This match will be interesting. Both sides involved in very one-sided encounters the first day out, but hard to know for sure where either are at. Tipp were relatively pleased after the first outing but that all fell to shit last weekend.
Clare did look good in the first half last week, if perhaps a little open at the back, Jason Forde really should have finished his opportunity and Ger Browne walked right through the middle in the second half. And that is definitely something Cork can still do; if Browne can do it, Fitzgibbon, Kingston & the likes will cause havoc.
But Limerick showed how to beat Cork. You can let them go short with the puckout, but you are ensuring that there is no handy second ball. You simply cannot let them draw the man and pop a handpass to one of the half-backs. Once they have one overlap and are moving forward at pace, they are very hard to stop, you have to stop them at source. Clare took the game to Tipp high up the pitch and shut them down there very well, so you would imagine they will try the same here. Cork are slicker at the running game than Tipp but their full-back line are not spectacular hurlers tbh. But do Clare have the same ability to tackle & tactical discipline as Limerick?
There was only two points between the sides last year, Clare have added back Duggan & OâDonnell to their attack, Joyce the main addition for Cork. The Clare returnees both had good starts last week and looked threatening.
Cork need to up the work rate; based on last week, Clareâs puckout plan does not seem as refined as some other sides but if Clare do go short, Cork absolutely have to pressure them or the same thing applies, Clare will just stroll out. If Clare do go long, Cork can at least get bodies around it and the likes of Tim & Joyce are quite strong under a dropping ball, the midfield need to up their game on the breaks.
If I was Lohan, I would start Tony Kelly at 14 and Duggan at 10 even just for the first few minutes as that would create two match-ups that Cork really really do not want. If Kelly does play inside, is Millerick going to go back to man-mark him? Is Coleman going to sweep again or is he going to play as a traditional 7? You would imagine Downey man marks Duggan? But Clare showed last week what can happen if you even man mark one player, how a teamâs shape can suffer badly if the player being man marked is unselfish enough to exploit that.
If itâs a pure shootout, Cork will edge it, I think. If Clare can manage to bring the same tackle count that they brought against Tipp, I think they can cause serious problems for Cork.
Either way, you would expect it to be high-scoring and I think both sides will hit goals.