Nearly there now, the long wait is over, so to speak.
On paper as clear cut a championship game as you could see. The munster champions, a young team centred on young stars, the only ones with any real hope of upsetting four-in-a-row aspirants Kilkenny, facing a team that was recently relegated to the swamp lands of division two and are apparently devoid of confidence and in-form players.
Championship, of course, is seldom that straight-forward. The ennis road grounds are home to two of the most pivotal days in the modern story of Clare hurling. On one, a young team was massacred and laughed at by a team and a county who regarded Clare as a team “you only play in challenge matches”. On another, a prancing young warhorse named Ollie Baker tapped home a goal that began the most successful age in the history of the game for the banner county.
That’s not to mention, of course, a day that came between these two seminal games, where a Clare side bent on revenge, and driven by the pain of being written off and dismissed by all and sundry shocked Babs Keating’s pride and joy as they sought to canter to another munster-final. It is probably that day that will be more in mind for Clare men as they make the short trip down the road to the Gaelic Grounds. The go in support of a team that has no logical reason to expect anything other than a bit part in the procession of another Tipperary outfit to their rightful place. They have no form. They no longer have any stars, and they do not expect many legions to follow them. They have, however, one ever present weapon in their favour. Something that has motivated Clare men as long as the game of hurling has been enjoyed, and that is the glazed expressions of a blue and gold clad race of delinquents whose long tradition of arrogant jibes have left them the Israel of Munster hurling. No one likes them. They just don’t know why.
Realistically both managers have several reasons to be worried heading to Limerick on Sunday. Clare have terrible form. If there’s one consolation it is that having good form hasn’t helped anyone in the championship so far either. Mike Mac will also know he has heavily loaded all his eggs into one basket. Shunning several of Clare’s best and brightest young players has left him with one escape route, and it runs straight through Tipperary this Sunday. For Liam Sheedy there is the ever present malaise of Tipperary forward’s inconsistency. While it needs to be said that they have thus far delivered the crucial scores coming down the finishing straight, it remains to be seen if they can do it without a large and conmfortable cushion.
As a Clare man you’ll want to see fire and brimstone on Sunday, but you’ll also want evidence of some tactical intelligence, from both the manager and the players. As a Tipp man you’ll want to see a statement of intent. The evidence would suggest you’ll get it.
Good stuff, still finding it very hard to make a prediction on this game…Will wait til I see the teams…If Tipp still have Webster at 14 and Fanning at wing back or Benny Dunne starting then I reckon we will give them enough of it…
If we can stay with them early doors and not allow them to pull away like they did in last years munster final or against Cork a few weeks ago then I give us a great chance, if we are more tha n 3 or 4 points down at half time they will win pulling up…
A few positives from a clare point of view:
Gerry O’Grady, Alan Markham and Brendan Bugler are in good form in the backs and will fancy their chances of getting on top
Our midfield is as good as their is in Munster
Tipp have plenty of inconsistent performers in the forwards ala Corbett, Webster and O’Brien while Callinan despite all his ability can go missing for long periods of matches and Eoin Kelly still isn’t 100%
We will be well up for this and the lads will have been building for this match all year, I wouldn’t pay too much heed to the poor league form we were unlucky not to beat Cork, limerick and Dublin and last year we were every bit as poor in the league, saved for the fact that Offaly and Laois were worse…
A few negatives:
James Mac has played very little at full back and appears to be our only option here
Pat Donnellan and Pat Vaughan have been poor enough for club and county all season, while Tony Carmody only appears to be going through the motions and tony Griffin is a shadow of the player he was in 2006
Serious questions remain about our goalkeeper
If Gilli and Diarmuid don’t perform then we will struggle to win ball and create scoring chances…
Cooney is definitely out according to Mike Mac. There’s a few quotes from him on Hogan Stand. Will be a very interesting tangle between Webster and McInerney, if that’s how i turns out. No matter how well he goes he’s going to have to face Corbett and possibly Eoin Kelly at some point. I hope he has the Clare terrace behind him in the first half because it’s going to be a baptism of fire.
I’d say you’re right about the start, they got the first three scores of the munster final last year and that set the tone. If you watch the first five minutes against Cork in Thurles that’s the way they’ll have to set out. Scoring quickly is massive as well for confidence. If it takes us seven or eight minutes to get a score on the board we could be in for an awful long day. As per the backs I’d wonder if they’re up to matching Tipp man for man. Bugler is a lovely hurler to watch but has he the aggression for centre-back? As a set of backs they need to survive a siege someday to get real belief in themselves and they haven’t done it just yet.
Midfield is our big hope and we’ll need a serious return there. We might well get it because Shane McGrath can’t do it all by himself every day. Lynch is a huge loss though, even if it’s for the best. He was a great man to set up those early few attacks to get things motoring and someone else is going to have to set up and do the job instead. I’ve been giving out about Carmody for ten years and the same criticisms are still valid. The one thing about the hoor is that he’ll get a few monsters of scores that nobody else will. Someone else just has to do the work unfortunately. You could talk about the flaws of individual forwards all day though, what you’d want to see is some sort of a gameplan for creating scores, rather than the usual craic of just hoping for a bit of individual brilliance from Gilly or Griffin or whoever.
