Fitzgibbon not up to it? 4 points from play last week from midfield. O mahony is a fine player although he does silly, wild things.
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Who. Millerick? Thought he was poor the last day defensively.
That cork team will compete better at the coalface.
Who is missing for tipp? Barrett + ? Surely have more than that 15
Derek McGrath: Veterans not the problem as Cork search for a plan
Many have written epitaphs of Cork’s seasoned trio of Horgan, Harnedy and Lehane. I don’t see it like that.
“Any inter-county job is tough and before you take it you know what goes with it, but we felt a closer analysis of the Waterford game showed us that if we could improve on our scoring efficiency, our delivery of ball into the full forward line, and tidy up our defensive shape then we could perform well here today and thankfully that’s what we did."
Pat Ryan, 3.35pm, Sunday 28th April, having beaten Clare
CORK’S PLANNING
When Pat and his management team knew that Waterford would bring a more orthodox, conventional approach (more on this next week) last Sunday, was it time for Cork to provide a tactical curveball, to bring unconventionality to the championship opener? Watching the Cork U20s dismantle Waterford in the opening round of the Munster Championship, I was struck by the Rebels’ first-half formation. Playing with a gale they proceeded to play only two in the full-forward line, conceded puckouts to clearly targeted Waterford players, before filtering back numbers to counter attack at pace with Leahy and Healy a deadly inside duo. The team had a clear and coherent plan.
Many have written epitaphs of Cork’s seasoned trio of Horgan, Harnedy and Lehane. I wonder if 60% of the 10 shots the three accumulated from open play during the first half against Waterford had been scored, would the script be slightly different? For the record, I would stick with Horgan and Harnedy and have the option of using Lehane from the bench.
Rewatch the Rebels’ clash with Clare last year. After 63mins and 57 secs, Horgan fields in front of Davy Mc before burning the Clare defender to fire to the net. Many observers will say it’s a year later. but being out in front wasn’t Horgan’s issue last Sunday. A tight and aggressive marker in Iarlaith Daly, surprising inaccuracy, and “pot shots from distance syndrome” among his half-forwards were bigger problems.
Pat is a top manager and top guy. In the aftermath of our “ghost goal” game v Tipperary in 2018 he sent me a very supportive and kind message and his class will present itself at some stage through these players.
He may, however, consider some obvious learnings from the Waterford game that can now be applied to the Clare game.
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Match-ups: During Cork’s against-the-head victory in Waterford two years ago Kieran Kingston’s planning was on point. Clearly targeting both Stephen Bennett and Austin they alternated man-markers between Niall O’Leary, Rob Downey and Damien Cahalane. In fact each received a yellow card for tackles on Austin before being moved off the Mount Sion ace. Last Sunday it looked like Cork had no “match-ups” and the surgery was reactive rather than proactive. This week’s think tank will surely consider Sean O’Donoghue for O’Donnell if he’s inside, Niall O Leary or Ger Millerick to track Tony Kelly, Rob Downey to compete aerially with Peter Duggan. Could Coleman sit off ala Diarmaid Byrnes and ensure he on the ball rather than marking at wing back.
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Sit Joyce: While most of the commentary surrounding Waterford pointed to their man-to-man approach, my 10-year-old turned to me after eight minutes and said, "Dad, how come Tadgh is always free?” (more on this next week). Ciarán Joyce found it a bit more difficult to manipulate the field. Cork’s midfield must be supplemented by war dogs to allow Joyce do his job, covering space, setting up attacks and bombing forward. His 11 and his midfielders must double job better than they did in Waterford to allow Cork defensive stability and an attacking platform.
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Hurlers from 8 to 15 with a sprinkle of physicality and strategic placing: Cork’s attacking riches have been well-versed. Do they now need to be more imaginative? How would a midfield pairing of Darragh Fitz and Shane Barrett perform? Would a sextet of Robbie O’Flynn, Shane Kingston at 11, Hayes, Harnedy, Horgan and Connolly be a more balanced and different mix than last Sunday? Then the option to bring Declan Dalton, Jack O’Connor and Lehane from the bench. Do Cork wait to be in crisis before they play their best link player in Luke Meade? Cork have the players but do they have the plan?
SPEAKING OF PLANS
Stubbornness is hard to heal. The very maxim that Clare have built their progress on, man-to-man hurling, proved their exact undoing last Sunday. Whilst most observers have pointed to the positives of the opening 50 minutes, I see it differently. Clare’s naivety when following all but two of the Limerick forwards out the field smacked of belligerence. For me, Clare’s creaking has begun. Watching the ground hurling one-two between Hegarty and Ó Dálaigh my suspicions about the Clare defence may be accelerated in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. They surely have looked closely at those last 15 minutes and agreed as a collective to keep their shape if met with something similar from the Rebels. The alarming similarities with the warning signs Waterford presented two years ago having won the league are too obvious to ignore. The Rebels to reconfirm these.
