You could address that to Davy
Cork were brutal for a lot of that game. The half-forward line was absolutely cleaned out. Cronin should have been back in Kent Station by the time he got the goal, not a thing went right for him today until that, I remember him crashing into his own fella at one stage going for a ball and then lumbering all over the Clare lad the sliothar had popped up to like an octopus falling out of a tree. Lehane was only marginally less useless in the first half because at least he had gone totally MIA and wasn’t coughing up constant soft frees to Clare. Clare’s system is not set up for goals at the minute though and as long as they play that style it’s going to be difficult to put away a team. Fair play to Cork they had only a sliver of a chance and they took it, Lehane’s goal especially came out of nothing, it was a belief that was totally lacking when we found ourselves in the same situation in the semi.
There’s a lot more for Cork to learn from this than there is for Clare. Can’t believe Nash didn’t take a short puckout today. The big thing that’s missing for Clare is goals and if they feed Honan more I feel they will get them.
Sneaky Cork cunts nearly sneak in for an another sneaky All ireland…nearly…:D:D
[quote=“The Lopper, post: 828379, member: 1557”]Cork were brutal for a lot of that game. The half-forward line was absolutely cleaned out. Cronin should have been back in Kent Station by the time he got the goal, not a thing went right for him today until that, I remember him crashing into his own fella at one stage going for a ball and then lumbering all over the Clare lad the sliothar had popped up to like an octopus falling out of tree. Lehane was only marginally less useless in the first half because at least he had gone totally MIA and wasn’t coughing up constant soft frees to Clare. Clare’s system is not set up for goals at the minute though and as long as they play that style it’s going to be difficult to put away a team. Fair play to Cork they had only a sliver of a chance and they took it, Lehane’s goal especially came out of nothing, it was a belief that was totally lacking when we found ourselves in the same situation in the semi.
There’s a lot more for Cork to learn from this than there is for Clare. Can’t believe Nash didn’t take a short puckout today. The big thing that’s missing for Clare is goals and if they feed Honan more I feel they will get them.[/quote]
A big reason why Nash didn’t take a short puckout is that Cork didn’t have a free man in the backs like they have for the past few games.
Watching the 1st half you would have to say Cork peaked too soon this year with the Fitzgibbon Cup.
Clare were easily 5-6 points a better team.
I really don’t see what Honan brings to that forward line. It’s like watching Michael Webster or Aisake, he’s brutal.
Some thoughts on the game in no particular order:
- Fantastic entertainment today. In GAA terms, it was “excellent fare”. The spellbinding second half more than made up for the patchy standard in the opening period.
- Davy Fitzgerald is a master tactician. Everybody expected them to play with the seventh defender / sweeper again.
- But their set up was absolutely spot on and they got their defensive match ups completely right.
- Donnellan went well in midfield and had the better of Lorcán McLoughlin. Conor Ryan was superb wing back on Harnedy (who also had some great moments), Bugler was on top of Cronin when he was wing forward, Pat O’Connor was all over Jamie Coughlan in the first half in the CB/CF area, McInerney shut down O’Farrell, O’Donovan comprehensively outplayed Lehane in the opening half and so on.
- Their gang tacking and collective pressure from the front was seriously impressive.
- Some really fantastic skills on show by the likes of Podge Collins and Tony Kelly - the former’s second half point when he did that pirouette thing was magnificent. Colin Ryan also impressed me again - he’s come on in leaps and bounds this season.
- I missed the Shane O’Neill incident at the game.
- The referee had an off day and hurt Clare more than Cork with his decision making - the free against McInerney in the first half was a particularly awful decision.
- All of the Cork forwards bar Horgan and Harnedy couldn’t have had too many complaints if they were taken off at half time;
- I actually thought Lehane would be first to go but it was Coughlan. I guess JBM deserves credit for persevering with Lehane and Cronin when things weren’t going their way. Though maybe their lack of viable forward options off the bench limited his ability to change things too much in any case. Lehane improved when he was moved to wing forward.
- I couldn’t believe what Moylan did with that lineball at the end. Surely the obvious play was to get one of the forwards to make a run down the line and tip the ball into the corner. You’re talking worst case scenario a bit of a ruck and a throw in and that would have been it. Instead he knocked it dead and allowed Clare the puck out to launch the ball into the Cork half for one last chance.
- James Owens must referee the replay. We’ll have a proper open game without controversial stoppages.
- Clare played some great stuff today and their intelligent use of the ball and finishing was wonderful to watch at times.
