Galway will struggle in the middle third. Tipp have picked a physical half forward line and have good hurlers in there to boot.
Galway have lovely midfielders but they’re very loose.
I just can’t see how Galway get enough possession to feed the full forward line in there.
You’re describing Cathal Mannion there, not coen David Burke or Padraig
They’ll surely drop David Burke back in there
I think Coen is very loose in there. Hes a great man to pick up space but the flip side of that is he’s often 5 yards out of the game
What? He’s more involved than almost any other Galway player around the middle
He got a few early scores against Kilkenny but faded out of the game in a big way
Tipp will go over them then. They’re much stronger looking with Bonner and Dan McCormack in there. They’ve a very balanced look about them.
I think Tipp are somewhat of an unknown quantity considering both their games were played in monsoons. Should be a bit better today
Whoever wins will be hockeyed in the last 15 minutes next weekend so it’ll be a pyrrhic victory either way.
Clare are improving week on week and morale is very high. They didn’t hurl well against Limerick but battled and while it looked like we might be in for a short year management deserve credit for taking the learnings from that game, rejigging the team and picking on form.
Morey and Reidy are gone from centre back and centre forward respectively and Aidan McCarthy and Shane O’Donnell are different propositions in those roles. This Clare team is far more dogged than the Clare teams of the last decade and are taking shape in the image of their manager. We now have a middle third of the two McCarthy’s, O’Donnell, Malone and Ryan Taylor further up the pitch who all attack dirty ball and rucks and we are consistently winning these tussles which wasn’t the case for the last decade. This is one of the reasons Kelly is playing very well, his timing of runs are excellent and the ball is consistently emerging from these scenarios in Clare hands to be popped off to him.
Add in the athleticism of a David Mc/Fitzgerald/Diarmuid Ryan and it is an industrious midfield and half forward line which will give you a platform to compete.
We were closer to 10 points the better team against Laois but goals gave them a lifeline and management learned from that too. The fact Waterford will only play 2 inside will allow us to keep Morey as a free man and allow Cleary and Hayes to go out and stop their men.
This is at best a 50/50 game as Waterford for me don’t have the goal threat or the shooters from out the field to consistently punish us. It will be a dogged arm wrestle and Lohan wouldn’t want it any other way
Yes, how dare they score goals
What are Clare. The team laois could have beaten? that were level at half time with a dynasty?
On the balance of play over 70 minutes would you consider it an even contest and the score a fair reflection of the game?
Laois got an early goal to go 2 up. Clare kicked on and scored 13 of the next 16 to lead by 8 at half time. Laois got a quick fire 1-2 to bring it back to a goal. Clare stretched it out from 7 points over the next 25 odd minutes until Quilligan left in a soft goal in the 68th minutes and Laois rallied and got it back to a point.
Today fm playing don’t stop moving by supergroup Sclub7. I think that’s key for Galway today, tipp love defending high ball and the central spine but force them to move to the wings as limerick do and they are average.
Clare are too dependent on Tony Kelly. If he has an off day or they mark him out of it ye won’t score enough. It’s as simple as that.
De Burca will chew up the space available to him.
This could be a dogged affair.
But Laois’ game plan was to run at Clare and go for goals. In previous games it’s been to shoot from long distance. The decision to run at Clare meant they didn’t score as many points, but they planned on getting goals. If they get these goals surely it validated the decision.
They should have have Purcells goal also,or at least a penalty which 9/10 is a goal.
And there’s been some talk about Waterford for basically beating a flakey cork team and losing to limerick …Clare are coming in under the radar a bit…be interesting to see if Cahill tries to address the lack of goal threat
The cousin was Hurling against @Declan_Moffat in the county final. I was about 15 yards away. The lad he was marking gave him a good jab into the ribs with the heel of the hurl after five minutes I’d say thinking maybe to make him go absent. Your man had his back to him. Young Vaughan stepped back to give himself a bit of room and absolutely flaked him.
Two straight reds 
They need to stop Kelly first, he had performed in every game this season - league, challenge and championship. He is working harder but the fact that Clare are consistently turning over opposition defences are willing dirty ball at a far higher level than previously means it is far easier for him to impact things than previous. Stop Clare winning those tussles and you have a good chance limiting Kelly rather than just assigning someone to shadow him.
Thanks mate
Whoever wins is at a huge disadvantage going in a week later.
Will just have to hope the Limerick lads have overdone the caviar at martinstown.