Cleary was so blatant the last day it was inevitable he was going to get pulled up on it.
Reading over the match comments,- not the same level of bile as matches gone by.
There were a few cowardly comments made about Nickie alright… As i said to some random punter on the terrace, i thought he did the right thing for that Duggan goal. The ball comes through a crowd of players and bounces awkwardly slightly to the right of him… He’s on his knees and has a millisecond… I thought his instincts to get it away from goal was correct it was just unfortunate that Duggan was lurking… And i don’t know how much skill or luck was involved in the finish ( probably both) but 9/10 times that’s blocked and cleared.
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I love going to Thurles but it’s a disaster waiting to happen now
Agreed. Everything is outdated and crumbling
Just tactically, I do have a few questions about Clare’s setup. They have general had as much joy as anyone against Limerick by pushing right up and getting in Limerick’s face.
And I think it’s fair to say that our half-back line, other than Kyle, haven’t been at their best this year up until yesterday.
How many times did a Clare forward run at Hannon? Or even Byrnes? I don’t think Hannon had any direct footrace contests, a lot of aerial contests alright but that suits him. Duggan and Byrnes did have a battle alright but Duggan, even when he won the ball, tended to be going back towards his own goal.
How many times did Fitzgerald get in Kyle’s face to try and stop him pinging passes around? Clare were dropping deep to try and build, which is fair enough, but then seemed to hit the ball from way too deep, without having actually worked it out.
Maybe they just missed that extra ballcarrier in the middle today but there were no surging runs forwards from their wing-backs either; Cathal O’Neill was quiet but so was Diarmuid Ryan.
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Limerick abandoned their “under no circumstances take a long sideline” policy yesterday too
I thought it was very generous of Deccie to include the newly hired trophy cabinet maker, trophy polisher and the medal carriers in the backroom team as part of his speech.
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Busy people. Can understand why they were made full time
I thought Lyons was completely lost for the last 3 minutes of the game and had no idea where the ball was at one point late on. Looked fit to collapse.
Clear second best and a couple of players starting that are not good enough. Looked flat for the last few games and it has persisted.
Well done to all the Limericks. An exceptional team
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I think they were simply flat meaning that whatever gameplay they had never really got off the ground. Poor decision making pock marked the whole performance.
Quilligan botched two straightforward crossfield balls from a free and open play in the first half where he had players in good positions instead missing his mark and putting the balls out over the sideline. The Limerick goal was a microcosm of the match really.
Conlon had two or three really poor pieces of execution when we had promising attacking positions. One under no pressure just outside the 65 which should have been a point, or a wide. Instead it dropped short and Limerick went up the field and scored. There was another where Nash was pushed up the field and we turned over the ball, Rodgers had ghosted into the space behind Hayes and had acres, it didn’t even need to be a good ball, instead he topped it to Kyle Hayes 20 yards short of where it needed to be. Limerick punished this again.
Darragh Lohan had a couple of these as well. Cathal Malone had all the time in the world late on from a quick puckout when Limerick’s workrate had dropped off and we were able to actually get some direct ball inside, Rodgers made a small dart right before darting left. Malone didn’t read the run at all and proceeded to strike it down the right wing to Morrissey who gathered without a man within 20 odd yards of him and I think it led to the second last Limerick score.
I thought Limerick did an excellent job crowding out any Clare ball winners in the second half 70/80 yards from goal and giving away the free if needed rather than allowing the attack to build. Meant even if Clare did win a ball they had no platform and those frees in to a strong wind were always going to be very low percentage attempts.
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Did the two boyos shake hands after?
A savage feed, savage pints, savage craic, Dior sauvage
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Two bad teams
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Just heard my dad on the phone to a friend of his. The first question was what time did he get home and what precise route he took out of Thurles.
I’ll never understand old fellas obsession about getting home as Quick as possible after a game.
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The one at the end was funny. Kinda crouched over, the way you are when you’re too tired to maintain your posture, & slowly heading in a straight line towards the Limerick goal while Limerick were building from the left half back position to the side & behind him. I noticed him doing that in Wexford Park late on in the Wexford-Galway game too.
It was great to see Big Rob Ryan on the TV coverage. The way he leapt into position on the sideline at half time ensured there were no shenanigans coming off the field & going down the tunnel.
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I split at the final whistle myself as i had bed time stories to deliver. The delay didn’t help… But there were auld lads and couples booting up the town like their lives depended on it… You always see it coming away from most games - anxiety through the roof to be back on the road before everyone else.
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Oh I remember choosing between staying thurles or cork for the night or getting a lift home.
You’d swear they’d somewhere important to be last night.
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I hung around. Then again it was easier for me as I was going in the opposite direction and it only took me 45 minutes to get home
Ryan Taylor has always played well against Limerick. A magnet for breaks, good turn of foot and inevitably creates space or overlaps for others, if not drawing fouls himself.
In his absence, it seemed a no brainer to me for Clare to start David Reidy. A real nuisance type player who can be difficult to plan for, and who will always bring work rate and desire. Leaving him off was a mistake, IMO. The mix of the Clare forwards seemed a bit off. Was glad Reidy didn’t start, Kelly clearly isn’t right either.
Rodgers looked threatening when he went inside, him and O’Donnell could be what they settle upon inside. Didn’t really happen for Aidan McCarthy at all, the missed frees just put the tin hat on it.
Limerick still giving up too many goal chances for my liking. Can’t keep relying on Quaid game after game, the full back line for the semi final could be a horses for courses type selection. If we are playing Cork I don’t think you can leave out a fully fit Sean Finn. But how can you leave out Mike Casey then? Could Nash come under pressure? Nice problems to have.
Best display of the year yesterday but still a good bit to improve on. A nice spot to be in. Straight knock out from here on in. Might try and get to the Saturday semi final, depending on what time throw-in is.
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A lad told me there was a strong belief that Kiely orchestrated the powercut. I’d have no reason to doubt him.