I think that centre back is buglers best position…played against him far too many times at underage and the cunt cleaned me more often than not, might lack a bit of cut but nevers lets the head drop and is a very good reader of the game, James Mac certainly has the mobility and aggresion for full back but is more suited to the half backline…
Presume that BOC will sit deep and look to pick up the breaks with Clancy driving at the tipp half backline…Would love to see Conlon start so we would have someone who would be gaurenteed to win you 75% of your own puckouts…if fanning starts wing back then Colin Ryan should be brought out to wing forward and look to run the fuck out of him…
Rumour has it that diarmuid will spend some time at 14 and if he can get decent ball inside he will be a goal threat
One way to look at Conlon not starting (if that’s how it turns out) is that if Griffin or Carmody go badly you can throw him straight in as a completely new factor at a very early stage. The reverse is looking to Griffin or Carmody off the bench when you know they’ve nothing new to offer. BOC is very bullish driving forward but I’d imagine you’d nearly want some sort of a shield in front of a young centre-back. You’d like to see Clancy keeping McGrath tied up well away from our half of the pitch, and with ball in hand you’d be looking to him to pull the Tipp half-back line apart to create scoring chances. We’ll need goals for certain I’d say. Two more than Tipp probably. Where do you think Barrett will spend most of the day?
I’d have Tony Griffin at midfield. Any Clare confidence is based on possible weaknesses in the Tipp side rather than our own strengths. Hard to see Clare scoring 17 points plus so I reckon three goals will be needed if Clare are to win.
Think Clare will put it up to Tipp alright but lose out near the end by 4-5 points with Tipp having the more natural scorers being crucial.
[quote=“KIB man”]I’d have Tony Griffin at midfield. Any Clare confidence is based on possible weaknesses in the Tipp side rather than our own strengths. Hard to see Clare scoring 17 points plus so I reckon three goals will be needed if Clare are to win.
Think Clare will put it up to Tipp alright but lose out near the end by 4-5 points with Tipp having the more natural scorers being crucial.[/QUOTE]
Bad and all as they were for wides last year they managed 17 points or more in every game bar one KIB man, so I wouldn’t say that just yet. I think they have lads who are able to score but they were seriously lacking confidence. If you look at the first wide nuggie hit against Cork last year, jesus he’d score it blindfolded in training. If Mike Mac hasn’t built those lads up in their own heads he’s an awful fool. Wides come from fear or pressure most of the time.
[quote=“Watch The Break”]
The ennis road grounds are home to two of the most pivotal days in the modern story of Clare hurling. On one, a young team was massacred and laughed at by a team and a county who regarded Clare as a team “you only play in challenge matches”.[/QUOTE]
:D, straight from the Ger Loughnane manual of lies.
Although wing back mightn’t be his best position, Fanning has played there a good few times and I’ve yet to see him roasted.
A forward has to win clean ball to run the fuck out of their marker, Fanning doesn’t yield possesion too easily.
Well I was there and when the people around us started to leave with ten minutes left the Tipp fans started shouting “Lock the gates, make the fuckers watch”. Ger Loughnane didn’t have to tell me that. So fuck off.
The biggest concerns for Tipp on Sunday are the two corner backs who were as shaky as fuck against Cork. The obvious problem with the half-forward line which has been going for oh about 8 years now.
There seems to be a lack of killer instinct in this Tipp team, they are not able to put teams away when they are dominant and tend to go missing for long periods, like they are only doing enough.
Tipp won’t get it easy at all on Sunday and personally I wouldn’t be surprised if they are beaten, gutted yes.
[quote=“Mullach Ide”]The biggest concerns for Tipp on Sunday are the two corner backs who were as shaky as fuck against Cork. The obvious problem with the half-forward line which has been going for oh about 8 years now.
There seems to be a lack of killer instinct in this Tipp team, they are not able to put teams away when they are dominant and tend to go missing for long periods, like they are only doing enough.
Tipp won’t get it easy at all on Sunday and personally I wouldn’t be surprised if they are beaten, gutted yes.[/QUOTE]
O’Brien could be in trouble for his spot I’d say. He got away with it for a while last year but the game is up now I’d say. The only thing in his favour is the lack of pace in the Clare forwards, because he’s not too bad at the close quarters stuff. I’m not sure if Mike Mac would leave one of the young lads inside with him. Is Eamonn Buckley far out of the frame? I always saw him as a bit of a risk but he seemed to have improved an awful lot in the league.
There should be a crying smiley or one with a violin, Admins sort it please.
The old “lock the gates” chestnut, Clare were absolutely abysmal on the day, maybe the Tipp fans should have just politely applauded each score and looked sympatheticaly at their Clare counterparts.
Was that Clare team really so young that day?
I was there also, I was in Thurles in 82 and 83 when the Cork fans laughed as they walloped Waterford, yet I don’t hear too many Waterford people or managers crying about it.
Look at it for what is was, a good motivational tool for Loughnane, no more no less, but it’s done to fucking death now so you fuck off;).
I wouldn’t have Buckley next nor near the team, O’Brien would be a better option, but since the Waterford AI Semi he has looked poor enough. The only option would be to move Curran to the corner and play Fanning full-back, that’s if Shane Maher is fit of course, drop Stapleton.
[quote=“Mullach Ide”]
Look at it for what is was, a good motivational tool for Loughnane, no more no less, but it’s done to fucking death now so you fuck off.[/QUOTE]
We’ll remember ye’re cuntish antics as long as we like. Ye still talk about being a hurling power when that hasn’t been accurate for about forty years so we have a while to go yet.
Tipp are far from the team they are made out to be. their forwards are far too inconsistant and there are question marks about the tipp half back line aswell.
would worry about james mac at full back. he is far too one sided for such a crucial position but then again we dont have any other options for full back.
would also worry that david barrett is a bit hot-headed. an early rush of blood to the head (as he is prone to) could prove very costly