WARNING SIGNS OR FLOW FOUND
The psychological concept of flow made famous by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi whereby a state of optimal concentration coincides with freedom looks to be something that Limerick constantly chase. Actually, I thought for the first eight or nine minutes, they looked on point in Ennis and if more clinical the smash-and-grab narrative presented afterwards by most may have been different. There was no sense of panic from Gearóid Hegarty anyhow. Damian Lawlor, a prized asset for RTÉ, who clearly is embedded in the GAA, was at his authentic and deep-rooted connective best when interviewing man of the match Hegarty after the game. Hegarty’s insightful breakdown of Limerick finding themselves in “sticky situations” before and their acceptance of the game as an 80-minute contest reflected a maturity and awareness inherent within the squad.
Interestingly he was not as forthcoming when it came to Lawlor’s point that "you seemed to push up on them and had runners coming off the shoulder etc”.
My thoughts immediately turned to the post-match musings of Joe Canning after last year’s All-Ireland semi-final. “Why didn’t (Galway) push up and attack… it’s like they sat off." The reality is that Limerick push out rather than up when faced with crisis situations. It then looks like the other team sits off but they are simply outnumbered. The story is never told but this is what happens.
Faced with a two-point deficit during the final quarter of the Covid Munster Final against Waterford (remember those water breaks?) Limerick’s corrective analysis involved retreating all bar one to the drop zone. It was similar in the second half of the Munster Final of 21 and in last year’s All-Ireland semi. Their ability to make it stick inside, or alternatively work it out with the numbers, make them the standard bearers.
Hegarty was never going to divulge much more than we “stayed going till the end”, but you can be sure Cahill and Bevans will have prepared for the mass exodus into their own half of the Limerick middle five.
December 6, 2006 might not be a date etched in many readers’ minds, but the memory of Noel McGrath’s display for St Mary’s Templemore when beating our own school in the Dean Ryan Final will live on. McGrath spent much of the final stationed at 6 having dominated initially from the middle of the field. It prompted me to wonder why he hasn’t been tried at any stage at 6 for Tipperary. He shares many of the qualities Hannon has. Given the packed middle third likely on Sunday and Cahill’s propensity to counter-attack from deep, he seems ideally suited to the ball-playing role. If Ronan Maher is definitely at 3 and the McGrath idea hasn’t been trialled, then Tipperary perhaps need a ball-playing 6 in the guise of Bryan O’ Mara.
Any forward line that could include Jake Morris, Mark Kehoe, Gearóid O’Connor, John McGrath and Jason Forde is dangerous and the free-taking ills of the league semi-final will be fixed. Cahill and Bevans will have their team championship ready. They will fight, they will chase goals, they will flow but not to the same extent as the champions. Walsh Park on Saturday week, with a six-day turnaround for Tipperary, may see Waterford with the opportunity to all but end the Premier’s championship season.
HOW VAR AWAY IS IT REALLY?
The conversation between Colm Lyons and his umpires was fascinating viewing last weekend. It prompted me to assess how accurate was Michael Duignan’s interjection that Colm Lyons and his team of umpires “don’t have a replay, Marty” when assessing the legitimacy of Aaron Gillane’s goal on 65 minutes. While lip reading is not my specialised art the conversation hinted that "someone” had access to a viewing of the incident and might have relayed information. If they did, you wonder what were they watching? As a lifelong Evertonian, the vagaries of VAR suited our needs this week. But while largely agreeing that quick interventions could help hurling, they would need to be accurate too.
NOT EASY JOBS
The human element of managing an inter-county team, the personal impact on you and on your family’s lives, can often result in nasty commentary. The hope remains that all the excellent managers and players involved over the coming weeks might apply the famous poet Anne Stevenson’s advice to their art form, hurling: “Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry”. Stay going lads.
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There’s only one thing for it - Bill Cooper.
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my 10-year-old turned to me after eight minutes and said, "Dad, how come Tadgh is always free?”
TNH
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You getting a ferry?
What time is Limerick v Tipperary starting in Killarney Sunday?
It’s on in Cork
Loads of stand tickets available on Ticketmaster for Cork vs Clare now.
He wouldn’t hurt spuds to ducks
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Clare afraid to travel and Cork are just afraid…
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I’d be surprised if Cork even show up after that knifing from Joe this morning
My insgram feed is full of terrace tickets for our game too
Finn for Casey the only change for Limerick
There will be about 35k in the Gaelic Grounds.
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Ticketmaster only showing Clare End terrace available for Sunday. The city end is hardly full?
A kilcornan man has two for the city end up for sale anyway if your looking for them