preparation etc.
Clare’s advantages
• Lost last game to Cork, have a very clear idea of what will and won’t work. The teams seem so close in standard that there is an every 2nd game feel to it
• Speed - Cork are far from slow, and are probably the 2nd quickest team, but Clare have serious pace. Always an advantage.
• half back line good in air, important against Cork who have improved out of sight in this department
• Tony Kelly
Corks advantages
• Superb back 4, playing awesome stuff
• Anthony Nash’s scores
• General point taking, in close encounters or from out the field (although Clare are not far off them)
• more experienced leaders
• JBM & Cunningham
Very hard to call.
I’ll go for Clare.
Cork struggled in the first 15 minutes of the second half when Dublin played a sweeper. Clare will likely play that way for 70 minutes. There’s surely a big performance in one of Conlon, Honan or McGrath. Clare look to have the stronger bench.
The biggest difference from yesterday will be Cork’s distribution which to some extent is going to negate the impact of the sweeper. Cork are going to support each other really well with off the ball movement and they have the sharpness to execute passes under pressure as well.
Out tackling is underrated though. The likes of Collins and Galvin mightn’t have a lot of upper body strength, but they’re vastly improved tacklers from last year in technical terms and they know how to stand a ball carrier up and turn him backwards. Cork’s tackling was excellent against us in the Gaelic Grounds, but the Gaelic Grounds is a lot tighter than Croke Park and closing off the options for the out ball is going to be much tougher for them this time around.
Honestly I think most of our problems will be behind our own 45. If we can work the ball out to Kelly et al. on a consistent basis we’ll be in business. Limerick were supposed to be the best side to apply pressure in the championship but they just couldn’t close us down and stop us breaking yesterday.
Defensively the big thing you’d take from Cork-Dublin is that we have to be really well organised for the Cork puckout as they mauled Dublin on that set piece in the first half the last day. Hopefully the massive difference in pace between Galvin/Kelly and Boland/McCaffrey will help us there, and DoD/DMc should be better at following the man across the line than Schutte/Corcoran were as well.
If we can force Cork to work a bit harder to create chances in open play, as Dublin did in the second half up to the sending off, then it’ll give us a great shout. The wide expanses of Croke Park unquestionably suit us, we have the pace and we have the fitness, and with enough ball going through the hands of our younger lads around the middle we’ll give hopefully give Cork plenty of problems to solve.
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 819737, member: 1137”]It will be interesting to see which way the match ups go this time. The last day Tony Kelly played as a centre forward and he will be far harder to man mark as a midfielder and it would take away from what cork’s midfield have been doing all year if they were to go this way. Also in the game back in June Podge played as close to a left corner forward as he has all year and hit 5 points, although it did seem a case that Cork were more interested in shackling McGrath and Honan and he got more space, I presume they will look to use Shane O’Neill or Conor O’Sullivan to man mark him with the other sweeping.
Conor Ryan has also improved the Clare half backline in the physical stakes his ability in the air could be crucial too, Donnellan for all his pace and ability to cover just wasn’t dominant enough at six that day and Cork got plenty of joy down the middle that they won’t get the next day. Hopefully we have a nice day for it with a dry sod and the ball flying off the turf and both sides going out and doing themselves justice. Both sides have played some excellent hurling in this years championship and both sides use of the ball has been excellent at times, hopefully we get a quality final[/quote]
Joyce has started midfield with McLaughlin CB in Munster final. I’d say they might plan for one of them to pick him up regardless of where he starts. Hard to see Murphy starting he’d be the other alternative