- MoTM contenders for me are O’Donovan, Bugler, Conor Ryan and Collins from a Clare perspective. Outstanding points by Ryan late on after catching the Nash puck out and marauding forward and obviously O’Donovan’s equaliser at the death. They were both excellent in their primary defensive duties too. Bugler was a powerhouse and Collins’ pace, skill and workrate is really brilliant. I guess you’re looking at the likes of Nash, maybe O’Neill and then Horgan from the Cork side. But I’d go for O’Donovan or Ryan.
- A real privilege to be in Croke Park today.
[quote=“Mullach Ide, post: 828383, member: 141”]Watching the 1st half you would have to say Cork peaked too soon this year with the Fitzgibbon Cup.
[/quote]
[quote=“Mullach Ide, post: 828383, member: 141”]
I really don’t see what Honan brings to that forward line. It’s like watching Michael Webster or Aisake, he’s brutal.[/quote]
I think it’s more in the hope that he will finally wake up and fullfill the potential he showed a couple of years ago where he looked like he was going to be the second coming of Ray Cummins. In fairness the injury seems the have taken something out of him.
Cathal McInerny needs to start for Clare the next day
[quote=“Bandage, post: 828384, member: 9”]
- Davy Fitzgerald is a master tactician. Everybody expected them to play with the seventh defender / sweeper again.
- But their set up was absolutely spot on and they got their defensive match ups completely right.
.[/quote]
3 goals is too much to concede when Clare can´t score them at other end…thought Conor ryan was Man of the Match…
Duggan worth a shot at full forward?
What a game! 2nd half was outstanding drama-what balls from O’Donovan at the end. It would have been a travesty if Clare were beaten today and they deserved a second shot at the least. I doubt Cork will be as bad the next day but Gavin certainly won’t be reffing. Hurling in the last 10 years has stepped up to a new level in terms of physicality, speed and skill and, between U21 and senior, some of the games in the last few years have been outstanding.
While I agree it would have been tough on Clare to lose that I don’t buy into them deserving anything. You don’t deserve anything in sport, you have to take your scores, ans Cork took theirs and would have been deserving winners.
listened to the whole game stuck in traffic on the way home from work on cork’s 103FM using that i phone tune in radio app
i had to pull over for the last few minutes as it was getting the better of me, Tom Knott and John Cashman were keeping listeners calm throughout , even when we were 4 or 5 down with 15 left , it was " no bother" according to the lads as we’d come back from worse against the “same crowd” in 2005 , and in 1999 we left it will the last 5 minutes to score 4 points to win the thing.
when Pat Horgan put the ball over to give us our only lead on 70 mins, akin to his clubman Seanie MacGrath in 1999 , Tom knott let out a " my sweet jesus" out of him…both lads agreed tho whilst Clare deserved the “draw” and the ref was right to " give them a shot at tying it" after Hoggie scored, they both were in agreement that we prob wont be as bad again in the first half and well, this is as good as it gets from Clare, i think 4 wides was all we had as well.
we’d be lost without davy fitz, the ould fella is great entertainment after the game with his harmless bullshit and really most fellas just have a laugh off him , i hope the clare lads dont take him too seriously,
Spoken like a man who has known plenty of heartbreak-you’re dead fucking right Mark, as ever.
A world of pain, mate. It would destroy a lesser man.
Or a lesser county, buddy.
Clare backs got the better of their men today but some of the soft frees they gave away were criminal. They need to learn how to tackle without fouling. Kept an underperforming cork in it all day. They were at the same in semi. Gavin got one or two calls wrong but most of his calls were right. One that stands out was Cian Dillon grabbing Harnedy unnecessarily for the penalty when there were three men on him. The foul for the one that was scored was something similar.
I’d have Conor Ryan man of the match. He was outstanding in the air
What’s the rule on 20m frees? Do defenders and goalie have to be on the line or can they be 10/13m back as with all other frees?
Terrific contest and a fair result.
I’d be happier if I were a corkman though. They did not hurl well but could have won it. They were Kilkenny-esque today in their attitude. They never gave up and took the opportunities when presented with them at crucial times.
Ryan motm for me but if Cork had won, then Horgan would get it. His point for the lead in injury time was absolutlely superb.
Great run for the pass, wonderful touch with a Clare man breathing down his neck and a magnificent finish.
Cork will feel that there are goals for the taking in the replay and if they manage Clare’s movement better, then it’s there for them if they up their performance. Clare did most of the hurling and were a far more cohesive unit.
It will be a big ask for them to reproduce it in the replay, whereas Cork, surely, cannot be as poor again.
As an aside, we are still the reigning AI champions for another small while, which is nice.
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