His heel is literally on the line there which was the best angle they could find with all the tape in the world… Imagine two lads in white coats trying to settle that in 15 seconds
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I see a lot of Clare supporters being very critical of Lohan and the space left in front of their full-back line in the final 10 or 15 minutes. And there was a lot of space but, in reality, that space was there for most of the game. Reidy didn’t play our usual corner-forward role, he played as a second centre-forward and came right back the field and the two boys were isolated inside. There was a moment in the first half where Conlon followed Cathal about 10 metres inside our own '65. Which meant he was the bones of 85m from his own goal. Cathal missed a simple pick-up, Conlon got on the loose ball and Cathal fouled him which McCarthy pointed. If Cathal gets the pick-up, there was an easy delivery inside and potentially a goal opportunity with the right delivery.
We hit some good ball in in the first 20 minutes but, for the 15 minutes either side of half-time, the ball in was fairly poor. Clare were winning a lot of the breaks, they were also working really hard, tracking runners off the ball, disrupting any short passing opportunities and forcing us to deliver from too deep which would then allow the half-back to get back and cover.
But it was a high-risk strategy right from the start. And it worked to a degree. They did the same against Limerick last year in the Munster final. It’s just very very hard to sustain. A little drop in Clare’s work rate, Limerick being a little bit slicker, having just a couple more options ahead of the ball and suddenly we can start to punish that space.
People say you need to go toe-to-toe with Limerick and he did. Should he have adjusted the strategy with 10 to go? Maybe but if you gave Limerick free men coming out, we might just have picked off the scores from distance. There was nothing he could have done about the first goal and once that went in, the momentum had well and truly shifted.
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Gearoid Hegarty agrees with this post.
VAR would be a complete disaster. But regarding square balls, what the fuck are the Umpires for?
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Its a bit like offsides I think. Its incredibly hard to be looking at 2 things at once
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Too many moving parts. It was surely easier to call when the ball was hit as well.
In the heat of battle it is hard to know where the blame lies, the subs didn’t work. But on at least two occasions management sent instructions into Quilligan for his puckouts yet he continued to send everything long despite having intermediate options.
I thought when he brought on Flanagan that he might withdraw him into the space which would suit him but instead he was lost in the middle third. Second and third goals were both on the players IMHO, tired mistakes and poor communication. Second goal started from a passage of post with a limerick line ball where lads had to pick up different men, they never got reset and Diarmuid Ryan went awol up the field rather than staying with Gillane for the third goal meaning Hogan had to go central and Hegarty standing in 20 + yards of space
I’d have sympathy for Lohan, the limerick backs got on top and were breaking tackles far easier once the subs were made and momentum shifted. Withdrawing a man to have a sweeper or extra body in the full backline was only going to make it even easier for Limerick to work the ball out.
I’d place the puck out malfunction on Quilligan, but without Taylor and Kelly we struggled to break tackles/run at limerick and I thought our interplay was fairly mediocre throughout - far too many 50:50 balls into the inside forwards and not enough runners off the shoulder.
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He is clearly in there, and the freeze frame is when Hegarty strikes the ball. It was an absolutely clear square ball. Fuck Clare and all of that, but the fact he was beside the ball struck so hard off the post would indicate that he would have had to be in the square then. It was a most obvious square ball and there shouldnt have been any need for replays or anything.
The first one too looked like a very clear square ball. Whistle should have gone straight away. Johnny Murphy called 3 square balls in the Wexford Dublin game, no messing, whistle blown, free out, on yiz go lads. Absolutely there is an argument that he was dragged in and whether its a free or not is probably more debatable. Much like pushing a lad into an offside position in soccer I suppose.
Clare collapsed badly and Limerick, from highlights and match reports, were well deserving of their win. but they were 2 clear square balls that dont need video adjudication, just better umpires/refs to call them.
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The ref had awarded at least two square balls against Gillane before the goals went in
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It’s next to an impossible for an umpire to be watching Hegarty strike a ball from one angle, see where Gillane was at the same time and adjudicate where he was the exact millisecond the ball entered the square. As @Aristotle says, the spirit of the rule is to stop someone being in on top of the keeper, not adjudicating whether he was a few cm’s inside the square while a ball was in flight.
For any of these type of decisions (including offsides in soccer) the benefit of doubt should always be with the attacking players. You can’t disallow goals on “feels”. If not sure then it should stand (which is what happened yesterday).
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Spot on.
Actually there is a similar principle in umpiring. You must be sure that a goal or point was scored to award it. If not sure you wave wide or defer to the ref.
For 50 minutes or so yesterday, Clare did something very effectively that they hadn’t mastered before. Conlan and Hayes set up a diagonal screen about 25 metres apart from each other and it killed decent ball going inside.
It also had the effect of making Flanagan look a tit and increased his frustration levels to the point that he was ineffective.
The Limerick subs worked - all of them. Pushing Hayes and Hegarty up the field and the increased influence of Lynch and English around the middle was the winning of the game.
I don’t get what Clare are trying to do with puckouts. The intermediate one to McInerney works best for them, followed by the one on top of Duggan. I was on the the 20m line at the Tulla Road end and Lohan came down and absolutely berated Eibhear Quilligan for about 60 seconds. You can argue a goalie should know his strategy in his sleep, but what can he do if his targets are not moving for him out the field?
On the goals, the first one should have been a penalty anyway as there’s a clear foul on Gillane by Cleary. It’s given all day if it’s out the field. @Aristotle has mentioned on another thread about Gillane constantly getting involved in a dragging match with him and his solution is correct. Pull him away from the middle a bit more and create separation. When Hegarty and O’Connor went in there the jig was up.
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Hegarty was 1/2 centimetre away from rattling the net and there would be no debate.
For the first gol Conor Cleary got his just desserts for fouling off the ball all game. Referees / umpires need to pull him for it earlier. Can’t blame Quilligan for that. Did AG get a touch? Who has been credited with the goal?
Cleary had both hands wrapped around Gillane on a number of occasions.
Gillane is no angel himself and gets embroiled in it with frustration.
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Holy hand of fuck.
I wonder, what colour do you think the Limerick jersey is? It must be difficult to tell with those glasses you have on tinting everything rose.
For a high dropping ball, fair enough, you’d expect the umpire to be looking at that.
But for a shot on goal, their primary job is determine whether the ball goes over the bar or crosses the line. They’re obviously looking at the ball, how in the name of fuck can you expect them to judge whether a player on the other side of the square is slightly inside or slightly outside? It’s a fucking impossible job.
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Ah sure lookit now lads the greatest gripe ever about the need for video analysis in hurling would be the boys not giving Limerick the 65 in 2019!
No griping though from Kiely or us Limericks, the rest of ye should just be thankful that we’re not now going for 7 in a row
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What the absolute fuck? You just mentioned it in your previous sentence!
It’s a real pity. It would be grand if the last Tipp All Ireland win for a decade came against them all the same.
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Thats not a gripe pal just a retort to Derik fucking Lynch and the rest of the Banjos!
There’s lads still griping about Kirbys finger. Fucking hell like!
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