Dalo’s take on it
At half time in Sunday’s Leinster final, while we were on a break from the TV coverage for ‘The Sunday Game’, the Clare players were sauntering out of their dressing-room just below the studio platform.
Solemnly carrying food trays with their post-match meal in tow, going about the business of refuelling as quickly as possible, the Clare lads looked broken. On a beautiful day, the image was sad and grey and suffused with disappointment and despondency.
By the time the Leinster final had finished, there was a completely different picture being painted at the other end of the field. The Limerick players were sitting around a boom box sipping a few cold beers, luxuriating in the warmth of each other’s company, basking in the warm afterglow of another huge victory.
It’s amazing how wide the gulf is between victory and defeat. Limerick are so used to success at this stage that there wouldn’t have been any mad delirium Sunday night, just silent satisfaction at another job well done.
If Clare had won, I’d say there would have been 25,000 in Cusack Park on Sunday night for a homecoming. Would a homecoming have been too much for a provincial title? No way, not when it’s 25 years since we’ve won it. It will be 26 by the time we get around to competing in Munster again.
No matter how many you have, Munster titles are special. Shortly after the presentation, as Tom Morrissey was brought up to have a chat, that track ‘Freed from Desire’ was booming out around the ground. Shane Dowling and Tom were giving it holly.
If I was sorry I missed the happy vibes from that track in Cusack Park after the Cork game, I was sorry I had to listen to it on Sunday. Such is life. Such is hurling, this mad, crazy game that knows no other way than thrilling or jolting our senses with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
This was another amazing game, not quite the quality of last year, or the round robin match in April, but it was still another classic in this never-ending saga of epics between these two teams. There was a lot of nerves, which was understandable, which was bound to lead to mistakes. And the Clare crowd will argue that some of the biggest mistakes were made by the referee.
How anyone could say that one of those two late challenges – on Tony Kelly and Adam Hogan – were not frees is delusional. Liam Gordon would have saved himself a lot of bother if he had allowed Eibhear Quilligan take the last quick puckout before calling it back, which the Limerick crowd thought was the final whistle, which led to a mini pitch invasion. Then when Diarmaid Byrnes caught the puckout, why didn’t Gordon blow the final whistle then?
The Limerick crowd will argue that he didn’t get all the calls right on their end either. Mikey Casey got yellow carded for a challenge on Peter Duggan and it didn’t even look a free. The Limerick crowd were incensed at half-time when all the booing of the ref was coming from the Limerick hordes.
Everyone will say that it always evens itself out but Clare won’t feel that way on Monday morning. The first score Limerick got should have been a free-in for Byrnes catching the ball three times. That’s not good enough at this level.
Being honest though, hurling is becoming impossible to referee. There is too much going on, too much gang tackling involved. Referees are being forced to rely on common sense as opposed to trying to apply the rules to the letter of the law.
The cynics, on the other hand, will say that common sense should have no place whatsoever in that arena, that it’s either a foul or its not. But how can referees even see what’s going on half the time, never mind make an accurate call on it?
I felt pressure myself on Sunday, given the magnitude of the occasion, so you can only imagine what Liam felt. In that context, I’d be slow to criticise him, we all make poor calls. I was a player when the officials couldn’t keep the time for an All-Ireland semi-final.
If Gordon has any regrets about his decision-making, you can only imagine how riddled with regret the Clare players and management will have felt Sunday night. They had the chances to win the game.
They left Cian Nolan on Aaron Gillane for too long. I couldn’t believe how long the Clare management looked at that match-up. I felt sorry for Cian. I had no problem with starting him. We’re not privy to anything that’s going on in training, but how long does it take to see that something is not working?
I could see the goal coming. Dowling said at half-time that the damage could have been far greater if Gillane was getting the type of ball he got against Cork. The one ball that went centrally at an angle though, Gillane buried it.
The Clare management should have moved Cian by that stage. They had the option of bringing in Paul Flanagan or Seadna Morey, which they eventually did. The two corner-backs, Adam Hogan and Rory Hayes were outstanding. Would it not have been an idea to try one of them on Gillane?
The biggest regret Clare will have is that Limerick were there for the taking – and they still couldn’t take it. There were stages when Limerick were on the ropes but, like all great champions, they found a way to stay alive and survive. To win 12 finals in a row is just incredible. We in Clare can whinge all we want but Limerick again proved that they can just get it done.
When you talk about getting jobs done, no better crew than the Stripeymen, who absolutely floored Galway with an uppercut right on the final bell in Croke Park. There was a danger early on in the second half that Kilkenny might run away with the match but, even though Galway arrested that slump and were two points ahead with time up, Kilkenny still found a way – like all great champions do.
Galway just took over in that second half, with the charge led by the outstanding Conor Whelan, who gave the two-fingers to all his critics. Playing him outside was a masterstroke and Kilkenny couldn’t get a handle on him.
Kevin Cooney came of age and, while Galway posted a huge score, sacrificing one of your best defenders – Padraic Mannion – on Eoin Cody didn’t make sense to me, especially when you consider what Mannion can give Galway going forward. Why not hand that job to Daithi Burke, who is one of the great readers of the game?
Galway will be disappointed with some of their in-game decision making. On the other hand, it still took a stroke of genius from Cillian Buckley to rip Galway’s hand away from grasping the Bob O’Keeffe cup.
What a warrior Buckley is. What warriors Kilkenny have. TJ Reid was centrally involved in that last goal with how he just kept the ball alive in the corner, refusing to allow a Galway defender to lamp it down the field, or even out for a sideline or a 65. I couldn’t understand why one of the Galway players didn’t just get it out of play to allow them to reset. Not doing so will haunt Henry Shefflin and his players.
This was a great Leinster final but that will be scant consolation to Henry and Galway. Both teams will be very dangerous now for the Munster teams left – along with Dublin – because they haven’t expended as much energy as the teams down south. This match will have brought them both on a tonne.
Galway and Kilkenny will still see a chance of an All-Ireland. So will Clare though. We are all crestfallen now but Clare have proven that they are as good as what’s left in the championship. They have two weeks now to get ready for that All-Ireland quarter-final. Clare have to get their bodies right first. Then their heads.
And if they do, Clare could yet have a big say in this All-Ireland series.
