The bluebloods of hurling can rest easy for a while. Most of the excitement which pumped through Dublin hurling when the Walsh Cup was annexed back in January has vanished. It's down to the hard graft now and the fact Dublin were vastly flattered by Clare's winning margin at Parnell Park yesterday suggests how hard it will be.
Clare are tampering with their line-up and came to town with an experimental half forward line and midfield, as well as trying a few other novel things around the park. They went 1-5 to no score ahead when just seven minutes had passed and they must have realised Dublin weren't going to offer the anticipated test.
Dublin, in fairness, were themselves experimenting. Conal Keaney, on Trench Cup duty on Saturday, started at wing forward. Shane Martin toiled under the shadow of Brian Lohan and young Mick Carton's precocious talent spent much of the time on the bench with the waterbottles. When Dublin finally got all their ducks in a row they looked a better team.
These sides were separated by 20 points at close of play when they met at this venue in the championship last summer and in truth the gap hasn't closed greatly. Clare drifted down through the gears as the game went on yesterday and even as Dublin improved their was never a suggestion they would take the game.
Clare, physically bigger and faster, discovered early on that they could swat Dublin defenders away like bluebottles when they needed to. They scored three early points and then tagged a goal when Tony Carmody drifted out to take a good ball up the right wing. Carmody found Eamon Taaffe ghosting behind a ball-watching Dublin defence.
Dublin's first goal, came in a manner which would become familiar: Keaney from a placed ball. He cracked his first after just 10 minutes but it raised only the barest hopes. The same player pulled a good save out of Ger O Connell in the Clare goal a few minutes later but it was an isolated moment.
Barry Murphy scored a goal minutes later to bring the game back to its established pattern. For a period concentration was the main problem for Clare. They hurled a lot of ball at midfield and cut through the Dublin defence easily.
By half-time they led by 10 points and Dublin finally took some remedial action. Keaney, the equal of any player on the pitch, came to midfield from where he began dragging his side back into the game. Carton came on early in the half and caused Frank Lohan seven types of trouble and Carl Meehan, back in the half-back line, looked considerably more at home.
Dublin scored the first three points of the half. The blistering aggression wasn't sustained and Keaney was obviously tiring but there were enough moments and enough wides (16) to give encouragement.
At times, though, Clare still threatened to cut up. Brendan McLoughlin needed to make two fine saves to keep the goal tally down and in that context the goalkeeper will have been disappointed by the manner of Murphy's second goal, lobbed in from about 10 yards out near the right sideline.
After that Dublin were just in the business of putting a gloss on the scoreline. They did so with spirit, and when Keaney throttled his third free of the day into the Clare net with two minutes to play it was reward for renewed team spirit as much as individual skill.
Dublin have a long way to go. As if to flaunt their wealth Clare introduced Colin Lynch, Jamesie O'Connor, Gerry Quinn and Conor Earley late in the game. Even Earley, the least celebrated of the bunch, could give Dublin shivers, having scored 1-3 at Parnell Park last summer.
Dublin can look forward to the return to fitness of players like Tomás McGrane and David O'Callaghan and after that it's back to the drawing board and back to the training pitch.
CLARE: G O'Connell; D Hoey, B Lohan, F Lohan; C Plunkett, S McMahon (0-3, 2f, 1 '65'), G O'Grady; D McMahon (0-1), A Markham (0-1); T Griffin (0-1), T Carmody, D Kennedy (0-2); N Gilligan (0-6, 5f), E Taaffe (1-0), B Murphy (2-3). Subs: C Lynch for Carmody (50 mins), J O'Connor for Murphy), G Quinn for O'Grady (57 mins), C Early for Gilligan (60 mins).
DUBLIN: B McLoughlin; K Elliot, L O'Donoghue, K Ryan; P Brennan, L Ryan, K Wilson; C Meehan, S McDonnell (0-5, 3f); S Perkins, S Hiney (0-2), C Keaney (3-1, 3-0f); D Sweeney, S Martin, K Flynn (0-1). Subs: P McDonald (0-1) for Sweeney (ht), M Carton for K Ryan (44 mins), T Moore for Martin (49 min).
Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).
